What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (2 Viewers)

[Kermit McDermott]

I used to read loads of books, but the last few years I'm a disaster.
I started The Occult by Colin Wilson

 

[Jim Daniels]

I just ordered one of my favourite Stephen King stories... for £0.01p on Amazon.

It's a stand alone book - a story which I previously only had as part of the Bachman Books (one of 4 stories in one collection). I might seek out stand alone versions of Rage, The Long Walk and The Running Man now)

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Cocaine Nights by JG Ballard.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Finally reading my first ever Margaret Atwood

 

[Kermit McDermott]

I finished reading kill your friends by John Niven in a few days. The quickest I've read a book in years. It's about a psychopathic A&R scumbag in the boomtime of late 90's british music scene. 1997 to be exact. Quiet good, I suppose.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

GB84 by David Peace. It took me about 3 weeks to get through the first hundred pages, then finished it off over the last couple of days. Quite gripping but unfortunately what was going on (apart from the miner's strike) didn't become clear to me at the end like I hoped it would. I'm not sure if I was supposed to read the red riding quartet first or not. Anyway, very good.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Recent reads:

 

[pete]

Any good?

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

So far, it's OK. I like a lot of that old school horror (Poe, Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Bierce, etc., etc.) so it's of interest to me in general. If you're not into that stuff, I'm not sure if it would grab you. Will have a more complete view when I finish it. Obviously.

 

[pete]

So far, it's OK. I like a lot of that old school horror (Poe, Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Bierce, etc., etc.) so it's of interest to me in general. If you're not into that stuff, I'm not sure if it would grab you. Will have a more complete view when I finish it. Obviously.

i'm only curious because of True Detective

i'm still reading that Glenn Greenwald book... which is fucking terrifying

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

i'm only curious because of True Detective

It doesn't really add much to True Detective. I don't know what you know about The King in Yellow but it is a series of short stories linked to a fictional play called The King in Yellow. In this play, the first act is meant to be a little strange but really engaging. The revelations of the second act drives the reader to insanity. To me, True Detective takes the same idea but turns it on its head. Instead of play which drives people insane,

Spoiler

there is the grainy video of the child murder that we never get to see all of. However, instead of Rust and Marty falling apart after seeing the video (like the sheriff they kidnap and force to watch it), they become resolute in closing the case and claw back from the darkness.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

i'm still reading that Glenn Greenwald book... which is fucking terrifying

Would you say this is worth reading even if you've kept mostly up date with the Snowden revelations they've been published?

 

[pete]

Would you say this is worth reading even if you've kept mostly up date with the Snowden revelations they've been published?

So far i'd say yes but i'm only about half way through. The first part of the book is an account of the first contact from Snowden all the way through to their meeting in Hong Kong, then it goes into the actual documents with some background analysis & political context of each of the schemes.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Bowie by Simon Critchley. This is very good. I've never really listened too deeply to Bowie so pretty much all the stuff he said about him here was news to me.

In this concise and engaging excursion through the songs of one of the world’s greatest pop stars, Critchley, whose writings on philosophy have garnered widespread praise, melds together personal narratives of how Bowie lit up his dull life in southern England’s suburbs with philosophical forays into the way concepts of authenticity and identity are turned inside out in Bowie’s work.

 

[hugh]

Simon Critchley had a book about Bowie. Is this recent? Must check it out. Was at the Bowie exhibition thing in Berlin last week and my fandom is only accelerating on into epic proportions.

Books I've read recently:

My Struggle 2 - Karl Ove Knausgaard. Just as good as the first one.

Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood. Does what it says on the tin.

Man's Fate - Andre Malraux. Struggling through this. I'm a bit bored.

Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita. An absolute riot.

Exterminate All The Brutes - Sven Lindquist. Re-reading this for something I am trying to write. Amazing parallels with contemporary events in the Middle East.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

The Male Response by Brian Aldiss. Not great, a bit racist and not nearly as saucy as I expected it to be

 

[hydromancer]

The Male Response by Brian Aldiss. Not great, a bit racist and not nearly as saucy as I expected it to be

I opened this thread thinking ah the what book did you read, the one thread nobody will be talking about sex...

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

As I say, there wasn't that much sex in it, there a bit though. This English lad became president of Africa and had to prove his worth by riding a virgin on a couch in a field in front of the population. There were a few prostitutes and an English vicar and his daughter who were addicted to homosexuality. They're the main points of the novel.

There was a 'monkey faced' African lad it too

 

[sleepy]

I finished reading Amsterdam by Ian McEwan last night. I thought it started off excellent but the end was really crummy.

 

[nooleen]

started off excellent but the end was really crummy.

i've had a lot of those lately, including the goldfinch and the secret history, also a couple each of margaret atwoods and jonathan coes