Granny Danger Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 1 hour ago, tongue_tied_danny said: Orwell was a plagiarist c**t. 99% of the public don't know that 1984 is a complete rip off of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Not being aware of something that isn’t true is not a lack of knowledge. Guess who said that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 My biggest gripe about Orwell is that he wanted his pen name to be less Scottish than his real one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dee_62 Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Just finished Archie Knox's autobiography. Not a fan of Man Utd, Rangers or Aberdeen and was more interested in the Forfar and Dundee bits (of which there were precious few). Some entertaining anecdotes but felt that the writer was more interested in mentioning the successes of the players and managers interviewed. As if we didn't know what the likes of Alex McLeish, Gordon Strachan and Paul Ince got up to after they'd finished playing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnarab Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 I'm halfway through Tommy McLeans autobiography and it's a good read for neutrals of an older generation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 I've just started Detroit 67 by Stuart Cosgrove. Pretty interesting so far... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Joe Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Arrest this Moment - a book about the great Michael Marra. Very good so far, plenty of illustrations and pics... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Nearly finished Dr Sleep, the follow up to The Shining. Would make a fantastic film in the right hands but seeing as King despises Kubrick’s handling of The Shining it will likely only ever be some tv-movie standard shite approved by King. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mighty meadow Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Read Telling Stories by Tim Burgess yesterday. One of the best music bios I've ever read. His musical influences pretty much mirror my own throughout the book but the drug and drink excesses thankfully don't 8/10 Before that I had an unexpected few days in hospital and asked my wife to bring me up a book or two. For some reason she bypassed the pile of unread books beside the bed and brought me two of the eldest daughter's books instead. So in Crosshouse Hospital just before Christmas I read ... The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey 5/10 The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley 6/10 Finally, spent New Year on Arran reading Kerby by Graeme Johnston. Subtitled 'Funny Tales From A 1990's Scottish Childhood', well I did laugh (final chapter) but until then it was pretty much struggling to justify the 49p I paid for it in the local charity shop. Sorry 2/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 2 minutes ago, mighty meadow said: The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey 5/10 I got to see the film for free last year. I still felt ripped off. Utter shite. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mighty meadow Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 16 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said: I got to see the film for free last year. I still felt ripped off. Utter shite. Haven't watched the film but my daughter told me the film was dreadful so will definitely be giving it a miss. Wouldn't recommend the book either tbh. I was probably being generous giving it 5/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 5 minutes ago, mighty meadow said: Haven't watched the film but my daughter told me the film was dreadful so will definitely be giving it a miss. Wouldn't recommend the book either tbh. I was probably being generous giving it 5/10 It was shockingly bad. Quite possibly one of the worst films I have seen. The only good thing was that I did not pay to see it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomCat Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 As usual I finished a few at once. Men Without Women/Haruki Murakami - Collection of short stories by Murakami. All of them dealing with dealing with his usual themes of love, loneliness, regret. The titular story was particularly touching. A nice collection. Under the Volcano/Malcolm Lowry - Heavy going but rewarding and rather original novel set in Mexico during the day of the dead as a man drinks his way to oblivion. Very well written. Norwegian Wood/Haruki Murakami - There was a time when this was my favourite novel. Now I'm a little older I found the book too long and one of the main characters (Midori) particularly annoying. Prefer his usual magic realism which this book was a big change from. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoDiego Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Norwegian Wood/Haruki Murakami - There was a time when this was my favourite novel. Now I'm a little older I found the book too long and one of the main characters (Midori) particularly annoying. Prefer his usual magic realism which this book was a big change from. Exactly my thoughts on it. Wild Sheep Chase is my favourite. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mighty meadow Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 9 minutes ago, ThomCat said: As usual I finished a few at once. Men Without Women/Haruki Murakami - Collection of short stories by Murakami. All of them dealing with dealing with his usual themes of love, loneliness, regret. The titular story was particularly touching. A nice collection. Under the Volcano/Malcolm Lowry - Heavy going but rewarding and rather original novel set in Mexico during the day of the dead as a man drinks his way to oblivion. Very well written. Norwegian Wood/Haruki Murakami - There was a time when this was my favourite novel. Now I'm a little older I found the book too long and one of the main characters (Midori) particularly annoying. Prefer his usual magic realism which this book was a big change from. I've got Norwegian Wood in my to read again pile. Enjoyed it first time around, wonder if I'll be so impressed second time around! Got Dance, Dance, Dance at Christmas but haven't got round to reading it yet. Men Without Women sounds worth getting hold of 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 40 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said: Exactly my thoughts on it. Wild Sheep Chase is my favourite. Yup. I'm also a fan of Hardboiled Wonderland and Wind Up Bird, but I do find increasingly irritated by Murakami's male protagonists quite often being judgmental dickheads. I'm not entirely sure this is deliberate. South of the Border, West of the Sun and QI84 are particular examples. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 On 31/12/2017 at 09:25, ThatBoyRonaldo said: My Orwell faux pas was reading Keep the Aspidistra Flying and thinking Gordon Comstock was a great character before re-reading it and realising he's supposed to be a bit pathetic. Maybe he comes across as such but I’m not sure if he’s ‘supposed’ to be. Orwell had a great gift of portraying characters as the product of their time and circumstances. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberdeenHibee Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Have recently finished: Lord of the Flies (8/10). 1984 (10/10). Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (7/10). About to start To Kill A Mockingbird. 1984 is an absolute masterpiece. Heavily relevant to today, iconic ideas and just fascinating. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprolite Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Places in the Darkness, Chris Brookmyre. Murder mystery set on a space station with a background of political chicanery, corruption & skulduggery. Thoroughly good read. Totally agree. Sci fi seems to allow a bit more of the asides/rants that chatacterised his earlier books. This is a good thing. plus his characters and dialogue keep getting more beleivable.fast paced and intelligent is a rare combination. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasgow_bairn Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Got a tonne of Waterstones vouchers at Christmas. Splashed out on quite a few books. First up and currently reading is: Endurance: A Year in Space by Steve Kelly. About 170 pages in so far and a really axciting and informative read. Think next up to read from the pile will be the horror genre. Possibly: Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 A Very English Scandal. Lib Dem leader Jeremy Thorpe conspires to murder his gay lover in the 70s. Excellent read. And a true story as well. 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.