Books The BOOK thread

Eckers99 said:
How did you get on with Blood Meridian? I was banging on about it not so long ago so I really hope you like/d it!
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I did enjoy it to be fair but I found it hard work because of the style of it. I cant remember if it was you or someone else but they said it was almost like very dark poetry which I thought was a pretty good description of it. Put it this way, in the last few months I have read Purity which is about three times longer, I read that in about a week and a half because it was unputdownable, I was staying up till 1 in the morning reading some nights. Blood Meridian was not unputdownable in the same way, when I read it I felt my eyes getting heavy at times and I didnt really read it for long stretches, so it took me 3 or 4 weeks.

BUT, having said that, it was absolutely a unique book and when I say it wasnt unputdownable that is not to say I wasnt enjoying it, more that it was just a much harder read, I found at times I realised I hadnt followed anything that had happened for the last few pages and had to go back and read again. There were some really memorable moments in it and it totally delivered on one of the main things that people had said that made me read it, which was how powerful it was and how dark some of the things that happened in it were. Very glad I read it.
 
So anyway, Post Office is now sitting on my bedside table waiting for me to start it. Looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about with Bukoswski. I have high hopes, always nice when you get into a new author who has a lot of work for you to plough your way through.
 
Finished One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson on Monday. Very entertaining and informative read about a facinating few months in US history. I had a couple of busy weeks, so I stopped reading for a forthnight in the middle, but it didn't hinder the enjoyment.

Read Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris yesterday. Short and to the point. The book is written to Evangelical Christians, but would be thought provoking for moderately religious and non-religious. It actually might not srike a chord at all with it's actual target audience.
 
Reading Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five at the moment. Catch 22 is absolutely hilarious; one of the funniest books I've ever read. Are there any other books similar to it which I could read after finishing it?
 
LuisNaniencia said:
Oh I took it as more of an anti capitalism book, I thought it was about a guy who crashes the world economy because it was broken.
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Yeah you could be right. I read it as a corrupt socialist government were squeezing the life out of innovative entrepreneurs who vanish and the world grinds to a halt. I think it just annoyed me because i didnt like any characters.
 
Stringer said:
Reading Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five at the moment. Catch 22 is absolutely hilarious; one of the funniest books I've ever read. Are there any other books similar to it which I could read after finishing it?
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Catch 22 is excellent. Sadly, it's one of a kind.
 
LuisNaniencia said:
Oh I took it as more of an anti capitalism book, I thought it was about a guy who crashes the world economy because it was broken.
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From what I've read about the book (haven't touched it myself), he crashes the world economy because he (the owner of a big company IIRC) doesn't feel he's getting enough cash.
 
Archie Leach said:
Slaughterhouse Five is like Catch-22 in a sense. Heller's book is my all time favourite.
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:)
Best book ever.

Have you read anything else by him? I've heard he's written 2-3 other novels and am wondering if they will be worth it.
 
Stringer said:
Reading Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five at the moment. Catch 22 is absolutely hilarious; one of the funniest books I've ever read. Are there any other books similar to it which I could read after finishing it?
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If you like Slaughterhouse V, you can also try Mother Night by the same author.

IMO neither of them are equal to Catch-22 which is perfection.
 
Reading a book about Black Metal, by that guy who writes for Metal Hammer, Dayal Patterson. It's alright so far, but it's all about the music. I was hoping for more about the murdering, the church burning and the obscene right wing conservatism that came with that second wave. Not just "We couldn't source bass amps so we just used guitar amps, and that tinny sound became a staple of the genre forevermore."

Somebody better die soon, or I'm shelving it.
 
Just finished 1984. Absolutely fantastic book, which pretty much goes without me saying.

On to Catch 22 now.
 
The Silence of the Lambs (again). Brilliant, fascinating; superb writing.
 
This is very boring, I'm sure, but...I wonder if there are links between the Hannibal Lecter novels and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? There are hints everywhere in Harris's books, though small hints:

Clarice's name containing the name 'Alice'; the unworldly and raw (in terms of style) Starling being corrected on stylistic matters by the arch Caterpillar; Dr Lecter being 'a connoisseur of facial cheeses' (cheeses in the town of Cheshire were made in the shape of cat faces to amuse buyers) - the Cheshire Cat, with its visage fading into darkness, as Lecter - bar his unusual eyes - does on occasion on when Clarice visits his cell; Wonderland's theme of 'eat or be eaten'; Wonderland's Mad Tea-Party - like Lecter's human feast for his orchestral society associates, and the infamous Paul Krendler feast; both the Hatter and the Caterpillar make 'short, personal remarks, and set unanswerable riddles' etc etc.

There are more, certainly. I just wonder whether Thomas Harris had Lewis Carroll's tale in mind when he wrote his crime fiction series...
 
The Bone Collector (by Jeffrey Deaver)

A real mixed bag: compelling, tense, and yet occasionally a bit silly. Decent enough though.

7.5/10
 
Adebesi said:
I did enjoy it to be fair but I found it hard work because of the style of it. I cant remember if it was you or someone else but they said it was almost like very dark poetry which I thought was a pretty good description of it. Put it this way, in the last few months I have read Purity which is about three times longer, I read that in about a week and a half because it was unputdownable, I was staying up till 1 in the morning reading some nights. Blood Meridian was not unputdownable in the same way, when I read it I felt my eyes getting heavy at times and I didnt really read it for long stretches, so it took me 3 or 4 weeks.

BUT, having said that, it was absolutely a unique book and when I say it wasnt unputdownable that is not to say I wasnt enjoying it, more that it was just a much harder read, I found at times I realised I hadnt followed anything that had happened for the last few pages and had to go back and read again. There were some really memorable moments in it and it totally delivered on one of the main things that people had said that made me read it, which was how powerful it was and how dark some of the things that happened in it were. Very glad I read it.
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Yeah, I know exactly what you mean and I get that a lot with McCarthy's books - that combination of the demanding style and seemingly aimless narrative doesn't make for an easy read. It can feel like a bit of a slog at times. And yet, by the end I always feel like I'm shutting something totally 'other' away. They stay with me much longer than most novels I read.

So...you're on 'Post Office' I see. You like? If you like that you might like 'Ham on Rye' - really good.

For what it's worth, I'm reading 'Pale Fire' at the minute. I'd only previously read 'Lolita' of Nabokov's other work, which I loved and, considering the subject matter, I actually found pretty funny. Haven't got far enough into Pale Fire to say much but the basic premise seems pretty intriguing.
 
Joemo said:
Just finished 1984. Absolutely fantastic book, which pretty much goes without me saying.

On to Catch 22 now.
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Good stuff. Started rereading Homage to Catalonia the other week. Orwell's writing is a joy to read.
 
I think that and Down and Out in Paris and London are probably my favourite Orwell books.
 
Just read John Williams' Stoner. This is an incredibly sad novel. It's written with such deftness though that I breezed through it. There are moments of real beauty here. It's a book that I don't think will leave me for a long time.

Going onto something different now, just started The Goldfinch.
 
Keenst said:
Just read John Williams' Stoner. This is an incredibly sad novel. It's written with such deftness though that I breezed through it. There are moments of real beauty here. It's a book that I don't think will leave me for a long time.
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It's such a fantastic book. There are times when it's almost too depressing to bear, and other times when it's beautifully melancholic.
 
Been on a bit of an Irish history binge to understand the year thats in it. I read Parnell by FSL Lyons. Gave great insight in CS Parnell and Ireland of his time. He very nearly achieved Home Rule without any bloodshed. I also read The Easter Widows which is a great book about the women who were left behind after yhe executions of the Easter Rising leaders in 1916. Some great characters there!
 
Stringer said:
Reading Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five at the moment. Catch 22 is absolutely hilarious; one of the funniest books I've ever read. Are there any other books similar to it which I could read after finishing it?
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Gravity's Rainbow. Took me a few years to finally finish it, mind.

Also, it's not really similar apart from the period its set it. I just class them as the best two books I've ever read so they go hand in hand for me.
 
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Read both of Nell Zink's books recently, and loved them both. The Wallcreeper is her first, and it has one of my favourite ever opening lines:

"I was looking at the map when Stephen swerved, hit the rock and occasioned the miscarriage.”
 
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Really enjoyed this. Just the right amount of action/forensics/legal ratio and three dimensional characters.

8/10
 
Was just in Tokyo and picked up Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe and Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima. Mishima seems like a mad bastard, committing seppuku after a failed coup d'etat. Abe seems to be like the Japanese Kafka. I've read very little Asian literature so looking forward to these.
Also picked up What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami.
 
Donaldo said:
Gravity's Rainbow. Took me a few years to finally finish it, mind.

Also, it's not really similar apart from the period its set it. I just class them as the best two books I've ever read so they go hand in hand for me.
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A common attitude but one I've never understood. I enjoyed reading all the books on my favourites list.

Surely it's a bit like saying: 'Cabbage is my favourite food. Mind you, I dislike the taste.'
 
Will Absolute said:
A common attitude but one I've never understood. I enjoyed reading all the books on my favourites list.

Surely it's a bit like saying: 'Cabbage is my favourite food. Mind you, I dislike the taste.'
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You misunderstand. I didn't not finish it because I didn't enjoy the book. In fact I loved it even more every time I read from 1 to approximately 98 and had an inevitable break in resolve.

The book was a challenge and a half, but it just made it all the more sweeter. I faced much the same when I started with Infinite Jest a couple of years ago. But prior experience had probably strengthened me a bit (plus the fact that I wasn't 15).
 
I've been on something of a reading binge lately, I started with Pirlo's I think, therefore I play, onto Sir Alex's latest and update to date autobiography. All the while reading historical works such as SPQR by Mary Beard and Roman Imperial Architecture by J.B Ward-Perkins. Not to mention, in the meantime finishing Notes from the Underground which was so utterly superb as to defy how well I already thought of Dostoyevsky. My brain is swimming a bit mind you.

Next up for fiction work I'll probably finish The People In The Trees which I started and a bit like the Goldfinch found myself trailing off from. Will read both soon-ish.
 
Have you read The Devils, mate? It's the sort of novel that stays with you, and seems relevant not only to events in other countries (the French Revoution, for example) but even to contemporary society; some of the characters are 'eternal' in this way.
 
SteveJ said:
Have you read The Devils, mate? It's the sort of novel that stays with you, and seems relevant not only to events in other countries (the French Revoution, for example) but even to contemporary society; some of the characters are 'eternal' in this way.
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No I haven't, I'm very tempted to go on a massive binge of his work mind and you've got me intrigued. So far of his I've read The Brothers Karamazov and Notes from the Underground. Think I need to get cracking on more of his novels.
 
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