This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Dibble · 26-08-2013 4:16pm

The Gathering by Anne Enright

Nero707 · 26-08-2013 5:09pm

Finished The Catcher in the Rye, I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. Started At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien. I read The Third Policeman before and I really enjoyed it, so I hope this is as good.

eire4 · 26-08-2013 8:00pm

Finished a re read of Tim Pat Coogan's excellent biography of Eammon DeValera this weekend. The book really brings home how power hungry and out of touch with the real world of everyday peoples lives DeValera was.

HeadPig · 27-08-2013 1:09am

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of Tim Pat Coogan's excellent biography of Eammon DeValera this weekend. The book really brings home how power hungry and out of touch with the real world of everyday peoples lives DeValera was.

Have you read Diarmuid Ferriter's bio of him? V good apparently

eire4 · 27-08-2013 5:05pm

HeadPig wrote: »

Have you read Diarmuid Ferriter's bio of him? V good apparently

I have read Diarmuid Ferriter but thought Coogan's was better myself.

IvyTheTerrible · 27-08-2013 10:09pm

SarahBM wrote: »

I know what you mean, sometimes you just wanted to shake her and wonder what me man saw in her at all.

By the way I am really liking the Count of Monte Cristo!

Wasn't that kind of the point though? That the narrator was so naive and silly; and so much less desirable and worldly than Rebecca?

SarahBM · 27-08-2013 10:31pm

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Wasn't that kind of the point though? That the narrator was so naive and silly; and so much less desirable and worldly than Rebecca?

Is that why he found her attractive? did he actually love her???:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Mystery! Love it!

I think seeing the film has ruined the Count of Monte Cristo for me. I kinda know whats going to happen. I wish I hadnt seen the film.

Tom Joad · 27-08-2013 10:34pm

SarahBM wrote: »

I think seeing the film has ruined the Count of Monte Cristo for me. I kinda know whats going to happen. I wish I hadnt seen the film.

Never knew there was a film :eek:. Am 3/4 of the way through the book at the minute and still loving it..

Is the film worth a watch? Obviously I would wait until I've finished the book.

Honey-ec · 27-08-2013 10:37pm

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Wasn't that kind of the point though? That the narrator was so naive and silly; and so much less desirable and worldly than Rebecca?

I don't think so. I think the point was that Rebecca was far too independent and worldly for Maxim's liking, whereas the narrator was precisely the type of woman that society at the time valued. We're reading from a 21st century viewpoint, but I think contemporary readers would have identified, or at least sympathised moreso with the narrator.

Where Du Maurier's sympathies lay, however, is a mystery, to this reader at least.

MagicMarker · 27-08-2013 10:44pm

Tom Joad wrote: »

Never knew there was a film :eek:. Am 3/4 of the way through the book at the minute and still loving it..

Is the film worth a watch? Obviously I would wait until I've finished the book.

I saw the version with Guy Pearce, an absolute joke of a movie.

HBO need to make a miniseries.

Arist · 27-08-2013 10:47pm

"Joyland" by Stephen King. After 25 years absence I have returned to the master story teller..........

Next up "Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West" Cormac McCarthy.

Merkin · 27-08-2013 10:48pm

East of Eden by Steinbeck, just a few chapters in, have a feeling it's going to be a good one

SarahBM · 27-08-2013 10:48pm

Tom Joad wrote: »

Never knew there was a film :eek:. Am 3/4 of the way through the book at the minute and still loving it..

Is the film worth a watch? Obviously I would wait until I've finished the book.

I really liked the film. Guy Pierce and Jim Caviezel are in it. I think it is worth a watch. but definitely wait til you have finished the book.

SarahBM · 27-08-2013 10:53pm

MagicMarker wrote: »

I saw the version with Guy Pearce, an absolute joke of a movie.

HBO need to make a miniseries.

we obviously have different taste in films

:D:D

salacious crumb · 28-08-2013 8:50am

SarahBM wrote: »

we obviously have different taste in films :D:D

Nobody's seen the old Richard Chamberlain version then? :pac:

IvyTheTerrible · 28-08-2013 9:59am

SarahBM wrote: »

I really liked the film. Guy Pierce and Jim Caviezel are in it. I think it is worth a watch. but definitely wait til you have finished the book.

The French mini-series with Gerard Depardieu is much better, IMO.

paddyh117 · 28-08-2013 12:25pm

Merkin wrote: »

East of Eden by Steinbeck, just a few chapters in, have a feeling it's going to be a good one

I'm about half way at the moment and loving it - somebody mentioned recently that it was too dark to enjoy, but there's actually some great humour in it - look forward to getting back to it every day!

SarahBM · 28-08-2013 1:27pm

paddyh117 wrote: »

I'm about half way at the moment and loving it - somebody mentioned recently that it was too dark to enjoy, but there's actually some great humour in it - look forward to getting back to it every day!

Humour?!? Really? I thought it was one of the most depressing books I ever read.

Monkeybonkers · 28-08-2013 2:41pm

salacious crumb wrote: »

Nobody's seen the old Richard Chamberlain version then? :pac:

Loved that version when I was young. Haven't seen any of the new ones so can't comment on them.

Are we old if we remember it?

salacious crumb · 28-08-2013 2:45pm

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

Loved that version when I was young. Haven't seen any of the new ones so can't comment on them.

Are we old if we remember it?

Old-ish

I've also seen the Guy Pearse one, which I wasn't as impressed with, and I've only ever read a kid's adaptation of the novel and that was also a long time ago. Maybe I should check out the actual novel one of these days.

Monkeybonkers · 28-08-2013 2:50pm

I wouldn't mind reading it myself. I suppose the nearest thing I've read recently that would match it in scope would be World Without End by Ken Follett. Mind you I read that in two days

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 28-08-2013 2:57pm

I'm reading "To Be Sung Underwater" by Tom McNeal and I'm loving it. There's something about it reminds me of "Tell The Wolves I'm Home" which is the best book I've read this year.

Callan57 · 28-08-2013 7:08pm

The Rider On The White Horse by Theodor Storm

fruvai · 29-08-2013 12:44am

Finished American Psycho last week and finished The Road tonight. Probably gonna tackle the literary behemoth that is Gravity's Rainbow and try to get it finished before Pynchon's latest comes out.

paddyh117 · 29-08-2013 9:57am

SarahBM wrote: »

Humour?!? Really? I thought it was one of the most depressing books I ever read.

Not finding it depressing at all - in fact, quite the opposite, it's so beautifully written (I've never read Steinbeck before), that I'm finding it quite uplifting!

Monkeybonkers · 29-08-2013 10:30am

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 29-08-2013 12:02pm

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

You should read Sweet Thursday next, if you like it that is.

Monkeybonkers · 29-08-2013 3:26pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

You should read Sweet Thursday next, if you like it that is.

I'll stick it on my list, thanks. I have a few ahead of it in the queue though. You know how it is.

SarahBM · 29-08-2013 3:28pm

paddyh117 wrote: »

Not finding it depressing at all - in fact, quite the opposite, it's so beautifully written (I've never read Steinbeck before), that I'm finding it quite uplifting!

Fair enough. Enjoy

Honey-ec · 29-08-2013 3:49pm

Finished Tampa last night. It left me rather nonplussed. It makes for very uncomfortable reading, which is obviously the idea. But I'm not sure if Nutting has an actual point to make. She seems to be content to just make the reader squirm, without really backing it up with much of a moral.

Bought Stephen King's The Tommyknockers and The Mammoth Book of Zombies, which is an anthology today.

VanillaLime · 30-08-2013 11:06am

Read Maggie O'Farrell's Instructions for a Heatwave over the weekend, thought it was brilliant, really drew me in.

Slattsy · 30-08-2013 11:12am

Almost finished 1984 (what a book)

Where do i go from here though ??

salacious crumb · 30-08-2013 1:01pm

Slattsy wrote: »

Almost finished 1984 (what a book)

Where do i go from here though ??

Try Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for a similar type of theme....

Gamayun · 30-08-2013 4:13pm

Slattsy wrote: »

Almost finished 1984 (what a book)

Where do i go from here though ??

salacious crumb wrote: »

Try Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for a similar type of theme....

Also We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, is very similar in theme.

Written in 1921 it is widely acknowledged to have influenced both 1984 and Brave New World, though Huxley denied this.

From Wiki:

George Orwell averred that Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) must be partly derived from We. However, in a 1962 letter to Christopher Collins, Huxley says that he wrote Brave New World as a reaction to H.G. Wells's utopias long before he had heard of We. According to We translator Natasha Randall, Orwell believed that Huxley was lying.

Callan57 · 31-08-2013 11:57pm

Tonight I am starting The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
(aka J K Rowling)

SarahBM · 01-09-2013 4:00pm

Callan57 wrote: »

Tonight I am starting The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
(aka J K Rowling)

I dont know if I want to read that, I didnt like A Casual Vacancy at all.

I went in to Chapters today with my friend, she bought loads. I got the Artemis Fowel collection. never read them before, but a lot of people have told me they are good.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 02-09-2013 4:58pm

I finished reading "To Be Sung Underwater" by Tom McNeal. The first 300 or so pages were wonderful. I was completely absorbed by it. And then all of a sudden it just seemed to drag. The last section of the book seemed almost like it was written by someone else. It made me quite sad.

Still interested to read some more of McNeal though.

Monkeybonkers · 02-09-2013 7:26pm

I've started Vanity Fair by William Thackeray. Only 50 pages in and already I love it. I'm really enjoying all the classic novels that I've been reading lately. Love the language used in them.

Callan57 · 02-09-2013 7:29pm

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

I've started Vanity Fair by William Thackeray. Only 50 pages in and already I love it. I'm really enjoying all the classic novels that I've been reading lately. Love the language used in them.

OH I love Vanity Fair

Miss Mayhem · 03-09-2013 1:30pm

I'm reading J.K. Rowling's new novel The Cuckoo's Calling at the moment. I'm about half way through it and liking it so far!

Callan57 · 03-09-2013 2:29pm

Miss Mayhem wrote: »

I'm reading J.K. Rowling's new novel The Cuckoo's Calling at the moment. I'm about half way through it and liking it so far!

Yea I'm slightly less than half way & it's not at all bad - enjoying it

SarahBM · 03-09-2013 8:10pm

Callan57 wrote: »

Yea I'm slightly less than half way & it's not at all bad - enjoying it

did you read the Casual Vacancy?

Callan57 · 03-09-2013 8:19pm

SarahBM wrote: »

did you read the Casual Vacancy?

Sure did & I liked it too .... before you ask no I haven't read any Harry Potter

Dibble · 04-09-2013 1:03pm

Currently reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

SarahBM · 04-09-2013 5:47pm

Callan57 wrote: »

Sure did & I liked it too .... before you ask no I haven't read any Harry Potter

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

you havent read harry potter?!?!?! OMFG!!!
I love harry potter, but I didnt like the casual vacancy.

emeraldstar · 04-09-2013 6:44pm

a0ifee wrote: »

I'm biased, my favourite character's introduced in the second :pac:

I'm curious as to who? I can't say any of the newbies of Book Two stand out as particularly great characters for me!

Currently almost done with Mockingjay, and that will be an end to The Hunger Games trilogy for me. Addictive and enjoyable - the first was good - but I thought each novel got a bit worse than the previous.

Callan57 · 04-09-2013 7:10pm

SarahBM wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

you havent read harry potter?!?!?! OMFG!!!
I love harry potter, but I didnt like the casual vacancy.

I know major lapse in my education - but in my defence I was definitely not the target audience

Miss Mayhem · 04-09-2013 8:28pm

SarahBM wrote: »

did you read the Casual Vacancy?

I haven't read it yet. I was put off by all the bad reviews. But since The Cuckoo's Calling is turning out to be quite a good book I'm definitely going to read it soon.

SarahBM · 04-09-2013 10:05pm

Callan57 wrote: »

I know major lapse in my education - but in my defence I was definitely not the target audience

I think I was like 17 when I started reading Harry Potter, so not really the target audience either, but I have re-read them a few times and Im 25 now. I saw one of the films on the other day and I was like "Id love to read them all again". There are not enough hours in the day!!!
:rolleyes:

Saorenza · 05-09-2013 1:48am

I enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling; ticked all the boxes for me. I was put off The Casual Vacancy after hearing JK Rowling talk about it and read a bit from it - I have it on the Kindle though so I might try it another time. I read the Harry Potter last and loved them - my niece recommended them. I had read the first few years ago when they came out and was not pushed. I am far from the target audience age:rolleyes:

And reading Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin - glad he brought back Rebus - didn't like The Complaints.

This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

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