I really should read more....

KnifeWRENCH

I don't read as often or read as many books as I should. I have a terrible habit of starting a book but giving up around the middle, even if it's a book I'm really enjoying. Hopefully, starting this reading log will help me read a lot more and actually finish what I start.

I'm currently reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo. About halfway through. Never seen the films, will watch them when I'm done with the book.

KnifeWRENCH

OK so after abandoning it for about a week or so I finally finished The Godfather last night.

Overall, was pretty happy with it. Loved the ending (

the murder of Tessio genuinely surprised me

)

There were some parts I wasn't too keen on (

Michael's marriage to Appollonia seemed pointless.

) and some characters that weren't very interesting (

really didn't care about Johhny Fontane/Nino Valenti and their story

)

But overall definitely worth reading. Must watch the films now.

Next book on my list is Orwell's Animal Farm. I enjoyed Nineteen Eighty Four, so hopefully will enjoy this aswell.

KnifeWRENCH

OK so I had a few hours to myself and read Animal Farm. First time ever I think I've sat down and read a book in one go.

Next I am about to attempt my first ever Dickens novel. The book is Bleak House. Looks long and daunting, but hopefully I'll be able to plough through it.

KnifeWRENCH

Haven't updated this for a while.

I still haven't finished Bleak House - my bad habit of reading a few chapters of a book and then abandoning it for weeks has returned. It's been a couple of weeks or so since I last looked at it.

On top of that, I'm reading two other books at the moment: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. When I've finished them, I'll go back to Bleak House and will finish that before I move on to anything else.

KnifeWRENCH

Finished American Psycho. The style of writing was technically excellent and Bateman was a fascinating character, but parts of the book dragged on too much for me. The violence/sex scenes were initially shocking and exciting but gradually became quite dull, and the endless description of clothes was irritating.

Over halfway through A Clockwork Orange - absolutely loving it. Fantastic novel, and I'll probably end up finishing it later today.

wclarke20

I'd reccomend 'The Wolf of Wall Street' by Jordan Belfort.
True story about a New York financial guy who ends up scamming the whole system and ends up in jail. loads of crazy stories along the way.
Really good read.

anybody else read it?

KnifeWRENCH

^ Never heard of it but cheers for the recommendation.

Anyway, finished A Clockwork Orange today and it was definitely worth reading. Really enjoyed it.

So it's back to Bleak House - I am actually quite enjoying it but it's so so long.
Funnily enough, whenever I read Mr. Tulkinghorn's lines I always imagine them being read by Alan Rickman!

mrsdewinter

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

OK so after abandoning it for about a week or so I finally finished The Godfather last night.

Overall, was pretty happy with it. Loved the ending (

the murder of Tessio genuinely surprised me

)

There were some parts I wasn't too keen on (

Michael's marriage to Appollonia seemed pointless.

) and some characters that weren't very interesting (

really didn't care about Johhny Fontane/Nino Valenti and their story

)

But overall definitely worth reading. Must watch the films now.

Next book on my list is Orwell's Animal Farm. I enjoyed Nineteen Eighty Four, so hopefully will enjoy this aswell.

The movies, the first 2 of the trilogy, are excellent. And you'll find that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, takes the same view of the narrative as yourself. It's quite amazing that you've managed to avoid seeing the first Godfather movie. But if you do catch it, you'll love it. It's even beautiful to look at.

teamB_macro

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

I don't read as often or read as many books as I should. I have a terrible habit of starting a book but giving up around the middle, even if it's a book I'm really enjoying.

I do too! Sometimes I don't leave a bookmark or something and i totally forget where i've been, so i just give it up. And then i have to reread from the first chapters to get going again, and on and on. It's a vicious cycle.

A Neurotic

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Finished American Psycho. The style of writing was technically excellent and Bateman was a fascinating character, but parts of the book dragged on too much for me. The violence/sex scenes were initially shocking and exciting but gradually became quite dull, and the endless description of clothes was irritating.

Over halfway through A Clockwork Orange - absolutely loving it. Fantastic novel, and I'll probably end up finishing it later today.

I have given up on this book no less than three times because of the tedious fashion details. I just can't stand them.

KnifeWRENCH

About time I got back to this.

mrsdewinter wrote: »

The movies, the first 2 of the trilogy, are excellent. And you'll find that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, takes the same view of the narrative as yourself. It's quite amazing that you've managed to avoid seeing the first Godfather movie. But if you do catch it, you'll love it. It's even beautiful to look at.

Oh I'm terrible for watching films. I just don't have the interest or the attention span.
Other films I've never seen (that people are always shocked I've never seen) include The Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, The Green Mile, The Dark Knight and any films featuring James Bond, Indiana Jones and Rocky. :P
Maybe I need to start a movie log too at some point...

teamB_macro wrote: »

I do too! Sometimes I don't leave a bookmark or something and i totally forget where i've been, so i just give it up. And then i have to reread from the first chapters to get going again, and on and on. It's a vicious cycle.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm making it a point to finish every book I start from now on.

A Neurotic wrote: »

I have given up on this book no less than three times because of the tedious fashion details. I just can't stand them.

I just skimmed past them very briefly, reading the words but not taking them in, until something more interesting happened.

Since I've started this log I've read:

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (took me ages but well worth it in the end)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry

Up next: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and someone else. After that, the rest of the Dirk Gently series and maybe some more Dickens.

KnifeWRENCH

`Haven't updated this for ages. College distracted me and took away from reading time.

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

Now on Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. After that, I have a load lined up: The Green Mile, Fight Club, The Satanic Verses, The Poisonwood Bible, Persepolis, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, the entire Hitchikers Guide series (only read the first two), The Princess Bride and a few popular science books I bought here and there. Also need to read more Dickens and want to sample Joyce, Tolstoy and Hemingway at some point. It could take a long time to get through it all.

KnifeWRENCH

Another update:

I finished "Fear and Loathing..." a good bit ago. Took a while to get into it, and while I wouldn't call it a literary classic, it was certainly an enjoyable read.

I'm now on "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie. It's gonna take ages for me to finish, because it's not really gripping me and so I can go a week or two without reading a single page. It's ok, but not as good as I had hoped it would be.

KnifeWRENCH

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

So only 10 books in over a year. Not too impressive; alas, college and other real life stuff got in the way.

I had to abandon my first attempt at reading The Satanic Verses after about 200 pages because it came to exam time. When I went back, I found it too hard to continue and so started again from the beginning. And I have to say, I am enjoying it much more the second time around. I'm finding it funnier and more intriguing as it goes on and am actually getting through it quite quickly now.

When I'm finished, I have a copy of Ulysses waiting. I'm already preparing for the inevitable confusion, frustration, boredom and loss of will to live that that book will bring me!

KnifeWRENCH

So then....finally finished The Satanic Verses. It's very difficult to get into initially, but by the middle of the novel everything started coming together. Overall, a great read; a very complex but rewarding novel.

I've decided to read a few "shorter" novels before tackling Ulysses. I have a lot of books I need to read anyway. Today I started reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

The_D_Man

I got Ulysses a few days ago, its a pure intellectual wrestle but well worth it, makes you realise how much of a genius Joyce actually was.

KnifeWRENCH

I will get to it eventually. Problem is I went on a huge book-buying spree ages ago and have 20+ books waiting to be read. The Satanic Verses was pretty heavy, so I want to get a few lighter ones out the way before tackling something as immense as Ulysses.

(I know Catcher in the Rye isn't exactly "light" but it's fairly short and the language is pretty simple)

KnifeWRENCH

Finished Catcher In The Rye. Not sure what to make of it tbh. It was pretty much 200 pages of nothing happening, though I suppose that was the whole point (the whole futility of life and not being able to escape etc.) Also I'm not sure whether you were supposed to sympathise with, empathise with or loathe Holden Caulfield; personally, I was just indifferent to him. Despite having much of my teenage angst still intact at the grand old age of 20, I get the feeling that this is a book you're supposed to read when you're 15 or 16 and hate the world.

Now reading Nick Cave's The Death of Bunny Munro. Cave is one of my favourite songwriters so I have high hopes for this one.

KnifeWRENCH

So then...13 books read since June 2009! A pretty poor showing, but in my defence exams and real life got in the way a lot! I've decided to rate what I;ve read so far out of 5:

1. The Godfather - Mario Puzo (4/5)
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell (4/5)
3. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis (3.5/5)
4. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (4.5/5)
5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens (4/5)
6. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams (4/5)
7. The Liar - Stephen Fry (3.5/5)
8. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame Smith (3.5/5)
9. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (4.5/5)
10. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (4/5)
11. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (4/5)
12. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger (3.5/5)
13. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave (4/5)

Finished The Death of Bunny Munro - took a while to get going but once it did, it was excellent. The theme of father-son relationship is explored wonderfully here. I am very glad that Mr. Cave has not let me down. I'll be hunting for his other novel And The Ass Saw The Angel soon.

So after 13 works of fiction, it's time for something a little different. My next read will be The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Don't know a whole lot about Dawkins, other than that he's a biologist and an atheist. As an apathetic agnostic, I can honestly say that militant atheism irritates me as much as overly-religious types. But as long as he's not too preachy (and less of an obnoxious twat than Christopher Hitchens), I'll hopefully enjoy it.

KnifeWRENCH

So after a good few weeks of stopping and starting, I'm onto Chapter 8 (of 10) of The God Delusion. It's taking longer to read than I thought it would, but I'm also enjoying it more than I thought I would.

Have also started reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Decided to read that before Ulysses.

Jackobyte

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

So after a good few weeks of stopping and starting, I'm onto Chapter 8 (of 10) of The God Delusion. It's taking longer to read than I thought it would, but I'm also enjoying it more than I thought I would.

I've been meaning to read that since I watched The Genius of Charles Darwin by Prof. Richard Dawkins as well.

KnifeWRENCH

So finally finished The God Delusion a few days ago. Mixed feelings about it. Dawkins is certainly a little arrogant, but not quite as much so as I thought he would be. I can't fault any of his arguments. A couple of things I didn't like:
*He seems far too much "in awe" of certain historical figures and his contemporaries; the whole book was like a big long love letter to Darwin, Thomas Jefferson and Sam Harris.
*His argument on abortion was rather unnecessary. I am pro-choice myself but can respect that there are pro-lifers out there who argue from a secular perspective, and as much as I disagree with their views I can respect them more than religion-based views. If I was pro-life and non-religious, I'd have been a bit offended by it tbh.
*Comparing the struggle to come out as atheist with the coming out process for LGBT people - eh, no. Just no. Like comparing a small muscle strain with a broken leg.

But other than those minor niggles, it was certainly worth a read.

Currently reading Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist...". The stream-of-conciousness style at the start was rather unexpected; I've quite enjoyed what I've read so far.

KnifeWRENCH

Update time:

Still on "Portrait Of The Artist..." - college work and other distractions have not left me with much time left for reading. Hopefully will get it done by Christmas - have about 100 pages or so left.

I enjoyed it up until the whole "crisis of faith" thing - it's gotten very dull now. The writing is still technically superb but I've sort of lost interest in the story. Hopefully it'll pick up towards the end.

KnifeWRENCH

So. Insomnia is productive, somewhat. As well as finishing rewatching the first season of The Sopranos, I finished A Portrait of the Artist... too.

Verdict? Not quite sure tbh. Enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second.

Stephen Dedalus turns out to be a very unlikeable, selfish and pretentious character. And this is meant to be a semi-autobiographical novel......I can only deduce from that that Joyce himself was a selfish, unlikeable and pretentious individual. Oh well....

I think I've had enough Joyce for a little while, so that "Oh I'll read Ulysses now" plan will have to wait another bit.

Next up is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Have about 60 or so pages read so far.

raah!

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Update time:

Still on "Portrait Of The Artist..." - college work and other distractions have not left me with much time left for reading. Hopefully will get it done by Christmas - have about 100 pages or so left.

I enjoyed it up until the whole "crisis of faith" thing - it's gotten very dull now. The writing is still technically superb but I've sort of lost interest in the story. Hopefully it'll pick up towards the end.

I hear that! The million pages about hell were quite borning. The stream of consciousness stuff mostly just confuses me aswell. Quite a whiney little ****e really!

KnifeWRENCH

Whiney little ****e is right! I actually like the stream-of-conciousness style; such a shame that the book has a great start but then loses momentum around the middle and never really picks up.

Meanwhile, going back to The Poisonwood Bible, I haven't read a whole lot of it since last update. I had high expectations for it; my mother said it's one of the best books she's ever read. I reckon I need to read a bit more before making an initial judgement. So far, not a whole lot has happened but I guess that's the be expected when you have one story being told via five different narratives by five different characters. Some characters seem more interesting than others though. (

I particularly like Adah's story so far.

)

KnifeWRENCH

So I finished The Poisonwood Bible. Overall, it was an excellent read and I'd have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I thought it dragged a little bit towards the end but the last section (The Eyes of the Trees) is brilliantly written and ties everything together wonderfully.

The plot is gripping, and the quality of writing is such that you don't even notice how good it is because you're so engrossed in the plot (I think this differentiates Barbara Kingsolver from someone like Dan Brown, who can write a gripping story but the quality of writing is so poor and clunky that you still notice it.) Would definitely like to read more of Kingsolver now; The Lacuna will be on my "to buy" list next time I'm out book shopping.

Up next - The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I loved 'His Dark Materials' as a teenager but haven't read Pullman in years. It's certainly an interesting premise, this. About 60 pages in so far. Shouldn't take much longer to finish reading.

Up-n-atom!

I had the same reaction to Portrait of an Artist...read it all but lost me at the 'hell' sequence, which feels like hell to read!

Tip if you ever get to reading Ulysses - I had to read it for college, and in second year we only had to read 2 episodes, Cyclops and Nausica, which are 2 of the more readable chapters and are right in the middle. So when I had to read it all the following year, got a bit of a break half-way through as had read those bits before. Helps as well because some of the most difficult chapters are either side of those chapters. Anyhow, I actually enjoyed Ulysses a lot more than PoaA, lots of different styles of writing etc makes it interesting. Would also recommend Dubliners if you haven't tackled it already.

Happy reading!

KnifeWRENCH

Cheers for that tip. I have both Dubliners and Ulysses lying around somewhere (Dubliners I picked up cheap, Ulysses I bought for my Mam but ended up keeping for myself :pac:) I'll get to them eventually; I own many many books that I haven't read yet. Damn impulsive spending...

KnifeWRENCH

So finished The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

It was ok. Nothing more. Interesting and thought provoking enough, I suppose. But ultimately a bit pointless. Pullman really didn't say anything that hasn't been said before. I was a little disappointed, considering how much I enjoyed "His Dark Materials".

Tonight have just started Lolita. Disturbing, but am actually quite enjoying it so far.

KnifeWRENCH

So I finished Lolita last. Mixed feelings about it.

The inner literary snob in me loved the language, the common prole in me thought it was too flowery. I can see why it's so popular in literary circles though. And it is a lot funnier than you would expect a book about paedophilia to be.

The plot was initially gripping but got more and more ludicrous as it went on. I was a little disappointed with that; it really got ridiculous towards the end. Unless there was some satirical element in there that I missed (which is entirely possible!)

So with Humbert and Lo out of the waym, I started reading The Road last night. I saw the film, so know how the story goes. So far it's ok but seems quite repetitive:

"They walked on the road. Everything was bleak and dusty. It rained. They set up camp. Boy said something cute and endearing. They slept. They got up and kept walking on the road. Everything was bleak and dusty." Repeat ad infinitum.

It'll hopefully pick up soon though.