What book are you reading atm??

Custardpi

Collie D wrote: »

Read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey over Xmas and then the follow up My Friend Leonard. Both good reads although the writing style of the first takes a bit of getting used to but eventually flows along.

First book is his story of going into rehab for alcoholism and crack addiction. Reminded me a lot of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Just did a search there to see if he had any others and discovered the memoirs were made up and he admitted as much on Oprah a few years ago. Kind of a reverse Lance Armstrong moment I suppose.

Probably not as interesting a read now

South Park actually did an episode making fun of the affair after the Oprah interview, with the spliff-toking character "Towelie" promoting his book "A Million Little Fibers [sic]".

take everything

Quiet: The power of introverts by Susan Cain after seeing her TED talk posted here recently.
Very readable.

The King of Moo

Collie D wrote: »

Any good? I don't even know the storyline. Read Great Expectations when I was about ten or eleven and hated every page but was determined to finish it. I have watched a few movies based on Dickens and enjoyed them but have been put off since then. Maybe it was too advanced for me.

Long story short...would you or anyone recommend reading Dickens to someone who hated it as a kid?

I'd recommend reading Dickens to anyone. His language is definitely too advanced for a ten or eleven-year old. Even for an adult it's still a bit dense, so it requires a little extra concentration, but it's so rewarding.
He had an amazing mastery of English, and every word seems perfectly chosen.
There's a genuine compassion for the downtrodden in his writing, especially children, and what very few mention is just how funny he was.

I only got round to reading him a few years ago. I've just finished Nicholas Nickleby which, despite its length, flew by. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and though everything's wrapped up very neatly by the end, it doesn't seem too cheap, given it's mainly a comic novel.
A Tale of Two Cities might be a good place to start. It's not so long, and has a story it's pretty easy to get absorbed in.

I'm reading Consider Phlebas at the moment, my first Iain M. Banks novel. It's good so far, it's nice to read something that's purely sci-fi, and not using the trappings of the genre to make some kind of commentary on the modern world, or a simple adventure story.

arybvtcw0eolkf

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.

emeraldstar

The King of Moo wrote: »

what very few mention is just how funny he was.

Do you really think so?! I think Dickens was one of the funniest writers and I wouldn't have thought that's an under-recognised trait in his writing. So many of his characters as well as his prose are laugh-out-loud hilarious.

The King of Moo

emeraldstar wrote: »

Do you really think so?! I think Dickens was one of the funniest writers and I wouldn't have thought that's an under-recognised trait in his writing. So many of his characters as well as his prose are laugh-out-loud hilarious.

It depends, I think it's well-known that many of his novels that are meant to be funny are so, but lots of people seem to think a lot his work is dreary stuff filled with misery. But even his grimmest books have some absolutely hilarious elements very much to the forefront. But I think when most people hear the term "Dickensian" they think of dirty starving children trudging off to work in a factory before the sun comes up. That may also partly be due to having to read his work when they're very young and not going to appreciate his wit.

An Coilean

Táim fhéin díreach tar éis An Hobad, leagan Gaeilge de 'The Hobbit' a críochnú. Bhí sé an iontach ar fad. Bhí na aistriúcháin ar roinnt de na tearmaí sa leabhair suimiúil go leor dom, Gleann na Scoilte ar Rivendell agus a leithéid.
Faraor, ní dóigh liom go mbeidh Lord of the Rings ar fáil i nGaeilge ar feadh tamaill maith.

population

My Uncle Napolean. Thoroughly enjoying it

otto_26

Joe Calzaghe... If you like sports autobiography this is class

Barna77

Collie D wrote: »

Long story short...would you or anyone recommend reading Dickens to someone who hated it as a kid?

No. Hated him in college. I gave Tale of Two Cities a try last year and i gave up after a few chapters.

Slattsy

Barna77 wrote: »

No. Hated him in college. I gave Tale of Two Cities a try last year and i gave up after a few chapters.

Snap.

Slattsy

Just started The Three Musketeers. Dumas.
Loved The Count of Monte Cristo so can't wait to get stuck into this.

Namlub

An Coilean wrote: »

Táim fhéin díreach tar éis An Hobad, leagan Gaeilge de 'The Hobbit' a críochnú. Bhí sé an iontach ar fad. Bhí na aistriúcháin ar roinnt de na tearmaí sa leabhair suimiúil go leor dom, Gleann na Scoilte ar Rivendell agus a leithéid.
Faraor, ní dóigh liom go mbeidh Lord of the Rings ar fáil i nGaeilge ar feadh tamaill maith.

Quoi?

ktm

Just finished Jon Ronson's "the Psychopath Test" , I thought it was very good and quite interesting.

Started reading "Soldaten".
German WW2 prisoners conversations were secretly recorded by Americans and the British.
Co written by a historian and a psychologist , it offers an insight to the mentality and thoughts of German POW's.
Its good so far, although I would probably prefer if they used more of the actual transcripts.

Morag

Gun Machine by Warren Ellis.

Brian Lighthouse

Ratlines by Stuart Neville.
Great.

martingriff

rock chic wrote: »

is running blind a jack reacher story or a stand alone book ?

Jack Reacher book it is called the Visitor in some countries

bnt

The other day I finished the Hunger Games trilogy. Now I can say I've read it.

Just started re-reading a book I read many years ago, which came back to mind after recent events in the news: Mother of Storms (1994) by John Barnes. It's basically a disaster novel set 20 years in the future, in which the climate goes haywire after a lot of methane is released suddenly. The title kind-of gives away what happens next, but the interesting bits are in the characters and details of future technologies, such as immersive pornography. I've seen ideas from this book popping up in later SF movies.

GerB40

Just finished "A Song Of Ice And Fire". Wow. Just wow... It's seriously good.

martingriff

GerB40 wrote: »

Just finished "A Song Of Ice And Fire". Wow. Just wow... It's seriously good.

All 5 of the current books (or 7 if book 3 and 5 were split) The next one is meant to be out this year i think. I am on a feast of crows

MurdyWurdy

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - about the woman behind the HeLa cell line - the first immortal cell line. The author has focused on telling her story for the first time and got quite close to the family as well as some interesting details on what the cells were used for etc. Definitely worth a read - very interesting.

Lucena

Namlub wrote: »

Quoi?

Il dit qu'il vient de terminer "Le Hobbit" en version gaélique, et qu'il a bien aimé. Il a surtout apprécié la traduction des toponymes, Gleann na Scoilte pour Rivendell par exemple.
Malheureusement, il ne pense pas que "Le Seigneur des Anneaux" soit disponible un jour en gaélique.

9959

Lucena wrote: »

Il dit qu'il vient de terminer "Le Hobbit" en version gaélique, et qu'il a bien aimé. Il a surtout apprécié la traduction des toponymes, Gleann na Scoilte pour Rivendell par exemple.
Malheureusement, il ne pense pas que "Le Seigneur des Anneaux" soit disponible un jour en gaélique.

Yes ch'yem haskanum, irrlanderen kam franseren, Ted!

Lucena

9959 wrote: »

Yes ch'yem haskanum, irrlanderen kam franseren, Ted!

Et moi, je ne comprends pas l'arménien.

John Mason

Agenda 21 and Stupid questions people ask in bookshops (or something like that)

TPD

I'm currently reading 'Invasion: The Secret World Chronicles' which came in an indie book bundle. It's not too bad.

9959

Tearing Down The Wall Of Sound: The Rise And Fall Of Phil Spector
by Mick Brown

Do I love it, my oh my!

missmaw

Running With Scissors: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs
Dark and disturbing childhood memoirs. Small amounts of dark humour to be found, but found the book over the top and completely outrageous. Characters are completely unlikeable especially the author.

The Shelbourne Ultimatum- Paul Howard
First Ross booked I have really enjoyed since the Dog in the Nightdress. Excellent one liners as always.Not back to his best but a decent improvement on the last few books.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
Excellent book that combines the stories of the Lacks family and the HeLa Cells. It highlights the issues of medical ethics in the mid 20th century and the current questions raised about informed consent and the question of ownership of cells in the research world.

The Book Thief- Markus Zusak
Written from the perspective of Death about a German girl fostered to a family outside Munich during WW2. A Beautiful story.

Lollipops23

Just finished The Varnished Untruth by Pamela Stephenson (her off Not The Nine O'Clock News and wife of Billy Connolly).

She's now a practicing psychologist and she treats the book like she's having a therapy session with herself. Very insightful and in some points moving. Also pretty funny, too.

leahyl

Currently reading the Ice-Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson - nearly finished, very good read