I really should read more....

KnifeWRENCH

I don't read as often or read as many books as I should. I have a terrible habit of starting a book but giving up around the middle, even if it's a book I'm really enjoying. Hopefully, starting this reading log will help me read a lot more and actually finish what I start.

I'm currently reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo. About halfway through. Never seen the films, will watch them when I'm done with the book.

KnifeWRENCH

OK so after abandoning it for about a week or so I finally finished The Godfather last night.

Overall, was pretty happy with it. Loved the ending (

the murder of Tessio genuinely surprised me

)

There were some parts I wasn't too keen on (

Michael's marriage to Appollonia seemed pointless.

) and some characters that weren't very interesting (

really didn't care about Johhny Fontane/Nino Valenti and their story

)

But overall definitely worth reading. Must watch the films now.

Next book on my list is Orwell's Animal Farm. I enjoyed Nineteen Eighty Four, so hopefully will enjoy this aswell.

KnifeWRENCH

OK so I had a few hours to myself and read Animal Farm. First time ever I think I've sat down and read a book in one go.

Next I am about to attempt my first ever Dickens novel. The book is Bleak House. Looks long and daunting, but hopefully I'll be able to plough through it.

KnifeWRENCH

Haven't updated this for a while.

I still haven't finished Bleak House - my bad habit of reading a few chapters of a book and then abandoning it for weeks has returned. It's been a couple of weeks or so since I last looked at it.

On top of that, I'm reading two other books at the moment: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. When I've finished them, I'll go back to Bleak House and will finish that before I move on to anything else.

KnifeWRENCH

Finished American Psycho. The style of writing was technically excellent and Bateman was a fascinating character, but parts of the book dragged on too much for me. The violence/sex scenes were initially shocking and exciting but gradually became quite dull, and the endless description of clothes was irritating.

Over halfway through A Clockwork Orange - absolutely loving it. Fantastic novel, and I'll probably end up finishing it later today.

wclarke20

I'd reccomend 'The Wolf of Wall Street' by Jordan Belfort.
True story about a New York financial guy who ends up scamming the whole system and ends up in jail. loads of crazy stories along the way.
Really good read.

anybody else read it?

KnifeWRENCH

^ Never heard of it but cheers for the recommendation.

Anyway, finished A Clockwork Orange today and it was definitely worth reading. Really enjoyed it.

So it's back to Bleak House - I am actually quite enjoying it but it's so so long.
Funnily enough, whenever I read Mr. Tulkinghorn's lines I always imagine them being read by Alan Rickman!

mrsdewinter

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

OK so after abandoning it for about a week or so I finally finished The Godfather last night.

Overall, was pretty happy with it. Loved the ending (

the murder of Tessio genuinely surprised me

)

There were some parts I wasn't too keen on (

Michael's marriage to Appollonia seemed pointless.

) and some characters that weren't very interesting (

really didn't care about Johhny Fontane/Nino Valenti and their story

)

But overall definitely worth reading. Must watch the films now.

Next book on my list is Orwell's Animal Farm. I enjoyed Nineteen Eighty Four, so hopefully will enjoy this aswell.

The movies, the first 2 of the trilogy, are excellent. And you'll find that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, takes the same view of the narrative as yourself. It's quite amazing that you've managed to avoid seeing the first Godfather movie. But if you do catch it, you'll love it. It's even beautiful to look at.

teamB_macro

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

I don't read as often or read as many books as I should. I have a terrible habit of starting a book but giving up around the middle, even if it's a book I'm really enjoying.

I do too! Sometimes I don't leave a bookmark or something and i totally forget where i've been, so i just give it up. And then i have to reread from the first chapters to get going again, and on and on. It's a vicious cycle.

A Neurotic

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Finished American Psycho. The style of writing was technically excellent and Bateman was a fascinating character, but parts of the book dragged on too much for me. The violence/sex scenes were initially shocking and exciting but gradually became quite dull, and the endless description of clothes was irritating.

Over halfway through A Clockwork Orange - absolutely loving it. Fantastic novel, and I'll probably end up finishing it later today.

I have given up on this book no less than three times because of the tedious fashion details. I just can't stand them.

KnifeWRENCH

About time I got back to this.

mrsdewinter wrote: »

The movies, the first 2 of the trilogy, are excellent. And you'll find that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, takes the same view of the narrative as yourself. It's quite amazing that you've managed to avoid seeing the first Godfather movie. But if you do catch it, you'll love it. It's even beautiful to look at.

Oh I'm terrible for watching films. I just don't have the interest or the attention span.
Other films I've never seen (that people are always shocked I've never seen) include The Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, The Green Mile, The Dark Knight and any films featuring James Bond, Indiana Jones and Rocky. :P
Maybe I need to start a movie log too at some point...

teamB_macro wrote: »

I do too! Sometimes I don't leave a bookmark or something and i totally forget where i've been, so i just give it up. And then i have to reread from the first chapters to get going again, and on and on. It's a vicious cycle.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm making it a point to finish every book I start from now on.

A Neurotic wrote: »

I have given up on this book no less than three times because of the tedious fashion details. I just can't stand them.

I just skimmed past them very briefly, reading the words but not taking them in, until something more interesting happened.

Since I've started this log I've read:

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (took me ages but well worth it in the end)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry

Up next: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and someone else. After that, the rest of the Dirk Gently series and maybe some more Dickens.

KnifeWRENCH

`Haven't updated this for ages. College distracted me and took away from reading time.

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

Now on Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. After that, I have a load lined up: The Green Mile, Fight Club, The Satanic Verses, The Poisonwood Bible, Persepolis, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, the entire Hitchikers Guide series (only read the first two), The Princess Bride and a few popular science books I bought here and there. Also need to read more Dickens and want to sample Joyce, Tolstoy and Hemingway at some point. It could take a long time to get through it all.

KnifeWRENCH

Another update:

I finished "Fear and Loathing..." a good bit ago. Took a while to get into it, and while I wouldn't call it a literary classic, it was certainly an enjoyable read.

I'm now on "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie. It's gonna take ages for me to finish, because it's not really gripping me and so I can go a week or two without reading a single page. It's ok, but not as good as I had hoped it would be.

KnifeWRENCH

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

So only 10 books in over a year. Not too impressive; alas, college and other real life stuff got in the way.

I had to abandon my first attempt at reading The Satanic Verses after about 200 pages because it came to exam time. When I went back, I found it too hard to continue and so started again from the beginning. And I have to say, I am enjoying it much more the second time around. I'm finding it funnier and more intriguing as it goes on and am actually getting through it quite quickly now.

When I'm finished, I have a copy of Ulysses waiting. I'm already preparing for the inevitable confusion, frustration, boredom and loss of will to live that that book will bring me!

KnifeWRENCH

So then....finally finished The Satanic Verses. It's very difficult to get into initially, but by the middle of the novel everything started coming together. Overall, a great read; a very complex but rewarding novel.

I've decided to read a few "shorter" novels before tackling Ulysses. I have a lot of books I need to read anyway. Today I started reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

The_D_Man

I got Ulysses a few days ago, its a pure intellectual wrestle but well worth it, makes you realise how much of a genius Joyce actually was.

KnifeWRENCH

I will get to it eventually. Problem is I went on a huge book-buying spree ages ago and have 20+ books waiting to be read. The Satanic Verses was pretty heavy, so I want to get a few lighter ones out the way before tackling something as immense as Ulysses.

(I know Catcher in the Rye isn't exactly "light" but it's fairly short and the language is pretty simple)

KnifeWRENCH

Finished Catcher In The Rye. Not sure what to make of it tbh. It was pretty much 200 pages of nothing happening, though I suppose that was the whole point (the whole futility of life and not being able to escape etc.) Also I'm not sure whether you were supposed to sympathise with, empathise with or loathe Holden Caulfield; personally, I was just indifferent to him. Despite having much of my teenage angst still intact at the grand old age of 20, I get the feeling that this is a book you're supposed to read when you're 15 or 16 and hate the world.

Now reading Nick Cave's The Death of Bunny Munro. Cave is one of my favourite songwriters so I have high hopes for this one.

KnifeWRENCH

So then...13 books read since June 2009! A pretty poor showing, but in my defence exams and real life got in the way a lot! I've decided to rate what I;ve read so far out of 5:

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo (4/5)
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell (4/5)
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (3.5/5)
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (4.5/5)
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (4/5)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams (4/5)
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry (3.5/5)
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith (3.5/5)
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (4.5/5)
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (4/5)
11. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (4/5)
12. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (3.5/5)
13. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave (4/5)

Finished The Death of Bunny Munro - took a while to get going but once it did, it was excellent. The theme of father-son relationship is explored wonderfully here. I am very glad that Mr. Cave has not let me down. I'll be hunting for his other novel And The Ass Saw The Angel soon.

So after 13 works of fiction, it's time for something a little different. My next read will be The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Don't know a whole lot about Dawkins, other than that he's a biologist and an atheist. As an apathetic agnostic, I can honestly say that militant atheism irritates me as much as overly-religious types. But as long as he's not too preachy (and less of an obnoxious twat than Christopher Hitchens), I'll hopefully enjoy it.

KnifeWRENCH

So after a good few weeks of stopping and starting, I'm onto Chapter 8 (of 10) of The God Delusion. It's taking longer to read than I thought it would, but I'm also enjoying it more than I thought I would.

Have also started reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Decided to read that before Ulysses.

Jackobyte

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

So after a good few weeks of stopping and starting, I'm onto Chapter 8 (of 10) of The God Delusion. It's taking longer to read than I thought it would, but I'm also enjoying it more than I thought I would.

I've been meaning to read that since I watched The Genius of Charles Darwin by Prof. Richard Dawkins as well.

KnifeWRENCH

So finally finished The God Delusion a few days ago. Mixed feelings about it. Dawkins is certainly a little arrogant, but not quite as much so as I thought he would be. I can't fault any of his arguments. A couple of things I didn't like:
*He seems far too much "in awe" of certain historical figures and his contemporaries; the whole book was like a big long love letter to Darwin, Thomas Jefferson and Sam Harris.
*His argument on abortion was rather unnecessary. I am pro-choice myself but can respect that there are pro-lifers out there who argue from a secular perspective, and as much as I disagree with their views I can respect them more than religion-based views. If I was pro-life and non-religious, I'd have been a bit offended by it tbh.
*Comparing the struggle to come out as atheist with the coming out process for LGBT people - eh, no. Just no. Like comparing a small muscle strain with a broken leg.

But other than those minor niggles, it was certainly worth a read.

Currently reading Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist...". The stream-of-conciousness style at the start was rather unexpected; I've quite enjoyed what I've read so far.

KnifeWRENCH

Update time:

Still on "Portrait Of The Artist..." - college work and other distractions have not left me with much time left for reading. Hopefully will get it done by Christmas - have about 100 pages or so left.

I enjoyed it up until the whole "crisis of faith" thing - it's gotten very dull now. The writing is still technically superb but I've sort of lost interest in the story. Hopefully it'll pick up towards the end.

KnifeWRENCH

So. Insomnia is productive, somewhat. As well as finishing rewatching the first season of The Sopranos, I finished A Portrait of the Artist... too.

Verdict? Not quite sure tbh. Enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second.

Stephen Dedalus turns out to be a very unlikeable, selfish and pretentious character. And this is meant to be a semi-autobiographical novel......I can only deduce from that that Joyce himself was a selfish, unlikeable and pretentious individual. Oh well....

I think I've had enough Joyce for a little while, so that "Oh I'll read Ulysses now" plan will have to wait another bit.

Next up is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Have about 60 or so pages read so far.

raah!

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Update time:

Still on "Portrait Of The Artist..." - college work and other distractions have not left me with much time left for reading. Hopefully will get it done by Christmas - have about 100 pages or so left.

I enjoyed it up until the whole "crisis of faith" thing - it's gotten very dull now. The writing is still technically superb but I've sort of lost interest in the story. Hopefully it'll pick up towards the end.

I hear that! The million pages about hell were quite borning. The stream of consciousness stuff mostly just confuses me aswell. Quite a whiney little ****e really!

KnifeWRENCH

Whiney little ****e is right! I actually like the stream-of-conciousness style; such a shame that the book has a great start but then loses momentum around the middle and never really picks up.

Meanwhile, going back to The Poisonwood Bible, I haven't read a whole lot of it since last update. I had high expectations for it; my mother said it's one of the best books she's ever read. I reckon I need to read a bit more before making an initial judgement. So far, not a whole lot has happened but I guess that's the be expected when you have one story being told via five different narratives by five different characters. Some characters seem more interesting than others though. (

I particularly like Adah's story so far.

)

KnifeWRENCH

So I finished The Poisonwood Bible. Overall, it was an excellent read and I'd have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I thought it dragged a little bit towards the end but the last section (The Eyes of the Trees) is brilliantly written and ties everything together wonderfully.

The plot is gripping, and the quality of writing is such that you don't even notice how good it is because you're so engrossed in the plot (I think this differentiates Barbara Kingsolver from someone like Dan Brown, who can write a gripping story but the quality of writing is so poor and clunky that you still notice it.) Would definitely like to read more of Kingsolver now; The Lacuna will be on my "to buy" list next time I'm out book shopping.

Up next - The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I loved 'His Dark Materials' as a teenager but haven't read Pullman in years. It's certainly an interesting premise, this. About 60 pages in so far. Shouldn't take much longer to finish reading.

Up-n-atom!

I had the same reaction to Portrait of an Artist...read it all but lost me at the 'hell' sequence, which feels like hell to read!

Tip if you ever get to reading Ulysses - I had to read it for college, and in second year we only had to read 2 episodes, Cyclops and Nausica, which are 2 of the more readable chapters and are right in the middle. So when I had to read it all the following year, got a bit of a break half-way through as had read those bits before. Helps as well because some of the most difficult chapters are either side of those chapters. Anyhow, I actually enjoyed Ulysses a lot more than PoaA, lots of different styles of writing etc makes it interesting. Would also recommend Dubliners if you haven't tackled it already.

Happy reading!

KnifeWRENCH

Cheers for that tip. I have both Dubliners and Ulysses lying around somewhere (Dubliners I picked up cheap, Ulysses I bought for my Mam but ended up keeping for myself :pac:) I'll get to them eventually; I own many many books that I haven't read yet. Damn impulsive spending...

KnifeWRENCH

So finished The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

It was ok. Nothing more. Interesting and thought provoking enough, I suppose. But ultimately a bit pointless. Pullman really didn't say anything that hasn't been said before. I was a little disappointed, considering how much I enjoyed "His Dark Materials".

Tonight have just started Lolita. Disturbing, but am actually quite enjoying it so far.

KnifeWRENCH

So I finished Lolita last. Mixed feelings about it.

The inner literary snob in me loved the language, the common prole in me thought it was too flowery. I can see why it's so popular in literary circles though. And it is a lot funnier than you would expect a book about paedophilia to be.

The plot was initially gripping but got more and more ludicrous as it went on. I was a little disappointed with that; it really got ridiculous towards the end. Unless there was some satirical element in there that I missed (which is entirely possible!)

So with Humbert and Lo out of the waym, I started reading The Road last night. I saw the film, so know how the story goes. So far it's ok but seems quite repetitive:

"They walked on the road. Everything was bleak and dusty. It rained. They set up camp. Boy said something cute and endearing. They slept. They got up and kept walking on the road. Everything was bleak and dusty." Repeat ad infinitum.

It'll hopefully pick up soon though.

KnifeWRENCH

So I finished The Road tonight. I didn't appreciate it as much as I thought I would, and I reckon it comes from seeing the film beforehand. I really liked the film but the book seemed to drag on in comparison.

Also

I can't have that much admiration for the father; he should have done what his wife wanted to do and kill the boy and then commit suicide. It would have spared them a whole lot of misery.....though I guess there wouldn't have been much of a story then!!!

What this has taught me is that, in future, I should always read the book before watching the film.

Next up: Dubliners. Having liked and loathed A Portrait of the Artist... in equal measures, I'm interested to see how I get on with this. I've never read a collection of short stories before; with all the college work I have to do, I'd prefer short stories that I can dip in and out of than a long novel that requires constant attention.

KnifeWRENCH

Almost two months since my last update. Dubliners is still on the go; I like how I can abandon it and come back to it weeks later and not miss out on anything. That's the advantage of short stories.

Not much of an opinion on it so far, beyond "some stories are better than others." Wasn't too mad about The Sisters, Araby or After the Race - found them quite dull.
The rest though I have enjoyed. I definitetly prefer the more downbeat, depressing ones; Counterparts is my favourite so far. Also quite liked Eveline, The Boarding House and A Little Cloud, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the sheer misery that they contain! :pac:

KnifeWRENCH

So Dubliners has now been read in full. I'm left with the same feeling I had after A Portrait of the Artist..., namely the feeling of not being sure if I enjoyed it or not! Overall, it was definitely worth reading but some stories are much more interesting and readable than others. It was a good experience, though, to read a collection of short stories. I'd never done it before, and it's certainly different to reading a full blown novel.

Next up: All Quiet on the Western Front, which was very kindly passed on to me by Eliot Rosewater!

KnifeWRENCH

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

So then...13 books read since June 2009! A pretty poor showing, but in my defence exams and real life got in the way a lot! I've decided to rate what I;ve read so far out of 5:

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo (4/5)
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell (4/5)
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (3.5/5)
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (4.5/5)
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (4/5)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams (4/5)
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry (3.5/5)
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith (3.5/5)
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (4.5/5)
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (4/5)
11. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (4/5)
12. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (3.5/5)
13. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave (4/5)

Time for an updated review list, now that I have successfully managed 20 books. Also need to adjust some of the scores I gave (In hindsight, The Satanic Verses deserves much higher than 4/5. Animal Farm also gets an upgrade)

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo (4/5)
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell (4.5/5)
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (3.5/5)
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (4.5/5)
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (4/5)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams (4/5)
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry (3.5/5)
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith (3.75/5)
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (4.5/5)
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (4/5)
11. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (4.75/5)
12. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (3.5/5)
13. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave (4/5)
14. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (3.5/5)
15. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce (3.5/5)
16. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (4/5)
17. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman (3/5)
18. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (3.5/5)
19. The Road - Cormac McCarthy (3/5)
20. Dubliners - James Joyce (3.75/5)

So.....nothing lower than a 3/5, which at least means I haven't wasted my time on any of these books. Or maybe I'm just too generous.

KnifeWRENCH

Bump! time again.

I have not got past page 7 of All Quiet on the Western Front, for the simple reason that exams had consumed my entire life throughout the month of May and I just didn't have any spare time to devote to such frivolous activities as "reading for enjoyment". :pac:

For the rest of the summer, however, I have a mountain of books to get through. I am excited!

KnifeWRENCH

Reading two books at the moment.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - I'd previously read a few chapters of it but am now finally getting to read the whole thing. Other than the writer's arrogance, this is an excellent book and very fascinating. I also hadn't realised quite how horrible and mindnumbingly thick Gillian McKeith really is.

Also reading All Quiet on the Western Front as previously mentioned in other posts. War novels aren't my preferred genre but I can appreciate it's a great novel. Nicely soul destroying and depressing when you're in a bad mood.

I'm also making out a plan of the next books I'm going to read over the summer. Hope to get through a good few before September comes around again. Mixing up some regular novels and some popular science. In no particular order:

Novels:
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
Ulysses by James Joyce.
And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave.
The entire Hitchiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams
2001 A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
Room by Emma Donohue
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dosoyevsky

Science:
The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Chaos by James Gleick
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
The Infinite Book by John D. Barrow
Elephants on Acid by Alex Boese

Here's hoping I get through it all soon.

Jackobyte

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Time for an updated review list, now that I have successfully managed 20 books. Also need to adjust some of the scores I gave (In hindsight, The Satanic Verses deserves much higher than 4/5. Animal Farm also gets an upgrade)

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo (4/5)
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell (4.5/5)
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (3.5/5)
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (4.5/5)
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (4/5)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams (4/5)
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry (3.5/5)
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith (3.75/5)
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (4.5/5)
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (4/5)
11. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (4.75/5)
12. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (3.5/5)
13. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave (4/5)
14. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (3.5/5)
15. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce (3.5/5)
16. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (4/5)
17. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman (3/5)
18. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (3.5/5)
19. The Road - Cormac McCarthy (3/5)
20. Dubliners - James Joyce (3.75/5)

So.....nothing lower than a 3/5, which at least means I haven't wasted my time on any of these books. Or maybe I'm just too generous.

12/20 of these books are on my "I intend to read at some stage..." list or on "already finished" list. Making me feel even lazier than before. :pac:

KnifeWRENCH

Bad Science finished.
Almost a 5/5 but Goldacre's arrogance is what lets him down. His dismissal of humanities graduates is just unnecessary. With that said, on the whole I did enjoy his acerbic comments and cynical attitude. And as someone who's currently considering studying pharmacy, the warnings about what the pharmaceutical industry is capable of was certainly eye-opening.

Now onto Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy, and just within one chapter I'm already rolling my eyes at the arrogance that I've sadly come to expect from popular science writers. Edmund Hillary and William Shakespeare will be forgotten, apparently, yet whoever solves the Riemann hypothesis will live in memory for infinity. :rolleyes: Yeah, because someone who died nearly 4 centuries ago and is still widely talked about today will OBVIOUSLY just fade from memory any day now...

Still, I'm expecting that the actual mathematical content will make the book worth reading.

KnifeWRENCH

Another one bites the dust...

Finished All Quiet On The Western Front last night; up to then I had only about 60 pages of it read but between last night and this evening I managed to finish it. I like that the book is very straightforward and easy to read, although that may be down to the translation.

Anyway, as I said earlier, war novels aren't my thing. There are only so many tmes you can read "War is bad, mmmkay?" before you think "Yes. I GET IT."

With that said, this was an excellent book. To call it bleak would be an understatement! But the fact that Remarque makes the characters so human, without us ever finding out that much abut them, is remarkable. You care about Baumer and his regiment, and that's why you keep reading.

I'd give it 4/5, although it probably deserves higher.

Tonight I shall be starting Midnight's Children. I've been looking forward to this and am hoping I haven't ruined it already by having too high expectations.

KnifeWRENCH

Rightio. Update time.

I've had to abandon Music of the Primes because reading two books at the same time just wasn't working out. I'm kind of getting the impression that, despite Marcus du Sautoy's insistence, the Riemann Hypothesis isn't really that important. The backgrounds of mathematical figures are interesting though; David Hilbert seems to have been a bit of a legend.

I'm focussing on Midnight's Children now and am just over half way. There are a few little things that irk me about it; I wish Reverend Mother would stop saying "whatsitsname" and Evie Burns seems to have been a totally pointless character, not to mention irritating and exaggerated. I also didn't like the whole thing about him telling his story to Padma at first (I also initially saw her as being a bit superfluous) but I've gotten over that now.

On the whole, it's a quite difficult read that seems to drag on a little at first but then becomes progressively more gripping - just like The Satanic Verses! Salman Rushdie has a strange style of writing that I imagine would not suit everyone (and be a bit flowery at times) but he's a fantastic storyteller. I shall definitely be checking out more of his work after this.

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It was long. It was difficult. It was really fúcking bizarre. And it is now finished.

I dare say I had overhyped Midnight's Children in my mind beforehand; I don't think it could ever have lived up to my expectations. Overall it is certainly an excellent novel but I think I enjoyed The Satanic Verses more.

Not sure where to go next....I had abandoned Music of the Primes because it wasn't really holding my interest. I might go back to the start but I may also start focusing on fiction for a while before going back to popular science.

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So I decided to pick up more fiction. Went with Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal. Only about 40 pages in so far but am really enjoying it. I love how it's the villain/antagonist who narrates rather than the protagonist. Already there's been plenty of dark humour. Also like how the book is very easy to read, yet is still quite well written.

So far so good anyway.

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Bump worthy announcement! :cool:

Today I did something I haven't done for a long long time - went to my local library. Got out three books for me to go through when Electric Sheep is finished. They are:

*The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie - This will be Rushdie novel #3 for me.
*The Pictrue of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde - Been meaning to read this for ages.
*The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector and Selected Stories by Nikolai Gogol - I picked this up because one of the stories in it is The Nose, which my mother called "the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in my life". Given our vastly different tastes in books I took this as an encouraging sign that I should read it.

I'm often very slow to read books that I buy myself but now that I have library copies I'm much more likely to read a lot more to beat the "deadline".

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Finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? last night. Was honestly rather disappointed with it, given that a few of my friends had recommended it and said that they loved it. The actual plot was interesting but are we honestly supposed to believe that everything takes place in one day? A few things like that annoyed me. Also the quality of the writing was not great; reminded me of Dan Brown a little in that it was a page turner but not particularly well written.

Reading The Picture of Dorian Grey now.

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1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
11. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
12. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
13. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave
14. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
15. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
16. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
17. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman
18. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
19. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
20. Dubliners - James Joyce
21. Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
22. All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
23. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
24. Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller
25. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
26. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde

So that's just 26 books since June 2009! I wonder how people manage to do the '50 books in a year' thing; I've only managed half that in over twice the time!

Currently on #27, which is The Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector and Selected Stories by Nikolay Gogol. First story in this I read was The Nose - loved it! Especially since my mother had read it and said it was the most ridiculous thing she ever read.

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Finished reading that Gogol collection. I didn't read The Government Inspector because I'm not a big fan of reading plays but I quite enjoyed most of the short stories in the book. (The Nose and Diary of a Madman in particular.)

Now on to The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie. The early chapters show great promise; maybe it's just because I've got used to Rushdie's style now but this one seems initially to be more accessible than either Midnight's Children or The Satanic Verses, both of which started off a little slow and took a while to get in to.

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I've decided I'm not gonna update this anymore. I'm just gonna use my blog rather than here.

I don't think I'll ever make fifty books in a year. I'll be lucky if I make it to fifty in 3 years!

Thanks to anyone who ever bothered reading this or gave a comment. Very much appreciated.