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So, what's everyone reading? (The General Books Thread)

Started by surreal, June 11, 2007, 07:11:33 PM

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surreal

I've just picked up a copy of the Battle Royale novel by Koushun Takani, from HMV.  Wanted to read it for a while as I love the movie and have heard good things about the book.

Currently in the middle of "Pandora's Star" by Peter F  Hamilton, a bloody long SF novel but quite an easy read surprisingly.  I also have a bookmark in "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke - but I'm only a hundred or so pages in and I found it pretty hard going... does it get better?

Last book I finished was "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver, which was great but not the most uplifting read ever...

So how about you lot?  I'd like to have this as a good general book recommendation thread I can refer back to so I know what to buy to pass the ridiculously hot evenings we have coming up over the next few months...

Al Tha Funkee Homosapien

Suez 1956 by Barry Turner. It's about the Suez Crisis (duh) and the actions that lead up to it and during it. Quite good rough history of the Middle East although it gets a bit dense and dry sometimes. Only about halfway through - please don't tell me how it ends.

Joy Nktonga

I'm reading that "...Kevin" book at the mo. Finding it a little hard going - not due to the subject matter but because I'm sick of the moaning. Her descriptive prose is a good standard but in buying in to her world I'm just finding the constant whining unbearable. Her  should we/shouldn't we reminiscing is just so mundane. I'll finish it though even if it takes me a year (I'm currently managing around one "chapter" every couple of days).

I'm mere pages away from the end of "Critique of Criminal Reason" by Michael Gregorio (actually a him 'n' her team). It's a murder thriller based in 18th century Prussia with a loose philosophic leaning. I have found it thoroughly entertaining and gripping. Accurately or not (hey, it's impossible for me to know), I've been utterly drawn into this historic, foreign world. I have been rooting for the hero from the off but the constant twists didn't quite manage to put me off the scent as they did the book's protagonist. Heartily recommended.

I also owe My Analytical a review of a book that I still haven't got round to reading. It's next on my list though Mr A.

I've just got through the Derek Strange trilogy by George Pelecanos. He's a regular writer for The Wire and you can tell. Its not his best stuff but fans of the show should check him out.

glitch

I've been reading Michael Marshall Smith stuff - 2 friends put me onto One of Us and Only Forward. I've enjoyed both of them quite a lot as it's nice well thought-out cyberpunk/sci-fi where the science isn't the focus (not that I dislike hard sci-fi, I mean it's not all crappy spaceships and galaxy-spanning empires and all that twee bollocks). However they both seem to get a spiritual element near the end which puts me off a bit. I'll give him another go with another book, but if it goes all hippy again then I'll probably avoid him from then on.

Oh and various books on ActionScript and Reason/Ableton Live.

duckorange

Serious read:Life on Air - David Attenborough

You're-going-to Hell read: one of the Flashman novels.

DocDaneeka

Quote from: glitch on June 11, 2007, 07:40:34 PM
I've been reading Michael Marshall Smith stuff - 2 friends put me onto One of Us and Only Forward. I've enjoyed both of them quite a lot as it's nice well thought-out cyberpunk/sci-fi where the science isn't the focus (not that I dislike hard sci-fi, I mean it's not all crappy spaceships and galaxy-spanning empires and all that twee bollocks). However they both seem to get a spiritual element near the end which puts me off a bit. I'll give him another go with another book, but if it goes all hippy again then I'll probably avoid him from then on.

Oh and various books on ActionScript and Reason/Ableton Live.
Spares is probably my favourite by Michael Marshall Smith and I don't remember any god bothering in that.

Speaking of going all hippy, I'm reading the Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson, its quite funny so far and interesting to read it after reading The Invisibles and some of the Alan Moore magical gubbins.

Pseudopath

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

I've probably read it eight times already, but Hardy is the bomb.

explodingvinyl

I'm currently reading Bulletpoints by Mark Watson. For the second time. It is most amusing.

explodingvinyl

Quote from: Pseudopath on June 11, 2007, 08:15:41 PM
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

I've probably read it eight times already, but Hardy is the bomb.
Hardy is the bomb. I also find Orwell to be the tits.

Saygone

QuoteI'm reading the Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson, its quite funny so far and interesting to read it after reading The Invisibles and some of the Alan Moore magical gubbins.

If you like that I highly recommend searching (and it wil be a search) for his excellent Schroedinger's Cat trilogy.  I think its superior to Illuminatus (less unnecessary chaff) and a good deal funnier too. 

As for what I'm reading, I just read the first page of Pynchon's V, and just finished Stewart Lee's Perfect Fool.  The verdict = meh.

Pseudopath

Quote from: explodingvinyl on June 11, 2007, 08:25:34 PM
Hardy is the bomb. I also find Orwell to be the tits.

True dat. I chanced upon the oft-derided Keep The Aspidistra Flying for the first time the other day and nuff respeck.

George Oscar Bluth II

Just finished David Peace's The Damned Utd, the book about Brian Clough's doomed spell in charge of Leeds United. I reccomended it in the [Football] thread yesterday and I stand by that, it's excellent. Have moved on to The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson and I'm also wading my way through Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor.

fanny splendid

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia in the upstairs loo.
Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment in the downstairs loo.
Charles Bukowski's Living on Luck: Selected Letters 1960S-1970s in the bedroom.
Johanna Drucker's A Century of Artist's Books in the living room.

If Mr Analytical reads this thread, what was that sci-fi book you recommended in another thread which I can't find? Thanks.

Backstage With Slowdive

Just finished Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Novels and about to start the 3-volume Spiral Ascent by his old friend Edward Upward.

buttgammon

I've been flicking through Introducing Sociology lately because I'm considering doing it at college, and it's actually a very entertaining book. Anything from tht series is a very good introduction to the topic. They're basically cartoons with snippets of text. And there's a very amusing (if not dated) Princess Diana joke in there, too.

I think I'll start on The Crying of Lot 49 next. I've been thinking about reading something by Pynchon for a while and it's meant to be the best one to start with, although Gravity's Rainbow does sound bendigedig.

Anon

Quote from: buttgammon on June 11, 2007, 09:44:32 PM
I've been flicking through Introducing Sociology lately because I'm considering doing it at college, and it's actually a very entertaining book. Anything from tht series is a very good introduction to the topic. They're basically cartoons with snippets of text. And there's a very amusing (if not dated) Princess Diana joke in there, too.

I think I'll start on The Crying of Lot 49 next. I've been thinking about reading something by Pynchon for a while and it's meant to be the best one to start with, although Gravity's Rainbow does sound bendigedig.

I'm only familiar with The Crying Of Lot 49 and V, but Lot 49 is definetely a much better plce to start from - it's just a snappier, more straight-forward tale (well compared to V it is anyway), and has some brilliantly witty scenes in it.  So yes, read The Crying of Lot 49.

As for myself, I've just begun reading Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.  Only about 30 pages in, but as ever with Kurt it's a very fun and inventive read.

surreal

Quote from: Anon on June 11, 2007, 10:00:20 PM
As for myself, I've just begun reading Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.  Only about 30 pages in, but as ever with Kurt it's a very fun and inventive read.

Ah, Vonnegut - been wanting to read some of his work, so where is the best place to start?

Anon

Quote from: surreal on June 11, 2007, 10:14:52 PM
Ah, Vonnegut - been wanting to read some of his work, so where is the best place to start?

Probably either Slaughterhouse 5 (probably his best regarded one, reflects on Vonnegut's own experiences in Dresden during WWII but with all his usual sci-fi trappings) or Breakfast of Champions (my personal favourite) would make a good starting point for someone new to his work.

Pseudopath

Quote from: surreal on June 11, 2007, 10:14:52 PM
Ah, Vonnegut - been wanting to read some of his work, so where is the best place to start?

Slaughterhouse-Five is the obvious answer, but Player Piano is probably an easier read.

buttgammon

Quote from: Anon on June 11, 2007, 10:00:20 PM
I'm only familiar with The Crying Of Lot 49 and V, but Lot 49 is definetely a much better plce to start from - it's just a snappier, more straight-forward tale (well compared to V it is anyway), and has some brilliantly witty scenes in it.  So yes, read The Crying of Lot 49.

I think I'll start with that, then. Gravity's Raiinbow is just so long that I wouldn't want to gamble on it having not read any of his before. And if it's a complex as I've heard, it sounds like it could be a struggle at times.

Anon

Quote from: buttgammon on June 11, 2007, 10:24:07 PM
I think I'll start with that, then. Gravity's Raiinbow is just so long that I wouldn't want to gamble on it having not read any of his before. And if it's a complex as I've heard, it sounds like it could be a struggle at times.

Yeah...I've got a copy of Gravity's Rainbow that I haven't read yet because I just wouldn't be able to give it the time or concentration it probably requires, so I know what you mean.  Besides which, The Crying of Lot 49 is a very good book in its own right.

Toad in the Hole

Slaughterhouse 5 is a good way in to Vonnegut, god (or whatever) rest him.

Pynchon is hard work, but rewarding in the same way as Ulysses or something like that.

Why does everyone like Hardy?  And particularly Tess and Jude, which are just not that good.  Try A Pair of Blue Eyes, or The Well-Beloved, both of which are far superior.
[size=8](I may have just marked a load of shit exam scripts on Tess, which has made my dislike for it even more pointed...)[/size]

I'm just finishing Michel Houellebecq's 'The Possibility of an Island', and about to start on Sillitoe's 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning'.  Trying to reclaim reading for pleasure, but the PhD finishing is getting in the way.  Arses.

I'm currently nearing the end of Michael Moorcock's "Dancers at the End of Time", which is utterly superb. Definitely one for all you sci-fi fans out there- epic ideas, hallucinatory imagery, lots and lots of laugh out loud jokes, and some bits of real nail-biting, page-turning tension. It's hard to describe it but if you want to read a psychedelic time travel romantic screwball comedy of morals then this is the book for you!

Quote from: glitch on June 11, 2007, 07:40:34 PM
I've been reading Michael Marshall Smith stuff - 2 friends put me onto One of Us and Only Forward. I've enjoyed both of them quite a lot as it's nice well thought-out cyberpunk/sci-fi where the science isn't the focus (not that I dislike hard sci-fi, I mean it's not all crappy spaceships and galaxy-spanning empires and all that twee bollocks). However they both seem to get a spiritual element near the end which puts me off a bit. I'll give him another go with another book, but if it goes all hippy again then I'll probably avoid him from then on.

I couldn't put Only Forward down, but his other books haven't lived up to it for me.

I'm currently reading The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. I didn't like the film but the girlfriend's mad about the book so I thought I'd give it a go. It's pretty good. The plot's quite clevery worked out and it's a bit like reading about pawns in a chess game (a metaphor which gets used a fair bit in the book). It makes me realise what a total balls up the film version is - especially the international version which has whole scenes and characters cut out and re-ordered. Even the Russians aren't getting the best out of it though - the director apparently doesn't like the idea of magic and has completely changed the emphasis of the story, and now it's been bought by Fox and the third film will be set in the USA. Oh well. The third book's coming out in English soon, I'll stick with that.

Godzilla Bankrolls

I'm reading Mel Blanc's "That's Not All Folks!" (with Philip Bashe) at the moment. I realised a month or two back that I'd always considered him a hero, yet knew very little about his life. I've also been watching some old Jack Benny shows, and Blanc pops up in some fantastic parts.

It's one of those lovely Golden Age Of Hollywood autobiogs that falls over itself to be polite to all concerned, and there's a nice through-line what with the rise of radio, animated shorts, even more of a radio rise, then TV and a collapse into dignified old age. Interesting as Blanc, whilst a musician in his younger days, was never really a vaudevillian, somehow bypassing that and using his fantastic voice to make a living by other means.

Pseudopath

Quote from: Toad in the Hole on June 11, 2007, 10:30:13 PM
Why does everyone like Hardy?

In my experience, most people don't like Hardy at all and I always assumed it was due to his tendency to lapse into pastoral poetry every six paragraphs, which I could understand being annoying to the more plot-hungry reader. However, that's what I adore about him.

QuoteAnd particularly Tess and Jude, which are just not that good.

A tad harsh, methinks. They're surely two of the most profoundly depressing novels ever written. In a good way.

mister_enmity

I'm reading "Straw Dogs" by John Gray. It's interesting enough; it seems to be an attack on the belief that because all humans are autonomous and shit, they control their fates and progress as species etc.

Artemis

I'm not reading anything and haven't for a long, long time. I feel quite bad about it really, I should probably read more. I prefer non-fiction philosophy of religion stuff so to ease me back in gently I'll probably give George H. Smith's monumental "Atheism - The Case Against God" another bash.

Charles Charlie Charles

There's quite a bit of Sci-Fi reading going on hereabouts. Does anyone want to start a proper Sci-Fi thread? If no one can be arsed I'll do it myself. I wouldn't want to limit it to books (although, obviously, they'd play a part given that Sci-Fi is a literature of ideas.) I've been reading some stuff (non-literary) about Dyson Spheres, Von Neumann probes, Berserkers and the like, which I'm interested in discussing.

Any takers?