Books - What are you reading?

[Blown2CV]

Pie with sauce said:

Good luck with the Thomas Hardy stuff, fells. The very definition of hard going.

indeed. Best left in secondary school.

[coppice]

Not at all - Tess of the D'Urbervilles is a very easy read I think . I've certainly read it may times since doing it for A Level in 1909 (or so it feels like ). Shakespeare humour has not aged well but a Simon Russell Beale or a Rory Kinnear can certainly make it work on stage . And Shakespeare's sheer brilliance of language still astonishes- as somebody once said " It's full of quotes" .

[jimmyjimjim]

jimmyjimjim said:

...maybe 'I am pilgrim', which I've also acquired.

I am Pilgrim it was. Finished it last night, enjoyed it greatly.

[Janluke]

jimmyjimjim said:

jimmyjimjim said:

...maybe 'I am pilgrim', which I've also acquired.

I am Pilgrim it was. Finished it last night, enjoyed it greatly.

Likewise I bought it after seeing it mentioned a few times on this thread and enjoyed it

[RenesisEvo]

Janluke said:

Likewise I bought it after seeing it mentioned a few times on this thread and enjoyed it

Ditto - still working through it but enjoying it so far.

Thanks all, I've picked a few things out of the last pages to consider reading next.

I really want to tackle Guy Martin's autobiography, but with his (brilliant) recent adventures with the Speed TV series, I want to wait until that and his other more recent adventures are included. Or when (if?) he wins the IomTT. It seems like there's more to come from him. Think of bit how it would be a little odd to read Lewis Hamilton's original autobiography now, given what's he's gone on to achieve since (I wonder if he'll 'write' another book now?).

[droopsnoot]

droopsnoot said:

Now I've just started "Desert God", the new Wilbur Smith book.

Finished this now, a very good book as usual from Wilbur Smith (with the exception of 'Those in Peril'), easy to read though the lead character does come across as a bit smug from time to time.

Started on "The Escape" by David Baldacci now, good so far though I'm almost at the end of it.

[Laurel Green]

droopsnoot said:

Started on "The Escape" by David Baldacci now, good so far though I'm almost at the end of it.

Have just finished it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now about to start on-->

[J4CKO]

"I am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes, absolutely riveting, well worth a read.

[J4CKO]

Janluke said:

jimmyjimjim said:

jimmyjimjim said:

...maybe 'I am pilgrim', which I've also acquired.

I am Pilgrim it was. Finished it last night, enjoyed it greatly.

Likewise I bought it after seeing it mentioned a few times on this thread and enjoyed it

Ha, not the only one it seems !

[LordGrover]

At the end, I look back on it as a good read.
I found it quite slow and difficult to get into at various stages and can understand some of the negative comments, but overall I liked it.

[g3org3y]

Following on from this on BBC4, thought it'd be nice to read around the subject a little more.



I read his previous book (Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You) a number of years back and found it quite well written and straightforward to follow. So far, this is just as good.

[jbudgie]

He's written quite a few and all are good reads.

[Prolex-UK]

James ellroy latest book perfidia. So far so good

[Abagnale]

blindswelledrat said:

Abagnale said:

All of which leads me to the conclusion that you may not exactly be the greatest barrel of laughs to stand up on two legs. I appreciate the input, but I think I'll apply my own critical faculties & get back to you.

If your barometer of whether someone is the 'greatest barrel of laughs to stand up on two legs' is determined by their love of Shakespeare comedy then you are right, you and I have completely different senses of humour.
Enjoy Don Quixote, and I would thoroughly recommend Catch-22 along with Terry and June.

Just noticed this rather waspish response. Cutting through the unwarranted mordacity, it appears Shakespeare goes over your head. Terry & June though, perhaps that's the level we can infer actually suits. I live in hope, if not expectation. Remember: It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

[Legend83]

Abagnale said:

Just noticed this rather waspish response. Cutting through the unwarranted mordacity, it appears Shakespeare goes over your head. Terry & June though, perhaps that's the level we can infer actually suits. I live in hope, if not expectation. Remember: It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

And your original post wasn't a touch 'waspish'?

Let's keep the book thread friendly, eh?

[blindswelledrat]

Abagnale said:

Just noticed this rather waspish response. Cutting through the unwarranted mordacity, it appears Shakespeare goes over your head.

Oooo, are we having an internet clever-off?
Actually I like most Shakespeare plays, I am purely talking about comedy hence the Terry and June analogy.
Old comedy is seldom funny in my opinion. Like fashion it becomes stale and irrelevant.
Still, you still think it is hilarious and that's fine too.
It's just slightly ironic that you believe you have intellectual superiority for finding 300 year old jokes hilarious.

[Abagnale]

Not really. I'm very comfortable with my level of intellectual rigour. Quite simply, I note here & elsewhere, you give off the mien of a wholly embittered man, entirely full of your own superiority & I came to pass comment on that, since you lobbed it my way.

Now I have, I'll leave the hilarious riposte to you. As a prior contributor noted, the thread is not one for petty squabbles. I take note.

[ali_kat]

droopsnoot said:

droopsnoot said:

Now I've just started "Desert God", the new Wilbur Smith book.

Finished this now, a very good book as usual from Wilbur Smith (with the exception of 'Those in Peril'), easy to read though the lead character does come across as a bit smug from time to time.

I cannot get into his 'new' books about Eqypt & Hector Smith

I grew up reading him, recently invested in re-buying them all for the Kindle (except for the Egypt & Hector Smith series)

This makes me very sad, but in all honesty, his books started to deteroriate after Danielle died

[coppice]

I found they went down the pan when I reached 14 but I am an insufferable snob.

[ali_kat]

Abagnale said:

As a prior contributor noted, the thread is not one for petty squabbles. I take note.

And yet you had to try & have the last word...