Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
telecat said:
Got the New Richard Castle on Saturday. Nicely paced read with interesting nods back to the TV series as well as "Firefly" and "Doctor Who". Try reading without Nikki Heat being Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion as Jameson Rook. I don't know who the Ghost writer is but they are pretty good at weaving a yarn.
Wow, never new they did this.Edited by telecat on Thursday 17th September 20:51
I enjoy Castle, it's the only procedural I abide...simply down to Captain Mal and his relationship with Stana.
Hancock's Magicians of the Gods is out...time to buy.
Halb said:
telecat said:
Got the New Richard Castle on Saturday. Nicely paced read with interesting nods back to the TV series as well as "Firefly" and "Doctor Who". Try reading without Nikki Heat being Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion as Jameson Rook. I don't know who the Ghost writer is but they are pretty good at weaving a yarn.
Wow, never new they did this.Edited by telecat on Thursday 17th September 20:51
I enjoy Castle, it's the only procedural I abide...simply down to Captain Mal and his relationship with Stana.
Hancock's Magicians of the Gods is out...time to buy.
leglessAlex said:
Ineresting, I read this and almost hated it, the last few pages redeemed it to just being slightly disliked. What do people see in it? It's just some useless, spineless layabout with equally useless friends sponging off the few decent people they meet. I think maybe I just don't 'get' it.
I tried too, as I dreamed of traveling aimlessly across the world, and this book is supposedly the archetypal 'freedom of the road' message. But the book just seems to be total shyte, in a nutshell.
I've just downloaded the latest Jack Reacher book, despite saying I'd not read another one. I'll get into it when I'm offshore next week.
Edited by King Herald on Saturday 19th September 04:18
Part of On the Road that is meant to be of interest is the 'stream of consciousness' way in which it is written. Largely this was due to Kerouac getting off his tits, putting a long roll of paper in the typewriter and then writing it start to finish in one sitting. It comes across as childlike in the way it reads, probably partly due to that. Apparently it captures something of that period though, and the constant flow of one thing to the next, with gaps in the narrative I guess mimics the experience of someone who is indeed (also) off their tits and on a crazy road trip.
LandR said:
I think it's a book written from the perspective of a generation disillusioned by American life at the time. The idea of settling down, starting a family, stable job etc. They wanted to live their dream, always travelling, always just chasing a good time and screw the responsibilities. They didn't care about the "American Dream", consumerism and materialism. Life was an adventure, go out drink, do drugs, travel, meet people. If the characters had enough money, and a bed, to have a good time that night then all was good.
I found it depressing though because the lifestyle they were chasing, it didn't seem attainable, or at least if it was it was temporary. It was never sustainable.
The book was filled, for me, with the sense that society would win. That the main characters would end up beat down, defeated and miserable. That was sad to me, that there seemed to be an entire disillusioned generation destined to end up unhappy.
I can see why you think that they were just slackers or layabouts and sponges though.
Excellent reply, and it neatly sums up why I wasn't a fan of the book. I know about the time it's set in and the attitude it's trying to convey but I've never been able to empathise with people that just want to drift about and not do anything, hence my dislike. I found it depressing though because the lifestyle they were chasing, it didn't seem attainable, or at least if it was it was temporary. It was never sustainable.
The book was filled, for me, with the sense that society would win. That the main characters would end up beat down, defeated and miserable. That was sad to me, that there seemed to be an entire disillusioned generation destined to end up unhappy.
I can see why you think that they were just slackers or layabouts and sponges though.
I think I'll probably give it another ten years and then read it again, more life experience usually helps one empathise with other peoples aims and feelings.
Veeayt said:
Tried to start Gravity's Rainbow by Tomas Pynchon, but couldn't keep the grip with it. Does it gets any better after first 10%?
If anything it gets worse - more confusing, more complicated, more perverse. When I finally finished it after 9 months or so, never being able to read more than a few pages at a time because it was so wilfully obtuse, I had absolutely no clue what I had just read. And yet I loved it. davepoth said:
If anything it gets worse - more confusing, more complicated, more perverse. When I finally finished it after 9 months or so, never being able to read more than a few pages at a time because it was so wilfully obtuse, I had absolutely no clue what I had just read. And yet I loved it.
Don't want to read it - not my cuppa.Just finished another WWII/Nazi book - Cryptonomicon. While overly long and unnecessarily loquacious, overall it was good.
3/4 the way though Narrow Road to the Deep North which won the booker prize last year.
It is an extraordinary and brilliant book and one that I know whilst I am reading it that I will remember forever.
After a bit of a torturous start in which you have to tune in to an unusual writing style, I haven't been able to put it down.
It is an extraordinary and brilliant book and one that I know whilst I am reading it that I will remember forever.
After a bit of a torturous start in which you have to tune in to an unusual writing style, I haven't been able to put it down.
blindswelledrat said:
After a bit of a torturous start in which you have to tune in to an unusual writing style
Some of Cormac McCarthy's books are a little tough in that sense but you can persevere. Mind you, that's more to do with punctuation than dialect.Another 2 books I was really looking forward to reading were Clockwork Orange & Trainspotting which were real stinkers in terms of dialect / slang so I got nowhere with those.
cherie171 said:
The Kindle price briefly dropped to £1.99 the other day, so I though I'd give Andy Weir's The Martian a go, and see if it lives up to the hype. About a quarter of the way through so far, and it's not back.
Makes me want to go and watch Moon again though...
I'm about a quarter in and really enjoying it so far.Makes me want to go and watch Moon again though...
Pixel Pusher said:
Some of Cormac McCarthy's books are a little tough in that sense but you can persevere. Mind you, that's more to do with punctuation than dialect.
Another 2 books I was really looking forward to reading were Clockwork Orange & Trainspotting which were real stinkers in terms of dialect / slang so I got nowhere with those.
Speaking of writing style, I like the sound of Trigger Mortis, the new Bond book by Anthony Horowitz.Another 2 books I was really looking forward to reading were Clockwork Orange & Trainspotting which were real stinkers in terms of dialect / slang so I got nowhere with those.
But having read some of his Alex Ryder books to my son, I can't stand the way he constantly starts sentences with "But".
And he starts sentences with "And" too.
Alex said:
cherie171 said:
The Kindle price briefly dropped to £1.99 the other day, so I though I'd give Andy Weir's The Martian a go, and see if it lives up to the hype. About a quarter of the way through so far, and it's not back.
Makes me want to go and watch Moon again though...
I'm about a quarter in and really enjoying it so far.Makes me want to go and watch Moon again though...
Finished Mans Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.
The book is split into 2 parts, first is an account by Victor Frankl (a psychiatrist) about his time in Concentration Camps. The second is about a type of psychotherapy he created called Logotherapy and his ideas about finding meaning in life, regardless of circumstance.
“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
I'd recommend it to anyone. Even if just for his account of life in concentration camps.
The book is split into 2 parts, first is an account by Victor Frankl (a psychiatrist) about his time in Concentration Camps. The second is about a type of psychotherapy he created called Logotherapy and his ideas about finding meaning in life, regardless of circumstance.
“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
I'd recommend it to anyone. Even if just for his account of life in concentration camps.
Just finished 'The Forgotten Highlander'. Scottish soldier spends 4 years in Jap POW camps.
Horrifying stuff, hard to believe anybody could actually survive it, but perhaps the worst part was basically being ignored/shunned/hushed up by his own government when he finally got released, forced to sign documents that he'd never speak of his suffering or experiences.......
http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgotten-Highlander-Inc...
Horrifying stuff, hard to believe anybody could actually survive it, but perhaps the worst part was basically being ignored/shunned/hushed up by his own government when he finally got released, forced to sign documents that he'd never speak of his suffering or experiences.......
http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgotten-Highlander-Inc...
Finally finished "The Goldfinch".
I stand by my original view that it's a good 300 page novel packed into 770+ pages, but obviously others feel differently.
Now reading "Alex Zanardi : My Story" - I tend to try and alternate Fiction and Non-Fiction in hard book format (whilst having one of each on the go on the Kindle app
)
M.
I stand by my original view that it's a good 300 page novel packed into 770+ pages, but obviously others feel differently.
Now reading "Alex Zanardi : My Story" - I tend to try and alternate Fiction and Non-Fiction in hard book format (whilst having one of each on the go on the Kindle app
)M.
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