Current Reading

[Wavid]

Just finished David Peace's 1980, and have just started 1983, and I'm right back into it. I have to admit that I haven't got a clue what had happened at the end of 1980, so hopefully the last book will clear things up. It's compelling stuff, though.

What's everyone else reading at the moment?

[NottyImp]

I'm reading "The Roman Family", by Suzanne Dixon, and "Cadillac Jukebox" by James Lee Burke.

[amner]

Jim Kelly's The Water Clock (isn't that popular?), but that should be done tonight. Then it'll be Stephen Booth's Blind to the Bones.

And I said I like to ration my crime intake :D
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[Colyngbourne]

Having just finished the Chesterton this morning, I'm aiming for Rose Tremain's Restoration tonight but I'm also dipping into Storm Constantine's Wraeththu trilogy - a mighty and overblown fantasy epic I'm reading perforce on a friend's rec.

[John Self]

Rereading Lolita. There's not enough re-reading going on in my own little world, and I am pretty sure this is the first book I have re-read in a year or more. It's appropriate then that it's by the author who said we "cannot read, only re-read."

Oh and it's a corker of course.

[pandop]

I am just about to start reading Bernard Cornwell's 'Vagabond' and have just finished reading Jenny Nimmo's 'The Snow Spider Trilogy' - a kids book I know, but something brought it to mind this last week, and it was an ideal re-read for a few hours on the train this weekend

[wshaw]

Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. Great, very clever, but a bit too much of a rich tapestry of history for my tastes...

[Colyngbourne]

I read so many good reviews of Middlesex. Is it worth buying? Most reviews seemed to class Eugenides in the same/possibly better mould as/than Donna Tartt.

[John Self]

On the strength of the Virgin Suicides alone it should be worth a go, but I'm waiting for the paperback - sick of fat hardbacks clogging up my shelves - which should be imminent.

[columbianus Rex]

I've settled on The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad.

I loved the whole conspiratorial feel of The Man Who Was Thursday, and I've heard that Conrad's book follows a similar theme (it was, after all, published in the same years as TMWWT).

Also, I'm currently perusing through Mark Musa's translation of Dante's Inferno.

[Wavid]

That is appallingly coincidental!!

After TMWwT I got a copy of The Secret Agent too! I haven't started it though, but let me know how you get on...

[Shoppers]

Just finished with Angela's Ashes and now mid way through Dead Air which does appear to be dragging a bit (but then it would after AA).

Not sure what's next up, I want to have a break from all things Irish for a time having got through AA, McCarthys Bar, A Drink With Shane McGowan, Confessions of an Irish Rebel and...errr....the Roy Keane thing (I was bought it ok???)

So I may give 'Tis a miss for a while.

Probably either "Fingersmith" or "Atonement".

[John Self]

I recommend - for what it's worth - Atonement. It's his best book - whereas only yesterday I offloaded my copy of Fingersmith to Cancer Research. It was all right but I do tend to side with Jeanette Winterson who says that while we should continue to read 19th century novels, we should stop writing them. Sarah Waters seems to disagree. There's nothing in Fingersmith, save a few fucks, that wouldn't have been in Dickens. Even the "girl-on-girl" "action" is lamentably tame... (Yeah that's my real reason for dissing it...)

[amner]

Wavid, when you've finished 1983 can you offload all four of them to me?

Question, though, do you actually like them?
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[Wavid]

Wavid, when you've finished 1983 can you offload all four of them to me?

Of course I can, though I could lend you 1974-1980 now, if you want.

Question, though, do you actually like them?

Of course I do, I wouldn't bother reading them otherwise. :) I have to say, they are slightly confusing, and would certainly benefit from rereading at least once. But one of the many joys of the books is the quality of the writing, they are very literary, and packed full of excellent ideas.

I have been reading through all of the Peace material on the web, and what comes across is that the man has very clear ideas on the purpose of writing, and his writing in particular.

I am working on producing a dedicated website for Peace (amazingly, there isn't a single one, not even on the sites of his publishers), and so am reading a lot of this stuff. The big debate amoung critics appears to be whether or not his work falls in the category of 'entertainment', or 'serious' literary fiction. I think the quality of his prose lands him firmly in the latter.

[John Self]

I've set down his books in the shops literally as often as I've picked them up. Is he, as lazy journalists would have us believe, the British James Ellroy?

[Wavid]

Ah, Peace and Ellroy...

They are both fantastic writers, and do share some similarities, but they are very, very different.

They share a tense, unsparing writing style. But Peace's work is more poetic, and has a stream-of-consciousness element. He throws images at the reader liberally, many of which are very literary in origin.

Peace in even more unsparing than Ellroy in his depiction of violence and brutality, and also in his descriptions of police corruption. Ellroy's work is dark, but it must be said that Peace's is darker.

If you read this (http://www.davidpeace.com/crimetimeint.html) you will understand a little more about what Peace is trying to do.

So, he certainly isn't an Ellroy clone. The journalists are, as you say, lazy.

[skanky]

Hello, long time no speak.

Just finished "Season of Blood: a Rwandan Journey" by Fergal Keane, am about to finish "Hiroshima" by John Hersey (coincidentally, rather than planned at this time). Not sure what's next.

Depends on what I feel like when I look at the shelf of stuff still to read.

[amner]

Did you ever hunt out that book about the football massacre in Honduras(?) mate?
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[skanky]

Yeah, read it and very good ut was too. Read others of his which are also very good.

Got another one on the "to read" pile. I'm a little put-off by reports of some inaccuracies in his books, but don't have enough background knowledge to know if that's true or spot them when they're there. However some of his stuff has tied in with other stuff I've read so I know it's generally (or mostly) right. It seems he's taken a little artistic license here and there. Not a problem unless you want to be "scolarly", which my poor memory prevents me from being.

[ono no komachi]

I guess it's a bit late to be replying to this thread, but, hey, I'm new and I can't get enough.

This is where I reveal my schizoid tendencies in having several books on the go at once - then again is it just because I'm too lazy to be arsed to go upstairs for a book when I'm lounging in the living room wtih a glass of wine?

Just finished Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (or is that Palahnuik? You say Palahniuk, I say Palahnuik, let's call the whole thing off) - see my Review if you think it might grab your oar.
Also just finished Papillon after an extraordinary amount of time reading little bits and pieces (ten months maybe). Now have re-picked up the previously abandoned at page 200 or so Catch 22.

Also in progress are Cold Comfort Farm and David Copperfield. But I need another for when I'm in the mood for something more visceral (which Chuck fulfilled for a short while there) - suggestions avidly welcomed.

[John Self]

As for Palahniuk (I am reliably informed, ono, that it is in fact pronounced Palahniuk), what I really want to know is - is he writing the same book over and over again? Maybe it's the pernicious disappointments of Iain Banks, but I have deep suspicions about any "serious" novelist who turns out a book a year. What's his best? Are they all the same?

[ono no komachi]

:oops: I'm afraid Survivor is the one and only of his that I've read, so I can't be sure. It certainly contains some stuff that I recognised having watched the movie of Fight Club, e.g. spurious therapy, lead female character as whore/heroine - accusations of the kind you mention may therefore find evidence to back them up.

I quite like the sound of 'Lullaby' though - parents accidentally use ancient 'culling song' to send babies to sleep, resulting in cot deaths. Maybe I'll read it and then feel a bit more qualified to comment. Maybe.

[Wavid]

Rather changing the subject, though keepin within the bounds of the original thread, I have just picked up a copy of Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy in one volume, after hearing some good things said about the books.

Anyone else here read them, or have any opinions on Kerr?

[Colyngbourne]

After ten days on a warmish northern beach, I've got through The Secret History, Life of Pi, The Handmaid's Tale, Across the Nightingale Floor, Oscar and Lucinda, American Gods and another which I think might be my choice for the bookgroup whenever my turn comes up. About half of them were good, two were excellent. I'm on Michael Frayn's Spies this week, I think.

[joy]

Should be reading American Gods for the book group, but am reading the God of Small Things which a friend leant me.
Does anybody else hate borrowed books - you can't bend the spine back, bend down the corners or spill wine over them!!!

[pandop]

<screaming in horror> you mean you treat your own books that badly!!!! :x

[joy]

It's the words that matter not how pretty the book looks. I don't keep them after I have read them anyway but pass them on to relatives or charity shops.
When we were small my dad always insisted we treat them with respect and my sister and I always wanted to build houses out of them!

[ono no komachi]

It's the words that matter not how pretty the book looks. I don't keep them after I have read them anyway but pass them on to relatives or charity shops.

Are you not a re-reader then, joy? I admire the generous way you are able to give away your books.

I have acres of good bookshelf space taken up by books I have read and enjoyed and may just read again some day... There are even some that I do re-read periodically, though these are few and far between.

Are you of the opinion that re-reading takes up time that could otherwise be spent discovering new books?

[joy]

I keep quite a few non fiction books, including every travel guide I have ever used but when I was younger I used to change jobs and flats about every 18 months and you soon decide that moving every book you have ever read is not good fun.
I am also a firm believer in recycling books, they do no good sitting on shelves for years on end when there are people out there who would love to read more but can't afford brand new books. Spread all the pleasure around, and make money for charity.
I do re read some - The Moonstone, Hitchhikers Guides, Alice in Wonderland etc.

[pandop]

I am an unashamed hoarder when it comes to books - and even if I were to give them away I would like to do so in a decent condition

As to the moving - been there, done that, and still won't part with my books (not to mention that half the books I was moving were required for my degree, and I was moving in and out of student accomodation)

each to their own I suppose, but be warned I did once work for an incredibly snobby charity shop manager, who would throw out tatty books!

Hazel

[Nabokov]

<screaming in horror> you mean you treat your own books that badly!!!! :x

Ooh I'm a bit like that as well - unless it's a course book, in which case it's covered in pencil markings etc. But I hate lending books to people - there's always a coffee-cup ring or some other abomination when you get it back!

[joy]

Do you realise how many books there are that you are going to read between now and the time that you are 90 years old. Where are you going to store them and when are you going to reread them. Let go of them, let them bring enjoyment to someone else.

[youjustmightlikeit]

I'm reading the new Terry Pratchett - Night Watch, which i was led to believe was his best in ages. However, the more Pratchett goes on, the more one can draw the parrallel with Woody Allen, as in 'not as good as his early, funny ones'.

[pandop]

Do you realise how many books there are that you are going to read between now and the time that you are 90 years old. Where are you going to store them and when are you going to reread them. Let go of them, let them bring enjoyment to someone else.

I dont only read books I own you know - and by far the biggest section of my book collection are my history and other non-fiction books, which I refer to (if not read from cover to cover every time) very frequently - my fiction collection is mcuh smaller, and the things I dont reread that often will eventually be boxed up into the loft (need to spend money on the loft first though) until I can afford a library with living space attached :wink: as it is I go for the interior decoration scheme known as 'bookcase eclectic'

Currently my to be read pile contains 3 books from the university library (I get them for 3 months, so they sit around for a while, although I am using the one on tablet weaving) and 1 book I have borrowed from my mum (this is a nice hefty paperback so I am saving it for my holiday) - and I will supplement this with books from the public library when I get the chance

Hazel

[bakunin_the_cat]

I know I mentioned this before somewhere but I think the way I worded the subject may have put people off. Also you may not have seen it.

Anyway, those in the Viking camp, who say you should keep all your books and bury them with you when you die, can obviously do so. Others may wish to pass read books onto others in exchange for unread ones. That way you don't need to buy more space when you read new books.
As it happens I've created a website to allow people to do exactly that.
The URL is http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/ukibookswap/members

It's pretty straightforward. There's a database which lists books and their current owners' emails. If someone's got something you just contact them.
It's all explained in the welcome message anyway.

Hope to see a few more of you there,
BTC[/url]

[Wavid]

What has everyone got on the go at the moment then?

I have finally picked up The Corrections, which was bought for me last christmas, and I had ignored all year due to my prejudice against big American novels. Am about a fifth of the way through, and have been pleasantly surprised - it's amusing, and touching in places. The only time my back really gets up is when Franzen (seems to) spend three pages describing someone sitting down into a chair.

After that, I ahve got Money and a Walter Mosely compendium to look forward to.

[pandop]

re-reading Jane Eyre at the moment, and will review it (seeing as you suggested reviews of the Observer list) as this will make me think more about it than I have for a while

next on the list are Night Watch, and a re-read of Wild Swans (as I picked it for the reading group)

no clear ideas what I will read after that - I have a huge 'to be read' pile, so I will see what takes my fancy

and as can be seen from the review section, I have just finished Fast Food Nation

Hazel

[bakunin_the_cat]

Before I say anything else, I just wanted to warn people about the dangers of seeing Wavid's avatar in its terrifying entirety. Ripping my eyeballs out and feeding them into a sausage machine, and then feeding the sausage to some sheep and cattle, which would then be incinerated and encased in concrete for the good of humanity, seems like a pretty good option after that.

Urrgghhhhhhh doesn't even come close!

On saner ground, I'm currently reading The Picture Of Dorian Gray, so it will be interesting to hear what people say about the Self version. Maybe I should read both, but with so many books in the world that I haven't read, this seems like a bit of a waste, for a non-specialist.

[Colyngbourne]

From one Grey to another - I'm about to start Agnes Grey for my RL bookgroup, and I was loaned Sabriel the other day, the second of the Garth Nix trilogy, which I'm not fussed by but feel obliged to plough through nethertheless.

[Lucoid]

I'm on Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things at the mo - picked it up cheap in a charity shop and thought I'd give it a go. I'm still unsure as to whether it's good or not quite right. I also recently finished Kazuo Ishiguro's When We Were Orphans, which I loved.

[youjustmightlikeit]

Hello Lucoid, (beware...SPOILERS herein)

i had a crack at TGOSM myself; it's enormously overwritten, i was expecting better. It ambles along nicely, and that's about all it does, i wouldn't hold out much hope if i were you. Lots of stuff about rivers i seem to remember, kids, sexual jiggery pokery, cross culture affair....leaves you feeling unsatisfied....stick to poetry luv, that's what i thought.

Still, glad i gave it a look after all the fuss that surrounded it. It has Booker winner all over it though, which just goes to show you.

[joy]

I decided to choose a couple of books from the big read list that I had never heard of. Firstly His Dark Materials. I must have had my head in the sand not to have heard of it, but it is a children's book. Absolutely loved it and read all three parts straight off. Very imaginative and the characters were all very individual and likeable, including the baddies. I thought the part where Lee Scoresby died with his daemon very moving!
The end was not as sensational as I was expecting, the betrayal where Lyra left her daemon was ok but the big build up to her temptation didn't seem to materialise, and I was expecting the overthrow of the existing world not a return to the start.
I then moved on to The Pillars of The Earth. Perhaps its not fair to comment yet as I am only one third in. It is a pleasant enough read, but I was expecting more from number 33 of all time! I have read plenty of sagas of similar standard.
Next it will be Life of Pi, as a friend lent it to me, but I don't expect to like it.

[amner]

...I too have just finished Middlesex...

Just embarked upon it and encountered, for the first time in many years, the strange experience of Being Up All Night, Reading. If there weren't already enough effusive review snippets plastered over the back and inside covers I'd allow them to use I couldn't put it down, because I couldn't.

Bleedin' well shagged out today, mind. Bloody thing.
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[m.]

I have a bad habit of starting new books before finishing those already started. Right now there are about 5-7 of them, one waiting for my return since June. And I’m talking only about those that I want to finish. Today (bleak day of Thanksgiving recess) I’ve picked up on “The House of Seven Gables” (started in August). It seems to agree perfectly with my mood, so there is a hope. The one from June is Graham Swift’s “Out of This World” – and this is really strange because it’s not long at all, and, more importantly, I liked it.

[Lucoid]

That's something I'm often tempted to do as I get excited about deciding what book to read next, but so far I've always resisted because of the fear that I'll never finish another book again.

[m.]

Finished “The House of Seven Gables”. I kept changing my mind throughout reading and finally decided I rather liked it… but with some reservations. The narrator’s patronizing attitude towards characters grated on me quite a bit. I don’t know, maybe this tone is part and parcel of being omniscient, but somehow it seemed much more prominent here than in other novels from that period that I’ve read. Another thing, I was prepared for some quaint style but there were passages that proved a bit too much for me and made me fish for unintentional humour instead of simply follow the story.

But there were things I really liked. Hawthorne succeeds in creating the atmosphere of genuine creepiness and he does it without actually introducing anything definitely supernatural. Characters, even if they are slightly one-dimensional are still very vivid (Hepzibah). I liked the descriptions of the small New England’s town and the house itself. Still, I remember “The Scarlet Letter” as much better book and now I’m wondering if my taste has changed so much or if “SL” simply is better.

Now I started “Comes the comrade!” by Alexandra Orme – novelized account of the author’s experiences in Hungary in 1945.

[Lucoid]

Having finished Hope's Rupert of Hentzau (a poor cousin to its predecessor, The Prisoner of Zenda, but still just about exciting - and short - enough to keep me reading till the end), I have just started Angela's Ashes. I dubiously picked it up in a charity shop, dubiously bought it and dubiously put it on my bookshelf. Now a few pages in, I am still dubious. I haven't seen the film but am led to believe it's very dark and full of misery and suffering, yet still a little twee. I'll give my verdict when I've read it.