What are you reading now?

[jungle]

I've restarted the Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

I was reading it before Christmas and got side-tracked into reading books by Ian McEwan and William Trevor when I left it back in Ireland.

So far, so good. I prefered Norwegian Wood, but I'll leave a definitive statement on it 'til I've finished.

[Matlock]

America's Women : Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins

Very interesting and well written but quite heavy. It reads like a sociology textbook.

[pudgee]

The Assassin's Gate by George Packer, and re-reading John O Farrell's 'Things Can Only Get Better' for light relief.

Both highly recommended.

[Da blonde one]

Just started reading Freuds interpretation of dreams.

It's fantastic, I can't put it down, Explains all the different reasons you might have a certain dream and most the time it has to do with the atmosphere in the room your sleeping in, i.e. whether it's cold or not.

Anyone interested in stuff like that should definately take a look at it.

[Captain Planet]

surely a trick question. right now i am reading what im writing in this thread.

[Killyoursons]

'Story', Robert McKee. Very useful, but very pompous with it.

[trasnanadtonnta]

Ehm...last night I read Vanity Fair (no, the magazine). This was because I had finished Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes.

Fuck, I hate myself.

[Persephone]

Currently reading "Terry Pratchett - Small Gods"

Deftly weaves themes of forgiveness, belief and spiritual regeneration. It's an intriguing satire on institutionalized religion corrupted by power, cracking with one-liners while obliquely suggesting that maybe gods are only as powerful as the beliefs of their followers. *


*copied the review off the back of the book as i could not have described it better myself

[Sound]

Lunar Park- Brett Easton Ellis. How far can one man disappear up his own behind? I'll tell ye when I'm finished.

Homer- The Cave of the Cyclops.

HST- The Great White Shark Hunt. Could I miss this guy anymore?

[northmallexile]

Still reading Moby Dick. Just want to get the bloody thing finished now and move onto something else, as it's becoming a bit of a slog.

I also read Last Man Standing by Christy O'Connor on the flight home from Stockholm last week. 'Twas good. It's about hurling goalkeepers over the 2004 Championship - our own Dónal óg features heavily.

[watermelon]

Hate to admit it but fecking programming books.

[Matlock]

Hate to admit it but fecking programming books.

melons - i'm not angry...i'm just dissapointed.

[watermelon]

melons - i'm not angry...i'm just dissapointed.
Stop girl.

Im fearing I maybe taking my job too seriously.

[Matlock]

Lunar Park- Brett Easton Ellis.


Ah, that got quite mixed reviews. I like his stuff though.

Throw up a review when you are finished willya?

[AGTeacher]

Still reading Moby Dick. Just want to get the bloody thing finished now and move onto something else, as it's becoming a bit of a slog.

I also read Last Man Standing by Christy O'Connor on the flight home from Stockholm last week. 'Twas good. It's about hurling goalkeepers over the 2004 Championship - our own Dónal óg features heavily.
Excellent sports book. Reading 'To Kill A Mockingbird' again with my class. I know it's a cliché but a classic - the last 8-10 pages are genuinely moving. Reading 'Dubliners' with the older lads is great. I can't remember ever reading a better short story than 'A Painful Case'.

[jungle]

HST- The Great White Shark Hunt. Could I miss this guy anymore?

In typical fashion, I've started a second book while readin one. I picked up a copy of Thompson's Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson. It's one of the cheap 50 page Penguin jobs released for their 70th birthday. It's such a pity we won't get any new writing from him. Admittedly, I don't often agree with him, but he manages to write with such humour that I enjoy reading it anyway.

[Sound]

In typical fashion, I've started a second book while readin one. I picked up a copy of Thompson's Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson. It's one of the cheap 50 page Penguin jobs released for their 70th birthday. It's such a pity we won't get any new writing from him. Admittedly, I don't often agree with him, but he manages to write with such humour that I enjoy reading it anyway.

Now where did I put my 50K sound rig and fresh elk heart (in a zip-loc bag!).

[jungle]

Now where did I put my 50K sound rig and fresh elk heart (in a zip-loc bag!).
Watch it, or I'll call the cops. I have you marked down as the murderous stalker kind...

[Widebhoy]

Reading Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs, getting into her stuff lately. The new show "Bones" on Sky One is based on the protagonist of her books.

[singular]

"Love In the Time of Cholera" -Gabriel Garcia Marquez,decided to get more of his stuff after reading '100 Years of Solitude' , really enjoyed that book.

[Langer Dan]

The Real Charlotte by Somerville & Ross.

Biography of Stalin by Robert Service.

[west cork rebel]

just started angles and demons by Dan Brown

[Razz]

'Brick Lane' by Monica Ali and 'Conversations - Snapshots of Modern Irish Life' by Darragh MacIntyre.

[jungle]

I thought it was just me who had the afflistion of trying to read two books at the same time.

Anyway, I finished the Hunter Thompson book. I'd recommend it for someone who's trying to fill a couple of hours on a plane or a train. You'd easily get through it in that time.

[Razz]

I thought it was just me who had the afflistion of trying to read two books at the same time.

It started when I would read one going to and from work, and another while at home, but now I like to have 2 or 3 on the go at the same time. I can pick and choose based on my mood/what I feel like reading, and I'm also more likely to stick with a book that's heavy going.

[jungle]

It started when I would read one going to and from work, and another while at home, but now I like to have 2 or 3 on the go at the same time. I can pick and choose based on my mood/what I feel like reading, and I'm also more likely to stick with a book that's heavy going.
Yeah. It's something I do when travelling too. I like to have a small book that I can take on a plane or train with me. At home, I would tend to have a thicker novel.

[Langer Dan]

It started when I would read one going to and from work, and another while at home, but now I like to have 2 or 3 on the go at the same time. I can pick and choose based on my mood/what I feel like reading, and I'm also more likely to stick with a book that's heavy going.


yep Im the same reading those two and reading Lunar Dust as well which is about the Apollo moon landings, cracking read.

Nice to have a bit of variation.

Iv about five other bbooks to read after these three.

[teddougaljack]

Struggling through The Da Vinci Code.
Could it be any more OVERRATED??
One word - trash.

[Razz]

yep Im the same reading those two and reading Lunar Dust as well which is about the Apollo moon landings, cracking read.

Nice to have a bit of variation.

Iv about five other bbooks to read after these three.

I have Dance Dance Dance (Murakami) lined up next, I've a long flight on Sunday that should break the back of it. Then maybe The Wasp Factory on the way back, been meaning to start it for a while.

[STEVIEG]

Yeah i read 'Dance Dance Dance" recently
Just read Jonathan Lethem-"A Fortress of Solitude"
One of the best i've read in a good while

[west cork rebel]

just started to read Catcher in the rye by J.D Salinger

[mr blonde]

at the moment im reading Jarhead by Anthony Swofford

[Laslo Panaflex]

nearly finished reading 'kafka on the shore'.my first murkami book.it's extremely engaging and different to anything else i've read

[bugbear]

in the middle of 'Nine Stories' by J. D. Salinger. Brillo.

[bugbear]

just started Tom Wolfe - I am Charlotte (can't remember surname maybe Rampling)
Read his others. He paints a big canvas in his books.

Have you read ' The painted word'? Its hillarious and also gives a great insight into modern art

[bugbear]

Also by Tom Wolfe, I ment to say

[jungle]

excellent book. absolutely loved it.
Haven't read Norwegian Wood yet. At moment am reading The Beach....just finished The possibility of an Island - Michel Houlebecq....not as good as his other books...too close to science fiction for my liking.
I'd promised to put up what I thought of it...

I still prefered Nowegian Wood, which while a much more conservative novel is easier to read. In terms of the plot, I thought there was too much unexplained at the end of Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

Style-wise, I wouldn't fault it at all. Murakami is an excellent descriptive writer, who is fortunate to have a top-notch translator.

Maybe, I just watched too much Scooby Doo when I was a kid and expect everything to have an explanation...

[gregson1]

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/075153479X.02.LZZZZZ ZZ.jpg

[jungle]

Next up will be Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. It's something I've been meaning to read since I saw the TV programme when I was a kid (considering the content, I'm slightly amazed that the folks let an 8 year old watch it).

Now to avoid unwanted attention from mark and persephone...

[northmallexile]

Reading 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Dickens. One of those classics I had only ever read as a kid in an abridged children's version.

[~odb~]

Next up will be Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. It's something I've been meaning to read since I saw the TV programme when I was a kid (considering the content, I'm slightly amazed that the folks let an 8 year old watch it).

Now to avoid unwanted attention from mark and persephone...
It's NWB that you really need to be worried about...

[~odb~]

As I should leave that out of the Culture Forum.

I'm about to start 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote.

[trasnanadtonnta]

Next up will be Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. It's something I've been meaning to read since I saw the TV programme when I was a kid (considering the content, I'm slightly amazed that the folks let an 8 year old watch it).

Now to avoid unwanted attention from mark and persephone...

Funny, that was always one of my dearest books as a young teenager, and if there was anything explicit or prurient in it, I must admit I missed it. Tis all about the sidelong glance and the longing sigh, nothing obvious like. Great stuff.

Most of my beloved novels are American though.

[Stuart Murdoch]

FWIW
Ludmila's Broken English by DBC Pierre

[jungle]

FWIW
Ludmila's Broken English by DBC Pierre
How do you find it so far?

I have to admit being a bit disappointed by Vernon God Little. It seemed a deliberate attempt to ape other authors more than a greatly original work. Mind you, if I'd read it and hadn't heard all the Booker stuff and reviews etc. first, I'd probably have thought a lot more of it.

[Stuart Murdoch]

How do you find it so far?

I have to admit being a bit disappointed by Vernon God Little. It seemed a deliberate attempt to ape other authors more than a greatly original work. Mind you, if I'd read it and hadn't heard all the Booker stuff and reviews etc. first, I'd probably have thought a lot more of it.

I found it initially disjointed but the story is gathering pace and I'm loving it.
He has a great ear for speech patterns, if that makes any sense.

As for VGL, I found that any women I gave it to hated it and men liked it.
If you could get past the Holden Caulfield stuff, it was a great read, I thought.

[janglinjack]

"The New Turkey" by Chris Morris. A highly readable explanation of the political, social and economic history of the country over the last century. I'd recommend it to anyone who thinks of the Turks as a smelly bunch of pork avoiding soccer hooligans.

[willow]

i hope to read sylvia plath's the bell jar" once the leaving cert is out of the way.

[jungle]

paulo coehlo - the Zahir. Immensely readable as ever.

Just started this. What is your opinion now you've finished it?

[Langer Dan]

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami,
A biography of Stalin, and some thing about US involvement in Afghanisatan n the late 70's.

[storysham]

Jesus weed

[Riordan]

Driving Over Lemons...

[AnimtroniK]

Windows on the World - frederic beigbeder (in english) at work

The monk who sold his ferrari - don't remember from who, at home and transport

[Mrs.Blonde]

im reading Jarhead, Anthony Swafford..
i've seen the movie so it jake in my head the whole way through! ;)

[janglinjack]

I just started "The Earth is Flat" by David Friedmann

Apparently it's the highest selling non-fiction book of all time. I'm not impressed so far.

[TastesLikeChicken]

Just bought A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian

[Matlock]

Just bought A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian

Meant to be excellent.

Reading The Hungry Years by William Leith at the moment - very entertaining, considering the subjecty matter*






* An obese man travelling to meet Dr Atkins.

[Persephone]

Kylie - la la la

Yes i am that shallow

[jungle]

Funny, that was always one of my dearest books as a young teenager, and if there was anything explicit or prurient in it, I must admit I missed it. Tis all about the sidelong glance and the longing sigh, nothing obvious like. Great stuff.

Most of my beloved novels are American though.
It's funny; they showed the first episode of the TV series on Belgian TV last night. Having read the book as well now, I can confirm that the TV programme was a lot more explicit.

The book never really got beyond one character saying that anglo-catholics were all sodomites and Cara talking about romantic friendships. On TV, there was that with extra scenes of the guys sunbathing naked together etc.

It wasn't anything especially extreme - they wouldn't have got away with it in 1981 - but there was a lot more than in the book.

[Jimmy two times]

Bob Dylan - Chronicles Volume 1 : I'm finding this a most enjoyable read. Format is quite good - he doesn't start out with 'I was born on....' and work his way up to the present day - the narrative is broadly chronological, but he doesn't necessarily deal with the already well documented parts of his life. Instead he relates interesting anecdotes and recalls lesser known characters he has met along the way.

I used to have the impression that Bob was a touch aloof and arrogant, but this book and the recent Scorcese documentary have changed my mind somewhat. He comes across as quite modest as well as having a wry sense of humour (which was always evident in his music to be fair), and what I perceived as Dylan being precious about himself I think is just an unwillingness to play the role of celebrity/genius/legend. He just wants to let the music speak for itself, and doesn't see the need to engage further with the media or public. Nice to see him coming out of himself a bit in the last couple of years though.

[Roy Nugent]

Gorillas Mot As Scare Now by Damon Kind

Its about a group of ignorant savages with chips on their shoulders and squeaky voices - its hilarious boys!

[Vendredi]

Steve Pinker - The Blank Slate

[willow]

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

[Matlock]

Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Great book.

How is the LC going for you pet?

[singular]

iv finally picked up "1984" after years of "meaning to read it"

[BangorFeen]

iv finally picked up "1984" after years of "meaning to read it"
A great read, thought provoking too. I've just finished Merde Actually by Stephen Clarke and I'm about to start a book about Attila the Hun

[ex-cowboy]

Just finished Freakonomics, fairley interesting with some very good observations.

Started Franz Kafka's 'The Trail' yesterday, looking forward to getting stuck in!

[singular]

Merde Actually, was looking at that somewhere recently,is it any good?

[Murdock]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

[TastesLikeChicken]

Just finished We must talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver, great book. Quite frightening, excellently written.

[Matlock]

Just finished We must talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver, great book. Quite frightening, excellently written.

Fantastic isnt it.

I have been recommending it to everyone.

[doppellanger]

Just finished Freakonomics, fairley interesting with some very good observations.

Started Franz Kafka's 'The Trail' yesterday, looking forward to getting stuck in!

Ah yes, "Der Weg" by Kafka, one of his lesser known works.

[jungle]

Sorry for not replying earlier, not on this board a lot lately. Finished it ages ago.l liked the start and thought it could be a good read, however, PC meandered a lot. The book is overly indulgent, cliched and trite.
I would not recommend it at all. Have read his others (usually on flights, don't know why) and must say this is the most irritating.
At moment reading Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi, which I'm enjoying a lot.
Just finished Choke by Chuck Palunik (sp)...loved it.
I'd agree with your critique of it from what I've seen so far. It's the first time I've read a Coelho novel and it wouldn't encourage me to buy another one. His style is irritating me because it seems designed to prove his own cleverness rather than ensure an effective narrative. Your choice of indulgent as a word definitely sums it up.

I've read Intimacy, although it was a while ago now. If your only previous exposure to Kureishi was The Buddha of Suburbia, it may come as a bit of a surprise. There's little charm or humour in this book. It is a dark, almost unbearably truthful novel, definitely a worthwhile read, but it could make you feel really uncomfortable when reading it.

Have fun, although I can't help but feel that those are the wrong words.

[TastesLikeChicken]

Fantastic isnt it.

I have been recommending it to everyone.
Yeah - can't recommend it highly enough - I've been arguing constantly with my own Mother over it ever since..

[thegillabbeygowl]

I'm still on page 1 of The Da Vinci Code for about 2 months now.
Must sit and read. :???:

[willow]

Falling Angels by Tracey Chevalier

[Langer Dan]

is it just me or is everything shit. very funny.

[Hochma]

Memoirs of a Geisha ...

[D4God]

A Year in the Centre. by GOD himself
Legend

[trasnanadtonnta]

A book about Robin Hood.

[singular]

Louis de Bernieres - the war of don emmanuel's nether parts

[trasnanadtonnta]

I'm reading The House of Sleep, by Jonathon Coe. I read a book of his called The Rotters Club before, and I loved it. There was a sequel to that, and it was that that I was in search of when I came across The House of Sleep. But THOS itself is actually a great read. Coe is a lovely writer, really neat and witty, and he tells great stories that are sort of horribly, almost unbearably sad, and yet kind of weirdly uplifting too.

[pudgee]

Christopher Hitchens's book on Tom Paine's Rights Of Man. Fascinating stuff.

[northmallexile]

Donna Tartt - The Secret History

[Superior]

The Gemini Contenders by Robert Ludlum. They don't write 'em like that anymore. Reading a lot of bad fiction at the moment. Also read Len Deighton recently. Someone's grandfather would be proud.

[Murdock]

Unstoppable Brilliance.

It's a new book about famous Irish people (Yeats, Beckett, Robert Boyle, Wiliam Rowan Hamilton, Dev and others) who apparently had Asperger's Syndrome.

[Forsberg]

Perfume- Patrick Suskind

[Langer Dan]

the paper

[Superior]

Lonely Planet's South America On A Shoestring guidebook.

[doppellanger]

Peoples Republic Of Cork Forums > Culture Forum >
What are you reading now? thread

[yeah!!!]

the twits, roald dahl.
it's been years since i read it. started at 6pm had break for my tea and i've just finished bout 20mins ago. what a great book!

[czar]

'The Great War for Civilisation' by Robert Fisk

His version of events in the middle east over the last 30 years or so. Tragic stuff, an embarrassment for the perceived 'West'.

[trasnanadtonnta]

The Cradle of Thought - it's about how connection and engagement with other people in infancy can affect the development of the brain. It's quite interesting, and the writer is sufficiently careful in the conclusions he draws from his experiments and case studies that I feel inclined to take him seriously, but, that said, I'd love to get a well-read psychologist's take on this stuff too. I would reccommend it though. It's good food for thought.

[Superior]

Zen and the City of Angels by Elizabeth M Cosin.
More inferior fiction.

[oliver hymn]

Peoples Republic Of Cork Forums > Culture Forum >
What are you reading now? thread
Excellent. LMAO

[Superior]

Jeff Abbott. A Kiss Gone Bad.
More crime fiction. Seems pretty good.
That 'Zen' book was awful shite.

[msGod]

the red tent by anita diamont(sp?)
class book very easy to get into

[Superior]

the red tent by anita diamont(sp?)
class book very easy to get into

Red Tent, easy to get into. Ha! Good one.

Just finished Hard-Boiled/ Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimitsu. Not bad.
Really reccommend No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Tour de force.

[mushypea]

Just finished The Untouchables...readi ng Missing now

[Langer Dan]

http://away.com/images/outside/200604/miracle-in-the-andes.jpg

A CRACKING READ!

Eating blood clots, eeuurgh!

[trasnanadtonnta]

At Swim-Two-Birds. Can't bate the classics.

[willow]

Has anyone read Chew On This by Eric Schlosser? Hoping to buy it soon

[smurfit06]

LOTR for like the 100th time, start to finish.

[DaisyM]

The "What are you reading now?" thread on the PROC, it's a KILLER READ! Gripping stuff! Edge of my seat here...

[Actin_the_Sham]

Just finished The Untouchables...readi ng Missing now

Just bought The Untouchables in Shannon yesterday. Good so far. Read the other books from Paul Williams, so a little repitition but not too much. Have to say true crime (especially Irish based) is a favourite subject of mine.

[Riordan]

Silas Marner by George Eliot,

[Chelsea Hotel #2]

The Accidental - Ali Smith

[Superior]

Love in the Days of Rage. Lawrence Ferlenghetti.

Good.

[singular]

Already Dead:A California Gothic by Denis Johnson

[Rosie Nell]

The Irish Hedge School and Its Books, 1695-1831(dipping in and out of)and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[Twinks]

nineteen eighty-four

[shandon]

Milosevic: A Biography by Adam LeBor

[northmallexile]

Ian McEwan - Saturday
Paul Farmer - Pathologies of Power

[trasnanadtonnta]

I read A Long Way Down (or some name like that) by Nick Hornby. Not bad, same as his others.

[gombeenman]

Independence Day by Richard Ford. A real estate agent takes his son out for a holiday weekend.

Not the most exciting thing Ive ever read!

[willow]

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas - John Boyne

[Trish]

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas - John Boyne

Is that any good? Saw it in a shop and was intrigued by it. If I'm right that's the book that doesn't give any blurb on the back of it

[Pez123]

Papillon-Henri Charrière, again because its a top read (found it in Oxfam)..

[willow]

Is that any good? Saw it in a shop and was intrigued by it. If I'm right that's the book that doesn't give any blurb on the back of it
Yes you would be correct and yes it's very good

[Fr. Turncoat]

hooked Justin McCarthy for the week that's in it.
Anyone going to do a bio of Seán Óg?

[singular]

originally posted by Pez123
Papillon-Henri Charrière, again because its a top read (found it in Oxfam)..

i tried reading that,but,i just found it all a bit hard to believe,think its cos when i started reading it someone said something to me about there not being any other reliable sources for the story.

[Allergic!]

A million little pieces by James Frey
Read The Notebook the other day and cried publicly on the train, yes, I am a sap!

[Ciotóg]

This is better than the thread in the other forum.

A biography of Marie Curie. It's got chemicals in it, and radioactivity. Intoxicating stuff.

[thegillabbeygowl]

http://away.com/images/outside/200604/miracle-in-the-andes.jpg

A CRACKING READ!

Eating blood clots, eeuurgh!

I read the book based of the crash last year.
It's fucked up ,Especially when they use the tops of the skulls as bowls.
Riveting stuff.

[Nicewanbiy]

Jaws 2 - Hank Searls.

[Fintan]

In Search Of The First Civilizations - Michael Wood
Failed States - Noam Chomsky
Imperial Ambitions - Noam Chomsky

[jungle]

In Search Of The First Civilizations - Michael Wood
Failed States - Noam Chomsky
Imperial Ambitions - Noam Chomsky
Heh Heh.

I wonder if gobadan frequents the Culture Forum...

[Fintan]

Heh Heh.

I wonder if gobadan frequents the Culture Forum...
Don't know. Why?

[thegillabbeygowl]

Some movie factoid book that was given out free with FHM recently.
Rather good for quiz questions.

[doppellanger]

Outer Dark - Cormac McCarthy

[mise_emma]

not quite the diplomat - chris patten

[jungle]

Don't know. Why?
He hates Noam Chomsky

[Fintan]

He hates Noam Chomsky
Fair enough, so. Any real reason? Or does Chomsky make points that fly in the face of some deeply held beliefs/agenda of his?

[Langer Dan]

Fair enough, so. Any real reason? Or does Chomsky make points that fly in the face of some deeply held beliefs/agenda of his?

ah ffs.

[Vendredi]

How are things - Roger Pol Droit


Synopsis
Can we learn anything from the objects that surround us, the things we use in everyday life? If you look closely, yes. They may ignore us, they mostly outlive us, but they are the secret sharers of our days, as close to us as our spouses, our pets, our bodies, our selves. Things coexist with us, they store meanings for us - memories, desires - but do they inhabit the same world? Are they alive or dead? Do they have language? Can we make friends with them? Over the course of one year Roger-Pol Droit assigned himself an experiment: to keep a cross-border record of his meetings with unremarkable things: sunglasses, an alarm clock, a chest of drawers, a train ticket, a statue, a tombstone, a wheelbarrow, a bottle-opener, a razor...This book is the diary of that quest. We might discover in these pages that a paperclip is a model of ethics, that a bunch of keys or a streeetlamp are figures of love; that a washing-machine offers a lesson on the migration of souls, and that there is wisdom in the umbrella. That we are not the only life on earth. Here, taking one thing at a time, are fifty close encounters.

http://www.nicholashoare.co m/data/catalogue/715/How%20Are%20Things.j pg

[Razz]

I just started 'Palace Walk' by Naguib Mahfouz

[Chelsea Hotel #2]

Where I was From - Joan Didion

[jungle]

Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

It was a gift and I hadn't really heard of it until I was given it.

So far, so good.

But the cover blurb about it redefining the novel is a bit OTT.

I'm only 100 pages in, so it might change, but I'm not 100% comfortable with the racial stereotyping of Ukrainians. I'd imagine if a Ukrainian author had written something that emphasised Jewish stereotypes, it might not be very well received.

[jungle]

Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

It was a gift and I hadn't really heard of it until I was given it.

So far, so good.

But the cover blurb about it redefining the novel is a bit OTT.

I'm only 100 pages in, so it might change, but I'm not 100% comfortable with the racial stereotyping of Ukrainians. I'd imagine if a Ukrainian author had written something that emphasised Jewish stereotypes, it might not be very well received.
I meant to come back to this post when I finished it.

The book is completely over-rated in the reviews. It looks like a case of the Emperor's New Clothes; the reviewers weren't sure whether they understood it, so they praised it.

When it comes to it, the book tells three disjoint stories and doesn't properly develop any of them. Even the attempt to tie them together at the end is weak.

There are also some factual inaccuracies. Prior to WWII Lvov was in Poland and called Lwow. The description of the Jewish community living in Trachimbrod before the war does not sound like anyone living under Stalinism. I would have expected some more research from an author on that kind of subject-matter.

[ahem...]

From the sounds of it this book could be similar to Spohie's Choice by William Styron. Although it is well written there are too many historical inaccuracies and sterotypes pop up a little too often. This is frustrating cause he has a great stlye and obvious talent but when it comes to subjects like ww11 where everybody has some knowledge and there is so much written that a writer can research with ease glaring errors are unforgivable and hard to get past.

[HappyMonday83]

I am reading the "what are you reading now" thread.
surely to god someone else has made this joke.

[jungle]

I am reading the "what are you reading now" thread.
surely to god someone else has made this joke.
You're the third...

http://www.peoplesrepublico fcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showpost.php?p=80429 7&postcount=6
http://www.peoplesrepublico fcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showpost.php?p=10541 07&postcount=94

[HappyMonday83]

You're the third...

http://www.peoplesrepublico fcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showpost.php?p=80429 7&postcount=6
http://www.peoplesrepublico fcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showpost.php?p=10541 07&postcount=94
It's not too bad so.

[exileonpatrickstreet]

the maltese falcon - dashiel hammet.

after that, i've another bunch of raymond chandler novellas and short stories lined up

[west cork rebel]

desperation by Stephen King, god book so far, i'd recomend it if you like creepy thrillers and is what you expect from King

[steve sanders]

i'm still a bit reluctant to go and splash out £10+ on a book. i dont know, i guess i just feel there are so many great books out there that you could pick up for a couple of quid in a secondhand store that it seems frivolous to shell out cash for a book just because it's new.

of course there's the old 'and yet i don't mind spending £50+ a week on booze' angle. but that'll always be around.

as a result of the first point i'm chuggin through 4 books i bought in hmv.

'the black dahlia' - james ellroy. grand i suppose, i like the 50's hollywood setting. a pageturner, and i fail to be convinced that the to leads could be so gripped by this one case. and i can't even remember what happened in the end.

(at this point steve checks the end and realised he never read the last 30 or so pages).

right. well.

i've got nothing.

[jungle]

Did the annoying thing of forgetting to bring my book with me on Friday, so I ended up buying Atonement by Ian McEwan at the airport.

Not long into it, but it's looking like typical McEwan so far. This is not necessarily a good thing.

[Langer Dan]

Eisenhower and Israel.

Sula by Toni Morrison
Everthing is illuminated by Johnathon safron foer

[Claire.h]

Did the annoying thing of forgetting to bring my book with me on Friday, so I ended up buying Atonement by Ian McEwan at the airport.

Not long into it, but it's looking like typical McEwan so far. This is not necessarily a good thing.

I think Ian McEwan has written some great books, and Atonement is mostly very well written, and a good read.

Have you finished it yet?

I thought the ending was meh

Just finished Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell. Quite an entertaining read, a bit derivative of Murakami but I didn't like the ending at all.

Also reading "Learning to teach mathematics"... am considering a career change... I don't know what the ending of that is yet...

[jungle]

Nowhere near finishing it. I've been taking work home with me all week, so I'm only about 5 chapters in...

[Claire.h]

I hope you can't read small writing then! Carry on.

[jungle]

I hope you can't read small writing then! Carry on.
From my previous experience of McEwan books, they can be like that. He's very strong on characterisation and individual decriptive passages, but his plots and particularly his endings can be weak enough.

[Widebhoy]

Was browsing through a book shop the other day and it's amazing the amount of books on the selves about secret societies and dark church secrets. I noticed too that quite a few of these books weren't even newly written, just reprinted in an effort to get on the Da Vinci Code bandwagon. One such book, written a decade ago, claims on the cover to be "even more shocking than the Da Vinci Code"!


I proceeded to buy it!

[Gimmerton_Gimp]

In Cold Blood.

A spanking good read.

[daithi81]

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowieki

[mr blonde]

fear and loathing on the campaign trail

[jungle]

From my previous experience of McEwan books, they can be like that. He's very strong on characterisation and individual decriptive passages, but his plots and particularly his endings can be weak enough.
What's funny is that my criticism of him here almost exactly mirrors the rejection letter that Briony got for her own work. True, I didn't bring in stuff about psycholgical theories or go into pages while doing it, but the bones of it are the same. It's almost as though he is anticipating criticism of his own novel (*particularly considering Briony turns out to be the supposed author of the entire piece*).

I agree with what Claire.h said about the ending. It tries to be too clever and turns out to be no ending at all.






*Warning: Hidden plot spoiler*

[Claire.h]

I agree with what Claire.h said *

I just like seeing that.


I just finished 'Swahili for the Broken-Hearted' by Peter Moore.

The guy breaks up with his girlfriend and travels to Africa to escape dealing with living near her, and her friends and family.

I was telling some friends about it on Sunday, and mentioned that I picked it up as I thought there may be some parallels with my own life.

They said the parallel lines were so close that they were almost touching.

But I'm going to Asia, not Africa. Totally different.


Anyway, it was very readable and quite entertaining, but not so good that it would inspire one to follow in his footsteps. I think that's what characterises good travel writing - reading it makes you want to go to the place yourself.


Reading 'Omerta' by Mario Puzo now. Less like my own life.

[Chelsea Hotel #2]

Jesus' Son - Denis Johnson

Outstanding short stories about small town american lives. Well recommended

[Hochma]

Do women read books in the bathroom ...

[Hochma]

Other women ... I don't ...

[jungle]

In the absence of being given a single novel for Christmas, does anyone have any recommendations?

[Nicewanbiy]

Papillon.

Really good read.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Papillon_book.jpg/200px-Papillon_book.jpg

[jungle]

It's not a bad idea.

While I'm always trying to find new books, there are loads of books that have been around for years that I still want to read.

I still have another 5 volumes of A la recherche du temps perdu to read, but then the first one took me so long that I am definitely daunted.

[Claire.h]

If you want something easy and light to read (but not shit), try Alexander McCall Smith. I'm reading Friends, Lovers and Chocolate at the moment and it's lovely.

In fact, I was tidying my bedroom last night, and noticed that I have 4 half-read books by my bedside. And I have another book on the kitchen table for when I'm downstairs, and another in the car, just in case I accidently drive somewhere that doesn't have books.

[Langer Dan]

If you want something easy and light to read (but not shit), try Alexander McCall Smith. I'm reading Friends, Lovers and Chocolate at the moment and it's lovely.

In fact, I was tidying my bedroom last night, and noticed that I have 4 half-read books by my bedside. And I have another book on the kitchen table for when I'm downstairs, and another in the car, just in case I accidently drive somewhere that doesn't have books.

Im the same normally have about 5 books on the go.
just read extremely loud and incredibly close by jonathon safran foer, good read.

Also his "everything is illuminated" is definitely worth a sconce.

[jungle]

Also his "everything is illuminated" is definitely worth a sconce.

Do you think so?

I've discussed this earlier in the thread and I still have the same conclusion that it has a touch of the emperor's new clothes about it. It's different enough and there are so many positive reviews that people feel unable to say that it is only so so.

Not that it would stop you, mind...

[Langer Dan]

Do you think so?

I've discussed this earlier in the thread and I still have the same conclusion that it has a touch of the emperor's new clothes about it. It's different enough and there are so many positive reviews that people feel unable to say that it is only so so.

Not that it would stop you, mind...

ah I enjoyed it. I know tis a work of metafiction and he uses a lot of post modernistic trickery in it but tis still a good read.

[Chelsea Hotel #2]

This Book Will Save Your Life - A.M. Homes

Unlikely to live up to its title but a good read nonetheless.

[ron19ie]

Deception Point - Dan Brown

Christmas Gift and I figured why not

[Pez123]

Just read Wolf of the plains-Conn Iggulden

not bad.....

[jungle]

Istanbul - Memories of a city by Orhan Pamuk.

I'm only 24 pages in, so you'll get a report on it later.

At least, unlike Naipaul, I can see why he might have got the Nobel Prize.

Interesting looking at the list of previous nobel prize winners. You have some greats there, along with some writers whose memory has diminished to nothingness.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/

[Woohoo_Doh]

Just finished Street Boys by Lorenzo Carcaterra.

Loved it.

Just started Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra last night. Had a controversial movie made about it starring Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt amongst others. 110 pages in and I hated to stop reading last night. This is the 3rd book of his I am reading (Gangster was 1st) and I have loved his work so far.

Next on my list is Apaches by ahem ........ Lorenzo Carcaterra.

[trasnanadtonnta]

I'm nearly finished a book called How the Light Gets In by M.J. Hyland. The obvious comparison is with The Catcher in the Rye (made twice by reviewers quoted on the cover alone), and to be fair, it probably is that good, but I don't know. This seedy underbelly of suburbia stuff wears a bit thin. Gee, you mean the people with the perfect gardens might not necessarily be perfect people? WOW.

[Claire.h]

Weird. How do you judge people so?

I keep starting books, and not getting around to finishing them off (bar the lovely McCall Smith above)

Banana Yoshimoto - Goodbye to Tsugami - halfway through
Christopher Ross - Mishima's Sword:Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend - just started
Japan - Discovery Channel travel series book -kitchen table breakfast material
John McWhorter - Power of Babel - nearly finished
Some trashy WW2 thing - probably won't ever finish
Promiscuities - Naomi Wolf - re-reading

[trasnanadtonnta]

Is there a time limit beyond which you are no longer 'reading' something? I start hundreds of books every year that I don't finish. Hundreds. If I haven't looked at it in about a month, I mentally relegate it to the 'abandoned' category, or some sub-category of same. Could I technically claim to be reading thousands of books though? They have bookmarks and everything!

[Claire.h]

To claim to be still reading them, I think the books have to be in your way. I have to move books from my dinner table, off my bed, off the computer, off chairs - I only put them away when I'm finished with them.

If they go back to the bookshelves or cardboard boxes, then they're off the list.

[jungle]

I keep starting books, and not getting around to finishing them off

I'm a bastard for leaving books in the wrong country and ending up forgetting them for a couple of weeks and never picking them up again.

I usually have 2 or 3 on the go at any moment.

[Jim Comic]

nearly finished 1776, 'tis real good

http://www.curledup.com/1776mccu.htm

[Annie Hall]

'Hannibal Rising'; just started though.

[Jim Comic]

just started:


http://www.fantasticfiction .co.uk/i/conn-iggulden/wolf-of-plains.htm

[Woohoo_Doh]

Have finished "Sleepers" and "Apaches" by Lorenzo Carcaterra since last week. I saw the movie for "Sleepers" before reading it and it largley is exactly the same but had not heard anything about "Apaches" before reading it and have to admit it really caught me off guard. A good read but an uncomfortable one at times. Id recommend any of the 4 of his books I have read.

Now on A Game Of Thrones - Book 1 of A Song Of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin. I've heard a lot of good things about this series but heard it starts slow (which it really really does) so gotta play a patience game with it. So far best I can say about it is Meh.

[singular]

in the middle of "Collected Stories" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of my favourite authors

[singular]

reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins now.
interesting, to say the least, biased in the very most.

[wat_boy]

having a bath about 11ish and thinking about bringing a book to the bath with me but i'm paranoid I'll drop it like

[Langer Dan]

re-read the hippopotamus by Stephen Fry, verrry funny

[Jason Mcaree]

im reading a book on johny adair, not his biography but just a book on him and c coy. they were some shower of rotten feckers i tell ya!

[Chelsea Hotel #2]

Tescopoly - Andrew Simms

Interesting book how Tesco routs planning laws, communities, competition, local suppliers, etc.

"Every little helps" - apparently

[jimmy magee]

my typing

[los pasillos de hoy]

just finished Ivana Bacik's 'Kicking and screaming ...'. Really liked it. highlights some of the screwups in this delightful island of ours ...

[markinmanc]

Just finishe readin 'Hav' by Jan Morris. Great book - very clever ending. I'll have to read more of her books.

[oliver hymn]

after dark
haruki murakami

good, but not as gripping or imaginative as other murakamis.

[VirtualLab]

Electric Universe by David bodanis. Nice little condensing of the history of electricity. The Aleck with a k story is very endearing, Alexander Graham Bell is Aleck by the way.

[Superior]

The Helmet of Horror by Victor Pelevin.

[Pandora's bosca]

I've just started P.S. I Love You.

I'd doing things the wrong way around, I've seen the film and starting the book now.

[Dana]

During this time I'm reading the third book from Cecilia Ahern "If you could see me now"
I'm going to see the film "p.s I love you" at ladies night on Wendesday afternoon.
I have rea the book month ago.It was absolutely great.

Cheers,
Dana

[blondebimbo]

look magazine

[pete124]

The Third Policeman by Flann O Brien.
Genius

[Fr. Turncoat]

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
By Jonathan Safran Foer (http://books.google.ie/books?id=ZuqGAAAACAA J&dq=Jonathan+Safran+F oer&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=IW1&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=jonathan+safran&spell=1&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2&cad=author-navigational)

class, much better than his first one.

[Matlock]

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
By Jonathan Safran Foer (http://books.google.ie/books?id=ZuqGAAAACAA J&dq=Jonathan+Safran+F oer&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=IW1&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=jonathan+safran&spell=1&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2&cad=author-navigational)

class, much better than his first one.

Hmmm. I liked it, but i think i prefered Everything is illuminated.

[harveythewonderhorse]

Jack's world: FARMING ON THE SHEEPS HEAD PENINSULA, 1920-2003

Jack Sheehan was one of eleven children born into an impoverished farming family on the Sheeps Head peninsula in southwest Ireland. Growing up in hungry times, he stayed on the farm all his eighty-three years, taking it over when his father died and steadfastly caring for its fields through the dormant 1950s and the better times that came in the decades that followed.

[markinmanc]

Stendhal, the red and the black - lots of words.

[trasnanadtonnta]

I'm currently reading a Nora Roberts book. It's a sort of detective story set in a futuristic New York city. It is deeply crap. I'd heard Roberts wrote a good page turner, but this is not one. I read about half of it last night out of sheer lack of anything else to do. I don't think I'll bother to finish it.

She has a few really annoying literary mannerisms. She tends to sort of list actions in separate short sentences, even when there is no reason to do so. Like she'll write, "She got up. Walked to the table. Grabbed her purse." This is just transitional now like, there's no tension needed or anything. So what the fuck is wrong with "She got up, walked to the table and grabbed her purse." This kind of thing is annoying. Makes it difficult to read. Speaks of an author who needs a tougher editor.

Also, maybe this is personal prejudice, but I think the setting of a story should either contribute something, however small or peripheral, to the story or else it should be fairly neutral and low key. This novel does just enough to keep reminding you that we're in The Future here, but it does nothing to justify that choice of setting. All we get are some unfamiliar words and a few Star Trek touches that serve, as far as I can discern, no purpose. A fellow cop tells lead character Eve Dallas (no shit, that's her name!) to put something in his "personal friggie". What the fuck? As far as I can tell, this just seems to mean the small fridge in his room. So why not just say this?

Finally, and this is obviously the biggest problem for me, the book is a bit, well, sexist. Dallas is a lieutenant, so her colleagues all address her as "Sir". I guess this is supposed to be an egalitarian touch: In The Future, women are just as respected as men! But we can be as respected as men now, to a certain extent. We can, if we try hard enough, be let into the "one of the lads" club in some situations. The point is to be both a woman and respected. To be both a ma'am and a lieutenant.

Possible Spoiler Alert

... Atonement by Ian McEwan ...

What's funny is that my criticism of him here almost exactly mirrors the rejection letter that Briony got for her own work. True, I didn't bring in stuff about psycholgical theories or go into pages while doing it, but the bones of it are the same. It's almost as though he is anticipating criticism of his own novel.

I read that as deliberate. She's a flawed writer, but she gets better. Did you notice how the last part is not remotely as cloying or self-indulgently written?

In any case, for me, this wasn't enough to excuse what is effectively a badly-written novel. The only thing that kept me going through the annoying writing was the plot, and the resolution was only so-so.

[the puerto rican feen]

The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of Pope John Paul II's Vatican

By David Yallop

[Langer Dan]

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
By Jonathan Safran Foer (http://books.google.ie/books?id=ZuqGAAAACAA J&dq=Jonathan+Safran+F oer&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=IW1&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=jonathan+safran&spell=1&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2&cad=author-navigational)

class, much better than his first one.

Preferred Illuminated,

Close up was good but too heavy on the postmodern gimmicks for my liking.

[heavymetalwhore]

Demetrio Paparoni - Eretica, the trascendent and the profane in contemporary art.
picked it up in vibes, features the work of some of my favorite artists- jenny saville, ron mueck. interesting read.

[!Sarah!]

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen



... again

[Wotalanger]

just finished..The Road by Cormac McCarthy

really enjoyed it...quick read though, had it read in a night