Ross. Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Finished another Houellbecq on my way into work this morning. Atomised. Another fantastic book by him. Next up is AK86 by Grant Hill. After that I have nothing. Need to fill up the e-reader again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 On 12/07/2016 at 13:36, Ross. said: Finished another Houellbecq on my way into work this morning. What's your favourite of his? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 4 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said: What's your favourite of his? Only read three of them so far, and I have enjoyed all three immensely. Would probably go with "The Map and the Territory", simply because of the way he rips the piss out of himself in it. When I get round to stocking up the e-reader I'll be looking to add the novels of his I haven't got round to so far. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Just taken the last of my possessions out of storage and in the very last box is DundeeBarrys book, never finished reading it before I had to store everything. Will start at the beginning again as it must be 3 years at least since I started that one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vladimir Lennon Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Just finished Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari (post-plagiarism phase) and it just completely sums up everything that is wrong with the war on drugs. Can't help but feel that, in a week when music festival organisers are worried about increasing levels of violence, their robust attempts at cracking down on ecstacy pills are a little misguided. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 4 hours ago, DiegoDiego said: What's your favourite of his? 4 hours ago, Ross. said: Only read three of them so far, and I have enjoyed all three immensely. Would probably go with "The Map and the Territory", simply because of the way he rips the piss out of himself in it. When I get round to stocking up the e-reader I'll be looking to add the novels of his I haven't got round to so far. Atomised is my favourite of his, followed by Whatever. Platform is also worth a read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 11 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said: Atomised is my favourite of his, followed by Whatever. Platform is also worth a read. Platform was next on my "To read" list as far as Houellbecq goes. I plan on reading a bit of Proust, Camus and Huysmans as well, the regular references to other French novelists have me wanting to expand my reading a little further again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 1 hour ago, Ross. said: Platform was next on my "To read" list as far as Houellbecq goes. I plan on reading a bit of Proust, Camus and Huysmans as well, the regular references to other French novelists have me wanting to expand my reading a little further again. I would avoid The Plague like, well... I've been told The Stranger is much better though. I'd like to read some Proust though it pretty much means committing to In Search of Lost Time and my pile is big enough as it is. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 10 hours ago, DiegoDiego said: I would avoid The Plague like, well... I've been told The Stranger is much better though. I'd like to read some Proust though it pretty much means committing to In Search of Lost Time and my pile is big enough as it is. The Stranger is a good quick read. Never got past the first two pages of In Search of Lost Time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Their Lips Talk of Mischief by Alan Warner which is good, although the two main characters channel Withnail & I - out of work writers as opposed to actors - a bit too much for comfort. Preferred his previous, The Deadman's Pedal. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 A Clergyman's Daughter by George Orwell It's quite cynical 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 AK86 by sometime P&B poster Grant Hill. Very well put together take on a massive day in Scottish football that I am too young to remember but had heard plenty about from old people. I now have no books to read. I will go back to learning more German until I get round to sorting out my e-reader. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud131 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Anyone recommend any good holiday reads? Nothing too heavy, read I Am Pilgrim last year amongst others and loved it!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broon-loon Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 (edited) The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell. I'm sure this book will have been mentioned in this thread at some point, but for anyone wanting to read a political message (written over 100 years ago) that is still very much in evidence today, then this is definitely for you. It does at times repeat itself, but wow what a fantastic work by the author. Edited July 20, 2016 by broon-loon Edit for typo.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlion Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 On 12 July 2016 at 12:24, Tommy Nooka said: The Terror by Dan Simmons is a great horror story. It's about Franklins lost expedition and what 'might' have happened to them. A superb book that you can really get 'lost' in, Simmons does a great job portraying the cold desolation of the Northwest Passage. I read "The Terror" and thought it was a superb horror that was badly in need of an editor. It got the period detail down perfectly and captured, as you say, the chilly desolation and hopelessness of the situation (and the monster was a great secondary threat). It was just far too long for what it was, and I felt the conclusion was very out of keeping with what had come before. I could be wrong, but I thought the real ship's remains had been found (or some evidence of the victims), which might have resulted in a "Raise the Titanic" scenario where the historical fiction is made obsolete by historical developments... Anyway, I'm working my way through C J Sansom's "Shardlake" series: semi-detective novels about a hunchbacked lawyer who works for Thomas Cromwell during Henry VIII's reign. They're real page-turners, and Sansom's prose is really evocative of the sights and sounds of the period. I've finished the first in the series, Dissolution, which was great - although I guessed whodunnit fairly early on. Midway through "Dark Fire", which has a fascinating premise (Shardlake is trying to get to the truth of a child murder, of which another child has been accused, when Cromwell assigns him to a case in which two alchemists who claimed to have rediscovered Greek Fire have been butchered). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlion Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 On 11 July 2016 at 21:06, Randy Giles said: Peter Straub's "Ghost Story" is absolutely wonderful. Read it twice - classic 70s horror, up there with King's best from that period. Don't bother with the film, which completely bins the Native American origins of the demon (who was never a living woman), and instead makes it a straightforward story about a real woman who came back as a ghost to haunt the main characters. DO bother with the film if you want to see lots of Alice Krige's nipples being tweaked and fondled, and the main actor's helicopter penis spinning as he plunges naked out of a window. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Nooka Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 I read "The Terror" and thought it was a superb horror that was badly in need of an editor. It got the period detail down perfectly and captured, as you say, the chilly desolation and hopelessness of the situation (and the monster was a great secondary threat). It was just far too long for what it was, and I felt the conclusion was very out of keeping with what had come before. I could be wrong, but I thought the real ship's remains had been found (or some evidence of the victims), which might have resulted in a "Raise the Titanic" scenario where the historical fiction is made obsolete by historical developments... Anyway, I'm working my way through C J Sansom's "Shardlake" series: semi-detective novels about a hunchbacked lawyer who works for Thomas Cromwell during Henry VIII's reign. They're real page-turners, and Sansom's prose is really evocative of the sights and sounds of the period. I've finished the first in the series, Dissolution, which was great - although I guessed whodunnit fairly early on. Midway through "Dark Fire", which has a fascinating premise (Shardlake is trying to get to the truth of a child murder, of which another child has been accused, when Cromwell assigns him to a case in which two alchemists who claimed to have rediscovered Greek Fire have been butchered). I picked up the first 3 Shardlake books on Amazon for £3 a few weeks ago. Gave them to my mum to read just now, will need to get them back soon! Been reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman at the moment on a recommendation, not very impressed so far, feels like it's trying too hard to be an edgy Harry Potter. They found the Erebus, don't think they've found the Terror yet. No one will ever know what actually happened to the men though. Some human remains have been found and were cleverly wove into Simmons novel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman It's a true testament to the human spirit and would no doubt annoy the f**k out of any of the inferiority complex ridden welts on here prone to typing "weegie" with the air of someone desperately trying to pretend their inferiority complex doesn't exist 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell It's a bit whiny 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Madame Bovary. For what it's worth I was slightly disappointed by it. Fantastic book, but I'm not sure its in the same league as Anna Karenina. Almost nothing is, to be fair. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.