what book you reading at the moment? (incl poll)

[dukeroyale]

the indifferent stars above

the true story with first hand accounts of the ill fated donner party who set off in 1846 from illinois to make a new life för themselves in the west only to get trapped in the mountains due to weather.

i’d never heard of this story before but it has all the usual “man versus the elements” stuff. indecision, naivety and all the other bits that could have saved them in the end.

a very good read 7/10

federer v nadal
2008 wimbledon final. the greatest match ever.

or something like that goes the title.

L jon something was the author’s name. he some hack för espn or sports illustrated or some yank outlet. a thoroughly annoying book because of the way he’s written it. he swings wildly from comparing tennis to gladiators in the roman arena to showcasing gentlemanliness of the game to the common man aesthetic of wimbledon and the obscene amounts of money involved in big time tennis, all wrapped up in some sort of piece for new yorker.

the match was a classic. the book not so much.

 

[El Guapo]

Sorry now Guapo but you can't blame the author for your not realising it was fiction. I loved that book and another one by him that I read since. Yes, he does mess with the reader's mind to an extent but I don't mind that. "All entirely bollocks"?!?! No, it's not!

Cool, that's alright. it just pulled me out of it and annoyed me.

The whole preface was about how authentic Roddy's memoir is and how little he (the author) meddled with it. There are even references to historical documents that are fabrications.

All grand, but there is no memoir. there were no killings, the little footnotes put in for "authenticity" only pissed me off after that. the only thing that is true is yer man's grandfather grew up in the area.

it's a good read, but I would have preferred the narrative without the bells and whistles.

 

[Eastwood]

Project Hail Mary.
Good book. Easy reading with good storyline. Not sure what the movie will be like. Skeptical.
7.5/10

Saw World War Z on TV a few weeks ago. The book is one of my favourite works of fiction and nothing like the movie apart from the zombies. It's very smart.

 

[El Guapo]

Project Hail Mary.
Good book. Easy reading with good storyline. Not sure what the movie will be like. Skeptical.

Nice one. was given a copy of this on Friday

 

[Crisp Sandwich]

Sounds like another one for Crispy, we'll see if we can pressurise him into reading every published work on the subject of Berlin.

Surely "Take my Breath Away, the Terri Nunn story" is sitting in some publishers inbox ready to wing its way to our boy

You jest but I could nearly give a fucking 2-hour cycle tour of the gaff now.

I am just about done with Bernie Gunther (had to set it aside for a few weeks).

Then I am ready to move on to my next destination, El_G.

Another of the Axis Powers though - Japan.

Not sure how much practical knowledge I'll get from having read James Clavell's "Shogun" 25 years ago though.



To that end, I bought this the other day - looks good;

 

[Crisp Sandwich]

Never mind the lit-bros: Infinite Jest is a true classic at 30

Forget its reputation as a performative read for a certain breed of intense young man, thirty years after its publication, David Foster Wallace’s epic novel still delivers, says the Crying in H Mart author

www.theguardian.com

David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" was published 30 years ago this month.

Any of my fellow book nerds read (and enjoy/understand) it?

I looked at it once in a bookshop when I, laughably, fancied myself as a bit of an 20-something year old intellectual.

Flicked through it and saw footnotes in teeny-tiny print and that was enough for me - there was no fucking way I was going to carry that sizable tome around.

Much like "On The Road", "Catch-22", "American Psycho" or "Generation X" - I think it's one of those books that, if you read it beyond a defined point - usually in nascent adulthood, then it stops being for you and you will never get anything out of it because that moment in your life is gone.

The film about Wallace - "The End Of The Tour" with Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segal is worth a watch though.

 

[El Guapo]

Never mind the lit-bros: Infinite Jest is a true classic at 30

Forget its reputation as a performative read for a certain breed of intense young man, thirty years after its publication, David Foster Wallace’s epic novel still delivers, says the Crying in H Mart author

www.theguardian.com

David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" was published 30 years ago this month.

Any of my fellow book nerds read (and enjoy/understand) it?

I looked at it once in a bookshop when I, laughably, fancied myself as a bit of an 20-something year old intellectual.

Flicked through it and saw footnotes in teeny-tiny print and that was enough for me - there was no fucking way I was going to carry that sizable tome around.

Much like "On The Road", "Catch-22", "American Psycho" or "Generation X" - I think it's one of those books that, if you read it beyond a defined point - usually in nascent adulthood, then it stops being for you and you will never get anything out of it because that moment in your life is gone.

The film about Wallace - "The End Of The Tour" with Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segal is worth a watch though.

I have not read infinite jest

But this essay by DFW on Rodger Federer made me a fan of the boring Swiss tennis machine.

Roger Federer as Religious Experience (Published 2006)

How one player’s grace, speed, power, precision, kinesthetic virtuosity, and seriously wicked topspin are transfiguring men’s tennis.

www.nytimes.com

a wonderful piece of sports writing

Wouldn't mind having a cut off "a supposedly fun thing ill never do again"

 

[PussyinBoots]

Necropolis. A book about the history of death in London.
It's alright. Fairly badly written.

 

[DowntheArc79]

Never mind the lit-bros: Infinite Jest is a true classic at 30

Forget its reputation as a performative read for a certain breed of intense young man, thirty years after its publication, David Foster Wallace’s epic novel still delivers, says the Crying in H Mart author

www.theguardian.com

David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" was published 30 years ago this month.

Any of my fellow book nerds read (and enjoy/understand) it?

I looked at it once in a bookshop when I, laughably, fancied myself as a bit of an 20-something year old intellectual.

Flicked through it and saw footnotes in teeny-tiny print and that was enough for me - there was no fucking way I was going to carry that sizable tome around.

Much like "On The Road", "Catch-22", "American Psycho" or "Generation X" - I think it's one of those books that, if you read it beyond a defined point - usually in nascent adulthood, then it stops being for you and you will never get anything out of it because that moment in your life is gone.

The film about Wallace - "The End Of The Tour" with Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segal is worth a watch though.

On the Road is still great decades after first reading it. Forget DFW, Delillo's the real thing, DFW knew (and told Delillo in their letter exchanges) he could never reach that level.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Project Hail Mary.
Good book. Easy reading with good storyline. Not sure what the movie will be like. Skeptical.
7.5/10

It was ok, a bit cheesy. Accessible though.

The trailer is up in the movie thread. Looks decent tbf.