anyone?
I'm reading Philip Roth's - "The Plot Against America" at the minute. It's good. I like Philip Roth. Or Phil as I call him. Or the Rothster. All his books are quite similar what with them all being based around jewish families in Newark, NJ and all having the same characters in.
Cloud Atlas
Really good.
I love you
I've pretty much finished the latest I-D
and that's about it really - books just gather too much dust and give me a tickily chest. :-/
elizabeth kostova - the historian
I am really liking it, kind of a history of Dracula and travelling around europe. apparently it all falls apaprt after the first 300 odd pages, so says amazon reviews anyways but i am only about 100ish in.
Iain Banks - walking on glass
not my favoruite one by him.
is that the one
with a few intertwined stories going on? And one of them's in a castle.
yeah
I dont like the castle one (Quiss and all the scullions), or the Stephen Grout one especially either. I'm only reading it for the Sara ffitch/Graham thing. And to see if the stories do ever combine.
I hate poorly bound books
my copy of bonfire of the vanities dropped to bits while I was reading it. I had to just discard pages I'd read.
haha the story not the actual book
although that is a big problem with cheaply bound books nowadays.
Oh dear - I usually have something 'penguiny and organgey' at hand
but I'm currently reading the Alex Higgins Biog whilst occasionally dipping into Grossmith's 'Diary of A Nobody' for 'comfort reading - I've been 'reccomended' The Time Traveller's Wife by everyone so perhaps should get it?
read it, it's brilliant
it should be very confusing but it manages not to be and is also a great story
I've just finished Freakonomics
So am currently BETWEEN BOOKS. It's an exciting time for me, I'm sure you'll agree.
The Idiot -
Dostoevsky.
ha ha
I DESTROYED this book and made the warn CRY LIKE A GIRL. It was my greatest moment on DiS ever.
Yes.
It does upset me when people recycle the opinions of rubbish newspapers.
Get this sick bastard out of my country.
It's not as good as it should be though, is it?
How good should it be?
I liked it a lot.
*it's happening again! WAAAGH!*
It should be better
I just thought it could have gone deeper at certain points. It seemed like they did preliminary research, then just...stopped. I don't know, I can't really explain it.
Also, I got pissed off because I thought I had loads more to read but I didn't, it was all appendices and notes. Bastards.
that's what I'd probably think
if I read it. But I won't.
I nearly did buy it in Kings Cross a few weeks ago but I didn't. TRUE STORY.
I bought mine from Victoria
All the best books are bought from train stations. Often when drunk.
It was never presented as a proper academic study though,
and if it was, people would have found it BORING.
Basically, I think I'm saying you're too clever for your own good.
Yeah
It probably would have been boring if it were a proper academic study. But I think if you're the type of person who would read it in the first place, then you're the sort of person who could get involved and interested in what's being said. And then, if you're me, you get annoyed when they stop analysing and move on really quickly.
I have a short attention span and even I wanted more. MORE.
Is
this the right room for the Freakonomics debate?
Am I too late?
Of course not
Fire away!
I reckon we're all going to show off now
I'm just re-reading 'The Theory of Contingency Revisited' by Richard Rorty, the emminent American Social theorist and all round cunt - I'm lying as the last time I touched this disgraceful tome was whilst writing an essay (and eating an apple) and I tore it up in furstration and got fined by the library.
Why the Rorty hate, Prole?
I read a couple of chapters of "Contingency, Irony and Solidarity" and thought it was pretty interesting. Certainly not bad enough to warrant destruction.
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football
it's brilliant (orange)
Yes that book is great
I love the dutch.
My copy of that is signed
by Johnny Rep. Go me.
I would've preferred
it to be signed by one of the Muhrens, still Rep is adequate
If I had a choice
I'd have gone for Robbie Rensenbrink
Van Hanegem would be better
IMO
Brass by Helen Walsh
it has a lot of lesbian sex and drug taking. A bit "shocking for the sake of shocking" at times but it's very readable. Probably finish it tonight.
i'm reading
'you can't catch death' by ianthe brautigan which is a memoir all about her dead dad, richard brautigan who is possibly my favourite writer ever. i've not read much of it for a while and if sujhaile reads this she's gonna shout at me for not reading lots of other books
WHY DON'T YOU READ THE BOOKS I GIVE YOU?
It's not much to ask, is it? GAH! Seriously, you and I are going to come to blows about this soon...
Um... I am reading the sixth Harry Potter book again, because I just finished Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud. I'm on a kid's fantasy bender at the moment, it seems. I second the positive opinions on Cloud Atlas and the Time Traveller's Wife.
I'm determined
to finish all of the (paperback) Discworld books this year, and as such am halfway through the Last Continent, and about halfway through the series, though I haven't been reading them sequentially.
I'd really like a paperback edition of J-Pod to come out so I can read that. I hate hardbacks.
I'm reading
America's Back Porch by DAniel Jeffreys.
S'alright
I am now reading
'England Owes Me A Living' by Andrew Cooper with graphics by Robert Grindrod.
Currently Reading:
Moby Dick
and Children of Men by PD James.
books brilliant, trailer for the film looks ace aswell.
I just finished...
'Hangover Square' - Patrick Hamilton
and now i'm reading 'You Shall Know Our Velocity' - Dave Eggers and 'Dark Star Safari' - Paul Theroux
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Very good so far, as expected.
just finished
in the skin of a lion by michael ondaatje and about to start knulp by hermann hesse - two of my favourite authors.
The Third Policeman
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Rip It Up And Start Again
The Reprieve
oh god
and the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
I'm still on 'A', granted, but it is so fascinating, a real page turner. I have learn that a lot of phrases are based on nautical terms.
are you REALLY reading all
those books at once jasmine. Remember I can tell if you're lying.
should have been a question
mark in there somewhere.
?
well not technically all at once
I just dip imbetween them.
khgdlskhgedszbvgfdgvfdxgv
monday: RIUAST
tuesday: reprieve
etc
hmmmmm okay
you check out.
love Third Pol
βI would not mind being working this minute on a steamer in the middle of the sea, I said, coiling ropes and doing the hard manual work. I would like to be far away from here.β
********
βIt is a queer contraption, very dangerous, a certain death-trap. Life?β
I think the captain of the one legged menis actually my favourite character!
baldnonsmkigngrls
I think this is the fourth time I have read it within three years.
I love that book
It really is so interesting. And the weird lists it has in it too, they're great! Must try and find my copy.
Er, 'that book'
being the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. There's a reason I don't post much round here...
I'm currently reading a "What are you reading" thread on the DiS boards.
In terms of books I'm not reading anything at the moment. I recently finished Christopher Brookmyre's "A Tale Etched in Blood and Chalk" (think that's the title) and that was great.
Not sure what I'll read next although I might look out "A Time Traveller's Life". I'm vaguely tempted to read "We Need to Talk about Kevin" but I'm woried it might just be bleak and depressing.
I love Christopher Brookmyre
but I'm not sure why. I keep thinking I shouldn't really like it, but then get drawn in by every one of his books.
Good stuff.
He's probably my favourite writer...
In terms of the amount of enjoyment I get from the books.
Just read ...
A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil, and All Fun and Games... back to back - it was so sinful.
my sister read
We need to talk about Kevin for her book group, and yeah she said it was one of the darkest things she's ever read.
I don't mind if it's dark...
...as long as it's dark in an intelligent, complex way that says something interesting rather than just unrelentingly bleak.
I'm currently reading a "What are you reading" thread on the DiS boards.
In terms of books I'm not reading anything at the moment. I recently finished Christopher Brookmyre's "A Tale Etched in Blood and Chalk" (think that's the title) and that was great.
Not sure what I'll read next although I might look out "A Time Traveller's Life". I'm vaguely tempted to read "We Need to Talk about Kevin" but I'm woried it might just be bleak and depressing.
Not sure what I'll read next although I might look out "A Time Traveller's Life".
Sure you don't mean "The Time Traveler's Wife"?
Yeah. I know what it's called.
It's too early to type :)
I started that Roth book and stalled.
My attention span is seriously withered.
I'm currently reading Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey on the recommendation of soup100. It's from ebay, a beautiful little pocket-sized blue hardback with yellowed pages.
^ That was me.
Law Books
:(:(:( :(
I've given up on at least one Philip Roth book
the counterlife I believe it was.
John/Jasmine
Simultaneously/before/after Northanger Abbey read some 18th century Gothic novel if you haven't. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is probably the best and makes Northanger Abbey make much more sense :)
War and Peace
only another thousand and something pages to go. It's really pacy though!
i'm reading Cloud Atlas... i've had it for over a year and not read it.
and to be honest, i'm not that impressed. unless it suddenly goes apeshit during the last couple of chapters.
personally i thought jonathan strange was better.
i'm also reading 'at swim two birds' which is awesome.
oh and erm, a Bill Hicks book.
and, Rubicon - the rise and fall of the roman empire.
i like to shake it up.
You've just angered bamos
He's gonna come getcha.
bring it on!
Rubicon
Is my favourite populist history book. Reads like a derranged soap opera. Tremendous storytelling!
i know!!
i did all those wars etc. for my Junior Cert, hannibal/sulla/scipio etc. and loved it, so reading this was really good. :)
i really liked number9dream
but ghostwritten was strangely insubstantial for such a book with such epic themes.
it's kinda put me off reading cloud atlas.
I enjoyed Cloud Atlas.
It was nicelyt linked up throughout, and stretched the idea of skipping through history further in imaginative ways.
i don't hate it... i just...
i dunno. feels a bit 'done before' in a way.
though i haven't finished it yet, i'm just on those letters at the end... is something amazing about to happen?
Ah I am at the same point as you
and I feel the same way. I appreciate the links and various styles etc. but I suppose I was hoping for a more substantial arc.
I really like the Robert Forbisher and Sonmi stories, especially the ideas in Sonmi's. I really hated Sloosha's Crossin'... I found it so hardgoing and as a result I've been reading the bloody book since the start of July! I've still enjoyed it, though.
I have to read Clockwork Orange within two weeks for course work. I hate having to rush books :(
Sloosha's Crossin'
is beautiful. And it is the highlight of the book and it is the most gorgeous thing ever.
Anyway. I think there is something substantial in it. All the stories are about the same thing.
Argh, you're being DIFFICULT.
I didn't like it very much. I could understand it fine, it was just really annoying to read. Maybe I just got pissed off that there was that many apostrophes on one page! There should be restrictions.
The Warner Bros. Story
huge textbook thingy with reviews of every release from the studio.
last thing was the guided by voices biography 'A Brief History'. next will be Gods And Monsters cos its the only Peter Biskind book i haven't read yet.
i'm "reading"
Fear & Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S Thompson.
but i'm not far into it and i've had it for ages. since i stopped getting the bus to work, i don't read very much..
also
i'm not really clever enough for books.
Richard Girling - Rubbish!
Amongst various course readers.
Kevin
definitely read 'we need to talk about Kevin' guywithnousername, and anyone else. Very refreshing and very funny moments at times.
Thanks!
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
By Elizabeth Smart, im reading it because Morrissey plagerised it for my favourite smiths song. I like it although I think I only understand one line in three.
The Challenge of Diversity
a geeky, academic book on the languages of the EU. Well, I like it
i'd actually be interested to know what
they say about irish... if you've got that far?