I quite enjoyed Lunar Park tbf but broadly agree. He's one of those marmite authors I think. His writing is very stylized and I'm not a huge fan of it.
Books The BOOK thread
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“When we were Orphans” doesn’t make any sense because, unlike other Ishiguro novels, the distorted perspective relied on other, supposedly detached characters. Why did those characters think that this detective from England could solve the international crsis? I did find the ending moving however.
Just bought a used hardback of Pynchon's Against The Day.
It's fecking massive
It's fecking massive
I'm reading A Shameful Act The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility by Taner Akçam.
Just finished On Beauty by Zadie Smith and really enjoyed it. It's a brisk read, funny and also very well observed characters. At the beginning I did think it had more interesting things to say about race than it turned out to but was a good holiday read. Just about to reread White Noise now...I remember enjoying it the first time but racing through it too quickly, so going to show down to try to take it in a little more this time around.
Any of you guys read The Liars Club?
Been meaning to read it for a couple of years, finally got to it.
Indeed quite brilliant. One of the most captivating memoirs I came across.
Been meaning to read it for a couple of years, finally got to it.
Indeed quite brilliant. One of the most captivating memoirs I came across.
Anybody read books from Thomas Erikson’s collection. I’m starting ‘surrounded by idiots’ now
At the risk of coming across as unintellectual because I'm not reading people's memoirs and books about philosophy and shit, I'm currently doing a re-read of the Lee Child Jack Reacher books, and I'm coming to the end of them now. I like the genre, and I like that there's only one main character in each book, with the rest of them changing, but i'm now looking for something else to get my teeth into, a new book series with a recurring main character, in the same sort of genre. I've read the Kyle Mills Mitch Rapp series, and enjoyed them, However for some reason, I don't particularly like British cop books, I've tried the Mark Billingham Tom Thorne books and couldn't get into them, not sure why.
Any recommendations? I've heard that Peter James Roy Grace series is meant to be good, but again, British cop, and I'm reluctant. Also Lisa Jewell books, but are they more your romance with a bit of thriller built in?
I don't mind one off story stand alone books in the same genre, like spy/thriller/vigilante type books.
Any recommendations? I've heard that Peter James Roy Grace series is meant to be good, but again, British cop, and I'm reluctant. Also Lisa Jewell books, but are they more your romance with a bit of thriller built in?
I don't mind one off story stand alone books in the same genre, like spy/thriller/vigilante type books.
Reading Blood Meridian. Rest in peace Cormac McCarthy.
Have read The Road before and found the prose weird and distracting so never tried Blood Meridian. Glad I gave McCarthy another go. Loving it so far.
Have read The Road before and found the prose weird and distracting so never tried Blood Meridian. Glad I gave McCarthy another go. Loving it so far.
Beyond A Boundary - CLR James.
Great summer read.
Great summer read.
I love this book. he is such a genius. the og of post-colonial writing. I think stuart hall also did a tv special with him.
Yep the interview with Stuart Hall is brilliant.
James did a documentary on Beyond A Boundary
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yup. that’s the one. have you read the power elite by c wright mills? I highly recommend it. it’s incredible the amount of clarity with which he can break down structures of power.
I don't do philosophical shit either, read the odd biography but I quite like historical type stuff
Fiction surrounding real places or events but not too heavy, I loved the Poldark series, which are much better than the TV adaptations, I get all my books now on a Kindle via Prime Reading.
I just read 2 novels by Erin Litteken that are based on real events in Ukraine in the 1930's and 40's, when you read them you understand the mindset of today with their attitude to Russia, they do come across as a little sentimental at times but the events are real and are based in part on her Grand-parents and Great-Grandparents lives, and what actually happened should be more widely known than they are
Oh I haven’t. Looks like something I will have to get. Cheers.
Is it the memoirs of a redcafe member?
If you like reading historical fiction or reading about people killing Nazis this is an outstanding novel based on a real-life Dutch resistance fighter. It's what publishers like to call upmarket, a page-turner with real literary chops. Read it before it gets made into a movie or streaming mini-series!
To Die Beautiful by Buzzy Jackson
https://www.amazon.com/Die-Beautiful-Novel-Buzzy-Jackson-ebook/dp/B0B8GPH95M
To Die Beautiful by Buzzy Jackson
https://www.amazon.com/Die-Beautiful-Novel-Buzzy-Jackson-ebook/dp/B0B8GPH95M
I'm recommending the first 2 books in the Anderson and Costello series by British author Caro Ramsay. Try her books. The second one is excellent.
Thanks, I'll have a look at that. Recently purchased a Kindle and downloaded a load of new book series (dodgy website) so I'll add it to the list.
Downloaded the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci, The Peter Ash series by Nick Petrie and the John Milton series by Mark Dawson.
Is it more action-oriented stuff? There's great pulp fiction in "The Destroyer" series (Turned into a so-so movie called REMO: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS) and vigilante stuff like the "Mack Bolan" books (ripped off by Marvel as The Punisher).
If you like Deighton or Le Carre spy stuff, I recommend Charles Cumming's novels.
Action/Vigilante/Assassin stuff usually. the old "Former Special forces/Government Operative/Military Cop trope usually. I've got about 35 books to be getting on with now, so I'll see how I get on.
Listening to the audiobook of Pierce Brown's Light Bringer the new one in the Red Rising series. So entertaining. The descriptive way the action is narrated and acted out is amazing. I waited till a chapter break this morning to get out of my car and head to the office because I was in the middle of an intense battle sequence.
Which book should I read next? I went through my "to-read" list on GoodReads and these 3 stood out:
One Hundred Years of Solitude
East of Eden
My Brilliant Friend
One Hundred Years of Solitude
East of Eden
My Brilliant Friend
This might be sacrilegious to some, but I never finished One Hundred Years. It just didn't catch me for whatever reason. I read East of Eden a few years back and loved it. Haven't read the third one.
Currently reading Ada or Ardor by Nabokov. Lolita is obviously brilliant and I loved Pale Fire, but I'm struggling a bit with this. Just seems a little too slow., as beautiful as the prose is. Doesn't help that I'm so busy at work that I've only been able to read it sporadically over the last month.
Haven't read the 3rd but both Solitude and Eden are brilliant.
Think Solitude edges it for me personally but can't go wrong with either.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is my favourite book. The best thing ever written in Spanish.
And forgetting magical realism, each sentence is formed in such a way that it is syntactically beautiful. It may get lost in translation.
Cheers!
I couldn't find One Hundred Years of Solitude on Kindle, so I went with East of Eden.
I am reading The Watchers of Time written by Charles Todd. I expected a strong start with some padding despite the presence of good plotting, which is what I got. But it is not a good book for me. I wanted to read something good other than nonfiction. Must read another book along with aforementioned one.
It’s a very complex, profane, brilliant, hilarious, sad novel. One of the few I’ve read more than once.Just bought a used hardback of Pynchon's Against The Day.
It's fecking massive
Did you read 2666?
And all that horrific stuff in Blood Meridian is taken from the actual historical record. Don’t expect an easy narrative. I found it very opaque and nihilistic.
Very very good too
It’s pretty disturbing. Which do you think was the better writer in Spanish?
How does Solitude compare to Love in the Time of Cholera? I read the latter and didn't hugely enjoy it so haven't delved into Marquez since.
Difficult question... I guess it's like with music in a playlist. I like two songs from a band and nothing else.
My older sister is a professor of Spanish literature and I read or started to read many of the literary totems but I left many of them because they were too thick...(maybe I was too young when I started to read them).
From Bolaño I like 2666 but I didn't get as hooked on others, and with García Márquez it's the same except for 100 years.
I like Almudena Grandes, Pérez Reverte, Galdós, Allende, Benedetti, and yet I am unable to read Vargas Llosa, perhaps the last great living writer, or Borges, which I find too elevated for me. Camilo José Cela or Javier Marías are also very heavy for me.
Your list serves as great suggestions, and I’ve never heard of most of them, thanks.
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Marias's Your Face Tomorrow trilogy is excellent.
You are welcome! Recommend me something you are reading too.
Right now I'm re reading the tunnel, by Ernesto Sabato, a very good short book.