This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

8mv

Just finished Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor - very good indeed. I was surprised at his ability to humanise soldiers on both sides. For relief, I'm re-reading The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson and then some more plays.

pavb2

Callan57 wrote: »

Just finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and I'm going to start 'Room' tonight ... heard so much about it I'm really looking forward to it.

Hi Callan would you recommend The Lacuna?

Callan57

pavb2 wrote: »

Hi Callan would you recommend The Lacuna?

Definitely .... though it did take me a while to get into the style of it ... it's written as a series of diary entries but I really did enjoy it. I always find that period in US history (1950's) amazing & the whole 'reds under the bed' obsession. I read Philip Roth's 'I Married A Communist' sometime ago and loved it also.

trishasaffron

Really enjoyed "Seige of Krishnapur" by JG farrell - it won the booker back in the 70s and he is of interest here having lived in dalkey and died fishing off west cork.

Highly recommend

Censorsh!t

Finished The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. I like Ellis' style of writing, really calm and unaffected/emotionless even when writing about explicit things. I think that's what made American Psycho so powerful.

Now onto Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

UpCork

I am almost finished Alone in Berlin. Feels like it has taken me an age to read. I've been quite busy but also the translation from German doesn't make the prose as fluid.
Am enjoying it but can't wait to finish it as I've heard rave reviews of The Help, so want to start that

KeanSeenan

Censorsh!t wrote: »

Finished The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. I like Ellis' style of writing, really calm and unaffected/emotionless even when writing about explicit things. I think that's what made American Psycho so powerful.

Now onto Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

I've been meaning to get to them, the films were ok.

In other news, I just finished 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami and I really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd go onto 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe.

storm2811

Ooh, haven't posted in a while, read Notes on a Scandal and The Kite Runner recently and starting Q&A tonight.
Doing a kind of book - film comparison thing.
I already seen Notes on a Scandal and have to say I liked both the film and book equally, unusual because most films from books aren't great.

Loved The Kite Runner! Was a complete downer for the first half, almost wanted to stop reading it for a while. Have to see the film now and compare.

I've heard Q&A is fantastic and haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire either so looking forward to starting it.

Planning on reading The Help after that, heard it was good and seen a few posters here recommending it too.

Isle

I'm reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I thought it was a bit slow at the start but once you get past the first 100 pages or so it really gets going. I haven't been stop reading it. I even took it to work with me yesterday to read whenever I got a chance.

Kalimah

I finished Room by Emma Donoghue today. I get through it in two days! I don't think I've ever finished as book as fast except Angela's Ashes.
I thought Room was absolutely marvellous. I had thought it might be very depressing but it was inspiring and uplifting.

bp1989

Read The Hunger Games for twelve hours today. Is that excessive?

Busi_Girl08

FINALLY finished The Dalkey Archive yesterday (It took me 5 weeks, I've been busy )

I started The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ yesterday.

Meh. It's alright.

AnnyHallsal

I just finished Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs. I've read a few of her short stories before and have decided I'm a fan. Her writing is almost .. miraculous .. at moments and she's funny, proper funny! Two enthusiastic thumbs up, as I go to hunt out her back catalogue.

Cavehill Red

Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Galileo's Dream' - already superb only three chapters in.
Next up is Mailer's 'The Castle in the Forest', but that might be a while away. I'm really enjoying the current read.

tHE vAGGABOND

Fall of Giants by Ken Follet..

Harmless enough historical fiction, but one reviewer compared it to Forrest gump, in that of the co-incidences, random meetings with key people and figures in the book stumbling into the most important moments of the time, and changing them

Censorsh!t

Pretty much finished Regeneration by Pat Barker. It's good enough, but can't help having the feeling that not much happened in it... I guess its only the first part in a trilogy though. Either way its a good anti-war novel, ans also has a good critique on shock therapy which was somewhat upsetting/disturbing.

Also half way through Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H Lawrence. I didnt expect to like it as much as i do, even though it seems a bit slow paced at times, it's still an interesting read (even in between the durty bits =P).

Busi_Girl08

I finished The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, t'was alright.
The ending was more intriguing than the beginning, anyway.

Last night I started Slaughterhouse 5.

emeraldstar

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Absolutely loving it. Just finished Waters' Tipping the Velvet before this and thought that was good, but this one is even better.

Kalimah

Three quarters through Skippy Dies. It's a great read.

tough__cookie

James Patterson Pop goes the Weasel

tim_holsters

In the last couple of months I've finished,

Inside Man by Philip Bray: Irish prison officer biography.

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada: A terrifying totalitarian nightmare.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: Americans Indians and Mexicans perpetrating acts of unspeakable cruelty on each other. The wildest of wild wests.

Currently reading Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, quite odd but very enjoyable so far.

bullpost

Just Started The Missing by Tim Gautreaux.

Set in Louisiana after the first world war, about a man who tries to find a child who has been kidnapped.

Lots of Jazz and riverboats to come apparently.

Pretty good so far.

Callan57

Starting 'You've Been Warned' by James Patterson. Short chapters and snappy writing ... will have it read in a day or two I reckon.

Gonzovision

Hitler - Ian Kershaw

Dorcha

All library books here:

“The Witches of Karres” by James H Schmitz (b. 1911; d.1981): Science Fiction story of the invasion of our universe by the powerful ruler of a planet from another universe. The planet is revealed to be a vast space ship and the ruler a computer on board it, who has subjugated its original crew. Clear fresh prose with likable characters; a delight to read.

“Hidden Cork: Charmers, characters and Cute Hoors” by Michael Lenihan: A collection of descriptions of characters and events in Cork City and county from about the seventeenth century to the twentieth. From the “Battle of the Starlings” in 1621 and the murder of Art O’Leary for a horse and the subsequent “Lament” in Irish by his wife in 1773, to more modern people and happenings, this is a great book for a Cork person to dip into and make notes for more in-dept investigation.

“The Irish Uprising: How Keane and the Mighty Quinn saved Sunderland” by Andy Dawson: The title tells it all, really, and I wouldn’t have read it if I had known how little extra I’d learn. No vast insights here; merely - for the most part - a match-by-match description of Keane’s first season in charge and that of Peter Reed in the seasons before him.

Paddy Samurai

Part 3(Night Angel Trilogy) by Brett Weeks.
Just started this one last night,already 100 pages down.I am enjoying it big time and if its as good as the previous 2 books i'll be happy.For a first attempt I am really impressed by Mr Weeks,an impressive array of interesting characters with a great storyline.

Night Angel Trilogy...........Overall this was a gritty, solid story. It was entertaining, it was a page turner and it was filled with some really clever ideas and some extremely talented worldbuilding. I’ll be looking forward to anything else Brent Weeks produces in the future

fionav3

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Fascinating read and truly terrifying at the same time. Out future 'Utopia' as Huxley sees it. Great book.

Asry

"The Serial Rapist Behind You is a Robot" - chapbook by JA Bradley. It's pretty good. If anyone's interested in reading my book reviews, they're on http://jmaybury.blogspot.com.

I really want to read The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ! Or whatever it's called. That and Skippy Dies. Thanks for the comments on those 2, guys.

louloubella

Its fantastic.

neveah

Nearly halfway through 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime', thumps up so far, even though I can kind of guess where some of the story is going

I don't think his mother is really dead