What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (5 Viewers)

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Not so much a biography of Uncle Joe as an argument against the accepted perception of him.
The authors argument is that Stalin was a true believer in Marxist-Leninism rather than just a psychopath (it's quite likely he was both) or a neo-Tsar and everything he did was aimed at achieving a socialist world.
I'm just past the Yalta conference and while I had originally intended to just dip in and out of the book I'll likely read it through. Fascinating stuff.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Oh hell yeah!

 

[Jim Daniels]

Aimee Bender: The Color Master

Short Stories - often hit or miss with me. But just finished this collection, and it was deadly. Slightly off-kilter/ magic realism vibe, but beautifully written.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Now a few stories into Sylvia Plath's Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams

It only got so-so reviews, but there's really good stuff in here. Terrific writer.

 

[Richie]

City of Bohane (Kevin Barry) - There is some great pungent language in it and an interesting mix of various hard-boiled genre styles, the slang heavy dialogue is kind of tough going though. I think he could have pushed the near-future sci-fi Ireland setting a bit further, it's fascinating territory but this felt like you could set it in the early 20th century without changing the story much.

The Bone Clocks (David Mitchell) - I'm four fifths of the way through this and starting to find it fairly tedious.. Feels like one of those situations where the more the mystery is explained, the less interesting it becomes. There's a series of moderately engaging intersecting stories about various characters in 80s-2000s Britain which is gradually revealed to be just the background for a war between immortal beings, which sounds like it should be interesting but actually feels like the book is periodically being invaded by The Matrix meets some fantasy RPG game (there's a lot of stuff about the Anchorites of the Chapel of the Blind Cathar, and that sort of thing).

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

 

[Lili Marlene]

Ugh, I've started Ulysses for a book club thingy.

On the plus side I've also started Five Children and It

 

[rettucs]

my travel reading last week (and part of the week before)

has its moments. Overall, not great.

this was a great little read. Coming-of-age tale with a bit of supernatural thrown in. Really enjoyed it.

this is great stuff. Hilarious altogether. The film seems to be getting likewarm reviews so maybe read this before seeing it.

 

[pete]

Ah world war z is a vg read. Better than the movie for sure.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

i thought WWZ was a big bag of shite

 

[David Kronenbourg]

don't think i finished it

 

[David Kronenbourg]

By the guy who wrote the screenplay for the latest Cronenberg film. A similarly fucked up, sick, hilarious Hollywood satire. The grotesque elements are ramped up in this. Pretty icky at times.

 

[pavlos]

Just finished: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

Now reading: Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.

I read World War Z last year, on the recommendation of my 15 year old nephew - it was much better than I anticipated!

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Now reading: Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.

good debut. the recent sequel is pretty pants. like an Ellis parody or something

 

[rettucs]

i thought WWZ was a big bag of shite

thats stronger than how I'd put it but I kind of agree. Its basically a book of (very) short stories interlinked by this zombie infestation.

I loved the movie, which bears no resemblance to the book whatsoever.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

thats stronger than how I'd put it but I kind of agree. Its basically a book of (very) short stories interlinked by this zombie infestation.

I loved the movie, which bears no resemblance to the book whatsoever.

it was like a found footage horror movie in book form. bag of shite. movie is far better

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Ugh, I've started Ulysses for a book club thingy.

I love Ulysses but the first time reading it was so tough. Well worth the effort though, I imagine with a book club it would lead to some good discussion.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Gave up Ulysses about halfway through : (

 

[Lili Marlene]

I love Ulysses but the first time reading it was so tough. Well worth the effort though, I imagine with a book club it would lead to some good discussion.

I've never read it start to finish so yeah the group should help. One lad in the group is a total Joyce fanboy, the rest of us I think mainly feel bad about having not read it yet. It's like an English post-grad guilt support group.