We haven't had a book thread in a while
I like books, I buy them far more often than I finish reading them, so currently have a large pile of unread ones I have bought,
The most recent addition to the list though, is 'johnny come home' by Jake Arnott, which has been moved to the top of the pile, and will be the next to be read. It's Mr Arnott's 4th book now, and I have read the previous 3. His fist, 'The Long Firm', was dramatised on the BBC last year, and while I thought that was done rather well, it missed out a section, and didn't quite live up to the book. In a similar genre, though nowhere near as well written, I've become quite a fan of Martina Cole. She brings a great deal of realism (well, it seems real, I've no idea what gang-life on council estates is like...) to the stories, with just enough of the gritty stuff to remain exciting, without becoming silly. I think the last time we did one of these, I reccomended 'The Rotters' Club' and 'The Closed Circle', by Jonathan Coe. I've since read 'The Dwarves of Death' by the same author, and was similarly impressed. It's a lot shorter, but equally as peculiar and amusing. I ahve 'The House of Sleep' waiting on my pile. I bought 'I am Charlotte Simmons' quite a while ago now, and haven't got round to reading that, partly due to the mixed reviews I read of it. For those not familiar, it is by Tom Wolfe, the author of 'Bonfire of the Vanities' (the film of which is on this week I believe, but is meant to be dire and as I recall, much detested by Dace) which I thoroughly enjoyed. Does anyone have comments that will help move it up or down the list-order? |
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This summer I'm going to be renewing my attempt to read the classics. It's a long-held ambition of mine, and a summer job in London should help me polish off 6-8 books. Last time I worked in London (the summer of 2004) I read The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden and a Marquis de Sade novel as part of a ninty minute commute each day to work in London over the space of a month.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. By classics I mean the true classics - and those two Steinbeck books should be fairly indicative of what I'm looking for. I also bought two books today after reading a thread on SA about alt-history. Weapons of Choice Designated Targets Both of these are part of a series named "Axis of Evil". It's actually quite hard to find quality alt-history that's not about the American Civil War, so hopefully these will be a good read. |
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I bought 2 books the other day which are now waiting to be read.
'Lord of the Silver Bow' by David Gemmell & 'The Lords Of The North' by Bernard Cornwell. The book i'm most eagerly awaiting is the first in the new Conn Iggulden series based on Genghis Khan and the Mongols. |
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anything by Louis de Bernieres I highly recommend.
oh and the Good Beer Guide. Mainly because it's next to me at the moment. |
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Also, that 'Profanisaurus Rex' thing by the Viz people is great pub-time reading.
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richard morgan writes excellent science fiction.
history (factual) recommendations are much appreciated by the enby. |
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I'm currently reading Janine di Giovanni's "Place at the end of the world". Basically she's a journalist who has spent the past twenty years travelling to and reporting from some of the most wartorn and oppressed places on the planet. She has an interesting and very powerful way of writing and if you're interested in the more human side of certain conflicts her book is a good place to start. I also finished reading Robert A. Heinlein's "The moon is a harsh mistress" which is the story of a libertarian revolt which takes place on, you guessed it, the moon. As you can imagine from my description I jerked myself clean off over it. It's intelligent, it's witty and it's provoking. I couldn't say a bad word about it. PS do you mean historical novels or historical books enby? |
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sorry, should have been more clear.
I want/need to expand my history knowledge, pretty much in any area, but europe etc mainly. |
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Da Vinci Code :salute:
I'm interested in finding some decent non-fictional-but-well-presented sciency literature. Like that "Longitude" book, or "Fermat's last theorem." Go go gadget intarweb. |
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I've been reaidng loads of books recently because its exam season.
One book that I want to read after my exams is A People Betrayed by Linda Melvern which is about the Rwandan genocide. Its something I'm very interested in, mainly because of the dynamics whereby we refused to act despite knowing it was going to happen, then was happening and refusing to name it a genocide, then knowing it was genocide but refusing to name it as such and thus avoiding the legal obligation to act. All because 18 soldiers got shot for going beyond their remit in Somalia. beyond that I ahve no plans to read anything. |
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Just finished Man and Boy and the sequel Man and Wife by Tony Parsons.
Both great books but I still think Parsons is a wanker because of the 'interview' he did with the Ramones in 1977. |
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In the non-fiction category, I've just finished Shattered Sword, a book on the battle of Midway (a very good read for a 'technical' book) and The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, about the battle off Samar during the larger battle of Leyte Gulf. |
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Asimov's guide to the Bible is really interesting by the way.
Although the second half of the New Testament is really boring explanation wise :( |
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A favourite of mines is "The art of war" Sun Tzu
Although it does lack a plot, I have found several ways to apply it to work (managing an off license) playing sports (rugby and football) and also to play PA. Last book I had read in the sense was "No mean city" H.Kingsley Long |
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Product Details: # Hardcover 416 pages (January 2, 2007) # Publisher: HarperCollins # Language: English # ISBN: 0007201745 Ages :( |
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im assuming that that is the same john birmingham who wrote this which i thoroughly reccomend to all the students around here :) um, re reading a lot of R A Salvatore's forgotten realms drizzt books at the moment, not in the mood for anything heavy, although i also have david eddings' latest book in the house to read, the last book in his elder gods series, so it should be good :) (although really exactly the same as all his others, go go gadget formulaic sci-fi/fantasy) |
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I havent read a decent book in ages.
There really isnt anything out that captures my interest. I've been reading some fantasy lately, obviously done all of the Waste of Time books. Done practically everything by Fiest (is it just me or do they get shitter and shitter as he gets older?) and recently finished the fourth book in the series of A Song of Ice and Fire, which is the best fantasy series I've read. But now I'm at a loss as to what to read :< |
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Give Steven Eriksons - Gardens of the Moon a go if you are after good fantasy (assuming you havn't read it before). Various member of this forum will attest to it's brilliance.
I've just finished reading 1984 and A Brave New World, they were both excellent for different reasons. Obviously I enjoyed the distopian world presented in Huxley's book, it seemed a little more plausible, and much more sinister. 1984 didn't grab me as much, perhaps because it seemed a little too bleak. As a 'thought provoking' book it was much better though. I particularly enjoyed the reflections on the use of newspeak to limit and control thought. But that is mostly because I have an academic interest in the philosophy of language. Now I am reading Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamatzov. It's long and drawn out, as most of his works are, but I find they tend to get better once you've read a good portion of the book. It just takes a while to get drawn in. |
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PS Military, political, social, general, continent-spanning, specific, modern, ancient, renaissance, medieval, pre-history or industrial revolution enby? |
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all of the above !?
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Out of the classics, do you have any recommendations? |
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If you're interested in classics, I think Kafka's 'The trial' should be on your list...it does kinda lose it a bit in the middle and go on and on without really making any new points, but i still think it's a great book, and definitely worth a read.
And also, while not a classic, 'Perfume' by Patrick Suskind is one of the best books i have EVER read, it's beautifully written, and also has an interesting story-line. |
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Bester's The Demolished Man, and another mention of Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday.
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To be fair it is a brilliant book. What did you think of Crime and Punishment? Oh and to Rids Quote:
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Voltaire has already been mentioned but I have to single out Candide. It's very short & readable, is frequently hilarious and yet still covers a fair few philosophical concepts.
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The Brothers Karamazov, on the other hand, I thought was shit. The main problem is that Doestovsky was completely unable to write a character who wasnt decadent - he was great at portraying 'bad' humans, but that was it. In his notes for BK, he said that Alyosha was meant to be the positive character, but this is pretty laughable given that he was at least as contemptible as the rest of them. All throughout the book, I was screaming for the appearnce of a heroic character, someone with even a basic degree of strength, integrity, or honesty, who would stand above the pathetic failures and actually give the whole thing a point. But alas he never came, and I was stuck with 800 pages about mediocrity. "Notes From the Underground" is far better imo, since it allowed Doestoyvsky to concentrate on what he was best at - writing about sick people and sick societies - rather than trying to take on a task which his religious beliefs probably made him incapable of completing. |
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And read some Shakespeare (King Lear - it really is some of the best literature ever written). edit: Oh, and read Le Carré for pretty much the best spy-fiction you'll ever read. |
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you recall correctly |
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I also don't quite understand how you can call such a beacon of virtue and goodness as Alyosha "contemptible", I'd like to hear your reasoning for that. It's certainly not how the character came across to me. I do think Notes from the Underground is perhaps more brilliant though (but as a far far smaller work I would regard TBK as more of an artistic acheivement, or whatever). It's available online and I would suggest that anyone and everyone read it. Whilst you are doing so, try to remember when it was written and it's even more amazing. Anyway, books. In the last week I have been cut off from the internet at home I've read quite a few books (god bless the university library). I got out James Joyce - Portrait of the artist as a young man, Nick Hornby - High fidelity, Arthur Conan Doyle - hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur C Clarke - 2001, Iris Murdoch - Nuns and soldiers. I also got out Salman Rushdie - East, West. But I haven't read that yet. I'd never read any of those authors before (yes, I know, shut up) and it has been quite an experience reading so many different styles of writing so densely. Joyce was pretty intense, I didn't know exactly what to expect, but it was fun to find it anyway. It's quite an odd book with oodles of introspection and psychology and I can't be bothered to actually go into it, but the way it's done is great. Especially the writing evolving with the character (you'll know what I mean if you read it). The Nick Hornby one I actually read in an evening when I wanted a break from Joyce. Really easy to read and an entertaining enough contemporary tale, according to some friends of mine I shouldn't ever read any more of his books now because they're all the same :o Hound of the Baskervilles was as ace as you would expect it to be. I'm almost certainly going to read more Holmes some time in the future (maybe I'll get one out when I leave the library I'm making this post from). Excellent plot, written at a perfect pace to keep the reader on his toes and although it can surprise it always felt justified. 2001 was great too, and I feel as if a certain, common part of sci-fi culture that I should have had years ago has finally been consumed. The ending I certainly wasn't expecting though, but somehow very satisfying. I only picked up the Nuns and Soldiers because I wanted a woman writer's book and had vaguely heard of the author and the title. It's a beast though, it reminded me a bit of dostoevsky at the start actually, very in depth psychological writing that just seems to go on and on and on. It doesn't get boring though, I haven't actually finished it yet (about 50 pages left out of 500, this one took me as long to read as all the others put together. It being the longest by far and being the second most difficult to read) and I'm hoping that something huge happens at the end. I don't think it will, but theres been intrigue building throughout and I can't wait to see where it has all been leading. Anyway, I'm babbling now. The above is pretty much "what I have done with my week" so at least I can console my internetless self with the fact that at this rate I will have read a few hundred more classic books by the time i get the internet back. Hurrah! |
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I was gonna suggest this. I like the clever idea (ie what would happen if you had the best sense of smell in the world EVER!) which made the story make itself. I've bought the book and given it to someone as a random present because i like it so much. Saying that though i've lent my sister my copy and she's finding it hard-going apparantly (she does English Lit at Uni too :(( ). Quote:
And this was going to be my second suggestion. Even if you don't like it it's only like an hour and a half out of your life or so *shrug* |
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I recently read Perdido Street Station on T&F's recommendation which I enjoyed quite a lot, although if you don't like fantasy/sci-fi it'd undoubtedly leave you cold.
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I'm suprised noone's mentioned Catch 22 yet.
Rated one of the best books of the 20th century. I really enjoyed it but other people I know had trouble getting into it. |
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the reason i didnt mention it before is that i dont consider it a 'real' classic |
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Oh, just thought I would mention something as a "point of interest" for any Spaced fans. In Nuns and soldiers there are two characters who live in london (a couple, sort of, sometimes they live together sometimes apart) called Tim and Daisy. He an artist, she a writer... what are the odds?
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The last I read, was The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist. I enjoyed it as entertainment, but it wasn't great in any way. Feist is an acclaimed fantasy writer though, so I will assume others like it more. Next on the list is Moby Dick (or The White Whale), by Herman Melville. I suppose it could be called one of the classics, and I heard many great things about it, so I'm looking forward to getting on with it sometime this week. Bought it just today, but I haven't looked at it yet. I know the opening line (Call me Ismael), of course, but I didn't know what book it was from before yesterday. Funny how such things can give you impulses overnight. After that, I think I'll read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It is in my father's bookshelves somewhere, so I'll borrow it together with a few other books. I was thinking about The Divine Comedy by Dante, and The Trial by Franz Kafka. Though, I hear that Dante is writing as if it was a song, and I can't find the book in my own language anywhere (The one my father has is english, and the other one I was able to find was in a different norwegian than my main one). I'm worried about that one, but I got through both The Odyssey and The Iliad, so I suppose I'll manage somehow. |
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First, the worst book i ever read was the Digital Fortress by Dawn Brown. After reading 20 pages you knew what would happen for the rest of the book.. I hate you Dawn Brown!
Now.. what I liked reading: Terry Pratchett - Mort Everyone are ought to read one book by Pratchett, and "Mort" is the best one. It's very humorous. Frank Herbert - Dune Very interesting book(s). Good reading Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho You'll hate all about the book, but still you love every sentence of it. Gert Nygaardshaug - Mengele Zoo (dunno if it's in English) My favourite book. Opens your eyes to the treatment of the rainforest and the people who lives there. Great book. Miguel Cervantes - Don Quijote The best book ever written, according to today's writers. |
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I thought Catch 22 was really very very funny.
Started Brave New World on the toilet once but I didn't last long enough. I really liked I Paid Hitler. Not fiction but a good read. Also Mr Nice just because Howard Marks is as cool a guy as has ever been. Peace. |
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