What book are you reading atm??

Barna77 · 21-11-2012 11:24am

ibarelycare wrote: »

Just started A Storm of Swords the other day. Really enjoying it so far, especially after struggling a bit with A Clash of Kings.

Get ready to enjoy it. Best book so far.

A Feast for Crows is dragging on slowly...

dollypet · 21-11-2012 11:30am

Russka by Edward Rutherfurd- loving it

Oliver_Ahern · 21-11-2012 11:33am

not finished it yet but so far it's filthy dirty with a few good one liners. Usually a fan of McGahern but not sure where he's going with this one

. Thoughts anyone?

Plumpynutt · 21-11-2012 11:45am

Dubliners by Joyce

Oliver_Ahern · 21-11-2012 12:21pm

Plumpynutt wrote: »

Dubliners by Joyce

What's your favourite story so far? I loved 'An Encounter' & 'Araby' best. "The Dead" is more like a novella than a short story but it is obviously brilliant also. Enjoy, Joyce is the master!

Custardpi · 21-11-2012 5:51pm

zyanya wrote: »

Have you read "Doce Cuentos Peregrinos" (Twelve peregrin tales)? Also, I love the songs Shakira wrote for the film ("Despedida" and "Hay Amores")

Todavía no, looks good though. The English translation is actually called "Strange Pilgrims" for some reason. Have "Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada" (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) on my shelf waiting to be read & have been recommended "Noticia de un Secuestro" (News of a Kidnapping) so plan on getting that soon too. How do his short stories compare to his longer works?

Celly Smunt · 21-11-2012 8:32pm

Oliver_Ahern wrote: »

What's your favourite story so far? I loved 'An Encounter' & 'Araby' best. "The Dead" is more like a novella than a short story but it is obviously brilliant also. Enjoy, Joyce is the master!

i always find Joyce to be monotonous.

Da Shins Kelly · 21-11-2012 10:10pm

pmcmahon wrote: »

i always find Joyce to be monotonous.

The last paragraph of The Dead is one of the best pieces of writing I've ever read, tbh. If that was the only thing he'd ever written, I'd still think he was great!

SouthTippBass · 21-11-2012 10:14pm

Reading Moby Dick, €2.75 in Easons sure why not

Plumpynutt · 22-11-2012 10:31am

Oliver_Ahern wrote: »

What's your favourite story so far? I loved 'An Encounter' & 'Araby' best. "The Dead" is more like a novella than a short story but it is obviously brilliant also. Enjoy, Joyce is the master!

I'm only about half way through do far, but my favourite ones so far are "After The Race" and "An Encounter". Really enjoying it so far, I read Portrait of an artist last year but found it quite tough so I was pleasantly surprised that Dubliners was so accessible

Oliver_Ahern · 22-11-2012 10:35am

pmcmahon wrote: »

i always find Joyce to be monotonous.

I think with Joyce it can seem that way on the surface, especially in his first novel and short stories. I think his short stories/portrait are a good window into the genius he would later become in ullysses & finigan's wake though; which are certainly head wrecks, but by no means monotonous.

Shryke · 01-12-2012 7:22pm

I just ordered Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall by Spike Milligan. It's the first of his memoirs from during WW2. Looking forward to reading it during Christmas. I'll be too busy for the next few weeks.

Mars Bar · 01-12-2012 7:25pm

It took me a month, A MONTH!! to get through Terry Pratchetts Wyrd Sisters so yeah, I'm taking a break from TP for a while.

I started "We need to talk about Kevin" last night.

Shryke · 01-12-2012 7:30pm

Mars Bar wrote: »

It took me a month, A MONTH!! to get through Terry Pratchetts Wyrd Sisters so yeah, I'm taking a break from TP for a while.

I started "We need to talk about Kevin" last night.

I found the witches to be the weakest ones.

questioner · 01-12-2012 8:28pm

Nesbo, Nemesis.

Heard about him in the irish times couple weeks back, two books into the series now. Really enjoying it, best crime fiction since David Peaces red riding trilogy,IMHO.

GAAman · 01-12-2012 8:55pm

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

The last paragraph of The Dead is one of the best pieces of writing I've ever read, tbh. If that was the only thing he'd ever written, I'd still think he was great!

The Dead is my favourite, fantastic reading!

SouthTippBass wrote: »

Reading Moby Dick, €2.75 in Easons sure why not

If ever I find myself needing a badass thing to say to someone just before I kill them I always think I will use the most epic of quotes

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.

Myself, I am reading World War Z. A friend told me to check it out and it is a great read

Trisha XxX · 01-12-2012 8:56pm

At the moment I am reading Jack the Ripper- The Whitechapel Murderer by Terry Lynch, I find it really interesting and easy to read, one of the easier books on Jack the Ripper to read.

shockwave · 01-12-2012 10:02pm

Shryke wrote: »

I just ordered Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall by Spike Milligan. It's the first of his memoirs from during WW2. Looking forward to reading it during Christmas. I'll be too busy for the next few weeks.

Its brilliant, very funny:)

Auldloon · 01-12-2012 10:14pm

Just finished The worst hard time by Timothy Egan. It's an account of the great American dust bowl in the 1930's and of the people who didn't leave. Great book, amazingly awful period of history.

Custardpi · 02-12-2012 12:20am

Auldloon wrote: »

Just finished The worst hard time by Timothy Egan. It's an account of the great American dust bowl in the 1930's and of the people who didn't leave. Great book, amazingly awful period of history.

Will have to check that out, keep meaning to read a non-fiction account of that period in American history. Always loved Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" & Woody Guthrie songs like "The Ballad of Tom Joad". Both of those of course deal with those who did leave. It must have been sheer hell for those who stayed. Thanks for the tip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWGAGPy_kw

stmol32 · 02-12-2012 12:41am

Shryke wrote: »

I just ordered Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall by Spike Milligan. It's the first of his memoirs from during WW2. Looking forward to reading it during Christmas. I'll be too busy for the next few weeks.

You're in for a treat. I read it years ago when I was a youngfella and I can't remember the details but I do remember from the blurb at the back it was the first time I learned the meaning of the word "anarchic".

It was also the first time I learned to love the idea of black humour.

Andrewf20 · 02-12-2012 1:17am

Just finished Escape from Camp 14 (North Korea prison camp escape etc). Before that -1984, The caged virgin, Mortality by Hitchens.

Custardpi · 02-12-2012 1:38am

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Just finished Escape from Camp 14 (North Korea prison camp escape etc). Before that -1984, The caged virgin, Mortality by Hitchens.

If you like that book check out "The Aquariums of Pyongyang" - Kang Chol-Hwan's account of he & his family's time in a North Korean labour camp & his subsequent escape to freedom in the South. One of the most striking details he mentions is how he retained an affection for many years for rats, because during his time in the camp the only way he was able to keep his strength up was by killing & eating the rats with which the place was infested. Heavy stuff!