What book are you reading atm??

K-9

Just finished Our kind of Traitor by Le Carre, back to his cynical best. A page turner and he just draws the characters beautifully in your mind.

Custardpi

languagenerd wrote: »

Picked up some Spanish novels from my local library so that I don't lose momentum with it before going back to college. There are far too many words I don't know than there should be... but I'm trying to get in to Un asesino piadoso by J.M. Guelbenzu at the moment.

On a related note, if anyone happens to have read anything good in Spanish or French lately, recommend it to me!

Si todavía no lo has leido, te puedo recomendar Cien Años de Soledad, por Gabriel García Marquez, que yo disfruté mucho hace unos meses. A pesar de que hay algunas palabras y expresiónes dificiles vale la pena y es un libro que muestra la riquesa de la lengua español y de la mente humana.

En français, as-tu jamais lû les histoires de Arsene Lupin par Maurice LeBlanc? Ce sont des histoires d'un "gentleman cambrioleur" et ils sont tres marrants. Comme le style qu'il emploi n'est pas trop compliqué, c'est un bon outil pour monter ton niveau de confort avec la langue.

Really need to get back into reading stuff in both languages again myself as my level has slipped a good bit. Got a copy of El Amor en Los Tiempos del Cólera a while back as I liked Cien Años so much but I've a few other things to get through first. I've had some short novels by a guy called Felix Romeo recommended to me also, hopefully I'll get round to that at some stage. In French I reckon I'll be tackling Camus' La Peste in the next few months, really enjoyed L'Etrangeur.

Je te souhaite mucha suerte con ta lecture!

Custardpi

K-9 wrote: »

Just finished Our kind of Traitor by Le Carre, back to his cynical best. A page turner and he just draws the characters beautifully in your mind.

Any other post Cold War stuff by him you'd recommend? I read The Secret Pilgrim a couple of years ago & thought it was fantastic, with some extremely moving passages.

K-9

Custardpi wrote: »

Any other post Cold War stuff by him you'd recommend? I read The Secret Pilgrim a couple of years ago & thought it was fantastic, with some extremely moving passages.

The Constant Gardener without a doubt, cynicism towards the Cold War diverted to pharmataceuticals in Africa. And yes, it is much better than the film! Far more dramatic and well, he just knows how to build a story.

LeeHoffmann

I´m reading Shantaram. Very interesting, and gives a good insight into an unfamiliar culture. I´d recommend it.

Augmerson

Reading a collection of HP Lovecraft short stories, trippy stuff.

JupiterKid

The Big Boy's Barbecue Book, copyright 1972 - complete with three all-American jocks with sideburns, open shirts and rug chests in glorious garish John Hinde technicolour.:D:

Plumpynutt

Just started Of Mice and Men

McChubbin

BAIT (The Angler) by Annie Nicholas.
What I thought was a typical girl meets vamp PWP slice of erotica turned out to be rather engaging. I'm on chapter 11 and the sexual tension is electric!

BlaasForRafa

I'm currently reading The Limit by Michael Cannell which has the tagline "Life and Death in Formula One's most Dangerous Era". Its really an autobiography of Phil Hill and Count Wolfgang von Trips and the story of their epic and deadly clash in the 1961 formula one season.

Custardpi

Plumpynutt wrote: »

Just started Of Mice and Men

Great book, read it years ago & have read a lot else since but still think the character of Lennie is one of the most superbly drawn in English literature, his relationship with George is extremely heartwarming, yet his struggles with a world he can never fully comprehend convey to the reader a great sense of frustration, despite his kind & good nature.

Another of Steinbeck's works that you should check out if you haven't already is Cannery Row. It doesn't get as much attention nowadays as Mice & Men or Grapes of Wrath but it's one of my favourite books due to the fairly simple yet extraordinarily vivid style which he uses to describe life in a small community & the ne'er do well men who live it. It was one of the first novels I read which taught me the art of travelling in time & space without leaving one's chair - simply through the pages of a book!

getuponthis

Ozzy osbourne auto biography, some crazy sheet that man got up to!!

IrishExpat

I have what seems to be a lifelong habit of reading 3 or 4 books on the go, and switching between them. Only exceptions being the odd Stephen King novel.

Have just downloaded 5000+ Spanish books (.pdf) and am slowly re-reading both ´1984´ and Animal Farm.

´A Kis Herceg´ (The Little Prince) ... much more slowly as a good 50% of the words I´ve still to learn.

And the most recent was a re-read of ´The Prince´ - Machiavelli.

py2006

IrishExpat wrote: »

I have what seems to be a lifelong habit of reading 3 or 4 books on the go, and switching between them. Only exceptions being the odd Stephen King novel.

That would be only confusing to me!!

IrishExpat

And while this may be worthy of a seperate thread ... but does anyone read while on the throne?















... just pure curiosity, like.

--Kaiser--

Reading Hitch-22 by one of my heros, Christopher Hitchens. Impossible not to read in his silky baritone

Slattsy

Re-reading Catch 22

An absolute legend of a book, its absolutely hilarious.
Some people just dont get it, because they've simply no sense of humour

--Kaiser--

Slattsy wrote: »

Re-reading Catch 22

An absolute legend of a book, its absolutely hilarious.
Some people just dont get it, because they've simply no sense of humour

I'm half way through...it's funny, I get the humour of the madness and the circumlocution...but it's just so repetitive! The jokes and the stories

Custardpi

IrishExpat wrote: »

And while this may be worthy of a seperate thread ... but does anyone read while on the throne?
.

I generally bring one of the Twilight books in with me for my morning constitutional. If the old bowels aren't working as well as usual I find that focusing on the thought that a large section of humanity really likes this stuff produces such a feeling of terror for the future of civilisation that they start moving very rapidly indeed! Plus, if I run out of toilet paper.....

tan11ie

Just stared The girl with the dragon tattoo....kinda sorry I watched the film first!

JohnMearsheimer

I'm finishing up the Book Thief at the moment. My girlfriend gave me her copy of it to read and I'm finding it more engaging than I thought it would be.

Wesc.

I'm halfway through Sidney Sheldon's book The Naked Face, seems good and very interesting. Most of his books that I've read I've really enjoyed anyway.

Ben D Bus

Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler. I like proper old-fashioned action adventure stories

GastroBoy

"A Woman in Berlin" by Anonymous

Excellent book, a real life depiction of a woman's life in world war times in Berlin. Disturbing but very moving.

Reading for the second time in as many years, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Cracker of a tale.

ABout an armed robber and heroin addict, he escapes from Aussie prison goes to India, lives in the Slum helping people, then joins the mafia. He learned the local languages, acted in Bollywood. Then he fought with the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan.

APparently he wrote the book three times, prison guards destroyed the first two versions.

Callan57

GastroBoy wrote: »

"A Woman in Berlin" by Anonymous

Excellent book, a real life depiction of a woman's life in world war times in Berlin. Disturbing but very moving.

May I ask is it "A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary" you are referring to? Someone mention this book to me a while ago but I had forgotten about it 'till I read your post.

TPD

Just bought the the 'big bang bundle' from story bundle - similar idea to the indie games bundles, pay what you want for a collection of books. No idea what they're like or who they're by, but I'll be reading them eventually.

Currently going through 'Wizards First Rule' on a speedreader app, have read it before but interested to see how fast I can go.

GastroBoy

Callan57 wrote: »

May I ask is it "A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary" you are referring to? Someone mention this book to me a while ago but I had forgotten about it 'till I read your post.

Yes thats the one, I didn't have the full title as I'm at work. 8 weeks, it's quite a short space of time for a full book but it's very detailed.

Callan57

GastroBoy wrote: »

Yes thats the one, I didn't have the full title as I'm at work. 8 weeks, it's quite a short space of time for a full book but it's very detailed.

Thanks ... just ordered it on Amazon before I forget again

GastroBoy

Callan57 wrote: »

Thanks ... just ordered it on Amazon before I forget again

Good for you, I hope you enjoy it!