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

Gombeen Man said:

If I recall correctly. It's been years since I read it. I've read so many Roth books and he includes himself in most of them it's hard to tell if I'm thinking of the right book!

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He's definitely a filthy auld fucker in that one all right.

Griftopia:



I've been really impressed with his journalism and the book is great.

Can't disagree with anyone who titles the chapter on Greenspan as "The Biggest Asshole in The Universe"

I'm also reading this:



Which is actually quite readable so far.
Though sometimes you'd be a bit confused as to whether the problem was predatory lending or predatory borrowing!

scutter said:

Started this yesterday;

read about half of it in 2 hours. Its an incredibly light read (would be great for the bus or plane). I picked it up at his recent gig and bought it because generally I find him quite witty and interesting to listen to. This book is highly entertaining. Just a series of diaries about certain tours he went on. I'm sure folks here could relate to some of the incidents and anecdotes he shares.

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this is a wonderful book. A great read. Very light going, as mentioned before, and lots of laugh-out-loud moments. Plus, lots of cameo appearances by Adrian Crowley (ratso ; ). Its great reading about someones diary account of a gig you were at yourself. Though he doesn't mention the actual venues, its easy enough to guess which gigs hes on about (the Irish gigs specifically). Anyway, everyone should read this cos its great.

scutter said:

this is a wonderful book. A great read. Very light going, as mentioned before, and lots of laugh-out-loud moments. Plus, lots of cameo appearances by Adrian Crowley (ratso ; ). Its great reading about someones diary account of a gig you were at yourself. Though he doesn't mention the actual venues, its easy enough to guess which gigs hes on about (the Irish gigs specifically). Anyway, everyone should read this cos its great.

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Like the look of that - he's a great lyricist. Does he write in Scottish dialect though? I shamefully have little patience for that!

I've just started this and am liking it a lot

Jim Daniels said:

Like the look of that - he's a great lyricist. Does he write in Scottish dialect though? I shamefully have little patience for that!

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he occasionally breaks out into it, the way he does it is both subtle and charming. The majority of the book is in the narrative form but he breaks out into dialog at times, all of which is italicised. Thats where some of the scots lingo comes in but it doesn't break your momentum when reading.

I finally finished Vol. 2 of Proust - Within A Budding Grove. At least I got through it a bit quicker than I did Vol. 1. Anyway, its deadly. How are you getting on with it, St. Fechin;? I'm a bit disheartened that its taking me so long. I know its long and the sentences are long and it requires a bit of concentration but its not that hard to read really. Vol. 2 is more entertaining than vol 1, Mme Swann is less of a bitch, M Swann is less stalkerish, that Saint-Loup lad and Bloch are great craic. There were passages in Vol 1 that were sublime and I'm not sure vol 2 had as many of these moments - the bit at the end of 1 where is amazing. Throughout the whole thing its like he snatches away the masks you use to build your self-image and reveals far too much. I'm a bit wary of The Guermantes Way as the title suggests it'll be very heavily weighted towards the society shit which i'm not generally taken with. It'll be worth struggling through in order to get to Sodom and Gomorrah which I expect will be a bit saucier.

Anyway, next I'm reading Songs They Never Play On The Radio by James Young (about his time in Nico's band in the 80s) and after that I might read Campo Santo by Sebald. I set myself a target of 40 books to read this year and according to goodreads i've only read 25 so far (30% behind). I'll never make it now and I'd be way ahead if i hadnt started proust.

I'm reading Letters to Emma Bowlcut by Bill Callahan.

Its actually quite pleasant. Shaney ; you should read it to get your average up. Its only about 60 pages long and you'd read it in a day.

Is that the singer guy? I'm wary of hipsters-turned-author

thats him. Hes a really talented writer though. His songs are quite literate so it stands to reason he'd write a decent book. And its not bad. Its different. A series of letter from a guy to a girl, with no narrative knitting them. You have to guess and imagine whats been said and whats happened between letters. Quite clever really and gets the brain juices flowing a little bit.

Much reading the last couple of weeks,starting with Iran



Very well written and very readable but for all that it seemed to be lacking a bit of spirit,there's no doubting the authors influential background and access to powerful people in Iran but at times it does come across as name dropping and it tends to grate after a while.Still,worth a read as it provides an alternative view of Iran and its revolution.



Not recommended as bed time reading,this one takes you all the way through the history of North Korea up to and including its nuclear armory and leaves no stone unturned in showing exactly how awful daily life is for the average North Korean.The abject poverty and desperation is really driven home time after time.It ends on a (relatively) positive note with stories of those who managed to flee to South Korea but even then the struggle to adapt in the 'real' world is immense.Recommended.



Hmmm,it seems the author had unprecedented access to the chinese archives during the writing of this book and so should really have written a great book,however as it turns out it's merely a good book and its his access to the archives that caused this.Rather than taking you deep inside the story he seems to just skirt the edges,giving snippets of information on individual cases but never really getting to the heart of it,unfortunately the book comes across as cold and impersonal and reads like a bunch of statistics rather than the horror story that is the death of 45 million people.



Another slight disappointment,I suspect this time its to do with space constraints placed by editors rather than anything else,much like the previous book this one just gives the bare minimum of detail and never really explores anything beyond skin depth.A shame as I'm sure Fry could have made this an excellent read.

I think that's all.

Theodore Kaczynski said:

Much reading the last couple of weeks,starting with Iran

Not recommended as bed time reading,this one takes you all the way through the history of North Korea up to and including its nuclear armory and leaves no stone unturned in showing exactly how awful daily life is for the average North Korean.The abject poverty and desperation is really driven home time after time.It ends on a (relatively) positive note with stories of those who managed to flee to South Korea but even then the struggle to adapt in the 'real' world is immense.Recommended.

Hmmm,it seems the author had unprecedented access to the chinese archives during the writing of this book and so should really have written a great book,however as it turns out it's merely a good book and its his access to the archives that caused this.Rather than taking you deep inside the story he seems to just skirt the edges,giving snippets of information on individual cases but never really getting to the heart of it,unfortunately the book comes across as cold and impersonal and reads like a bunch of statistics rather than the horror story that is the death of 45 million people.

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i want a go on that north korea book.

have you read this:

I haven't,worth a look I'm guessing?
The North Korea is with a friend,I doubt he'll read it though so I'll liberate it and pass it your way.

its heavy going but just very detailed, i loved it anyways, its basically his political saga.

I'll keep an eye out for it so,I'm mad for the communism lately.Well,reading about it anyway.

Shaney said:

Anyway, next I'm reading Songs They Never Play On The Radio by James Young (about his time in Nico's band in the 80s)

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Finished. This was a great read although I couldn't help thinking yer man was a complete prick for spilling the dirt on people like this. A slightly likeable Nico did emerge from all the squalor towards the end so thats ok. Lots of heroin, filth, blood and misery but told in a very entertaining way. He does a great job on Nico's accent.

Shaney said:

Finished. This was a great read although I couldn't help thinking yer man was a complete prick for spilling the dirt on people like this. A slightly likeable Nico did emerge from all the squalor towards the end so thats ok. Lots of heroin, filth, blood and misery but told in a very entertaining way. He does a great job on Nico's accent.

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been meaning to read this for ages. thanks for the reminder. just ordered it there

Theodore Kaczynski said:

I'll keep an eye out for it so,I'm mad for the communism lately.Well,reading about it anyway.

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Hmm thought I replied to this. I have that in me shop I think. Can do ya a thumped member exclusive deal.

Where's your shop?

Swords