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Last Book You Read....


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On 30/03/2023 at 15:20, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Another few from me over the past few weeks:

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison 

Striped PJs - John Boyle

Enduring Love -Ian McEwan

Tenth Man - Graham Greene

Cats Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
 

Enjoying Vonneguts stuff (all new to me, B of Champs coming up). Didn’t really enjoy McEwan but the missus forced me to read it (as did the bairn for the striped PJs).

Did f**k all reading when I was younger so trying to make up for it before approaching the fiery abyss.

 

I really liked Slaughterhouse 5, it was years ago I read it but I thought it was great

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On 30/03/2023 at 13:20, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Another few from me over the past few weeks:

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison 

Striped PJs - John Boyle

Enduring Love -Ian McEwan

Tenth Man - Graham Greene

Cats Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
 

Enjoying Vonneguts stuff (all new to me, B of Champs coming up). Didn’t really enjoy McEwan but the missus forced me to read it (as did the bairn for the striped PJs).

Did f**k all reading when I was younger so trying to make up for it before approaching the fiery abyss.

Did you enjoy the Graham Greene book?

This year I’ve read Our Man In Havana, and The End of The Affair, both by him and both completely differently written books. He seemed to do some pretty serious subjects then much lighter books.  Enjoyed both right enough. 
 

Currently making my way through Brighton Rock. 

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15 minutes ago, Internet Citizen said:

Did you enjoy the Graham Greene book?

This year I’ve read Our Man In Havana, and The End of The Affair, both by him and both completely differently written books. He seemed to do some pretty serious subjects then much lighter books.  Enjoyed both right enough. 
 

Currently making my way through Brighton Rock. 

I did. I have an eye on Brighton Rock so let me know how that goes. The missus also recommended Our Man in Havana and the Power and the Glory.

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10 minutes ago, Internet Citizen said:

Did you enjoy the Graham Greene book?

This year I’ve read Our Man In Havana, and The End of The Affair, both by him and both completely differently written books. He seemed to do some pretty serious subjects then much lighter books.  Enjoyed both right enough. 
 

Currently making my way through Brighton Rock. 

I love Greene but still haven’t read probably half his stuff. I enjoyed Brighton Rock but found it really quite unsettling. I did my English higher book report on it  but read it again a couple of years ago; I can’t remember another book with such a feeling of menace throughout. 
 

I read the end of the affair fairly recently and was stuck by the pure craft of the writing. Don’t really recall the story too well but the telling was great.

I think he’s at his best in a fading colonial setting. Our man in Havana you’ve mentioned but also The Quiet American and (my current favourite) The honorary consul. Not as farcical as  our man in Havana but equally as ludicrous and seedy.

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16 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

I did. I have an eye on Brighton Rock so let me know how that goes. The missus also recommended Our Man in Havana and the Power and the Glory.

Power and the Glory fits into that “fading colonial setting” bracket. It’s been a while but i really enjoyed that one too. 

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The 50 Year Mission by Edward Gross. Essentially the story of how all the Star Trek shows and movies were made. Expect some of this to appear in the Fun Facts thread in future. 

Quick summary: everyone who was ever involved in making Star Trek was a complete and utter bellend, with the exceptions of Gene L. Coon and Ron Moore. 

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My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.

It's the first of four Neapolitan novels.  Set in the 50s and 60s in a poor part of Naples it follows the tale of two intelligent girls growing up in difficult circumstances.  Interesting enough, but a bit of a slog in truth.  I can't see me reading the others.

 

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The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova. She set herself a challenge to go from complete poker beginner to competing in the WSOP main event in one year . This book chronicles her personal development along the way , a truly compelling behavioural and psychological study. Absolutely no requirement to know or care anything about poker to enjoy it . 

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17 hours ago, JamesP_81 said:

The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova. She set herself a challenge to go from complete poker beginner to competing in the WSOP main event in one year . This book chronicles her personal development along the way , a truly compelling behavioural and psychological study. Absolutely no requirement to know or care anything about poker to enjoy it . 

I hear it's a flop

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12 minutes ago, SamuraiJock said:

Inversions - Iain M. Banks - Banks and the Culture books always excellent. Very little Culture in this one though.

While still full of interesting ideas and quality prose, I’d say inversions was the book I enjoyed least out of his sci fi brand. Still better than most stuff by most other writers though. It reminded me in a lot of ways of one of the plot threads in The Bridge, the one with the castle.

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10 minutes ago, coprolite said:

While still full of interesting ideas and quality prose, I’d say inversions was the book I enjoyed least out of his sci fi brand. Still better than most stuff by most other writers though. It reminded me in a lot of ways of one of the plot threads in The Bridge, the one with the castle.

Haven’t tried the bridge yet but it’s on my long list to get to.

favourite culture novel? Use of weapons and excession I enjoyed a lot, but still got a few to get to

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5 minutes ago, SamuraiJock said:

Haven’t tried the bridge yet but it’s on my long list to get to.

favourite culture novel? Use of weapons and excession I enjoyed a lot, but still got a few to get to

Those two for me too. Excession probably shades it. 

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