Oxigen_Waste Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Alas, I just finished reading Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea and was heading here to discuss it... when I realised... we have no book thread. So, what are you currently reading/ what've you read lately/ what are your favourite books / whatever bookish question you may have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mundi Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I´m currently reading trough 20.000 Under The Sea. Not really far in but i´m liking it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfox Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Good thread! I'd love to read a few more books, other than textbooks and journals. But instead I lurk on Nintendo forums..! Would you recommend Hemingway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 We had a book thread but alas, it is lost to the depths of where ever the old threads go! My recently read favorite book of all time is Dune. Its fantastic. I prefer its writing style to Lord of The Rings. At the moment I'm making my way through its sequel, Dune: Messiah, but uni work has forced me to put it down. I'll pick it up again in Xmas hols!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_Dare Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 as resident English sudent supremo, i expect you to treat my opinion in this thread as law. with that in mind, I'd recomend Philip Roth to anyone- he's an American Jewish writer with a taste for the emotionally brutal, political end of the spectrum with a talent for intensity and intricate character portraits. my favourite author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergrunch Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I'm reading Will you please be quiet, please! by Raymond Carver at the moment, along with about 50 other books. It's... interesting, and the plain style is sort of refreshing. Two of my favourite authors are David Mitchell and Haruki Murakami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellfire Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Unfortunately I don't read a lot of books and what I read is mainly fantasy. Not that it's a bad thing. SO asides from portuguese stuff that I had to read at school I read everything from Tolkien, Harry Potters, Narnia, Golden Compass, Eragon, Eldest, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and Dragons of Eden. I'll see if I start reading some Haruki Murakami when I have the time and read the rest of His Dark Materials that OW lent me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxigen_Waste Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 Good thread! I'd love to read a few more books, other than textbooks and journals. But instead I lurk on Nintendo forums..! Would you recommend Hemingway? Hemingway? Well... The old man and the sea is always great. It's so easy to read, as it's fairly short. Start from there... if you like it, try "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and be surpised. We had a book thread but alas, it is lost to the depths of where ever the old threads go! My recently read favorite book of all time is Dune. Its fantastic. I prefer its writing style to Lord of The Rings. At the moment I'm making my way through its sequel, Dune: Messiah, but uni work has forced me to put it down. I'll pick it up again in Xmas hols!! I've already promised myself... it's the last fantasy book I'll read. And I have them all at hand. as resident English sudent supremo, i expect you to treat my opinion in this thread as law. with that in mind, I'd recomend Philip Roth to anyone- he's an American Jewish writer with a taste for the emotionally brutal, political end of the spectrum with a talent for intensity and intricate character portraits. my favourite author. I loved American Pastoral.. but as you may imagine, it was the only thing I read by him, as many... =/ As for favourite author... I'd have to say Haruki Murakami. He's a fucking genious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergrunch Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 As for favourite author... I'd have to say Haruki Murakami. He's a fucking genious. Have you read After Dark yet? I very much enjoyed its cinematic style, it was one of the most gripping books I've read... ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyBoy Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I've just finished Crime and Punishment, which was naturally incredible. I'd recommend it to Death Note fans first funnily enough because it provides the same kind of entertainment. I've read 3 out of the 4 books of Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy, which is absolutly hilarious, and i'm taking a break before the final book. I never saw the movie so this is all new. At the moment i'm reading Bill Bryson's "The lost Continent", since i've spent a lot of time in the areas he covers and its interesting to see what he says. Funny book, but on a deeper context it provides a nice account of how America has changed in the last 50 years. Nice book, easy to read. with that in mind, I'd recomend Philip Roth to anyone- he's an American Jewish writer with a taste for the emotionally brutal, political end of the spectrum with a talent for intensity and intricate character portraits. my favourite author. Would you recommend any book in particular? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxigen_Waste Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 Have you read After Dark yet? I very much enjoyed its cinematic style, it was one of the most gripping books I've read... ever. Yes, I have. It's near perfect... BUT, as far as I live, my favourite Murakami book will be Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I don't read tonnes of books, but when I do they're usually from Michael Crichton - I haven't read a bad one from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEVILMURRAY Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 At present I can't have time to read recreationally in such a fashion. I've got too much textbooks and academic reading raping my literature senses. Tis technically all on videogames for my dissertation, so that makes it more bearable. I'll go into books I have later, but I noticed a coupla days ago the new book from Al Murray, and I instantly fell in love with it the moment I saw a picture of Issac Newton with the word "Lightweight" written over it. Has anyone given it a proper read yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iun Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I strongly urge people to pick up Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome, it's hilarious. There are a number of great classics to be read, check out the back of your Penguin book and try titles like "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "King Soloman's Mines". Also, the Barsetshire Chronicles are worthy of a read, and if you've never read Hardy, try at least one. And of course, you are almost legally required to read Treausre Island. By the way, does anyone remember/know a book about a group of children who meet a man living in the forest, and the guy is in a cave covered over by vines or something...? Sorry to be vague, but this I remember from my childhood. I thought it was The Children of the New Forest, which I picked up recently, and it wasn't. Still, I'd recommend that one too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_Dare Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Would you recommend any book in particular? Oxigen already mentioned American Pastoral, which is a particularly great one- it's about how one man is destroyed by his faith in the American Dream when his life makes it impossible to follow. Really good stuff. It's also part of a trilogy of novels including I married a communist and The Human Stain which, again deal with self/social destruction in America, taking the themes of Macarthy era witch hunts and racism respectively. Both ace books. he's also done some stranger books- Portnoirs complaint is like a 250 page jewish sex joke and it's just hilarious. I've also read The Plot Against America which imagines the pilot of the spirit of st louis gets elected President in 1940- as a far right anti Semite, America never joins WW2 and jews start becoming an abused minority. Also worth a curiosity is Everyman which is a biography of a man told through the significant medical events of his life. quite interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I'm reading Will you please be quiet, please! by Raymond Carver at the moment, along with about 50 other books. It's... interesting, and the plain style is sort of refreshing. Two of my favourite authors are David Mitchell and Haruki Murakami. David mitchell is ace Love his explorative narrative style. I've only read Cloud Atlas (awesome) and number9dream (awesome), I think I have Black Swan Green in a pile somewhere, but I've not invested in Ghostwriter (isn't it? or ghostwritten). How do they fare. Iun; I'm currently reading Three Men In A Boat in small chunks and it's quite good! Fairly timeless observations. Also started Jack Kerouac's On The Road, but my course and my laziness means my reading's been going slow. If any of you have facebook, there's this application which is called Visual Bookshelf and it's a neat way to show off what you've read and what you're reading, and what you want to read. I would whole-heartedly recommend The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Neffenegger (spellingwtf) to everyone and anyone. A Million Little Pieces by James Fray has one of very, very few scenes in it which made me wince. Good stuff. I think that's his name, anyway. Not really appropriate to make a seperate topic about this i guess, and seeing as a couple of Hemmingway's semi-short stories have been mentioned already, do many people on here read short stories? What do you enjoy? I've just finished Crime and Punishment, which was naturally incredible. I'd recommend it to Death Note fans first funnily enough because it provides the same kind of entertainment. Have you read any othe Dostoevsky? I've got The Idiot Sitting here, having read about ten pages of it sometime in summer and I couldn't get into it. I've got Crime and Punishment (saw it for 20p, how could anyone not buy it?) and not read that either. I've seriously got a shelf of books i brought with me to uni that I hadn't read, and another twenty sitting on the floor by my door that I got mostly from charity shops that I've always wanted to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 The best short stories I've read are from Hunter S Thompson's Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson. It is hands down the funniest book I've read, no contest. I've also read Hell's Angels by HST and I recommend that to everyone. Its a great read, I just couldn't put it down. And of course Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a great read which also has a pretty good film adaptation with Johnny Depp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergrunch Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 David mitchell is ace Love his explorative narrative style. I've only read Cloud Atlas (awesome) and number9dream (awesome), I think I have Black Swan Green in a pile somewhere, but I've not invested in Ghostwriter (isn't it? or ghostwritten). How do they fare. Well, if I were to rank his books, then I'd probably say Ghostwritten > Cloud Atlas > Black Swan Green > number9dream, though they're all brilliant. Ghostwritten is by far the most complicated, and has a sort of superstory running above the invidividual parts that you have to infer... I had to read it three times to fully understand it. Cloud Atlas was about manipulation, whereas Ghostwritten is more about chance - how individual people can alter the course of events, and how random occurences can change your life for ever. It's a beautiful book that works on multiple levels, an I recommend everyone here read it. And then read it again, and possibly again. Black Swan Green is an interesting one, it's more traditional than the rest of Mitchell's books, but still somehow feels the same. Like number9dream, it's very much a Bildungsroman, only this time one that is semi autobiographical. There are still clever connections, and the book will no doubt yield more when I get around to reading it a second time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_Dare Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Any William Gibson fans? Cyber Punk pioneers ftw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Any William Gibson fans? Cyber Punk pioneers ftw I saw him a couple months ago give a reading of his latest book Spook Country but I haven't actually read any of them. Neuromancer is just one of those book I forget I want to read until I'm half way through another book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_Dare Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 aw you really should. it's proper awesome' The sky was the colour of a television set tuned to nothingness he's such a good writer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 The best short stories I've read are from Hunter S Thompson's Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson. It is hands down the funniest book I've read, no contest. I've also read Hell's Angels by HST and I recommend that to everyone. Its a great read, I just couldn't put it down. And of course Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a great read which also has a pretty good film adaptation with Johnny Depp. Yeah i've read Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson, it's mental to think HST actually did that to poor Jack. I got it for 99p from Penguin's 75th anniversary celebration of something or other, where they had 75 pieces of work from different authors, either a single story or a collection of them. I got about six of them but lost a few more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyBoy Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Have you read any othe Dostoevsky? I've got The Idiot Sitting here, having read about ten pages of it sometime in summer and I couldn't get into it. I've got Crime and Punishment (saw it for 20p, how could anyone not buy it?) and not read that either. I haven't yet, though I plan to. Taking a break from the heavy going Russian Novels for a bit (it takes its tole on your brain). However my Dad has read it and recommends it highly. From what he has told me, and I know having read C&P, his stuff his nigh on impossible to get into, but once you're in, you're in. I think it took me 6 months to read the first 50 pages, then I read 400 in 3 days. This power play he devolps is just incredible, and you're hooked. I think it is No.3 for me (I like to rank my books). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergrunch Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I'm reading The Idiot, it's intriguing. I've put it on hold at the moment, but I'll continue soon. Prince Myshkin is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haver Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Half-way through Martin Amis's The Information. That is my bed-read, my coffee-shop-read. He is our best novelist I think. Also three-quarters through Sons and Lovers, which I think I will read once a year if I can. Also on the desk: John Worthen's D.H. Lawrence biography, Christopher Hitchens's Regime Change (which I have read twice but keep around for reference) and Martin Amis's Visiting Mrs Nabokov and Other Excursions (my bus-read). Amis's London Fields and Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March are on the TV. I am more excited about London Fields than anything else I must admit. Amis stays in the mouth like toothpaste: hard to read anything else for a while. Next I want to get into J.G. Ballard, read him for a bit. Then maybe Norman Mailer, and Kafka. I only have Notes From The Underground from Dostoevsky. I felt it quite hard but it is fatty. Must read The Brothers Karamasov soon. Also: I can't not think of Brent when I read Dostoevsky. Double Also: Is the HST story the one with the Elk heart? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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