Looking forward to reading it, heard great things about it. JDATE that is.
Borstal Boy is one of the best pieces of Irish literature I've laid hands on, it's fantastic.
Books The BOOK thread
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Borstal Boy is one of the best pieces of Irish literature I've laid hands on, it's fantastic.
Just started John Sweeney's "Church of Fear". People might remember him going into meltdown on camera during his investigation of Scientology. This is his payback and so far, it's pretty juicy. Also reading Neil Sanders' two volume book "Your Thoughts Are Not Your Own". It's a very well-researched investigation into media manipulation, marketing, music, and the connections to government and places like Wellington House and the Tavistock Institute.
I just reread The Hobbit and enjoyed it again.
Good, innit? Haven't seen the film yet but I hear it actually follows the book plot quite well.
Yeah it really is a great read. I was reading it again before watching the film and friends have said they found the film a little boring and I thought that maybe I had placed the book on a pedestal as it was one of the first I read. Still I thought it was great with the characters and adventures being fun and a little dark.
Got hooked on Tolkien when I was about 14. Like Christopher Lee, I try and read LOTR at least once every couple of years. But I hadn't read The Hobbit for yonks then decided it was time. You're right about the dark side of the book too. I'd never really seen it as anything more than a romance for children, but it's clearly much more. Must go and see the flick now to see what Jackson makes of it.
Reading The Hobbit at the moment. Enjoyable thus far, definitely a much lighter tone than what I remember from LOTR.
Just finished reading Cloud Atlas and I've got to say it was a joy from start to finish, looking forward to watching the movie now.
I'm going to have a watch this weekend. I hope I don't draw comparisons with Lord of the Rings films but I fear it may happen.
Good. Let us know what you think as I won't have a chance to get to the flicks until next week sometime.
I read this a few years back and I found it a disjointed pile of sh1te. I may try it again but it was a bit beyond me.
maybe try giving it another read, I can only speak from my own experience of reading it and to reiterate what I've already said I found it a complete joy. There are six stories inter-mingled throughout the book and tbh I found the first part a little slow but stuck with it and was rewarded for doing so as it just got better and better and then when it reverted back to each story in the final half I devoured each page, loved it.
I'll definitely give it another go because I have heard good things about it and may have just not had the patience for it the first time.
Question for SteveJ: The Picture of Dorian Gray or The Importance of Being Earnest to take on first?
Are you reading for pleasure or for an academic assignment, Jazz?
For the pleasure of it, on a binge of the Irish authors and playwrights of late.
I love both, of course, but Dorian is a real mixed bag & inconsistent too. There are great parts which really ring true - Wilde's knowledge of London's seedier side; the believable disposal of a body etc etc - but there are also melodramatic bits which are of poor quality; then there's all that chatter, witty as it may be but tiresome after a while.
In contrast, Earnest is nigh-on perfect, and 'goes like a rifle shot,' as Wilde said. Still, I prefer Dorian, as it was my introduction to the author; if you love elegant literature, it's a beautiful book.
In contrast, Earnest is nigh-on perfect, and 'goes like a rifle shot,' as Wilde said. Still, I prefer Dorian, as it was my introduction to the author; if you love elegant literature, it's a beautiful book.
Yeah, Dorian has a bit of a reputation for being gratuitously verbose in some circles.. I'm sure it's great but I think I'll go for Earnest as an easy introduction to Wilde. Thanks.I love both, of course, but Dorian is a real mixed bag & inconsistent too. There are great parts which really ring true - Wilde's knowledge of London's seedier side; the believable disposal of a body etc etc - but there are also melodramatic bits which are of poor quality; then there's all that chatter, witty as it may be but tiresome after a while.
In contrast, Earnest is nigh-on perfect, and 'goes like a rifle shot,' as Wilde said. Still, I prefer Dorian, as it was my introduction to the author; if you love elegant literature, it's a beautiful book.
Good stuff, and only 50p at The Works.
You've probably read "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" Steve, but that was my introduction to Wilde. It's still one of my favourite poems to this day. Have you ever read any of Wilde's works for children? I remember receiving a copy of "The Happy Prince" when I was a kid and I really enjoyed it, especially if it was read out loud to me.I love both, of course, but Dorian is a real mixed bag & inconsistent too. There are great parts which really ring true - Wilde's knowledge of London's seedier side; the believable disposal of a body etc etc - but there are also melodramatic bits which are of poor quality; then there's all that chatter, witty as it may be but tiresome after a while.
In contrast, Earnest is nigh-on perfect, and 'goes like a rifle shot,' as Wilde said. Still, I prefer Dorian, as it was my introduction to the author; if you love elegant literature, it's a beautiful book.
Read this a while ago and loved it. One of my favorite books recently and anyone I've lent it to has loved it too. I haven't read any more Archer but this will encourage me.
I read 68% of it before my kindle packed in, and I really couldn't be arsed trying to get back to where I was to finish it. I have the film so I might just watch that, but I feel almost compelled to read the rest of it now.
I read Dorian Gray a while back and thought it was decent. As Steve says it is a bit long winded and drawn out at times, but on the whole I thought it was decent. But I'm a fussy bugger.
I haven't read Ernest, but I might give it a try. I just finished Mort by Terry Pratchet and thought it was okay, started out good but didn't live up to my expectations - nothing ever does
So I've decided I might go for something more low brow to see if that pleases me any, and may go for Killing Floor by Lee Child.
Has anyone read The Passage? It's pretty monsterous so I don't want to read a big chunk of it to find out it's actually shit. I read the unabridged version of The Stand and then IT. Far too long for my liking, it almost put me off reading ever again, even though on the whole they were both good, especially The Stand. Just far far too long.
I thought the Hobbit was one of the best 2 books I'd ever read - mind you I was 9.
One of the first books I read and I didn't want to reread it in case it didn't stand up to my memories of it. In fairness it held it's own.
Watched the Hobbit yesterday and while I enjoyed it I felt it was a little drawn out. Still a very good adaption of the novel but I felt that Jackson could've completed this with only two pictures.
Anybody read The Hounds of the Baskerville? How's it?
This sounds really bad, but I haven't done any 'real' reading in about 5/6 years now... And I'm only 24. So, I have no real experience of what I like in terms of a book, I have read quite a few famous ones, such as Game of Thrones, Lord of the rings and a few others, as well as some 'crime/mystery' books. One about human trafficing and the other about random killings, both were quite good with how they kept you guessing the whole way...
But I'm looking to get some recommendations, I am open to anything in terms of Genre except paranormal (Vampires/ Zombies etc) as I generally don't like that theme, however if there is a particuarly good one, please mention it and I can give it a try.
Are there any books which are generally considered 'NEED TO READ', I need an idiots catch up for titles of books for the last 5 years...
But I'm looking to get some recommendations, I am open to anything in terms of Genre except paranormal (Vampires/ Zombies etc) as I generally don't like that theme, however if there is a particuarly good one, please mention it and I can give it a try.
Are there any books which are generally considered 'NEED TO READ', I need an idiots catch up for titles of books for the last 5 years...
Some of the must-reads are perhaps tough to get into if you haven't read much recently. I'd start with some more middle-weight modern stuff like William Boyd's 'Any Human Heart' or perhaps some classic crime fiction like Chandler, Hammett and Ross Macdonald.
Thanks for the recommendations mate, I will have a look at that 'Any Human heart', I have heard of that at least....
And what would you say are the bigger must reads, I don't think I would struggle getting into it as although I haven't read many books of late, magazines, articles and dribble that passes in the general on here
...I'd ignore ps, Jaybezia.
The 'middle-weight' authors he mentions are 'popular' writers whom the cognoscenti of literary fiction deign to condescend to. Not popular writers that readers of popular fiction like to read.
The 'middle-weight' authors he mentions are 'popular' writers whom the cognoscenti of literary fiction deign to condescend to. Not popular writers that readers of popular fiction like to read.
I'd ignore ps, Jaybezia.
The 'middle-weight' authors he mentions are 'popular' writers whom the cognoscenti of literary fiction deign to condescend to. Not popular writers that readers of popular fiction like to read.
Thanks for the heads up, I'm slightly innocent when it comes to reading what would you recommend?I'm trying to be helpful. 'Any Human Heart' is a readable 400-odd page version of 'A Dance to the Music of Time', which is 12 volumes long. If someone hasn't read much in a while they probably aren't going to read it all. Since she'd read some crime it's probable that she'd get a lot out of the classic crime novels then has the new Scandicrime to look at.I'd ignore ps, Jaybezia.
The 'middle-weight' authors he mentions are 'popular' writers whom the cognoscenti of literary fiction deign to condescend to. Not popular writers that readers of popular fiction like to read.
My post wasn't entirely happy. Besides being tautologous - 'deign to condescend' - it came across harsher than I intended.
But if you're going to offer reading advice to a non-reader, it's best to choose books of the widest appeal, rather than picking from the minority of genre fiction which has sufficient literary merit to make it acceptable to those of cultivated taste.
May I get some recommendations?
The books I've enjoyed for the last couple of months have been
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
Portnoy's Complaint - Phillip Roth
Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut
The books I've enjoyed for the last couple of months have been
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
Portnoy's Complaint - Phillip Roth
Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut
I presume you genuinely didn't know I'm not female...
We should just use shglee when referring to each other!
We should just use shglee when referring to each other!
I really hope you don't mean you and I specifically....
I would recommend The Sisters Brothers to people who like books and stuff.
You don't sound in the least girlie but your profile sez different.
I will give you that, I can take it...I tried, you may remember, to get a tag-line and emailed modmin requesting so, at which point a thread was started....
....and I got temporarily banned.
Now I have lots of little things by name as its the closest I can fecking get