What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (3 Viewers)

[jonah]

I think I read/liked that too...

 

[Lili Marlene]

I think I read/liked that too...

Just finished it now, it was really something special.

Not sure, that sounds pretty good to me.

humm, I don't think it would fall under the spectrum of stuff you'd like (obviously I can't say for sure). I suspect you'd find it all a little dull to be honest.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

got an amazon voucher for a job well done in work so went on a splurge. so far i have ordered the following

Frankenstein Unbound - Brian W. Aldiss
Perfect from Now on: How Indie Rock Saved My Life - John Sellers
Bay of Souls - Robert Stone
Quarantine - Jime Crace
John the Revelator - Peter Murphy
To the White Sea - James Dickey
The Infinites - John Banville
A Feast of Snakes - Harry Crews

 

[Jim Daniels]

John the Revelator - Peter Murphy

Deadly book!

I've just finished a truly elegant book, translated into English from Japanese. It also incorporates really nice maths riddles and equations into the dialogue.

 

[SomethingManic]

I finally finished World War Z, and it was a great read. I thought towards the middle, I might get bored but I really didn't. An unusual style, but it's all the better for it.
Top stuff.


Gunna start reading High Fidelity on Wednesday night.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

yes, i've read europe central. it's set during WW2, it's incredibly long and and takes real life people and puts them in fictional situations. it's really gripping and quite brilliant, particuarly the middle section which deals with kurt gerstein. i would recommended it highly

I've just finished Europe Central - what a book! A serious contender for the Best Book I Have Read award. Between one thing and another it took me about a month to read it though which was a bit of a frustration initially but as i started getting towards the end I found myself never wanting to finish it. There were a few not so good bits, where he over-cooked it a bit maybe, but its hard to fault it. The scale and ambition of it are astounding and the writing is dazzling. All that Shostakovitch stuff was heart-breaking.

Here Bernie Lomax, how did you get on with The Royal Family? I can't wait to read more Vollmann but I think I'll have to read a few other books first.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

yeah europe central is brilliant. i liked the royal family. he's not afraid of difficult subject matter. it's about a group of drug addicted homeless prostitutes so some of the descriptions are particularly vivid shall we say. the character of domino is incredibly well drawn. i found myself totally fascinated by her. intense book. it stayed with me for ages after i finished it.

 

[St. Fechin]

Weird stories that usually pivot around a single, even weirder detail.
A lot of overlap, and where there is, the Penguin version is usually superior.
The guy was a wizard at describing gesture and movement.
The end.

 

[rettucs]

I'm about halfway through this. Its a good old read. Tends towards being a little bit of a soap-opera at times, but not to the extent, say, that Jane Austen's book reaches. Anyhow, good fun and beautifully written.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Weird stories that usually pivot around a single, even weirder detail.
A lot of overlap, and where there is, the Penguin version is usually superior.
The guy was a wizard at describing gesture and movement.
The end.

the end of what?

On the marionette theater has a lot to answer for. Philip Pullman

 

[St. Fechin]

the end of what?

On the marionette theater has a lot to answer for. Philip Pullman

Oh, I just edited it a couple of times. The end of that list of unrelated thoughts.

Yeah I heard he was an influence on Philip Pullman alright. Is that how? I wouldn't know.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Oh, I just edited it a couple of times. The end of that list of unrelated thoughts.

Yeah I heard he was an influence on Philip Pullman alright. Is that how? I wouldn't know.

He pretty much took on the marionette theater and turned it into a money-making machine. In fairness, what he did was actually very good.

My real query which I forgot to ask was is he (von kleist) worth reading? I don't know much else about him

 

[St. Fechin]

He pretty much took on the marionette theater and turned it into a money-making machine. In fairness, what he did was actually very good.

My real query which I forgot to ask was is he (von kleist) worth reading? I don't know much else about him

Fair play to the Pullman.

I imagine Kleist's style and the implausibility of his plots* might put some people off, but I enjoyed reading him. He killed himself in his 30s so there's not very much of it to get through. Get the Penguin collection above - it's got all 8(!) of his stories. Haven't read any of the plays - John Banville is big into them apparently.

*he's aware of this, and makes sure we know he knows.

 

[St. Fechin]

btw did you see this the other day?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/11/martin-amis-brain-injury-write-children

LOL

 

[jonah]

I have to read this by the end of the day, and I would rather have a lobotomy.

Also Martin Amis is a twat. He has a look of the devil about him.

 

[Jill Hives]

btw did you see this the other day?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/11/martin-amis-brain-injury-write-children

LOL

Perhaps I am just profoundly lazy but seriously, it was one comment. Why the hell do people angry over all this pointless stuff?

 

[jonah]

Perhaps I am just profoundly lazy but seriously, it was one comment. Why the hell do people angry over all this pointless stuff?

I don't know, I think its a really irritating comment, placing a huge value judgement on who is worth writing for. Plus it really does negate the work of several really amazing artists. I think, sometimes, that it must be far harder to write for children.

 

[Jill Hives]

He doesn't have the power to negate anyone's work. He's one writer. One comment. So he thinks that, so what like? A whole article on it? Meh. Maybe I'm just being grumpy.

 

[jonah]

Oh of course I didn't mean that his opinion entirely negated the genre, I just meant that it was an attempt at negation or that if his comment held weight it was negating. I was annoyed probably because I would like to write children's literature myself, one day, but like.. in the greater scheme of things, its pissing in the wind. I just like being critical of things. That said I think giving him so much column time on it only adds weight to what he said, it probably should have been laughed off.

I also think though that his attitude isn't entirely singular and is part of an entire thinking on children's literature. He's just a high profile isolated example.

 

[Lili Marlene]

The man is obviously clueless about the subject, it's hard to care about what he says.