Would say Solitude is far better. Cholera is beautifully written, as you'd expect, but Solitude much more gripping for me and a lot bigger in scope. A true epic in many respects. Similar stylistically though so if it's Marquez's prose your not keen on might not be for you.
Books The BOOK thread
- Thread starter Livvie
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I'm now reading A Marauder's Plan, a fanfic with a lot written in.
I'm reading an Ellery Queen book, The Greek Coffin Mystery.
Right now I'm struggling through a couple books that were given to me last Christmas. None of them are literary fiction. My friend who gave them to me is trying to get me to read fantasy, so I have been assigned The Priory of the Orange Tree.
If I may; I attempted to read The Priory of the Orange Tree twice, and have given up on it. I have read Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. It was very good. Priory of the OrangeTree was very slow, and the rewards don't justify the effort put in the beginning of the book.
I started reading fantasy relatively recently. I got some good recommendations in a thread on this forum.
I downloaded a lot of books in one go and I think I started the one you say, which was also recommended to me.
From the little I've read I liked Abercrombie, very obvious for those who like the genre.
The First Law trilogy.
That is not good news. This book is massive too. The guy who gave it to me is really into military history of the ancient world, so he might be seeing things in that book that a normal person would not be all that impressed with. Wish me luck!
Godspeed!
HAven't looked through this thread to see if it's been previously recommended but The Pilgrim is the best thriller I've read for a long time. Brilliantly plotted, bio-terrorist page turner.
Do you mean I Am Pilgrim?
You are correct. Apologies; my mistake. It's a cracking read.
No apology required! Just wanted to double-check before I pick it up, sounds right up my alley.
2023 has been life-changing.
I thought I would find everything I needed in Terry Pratchett and nonfiction Science. Turns out I missed something feckin invaluable...
The Stormlight Archive.
I started in April and have now finished the fourth. So, so, so amazing. Incredible. For those up for a fantastical journey of epic proportions, read it
I thought I would find everything I needed in Terry Pratchett and nonfiction Science. Turns out I missed something feckin invaluable...
The Stormlight Archive.
I started in April and have now finished the fourth. So, so, so amazing. Incredible. For those up for a fantastical journey of epic proportions, read it
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is brill. Can’t recommend it enough if you are interested in the history of us humans and human kind.
Packed with interesting stuff and a good read too.
Packed with interesting stuff and a good read too.
Homo Deus is good as well
Yes mate very good, someone at work chucked me that to read a couple or three years ago. Enjoyed it.
The third one not so much. Plenty of irritating repetition. I can't remember the name now because it was so forgettable
Ok, may give that one a miss then thanks
Got a little queue of stuff to chomp through at the minute.
Is it weird to like reading plays but having no interest in seeing them? I've hated it every time I've been to the theatre and hadn't read a play since school til last month.
Read An Inspector Calls and some others by Priestley, Gogol's The Government Inspector and Ibsen's Doll's House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler.
What else is good?
Read An Inspector Calls and some others by Priestley, Gogol's The Government Inspector and Ibsen's Doll's House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler.
What else is good?
One for diehard fans.
Kazuo Ishiguro song lyrics collection to be published
Kazuo Ishiguro song lyrics collection to be published
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/14/kazuo-ishiguro-song-lyrics-collection-to-be-published
I'm like that but I dislike overacting and theatre seems to have tons of it. I still get flashbacks from my own student drama society days
Chekhov is really good to read.
That's a really good shout, thanks. I liked a book of short stories I've got by him.I'm like that but I dislike overacting and theatre seems to have tons of it. I still get flashbacks from my own student drama society days
Chekhov is really good to read.
I'm totally with you on the overacting. My wife dragged me to some tumescent Kenneth Branagh play a few years back and it felt like the acting was more a parody of emotions, everything felt so forced and overblown. It was a very long couple of hours.
Not sure if its been mentioned here before, but Caimh McDonnell books are absolutely amazing. Have read all of them within a few months.
Can highly recommend if you fancy a good laugh and some good storytelling too. The Bunny McGarry ones are very "Irish", so may not appeal to Irish folk in the same way as they did to me, but I found them laugh out loud funny.
Can highly recommend if you fancy a good laugh and some good storytelling too. The Bunny McGarry ones are very "Irish", so may not appeal to Irish folk in the same way as they did to me, but I found them laugh out loud funny.
I'm now reading a biography of Nixon.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...n?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8Q2DqXJ5L7&rank=1
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...n?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8Q2DqXJ5L7&rank=1
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Just read To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. So much better than The Waves, though not as good as Mrs Dalloway for me.
Some of the writing in the first part is beautiful, though it tapers off in the last third for me.
Some of the writing in the first part is beautiful, though it tapers off in the last third for me.
From Stormlight Archive I've gone to Mistborn. Feck, Sanderson is a genius. I wonder how Kelsier would fix United?
I finally got round to reading this (bought the book after your post but only read it now). Thank you for the excellent recommendation. Finished reading it in a few hours. Trying to get a copy of the movie now.
anything else from him you’d recommend?
thanks
Britney Spears autobiography is interesting. Finished it in about 1 and half days but worth a read.
Also Justin Timberlake is a prick!
Also Justin Timberlake is a prick!
Cheers! I'd say Valdez is Coming is also outstanding. Ive read maybe a dozen Leonard novels and still need to read a lot more! His writing is just so compelling
There is an anthology of Javier Marias' newspaper articles, essays, rants etc about football, which should be right up your alley.
It was published in cooperation with a german journalist so i'm not sure there is an english or spanish version of it at all. I'm pretty sure some of the articles are published in book-form elsewhere. Worth the search as a Madridista, or football lover in general.
the German title is "alle unsere frühen Schlachten" and the co-author is called Paul Ingendaay.
I have already found it in Spanish, "wild and sentimentals". I'll have a look.
Thank you
I am reading The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan.
Had to read Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead for a works book club
Found it pretty underwhelming tbh
It's a re-imagining of David Copperfield, which I've not read tbf, but I'm still willing to bet Mr Dickens put a lot more effort into his prose than Ms Kingsolver, it was all very perfunctory . Despite the huge amount of incident I struggled to find any weight in the drama or feel any empathy for any of the characters at all
Hopefully the group pick something better next month
Found it pretty underwhelming tbh
It's a re-imagining of David Copperfield, which I've not read tbf, but I'm still willing to bet Mr Dickens put a lot more effort into his prose than Ms Kingsolver, it was all very perfunctory . Despite the huge amount of incident I struggled to find any weight in the drama or feel any empathy for any of the characters at all
Hopefully the group pick something better next month
I'm reading IT, by Stephen King. I'm 75% done with Eye of The World.
I had to DNF The Murder of Mr Wickham, The Other Bennett Sister, and a Georgiana's Diary book (she was the younger sister of Darcy), all by different authors, to understand that most writers whose books are published, are woefully underqualified for such undertaking.
I finished the 52 in 52 for the fourth year last night. Finally read books from a bunch of authors I hadn't gotten round to reading, including Edith Wharton, Robert Heinlein, Ursula Le Guin and Saul Bellow. And finally read some plays. Shirley Jackson and Katherine Mansfield are massively underrated. Gravity's Rainbow is very long.
Highlights- Shirley Jackson: We have always lived in the castle, The lottery and other stories, Katherine Mansfield: Bliss, Haruki Marukami: Blind willow, sleeping woman, Edith Wharton: The age of innocence, Henrik Ibsen: A doll's house,Truman Capote: In cold blood
Lowlights: Completing HP Lovecraft's work. Ishiguro's When we were orphans, Bohumil Hrabal's Cutting it short and Ian McEwan's Solar all underwhelming in different ways.
Highlights- Shirley Jackson: We have always lived in the castle, The lottery and other stories, Katherine Mansfield: Bliss, Haruki Marukami: Blind willow, sleeping woman, Edith Wharton: The age of innocence, Henrik Ibsen: A doll's house,Truman Capote: In cold blood
Lowlights: Completing HP Lovecraft's work. Ishiguro's When we were orphans, Bohumil Hrabal's Cutting it short and Ian McEwan's Solar all underwhelming in different ways.
Finished Fredrik Backman's Beartown and it's amazing. Highly recommended.
Also read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and it is a good book too but a tiny bit too nerdy at times for my liking.
Also read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and it is a good book too but a tiny bit too nerdy at times for my liking.
I read Ernesto Sabato's -- The Tunnel this year. Probably my favourite read of 2023.
Really enjoying some spiritual-based books at the moment.
The Power of Now - Ekhart Tolle
A New Earth - Ekhart Tolle
The Wisdom of Insecurity - Alan Watts
Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright
The Power of Now - Ekhart Tolle
A New Earth - Ekhart Tolle
The Wisdom of Insecurity - Alan Watts
Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright