This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

dee_mc

Andy Dunne11 wrote: »

'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin. Young Wexford woman emigrates to New York in the 1950's. Much better than I anticipated.

I felt the same, finished it last night and loved that Eilis was such a consistent, ordinary Irish character; particularly liked the lack of overstated drama, the lack of 'overwhelmed at seeing Time Square for the first time' bull, and that the reader is kept guessing at the end, can't hack a book where all the loose ends are neatly sewn up!
Would you recommend his other books? Brooklyn was my first CT book.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

dee_mc wrote: »

I felt the same, finished it last night and loved that Eilis was such a consistent, ordinary Irish character; particularly liked the lack of overstated drama, the lack of 'overwhelmed at seeing Time Square for the first time' bull, and that the reader is kept guessing at the end, can't hack a book where all the loose ends are neatly sewn up!
Would you recommend his other books? Brooklyn was my first CT book.

I read The Blackwater Lightship after having read Brooklyn. I'm not sure I really liked either. I felt they were a little bit dull. I get what you're saying about the ordinary and all that but for me there was a little bit too much of it. However, if you enjoyed Brooklyn you'd probably enjoy Blackwater Lightship too.

They're making a film of Brooklyn, don't know if I said that already, will be interesting to see what they do with it because I'm not sure how it would translate if they keep everything as it is in the book.

Swiper the fox

I read the Heather Blazing also after reading Brooklyn, readable but quite slow and you wouldn't become emotionally invested in the characters like in Brooklyn. The Master is a great book but quite different.
If ye really enjoyed Brooklyn I would highly recommend Sebastian Barry's On Canaan's Side, in saying that I would highly recommend anything Seb Barry wrote.

adrian522

Meathlass wrote: »

The Club by Christy O'Connor

Excellent book about a year in the life of a GAA club in Co Clare

Been meaning to read this, I may give it a go pretty soon. Glad you enjoyed it, it does sound very good.

emeraldstar

Finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It was alright.

Now reading The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen. Liking it so far.

marienbad

emeraldstar wrote: »

Finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It was alright.

Now reading The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen. Liking it so far.

Loved 'The Song Of Achilles' , I though it was outstanding , definitely on the list for a re-read.

Callan57

Finished The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue & loved, loved it.

Next for me is one I've been meaning to read for a while & I picked it up in Oxfam today for 2.00 - Last Train from Liguria by Christine Dwyer Hickey

dee_mc

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I read The Blackwater Lightship after having read Brooklyn. I'm not sure I really liked either. I felt they were a little bit dull. I get what you're saying about the ordinary and all that but for me there was a little bit too much of it. However, if you enjoyed Brooklyn you'd probably enjoy Blackwater Lightship too.

They're making a film of Brooklyn, don't know if I said that already, will be interesting to see what they do with it because I'm not sure how it would translate if they keep everything as it is in the book.

I don't know about a film version of Brooklyn, if they keep it the same it will be disappointing as a movie and if they change it it will be disappointing as a book-to-movie... Will read The Blackwater Lightship and see if I agree with you!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

dee_mc wrote: »

I don't know about a film version of Brooklyn, if they keep it the same it will be disappointing as a movie and if they change it it will be disappointing as a book-to-movie... Will read The Blackwater Lightship and see if I agree with you!

Rooney Mara is playing Eilis, which is worrying from the get go. Dodgy accents will put me right off.

dee_mc

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Rooney Mara is playing Eilis, which is worrying from the get go. Dodgy accents will put me right off.

Very strange choice, I immediately thought it would be Saoirse Ronan!!

MagicMarker

Started The Passage today, feels like it's going to be an apocalyptic epic, hopefully it won't disappoint.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

dee_mc wrote: »

Very strange choice, I immediately thought it would be Saoirse Ronan!!

Well, I just had a look on imdb and she's not listed on it any more. She definitely was though. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2381111/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Sergeant

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. I loved 2666 when I read it a few years ago, but his novels aren't exactly light reads, so just getting around to reading something else by him now.

fruvai

Finished Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Just starting Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow

Callan57

fruvai wrote: »

Finished Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Just starting Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow

What did you think of Skippy? Personally I loved it but some friends of mine absolutely hated it.

Swiper the fox

Skippy dies is a very funny book but is more than that also, I'm looking forward to his future work but haven't heard anything yet, my wife is reading it at the moment and she absolutely loves it, particularly the "Mario" character, bit too long in my opinion but that's not the worst thing in a book.

I just bought Colum McCann's new book a while ago, sound's similar to Let the great world spin in how he intertwines different stories and characters, looking forward to starting but I'm still reading "The Gamal" which is excellent if a little bit unsettling at times.

In reference to something on this thread earlier I was terribly disappointed with "The Club", Christy O'Connor's other hurling book "Last Man Standing" is a much better read.

AnnyHallsal

Levels of Life by Julian Barnes.

thegreengoblin

Finished Red Sky In Morning by Irish writer Paul Lynch. It's his first book and I was really impressed with it. His language is poetic and brutal. The story is very dark and is heavy going at times but well worth it in the end. Not dissimilar to Cormac McCarthy and Daniel Woodrell to name but two.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tearing through Eventide by Kent Haruf. The sequel to Plainsong which I read last week. Loving it. Loving this nice weather too, always get more reading done in the sunshine

AnnyHallsal

Don Delillo, White Noise. Funny semi-campus fic.

juicyduckie

Started Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin at the weekend, excellent read thus far!

baconsarnie

Finished "Their eyes were watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston last night & started "Herzog" by Saul Bellow.

The Princess Bride

Just finished "Defending Jacob" by William Landay-recommended by some posters on here.

An excellant read, I was not expecting that ending at all!

adrian522

Just finished Derby Day by DJ Taylor. I liked the Prose but felt it lost momentum towards the end. It was a bit of a struggle to get through to be honest.

Not sure yet what I'll move on to, Loads of stuff on the kindle I guess I'll just pick something. Maybe "The Great Gatsby" given it's been in the news a lot lately and I've never read it.

Callan57

Finished & really enjoyed Last Train from Liguria

I have Canada by Richard Ford on my Kindle so it's next ... this book has come to me highly recommended so I expect to enjoy it.

Meathlass

Just starting the new Dan Brown book Inferno.

I'm only 100 pages in but interesting so far and will encourage me to pick up my dog eared copy of The Divine Comedy for another go at it.

OakeyDokey

Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice. Half way through and I like it.

Also still on the 3rd Sookie Stackhouse book which I will finish later. Not sure how I feel about these book yet, is it weird to be this far in a series and still not know how you feel?

Merkin

Just finished and really really enjoyed Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Have just started Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton and it seems good so far, only about 50 pages in.

Swiper the fox

Transatlantic by Colum McCann is fantastic so far, brilliant account of Frederik Douglass time in Ireland with some harrowing famine episodes, looks like it will be better than his last which is some achievement.

Callan57

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Transatlantic by Colum McCann is fantastic so far, brilliant account of Frederik Douglass time in Ireland with some harrowing famine episodes, looks like it will be better than his last which is some achievement.

Listened to his interview earlier in the week & book does sound good - I'm looking forward to it.

eire4

Just finished a re read of Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer which was a bit different from the usual Connelly theme but just as enjoyable. The book was made into a film with the same name I believe as well.

Huzzah!

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Transatlantic by Colum McCann is fantastic so far, brilliant account of Frederik Douglass time in Ireland with some harrowing famine episodes, looks like it will be better than his last which is some achievement.

High praise, indeed. I look forward to reading it!

AnnyHallsal

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Incredible writing.

Sephiroth_dude

This week I'll be starting the second book in the The Kingkiller Chronicle,The Wise Man's Fear by robert rothfuss.

The book I'm currently reading prince of thorns by mark lawrence,is a very very dark piece of fantasy,I did enjoy it to a certain extent but it's not the style of fantasy I'm use to reading I guess.

IvyTheTerrible

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

I'm only sorry that I haven't read this sooner, it's great.

adrian522

adrian522 wrote: »

Just finished Derby Day by DJ Taylor. I liked the Prose but felt it lost momentum towards the end. It was a bit of a struggle to get through to be honest.

Not sure yet what I'll move on to, Loads of stuff on the kindle I guess I'll just pick something. Maybe "The Great Gatsby" given it's been in the news a lot lately and I've never read it.

OK finished The Great Gatsby this morning. Loved this book, I'm tempted to re-read it straight away but I'll leave it be for a few months I think.

I'm not sure what I'll read next but I'll probably start something new this evening.

giggii

adrian522 wrote: »

OK finished The Great Gatsby this morning. Loved this book, I'm tempted to re-read it straight away but I'll leave it be for a few months I think.

I'm not sure what I'll read next but I'll probably start something new this evening.

I actually did this, read The Great Gatsby on the bus home Friday night and loved it so much that I sat in the garden for a few hours on Saturday reliving the amazingness of it all again!

Currently re-reading Stephen King's IT, The Stand is one of those books that I dig up every once in a while to re-read, so I thought I'd give IT a go, having not read it in about 10 years! Enjoying it so far!

Tom Joad

Took me ages to finish Dangerous Liaisons (awful, awful stuff) so now started Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers - only 30 pages in but already immersed in it - a joy to read.

Paddy Samurai

I just finished Warlord by Angus Donald. Normally I would not read historical fiction novels back to back.I had planned to read a fantasy novel "The Sacred Band " by Durham ,but....

I have been waiting for this sequel for about 5 years ,so when it arrived last week it jumped to my "number 1" must read.Beautifully produced book.Love the maps ,especially the colour one on the inside cover.

Just read the first page .:D

Meathlass

Reading The King's Deception by Steve Berry

One of those page turner historical fiction books a la Dan Brown but this isn't very good. Very convoluted plot lines. Think I'll go for something a bit more heavyweight next.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

After a bit of a delay I just finished Eventide by Kent Haruf, a sequel to Plainsong which I read and loved last month. I think I loved Eventide even more. I'm going to have to gorge on his other books now.

eire4

Finished an enjoyable re read of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch crime novel Echo Park last night.

emeraldstar

My Week With Marilyn by Colin Clark. Saw the film when it was out and didn't love it, but am enjoying the book so far. A very light and easy read.

baconsarnie

eire4 wrote: »

Finished an enjoyable re read of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch crime novel Echo Park last night.

You're Michael Connelly and I claim my €5 prize!!!

cloudatlas

'The Phantom' - Jo Nesbo. Very good so far.

Swiper the fox

Finished Transatlantic a few nights ago, excellent book, I far prefer it to Let the great world spin, I can confirm that Frederick Douglass was a man of impeccable tastes, he thought Cork a far superior place to Dublin, till still the case 170 years later.

Started reading There is a light that never goes out, it's a biography of The Smiths, not far in still dealing with the immigrant Irish family history of Morrissey and Marr and social history of post war Manchester, seems quite good so far.

AnnyHallsal

Well Blood Meridian is one of the best books I've ever read. I think it's darkness and violence justified by the precision of McCarthy's vision and the almost unparalleled beauty of the language. Will anyone ever forget Judge Holden!

Now ready the badly-written, simplistic but interesting in parts Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku.

marienbad

AnnyHallsal wrote: »

Well Blood Meridian is one of the best books I've ever read. I think it's darkness and violence justified by the precision of McCarthy's vision and the almost unparalleled beauty of the language. Will anyone ever forget Judge Holden!

Now ready the badly-written, simplistic but interesting in parts Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku.

At last someone who agrees with me on Blood Meridian andyes the Judge is one of the most frightening villains created. A great,great book.

marienbad

marienbad wrote: »

At last someone who agrees with me on Blood Meridian andyes the Judge is one of the most frightening villains created. A great,great book.

I'm working my way through Cormac McCarthys books at the moment, Blood Meridian is one of the most gripping books I have ever read. The Judge is unforgettable.

Honey-ec

Finished John Boyne's Next of Kin last week. I'm kind of cooling off Boyne, I have to say, his last couple of books have been extremely predictable.

Started Blood Meridien after that, got about 2/3s of the way through and decided to take a break from it for a while. McCarthy is an unparallelled wordsmith, but I just needed a few days away from the unrelenting bleakness.

Read Life of Pi over the weekend. Beautiful book, but my first thought on finishing it was "That's unfilmable." Watched the film last night, and that opinion stands.

Will go back to Blood Meridien this evening, then it's The Great Gatsby, followed by This House is Haunted by John Boyne. If this leaves me as cold as Next of Kin and Crippen, I'm giving up on him.