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

[Space]

Am reading Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Ukrainians are funny.

just finished this, really enjoyable read. Very cleverly written and a great story too.

 

[IFF]

at the minute the two books i'm reading are:

weathercock by Glen Duncan
Love in the time of cho,lera by gabriel garcia marquez

i'm about 1/2 way through one and 2/3 throught he other

 

[Charlie Bucket]

just finished reading these - i suppose the joy div book (which is atrociously written and contains howling errors not to mention the first use of the word "synthizer"?!?) balanced up any twee elements in the b&s tome which was quite enjoyable but they do come off as kinda precious.

anyways music books aren't real books eh

 

[Rogue]

anyways music books aren't real books eh

Damn straight! the plots are predictable and unengaging, relying on scandal to propel them through a series of non-events which in the attempt to enliven the superficial and wholly unbelievable characters only serves to deepen the torpor of their self-delusion.

 

[Super Dexta]

just finished 'the sea' and 'coraline'. currently reading 'three men in a boat' - one of my favourite comedy books evah.

 

[Rogue]

Most recently finished 'The Life of Pi' which I really enjoyed.

Currently reading Kenneth Galbraith's 'History of Economics' which is excellent.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Damn straight! the plots are predictable and unengaging, relying on scandal to propel them through a series of non-events which in the attempt to enliven the superficial and wholly unbelievable characters only serves to deepen the torpor of their self-delusion.

 

[St. Fechin]

Finished this yesterday:

 

[ICUH8N]

reading "dhalgren" by samuel delany. tough going, and I don't do sci-fi, usually.

just started "54" by Wu-Ming/Luther Blisset/Italian cultural theorists/terrorists/whatever

 

[nEiLo]

Just finished "The Rum Diary" by Hunter S Thompson. Meh...

 

[MDR]

Reading Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, as mentioned in another thread. It's not as similar to the Da Vinci Code or Big Brother as i thought, but it's still good.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Finished this yesterday:

sounds like the kinda thing that would appeal to thumped folks. what was it like? does its central argument hold up?
i immediately distrust it tho as it is written by canadians...the most passively aggressive people on the planet.

 

[St. Fechin]

i immediately distrust it tho as it is written by canadians...the most passively aggressive people on the planet.

Haha. "...a spoonful of maple syrup helps the medicine go down"?

Funny you should mention that term, 'passive agressive', in a way that's the sort of approach the authors recommend for the left: traditional electoral politics rather than radical action. Personally I thought their ideas held up rather well, although the evidence they present is a bit too anecdotal at times, they don't always flesh out their arguments in any great detail either. Being written by two people, it tends to jar stylistically here and there, which can be irritating. Having said that, I'd still definitely recommend it, like you said, a number of times as I read I couldn't help thinking of the thumped folks . It'd certainly be interesting to hear what the more political heads on here make of it.

Good Q&A with the authors here:http://http://www.harpercanada.com/rs/about.asp

 

[St. Fechin]

just finished reading these - i suppose the joy div book (which is atrociously written and contains howling errors not to mention the first use of the word "synthizer"?!?) balanced up any twee elements in the b&s tome which was quite enjoyable but they do come off as kinda precious.

anyways music books aren't real books eh

Bought the Belle & Sebastian one yesterday second-hand for 7 euro. It's such a gorgeous looking book isn't it? I agree with you in the main about
music books not being 'proper' books. There are some exceptions though. Notably:

and

 

[ICUH8N]

I really liked

too.

 

[Antrophe]

Reading Powder by Kevin Sampson, awful book wroughted with all the originality that goes into screw in light bulbs. The story of a Liverpool band and their astronmical rise to NME darlings and then the world. Christ, nothing has ever made music sound so damn boring. Every rockstar cliche is thrown into the blender for good measure as it veers on 500 pages. With so many books on the backgrounds of bands and rockstars how could someone get this so wrong? Well Alex James said it was realistic..

 

[MDR]

Finished Jude the Obscure last night. I really enjoyed that first two-thirds but felt that the tragedy and sensationalism got a little out of hand towards the end. Possibly reading some John Irving next - any recommendations? I have the hotel New Hampshire and a Widow for a Year at home. so might start with one of those.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Bought the Belle & Sebastian one yesterday second-hand for 7 euro. It's such a gorgeous looking book isn't it? I agree with you in the main about
music books not being 'proper' books. There are some exceptions though. Notably:

and

well i was bein sarcastic about music book not being "real books" just cause i'm a bit fictionaphobic. The b&s book looks great tho. Wanna read the azzerad alright and just finished rip it up - i love reynolds descriptions of things - i read energy flash for the same reason even tho i'm not into "dance" music, but the sex revolts and blissed out were a bit to opaque for me. I also enjoyed:

 

[IFF]

over the weekend i finished weathercock by glen duncan and love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez

then last night afterwards, i started Birth of a nation: A comic novel by aaron mcgruder (brilliant cartoonist behind boondocks), reginald hudlin, and kyle barker

coincidenntally, just looking at imdb.com, today is aaron mcgruder's birthday

 

[coraline]

Finished Jude the Obscure last night. I really enjoyed that first two-thirds but felt that the tragedy and sensationalism got a little out of hand towards the end. Possibly reading some John Irving next - any recommendations? I have the hotel New Hampshire and a Widow for a Year at home. so might start with one of those.

Hi ! A Prayer for Owen Meany is my favourite, it was the first one I read. I guess they're all worth reading, except the latest one, its meant to be atrociuos...
And Son of the Circus actually wasnt that great either.Stick to the earlier ones.