it (Lucky Jim) did improve. I'm glad I stuck with it.
but I still wouldn't recommend it
-
Welcome, guest!
Why not take a moment to register an account?
If you already have an account, remember to Log In!
What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter chutneyfarmer
- Start date
- Replies 6K
- Views 524K
- Watchers 40
it (Lucky Jim) did improve. I'm glad I stuck with it.
but I still wouldn't recommend it
@I is John I can't be bother to find the original post but I finally got around to A Ghost's Child while out in Howth today. A lovely little book. I really enjoyed it. Thank you for recommending it.
cool, glad i'm not completely alone in liking these books. I'd also recommend the Midnight Zoo.
I'm actually reading a lot of her stuff when I find a spare minute, I just got her hugely* controversial book, written under a pseudonym, the other day
comes with a 'warning: contains scenes of a highly explicit sexual nature' sticker on it. Gosh.
*relatively
I finally finished Sleep Has His House by Anna Kavan. It took me about 3 weeks despite being only 190 pages although I did have a couple of big distractions in that time. Hard work this was, its written as dream fragments with everything changing and mutating all the time. Very little in the way of narrative, character, location or any kind of sense. I think its about the author's cutting herself off from the world as an unhappy youngster. Not too bad all the same.
Im not sure what I'll read next. I have The Fermata but I gather from you lot that it is also hard work and I don't feel like getting bogged down again just yet.
Im not sure what I'll read next. I have The Fermata but I gather from you lot that it is also hard work and I don't feel like getting bogged down again just yet.
St. Fechin
Active Member
Oh, man. What book didn't I read last night...
David Kronenbourg
Well-Known Member
i've been putting off reading the fermata for a while myself. i think i'm going to read the infinites by john banville next
The Fermata.
I suppose the spoiler tags are unnessecary when the back of the cover says "Arno Strine, a modest temporary typist, has perfected the knack of stopping time in its tracks and taking womens clothes off" but that is all that happens in this novel and after the The Slap fiasco I am wary of putting anyone else off reading anything. Somehow I managed to not know before I started reading it that this was a pornographic comedy. Well written, light and fluffy, easy to read and funny in spots. I gave it 3 out of 5 on goodreads because its not possible to give it 3.5 and 4 seemed a bit too high. The smug vibe reminded me a bit of American Psycho although this is a better book. Still, I expected something a bit weightier from someone who looks like this :
It occured to me recently that I'm not sure I trust writers who are younger than me or books written when the author was younger than me. This is because I feel so immature and incapable of writing something with depth and substance myself. I'm not sure if this will be a sustainable position to hold going forward.
It occured to me recently that I'm not sure I trust writers who are younger than me or books written when the author was younger than me. This is because I feel so immature and incapable of writing something with depth and substance myself. I'm not sure if this will be a sustainable position to hold going forward.
SomethingManic
New Member
Currently reading Darkness Visible by William Goulding.
It's very good so far. Very dark, and a little complex. But so far it's got the makings of one of them best books I've read in ages.
It's very good so far. Very dark, and a little complex. But so far it's got the makings of one of them best books I've read in ages.
I'm pretty familiar with a lot of this already...
But it's still makes you furious to read.
Should be compulsory reading for everyone.
Nate Champion
Well-Known Member
William Styron, I thought?
Anyway, I finished The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick which is the next best one of his I have read after Do Androids Dream.... Completely uneven (the narrative and characterization are all over the shop, however this is probably to its strength), yet extremely ambitious philosophically. Some of his dialogue is clunky, and his own ideas within the narrative seem to have overpowered him, which in itself is kind of interesting considering it's Dick. There's seems to be a consensus among Dick-heads that places his stories in a higher guard to the novels.
Then I smelt my way through William s. Burroughs' Queer, which I found really disappointing. He seemed to have abandoned the documented style of Junkie and was gasping towards the cut-up technique that would become his bread and butter. Save for that familiar offbeat cantankerous wit, it's a bit of a chore despite its brevity.
Just keying up Nicholson Baker's Vox, which I received off bookmooch. After that I'm hoping to wrestle with over-sized paperback editions of Skippy Dies and The Rest is Noise
mel gibson
Well-Known Member
The Vodi by John Braine. Deadly.
I love miserable north of england dramas and this one is very grim but in a good way. Young lad dying of T.B. in the hospital reflects on the shite that has gone wrong and feels sorry for himself.
I love miserable north of england dramas and this one is very grim but in a good way. Young lad dying of T.B. in the hospital reflects on the shite that has gone wrong and feels sorry for himself.
jonah
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2009
- Messages
- 6,650
That sounds like my cup of tea, too.
SomethingManic
New Member
Nope, you're thinking of a different book with the same name.
Nice. I'll look out for it.
St. Fechin
Active Member
Francis Bacon said:
OMG. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was such an elitist dick.
St. Fechin
Active Member
I read a thing called Seven Short Stories over the weekend. It's a collection of Czech and Slovak (guess what?) short stories. All pretty good, apart from the first one which is sentimental rubbish by someone called Dus̆an Kuz̆el. The Hrabal story I'd read before in a different translation and under a different title.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/seven-short-stories/oclc/228457
http://www.worldcat.org/title/seven-short-stories/oclc/228457
St. Fechin
Active Member
Read this at lunchtime, took all of 10 minutes.
A little book of rhyming aphorisms with cutesy drawings. Published in 1970. It reminds me of some of David Shrigley's stuff or Leviathan by Peter Blegvad.
There's about 20 volumes more apparently. I hadn't heard about any of this carry-on until today.
Odd.
jonah
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2009
- Messages
- 6,650
Being St. Fechin. I want that film to be made.
continuing on this Hartnett buzz
a sad little book about how horrible and angst ridden it is being a child. Should be required reading for all people with sepia-tented memories of childhood. I think i'm gonna go have a cry now.
p.s. should be able to read the fermata in a few weeks!
a sad little book about how horrible and angst ridden it is being a child. Should be required reading for all people with sepia-tented memories of childhood. I think i'm gonna go have a cry now.
p.s. should be able to read the fermata in a few weeks!
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest. I'm not really sure what was going on here. It was alright, the first half was a bit dreary, picked up after that. The main character is a bit unstable and decides that writing an autobiography would help him sort himself out
Users who are viewing this thread
Activity
So far there's no one here
21 Day Calendar
Similar threads
Support thumped.com
Support thumped.com and upgrade your account
Upgrade your account now to disable all ads...
Upgrade now
