This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

Lets just say the BBC take a bit of an artistic license. they are a bit different. but very much enjoyed both. will have to read it again, its been a while.

Oh? Maybe I should watch it first then? If I read the book and love it and then they do something I hate on TV I'll be maaaaad! :mad:

SarahBM

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Oh? Maybe I should watch it first then? If I read the book and love it and then they do something I hate on TV I'll be maaaaad! :mad:

I watched the tv show first. I love it though. BBC do great drama adaptations.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

I watched the tv show first. I love it though. BBC do great drama adaptations.

If you ignore Great Expectations *shakes fist*

Callan57

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

That's the one. Someone actually recommended the BBC thing to me and I thought I'd read the book too. Don't know which one to do first though? Read the book then watch the series or other way around?

Read the book first

Miss Mayhem

I'm about half way through Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs.

salacious crumb

Hellboy - Odd Jobs. A collection of short stories by people such as Christopher Golden w/ Mike Mignola, Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy Holder and Max Allan Collins among others.

Slattsy

Slattsy wrote: »

Went for The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov.

This is one weird/****ed up book - but sweet baby Allah its class so far

salacious crumb

Slattsy wrote: »

This is one weird/****ed up book - but sweet baby Allah its class so far

It's actually one of the few books I had to stop reading. There were so many Russian names, I couldn't keep track of who was who :pac:

Slattsy

salacious crumb wrote: »

It's actually one of the few books I had to stop reading. There were so many Russian names, I couldn't keep track of who was who :pac:

I know what you mean, i have to keep looking back, but after page 200 i should be ok now lol

Whippersnapper

Nearly finished Pep Gurdiola's biography by Guillem Balague. Great insight but Guardiola's not the Messiah. Someone should tell Guillem that.

SarahBM

Slattsy wrote: »

This is one weird/****ed up book - but sweet baby Allah its class so far

I found the Master and Margarita one of the most difficult books to read EVER! I liked the part set back when the Romans ruled but, gawd almighty I struggled with the rest. Glad you like it though.

gramar

Halfway through the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I've been debating since the first few chapters whether I should stop or not. I don't know where to begin to describe how poor it is in every way.

Belle E. Flops

Finished Turn of the Screw, which I really enjoyed.

Just about to start Animal Farm by George Orwell.

OakeyDokey

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Just about to start Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Ugh! That book gave me nightmares! I haven't been able to look at pigs in the same way again :(

AnnyHallsal

I finished Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal. The first three-quarters us particularly strong. Her prose is so striking, Biblical, dark but scabrously funny. Anyone who enjoyed Oranges are not the Only Fruit will love this too.

Now reading Proust was a Neuroscientist. Full of fascinating titbits about how the brain works and the artists who anticipated it. One of those books that makes you annoy everyone by around you by making you lean over with a "Here, listen to this .." every five minutes :P

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm reading North and South (Gaskell) and it's okay so far.

Mr. Thornton just confessed his love to Margaret but it's almost like it's come out of nowhere. I was as surprised by it as Margaret was. She's done nothing but annoy him up until now and yet he loves her?

SarahBM

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I'm reading North and South (Gaskell) and it's okay so far.

Mr. Thornton just confessed his love to Margaret but it's almost like it's come out of nowhere. I was as surprised by it as Margaret was. She's done nothing but annoy him up until now and yet he loves her?

Ya, I vaguely remember that, its been so long since I read it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

Ya, I vaguely remember that, its been so long since I read it.

It just seems a bit sudden even for this era. He's remarked on her beauty before but otherwise she's been a right pain in the bum. I shall read on and see if it makes any more sense.

That said I am quite enjoying it

[-0-]

Currently reading Moby Dick, and loving it. It's.... just fantastic. Better than I had hoped actually. I'm about half way through at this point.

Callan57

Just finished The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts by John Mitchell - A Memoir
An amazing story of a childhood lived in 1960s, a family falling apart and the specter of mental illness. It is superbly written and the voice of the child is superbly maintained throughout. A disturbing but brilliant read.

Now I must get back to finishing Wolf Totem

Monkeybonkers

[-0-] wrote: »

Currently reading Moby Dick, and loving it. It's.... just fantastic. Better than I had hoped actually. I'm about half way through at this point.

I would be interested to hear what it is you liked about this book?

I read it and thought it was the biggest load of rubbish. I really struggled to finish it. The long-winded descriptions of whaling techniques nearly broke my heart. I'm always pleasantly surprised when someone else has a completely different opinion of a book than myself. Brings it home that everyones opinion of each book is subjective.

If the book consisted of the first and last chapters with everything else in between left out I think it would improve it by at least 500%

Tombo2001

I've been reading My Fathers Tears, a book of short stories by John Updike. Very interesting. What I particularly like is as follows.......it was Updikes last book, written maybe five years ago when he was around 78 or so. He died three years ago. It reminds me in ways of Memoir by John McGahern, where he delves back into his childhood in particular and his formative years. While the short stories are fictional, they read in someways as a memoir to me. And it is very interesting to read stories set in the 1930s or 1940s, written in the age of google and ipads and so on, by someone who grew up then and has seen everything that has happened since. It was a reminder that technology and possessions are an irrelevance when you are looking back over your life.

Separate point - I have been getting more into short stories - I love a good short story; but outside of Irish writers and collections, there is very little to choose from in our libraries or book shops.

Censorsh!t

I'm reading The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Love it so far. I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale, so I'm looking forward to reading more by her

Callan57

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I've been reading My Fathers Tears, a book of short stories by John Updike. Very interesting. What I particularly like is as follows.......it was Updikes last book, written maybe five years ago when he was around 78 or so. He died three years ago. It reminds me in ways of Memoir by John McGahern, where he delves back into his childhood in particular and his formative years. While the short stories are fictional, they read in someways as a memoir to me. And it is very interesting to read stories set in the 1930s or 1940s, written in the age of google and ipads and so on, by someone who grew up then and has seen everything that has happened since. It was a reminder that technology and possessions are an irrelevance when you are looking back over your life.

Separate point - I have been getting more into short stories - I love a good short story; but outside of Irish writers and collections, there is very little to choose from in our libraries or book shops.

I go through short story phases too - have you read any of Joyce Carol Oates? The Female of the Species, The Museum of Dr Moses and Give Me Your Heart I found superb. Also Bernhard Schlink's Flights of Love and Kate Atkinson's Not the End of the World are superb.

Aenaes

Finished Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick. The 2nd novel of his I have read and both now feel a bit "meh". Sci-fi generally isn't one of particular likings so that doesn't help but even his style of writing was poor, in my opinion.

I've started Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carrè. Settling into it very nicely indeed, I can tell I'm going to enjoy it.

salacious crumb

Aenaes wrote: »

Finished Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick. The 2nd novel of his I have read and both now feel a bit "meh". Sci-fi generally isn't one of particular likings so that doesn't help but even his style of writing was poor, in my opinion.

Dr. Bloodmoney isn't one of his best works. What was the other of his novels you've read?

Aenaes

It was Martian Time-Slip, I found myself wanting to get through it just as quickly as possible.

Sammy Jennings

Aenaes wrote: »

It was Martian Time-Slip, I found myself wanting to get through it just as quickly as possible.

Would recommend a collection of his stories instead. They are much more focused than his novels, which tend to be harum-scarum.

Sammy Jennings

maynoothlizard wrote: »

Staring at Lakes by Michael Harding

Don't think I can finish this one.

Dont blame you!

Used to read his columns before realising they were all the same. "I made eye contact with a woman. We have lost our way as a society. Why does it hurt when I p***."

salacious crumb

Aenaes wrote: »

It was Martian Time-Slip, I found myself wanting to get through it just as quickly as possible.

Ah, one of the few I haven't read. His work is quite erratic though, some of it is absolutely fantastic, and some of it is sh*t.