This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

perri winkles

Just finished reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

It's either one of the best books I've ever read, or one of the worst.

Ita a mammoth read at 933 pages, and I would question how much of it was necessary. Roberts wrote it in the first person and I found him really self indulgent which put me off and made me dislike him after a while. However parts of it were completely absorbing and I found myself looking forward to reading more.

Really on the fence over it! Anyone else read it?

Callan57

The Yellow Wallpaper & Other Writings by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

and just for a laugh ... Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

IvyTheTerrible

perri winkles wrote: »

Just finished reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

It's either one of the best books I've ever read, or one of the worst.

Ita a mammoth read at 933 pages, and I would question how much of it was necessary. Roberts wrote it in the first person and I found him really self indulgent which put me off and made me dislike him after a while. However parts of it were completely absorbing and I found myself looking forward to reading more.

Really on the fence over it! Anyone else read it?

I know lots of people loved it but I absolutely hated it. The story itself was interesting enough but the pseudo philosophical musings and egotism really got on my nerves and in the way of the story.

flyaway.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

perri winkles

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I know lots of people loved it but I absolutely hated it. The story itself was interesting enough but the pseudo philosophical musings and egotism really got on my nerves and in the way of the story.

That's exactly how I should have put it!

He definitely grated on me and I didn't empathise with him at all. So much unnecessary description aswell, if he had cut that all out, the book would have been half the length it is, and much better for it.

Yep, mind made up, I defo wouldn't recommend it

flyaway.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

x_Ellie_x

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

Callan57

The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller

patff

The Master of Ballantrae, R L Stevenson

tim_holsters

A Little History of The World by E H Gombrich

Belle E. Flops

Catcher in the Rye

flyaway.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Isard

flyaway. wrote: »

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

The film is great but I didn't know there was the book! *gone to the library*

Callan57

On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry

AnnyHallsal

Callan57 wrote: »

The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller

What did you think of this? Read a few very positive reviews.

Peter Hook, The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club

Callan57

AnnyHallsal wrote: »

What did you think of this? Read a few very positive reviews

Absolutely loved it .... even though I've read loads on Achilles & Troy etc I still really enjoyed Song of Achilles. Quite a different take on the story.

marienbad

Callan57 wrote: »

Absolutely loved it .... even though I've read loads on Achilles & Troy etc I still really enjoyed Song of Achilles. Quite a different take on the story.

Sounds good, must give it a go,I love the classical world.

KnifeWRENCH

A collection of stories by Nikolai Gogol.

So far I've read Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and his Aunt, How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich and The Nose. The first one was a bit strange (refers to a chapter at the end that does not exist) but the other two were enjoyable; The Nose, in particular, is hilarious!

flyaway.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Miss Fluff

Where has this thread been all this time?! What a lovely find!!

Finished One Day by David Nicholls about two weeks ago while on holiday. Really quite disappointed. A good story but the protagonists were so unlikable (particularly Emma) that it was hard to have any empathy/sympathy for them.

Finished My Last Duchess by Daisy Goodwin last week and I couldn't put it down. A thoroughly enjoyable and highly entertaining peach of a read. Well written but deliciously frothy enough to enjoy under the duvet with some good chocolate.

Started On The Road by Jack Kerouac yesterday and am absolutely hooked already. Have been meaning to read this classic for ages and I'm seeing why it was a seminal work of it's time....great!

tHE vAGGABOND

Rereading the Roddy Doyle Barrytown Trilogy - for the first time in ages and ages...

Still brilliant and laugh out loud funny :cool:

flyaway.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

JesseCuster

flyaway. wrote: »

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

A thrilling read and the start of a wonderful trilogy, hope you enjoy it!

cozar

"Half of a Yellow Sun" Chimamanda Adichie. Set during Biafran war 1967 - 1970. Reminds me of books re Irish Famine very similar. couldnt put it down.

Callan57

Those in Peril by Wilbur Smith

old hippy

Hell's Angel - Ralph "Sonny" Bargen. HAMC founders bigs it up and tells the life as it is, was and ever shall be.

It's ok, I guess. Lot of self justification going on but you would, wouldn't you?

flyaway.

The Ask And The Answer by Patrick Ness

OakeyDokey

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time and I really liked it. Heading to the library tomorrow to pick up some more books.

old hippy

Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian". Lyrical, bloody western.

flyaway.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

KnifeWRENCH

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie. This will be my third Rushdie novel, I'm only two chapters in and already enjoying it.

Callan57

Fatherland by Robert Harris

OakeyDokey

Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Blush_01

About to start The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami, having just finished American Gods - Neil Gaiman (<3).

emeraldstar

The Unnamed, Joshua Ferris.

bullpost

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Set in Stalinist Russia, The Devil comes to town but no one believes in him anymore so he has some fun .......

old hippy

Blush_01 wrote: »

About to start The Wind-up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami, having just finished American Gods - Neil Gaiman (<3).

Excellent books. Murakami's one contains a rather gruesome scene that remains indeliby seared into my brain... :eek:

Hermy

Just finished The Spy Who Cam In From The Cold - awful stuff really.

Lisha

Penny Vincenzi, THe decision.......Prob not high brow enough for this thread but its great...

flyaway.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Hermy

Lisha wrote: »

Penny Vincenzi, THe decision.......Prob not high brow enough for this thread but its great...

If it's a book then I think it's worthy of inclusion.

kerash

Finished The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike, I enjoyed it! A good book to read around this time of year too.

Callan57

Loved Fatherland by Robert Harris so I'm going to read The Ghost next

supersaintpats

Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War (Pan Military Classics Series) by Chris Bellamy; a very detailed new history of the war between germany and USSR, full of incredible new insights and perspectives, moving well beyond the stereotype of the USSR army as simply a human steamroller, engrossing all the way

Belle E. Flops

kerash wrote: »

Finished The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike, I enjoyed it! A good book to read around this time of year too.

I've just started this, enjoying it so far even though I'm only a few pages in!

Hermy

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

I've just started this, enjoying it so far even though I'm only a few pages in!

Me too.:)

Miss Fluff

Started Truman Capote's In Cold Blood today - a book I've been meaning to read for ages and already engrossed!

EmmaAstra

Just started 'The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency'

flyaway.

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen

Hermy

Callan57 wrote: »

Loved Fatherland by Robert Harris so I'm going to read The Ghost next

I enjoyed Fatherland too. I'll be interested to hear what you think of The Ghost.