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

[Matlock]

After finishing Our London Lives, which I really enjoyed, I went a different tack. Picked up a Philip K Dick novel, The Man in the High Castle, at the airport. I've only ever read his most famous work "Do Androids....Sheep", so I'm not exactly a Dick-head.

It's more interesting than fascinating so far, about 45 pages in. The premise is that The Axis lads won the war and have more or less split the world between 'em. Story is set in San Francisco which is under 'Jap' rule. There was a good bit on the Nazi psyche I thought. Might look it up when I get home and paste it here.

It's a great book. Years since I've read it, I might need to dig it out again.

Read a book called "The Lock- Keeper's wife" by John McKenna last weekend. Never heard of him before, though he seems to have written loads of stuff. Short novel, about a women who was committed to a mental hospital (in the parlance of the time) after the death of two of her babies, and her return to society from there.

 

[BlackpoolTerrier]

After finishing Our London Lives, which I really enjoyed, I went a different tack. Picked up a Philip K Dick novel, The Man in the High Castle, at the airport. I've only ever read his most famous work "Do Androids....Sheep", so I'm not exactly a Dick-head.

It's more interesting than fascinating so far, about 45 pages in. The premise is that The Axis lads won the war and have more or less split the world between 'em. Story is set in San Francisco which is under 'Jap' rule. There was a good bit on the Nazi psyche I thought. Might look it up when I get home and paste it here.

Jaysus C., that's near enough to his worst book IMO - the premise is a little bit too much themed on a Daily Express-reading closet fascist's guilty dream.

The more out there stuff about the combination between mental manipulation and tech is way cooler - "Minority Report", the inevitable "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" are classics. "Time Out of Joint" and "Ubik" are also worth picking up.

Nowt wrong with being a Dickhead mate

 

[jeepers]

Read No Country For Old Men over the weekend.

I really enjoyed it but I think that it was a rare instance where seeing the film before reading the book actually helped.

I had a bit of an issue with McCarthy's lack of punctuation and quotation marks. Almost a Joycean decision. It annoyed me mildly having to go back over sections to see who was saying what at certain points.

I haven't read any of McCarthy's other books so I looked up to see if this stylistic choice was singular to No Country For Old Men and a found a great quote by James Ellroy regarding McCarthy - "Why doesn't this cocksucker use quotation marks?!"

Have just started The Passenger, by the same boy. Early days. Herself has a project for me at the moment, so opportunities to read might be few and far between in the next week or two.

 

[Bwana_Dik]

Sir Les Patterson, The Traveler's Tool, an indispensable reference for the man (of course) whose career entails frequent international sojourns as a representative of his country, organization, or similar onerous role.
Brim full of useful advice based on a lifetime of service - representative of the Australian Cheese Board, Australian appointment to the Court of St. James, etc.

My original, much perused copy was lost in the course of my peregrinations, had the absolute fortune to procure a copy - almost pristine, but with some of the pages inexplicably glued together - on ebay.

Rub and tug shops, medical advice for dealing with pesky bacterial infections, legal guidance re: amenable law enforcement personnel, long-distance interpersonal dynamics with your loved ones - it's all there.

BTW it probably wouldn't breast the bar of acceptability nowadays, PC gone mad IMHO.

 

[Crisp Sandwich]

Finished "To Have Or Have Not" - I enjoyed the first 100 or so pages. There's some great prose along the way and a few interesting narrative techniques.

The remaining 80 became an intermittent slog.

I got incredibly bored with the last few chapters - I get the feeling that Hemingway was writing just to write and the extra plotlines became tedious.

I've been saving this one for weeks until I was off on a trip. I read a review in Empire magazine back in the 1990s but never got around to getting a copy.

Listening to a podcast about "Days Of Thunder" recently reminded me of this book. Looks like it's going to be pure, unadulterated and lurid entertainment.

 

[El Guapo]

Finished Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan.

Historic Fiction mixed with a heavy dollop of Fantasy.

It took about a week longer to read than it should have, I caught myself speed reading and then doom scrolling on Netflix to avoid it.

it's not that it was terrible It just did not engage me in any way at any time. People will enjoy it,.it does the break the 4th wall annotation wink to the reader trick that people seem to find charming.

It was Shit enough to be honest.

Half way through a memoir called "Dirtbag Massachusetts" by Isaac Fitzgerald

So far so good..Basically the story it growing up piss poor around Boston in the 90s. Yer man is likable. Enjoying it so far.

 

[markyboy]

The 100 best novels of all time

The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

www.theguardian.com

Big new list from the Guardian

 

[DowntheArc79]

The 100 best novels of all time

The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

www.theguardian.com

Big new list from the Guardian

Middlemarch at 1 must be a joke

 

[BlackpoolTerrier]

The 100 best novels of all time

The top 100 novels of all time published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide. How many have you read?

www.theguardian.com

Big new list from the Guardian

LOL, I haven’t looked at it yet but I assume, given that it’s the Guardian, that lower down they’re going to pile in on non-English and females but as they move up to the top 25 they’ll revert to type and drive on with the usual 18th and 19th century Brits. Presumably the Guardian obsession with Virginia Woolf continues but the American oeuvre is underrepresented.
Did they go for broke/woke and put a black writer in the top 10?

 

[markyboy]

Just looked again. It’s only a very small vote from a selection of authors promoting an event in a few weeks.

Who’s in, who’s out, and how many have you read? The story behind our 100 best novels list

Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. Ulysses or Catch-22 … Find out which title came top, as chosen by authors, critics and academics worldwide

www.theguardian.com