Miguel Sanchez Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) Child of God by Cormac McCarthy "He came up flailing and sputtering and began to thrash his way toward the line of willows that marked the submerged creek bank. He could not swim, but how would you drown him? His wrath seemed to buoy him up. Some halt in the way of things seems to work here. See him. You could say that he's sustained by his fellow men, like you. Has peopled the shore with them calling to him. A race that gives suck to the maimed and the crazed, that wants their wrong blood in its history and will have it. But they want this man's life. He has heard them in the night seeking him with lanterns and cries of execration. How then is he borne up? Or rather, why will not these waters take him?" Edited February 27, 2018 by Miguel Sanchez 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Faded Lois Dreams by Andrew Vaughan A northern "footy lad" moves to London in the early 80s and immerses himself in the music and fashion scenes. This book has absolutely no storyline and consists of little more than the author name checking famous London pubs, music venues and clothes shops. That said though, it wasn't badly written and it did give a sense of time and place. It held my attention but I'm in no rush to read it again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlipperyP Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) going to start Julian Assange "the unauthorized autobiography" anyone read this? Edit to say. He was involved but didn't want to put his name to it for legal reason. Is this also true? Edited February 21, 2018 by SlipperyP 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 I finished Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche last night. Someone a few pages back summed it up by saying that it reads like the work of an opium addled maniac. That book was the last one I read on my old basic Kindle with a black mark on it's screen because I got a new Kindle Paperwhite today. I have started reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprolite Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 On 15/02/2018 at 19:36, Ya Bezzer! said: I almost finished 'Steppenwolf' about a year ago but with only a couple of chapters left clumsily dropped the book in a deep puddle and completely ruined it. Anyway, I was impressed enough to try another Hesse novel and I picked 'Narcissus and Goldmund'. Essentially it's about a young man that rejects religion and society in Medieval Europe to go off and have adventures on the road (i.e., serial shagging and a couple of justifiable homicides) before having to come to terms with the end of his youth, his artistic creativity and his own mortality. As a 40+ man child a lot of the mental conflicts of Goldmund struck home with me and the Black Death sections really gives an insight into what a terrifying time it must have been when anyone at any time could be touched by death and be gone in a matter of days. In particular the scene where Goldmund discovers the dead family in the abandoned farm house is quite chilling. In many ways the book reminded me of the great Soviet war film 'Come And See' in it's creepy, claustrophobic and all pervading sense of death., the idea that the skeletal hand is never more than an inch away from your shoulder. How do you live your life? And how do you come to terms with the inevitable? It's beautifully written and genuinely philosophical. Moving on to Paul Bowles 'The Sheltering Sky', and I've just ordered Robert Byron's 'The Road to Oxiana', 'Southern Mail/Night Flight' by Antoine Saint-Exupery and John Reed's '10 Days That Shook The World'. I just came on to look for a reccomendation and I think this might be it. Haven't read Herman the German for about 15 years and haven't done this one. If it's appropriate for 40 something man childs then it should be up my street. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprolite Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Just finished Ancient Worlds by Michael Scott (off the telly). As someone with limited knowledge of international history I thought it was magic. It covers three time periods with a big theme for each (politics, war, religion) and covers Spain to Manchuria and loads of places in between. Reccommended to non specialists. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy I'd read the Bible if it was as interesting as the bits referenced here 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBo10 Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Origin by Dan Brown. Not good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Origin by Dan Brown. Not good. Read a few of his books and they have all been in a similar vein, decent story for most of it then an utterly shite ending. Angels and Demons is the worst offender imo. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Just finished 'The Sheltering Sky' by Paul Bowles It's superbly written in the sense that Bowles imbues everything with the sense that by simply looking at something, often unintentionally, from a slightly different angle everything is capable of turning from beauty to horror and back again - people, relationships, civilization, foreign cultures, the familiar, the alien, the desert, the world, life. While it's clearly philosophically existentialist I'm still trying to work out the motives of the main characters and the deeper meaning behind them. Pondering over them will get me through my 12 hour shift. At times the book is troubling, puzzling, aimless, difficult and has quite a lot of untranslated French and Arabic dialogue, so it probably isn't for everyone, more for adventurers in post war avant-garde literature. Next up - Robert Byron's 'The Road To Oxiana' 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 2 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said: Just finished 'The Sheltering Sky' by Paul Bowles It's superbly written in the sense that Bowles imbues everything with the sense that by simply looking at something, often unintentionally, from a slightly different angle everything is capable of turning from beauty to horror and back again - people, relationships, civilization, foreign cultures, the familiar, the alien, the desert, the world, life. While it's clearly philosophically existentialist I'm still trying to work out the motives of the main characters and the deeper meaning behind them. Pondering over them will get me through my 12 hour shift. At times the book is troubling, puzzling, aimless, difficult and has quite a lot of untranslated French and Arabic dialogue, so it probably isn't for everyone, more for adventurers in post war avant-garde literature. Good film, some very horny scenes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 18 hours ago, Emil Borkhausen said: I read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut recently. I found the first few chapters uproariously funny then it became a bit tiresome and bizarre. A bit disappointing. Followed that up with Franz Kafka's short story Metamorphosis which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Currently making my way though On The Road by Jack Kerouac and absolutely loving it. Jesus I hated that book. Maybe if I had read it when I was early 20s instead of early 30s then it would have made a difference. Every character in it annoyed the f*#$ out of me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saigon Raider Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) The Fact of a Body - A murder and memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich About a 6 year old boy that is murdered and the law student who works on the retrial of the killer. It's the story of the murder but interspersed with the author's own life. Fairly grim so far (and a bit too close to home) but feels like it is going to get very interesting. Edited March 6, 2018 by Saigon Raider 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Blood Feud by Adrian Dater It's reassuring to know that an alky who picks out square goes on twitter actually justifies his living as a writer when he's writing about something. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glassnahalf Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) On 05/03/2018 at 11:10, Emil Borkhausen said: Followed that up with Franz Kafka's short story Metamorphosis which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. I remember watching the film as a 12 year old of a man turning into a giant beetle! I read the story afterwards after finding his work in the local library. Edited March 8, 2018 by glassnahalf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 On 05/03/2018 at 11:10, Emil Borkhausen said: I read Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut recently. I found the first few chapters uproariously funny then it became a bit tiresome and bizarre. A bit disappointing. Followed that up with Franz Kafka's short story Metamorphosis which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Currently making my way though On The Road by Jack Kerouac and absolutely loving it. I tried reading Slaughterhouse 5 a few years ago but gave up after about 20 pages. It said so it goes at the end of every paragraph. To be honest, that just got right on my fucking moobs pretty quickly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1nickydevlin Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 The long walk .About a polish pow who apparently walked from siberia to india during ww2 . Made into a film called the way back .book is much better 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the jambo-rocker Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 (edited) Deep Work It's a very self-help book that looks into our work attention spans in this day and age and how uninterupted focus can lead you to produce some of your best work. I wouldn't say it's a lifechanging read but it's definitely a good starting point for anyone who is looking to be better at being productive. It's definitely made me more aware of my work ethic. I can't tell you how much of my time I could put to use better if I could stop distracting myself with work emails, my open work desk plan, but mostly my phone and internet forums for distraction. 32 Programmes A sentimental book about an avid programme collector who picked his favourite 32 programmes, what memories each game give the author. I'd recommend it for anyone who still likes a good programme. Edited March 9, 2018 by the jambo-rocker 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 The next part of James Ellroy's second LA quartet is due out in September. Been craving some new Ellroy for 4 years now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 53 minutes ago, Shandon Par said: The next part of James Ellroy's second LA quartet is due out in September. Been craving some new Ellroy for 4 years now. About fucking time the lazy c**t. He better not appear on the dead pool thread before he's finished the quartet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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