I didnt enjoy Wolf Hall. I seem to be the only one though. Everyone is wetting themselves about the TV adaptation. I imagine Ill enjoy that more to be honest.
Books The BOOK thread
- Thread starter Livvie
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I just finished Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay, a collection of essays. I loved it, she balances insightful social commentary with terrific wit. I'm tempted to see her when she comes to Melbourne later this year.
I have finally finished A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel. Quite interesting though the 2nd chapter was boring, even if sometimes the author is quite opinionated like he picked to illustrate the chapter of translation a really good translation by Rilke, so that's not the kind of the mass translation of many popular books that people may complain.
I finished too La Princesse de Clèves by Mme la Fayette... so I have read what it's said to be a famous book. The torments of the characters were completely lost on me.
I finished too La Princesse de Clèves by Mme la Fayette... so I have read what it's said to be a famous book. The torments of the characters were completely lost on me.
Reading the late Professor Eric Ives' brilliant biography of Anne Boleyn.
PS For any fellow amateur writers out there: a six-word story competition, with a first prize of £100 ~
http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/six-word-story/
Other writing contests:
http://blogs.chi.ac.uk/shortstoryforum/submission-calls/
PS For any fellow amateur writers out there: a six-word story competition, with a first prize of £100 ~
http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/six-word-story/
Other writing contests:
http://blogs.chi.ac.uk/shortstoryforum/submission-calls/
You should make a thread for Caf members to post their own football/Caf related six word stories.
Ha. 
TBH mate, I've found the six-word story thing to be very difficult. It's really hard to come up with something intriguing in a mere six words.
TBH mate, I've found the six-word story thing to be very difficult. It's really hard to come up with something intriguing in a mere six words.One @SteveJ . Has friends...on Caf.
For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.
Not mine, obviously. Hemingway. I think it's the root of all these six word competitions.
I thought I'd get in on this before anyone else did: Gerrard slips. It's over. Go again.
Not mine, obviously. Hemingway. I think it's the root of all these six word competitions.
I thought I'd get in on this before anyone else did: Gerrard slips. It's over. Go again.
The best I could muster was 'Asylum welcomes new staff after outage.'
That's got to be worth at least 1p of the prize money.
That's got to be worth at least 1p of the prize money.
Yes mine was a rather poor attempt to ape Hemingway.
I don't actually like him that much. Except for the baby shoes thing and this quote: "If you're a writer, declare yourself the best writer. But you're not as long as I'm around, unless you want to put the gloves on and settle it." That's an attitude I respect.
I don't doubt his excellence, but I blame him for the modern mania for stripping prose down to its bare essentials. That's not to my taste.
You'd hate my shit then. Not that I'm influenced by Hemingway at all. But I firmly believe that less is usually more. I've been trying my hand at something Game of Thronesy and it's an interesting experiment to write in that style. Like with adverbs and shit.
I think Corey Stoll deserves the credit for that
Have you ever shot a charging lion?
I have finished Fan Mail by Nick Hornby. Short reading. I know his first book is said to be one of the best football books but it's about his experiences as an Arsenal fan. I am not convinced I can read that many pages about Arsenal. This book is more open to any Premiership fan even though I disagree with him when he wrote that the Manchester fans can remember with affection the 2011/2012 season. An interesting reading.
Now going to try to read more The Bone season. So far, I am more a hater or a I don't care.
Now going to try to read more The Bone season. So far, I am more a hater or a I don't care.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand has got to be one of the worst books I've ever read.
I read it in '13 with high expectations. The enigmatic, mysterious John Galt, the female protagonist, the social commentary on capitalism and communism in the midst of the Cold War.
Instead it was an apology for greed, and
I can't believe I spent time reading this book, and at 1100+ pages, you can imagine how much time was spent! I'd rate this book 1 mug out of 10.
'Who is John Galt?'
I read it in '13 with high expectations. The enigmatic, mysterious John Galt, the female protagonist, the social commentary on capitalism and communism in the midst of the Cold War.
Instead it was an apology for greed, and
the protagonist was repeatedly raped by 'supermen' that she idolised. Ok maybe tape is a bit strong, but it was awful writing. On top of that, the character John Galt turned out to be some hippie cum saviour who probably delivered one of the worst and most boring speeches known to man.
'Who is John Galt?'
Finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I thought it was probably more for runners that are fans of Murakami. Even if he talked about writing too in the second chapter.
But the third chapter was a picturesque description of a marathon. Still, I ended up not knowing a lot about him as a writer except he's disciplined, and works hard. And I didn't get the "toxin" part. And I am more convinced that marathons are a kind of masochism.
Still suffering through The Bone season. Another one third done, only one third left. So I was more annoyed with the second third even if there was a thing that made me laugh even if it wasn't intended by the author. Oh well maybe viewing it as a comedy would make the rest of the book more enjoyable instead of shaking my head because I don't think it makes sense or being just bored.
But the third chapter was a picturesque description of a marathon. Still, I ended up not knowing a lot about him as a writer except he's disciplined, and works hard. And I didn't get the "toxin" part. And I am more convinced that marathons are a kind of masochism.
Still suffering through The Bone season. Another one third done, only one third left. So I was more annoyed with the second third even if there was a thing that made me laugh even if it wasn't intended by the author. Oh well maybe viewing it as a comedy would make the rest of the book more enjoyable instead of shaking my head because I don't think it makes sense or being just bored.
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Finished Looking for Jake, a collection of short stories by China Mieville. As with 90% of his stuff it's excellent.
I have The Buried Giant ready to go now.
I have The Buried Giant ready to go now.
Im reading The Great Outsider, the biography of Lloyd George by Roy Hattersley. It is interesting but I have to admit I cant wait for it to be over, Im counting down the pages now. Id have enjoyed it more if it was 30% shorter.
The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White. Trying my very best to get on with it but he's unlikeable, self-indulgent and, IMO, overrated as a writer. The book is interesting in patches though.
I've just started Consider the Lobster, a collection of essays by David Foster Wallace. I approached with trepidation after the slog that Infinite Jest was but the first piece on the Adult Video Awards was laugh out loud funny.
Found this quite bleak. It was the only Coetzee book I've read.
In stark contrast to much of the above, I've started reading Mickey Spillane's 'I am the Jury' for the first time.
Just read Moby Dick and enjoyed it.
I read Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. Beautiful descriptions. But I am not a fan of the relationship between Komako and the main character. Not sure if it's because it hides too much things or more likely because I don't feel the main character treats nicely Komako.
Any highly recommended books from the 'Caf? I trust you guys far more than I trust other random people on the Internet.
What type of stuff do you like?
I'm honestly very open minded, fire away.
You can check this (or the nomination thread): https://www.redcafe.net/threads/red...ked-up-again-literary-works-countdown.394479/ .
Ta.
OK, a few of my favourites:
Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance. A story of four people who end up living together in Mumbai during the 1970s 'Emergency', and the trials and tribulations they face. Some extremely disturbing passages, not for the light-hearted but an amazing piece of writing.
Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children. Another one set in India, the 'Magic Realism' is not to everyone's taste, but if you like for example Marquez's A Hundred Years of Solitude, this would be right up your street.
Kurd Ali - Ali and Nino. Short enough novel set in Azerbaijan during the First World War, tells the love story of an Azeri Muslim guy and a Georgian Christian girl.
Naguib Mahfouz - The Cairo Trilogy. Three novels telling the story of three generations of a Cairo family during a period of massive change and upheaval in Egypt.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov. Another one not to everybody's taste, but probably my favourite ever novel. The "Grand Inquisitor" chapter especially is something I read every so often on its own, amazing piece of writing.
Albert Camus - The Plague. Set in the French Algerian city of Oran, tells the story of a town on lock-down due to the spread of plague as a metaphor for the Nazi occupation of France.
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America. Really clever novel, imagines an America in which antisemitic presidential candidate Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 election.
Much appreciated.
No bother, btw some of my very favourite books would come under 'Travel Writing', you interested? I like travel books with a lot of history and politics thrown in.
I'm very interested in history and politics and I hope to travel the world at some point in my life so I suppose the answer would be yes.
Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck is simply great.
I've just finished reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell, another great read.
Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell a brilliant book if you like historical stuff.
If you want to read real accounts of people's lives I can recommend Lost Voices of World War One, these were interviews with the last Tommys before they died, very humbling read and great at the same time.
Another good read is Endurance (can't remember the Author) this was the first ill fated voyage to the south pole. After reading that I just thought 'amazing'.
Thank you.
OK then, here's some travel classics. Be warned my own list is skewed in favour of those relating to the Middle East/Islamic world. Also, travel writing is kind of unique in that you have to live with the author through his experiences, so if you take a dislike to him/her, then that can really affect how you enjoy the book.
William Dalrymple - From the Holy Mountain. Account of a trip the author did from Mt. Athos in Greece to Egypt in the early 90s, the theme being the crisis facing Middle Eastern Christians. Also check out his In Xanadu and The Age of Kali.
Paul Theroux - The Great Railway Bazaar. Classic book on the author's journey by train from London to Japan and back. Theroux has a particular grumpy/cynical outlook on life that doesn't sit well with everyone. Personally I prefer it to the kind of 'wow it was so amazing' stuff that you get from some others. Also check out his Dark Star Safari and others.
Wilfred Thesiger - Arabian Sands. Outright travel classic, Thesiger was the last of the great British desert explorers, and had the instinct of an anthropologist. This work, and his other book The Marsh Arabs capture traditional rural Arab life just before it was changed forever by the impact of oil revenues.
Eric Newby - A Short Walk in the Hindukush. Newby probably has the best sense of humour of those I've listed here, this is a great account of his attempt to climb a remote mountain in eastern Afghanistan. Also check his Slowly Down the Ganges.
Jason Elliot - An Unexpected Light. Account of a year the author spent in Afghanistan in the mid-90s, after the rise of the Taliban, but just before they conquered Kabul.
Rory Stewart - The Places In Between. Another one set in Afghanistan (Afghanistan tends to produce great travel writing for some reason), the author (a Conservative MP) walked from Herat to Kabul in the winter of 2001/2002, through the remote 'central route' of Afghanistan.
Robert Byron - The Road to Oxiana. This is considered by some to be the greatest travel book ever written. Heavy on insights on Islamic architecture, it is set primarily in Iran and Afghanistan (again) during the 1930s.
VS Naipaul - Among the Believers. The author, like Theroux above, isn't everyone's cup of tea. This is an account of his travels in Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution (1979).
Colin Thubron - In the Shadow of the Silk Road. The author travels from China to Israel/Palestine, retracing Marco Polo's route backwards through Central Asia.
Or not Hemingway, apparently.
http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/the-urban-legend-of-ernest-hemingways-six-word-story.html