This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

mejulie805 · 27-08-2015 09:02AM

Just heard an ad on the radio for 'The Girl in the Spider's Web' by David Lagercrantz- a continuation of Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Has anyone picked it up? Interesting amount of controversy surrounding the books already, and this seems to follow the pattern! Good article on it here too.

Aenaes · 27-08-2015 12:42PM

I started and finished "Loser Takes All" by Graham Greene last night. Beautifully written as usual.

Birneybau · 27-08-2015 01:07PM

'Purity' by Jonathan Franzen and 'Girlfriend In A Coma' by Douglas Coupland which is about a third re-read as girlfriend (thankfully not in a coma) is also reading it and it has been years so I thought why not?

Really enjoying both, obviously well written, trying to get 'Girlfriend In A Coma' out of the way so I can devour the Franzen.

Gonzovision · 28-08-2015 10:03AM

So I finished 'Post Office' by Charles Bukowski, very enjoyable book. I will certainly be checking out some more of his stuff. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

Next up for me is 'Men without Woman' by Hemingway. Again, I have read nothing by him previously.

Birneybau · 28-08-2015 10:30AM

Gonzovision wrote: »

So I finished 'Post Office' by Charles Bukowski, very enjoyable book. I will certainly be checking out some more of his stuff. If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

Next up for me is 'Men without Woman' by Hemingway. Again, I have read nothing by him previously.

'Women' by Bukowski.

Belle E. Flops · 28-08-2015 03:59PM

Finished 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and really liked it. I highlighted so much from it on my kindle.
Just starting 'The Virgin Suicides' by Jeffrey Eugenides which has been sitting on my bookshelves for years. I don't know what to expect from it.

minnow · 28-08-2015 07:20PM

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Finished 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and really liked it. I highlighted so much from it on my kindle.
Just starting 'The Virgin Suicides' by Jeffrey Eugenides which has been sitting on my bookshelves for years. I don't know what to expect from it.

If it's as good as Middlesex, you are in for a treat with "The Virgin Suicides".

I'm just starting "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz. 40 pages in and I love it, very clever and witty.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 28-08-2015 07:40PM

Swiper the fox wrote: »

I read and enjoyed the Children's Act but it's not as gripping or accessible as Atonement. If you enjoy it and want to read more McEwan then I cannot recommend On Chesil Beach highly enough, it is a beautiful book, among my all time favourites.

I read a bit of it last night and I don't think I'm going to like it. Middle class high court judge who hasn't sworn out loud since she was a teenager with a husband who wants to have an affair but stay married? GET IN THE SEA!

eire4 · 28-08-2015 11:41PM

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Finished 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and really liked it. I highlighted so much from it on my kindle.
Just starting 'The Virgin Suicides' by Jeffrey Eugenides which has been sitting on my bookshelves for years. I don't know what to expect from it.

I really liked Dorian Gray as well. Always thought it was a pity Oscar Wilde didn't write more novels.

Aenaes · 29-08-2015 12:15PM

I've started "Great Expectations", my first attempt at Dickens.

Callan57 · 29-08-2015 12:17PM

Aenaes wrote: »

I've started "Great Expectations", my first attempt at Dickens.

Apparently it was Dickens favourite ... enjoy

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 29-08-2015 12:40PM

Aenaes wrote: »

I've started "Great Expectations", my first attempt at Dickens.

I love Great Expectations, one of the few books I've re read. I find any other Dickens I've tried quite disappointing on comparison.

Gonzovision · 29-08-2015 12:48PM

Just finished 'Men Without Women', didn't really enjoy it at all to be honest. I might give 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' a read before giving up on Hemingway altogether....

Next up is 'The Double' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Birneybau · 29-08-2015 04:33PM

Gonzovision wrote: »

Just finished 'Men Without Women', didn't really enjoy it at all to be honest. I might give 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' a read before giving up on Hemingway altogether....

Next up is 'The Double' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Read 'The Old Man And The Sea' by Hemingway, regarded as one, if not, his best.

Callan57 · 30-08-2015 09:26AM

This morning I started The Gambler by Christine Dwyer Hickey

heathledgerlove · 31-08-2015 08:18PM

Just finished Us and as usual, the ending tapered a little – it’s of course hard to end on a high note especially in a supposedly realistic, wry ‘slice of life’ drama. I found it a little pretentious – all the endless references to high art and at the end, even a little map of the ‘Grand Tour’ – please – but the saving grace was the narrator Douglas who was an unbelievable square and yet the most relatable character by far. It was very comfortable to be in his company for the duration.

Again the ending

I’m not sure I buy – idealistic I suppose, cynical me: as Will observed in Hornby’s About A Boy, if two people separate / can’t be married any more, then they should at least have the good grace to hate each other. He! He!

eire4 · 31-08-2015 08:26PM

Finished a re read of Sean McPhilemy's The Committee a stunning book revealing the emergence of an RUC inner force which colluded with Loyalist terrorists to committ numerous murders.

ivytwine · 31-08-2015 09:26PM

Started Americanah yesterday, loving it so far. An insight into cultures I know very little about, and beautifully written.

Fathom · 01-09-2015 12:19AM

The Grace of Kings, by Ken Liu

Kurtosis · 02-09-2015 11:20AM

I've started reading The Crossing by Colm McCarthy this week. I read All The Pretty Horses which is the first book in The Border Trilogy about 6 months ago so it took a while to get around to the second book. Really enjoying it so far, I'm a big fan of McCarthy's prose, he can really bring out the beauty in the mundane.

Mr.Nice Guy · 02-09-2015 05:21PM

I read American Pastoral by Philip Roth. It was recommended to me a few years back but I only got round to it now. It's excellent and I'd recommend it as well. A lot of the scenes have stayed with me after finishing it.

Jamaican Me Crazy · 03-09-2015 04:32PM

Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

I would recommend

Belle E. Flops · 05-09-2015 09:14PM

I finished The Virgin Suicides this morning and I thought it was only ok.
I enjoyed it starting off but started to get bored once I got about halfway in. You are told straight off in the blurb what happens and pretty much all of the book is leading up to this. I'm quite surprised it's got such good ratings on amazon but then again it's likened to Catcher in the Rye and that's a book I didn't rate highly either.

I'm a few pages into The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and I love it already.

heathledgerlove · 06-09-2015 01:00AM

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

I finished The Virgin Suicides this morning and I thought it was only ok.
I enjoyed it starting off but started to get bored once I got about halfway in. You are told straight off in the blurb what happens and pretty much all of the book is leading up to this. I'm quite surprised it's got such good ratings on amazon but then again it's likened to Catcher in the Rye and that's a book I didn't rate highly either.

I'm a few pages into The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and I love it already.

Argh, Virgin Suicides drove me batty! Trying so hard to be mystical and dreamy and teenage-nostalgic but I thought the narrator and his friends were very creepy towards the Lisbons! And what happened to the sisters, well, I don't think it was explained or described well, their motives. Deified as they were by the boys, the girls, even clichéd wild-child Lux, were bereft of any human characterization and thus, reader sympathy. They reminded me of a mere novelization of that Pre-Raphelite painting of the Death of Ophelia? Where she's in the reeds or something?
Funnily enough I really liked the film. I think it was significant that the book was written by a (doe-eyed :P) man, whereas the film was directed by Sophia Ford Coppola, who showed much more insight into the plight of the sisters and their weird lives.
I love the Catcher. Feel I have to say that every time it gets slated tho I know I'm weeing in the wind!

Gonzovision · 06-09-2015 08:53PM

Gave up on 'The Double' by Dostoyevsky, just couldn't deal with the style of writing. The main character has to say the name of the person he's is talking to at least three times per sentence. I know it's to portray the breakdown of his mental state, but it was just too much for me. Pity as I loved 'Crime and Punishment'

Instead I read 'Tales of Ordinary Madness' by Charles Bukowski. It's the second Bukowski book I've read and I really enjoyed it, just a collection of short stories, but really entertaining. He really puts across his hopelessness in his books, my god they can be depressing. Fantastic author and will definitely be checking out the rest of his collection. I have 'Notes of a Dirty Old Man' to read also but picked up 'Dynasty - The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar' which is the follow up to the excellent 'Rubicon' by Tom Holland. Really looking forward to getting stuck into it.

Hrududu · 07-09-2015 08:53PM

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

I finished The Virgin Suicides this morning and I thought it was only ok.
I enjoyed it starting off but started to get bored once I got about halfway in. You are told straight off in the blurb what happens and pretty much all of the book is leading up to this. I'm quite surprised it's got such good ratings on amazon but then again it's likened to Catcher in the Rye and that's a book I didn't rate highly either.

I thought the film of The Virgin Suicides was better than the book. The book left me cold as did Catcher in the Rye.

Just finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell and was a little disappointed. It seemed to be a very uneven book. Dragged for ages then took off like gangbusters moving focus to different characters. It was well written and I enjoyed reading it but I didn't love it. I guess they can't all be Cloud Atlas.

Callan57 · 09-09-2015 02:08PM

Doctor's appointment this morning & couldn't possibly attend sans book so picked Good Behaviour by Molly Keane as I was leaving the house. Loving it so far ...

Jijsaw · 09-09-2015 03:10PM

I didn't like 'The Virgin Suicides' either. I read it while I was on holidays and I just felt the entire thing had no climax or twists or anything- you're basically told in the first chapter that all of the girls kill themselves.

Finally finished 'Vanity Fair' after reading it on-and-off for more than 3 weeks. It was a good read, it's just I always think Victorian serials needed a good editor as they are generally really drawn out. If it had lost 200 or so pages it would have been a very-good novel.

Now on to an easy reread, 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'

keane2097 · 09-09-2015 03:10PM

Got through The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Outsider by Albert Camus this week (both pretty short).

Started off with Slaughterhouse 5 last night. Don't really know anything about it other than it's meant to be good so here's hoping.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 09-09-2015 05:07PM

I am starting War and Peace. I shall see you all next year some time.

This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

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