Last Book You Read....

[tongue_tied_danny]

16 hours ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

I've read 72 this year. A mixture of physical, kindle and audio.

That's good going.

In my younger days I read a book every week. Too many distractions now though. I struggle to read one a month now.

[HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows]

14 minutes ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

That's good going.

In my younger days I read a book every week. Too many distractions now though. I struggle to read one a month now.

Did ye Chris, aye?

 

[rollstar]

I see it's not a favourite here but since it's Hogmanay/New Year's Day I wanted to mention Sunset Song and wish everyone a Happy New Year. Two of my favourite scenes in any book happen at Hogmanay in Sunset Song, in 1912 and 1913, both in the farmhouse at Blawearie with the snow lashing down outside.

I look at ruined farmhouses now on marginal land in the eastern highlands, and imagine what it was like at Hogmanay there before WW1, with the local equivalents of Chae Strachan and Long Rob battling through the drifts with a bottle of whisky to first foot you, play some tunes on the fiddle and then fall over.

Edited January 1, 2023 by rollstar

[coprolite]

5 minutes ago, rollstar said:

I see it's not a favourite here but since it's Hogmanay/New Year's Day I wanted to mention Sunset Song and wish everyone a Happy New Year. Two of my favourite scenes in any book happen on Hogmanay in Sunset Song, in 1912 and 1913, both in the farmhouse at Blawearie with the snow lashing down outside. I look at ruined farmhouses now on marginal land in the eastern highlands, and imagine what it was like at Hogmanay there before WW1, with the local equivalents of Chae Strachan and Long Rob battling through the drifts with a bottle of whisky to first foot you, play some tunes on the fiddle and then fall over.

I'd probably enjoy it now but having to read it for higher at 17 kind of ruined it. 

Proper mannies new years in the olden days. 

[rollstar]

5 minutes ago, coprolite said:

I'd probably enjoy it now but having to read it for higher at 17 kind of ruined it.

Yeah, I didn't have to read it at school but got into it through the TV series. I didn't read it until years later and even then had to make a 2nd attempt after not getting far past the prologue. It's worth persisting though, and even Gibbon himself said you can skip most of the prologue if you're not into it.

[Craig fae the Vale]

Saga Volume 10 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

After a long break, we're back with a bang. Always a thrill ride, always full of surprises.

[Monkey Tennis]

19 hours ago, rollstar said:

Yeah, I didn't have to read it at school but got into it through the TV series. I didn't read it until years later and even then had to make a 2nd attempt after not getting far past the prologue. It's worth persisting though, and even Gibbon himself said you can skip most of the prologue if you're not into it.

I read it at school and hated it.

A decade later I revisited it and now love it.  I'd recommend that anyone reading it should skip the prologue altogether and only read it at all, afterwards.  I know that flies in the face of the rules many of us, including me, would impose on reading, but it really helps with accessing this book.

I'd urge anyone who was once put off this book, to give it another go in adulthood.  It's tremendous.

[RH33]

21 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I read it at school and hated it.

A decade later I revisited it and now love it.  I'd recommend that anyone reading it should skip the prologue altogether and only read it at all, afterwards.  I know that flies in the face of the rules many of us, including me, would impose on reading, but it really helps with accessing this book.

I'd urge anyone who was once put off this book, to give it another go in adulthood.  It's tremendous.

I was meant to read it for higher English.. Even got a decent mark on an essay using the notes book. Still haven't read more than first chapter.

Managed a C anyway. Just made sure I knew the poetry well instead

[Monkey Tennis]

17 minutes ago, Madame RH33 said:

I was meant to read it for higher English.. Even got a decent mark on an essay using the notes book. Still haven't read more than first chapter.

Managed a C anyway. Just made sure I knew the poetry well instead

That's the experience of most people.  Notes books can actually take you quite far - believe me.

Not many fancy revisiting something they didn't like first time around of course, but this one seriously is worth the effort. 

It's available for 49p on the Kindle. Do it.

[The_Kincardine]

22 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I'd urge anyone who was once put off this book, to give it another go in adulthood.  It's tremendous.

Sunset Song is a novel every Scot should read.  The rest of the trilogy is 'meh'.

My most recent Swedish ex ranks it as one of the best books she's ever read - and I can't disagree with her.

[RH33]

I can't even remember what it was about!

[invergowrie arab]

40 minutes ago, Madame RH33 said:

I can't even remember what it was about!

A horny da and cows 

[Dan Steele]

On 23/12/2022 at 15:25, Craig fae the Vale said:

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty.

A really good collection of interconnected stories set on a Native American Reservation. Dark, affecting, a fantastic read.

I'll have to find that one. There's some great Native American literature out there. Leslie Marmon Silko and James Welch are two favourites. There's a great book called Eye Killers by AA Carr. It mixes the Vampire story with Navajo myth. Really good.

[House Bartender]

3 hours ago, The_Kincardine said:

Sunset Song is a novel every Scot should read.  The rest of the trilogy is 'meh'.

My most recent Swedish ex ranks it as one of the best books she's ever read - and I can't disagree with her.

The intro is indeed hard work.  The story and it's telling is remarkable on so many levels. Books 2 & 3 are indeed lesser reads.

But how does a Swedish person mange to read in the Doric? You do need that inner voice, ken?

[scottsdad]

3 hours ago, Madame RH33 said:

I was meant to read it for higher English.. Even got a decent mark on an essay using the notes book. Still haven't read more than first chapter.

Managed a C anyway. Just made sure I knew the poetry well instead

I did 2001: A Space Odyssey for my higher English. The book explains far more than the movie. 

[The_Kincardine]

11 hours ago, House Bartender said:

The intro is indeed hard work.  The story and it's telling is remarkable on so many levels. Books 2 & 3 are indeed lesser reads.

But how does a Swedish person mange to read in the Doric? You do need that inner voice, ken?

If she tried to tell me what  2+2 equals I'd check her workings but she has a real gift for language.  Before she'd finished the book she could extemporise in passable Chris Guthrie.  It's actually a bit spooky.

[PossilYM]

Argos catalogue 

[Oystercatcher]

Just finished Gabriel Byrne a memoir. Really well written and enjoyable short read, despite the fact it's taken me 2 months.

As for books I despise due to being made to read at school, "The great Gatsby" although I'm informed that I should read it again. I hated this book so much at school I was given an alternative "flowers for Algernon" which is still a favourite.

[HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows]

On 01/01/2023 at 00:58, coprolite said:

I'd probably enjoy it now but having to read it for higher at 17 kind of ruined it. 

Proper mannies new years in the olden days. 

Totally this. There's a character in a Chris Brookmyre book whos talking to his old English teacher and says that maybe a book about teuchter farmers raping their kids is maybe not the best book to get Scottish 

[HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows]

On 01/01/2023 at 00:58, coprolite said:

I'd probably enjoy it now but having to read it for higher at 17 kind of ruined it. 

Proper mannies new years in the olden days. 

Totally this. There's a character in a Chris Brookmyre book whos talking to his old English teacher and says that maybe a book about teuchter farmers raping their kids is maybe not the best book to get Scottish kids into literature. 

He has a point.