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St Landrew

St Landrew

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Just finished 1984 for the first time.

 

Many books are unjustifiably lauded as essential reading, but this truly is a masterpiece and well ahead of it's time.

 

9/10

 

Reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell, for the first time. I can understand why publishers didn't want to know, when it was first written, as it isn't a page turner. And for many people, it won't tell them anything they're not already aware of. But what it does do is gather up all those disparate threads of information, opinion and prejudice, and sets them within a simple world and one book. It is clear that Tressell was trying to inform his readers first, rather than equally entertain them, along the way. But he does manage to entertain the reader, and one cannot help be aware also that, although nearly a century has passed, society still manages to avoid the issue of poverty and starvation. Before I read the book [i'm two-thirds of the way through it] I didn't really understand the title, not that I'd given it much thought, tbh. Oh boy, do I get it now, and I wonder how I had missed its meaning before, it is so appropriate.

 

Thoroughly recommended reading. Thanks for suggesting it way back, BTF. :)

Edited by St Landrew
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Block 5

Block 5

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I've just started reading Solar by Ian McEwan.

 

I loved Atonement, Saturday and Enduring love so I thought I would try the (much hyped) new offering.

 

So far it's pretty good, with McEwan's gorgeous writing style and command of English very evident.

 

The beginning is rather poignant and concerns the breakdown of a relationship from the view of the philandering climate scientist protagonist who becomes the cuckold when his wife has an affair with a much younger, fitter man.

 

I'm only a few chapters in so I'll get back to you when I have finished it.

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Dog

Dog

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Posted
I've just started reading Solar by Ian McEwan.

 

I loved Atonement, Saturday and Enduring love so I thought I would try the (much hyped) new offering.

 

So far it's pretty good, with McEwan's gorgeous writing style and command of English very evident.

 

The beginning is rather poignant and concerns the breakdown of a relationship from the view of the philandering climate scientist protagonist who becomes the cuckold when his wife has an affair with a much younger, fitter man.

 

I'm only a few chapters in so I'll get back to you when I have finished it.

 

Can I borrow it after you please?

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Mao Cap

Mao Cap

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Posted
I've just started reading Solar by Ian McEwan.

 

I loved Atonement, Saturday and Enduring love so I thought I would try the (much hyped) new offering.

 

So far it's pretty good, with McEwan's gorgeous writing style and command of English very evident.

 

The beginning is rather poignant and concerns the breakdown of a relationship from the view of the philandering climate scientist protagonist who becomes the cuckold when his wife has an affair with a much younger, fitter man.

 

I'm only a few chapters in so I'll get back to you when I have finished it.

 

They're doing extracts from this in instalments on Radio 4 I think. Not a big McEwan fan but I liked what I heard.

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mikey_boosh

mikey_boosh

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Last year I decided to get back into reading after a fairly hefty time away from it. But it's a bit overwhelming getting back into it with the thousands upon thousands of different authors, genres, etc.

 

I know this is slightly off-topic but, can any of you recommend any 'must-reads'?

 

So far over the last 8 months or so I've a wide variety of books so I'm not into any one particular genre. I've read from the more fast paced, exciting books like the Da Vinci Code series to the really well written, more in-depth books of Iris Murdoch.

 

I know it's a bit of a 'big ask', but maybe any books that you've had to tell your friends/family about.

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St Landrew

St Landrew

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Posted
Last year I decided to get back into reading after a fairly hefty time away from it. But it's a bit overwhelming getting back into it with the thousands upon thousands of different authors, genres, etc.

 

I know this is slightly off-topic but, can any of you recommend any 'must-reads'?

 

So far over the last 8 months or so I've a wide variety of books so I'm not into any one particular genre. I've read from the more fast paced, exciting books like the Da Vinci Code series to the really well written, more in-depth books of Iris Murdoch.

 

I know it's a bit of a 'big ask', but maybe any books that you've had to tell your friends/family about.

 

Can I suggest you look back over this thread..? Part of the reason for its existence is to inform on good and bad books in the opinion of the poster.

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Sheaf Saint

Sheaf Saint

Posted
Posted

Decided to have a go at Homer's The Odyssey (Penguin Classic transaltion) for a bit of a change of pace from what I was reading before.

 

Beautifully poetic, even if it is not in its original form. It's great to read such an ancient story and appreciate just how differently the world was viewed in times gone by.

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Saint 76er

Saint 76er

Posted
Posted
Anyone read In The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

 

I gave it a go but found it very heavy going - he takes about 5 pages describing a church. Is it worth persevering?

 

No, it's not ecuk! UE is a clever guy but takes forever to get to where he is going. You will give up before you finish it.

 

Currently reading 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac, been meaning to for years. Basically two crazy guys on road trips around America in the late forties and their antics inspired the beat generation (remember beatnicks?) of the 1950's. Dylan, that's Bob not Thomas, says of it "It changed my life like it changed everyone else's".

 

Kerouac typed the thing in 3 weeks flat of almost continuos effort using Bennies to stay awake and drying his soaked thru T shirts on radiators around the apartment as he literally sweated out his masterpiece. He typed single spaced on a continuos roll of paper 120 feet long. This revered scroll is currently on display somewhere, although I believe Kerouac gave it to a friend for safe keeping and legend says the friend's dog ate one of the ends off, so it's a bit shorter now!

 

This book is close to autobiographical and names were changed (people like Allen Ginsberg for example) in the published format and things cleaned up a little. However, a new edition is recently published of the complete scroll as written, real names and juicy bits included. If you have an interest in that era it's a must read.

 

Different era, different writer, but I also really like the novels of James Lee Burke. He writes, usually, about an ex drunken detective in New Orleans and Louisiana bayou country. Burke is a seriously good writer, wins lots of awards in the states, and he really takes you there to that steaming southern delta country. He has loads of titles available at most bookshops, published by Orion.

 

Here endeth the sermon for today...

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Seaford Saint

Seaford Saint

Posted
Posted
Reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell, for the first time. I can understand why publishers didn't want to know, when it was first written, as it isn't a page turner. And for many people, it won't tell them anything they're not already aware of. But what it does do is gather up all those disparate threads of information, opinion and prejudice, and sets them within a simple world and one book. It is clear that Tressell was trying to inform his readers first, rather than equally entertain them, along the way. But he does manage to entertain the reader, and one cannot help be aware also that, although nearly a century has passed, society still manages to avoid the issue of poverty and starvation. Before I read the book [i'm two-thirds of the way through it] I didn't really understand the title, not that I'd given it much thought, tbh. Oh boy, do I get it now, and I wonder how I had missed its meaning before, it is so appropriate.

 

Thoroughly recommended reading. Thanks for suggesting it way back, BTF. :)

 

Try reading Into the Abyss by Jack London - a superb book. I just ordered the ragged trousered.....from Amazon

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SuperMikey

SuperMikey

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Posted

About a quarter of the way through 'More What If...', which is a series of essays by eminent historians imagining what the world could be like had key historical events not happened the way they did. I actually got this book about 3 or 4 years ago, but it didn't appeal to me at the time, and I have to say that i'm now getting really into it. It's weird to think what the world could be like had the Germans captured Britain (the front cover of the book is a photoshop picture of Hitler riding through Westminster in a motorcade with thousands of Nazi troops looking on, and swastikas hanging from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament), and various other events.

 

Most interesting was one of the first essays is by Josiah Ober, who works at Princeton, and it discusses what today would be like if Socrates had been killed when fighting in the Athenian army. It never really struck me that the premature death of an ancient philosopher could have huge effects, but thinking about it, most of our western civilisation is built around the ideas of Socrates and Plato, his protegee. Eerie thought. I recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in history, although as a complete history novice myself i've found it quite easy to get into!

 

£6.80 at Amazon now!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/More-What-If-Eminent-Historians/dp/0330487256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269549897&sr=1-1

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Seaford Saint

Seaford Saint

Posted
Posted
Reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell, for the first time. I can understand why publishers didn't want to know, when it was first written, as it isn't a page turner. And for many people, it won't tell them anything they're not already aware of. But what it does do is gather up all those disparate threads of information, opinion and prejudice, and sets them within a simple world and one book. It is clear that Tressell was trying to inform his readers first, rather than equally entertain them, along the way. But he does manage to entertain the reader, and one cannot help be aware also that, although nearly a century has passed, society still manages to avoid the issue of poverty and starvation. Before I read the book [i'm two-thirds of the way through it] I didn't really understand the title, not that I'd given it much thought, tbh. Oh boy, do I get it now, and I wonder how I had missed its meaning before, it is so appropriate.

 

Thoroughly recommended reading. Thanks for suggesting it way back, BTF. :)

 

I will. Isn't it called People of the Abyss though..? I've found it online as a Project Gutenberg ebook

 

Thanks, I read the book last year and I am old now....anyway the book was hard to read but it left a great impression on me. I shall investigate Project Gutenburg

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Hamilton Saint

Hamilton Saint

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Last year I decided to get back into reading after a fairly hefty time away from it. But it's a bit overwhelming getting back into it with the thousands upon thousands of different authors, genres, etc.

 

I know this is slightly off-topic but, can any of you recommend any 'must-reads'?

So far over the last 8 months or so I've a wide variety of books so I'm not into any one particular genre. I've read from the more fast paced, exciting books like the Da Vinci Code series to the really well written, more in-depth books of Iris Murdoch.

 

I know it's a bit of a 'big ask', but maybe any books that you've had to tell your friends/family about.

 

 

Here are some that I've read two or more times each that I would highly recommend.

 

 

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

 

Middlemarch - George Eliot

Howards End - E.M. Forster

 

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

 

Changing Places - David Lodge

 

The Magus - John Fowles

Crime and Punishment - F. Dostoevsky

 

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

Animal Farm - George Orwell

 

Steppenwolf - Herman Hesse

 

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

 

The Trial - Franz Kafka

 

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

 

Zorba The Greek - Nikos Kazantzakis

 

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

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Sheaf Saint

Sheaf Saint

Posted
Posted

Just finished reading The Storm - Vince Cable's attempt to explain the global economic crisis in layman's terms, and I'm still none the wiser.

 

Now reading Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. It's a journalist's account of the truly shocking arrogance and ineptitude shown by the Bush administration when it came to post-war planning in Iraq. The words 'p1ss-up' and 'brewery' spring to mind.

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equalizer

equalizer

Posted
Posted

Just started reading The Crazy Gang by Matt Allen the inside story of Wimbledon FC, from their humble origins right up to their relocation to Milton keynes. Very good read so far(a couple of chapters in) looking forward to reading about Vinny, Fash and Wisey and their bust-ups, drunken rampages etc. :D

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the stain

the stain

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Posted
Now reading Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. It's a journalist's account of the truly shocking arrogance and ineptitude shown by the Bush administration when it came to post-war planning in Iraq. The words 'p1ss-up' and 'brewery' spring to mind.

 

Very good book, that. Comes dangerously close to farce at times.

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Sheaf Saint

Sheaf Saint

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Posted
Quantum by Manjit Kumar

 

Mindblowing science that illuminates the debate about the nature of the atom and the differences of opinion between Niels Bohr and Einstein. Once you've read this any other nonfiction book will feel lightweight by comparison.

 

I have that on my shelf listed under the 'I'll get round to reading it one day'.

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Suhari

Suhari

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just finished 'Earth, Air, Fire, Custard' by Tom Holt. Really couldn't get on with it. Bought it for a holiday read.

 

Disliked 'In Your Dreams' too; was a present.

 

I generally enjoy comic novels; and magic/fantasy stuff does not put me off, so should really like Tom Holt. But these two books are just not fun to read. Not bad exactly, just dull and hard work.

 

Would rather spend the time picking my feet.

Edited by Suhari
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ecuk268

ecuk268

Posted
Posted

"1940 - Myth and Reality" by Clive Ponting.

 

Well researched book about the difference in how 1940 is portrayed and how it actually was.

 

Eg. Churchill's famous speeches (finest hour, nothing to offer but blood etc) were made to Parliament. He refused to repeat them for the BBC so they hired a children's radio entertainer to impersonate him. There are no recordings of the actual speeches.

 

The "little ships" at Dunkirk only took about 8% of the evacuees. The Royal Navy took the rest.

 

While making his patriotic speeches, Churchill's Government was very active in putting out feelers for a negotiated peace. Many of the files from this time are still closed.

 

Probably necessary to maintain morale (which was extremely low) but shows the truth in the saying "In war, the first casualty is truth".

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Bentley

Bentley

Posted
Posted

Fancied a bit of Objectism literature so bought some Ayn Rand books, currently reading 'The Fountainhead' and got 'Atlas Shrugged' after that.

 

Just finished 'One Day' by David Nicholls, I wholeheartedly recommend it for light reading.

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hamster

hamster

Posted
Posted

Narrowdog To Indian River - Terry Darlington.

 

mmmm. lot of repetitive one liners which tbh can be atresome and if it were not for Jim (the whippet) and Monica (wife) keeping him in line and pointing out egularly that he's a ****ing idiot I'd have shelved it many chapters ago.

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Ludwig

Ludwig

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Posted
Fancied a bit of Objectism literature so bought some Ayn Rand books, currently reading 'The Fountainhead' and got 'Atlas Shrugged' after that.

 

Do you mean objectivism, perhaps?

 

Currently reading Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter.

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revolution saint

revolution saint

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Posted

Just started "The death of grass" which actually isn't about Howard Mark's worst nightmare. It's a small little dystopian novel about a virus that wipes out all grass and crops and of course the chaos that it brings. Published in 1956 it's been described as a cross between Day of the triffids and Lord of the Flies. it's shaping up nicely so far.

 

After that I have Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby. He's always a good author to mess with your head.

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Redbul

Redbul

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Posted
Just started "The death of grass" which actually isn't about Howard Mark's worst nightmare. It's a small little dystopian novel about a virus that wipes out all grass and crops and of course the chaos that it brings. Published in 1956 it's been described as a cross between Day of the triffids and Lord of the Flies. it's shaping up nicely so far.

 

After that I have Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby. He's always a good author to mess with your head.

 

That's quite a good read. Read it a couple of times over the years.

 

I've gone for something a bit lighter of late. Just reading the Hitman Diaries, the third in the Burglar and Bankrobber Diaries trilogy by Danny King. Books that have no right being funny but are in fact hilarious.

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amsterdam

amsterdam

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"Child 44" is a good read (though as a cat lover I found the first couple of chapters a bit tasteless - though probably historically accurate).

"Archangel" by Robert Harris has a similar "atmosphere"; his books "Fatherland" and "Enigma" are also good, but I found his recent one, "Pompeii", a bit disappointing.

 

In the "alternative histories" category, one of my favorites is Stephen Fry's "Making History" - the love story sub-plot is so-so, but the general theme of "What would happen if we could make sure Hitler never lived" is very thought-provoking.

I don't know if you were being sarcastic SiP (!) but there are a lot worse writers than Lee Child out there!! For a "switch your brain off and enjoy the ride"/type holiday book they are quite entertaining - "One Shot", "Bad Luck and Trouble" and "Persuader" are great!

In similar vein, I recommend David Baldacci ("Split Second" and "Hour Game"), and an English equivalent, Simon Kernick ("Relentless" and "Severed").

 

The three Stieg Larssen books are great, and a bit off the wall to the normal thrillers - I must admit that it took me a while to get into the first one (Dragon Tattoo) because Larssen introduces so many characters early on who all have typically Swedish names and it took me a while to work out who was who (it reads like a Saints squad list from the late 1990's!) - all 3 of my books have been nicked by various visitors who have come to NL, which is a form of recommendation..

 

I'm currently re-reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"; I've read it several times, but my scientific knowledge is limited so I always find something new in it! My eldest nipper has just "discovered" the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy so I might re-read that once he's finished it - it must be nearly 30 years since I first read it.

 

I'm not sure there should be any "must-read" books, otherwise you end up like the Autodidact in Sartre's "Nausea", skimming through books and authors in alphabetical order, because you feel you SHOULD read them, rather than because you enjoy the process of reading, and it is such a matter of personal taste...

 

Some "Classics" I particularly enjoyed (because of plot/writing style) are:

"Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky

"Candide" by Voltaire

"Diary of a Madman" by Gogol

"A Farewell to Arms" by Hemingway

"Metamorphosis" by Kafka

 

Bit more modern:

"Catch 22" by Heller

"Portnoy's Complaint" by Roth

"The World According to Garp" by Irving

 

And of course, anything written by Gerald Durrell or P.G. Wodehouse....

 

HTH

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the stain

the stain

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Just reading Troubles, by JG Farrell, the book that won that 'Lost Booker' award. It really is excellent and I can't wait to dig up the rest of his work. If you've ever raised a smile at Evelyn Waugh or Kingsley Amis then you'll know the kind of humour to expect, but this is tied to an entirely more pointed, focussed social commentary than those two.

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jeff leopard

jeff leopard

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I’ve been getting lots of d i c k inside me lately which I’ve enjoyed enormously.

 

A Scanner Darkly is just a brilliant read, in turns hilarious and heartbreaking, but always fascinating. The film version with Canoe Reeves is worth a watch, although I find the shameless over-acting by Robert Downey Jnr and Woody Harrelson hard to swallow.

 

Minority Report is a collection of some of his most celebrated short stories/novellas, several of which have been adapted into films. I’m watching Screamers tonight which is an adaptation of The Second Variety (another of his ‘who’s human and who’s a robot’ tales). The film is apparently gash but it will be interesting to see just how they managed to screw it up.

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Suhari

Suhari

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Posted

Picked up a copy of 'The Curious Indcident of the Dog in the Night-Tie'; was well thought of when it came out a few years back.

 

Somehow though I can't get the enthusiasm to start it......

 

Is it worth reading?

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