Deppo Posted 3 December, 2008 Author Share Posted 3 December, 2008 Toast by Nigel Slater. I am now thinking of becoming a gay gourmand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserableoldgit Posted 3 December, 2008 Share Posted 3 December, 2008 Just started re-reading the "Aubrey - Maturin" novels of Patrick O`Brian starting of course with "Master and Commander" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Majestic Channon Posted 11 December, 2008 Share Posted 11 December, 2008 Redemption song-The ballad of Joe strummer. Just read John lydon's book -(No irish no blacks no dogs) too, that was good, strummer's book is even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 11 December, 2008 Share Posted 11 December, 2008 Just about to start My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk. He won the Nobel Prize, you know. I'll let you all know how I get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancake Posted 11 December, 2008 Share Posted 11 December, 2008 Just about to start My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk. He won the Nobel Prize, you know. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7776046.stm Of course, Im not suggesting anything by linking your post to this link, Mr Stain... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suhari Posted 11 December, 2008 Share Posted 11 December, 2008 Just finishing 'Exit Music' by Ian Rankin. Fancied something different to my usual read for my holiday. Enjoying it; will probably dip into some of his other 'Detective Rebus' yarns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 12 December, 2008 Share Posted 12 December, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7776046.stm Of course, Im not suggesting anything by linking your post to this link, Mr Stain... Did it work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saints1980 Posted 14 December, 2008 Share Posted 14 December, 2008 I have finally started reading The Road (Cormac McCarthy). Bleak as f**k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 5 January, 2009 Share Posted 5 January, 2009 Just about to start My Name Is Red, by Orhan Pamuk. He won the Nobel Prize, you know. I'll let you all know how I get on. Well it took me ages to read but it was worth it. Really really good. It's kind of an historical detective story and I suppose a comparison could be made to The Name of the Rose in as much as it's both that and a philosophical fiction. Set in 16th century Istanbul, it's the story of a murder caused by the clash of two conceptions of art, the Islamic illumination of texts and Venetian portraiture, or the placing of Allah at the invisible centre of the world versus Christian 'idolatry'/secular narcissism. It's beautifully worked and also a pretty gripping drama and contains two of the best death scenes I've ever read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 5 January, 2009 Share Posted 5 January, 2009 Moab is my washpot - Stephen Frys autobiography of the first 20 years of his life... only just starting so reserving judgement just yet, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durleyfos Posted 5 January, 2009 Share Posted 5 January, 2009 Terry Paine's Biography. A signed copy too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCholulaKid Posted 5 January, 2009 Share Posted 5 January, 2009 The Lady in the Lake - Raymond Chandler He's the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVSaint Posted 5 January, 2009 Share Posted 5 January, 2009 Join Me - Danny Wallace. Good fun. On a side note. Watched Dave Gorman's America Unchained finally and was a little let down. So much more depth to the very good book but understandably can understand that extensive film footage would have been a lot to ask for owing to his circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentley Posted 7 January, 2009 Share Posted 7 January, 2009 I'm reading a play called Making History, and is written by Brian Friel. It's about Hugh O'Neill leading Irish revolt against the English in the 16th Century. The other, a much more well known book is called 'The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time' by Mark Haddon. I have not read this book before now, so I am reveling in how good it really is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 7 January, 2009 Share Posted 7 January, 2009 Bruno's Dream, by Iris Murdoch. I am, it seems, completely addicted to her novels, so it's good she wrote so many. This apparently minor work turns out IMO to be one of her best. As usual with Murdoch, a faintly dry premise (this time an old man deciding who to leave his stamp collection to) develops into a gripping narrative, before unfolding to reveal an almost unbearable load of moral wisdom. Also as usual, the themes and ideas are so many that you could get lost in thinking about it for weeks, or just read it as a cracking story. If Kate Winslet really was her, like in the film, I'd definitely force her to marry me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 3 April, 2009 Author Share Posted 3 April, 2009 Just finished reading 'Four Kings' by George Kimball, about the rivalry between the boxers Duran, Leonard, Hagler and Hearns. Have just started 'Liver' by Will Self, four short stories interlinked by a Soho private members drinking club. The first story was genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 3 April, 2009 Share Posted 3 April, 2009 Woohoo! I forgot about this thread. Been reading loads of good (plus some rubbish) books recently. The best of them being... Illywhacker, by Peter Carey - A 20th century history of Australia as told by a 139-year-old professional bull-sh1tter. Basically a licence to print money for someone as good with a yarn as Carey. All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque - Probably the best book about war I've come across. The German trenches in WWI and the gradual disillusionment of idealistic youth, but leavened with enough irony to keep it poignant and not a drudge. Memories of my Melancholy Whores, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - A short and beautiful love-letter to old age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manji Posted 3 April, 2009 Share Posted 3 April, 2009 Bloody White Baron by James Palmer. Superb History.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-White-Baron-James-Palmer/dp/0571230245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238793012&sr=1-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 3 April, 2009 Share Posted 3 April, 2009 Really haven't read anything of note or length for ages. I still have The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists as an e-book on my PC, and I still haven't read it [sorry BTF]. The other day, I popped into the Romsey Rd OXFAM, a few doors away from where I was sorting out some surveillance cameras, and in the sporting region they had the book of an old BBC series called Island Race, which involved the exploits of John McCarthy [remember him..? He who was kidnapped in Beirut] and Sandi Toksvig [remember her], on board an old 1911 wooden Bristol Pilot Cutter. It cost me £1.99. I note that it will cost someone something like £50 to buy it new from Amazon, although about 50p used + postage. Mine is in cracking condition, being amazingly unthumbed. I'm beginning to get an idea why though, as 5 pages in, as part of my toilet/bathroom library [read while you s[h]it], it's not as diverting as one might imagine. Mind you, they haven't started going around dear ol' GB [it's a 3 month journey around Great Britain in 3 months on a slow sailer, hence Island Race, geddit..?] just yet, and I saw the series back in the early 1990's, so I'm expecting better things. Anyway... the jacket is really great, and it looks great beside the other books and periodicals in the library. Which is part of what a toilet library is all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattlehead Posted 4 April, 2009 Share Posted 4 April, 2009 I was sorting out some surveillance cameras What's the story here then? Promotion to admin? Watching the milkman? Checking when to start a new paragraph? I'm reading 1984. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 4 April, 2009 Share Posted 4 April, 2009 What's the story here then? Promotion to admin? Watching the milkman? Checking when to start a new paragraph? I'm reading 1984. Surveillance ..? I'm starting to feel a little bit stalked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattlehead Posted 4 April, 2009 Share Posted 4 April, 2009 Obviously I know the answer to my question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbul Posted 4 April, 2009 Share Posted 4 April, 2009 Reading The Crossroads by Niccolo Ammaniti at the moment. I loved the film I'm Not Scared, based on his book of the same title, but never read the book, so bought The Crossroads on the strength of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridge too far Posted 4 April, 2009 Share Posted 4 April, 2009 I'm reading 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' ATM I'm finding it really interesting as I worked in Sarajevo a couple of years ago. It's about the war and obviously I was there after the war, but it's great actually knowing some of the places mentioned in the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bath Saint Posted 17 April, 2009 Share Posted 17 April, 2009 Over Easter, we went down to Dorset and I started The French Lieutenant's Woman. I have always avoided it in the past because of the film (although I really enjoyed other Fowles novels). I'm half-way through and have to say that it is really superb - mutli-layered, yet accessible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamilton Saint Posted 19 April, 2009 Share Posted 19 April, 2009 Over Easter, we went down to Dorset and I started The French Lieutenant's Woman. I have always avoided it in the past because of the film (although I really enjoyed other Fowles novels). I'm half-way through and have to say that it is really superb - mutli-layered, yet accessible. Superb book. Probably my favourite Fowles' novel (although I love The Magus, too). I thought the film was good too (I've seen it several times), although the technique of moving back and forth between the story and the actors filming the story was annoying the first time I saw the film. [Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay, BTW.] In subsequent viewings it's not so distracting. I think Pinter was trying to create an effect similar to the metafictional techniques Fowles uses in the novel. I presume you've been to Lyme Regis, where it's set. Fowles' house is just outside the town, half-way up the hill. I've recently watched the newly restored Far From The Madding Crowd, which is also set in Dorset (and surrounding counties). Great film. And it's fun recognising many of the locales they used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVSaint Posted 20 April, 2009 Share Posted 20 April, 2009 Well, funny to see that I just used up all my 3 posts in this thread trying to make an edit! It is Dearly Devoted Dexter, by the way. What are the Dexter books like? Love the tv series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedAndWhite91 Posted 29 April, 2009 Share Posted 29 April, 2009 Redemption song-The ballad of Joe strummer. Just read John lydon's book -(No irish no blacks no dogs) too, that was good, strummer's book is even better. Redemption Song is one of the best books I've ever read, and Lydon's is well good too. Makes me long to have lived in the late 70's! I am currently reading the Damned Utd, although I feel I am dishonouring Brian Clough as his family hate it and it is more fiction than fact... Still a good read though... Oh well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 1 May, 2009 Share Posted 1 May, 2009 Magister Ludi (or The Glass Bead Game), by Hermann Hesse. I read Steppenwolf as a teenager and it, like, really spoke to me. But the intervening years have made me revise my opinion somewhat. Don't really hold with his notion of the superiority of the artist as a 'great soul' anymore. Fortunately with this later book he seemed to have integrated the artist with the world and this book reads a little like a discussion with his own former ideals. Unfortunately the sometimes spectacularly beautiful flowers of spiritual insight are set against an extremely dusty narrative. Worth persevering with but could've been much shorter. Some People Are Crazy, biography of John Martyn (can't remember the author). As usual with music biographies, the writing's not brilliant. But his story makes it worthwhile (puts many hard-living rock stars in the shade) and has made me want to dig into a few corners of his career previously barred to me by the words 'Phil' and 'Collins'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolution saint Posted 7 May, 2009 Share Posted 7 May, 2009 Just finished "Child 44" by Tim Rob Smith. Nice little cold war thriller. It wasn't great but the pace was pretty good. Ludicrous ending but I wasn't expecting too much anyway. It was a nice little book that required little concentration which is great as I've been off sick. Next up is "The damned united". I've had it kicking around for ages and not got round to it until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 7 May, 2009 Author Share Posted 7 May, 2009 After finishing 'Liver' by Will Self (didn't live up to the first of the interrelated short stories), I have now started 'The Football Man' by Arthur Hopcraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanley Saint Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 What are the Dexter books like? Love the tv series. They're really different after the first one, which they expanded and changed round quite a bit for tv. The second novel goes off on a different tangent to the second tv series. They're still chillingly entertaining, but a lot 'snappier'. I think I actually prefer the tv version, maybe because Michael Hall makes Dexter seem more 'human'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 11 May, 2009 Share Posted 11 May, 2009 Just finished 2012 by Whitley Streiber. A good read most of the way, a bit far fetched and the ending was rushed and very naff. And another book on aliens (this time abductions) by David M Jacobs. Now that was a good read... very interesting.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Landrew Posted 21 June, 2009 Share Posted 21 June, 2009 What am I reading..? Sadly, far too many debating posts about every last tiny thing going on with the takeover that will end when it ends, and not before. It makes no difference that posters don't realise that whatever they post will not make a jot of difference. No doubt, when it finally does end, they'll find something else to not agree about instead of shutting up and starting to enjoy what they have. :eye rolling smiley that every other forum has except TSF: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mao Cap Posted 22 June, 2009 Share Posted 22 June, 2009 What am I reading..? Sadly, far too many debating posts about every last tiny thing going on with the takeover that will end when it ends, and not before. It makes no difference that posters don't realise that whatever they post will not make a jot of difference. No doubt, when it finally does end, they'll find something else to not agree about instead of shutting up and starting to enjoy what they have. :eye rolling smiley that every other forum has except TSF: Word. Very glad that Son of Bob's put a sticky up detailing only the gist of what's happening; got so sick of trawling through walls of text from the same old bickering w*nkers that I gave up a couple of weeks ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seany S Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Currently reading David Simon's Homicide for the second time. Just finished reading The Man With The Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (which was a masterpiece) and also a book about Robin Friday called "The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw" which was fabulous. Once Homicide is out of the way got a real mixed bag. Ted Dibiase's autobiography, which is probably all religious and boring, another couple of Algren books, will probably have a go at reading Hubert Selby Jr's "The Room" which I am assured is one of the most disturbing novels ever written. One for the bus into work, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the stain Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 I've been getting heavy-duty Southern Gothic and racial tension of late. Home, by Marilynne Robinson. The companion piece to Gilead from a couple of years back. Staggeringly, mesmerisingly beautiful and sad and slow. I can't think of a decent reason why everyone shouldn't read these books. Beloved, by Toni Morrison. Which is also lovely and harrowing and poetic. King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild. A journalistic account of King Leopold of Belgium's creation/theft of the Congo and the mass slaughter of its inhabitants. Ought to stuff a rag in the gob of anyone who yearns for the glory days of empire-building. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Bleak and brilliant post-apocalypse survival story. Absalom, Absalom!, by William Faulkner. Bleaker and brillianter. And now, to lighten the mood a bit, I'm reading Schindler's Ark. Can anyone recommend me some comedy? :smt073 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwig Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Anything PG Wodehouse. But that's fairly obvious and I'm sure you've read some/most of his stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff leopard Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbe. A couple set out on a driving/cycling holiday in Europe. On the first day they have an minor argument and stop at a petrol station to make up, she goes into the shop to by some drinks and disappears without a trace. He sets out to discover what happened to her, a journey that takes him years and ends with one of the most genuinely terrifying denouements EVER! Its great stuff, but a translation for its original Dutch text so the language gets a little mangled at times. Its been adapted into two films, both called The Vanishing. The French version is great, whilst the American remake has one of the most hilariously mis-judged bolted-on happy endings in the history of cinema . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South City Si Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Slowly reading 'Blindness' by Jose Saramango. Not bad, grammar is all f**ked up, but is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Block 5 Posted 1 July, 2009 Share Posted 1 July, 2009 "The Idiocy of Idears" (by Billy Childish.) Genuine first edition. Privately published by The Aquarium. No barcode. No ISBN. No author. It was left in random bookshops around the country, if you found one it was free. The bookshop couldn't charge you without a barcode, price or ISBN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribbo Posted 1 July, 2009 Share Posted 1 July, 2009 Vulcan 607 by Rowland White is a great book i read it earlier this year and it was a bit of an eye opener with the effort that went on to get the bombs on target! im ashamed to say i've just finished "up pompey" by Chuck Culpepper an american sports journalist who decided to "become a fan" and follow a prem team for a year, it's a good read with him getting a grasp on fandom in comparison to corporate america, the chapter about the Torquay Game he goes to alone is probably going to sum up our next season! (it's not all about the sk8tes, he goes to a lot of other matches too) Aside from that i've just started Iain M Banks - The Use Of Weapons it's great but im wondering what next, some good football book i think, maybe strach's autobiography or "outcasts united" by Warren St John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 1 July, 2009 Author Share Posted 1 July, 2009 "The Idiocy of Idears" (by Billy Childish.) Genuine first edition. Privately published by The Aquarium. No barcode. No ISBN. No author. It was left in random bookshops around the country, if you found one it was free. The bookshop couldn't charge you without a barcode, price or ISBN. Did you find one, then, and if so, where? I have been thinking about reading some Childish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Block 5 Posted 5 July, 2009 Share Posted 5 July, 2009 (edited) Did you find one, then, and if so, where? I have been thinking about reading some Childish. I wasn't lucky enough to find one. I got a copy from the AMUTI basement sale. Well worth a read. "The Idiocy of Idears" is an autobiographical account of the school system in this country in the 1970s. It is poignant, harrowing and at times hilarious. Childish pulls no punches when talking about his family, teachers and the people who bullied him. Play have it for £5.99 delivered. http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/3451243/Idiocy-Of-Ideas/Product.html Finished. A great read. The last section of the book is a family holiday on a battered yacht in the Aegean; it had me in stitches! Edited 16 July, 2009 by Block 5 I finished ze book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedAndWhite91 Posted 27 July, 2009 Share Posted 27 July, 2009 C ockney Reject by Jeff Turner, it's well good. It's an autobiography, but mostly about the band C ockney Rejects, one of my favourites, and so I am currently rather enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwig Posted 27 July, 2009 Share Posted 27 July, 2009 Reading: Globalization and its Discontents - Joseph Stiglitz Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 27 July, 2009 Share Posted 27 July, 2009 I'm currently reading Philip K D1ck's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep', which as most will know is the novel that Bladerunner was based on. never actually read any of his work before and haven't watched Bladerunner since I was about 17 so thought I would give it a go. Very strange book so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonManager Posted 27 July, 2009 Share Posted 27 July, 2009 The Somerset & Dorset from the footplate by Pete Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 27 July, 2009 Author Share Posted 27 July, 2009 Is that the Pete Smith I went to school with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserableoldgit Posted 27 July, 2009 Share Posted 27 July, 2009 Just finishing "Company of Liars" a very readable and enjoyable "novel of the plague" by Karen Maitland. Have Antony Beevors book "D-Day. The Battle for Normandy" lined up next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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