Loved these 2 and not read the other 2. The Road is brilliant and I hope they don't totally feck the film up.
The Stand was great but got a bit too religious for me particularly near the end.
Books The BOOK thread
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Loved these 2 and not read the other 2. The Road is brilliant and I hope they don't totally feck the film up.
The Stand was great but got a bit too religious for me particularly near the end.
Slow paced, and each line driving home the hopelessness of trying to survive when everything is gone?
Happy days indeed.
Must make sure I get that one when I need a boost.
Yeah, Stephen King has been known for his not-so-popular endings. I didn't mind it too much though.
It's strange. He uses the simplest language and still manages to paint such a bleak and dreary picture. I remember reading a brilliant review in the NY Times which mentioned that this book can not provide any comfort or escape. Only caution against the road we are treading. Line from the book - "There is no later. This is later."
Line from the book - "There is no later. This is later."
Well strangely enough, you have made me want to read it.
i havent read a book in ages but used to read a load of them when i was a kid, my mother gave me a copy of "the reader" and said it is good, thinking of giving it a go anyone read it yet?
Cormac McCarthy is good but the Road for me was a bit.........
A much better book in my humble opinion is All The Pretty Horses.
A much better book in my humble opinion is All The Pretty Horses.
You're all a bunch of miserable cnuts.
Anything by Coelho is usually a great read.
Another good one is the Shadow of the Wind By Carlos Ruíz Zafón.
Another good one is the Shadow of the Wind By Carlos Ruíz Zafón.
Just finished 'Killing Yourself to Live'. It's a light read, nothing too heavy in it. I enjoy Klostermann's train of thought style writing.
The God of Small Things by Arundathi Roy. It's about a brother and a sister that become victims to their circumstances. Love it, has to be one of my favourite adult books of all-time.
The south american trilogy by Louis De Bernieres, and also by him - Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and Birds Without Wings. All amazing books.
Great shout. They're all beautiful books - tragic and comic in equal measures and written with a real sense of magic and beauty. Anyone who liked Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude will see his influence in the South American trilogy, with a similar magical realism style in the tales of the fate of a village in a fictional South American country (with very real characteristics - indeed you can easily play spot the geographical allusion).
Contrastingly Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Birds Without Wings are both set within very real places and within very real historic events (the 2nd World War and 1st World War respectively), which in a way makes their fragile tragic beauty even more amazing, de Berniere's ability to conjure up humour and beauty within horrific suffering is simply incredible.
Would also echo Mihajlovic's recommendation of Fahrenheit 451, which remains one of my favourite books of all time (often grouped with Brave New World and 1984 but far more personal in its melancholic beauty).
Finally I'll add another of my favourite's:
Jonathan Safran Foer - Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
By the author of Everything Is Illuminated, Safran Foer's second novel is set around 9/11 and the fire-bombing of Dresden. Jumping between the story of 9 year old Oskar's struggle to come to terms with the death of his father in the Twin Towers, and his Grandparents' story of surviving the fire-bombing of Dresden, you could say this book is about the struggle to come to terms with loss, survival and the guilt that comes with it... But that would be over thinking it. Instead its best to simply view this book as a thing of beauty. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Everything Is Illuminated or any of Louis de Berniere's novels.
5 people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom
The title kind of gives away what its about but what each of these 5 people bring to the novel is what makes the book so great a tv film was also made of the book which im looking for now
The title kind of gives away what its about but what each of these 5 people bring to the novel is what makes the book so great a tv film was also made of the book which im looking for now
I enjoyed the stand but I agree with you about the ending. I find with most of the King books that I have read, it's almost as if he doesn't know how to end them and the ending always leaves me disappointed.
This week have read:
Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer
&
Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls by Ruth Downie
Right made my week and was up till half seven this morning reading Medicus. If you like your historical fiction and its one of my passions i'd recommend both.
Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer
&
Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls by Ruth Downie
Right made my week and was up till half seven this morning reading Medicus.
If you like your historical fiction and its one of my passions i'd recommend both.Nick, you should try to find books by Canadian author Timothy Findley in England. Famous Last Words in particular is an very good book, Not Wanted on the Voyage as well.
Rushing through 'A Clash of Kings' - Book II of ASoIaF. GRRM certainly writes some of the best characters I have read so far in this genre... Tyrion, Arya and Rob are some early favourites. Great stuff !!
Last time I was in Canada I bought "famous last words" I liked it a lot
Ah thanks for the recommendation. I don't read many books of that era but there have been a couple.
Steven Pressfield's most recent offering "Killing Rommel", is one i'd suggest back to you and others to consider.
My girlfriend got that book from Waterstones recently, and she absolutely loved it. Moved her to tears a fair bit, so let's hope you're no jessy.
Bit of a strange one, but I'd recommend George Orwell - Keep the Aspidistra Flying
One of his lesser known and all the more depressingly dark books, darker than 1984 in a subtle way. Without giving anything away, the contrast in styles between this book and his others is startling, the dead-pan melancholic imagery really highlighting what life was like at his time of writing, along with the seeming gloom of family life for young couples.
Believe it or not, it has a happy ending!
Liked the book a lot. About the happy ending though, can it not be seen in another way? Without giving too much away for others he kind of gave up his battle because it was impossible to win and compromised. You would feel happy for the actual characters but considering the stance taken in the book maybe it's overall message is not so positive? Can be read in many ways I guess.
He has a huge feeling of relief though when he chooses to stop pursuing riches and settle with Rosemary, and I think that is quite touching. What you said is completely true, it was really a compromise and he could have missed out on a great opportunity, but in the context of things, I think it was a happy thing. Another nice touch was him winning the argument about having the Aspidistra, it actually made me laugh.
So whether it is a happy ending or not is open to debate, but I've always thought of it as one. Maybe it's just my closed-mindedness.
So whether it is a happy ending or not is open to debate, but I've always thought of it as one. Maybe it's just my closed-mindedness.
Finished Bukowski's 'Women', then read 'Post Office', now on 'Ham on Rye'.
He's an unbelievable writer, I have loved them all
He's an unbelievable writer, I have loved them all
at the change in thread title. What's the story ? I thought 'Books' pretty much summed up this thread.I read Women last week. Entertaining, but way too repititive by the end. Hank receives letter from woman, Hank meets woman, Hank bangs woman, Hank mistreats woman, Hank receives another letter, repeat ad neseum. It might have been my own fault for expecting a bit more in the way of character development but there wasn't enough for my money. Still, I ripped through it and was never bored, which is a good sign.
I'm yet to find Ham on Rye in a library but Post Office was a bloody great read.
Im half way through Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and i must say im mesmerized by the writing and use of language. I find myself re reading pages to take in the descriptive beauty in this book.
The subject matter, i find i little difficult to relate to. And there are uncomfortable parts.
I read before hand if you replaced "Lolita" with a women, this would be a truly great love story.
The subject matter, i find i little difficult to relate to. And there are uncomfortable parts.
I read before hand if you replaced "Lolita" with a women, this would be a truly great love story.
So was I, I remember. Hypnotic stuff. And that was a translation. Must have been a good one.
Currently enjoying Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. I'm trying to read more 19th century English literature recently, and so far I've found this really enjoyable (about half way through currently). The description, the subtle analysis of the characters, as well as the clever criticism of some social practices and attitudes of the time makes this a really interesting and enjoyable read. The poetic imagery is also superb, and really conjures up the stately wealth and aristocratic nuances of the landscape of the wealthy, and their casual disdain for the poorer amongst them.
Some good taste in this thread, especially those of you extolling Dostoevsky and Orwell.
Some good taste in this thread, especially those of you extolling Dostoevsky and Orwell.
Yes. Great book, for the reasons you mention. I've read it three or four times, and I'm soon starting it again since I recently got the Oxford World's Classics edition. It's much more fun with notes and introductions and stuff.
Ah nice. I'm using an old penguin edition of my dad's, but I might check out the introduction in it anyhow. Oxford World's tend to have really good critical analysis for a lot of their books, so I'm sure you'll get quite a lot of interesting insight out of that.
But yes, it's still continuing in a similar vein pleasingly, and
The tensions between Edmund, Fanny and Miss Crawford, are superbly observed imo. The kind of awkward feeling, musings on life and religion, and their contrasted perceived social standings are perhaps the most interesting thing about this so far imo. Glad to find someone else who's enjoyed it as much!
Any Russian Literarature fans in here? It's all i'm reading at the moment!
I've just finished reading the Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy. This was my Second Tolstoy (after War and Peace). The story describes an aristocrat who leaves Moscow and joins the army in the Caucus. He finds himself in a Cossack village and eventually falls deeply in love with one of the women there.
Much of this story is semi-autobiographical and for that reason i found it even more intriguing. Although it ended far too suddenly and seemed to lack structure at the very end, leaving a few too many questions unanswered!
Next up for me Dostoyevskys 'The Idiot'..
I've just finished reading the Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy. This was my Second Tolstoy (after War and Peace). The story describes an aristocrat who leaves Moscow and joins the army in the Caucus. He finds himself in a Cossack village and eventually falls deeply in love with one of the women there.
Much of this story is semi-autobiographical and for that reason i found it even more intriguing. Although it ended far too suddenly and seemed to lack structure at the very end, leaving a few too many questions unanswered!
Next up for me Dostoyevskys 'The Idiot'..
Yeah, I'm a Russian lit fan. 'The Idiot' is fantastically written. The subtle critique of an impersonal society, the ruminations on crime and its relation to the individual, the beautiful, purposeful use of language; you'll love it. It's one of the greatest books of all time, and so densely written, yet with such brilliant characterisation and feeling, it works on a real variety of levels.
If you enjoy it, I'd reccomend Ivan Turgenev's 'On the Eve', which deals with quite a few of the same themes in terms of the individual, and contains another insightful subtext on the human condition, and the morals of polite society in Russia at the time. Mikhail Sholokhov's 'And Quite Flows the Don', which is a slightly polemic (left-wing) account of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, and it's impact both on the front line, and in a rural community is another must-read IMO, though for different reasons to the previous two.
I'm currently knee-deep in Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', and will probably do a short review here when I've finished it.
Just starting to read Follet's POTE. Reminds me a bit of Terry Goodkind.
Neil Gaimman - Anansi Boys
Iain Banks - Espedair street, and the steep approach to Garbadale
All excellent
Iain Banks - Espedair street, and the steep approach to Garbadale
All excellent
I love Terry Goodkind. Never read POTE.
One has to wonder whether Tolstoy's master work would have been met with the same acclaim had it been published under its original title 'War, What Is It Good For?'
I love russian literature. Also read, Brothers Karamazov, Fathers and Sons, Dr. Zhivago and a more recent one, Master and the Margarita.