Books The BOOK thread

BD said:
What are people's favourite shortish books? Less than 200 pages say. I like having a few like that to move onto when reading a much bigger/more dense book.
Click to expand...
Now I've set myself the arbitrary target of reading 36-52 books this year, I've picked up a few of these to help me along.
Kurt Vonnegut- breakfast of champions and slaughterhouse 5, I've just bought Cormac McCarthy's child of god and for a reread Candide by Voltaire is very short and quick to blitz through.
 
Jippy said:
How do people rate Ian McEwan. I just read The Child in Time. His descriptions are extremely vivid and he captures the minutiae of people's mannerisms and just the day to day drudgery of life, but I'm less enamoured with how he crafts plots.
I read Atonement a while back to, but tbh I can't remember how I felt about it in any great detail. The Cement Garden is also on my shelf but as yet unread.
Click to expand...
I quite liked Atonement but Saturday and On Chesil Beach weren't great. I'm going to read cockroach shortly and if it's not great I may give up on him.
 
I finished Finding Chika by Mitch Albom today and it was a very sad but brilliant read.
 
Stick said:
I quite liked Atonement but Saturday and On Chesil Beach weren't great. I'm going to read cockroach shortly and if it's not great I may give up on him.
Click to expand...
I'm probably the same after The Cement Garden. The guy is a very talented writer though.
 
On an Asian crime spree, I finished Death Notice by Zhou Haohui. The back of the book makes it look like a retelling of the anime Death Note (and the title obviously hints at the inspiration @Invictus) but the story itself is, imo, superior as it strips away any magic and super powers and instead takes a neo noir inspired look at crime. I've fallen down the translation rabbit hole and I expect most of my reading over the next 4-5 months to be outside native English authors. For now, I am on to my next Asian crime novel and thoroughly enjoying this
 
BD said:
What are people's favourite shortish books? Less than 200 pages say. I like having a few like that to move onto when reading a much bigger/more dense book.
Click to expand...
I recently read Jim Thompson's Pop.1280 which is about 180 ages. Hilarious, cynical and depraved crime novel. His other books all seem to be pretty short and nasty too.

Also read Gerald Murnane's The Plains which blew my mind, but is much more philosophical/allegorical.
 
Have read 4 books in the past 3 weeks (and half way through my 5th). Thinking of going for 52 books by year end. A mixture of books I want to read and some low brow page-turners to help up the numbers!

The Word is Murder (Anthony Horowitz) - Whodunnit that blurs fiction with reality. Fun read that kicked things off for me - 7/10

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto (Mitch Albom) - Spurred on by getting through the previous book in a week I went looking through my bookshelf for anythign I had overlooked so went for this. Again its fiction blurring with reality as it imagines the mystical life of a fictional rock n roll pioneer. Really easy read but again not a whole lot of merit to it! 6/10

The Silent Patient (Alec Michaelides) - Another one knocking around the house. Had some nice ideas but the execution was a little lacking and the plot was all a bit too convenient at times. 5/10

The Outsider (Albert Camus) - Something with a little more depth, leaving me wondering whats the point of it all! It was as close to unputdownable as having 2 kids under 5 will allow and I had finished it in 2 sittings.

So yeah, its nice to rediscover the habit of reading and have about 6 or 7 books lined up to read. So hopefully will remain on track for the year.
 
GBBQ said:
Have read 4 books in the past 3 weeks (and half way through my 5th). Thinking of going for 52 books by year end. A mixture of books I want to read and some low brow page-turners to help up the numbers!

The Word is Murder (Anthony Horowitz) - Whodunnit that blurs fiction with reality. Fun read that kicked things off for me - 7/10

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto (Mitch Albom) - Spurred on by getting through the previous book in a week I went looking through my bookshelf for anythign I had overlooked so went for this. Again its fiction blurring with reality as it imagines the mystical life of a fictional rock n roll pioneer. Really easy read but again not a whole lot of merit to it! 6/10
Click to expand...
I really liked the Magpie Murders after the Word is Murder. Have a look at it. I am on a bit of a Mitch Albom blitz at the minute. I read The First Few Phone Calls from Heaven and Finding Chika recently and I'm currently reading Tuesdays with Morrie. I really like the non fiction ones as he has an ability to really connect you to the subjects in his book. I'll give the Magic Strings a Go.
 
Jippy said:
I'm probably the same after The Cement Garden. The guy is a very talented writer though.
Click to expand...
Oh yes absolutely but I found the story line for Saturday a bit meh and On Chesil Beach kinda depressed me!
 
Stick said:
I really liked the Magpie Murders after the Word is Murder. Have a look at it. I am on a bit of a Mitch Albom blitz at the minute. I read The First Few Phone Calls from Heaven and Finding Chika recently and I'm currently reading Tuesdays with Morrie. I really like the non fiction ones as he has an ability to really connect you to the subjects in his book. I'll give the Magic Strings a Go.
Click to expand...
Yeah i had read Magpie Murders already. Horowitz is an engaging writer for sure and keeps you wanting to read the next chapter and the next chapter before you realise 2 hours have passed. I have the follow up The Sentence is Death in my to-read book pile too so I'll let you know if its any use.
 
Jippy said:
Now I've set myself the arbitrary target of reading 36-52 books this year, I've picked up a few of these to help me along.
Kurt Vonnegut- breakfast of champions and slaughterhouse 5, I've just bought Cormac McCarthy's child of god and for a reread Candide by Voltaire is very short and quick to blitz through.
Click to expand...
Cheers - have read a Kurt Vonnegut one before (Cats Cradle), as well as a Cormac McCarthy (The Road) and enjoyed both, so will add them to the list. And Candide sounds interesting too, from my brief google.
 
BD said:
Cheers - have read a Kurt Vonnegut one before (Cats Cradle), as well as a Cormac McCarthy (The Road) and enjoyed both, so will add them to the list. And Candide sounds interesting too, from my brief google.
Click to expand...
I've got Cat's Cradle and Mother Night on the shelf still to read. Thinking I'm going for Graham Greene, Travels with my aunt next up though.
 
Just finished Tuesdays With Morrie. Very good book and very quick and thought provoking read. Now to something lighter with Stephen King's Outsider.
 
Finished ABC Murders the other day. Good short read but Christie packs a lot in.

Currently reading Silence of the Lambs. About half way through and I think it’s fantastic so far. Would put it ahead of The Red Dragon.

Did plan on reading Lord of the Flies next but may just jump straight to Hannibal.
 
Archie Leach said:
I recently read Jim Thompson's Pop.1280 which is about 180 ages. Hilarious, cynical and depraved crime novel. His other books all seem to be pretty short and nasty too.

Also read Gerald Murnane's The Plains which blew my mind, but is much more philosophical/allegorical.
Click to expand...

Two novels I've been meaning to read, maybe after I'm done with my translation kick.

I read some other Thompson though and he is a master at depraved noir stuff. I love it.
 
Reading Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust at the moment for one of my Uni modules and I can heartily recommend it. Very funny but also bitterly tragic. Well worth a read.
 
Dipper said:
Reading Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust at the moment for one of my Uni modules and I can heartily recommend it. Very funny but also bitterly tragic. Well worth a read.
Click to expand...
I read it last month. He has an acerbic sense of humour and it is funny in parts, but with some tragic characters, as you say. I read Decline and Fall last year too and Waugh's stories seem to follow a similar arc.

esmufc07 said:
Silence of the Lambs was fantastic, I can’t praise it enough. What a wonderful read.
Click to expand...
I haven't read it, but I have read Harris's Black Sunday and found the plot so and so and the writing clunky. The film is so perfect I'll stick with that.
 
Jippy said:
I read it last month. He has an acerbic sense of humour and it is funny in parts, but with some tragic characters, as you say. I read Decline and Fall last year too and Waugh's stories seem to follow a similar arc.


I haven't read it, but I have read Harris's Black Sunday and found the plot so and so and the writing clunky. The film is so perfect I'll stick with that.
Click to expand...

I haven’t read that, though it is on my list. Can’t speak for his other works but The Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs have both been great reads. Particularly the latter so I’d recommend it.
 
Finished The Stand today. I thought the first 300-400 pages, as the flu spread and then the survivors were all traveling around was great. It was still very good after that, but I didn't like the magic/religious aspect of it too much. Ending was a bit meh too, but overall I found it fantastic.
 
BD said:
Finished The Stand today. I thought the first 300-400 pages, as the flu spread and then the survivors were all traveling around was great. It was still very good after that, but I didn't like the magic/religious aspect of it too much. Ending was a bit meh too, but overall I found it fantastic.
Click to expand...
I love Stephen King and can't think of many of his books where the end isn't a bit meh. Luckily the journey to get there is good enough as a rule for me to forgive that.
 
Stick said:
I quite liked Atonement but Saturday and On Chesil Beach weren't great. I'm going to read cockroach shortly and if it's not great I may give up on him.
Click to expand...
Well, I read McEwan's The Cement Garden. For a very short book it packs a lot in, from urban decay to family breakdown, isolation and incest. I'd defo read another of his, but will have a break for a bit.
 
Jippy said:
Well, I read McEwan's The Cement Garden. For a very short book it packs a lot in, from urban decay to family breakdown, isolation and incest. I'd defo read another of his, but will have a break for a bit.
Click to expand...
Yeah I find that sometimes I blitz authors and I can over do it and subsequently dislike a few classics.
 
redspoony said:
I love Stephen King and can't think of many of his books where the end isn't a bit meh. Luckily the journey to get there is good enough as a rule for me to forgive that.
Click to expand...
I'm currently reading The Outsider and it's an interesting thriller but I figure it's gonna be vampires or aliens at the end!
 
BD said:
Finished The Stand today. I thought the first 300-400 pages, as the flu spread and then the survivors were all traveling around was great. It was still very good after that, but I didn't like the magic/religious aspect of it too much. Ending was a bit meh too, but overall I found it fantastic.
Click to expand...
M-o-o-n. That spells Stand.
 
Ordered Dostoyevsky's Idiot from Amazon today. Having read The Brothers Karamzov and Crime and Punishment recently, I have sky high expectations from Idiot.
 
redspoony said:
I love Stephen King and can't think of many of his books where the end isn't a bit meh. Luckily the journey to get there is good enough as a rule for me to forgive that.
Click to expand...
I've heard that a lot, but I quite liked the ending of 11.22.63.

True about the journey though - some of the characters in his stories are some of the best I've come across.
 
Martin Amis described the book as “a necropolis of prose,” noting also that “having gone gay for Hannibal, the author has palpably wearied of Clarice.”
Click to expand...
:lol:
 
It's a strange book, mate, in that many readers are very divided about its quality.
 
Just finished In Cold Blood. A nice 8/10 read. It's frightening how killers have no moral conscience within them while doing what they do. And when you look at pictures of these murderers they look like perfectly normal people from the outside.
 
Novels possessing a curious kind of genius, as if the writers knew more than they were letting on:

Hawksmoor & Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (Peter Ackroyd)
The Limits of Enchantment (Graham Joyce)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson)
 
Freak said:
Just finished In Cold Blood. A nice 8/10 read. It's frightening how killers have no moral conscience within them while doing what they do. And when you look at pictures of these murderers they look like perfectly normal people from the outside.
Click to expand...
I think what scared me more was Perry tried to make the victims comfortable and then murdered them. Odd show of compassion and complete lack of it within a couple of minutes.

I just finished The Outsider by Stephen King. It was an enjoyable read but the ending didnt stand up to the rest of the book for me. I think it ran out of steam.

I'm now reading The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom. I think @GBBQ read this and enjoyed it. I've read a few Albom novels so far and tend to prefer his non fiction writing better but I'll give this a go.
 
Reading, again, The War Against Cliché by Martin Amis. Tremendously entertaining nonfiction collection, so good that it makes subjects which barely interest me (chess, for example) fascinating.
Wikipedia said:
Like Amis's previous collection Visiting Mrs Nabokov, the book is composed of many pieces written over the course of the author's career, beginning in the mid-1970s as a journalist and following up to his period of recognition as one of Great Britain's most acclaimed novelists. Among the many authors considered are John Updike, Anthony Burgess, Saul Bellow, Iris Murdoch, Elmore Leonard and Philip Roth.

Many of the essays also touch on pet topics of Amis's, such as chess, poker, football (soccer), cue sports, masculinity, and nuclear weapons.
Click to expand...
 
Hex by Thomas Heuvelt
Ok-ish novel with heavy-headed nods to King, Straub, and The Monkey's Paw:
Amazon said:
Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth-century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Blind and silenced, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's beds for nights on end. So accustomed to her have the townsfolk become that they often forget she's there. Or what a threat she poses. Because if the stitches are ever cut open, the story goes, the whole town will die.

The curse must not be allowed to spread. The elders of Black Spring have used high-tech surveillance to quarantine the town. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town's teenagers decide to break the strict regulations and go viral with the haunting. But, in so doing, they send the town spiraling into a dark nightmare.
Click to expand...
It's not quite as good as the blurb makes it sound.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X61MWWY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
 
Last edited:
I finished the Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom. I really liked it. Touched on an era of music I love and was a good read.
 
I'm reading Dune at the minute and am pleasantly surprised. Was expecting it to be massively complex with 1000 characters whose names and motives I keep forgetting but it's actually an utterly compelling page-turner with a plot so dramatic that it would be great in almost any genre. It's fecking ace.
 
Finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. Havent really read any Science Fiction before. Brilliant.
10/10
Have started Stranger in a Strange land and I'll be honest its not as good as Philip K Dick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.