what I'm reading

Typedef

On the Road : Jack Kerouac

hamster

I'm getting through my Christmas book presents....

I'm just about finished "Vitals" by Greg Bear. It's fairly good about extended living, mind control and paranoia.

Fatherland by Harris is next... not too sure about that.

Cabaal

I'm reading No Logo still!
I lost it for about 2 months :dunno:
But back reading now....

I don't think I need to say anything about this book

jerenaugrim

Originally posted by hamster
I'm getting through my Christmas book presents....

I'm just about finished "Vitals" by Greg Bear. It's fairly good about extended living, mind control and paranoia.

Fatherland by Harris is next... not too sure about that.

Fatherland is pretty good, actually. It's set in 1960s Germany, but an alternative Germany where ww2 ended in a truce, and Greater Germany occupies most of Europe. This investigative journalist discovers something...good Alternative History/ thriller/ government conspiracy thing.:cool:

Zaph

I read Fatherland last year and I have to agree, it's well worth reading.

Currently have three books on the go myself:

Tragically I was an Only Twin by William Cook, which is a collection of writings by Peter Cook

Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps by Allan and Barbara Pease, a humerous/scientific explanation of why men are better than women, or something like that

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

hamster

Fatherland is pretty good, actually. It's set in 1960s Germany, but an alternative Germany where ww2 ended in a truce, and Greater Germany occupies most of Europe. This investigative journalist discovers something...good Alternative History/ thriller/ government conspiracy thing

Great! I look forward to reading "Fatherland" so... I saw the film of it I think. I remember it vaguely now that you reminded me of it. The same guy who played the Hitcher in the film "The Hitcher" so to speak.

ai ing

Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan

On book 8 at the mo. Started at book 1 3 weeks ago, dont have to say that i got a bit absorbed in it.

neXus9

Reading less than zero by Bret Easton Ellis at the moment and it's very boring.

I'm disappointed because I thought rules of atttraction was pretty good. American psycho was totally fecked. I danced through all the boring parts to get to all the graphic parts. Is that strange?

loismustdie

yesterday 0 lucy floyd

Shaque attack

solzhenitsyn- gulag archipeligo part 2. after readin the first one i had to read the rest

Redleslie

Legion Of The Damned - Sven Hassel. Loads of fighting, riding and leftwing anti-war ranting.

Owenw

My latest collection of books from amazon arrived yesterday:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fight Club, A Clockwork Orange, The Quality Theory of Insanity by Will Self, and for light reading "Are YOU Dave Gorman?" by Dave Gorman and Dan Wallace which should be familiar to anyone who saw the Dave Gorman Experience on BBC 2 last year. The book is very light-hearted and, if you liked the TV show, you'd definately enjoy this too.

Araniell

Has anyone here ever read 'Pamela' by Samuel Richardson? I have to read it at the moment for an Eng. Lit class and it's quite possibly the very worst book I've ever read. Contrived plot, inconsistent characters, clumsy handling of themes. There's no point even trying to like the heroine because Richardson worships her so much himself that every second line involves someone telling us how truly, wonderfully, fabulously, marvelous Pamela is!
Anyone else want to vent there spleen? I've never in my life hated a book as much as I do this one. Come, rant about a book. It'll make you feel better.:)

Kalina

I'm about halfway through Wyrd Sisters- Terry Pratchett. I'm enjoying it so far.

echomadman

Reading less than zero by Bret Easton Ellis at the moment and it's very boring.

I'm disappointed because I thought rules of atttraction was pretty good

Really? I though rules of attraction was rubbish, Less than Zero is ok, but I think bret easton ellis is overrated, American psycho was just readable for the shock value.

anyway, reading Iain Banks, Walking on Glass at the moment.

Bibliofemme

Originally posted by Araniell
Has anyone here ever read 'Pamela' by Samuel Richardson? I have to read it at the moment for an Eng. Lit class and it's quite possibly the very worst book I've ever read.

Oooo blast from the past - Is this still on the second year English course in UCD? I LOATHED this book at the time, totally inane, way over the top and she's such a dislikeable heroine despite Richardson's overly fawning narrative perspective.
Awful stuff, but not as bad as 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' which was on the same year/same course. I think they took off - too many people were probably garroting themselves after reading it.

Bibliofemme

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon which I loved. Beautiful, funny, very different - I'd recommend it to anyone.

Started a book I was given that I wasn't keen on called 'Loving Che' by Ana Menendez. It's fiction and I thought it would be chick lit masquerading as literature but it's really well written, very descriptive and it reminds me of Isabel Allende (and not just because it's set in Cuba, and she's South American)

Also have to get through our next bookclub book, The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, a classic apparently, written in the 1940s.

eclectichoney

started reading Middlesex and just couldn't continue afte rabout 60-70 pages as i found it boring.

have now moved onto The Diceman by luke rhinehart - brilliant so far, very very funny interspersed with the collected poems of sylvia plath.

neXus9

Does anyone have any suggestions for books dealing with the 80's slacker generation?

I have read a few of bret Easton Ellis's but I want something with a plot!!! His books are terrific for characterisation and atmosphere but there isn't much plot structure (it's too offbeat), which is a shame.


Thanks


:cool:

Bibliofemme

Originally posted by eclectichoney
started reading Middlesex and just couldn't continue afte rabout 60-70 pages as i found it boring.

have now moved onto The Diceman by luke rhinehart - brilliant so far, very very funny interspersed with the collected poems of sylvia plath.

Middlesex has been on my 'to read' list for a while now, is it really that bad?

The bibliofemmes read 'The Diceman' last year and there was a very mixed response (there's a review over on the site). I thought it was a genius idea for a book but for me, it started to wear a bit thin towards the end. One of us even got the dice out and tried to live her life by them for a whole day! (seriously)
It throws up all interesting ideas about fate and morality but it jarred a little bit.
I think Rhinehart has written a few books like it, even possibly a sequel I think.

eclectichoney

yeah the sequel is search for the dicemen i think. im only 100 or so pages in so i'll have to wait and see i guess.

middlesex starts off great and it is well written but i found myself skipping paragraphs after about 60 pages, i just wasn't 'feeling it' i guess

Woden

just started good omen by terry prachett and some other guy

Bibliofemme

Hey eclectic honey, pm'd you the link to diceman review.

Might dive into 'Middlesex' yet!

Dr. Loon

I really enjoyed The Diceman. Very funny.

Currently reading Stephen Kings "The Dark Tower" series. On book two "The Drawing Of The Three". Good stuff so far.

irishgeo

Currently reading 2 books.

The first one which i started a week ago is by Carl Hassien and is called Basket Case but then i found Chris Brookmyre new book Be My Enemy i the shops and just had to start reading it.

Chris Brookmyre along with Bill Bryson are my favourite authors.

But earlier on found i had left Be my Enemy up in the house away at college,:mad: ,so its back to Basket Case.

jerenaugrim

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides is good, if a bit slow. Not sure about the sound of Middlesex, tho'.

Bibliofemme

I hear ye, J - 'Middlesex' isn't sounding good about now but I've heard lots of good things/read lots of good reviews.

Haven't read Virgin Suicides - can I pre-suppose it's the book that Sofia Coppola's film was about? I loved the film...

jerenaugrim

Ya, the film was based on the book. Haven't seen the film. There was one scene in the book where the lads sing that cheesy song- "Make it with you"(?) down the phone to the sisters- heartbreaking. Don't know if it was in the film. It captures the possibility of tragedy in the most banal lives, brilliantly.:(

Reyman

"Herzog" by Saul Bellew --- A magic book.

Needs serious effort though!

Not Chic lit or Lad lit.

simu

Today i finished:

Tender is the night by F. Scott Fitzgerald - story about rich Americans living on French Riviera - enjoyed it - it's amazing how much Fitzgerald notices about ppl and their motivations and the elaborate images he uses to explain the tiniest nuances of their behaviour!

Saol an mhadaidh bháin by an Draoi Rua (a pseudonym, obviously!) - a story about an ancient Celtic guy from Tír na nÓg who has been returning to ireland in the form of various animals to Ireland at regular intervals for the past few millenia. Twas quite funny - he tells the not so glorious truth about lots of figures from Irish legends!