What book are you reading atm??

pumpkin4life

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

I'm about one third though it. Crap title if you ask me; should be called Anna and Levin.

Still digging it so far though.

Rubberlegs

Others by James Herbert. It's an old enough one, but I hadn't picked it up before. It has been a long time since I have read anything of his, and didn't know he passed away a few years ago. It is a brilliant read, I'm hooked just few chapters in.

pumpkin4life

Just thought I'd do a writeup of books I've read in the past while.

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

Where to start with this one? It's essentially three books in one: a story of five families that lived through the Napoleonic Wars in Russia, a historical (the necessity part) account of that period, and Tolstoy's debunking of the great men of history theory.

The book is absolutely fantastic, long story (HOHOHO) short. It's not perfect by any means: Tolstoy likes to talk about his theory of history a lot, maybe a bit too much, (though I think it works well to set up a lot of the events in Book Three such as the Battle of Borodino) and that could have definitely been cut down. Also, while the ending fits the themes and the overall context of the novel, perhaps it is a tad bit pancake flat? Though, considering Pierre's and Andrey's conclusions on what makes one happy and fulfilled in life, that might be precisely the point, I'm not sure. Tolstoy's a mad cùnt.

Finally, while Tolstoy uses his theory of history (which I for the most part agree with), to rip Napoleon a new one, he sort of ignores it when he talks about Kutuzov lol, the lad who could do no wrong. Bit jarring, but still good craic all the same. To be fair, I'd probably hate that fat little bastard too if I was Russian.

There's tonnes of variety in the thing. One moment you're reading on two teenage girls talking on some lad they have it for, the next minute you're reading an essay on historical determinism before being in a battle with thousands of lads and cannons blowing shìte up. The three central characters are all fantastic, well rounded people. And to sound like a cheesy cùnt for a second, its a very human book. It's not a nihilistic piece of Cormac McCarthy ****. It gives a shìte about its characters.

The translation I have was done by Orlando Figes; I'm not entirely sure that making the Russian peasants speaking in slangie English (ello guvnor) was the best move, but overall, its a very easy, tight read and he did a superb job at translating this beast. Kudos man.

It deserves to be the length it is for the most part, and it deserves its place in the canon; easily one of the greatest novels of all time.

pumpkin4life

The Blade Artist - Irvine Welsh

Haven't read as much in the past while, what with War and Peace and all, so I picked up this one after it, mainly for something a bit short. I've mixed feelings about Welsh: Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares and Skagboys are excellent, but the rest of his output ranges from good but flawed to outright shìte.

This one is closer to the outright shìte category.

First, it's not that well written. Welsh is best when he's writing in first person, Scots dialogue heavy prose, not normal, omniscient third person narration. Some of the sentences are weird and clunky as a result.

Second, the character in the book is not Francis Begbie. Begbie was a brilliant character in Trainspotting (novel and movie): a nutty, psychopathic soccer hooligan; the lad you were scared to shìte of meeting on a Saturday night in town. The book turns him into a cold, calculated serial killer remorseless ****. It's not his character, its just way too off putting and jarring. Also, Welsh speaks through him at certain points, so we get lines on Francis Begbie talking about the war on Iraq and homophobia = closet gay. That sure as hell ain't Franco.

Third, the villians (I suppose) are not interesting or fleshed out in any way and the twist at the end is a bit soft tbh, kinda can see it coming. Having said that, the book is only 250 or so pages and there are some moments (his old crew passive aggressive and bitter about his success when he returns to Leith, a Scottish thing and an Irish thing it seems) that work ok.

It's one of his weakest books though. I'd only go for it if yous are a big Welsh fan tbh.

Mars Bar

Has anyone read the Malazan Empire collection by Steven Erikson?

I have them and intended on reading them but the list of characters at the start of the first book makes me worry that it is long winded and confusing, kind of GOT style.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Mars Bar wrote: »

Has anyone read the Malazan Empire collection by Steven Erikson?

I have them and intended on reading them but the list of characters at the start of the first book makes me worry that it is long winded and confusing, kind of GOT style.

I haven't read them but I intend to. There's a thread about them in the Scif-fantasy forum...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056551259

arybvtcw0eolkf

Neil Adams 'Game of Throws' (autobiography).

Neil Adams is a British Judo fighter who has won medals at two Olympic Games and a number of world championships.. He's also the BBC Judo commentator at the RIO 2016 games (he covered London, Athens etc too).

Birneybau

'A Hologram For The King' - Dave Eggers. Not bad so far.

'Blood on Snow' - Jo Nesbo, not great.

Mars Bar

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

I haven't read them but I intend to. There's a thread about them in the Scif-fantasy forum...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056551259

Thanks! From reading that thread I think I'm not ready for such a commitment just yet.

bnt

Just finished Startide Rising by David Brin. It's SF of a particularly bonkers kind, featuring (among other things) a starship crewed by genetically- and cybernetically-enhanced dolphins, along with just a few humans and a chimpanzee scientist. There are various fleets of aliens in starships blasting seven bells out of each other, apparently fighting over who gets to capture the Earthlings, or just out of sheer spite. So the Earthlings hide in the ocean underwater on a planet that's mostly water (predating Waterworld), only to discover that neither the dolphin crew nor the planet itself are quite what they appear to be. I'll have to read it again sometime, since it's a lot to take in. It drags a bit in the middle, but when the poop hits the propeller, all you can do is hang on and ride it out to the end.

pumpkin4life

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

Right, so this is the other big Tolstoy book.

I remember reading in the preface how different War and Peace is to Anna Karenina, which to start off, I'm not sure I agree with.

For one thing Levin is essentially the same character as Pierre: rich, tall, socially awkward fùcker who spends the whole book fighting nihilistic meaningless tendencies and getting sloppy seconds off of other lads. It's not that Levin is a bad character (and Levin's spiritual revelation at the end of the novel is great and deserved imo) it's just that unlike Pierre, nothing really that interesting happens to him. Cùnt needs to have a bit of a sesh.

I get that Levin and Kitty's relationship is supposed to undercut and touch off Anna and Vronsky's affair in a terms of how to make it work kind of thing, but even so, I found some of the Levin sections a bit of a slog to get through. There's even one section of the book in particular which feels lifted exactly from War and Peace.

Why do we need to read pages and pages of Levin hunting snipes?

Anna's section is fantastic though. There are some beautifully sad as balls sections here: the characters feel very very real, palpable and the moments here are very relatable; Anna's freak the fùck out and paranoia over her fading looks be a barry example of that. Is Tolstoy condemning her for what she did? Maybe, maybe not. Loveless marriage to a dry government twat or a self destructive passion where society pisses on yous? Not black or white by any means.

Part Seven in particular is astounding; the transition from realist to modernist, see inside yer one's head is something else and impeccably done here. It's also a much darker, hopeless feeling book than War and Peace, or at least it is for me.

So overall, it's excellent, but I can't help but feel its a bit too structureless and confused, especially the Levin storyline. Excellent characters doing not very interesting things in a nutshell. I think it's a step down from War and Peace on the whole, but a damn fine read nonetheless.

Just finishing up on Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetry.

It's great on descriptive detail, very atmospheric, but it's not in the same league as the other Eco books I've read - The Name of The Rose, Focaults Pendulum, The Island of The Day Before, and Baudolino - all brilliant.

It's been a nice long read though, and like big books (and I can not lie).

Buford T. Justice XIX

Reading 'Prisoners of Geography, ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about Global politics' by Tim Marshall.

Very good and simply does what it says on the cover, giving a simple account of why countries do what they do.

Rubberlegs

I'm reading Working Stiff, two years, 262 bodies and the making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek, M.D.and T.J. Mitchell. It's a gruesome yet fascinating read. There are no details spared, so definitely not for anyone squeamish!

Collie D

"Mr Nice" by Howard Marks. Borrowed from a friend months ago and been gathering dust since. Was travelling solo at the weekend so got started at least. Probably not the best book to bring through an airport. Few chapters in and Marks seems like a good storyteller

madmaggie

I'm reading The Bertie Project by Alexander McCall Smith. Poor downtrodden Stuart, and the insufferable Irene. Great characters.

kazamo

Just started Hope A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander.
Jewish man finds elderly woman in his attic, woman is Anne Frank.

Only 30 pages in, promising start so far.

Thundercats Ho

The latest one by Stuart Neville, so say the fallen.
I think he's class.

MRnotlob606

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Reading 'Prisoners of Geography, ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about Global politics' by Tim Marshall.

Very good and simply does what it says on the cover, giving a simple account of why countries do what they do.

Excellent book, its expansive yet concise. A good introduction to geo politics. Tim Marshall is great at analysing world affairs.

MRnotlob606

Andrew Robert's "Napoleon The Great" Its about 800 pages long, but if you want to read a great biography of "le petit caporal" look no further.

Fox Hound

El Guapo! wrote: »

Deception Point by Dan Brown

wasnt impressed by this, what do you make of it?

Spanish Eyes

Started some great books lately. I can't remember why they are good, but I'm saving them for me holliers in two weeks.

I always do that when going on holliers. Buy as many on the Kindle as I think will get me through! Try them and stop reading till I get there!

So far four of them are looking good for indolence and not much analysis!

So,

" The road to Little Dribbling" by Guess who?

"The journey in between" Keith Foskett. About the Camino. Will do it someday, lol.

"A man called Ove" Fredrik Backman

"Unravelling Oliver" Liz Nugent.

I have loads more loaded on, so I will survive!

CanadaDave

Reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, I have read a lot of fantasy books over the years but these are on another level, fantastic and a very original way in which the characters use their "powers".

buried

'Jerusalem' by Alan Moore. Moore's own love letter to his hometown of Northampton, and its absolutely brilliant. Moore tells various stories of characters, ghosts and centuries intertwined from a neglected part of England throughout this magical book in such a vivid magical way. I've been waiting over five years for this book to drop and I'm trying to slowly savour it all, which is difficult, as its so hard to put this book down. 1200 pages of this thing and nearly finished after a week. Perfect winter reading material, highly highly recommended.

diomed

"My Turn: The Autobiography" by Johann Cruyff

I bought this today. So far I've read 29 pages and it is very good.

mfceiling

Timur Vermes "look who's back"

Basically Hitler comes back today and can't fathom what is happening in the world. Quite funny.

bonzodog2

Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke
https://www.amazon.com/Wayfaring-Stranger-Novel-Holland-Family/dp/1476710805

thomasm

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke
https://www.amazon.com/Wayfaring-Stranger-Novel-Holland-Family/dp/1476710805

One of the very few of his books to disappoint me and I'm a big fan. His earlier books are all incredible

appledrop

Just finished 'Tender' by Belinda Mckeown. It was going ok but just got stupid from about 2/3rds of the way through. Don't really get the hype about her books at all.

Just started Bringing up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel. Loved Wolf Hall + this seems to be even better.

bgr123

Dassling Darkness.Book about Darren Barker a world champion boxer who tragically lost his younger brother a couple of years before he went on to be champ.Major struggles with depression and injury but a great story of dedication and hope.For a sports Autobiography it's a great read.Better than the usual self obsorbed sports people of today.