This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Aenaes · 01-08-2014 8:24pm

Not looking forward to reading is bad enough but if you find yourself dreading picking up the work again or it has become a chore to you then it's time to replace with better things.

There's so many brilliant, beautiful works that we most likely won't be able to finish all the ones we wish to that it's almost a crime to waste time on unengaging, boring dross.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-08-2014 8:29pm

Aenaes wrote: »

Not looking forward to reading is bad enough but if you find yourself dreading picking up the work again or it has become a chore to you then it's time to replace with better things.

There's so many brilliant, beautiful works that we most likely won't be able to finish all the ones we wish to that it's almost a crime to waste time on unengaging, boring dross.

I used to hate not finishing a book and would force myself to finish even the worst of books but then I thought it was a bit ridiculous that I was spending maybe a month reading something I hated whereas I'd sometimes have something I loved read in a few days. Life's too short and all that jazz.

Last week I didn't finish 2 books!

Aenaes · 01-08-2014 8:33pm

New thread needed, "This week I am mostly NOT reading.."

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-08-2014 8:35pm

Aenaes wrote: »

New thread needed, "This week I am mostly NOT reading.."

This Week I Mostly Can't Be Arsed to Finish...

Any key? · 01-08-2014 10:21pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I used to hate not finishing a book and would force myself to finish even the worst of books but then I thought it was a bit ridiculous that I was spending maybe a month reading something I hated whereas I'd sometimes have something I loved read in a few days. Life's too short and all that jazz.

Last week I didn't finish 2 books!

I feel like if I don't finish it I can't really judge the whole novel. Must force myself to finish last 200 hundred pages....

eire4 · 01-08-2014 10:58pm

Any key? wrote: »

I feel like if I don't finish it I can't really judge the whole novel. Must force myself to finish last 200 hundred pages....

I tend to be the same myself. I feel like I have to finish a book to really be able to make a verdict.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-08-2014 11:03pm

I think if you're writing a review or going to book club then you need to read it all to have a proper informed opinion but as far as just reading it for yourself goes I don't think so. Sure, you have to give it more than a few pages but I usually find with books I enjoy that a few pages are enough to get me hooked. If i'm struggling to make it to 100 pages then it's probably not going to improve.

IvyTheTerrible · 02-08-2014 8:02am

vepyewwo wrote: »

Tyler Hamilton's The Secret Race about his time cycling with Lance Armstrong and the US postal team. I've never followed cycling but I'm interested in doping in sport and the science behind it. This book was a real eye opener and a great read but I'm afraid it will make me extremely cynical when watching any sport from now on!

City of Women by David R Gillham. I saw this recommended by Stephen King in his best reads of 2012. Set in Berlin in 1943 about a woman who becomes involved in helping to hide Jews in the city. I would recommend.

Just started American Gods by Neil Gaiman last night. I've never read anything by him before. About 100 pages in and not sure about it yet.

If you're interesting in doping in sport, The Dirtiest Race in History is excellent. Technically it's about the rivalry between Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis but actually gives a great overview of doping in athletics.

SarahBM · 02-08-2014 10:30am

Surprisingly I'm struggling to get stuck into the Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden. Surprised because I found the 100 year old man so easy to read. Might try give it a good run today.

eire4 · 02-08-2014 10:38pm

Finished a re read of Brett Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction this evening.

doriansmith · 03-08-2014 4:05pm

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

If you're interesting in doping in sport, The Dirtiest Race in History is excellent. Technically it's about the rivalry between Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis but actually gives a great overview of doping in athletics.

I must pick this up, really interested in this topic.

Wyldwood · 03-08-2014 9:34pm

Finished That They May Face the Rising Sun. One thing that annoyed me was the way he kept referring to country roads as streets. Even here in suburbia we don't call the roads streets not to mind out in the heart of the country.

On to Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 next.

Callan57 · 03-08-2014 11:15pm

Wyldwood wrote: »

Finished That They May Face the Rising Sun. One thing that annoyed me was the way he kept referring to country roads as streets. Even here in suburbia we don't call the roads streets not to mind out in the heart of the country.

On to Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 next.

I could be wrong as it some years since I read the book, but if I recall correctly, when he uses the term "street" he is referring to the area immediately outside a house - between the door and the road. It is not at all uncommon in rural Ireland to refer to this area as the street.

Wyldwood · 04-08-2014 9:28am

Well you learn something new everyday! Thanks Callan57

chasmcb · 04-08-2014 2:07pm

Finished 'Middlemarch' last week, had never read George Eliot before. Really enjoyed it; she has an incredible insight into human psychology and the way her characters' thoughts and actions arise from a bubbling psychic stew of hopes, fears, self-delusions, prejudices, etc. And the way she portrays the inter-actions between characters is terrific as she shows us all the emotional undercurrents coursing beneath their words. Next up, on the strength of it getting a rave review in The Irish Times last week, I'm going to read 'Iron Gustav'.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 05-08-2014 1:04am

Finally got through The Famine Plot by Tim Pat Coogan. I don't read a lot of non fiction so it takes me a while with these books.

Some interesting things here, some I had a fair idea of, some came as a horrible shock to me, the last chapter about propaganda in the English media particularly. Given what's going on with Israel/Palestine/Gaza right now a lot of this was eerily familiar. Some of the one sided reporting on that situation has made my jaw drop, it's slightly horrifying to realise it's been going on for centuries in various forms.

My only issue with this book is I'm not 100% sure on his motives for writing it? I understand being sad/upset/angry about what happened back then but it almost seems like he's set out to rile people up rather than to educate them on the history of England's role in The Famine. Either way it be an interesting book to stick on the English school curriculum, give them a whole new perspective of their Empire.

Dial Hard · 05-08-2014 12:08pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Finally got through The Famine Plot by Tim Pat Coogan. I don't read a lot of non fiction so it takes me a while with these books.

Some interesting things here, some I had a fair idea of, some came as a horrible shock to me, the last chapter about propaganda in the English media particularly. Given what's going on with Israel/Palestine/Gaza right now a lot of this was eerily familiar. Some of the one sided reporting on that situation has made my jaw drop, it's slightly horrifying to realise it's been going on for centuries in various forms.

My only issue with this book is I'm not 100% sure on his motives for writing it? I understand being sad/upset/angry about what happened back then but it almost seems like he's set out to rile people up rather than to educate them on the history of England's role in The Famine. Either way it be an interesting book to stick on the English school curriculum, give them a whole new perspective of their Empire.

Tim Pat Coogan is something of a joke amongst Irish historians and third-level students of Irish history are warned early and often to disregard pretty much everything he writes.

He's a journalist, not a historian and pretty much everything he writes on that period is ill-informed, poorly researched and extremely biased, which you obviously picked up on if you're questioning his motives.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 05-08-2014 12:21pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Tim Pat Coogan is something of a joke amongst Irish historians and third-level students of Irish history are warned early and often to disregard pretty much everything he writes.

He's a journalist, not a historian and pretty much everything he writes on that period is ill-informed, poorly researched and extremely biased, which you obviously picked up on if you're questioning his motives.

I had no idea who he even was to be honest. It did feel like a really long essay on why we should hate the English rather than just a presentation of facts.

iwantmydinner · 05-08-2014 12:25pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Tim Pat Coogan is something of a joke amongst Irish historians and third-level students of Irish history are warned early and often to disregard pretty much everything he writes.

He's a journalist, not a historian and pretty much everything he writes on that period is ill-informed, poorly researched and extremely biased, which you obviously picked up on if you're questioning his motives.

Jaysus, did not know that. I thought he was a serious, respected historian! Glad I decided against picking up his Michael Collins book a few days ago...

Dial Hard · 05-08-2014 12:34pm

Thomas Bartlett and Alvin Jackson are both experts on the subject, if anyone does want to read up on it more. Better again, they're both engaging, erudite writers.

mdolly123 · 05-08-2014 12:35pm

Anyone else reading The Passage by J Cronin, can't put it down, been a while since i've read a book as gripping.

mdolly123 · 05-08-2014 12:39pm

Ipso wrote: »

I recommend going to A Forum of Ice and Fire, they have a chapter by chapter discussion. It will help you as there is so much you can miss, don't stray into spoiler areas though.

Might do just that, lots of info and characters to get a handle on, Am watching series one at the mo but the book is richer and explains better obviously, will look this up, ta.

mdolly123 · 05-08-2014 12:43pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I've just finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, which I loved. It's a focused, witty and acutely observational book, but that's not why I loved it. I loved it for the characters. It took me a while to realise why, but there was a major plot development near the end that left me genuinely upset. Upset about the consequences it would have for everyone involved. Their reactions and responses would be crystal clear, and I felt genuinely sorry for them, which to me is a rare reaction to fictional creations. The Berglunds and their friends are such beautifully drawn individuals that I just loved every minute I spent reading about their joy, their sadness, their decisions, their mistakes, their victories. It's all there in the title, because this is a book about people with the freedom to decide the path they take in life, and all the consequences those decisions will have. And it makes for hypnotic reading. A truly great novel.

Loved this too, The Corrections is even better

mdolly123 · 05-08-2014 12:44pm

Tom Joad wrote: »

Just finished Skippy Dies by Paul Murray and really didn't like it. I found it contrived and just not believable and really struggled to finish it.

Started on Norman Mailer The Executioners song

I found it very funny in parts but agree that overall it did not ring true

AnnyHallsal · 05-08-2014 1:49pm

I read Elizabeth Costello by J M Coetzee, a masterful meditation on writing and the duties of the writer. Now reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman‎.

Esterhase · 05-08-2014 2:07pm

mdolly123 wrote: »

Anyone else reading The Passage by J Cronin, can't put it down, been a while since i've read a book as gripping.

I absolutely loved it! The final part of that trilogy, City of Mirrors, is out later this year so I'll probably re-read the first two before then.

But before that happens I'm finishing off a lot of Le Carré books. I will probably finish The Spy Who Came in from the Cold on the bus home from work today.

Dial Hard · 05-08-2014 2:18pm

Have about 10 pages of The Secret History left. Tbh, I think Tartt and I will have come to a parting of ways then. I don't think I can read any more about angsty male protagonists who blunder through their late teens/early twenties in a drug-fuelled haze.

Next up - Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

iwantmydinner · 05-08-2014 2:19pm

mdolly123 wrote: »

Anyone else reading The Passage by J Cronin, can't put it down, been a while since i've read a book as gripping.

Started reading someone else's copy a few months ago and will definitely be picking up my own copy soon! Was hooked into it from the start.

Ice Storm · 05-08-2014 3:14pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Have about 10 pages of The Secret History left. Tbh, I think Tartt and I will have come to a parting of ways then. I don't think I can read any more about angsty male protagonists who blunder through their late teens/early twenties in a drug-fuelled haze.

Next up - Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

I read The Secret History and Never Let Me Go one after the other quite a few years ago.

I liked them both but while I was disappointed by Donna Tartt's subsequent efforts, I have enjoyed nearly everything else I've read by Ishiguro.

Swiper the fox · 05-08-2014 9:28pm

I love Ishiguro, he's got a new novel out early next year.
Strange to read that "Skippy dies" is criticised for not being believable or "ringing true", it's a work of fiction and comedic at its core. I loved it.
Good post above about Tim Pat Coogan also, 100% true although I always found him entertaining in interviews etc. You'd want to be careful about referencing his work in an undergraduate history essay as many lecturers have zero time for him.

Finished "Room" by Emma Donoghue last night, glad I stuck with it after a tough start. Finishes beautifully, one of those books where the last page will live long in my memory.

This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

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