What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (10 Viewers)

[Lili Marlene]

I'm currently reading The Annotated Alice, it's quite good as an exercise in excess

 

[Cryptid]

Just finished The Hawkline Monster - A Gothic Western by Richard Brautigan. Excellent - really funny, enjoyable, very readable.

Have just abandoned half way through Slapstick by Vonnegut. No offence to any Vonnegut fans but it's really sh*te. That and Timequake are bad books I think. Too self indulgent and full of trite sentiment. Pity because so much of his earlier work was funny and insightful. If anyone would like either or both books just pm me. Timequake is down in my country (housing) estate, so I won't have that for a while. The pleasure would be all mine.

That Death Of Grass looks very nice. I'd liked Chocky by Wyndham, but not as much as some of his other stuff. It was a good end to his career though. I wasn't too mad about The Grapes Of Wrath. I thought it was a bit overbearing. I preferred the general descriptive chapters which alternate with the story of the family. The story of the family was a little hamfisted I thought. Better than East Of Eden but not nearly as good as Cannery Row or some of his other stuff.

 

[rettucs]

started reading Lolita by Nabokov the other day. Really struggling to get into it. He writes well for a non-native speaker, but he doesn't really say much. Just these long, rambling passages that nothing much happens in.

This could be my first abandon since Proust......

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

have started The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov now

i wish i abandoned this rubbish. worst shite ever, nobody read it.

next - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. fingers crossed it wont be shite too

 

[Anarcho Munk]

started reading Lolita by Nabokov the other day. Really struggling to get into it. He writes well for a non-native speaker, but he doesn't really say much. Just these long, rambling passages that nothing much happens in.

This could be my first abandon since Proust......

noooooo! stick with it, I really really liked that book.

Interesting enough fact about that Nabokov is that he had Synesthesia and it can become really apparent the effect it had on him if you look close enough into some of his books.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

i thought this was excellent. a great feat of imagination. the footnotes are particularly enjoyable

next - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. fingers crossed it wont be shite too

agreed. stick with lolita and you will be rewarded. the pace is quite slow but the story and the language soon suck you in. humbert humbert is one of the most apallingly brilliant characters in fiction

noooooo! stick with it, I really really liked that book.

Interesting enough fact about that Nabokov is that he had Synesthesia and it can become really apparent the effect it had on him if you look close enough into some of his books.

 

[rettucs]

cheers folks. Yes, I'm starting to get sucked in alright. It did take a while but after reading the lake scene last night, I think I'm hooked!

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

does he ride the young lassie by the lake?

 

[rettucs]

does he ride the young lassie by the lake?

no

and I won't spoiler it by saying what does/doesn't happen.

read it!

 

[MDR]

I have to say i found Lolita tough going when i read it a few years ago and I don't normally mind 'difficult' books.

I've just finished a few boxing books and then read Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut (meh) and have just started Thomas Hardy: A Biography revisited, by Michael Millgate. It is supposed to be the definitive Hardy biography. I've read a couple of Hardy bios before, but these seems to be much more detailed - really for Hardy enthusiasts, as it assumes you've read the books and know some of the background already.

 

[Wobbler]

In the last few weeks

then,

now

 

[Mormon Nailer]

In the last few weeks

Great book!

 

[Mormon Nailer]

I'm dipping in and out of these 2. I'm not making much headway with either.

I started this last night. I'll probably find this easier going. I'e enjoyed everything else he's written.

 

[Wobbler]

Great book!

Indeed. Loved it. Big fan of his anyway.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

bizarre, hallucinatory, brilliant. johnson is a master

 

[David Kronenbourg]

ha. that reads like a bad jacket blurb

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

wonderful book,if you love the great outdoors it should be right up your street

 

[Gambra]

Superb.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

next - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. fingers crossed it wont be shite too

i thought this was excellent. a great feat of imagination. the footnotes are particularly enjoyable

i agree, a fine read. 1006 pages and not a boring one amongst them. the last 300 or so pages got quite exciting.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

i dunno what to make of de lillo. obviously there's no denying his gift for language but his books leave me cold. this was no different until the last 20 pages or so which were truly gut wrenching stuff