What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (6 Viewers)

[David Kronenbourg]

Reading Harvest by him at the minute, he's very good alright. Would you recommend this one to follow it, or one of his other ones?

I really liked Quarantine which is a retelling of the story of Jesus's forty days in the desert. It's excellent.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I gave up on The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave today. I found it poorly written and unpleasant for the sake of being unpleasant. I'll stick to his albums going forward.

Before that I read How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelmann which was brilliant.

Just started The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Not far in but I'm already engrossed.

 

[washingcattle]

I gave up on The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave today. I found it poorly written and unpleasant for the sake of being unpleasant. I'll stick to his albums going forward.

I liked it, but then I also liked Crash and The Painted Bird.

Never read them Bernie.

To be honest when Bunny Monroe gets to where it's going it's not as satisfying as it should be. In other words if you weren't enjoying it you're not missing much.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I liked it, but then I also liked Crash and The Painted Bird.

Never read them Bernie.

To be honest when Bunny Monroe gets to where it's going it's not as satisfying as it should be. In other words if you weren't enjoying it you're not missing much.

The Painted Bird is on my to read list. I had a copy but left it out in the garden and it got soaked. Gonna get around to it in the new year.

 

[washingcattle]

The Painted Bird is on my to read list. I had a copy but left it out in the garden and it got soaked. Gonna get around to it in the new year.

Best of luck. It is deeply unpleasant.

Edit: Ha, dyslexia thine soul is salty and tough

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I liked it, but then I also liked Crash and The Painted Bird.

Never read them Bernie.

To be honest when Bunny Monroe gets to where it's going it's not as satisfying as it should be. In other words if you weren't enjoying it you're not missing much.

Bunny Monroe was very disappointing. I loved And the Ass Saw the Angel but Bunny Monroe did nothing for me. Too bad I did a mad pre-order and now have a ton of Bunny Monroe shit that I probably could do without (poster, sachets of Bunny Monroe hand lotion, audiobook, etc.).

 

[washingcattle]

Bunny Monroe was very disappointing. I loved And the Ass Saw the Angel but Bunny Monroe did nothing for me. Too bad I did a mad pre-order and now have a ton of Bunny Monroe shit that I probably could do without (poster, sachets of Bunny Monroe hand lotion, audiobook, etc.).

I liked it while i was reading it for exactly for the reasons Bernie seems to have disliked it. But it left me cold when I finished it. I think I posted on here that I liked it at the time, which I did but with time I found myself feeling a bit short changed and empty. It's like Cave read a Chuck Pallanuik Novel and went "...hhhhmmm I could do that, only with child abuse".

 

[Lili Marlene]

I thought Bunny Munro was good. He was a well-written character at least. Memorable. You meet people like that every now and then and they're always fucking horrible so I thought it was interesting to see the world from their perspective. I think it achieved what it set out to do even if I pretty much hated every second of actually reading it.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Just finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Brilliant. Particularly enjoyed the relationship between Theo and Boris. She writes teenage boys incredibly well. Only very slightly let down by the last 100 or so pages when it ventured into thriller territory. I would say this is on par with her first two books. I'd have a hard time picking a favourite.

Currently reading Cormac McCarthy's Child of God

 

[Jim Daniels]

Just finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Brilliant. Particularly enjoyed the relationship between Theo and Boris. She writes teenage boys incredibly well. Only very slightly let down by the last 100 or so pages when it ventured into thriller territory. I would say this is on par with her first two books. I'd have a hard time picking a favourite.

Currently reading Cormac McCarthy's Child of God

Started this today over a coffee and scone. Excellent from the off...
Had to order a second coffee...

 

[hugh]

Bend Sinister - Vladamir Nabokov

On a big Nabakov buzz at the moment. This one is about a Professor struggling to keep his integrity in a totalitarian state headed up by a childhood classmate he used to bully. Grim stuff from a writer that usually has (surprisingly) lots of laughs. The ending is truly horrifying (though not unexpected).

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Great Jones St - Don Delillo
Pretty good, although I had enough of it by the end

John The Posthumous by Jason Schwartz
This has been getting rave reviews but I didn't know what to make of it, didn't have a clue what was going on

Comfort Zone by Brian Aldiss
Mostly excellent, it's about an auld lad and what it's like to be 80-something. I imagine it's quite autobiographical. Some of the stuff about muslims is a dodge though.

Before that I failed to finish 4 books in a row. Now I'm on Stoner by John Williams

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Bend Sinister - Vladamir Nabokov

On a big Nabakov buzz at the moment. This one is about a Professor struggling to keep his integrity in a totalitarian state headed up by a childhood classmate he used to bully. Grim stuff from a writer that usually has (surprisingly) lots of laughs. The ending is truly horrifying (though not unexpected).

This sounds interesting, must keep an eye out for it.

Just finished the above, it was interesting enough I guess but hardly compelling. Its rather strange in that the blurb ends '...lays bare exactly what we have to fear if and when there is a repeat of the past' but to be honest I came out of it feeling that most of the various 'fascist' movements weren't originally all that bad, it was only really the rise of Nazism and that movements cooption of the radical right that introduced the poisons of anti-semitism and racism to fascism. (Thats not to say that fascists were angels before the Nazi's showed up but they were turbulent and violent times across Europe)

 

[David Kronenbourg]

John The Posthumous by Jason Schwartz
This has been getting rave reviews but I didn't know what to make of it, didn't have a clue what was going on

Have you read Ben Marcus? I think he's in a similar vein. I'm reading one of his books called Notable American Women at the moment. It's about an all female cult called The Silentists who set out to eradicate language. It's very strange.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Have you read Ben Marcus? I think he's in a similar vein. I'm reading one of his books called Notable American Women at the moment. It's about an all female cult called The Silentists who set out to eradicate language. It's very strange.

uh... sounds amazing. I'm a gonna get that based on the premise alone.


also, for 2014:
Next chapter: must-read books for 2014

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Never heard of him but it sounds interesting

 

[Lili Marlene]

From a distance the Goldfinch and the Luminaries look the same. Is this some kind of trick or trend or what?

 

[travispickle]

I'm on a bit of a modern classics buzz-
Almost finished Stoner by John Williams; very enjoyable read - didn't think it'd sustain my interest as very little happens, but it did and it's so well written.
Recently re-read The Old Man and The Sea, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So spare and precise, brilliant writing.
Want to check out more Hemingway, have been advised to go for the short stories next.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I'm on a bit of a modern classics buzz-
Almost finished Stoner by John Williams; very enjoyable read - didn't think it'd sustain my interest as very little happens, but it did and it's so well written.
Recently re-read The Old Man and The Sea, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So spare and precise, brilliant writing.
Want to check out more Hemingway, have been advised to go for the short stories next.

I'm not finding stoner terribly engrossing so far. He's just proposed to that sourpuss for no good reason, I presume she'll say yes.

 

[travispickle]

I'm not finding stoner terribly engrossing so far. He's just proposed to that sourpuss for no good reason, I presume she'll say yes.

It's not exactly a page turner, and it's hard to say what kept me reading, but stick with it. It is good.