Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 02:15:17 PM

Login with username, password and session length

What are you reading?

Started by Talulah, really!, October 04, 2017, 10:07:22 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Twit 2

Also check out Janacek's Makropolus Affair opera.

non capisco

'The Smiling Man' by Joseph Knox. A deliciously grim Manchester-set crime novel that heavily alludes to personal unsolved mystery favourite the Tamam Shud case. His stuff reminds me a bit of Derek Raymond. Before this I read books about Neville Heath, the Anders Brevik massacre and Dennis Nilsen. I'm OK, honestly.

saltysnacks

A collection of Ursula K Le Guin's realist short stories. She is a genuine master imo, manages to capture subtle moments well. I'll post a longer reaction when I've finished them.

chveik

The Catcher in the Rye for the second time, William H. Gass's The Tunnel and Laszlo Kraznahorkai's The Melancholy of Resistance. Great stuff.

MoonDust

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson. Set in New York in the year 2140, funnily enough.. Will write a more in-depth review of it when I finish it, which should be soon, but it's pretty good so far.

Wet Blanket

I've just cracked into Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds, having enjoyed The Third Policeman years ago. It's hilarious. Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. And utterly bizarre. I'd say it's a must for all Cabbers as it has a similar vibe to Chris Morris' Jam monologues. I wish I'd got round to it sooner. 


gilbertharding

Misha Glenny's McMafia - having enjoyed the TV series which only seemed to share a title...

I'm sure it's a great story, but I don't think it's a very good book. It reads as if it's been dictated, with minimal editing. Rambling, incoherent. I know that's because it's a complicated, messy world - but the author should be doing more work to impose some order for the reader than this.

zomgmouse

No! Those four plays are the only things of his I've read. But I've borrowed War with the Newts so that will be happening soon. I'll look this one up as well, thank you.

MoonDust

So I finished New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson this morning.

First off I feel I should point out it's shamefully the newest book I've read (2017), and actually I'm not sure I've read any book from the 2010s.

But anyway, on the whole it's a great novel, and as always Robinson wonderfully builds a scifi world that seems believable. And depressingly, a lot of the novel is very believable: by 2140 there has been two major points when the Antarctic ice shelves have collapsed, known in the book as the First and Second Pulses. This has caused sea levels to rise 50ft the world over, causing untold devastation both environmentally and socially.

Similar to his Mars Trilogy the novel is told from the perspective of different characters whose lives in future New York all intertwine. The historical background is narrated sporadically throughout the novel by an anonymous character known as "the citizen", who is there just as a narrative tool, they don't take part in the plot.

I must admit I found the ending a tiny bit underwhelming, but on the whole loved the stories and how the world would be affected by such ecological disasters. It's quite clear Robinson is a political writer, and doesn't hide that here. There are a lot of themes which reminds me of "the Big Short" (one character is a stock broker), and indeed the 2008 financial crash is mentioned more than once when a few of the characters talk about another financial bubble about to burst. It's interesting to see real life events discussed in the novel in the context that what is contemporary to us, is for the characters over a century in the past. Robinson manages to convey that nuance brilliantly. Difficult to describe.

So going on from this political aspect, I also think it's a novel of much foreboding, and there's definitely a message that we should stop fucking up the planet otherwise this novel will become a reality. Mass extinction, refugee crises, famine, whole cities being destroyed or flooded enough to be changed forever. A grim future indeed if we allow the Antarctic to melt, even if partially, which is already happening. The Larson C ice shelf could be the beginning. Scary. It's even made me question a bit what I'm doing with my life and whether I should use my knowledge and skills to work in something that can make a difference, in an environmental context. If a novel can do that to you, I guess it's a bloody good one.

But for all its doom and gloom, on the other hand, as one reviewer said, it is also a novel of hope. Would definitely recommend people read it, as it's so relevant for our times. Even if you're not one for sci-fi, it's definitely a sci-fi that might simply become general fiction if we don't take action on climate change.

I sincerely hope New York in the real year 2140 is a lot better than Robinson's vision.

gilbertharding

McMafia* - the book on which the quite good BBC miniseries about Russian/other gangsters was based. Been on the 'to read' pile since then.

Considering that the TV show had a lot of good points (the fact that a lot of elements were apparently drawn directly from real life made the slightly implausible and less than thrilling overall story arc more tolerable - it was a collage rather than a fully conceived whole) the book is ... I'm going to say AWFUL.

I'm admiring the obvious research that's gone into this. It's a story that needs telling, badly - unfortunately, that's exactly the way he tells it.

The man can't write.

You hear a lot, if you listen to writers and book people, about how little time and money is spent these days on decent editors. Reading this book is the first time I've properly appreciated the meaning of that complaint.

And now I've scrolled up to see the post I made when I started the book a week ago... forgot I even wrote that...


*Why is none of it set in Scotland?

zomgmouse

End As a Man by Calder Willingham. Scathing look at life in a Southern military academy. A few too many dips into the voices of annoying characters but otherwise pretty harsh and gripping. Uncomfortable in a good way.

MoonDust

The Burrow. A new collection of short stories by Franz Kafka, published last year. It includes everything that's not in Metamorphosis and Other Stories.

It's pretty good. Just reading random stories at leisure. Although for the picky they are published chronologically. A little downside is that unlike the Metamorphosis collection, the vast majority of the short stories in the Burrow are unfinished. Which is a shame, because there was one I was really enjoying about an office manager who ends up being stalked and oppressed by two bouncing balls that seemingly have a mind of their own. Wonderfully bizarre stuff.

One of the longer short stories I'm halfway through, that's basically a stream-of-conscious musings of a dog and the dog's take on life, their childhood, and the nature of "dogdom". Investigations of a Dog if you're interested.

Quote from: Wet Blanket on May 31, 2018, 10:37:21 AM
I've just cracked into Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds, having enjoyed The Third Policeman years ago. It's hilarious. Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. And utterly bizarre. I'd say it's a must for all Cabbers as it has a similar vibe to Chris Morris' Jam monologues. I wish I'd got round to it sooner.

Thanks for this. You hooked me on the Jam monologues comparison. It's in the post right now! Was supposed to arrive on Tuesday but hasn't yet, though..

Wet Blanket

Quote from: MoonDust on June 07, 2018, 06:16:07 AMThanks for this. You hooked me on the Jam monologues comparison. It's in the post right now! Was supposed to arrive on Tuesday but hasn't yet, though..

I hope you like it then, I'll feel bad if you don't! But if O'Brien isn't a direct influence on Morris I'll eat my own arm

QuoteI proceeded home one evening in October after leaving a gallon of half-digested porter on the floor of a public- house in Parnell Street and put myself with considerable difficulty into bed, where I remained for three days on the pretence of a chill. I was compelled to secrete my suit beneath the mattress because it was offensive to at least two of the senses and bore an explanation of my illness contrary to that already advanced.

The two senses referred to: Vision, smell.

On the evening of the third day, a friend of mine, Brinsley, was admitted to my chamber. He bore miscellaneous books and papers. I complained on the subject of my health and ascertained from him that the weather was inimical to the well-being of invalids. ... He remarked that there was a queer smell m the room.

Description of friend:
Thm, dark-haired, hesitant; an intellectual Meath-man; given to close-knit epigrammatic talk; weak-chested, pale.

I opened wide my windpipe and made a coarse noise unassociated with the usages of gentlemen.

I feel very bad, I said.

By God you're the queer bloody man, he said.

I was down in Parnell Street, I said, with the Shader Ward, the two of us drinking pints. Well, whatever happened me, I started to puke and I puked till the eyes nearly left my head. I made a right haimes of my suit. I puked till I puked air.

buttgammon

At Swim-Two-Birds and The Third Policeman are both fantastic, often hilarious books.

I've just finished Census by Jesse Ball, which is my book of the year so far. It's a very short, very moving novel about a dying father and his disabled son, who take a road trip across an alphabet of towns in a country to take the country's census (which is bizarrely conducted by tattooing citizens after asking them the census questions). There are echoes of playful experimentalists like Calvino and Perec here but unlike a lot of experimental fiction, there is a serious emotional core here too, and I love its father-son relationship.

Right now, I'm reading The Crying of Lot 49 for the second or third time. It's a book that gets better every time.

MoonDust

Just started reading At Swim-Two-Birds. Enjoying it so far, but do I need to be aware of basic knowledge of Irish folklore to understand the references in the Finn Mac Cool stories? Are any of his ramblings based on real folklore?

I also feel it'd help easier reading if I knew how to pronounce gaelic words. Google says "dh" is like "ch" but based on G instead of C. Which is bloody difficult.

But yeah, straight away I understand the Blue Jam monologue similarity, Wet Blanket. Just the opening line "Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing..." I can imagine being said by Chris Morris' mentally ill narrator. It's the way O'Brien writes. Simple sentences get drawn out to really long, articulate ones, but not in a bad way. That's similar to the monologues I think.

Wet Blanket

I don't know anything about Irish folklore, other than what I've picked up from Darby O Gill and the Little People, and have been just taking them as the insane diversions that they are, although I'm sure it's an extra layer for people who are up on it.


Wet Blanket

Quote from: buttgammon on June 07, 2018, 05:46:34 PM
Right now, I'm reading The Crying of Lot 49 for the second or third time. It's a book that gets better every time.

I read that when I was about 19 and was left a little nonplussed by it, but now I'm older and wiser I'm interested in reading more Pynchon. I was thinking of going with Inherent Vice because that's supposedly one of his more accessible ones, or should I just go all in with Gravity's Rainbow?

buttgammon

Quote from: MoonDust on June 08, 2018, 05:57:16 AM
I also feel it'd help easier reading if I knew how to pronounce gaelic words. Google says "dh" is like "ch" but based on G instead of C. Which is bloody difficult.

I'm not an expert with the Irish language but Google is wrong there - I'm pretty sure dh is more like a 'y' sound (for example, dhearg, the lenitioned form of 'red' is roughly 'yarrug'). My girlfriend speaks Irish so I'll ask her and will probably be able to come back with a better description of Irish pronunciation later.

Quote from: Wet Blanket on June 08, 2018, 10:03:53 AM
I read that when I was about 19 and was left a little nonplussed by it, but now I'm older and wiser I'm interested in reading more Pynchon. I was thinking of going with Inherent Vice because that's supposedly one of his more accessible ones, or should I just go all in with Gravity's Rainbow?

I've never read Inherent Vice to be honest (it's been on my list for years) but Gravity's Rainbow is brilliant. It's a big brick of a book and often quite confusing, but it's funny, weird and a lot of fun. One thing I know is that Pynchon gets better the more you read his stuff and the older you get, so hopefully you'll have a good time with either of those!

zomgmouse

You could maybe go half and half and begin with his very first novel V. which is not as hardcore dense as Gravity's Rainbow but not nearly as light as Inherent Vice. Plus it contains perhaps the most graphic depiction of a nose job surgery ever.

Twit 2

3 books at once by Jay Griffiths: Pip Pip, Wild and Tristimania.

Ray Travez

I bought Pip Pip in Oxfam about 6 months ago, but it's one of those that languishes on the shelf for me.

Finally started reading Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen by James Suzman. Good so far.

Ferris

Quote from: Ray Travez on June 09, 2018, 08:55:49 AM
Finally started reading Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen by James Suzman. Good so far.

Is that a comment on the book, or on the disappearing world of the bushmen?

MoonDust

Just picked up a copy of Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. Will get round to that right after At Swim-Two-Birds.

Ray Travez

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on June 09, 2018, 11:26:56 AM
Is that a comment on the book, or on the disappearing world of the bushmen?

Can't disappear fast enough, as far as I'm concerned!

marquis_de_sad

Quote from: Ray Travez on June 09, 2018, 05:17:48 PM
Can't disappear fast enough, as far as I'm concerned!

George, George II, Jeb; the lot!

shh

Quote from: MoonDust on June 09, 2018, 11:54:40 AM
Just picked up a copy of Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. Will get round to that right after At Swim-Two-Birds.

I know the picking up you do in bookshops. Damn the picking up you do in bookshops.

buttgammon

Just started Chernobyl Prayer by Svetlana Alexievich. It's written as an amalgamation of testimonies from survivors and people who were affected by the disaster in some way and Alexievich evidently did a lot of research, though I've heard conflicting reports about the degree to which she fictionalised certain details. This isn't an accusation; she doesn't like being called a journalist, and there is something suspiciously literary about a lot of the testimonies. Regardless, this is a harrowing, disturbing and upsetting book. One of the earliest sections deals with a woman whose husband is dying of radiation poisoning, to the extent that he becomes a piece of radioactive waste rather than a human being. It's terrifying.

zomgmouse

Quote from: MoonDust on June 09, 2018, 11:54:40 AM
Just picked up a copy of Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. Will get round to that right after At Swim-Two-Birds.

I saw that in a second-hand bookshop the other day and the cover had the title as Monkey Planet and said "inspiration for the TV series Planet of the Apes" which was quite funny to me.

saltysnacks

Landscapes of Communism by Owen Hatherley. Picked it up in a Waterstones and was surprised that is by a Marxist who is an excellent prose stylist. His language perfectly captures shapes and spaces of surprising variety. It pretty quickly shatters the notion of the grey and stark buildings of Stalinism, the architecture of Stalinism and periods of centralisation was actually very traditional and looked back to the architecture of Capitalism before it became 'decadant'.

Edit: I'm going to write a Novel set in early Soviet Russia, and am planning to read as much as I can. I wish to create something that follows the logic of magical realism, set in a strange lost world. I was inspired by a Marxist whose name I have forgotten, who said we are living in a present where the future never arrived, or something like that. This book I am currently reading will be insturmental. (Sorry if no one cares).

MoonDust

Quote from: saltysnacks on June 11, 2018, 12:53:11 AM
I was inspired by a Marxist whose name I have forgotten, who said we are living in a present where the future never arrived, or something like that.

You bastard, now I can't remember who said that too. But it sounds like something I've read recently. So based on that, was it either Rosa Luxemburg or Mark Fisher?