What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (1 Viewer)

[IFF]

today

i finished that earlier this month. i liked it.

currently:

and at work (because carry the above book to work would cause significant spinal damage )

 

[Jim Daniels]

Just finished The Great Gatsby. Liked it much more than I remembered. Going to try out his others, don't know why I never did before. He hasn't got that many. Any fans out there - which is best?

In the meantime, I'm midway through Ernest Hemingway's Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises. Liking these books from the 1920s!

 

[rettucs]

so, finished this yesterday;

Its a meaty enough book in terms of its size, but its light going. I started it last friday week and got through it handy enough.

I won't say too much because its a book you could spoil the hell out of for someone. Basically though, the whole book is one big build-up to a single event, which can be dangerous if that event turns out to be anti-climatic. Suffice to say, it doesn't disappoint. The climax of the book is excellently well done and for that reason alone I would whole-heartedly endorse this. There are parts that seem a little flowery and superfluous and it could have been a whole lot shorter than it is (likewise he could have made it far longer if he so wished - when you finish the book I think you'll take my meaning).

I mentioned before that no doubt this would be made into a movie. I'm not so sure now. Some King books, though excellent book, made dud movies. I think this could be one of those, though I'm not so sure.

Anyway, yea, its great.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

started the new James Lee Burke this morning. great as usual

 

[David Kronenbourg]

this book about Nico's final years touring with a bunch of incompetent Manchester musicians is the funniest book i've read all year one of the best music books i've read full stop

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I love the way the snow looks like its falling in the book cover itself, very appropriate for Nico. It read a bit like a comedy docudrama. Meanwhile, Nico discovers how to operate the video recorder. I read an interview with the author recently and he said he regretted being so bitchy about the son but that when he wrote the book he was still pissed off that ari had sold the recordings of the last show to some shady record company

 

[David Kronenbourg]

he does her accent brilliantly

 

[Jim Daniels]

he does her accent brilliantly

Yeah! Read this years ago and its the one thing I really remember about it. At the time I was really into Nico (being much younger and very naive) and couldn't handle his portrayal of her at all. Must dig it out again.

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[Lili Marlene]

Got this in the mail today from a friend, haven't started it yet- looking forward to reading something non-academic..

did you ever read this? She's my favourite author in the world. I read a book by her about talking cats recently, it was amazing.

oh, and she wrote this filth as well, which was excellent.

I also took the time to watch her talk for the best part of an hour cos i'm mental

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/node/2454


wait, no, come back

 

[pete]

Finished Robopocalypse tonight.

Basically World War Z with robots. Good enough but at less than 400 pages really could have done with being a good bit longer. Seemed to skim over stuff, so much so that sometimes it reads almost like a treatment / screenplay for a movie than a full on novel.

https://twitter.com/#!/danielwilsonpdx/status/147015298954952704

 

[rettucs]

I'm reading Uncle Toms Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

heavy going in parts - the colloquialism parts - but great in other parts. It'll take me a while to get through it as my batteries tend to run out after 10 minutes reading these times.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

went on a spree yesterday. bought

A Feast of Snakes - Harry Crewes
Tenants of Moonbloom - El Wallant
Pop. 1280 - Jim Thompson
The Girl Next Door - Jack Ketchum
The Devil's Larder - Jim Crace
Go With Me - Castle Freeman
The Sea Came In At Midnight - Steve Erickson
Ancient Evenings - Norman Mailer
Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin
The End Of Alice - A.M. Holmes

These will keep me busy well into the new year

 

[Jim Daniels]

Impressive!

I find that when I buy a rake of books, I still can't help myself from buying more new ones, before I have got through half of them..

went on a spree yesterday.

A Feast of Snakes - Harry Crewes
Tenants of Moonbloom - El Wallant
Pop. 1280 - Jim Thompson
The Girl Next Door - Jack Ketchum
The Devil's Larder - Jim Crace
Go With Me - Castle Freeman
The Sea Came In At Midnight - Steve Erickson
Ancient Evenings - Norman Mailer
Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin
The End Of Alice - A.M. Holmes

These will keep me busy well into the new year

 

[Jim Daniels]

I keep meaning to buy her stuff. Couldn't find her anywhere in Dublin's bookshops - then somebody told me to try the Young Adult fiction area. Keep forgetting!

did you ever read this? She's my favourite author in the world. I read a book by her about talking cats recently, it was amazing.

oh, and she wrote this filth as well, which was excellent.

I also took the time to watch her talk for the best part of an hour cos i'm mental

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/node/2454


wait, no, come back

 

[Jim Daniels]

Really enjoyable, short memoir of his time in Paris, hanging out and drinking with F Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce etc...
Easy to read but very well written.

 

[brianoak]

Interesting take on the factors that influence how certain people excel. Focuses on the premise that circumstance is a more important factor than natural ability. It doesn't discount natural ability but rather stresses the commonality of it. Good read.

Just finished the Steve Jobs book too. It's a good insight into a man that never gave many interviews. For some reason I always assumed he was a coder...apparently not.

 

[jonah]

did you ever read this? She's my favourite author in the world. I read a book by her about talking cats recently, it was amazing.

oh, and she wrote this filth as well, which was excellent.

I also took the time to watch her talk for the best part of an hour cos i'm mental

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/node/2454


wait, no, come back

I completely forgot I'd bought that, got it around the same time as "Looking for Alaska" and forgot to come back to it! I'll start reading it tomorrow, it intrigued me. I could also read some filth, I'll try that other one next.

 

[Cryptid]

Interesting take on the factors that influence how certain people excel. Focuses on the premise that circumstance is a more important factor than natural ability. It doesn't discount natural ability but rather stresses the commonality of it. Good read.

Just finished the Steve Jobs book too. It's a good insight into a man that never gave many interviews. For some reason I always assumed he was a coder...apparently not.

I downloaded a very good free time management android app called 'DreamingCat' and it's since taken over my life. But it claims in it's info section, in beautiful google-translate English:

"Malcom Gladwell researched in common points of success people on his book 'Outliers'.

Their common point is that they immersed themselves in their field for more than 10,000 hours.

Slow and steady win the game.

'DreamingCat' is with you for accomplishing your dream."

I should look at the wiki entry for the book, but does he really say that..? I reckon I should be sorted by the age of 60 if so.

 

[hugh]

I should look at the wiki entry for the book, but does he really say that..? I reckon I should be sorted by the age of 60 if so.

Yeah he does, pretty much. He says that to become an expert, or achieve mastery, of something that is challenging and difficult, to really be at the top of that game, that is what you need to do (i.e. becoming a concert pianist, an expert computer programmer etc etc). However he is talking about people who he calls "outliers" ... the ones who are exceptional at what they do. It's not some sort of simplistic "work hard enough and you will achieve everything" thing though ... there are all sorts of external social factors that have to be in place to even allow you to put in the 10,000 hours and most people who excel in their fields do so because (a) they worked hard at it and (b) they had certain advantages from the start that put them in a position to do so.

He talks about Bill Gates for example. I can't remember the details exactly but he dispels the notion that people like Gates are just lucky (because Gates put in extraordinary amounts of work to become an expert on what he does) but also dispels the notion that that is all there is to his success (he came from a wealthy family that were very academically/technically minded that were capable of nurturing his interests in the field). He was also in right place at the right time to capitalise on his ability/talents/knowledge and this was to some extent as a result of his background as well.

There is a simplistic reading of the 10,000 hours thing that American conservatives like to trot out along the lines of "work hard enough and you will succeed and if you don't succeed it's your fault for not working hard enough" but really that's not it at all ....

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Genius x 10,000hrs = SUPERGENIUS!