What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (9 Viewers)

[BC]

finished mailer's "the executioners song". excellent stuff. despite its hefty volume of pages, it remains totally fascinating. the level of research and attitude of empathy which are so evident in this work are truely remarkable.

read about half of bret eston ellis' "the rules of attraction". i had read "american psycho" years ago, and i found it to be an entertaining read (though it did strike me as trying way too hard), but this one is really tedious. sure, it's easy to read, but there is no substance in it. the characters are all really poorly drawn, and the whole writing style and storytelling is totally unconvincing. if ellis is attempting "satire", then its the worst kind: witless and painfully obvious. the worst thing about it is how criminally boring it is. postmodernist pretentions are no excuse for poor ideas and pointless execution. i dont think i'll bother finishing this one.

 

[Lili Marlene]

re-read the Waterbabies for college work


mentalness

 

[Corey]

Tortilla Flat.

Lovely. I cried at the end.

 

[BC]

finished off "the rules of attraction". didn't reedeem itself. started conrad's "the secret agent", better is an understatement.

 

[timbot]

Reading Don DeLillo's Underworld at the moment. Not blown away by it.

 

[david jatt]

"Lennon: The definitive biography" by Ray Coleman. Not sure how definitive it is, but it is very good all the same.

 

[MDR]

Just started The Hunchback of Notre Dame - it has a reputation as a turgid read, and the first 60 pages or so were quite slow, but it's getting going now. Strange reading the book of a familiar story - Quasimodo is pretty vividly described.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

I'm on a no fiction diet lately. Don't know why.

I'm nearly finished In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - A look at the western diet and how radically it has changed and the effects of that chage is having on people - fascinating and pretty obvious when you consider what he is saying. He wrote a pretty famous book on a similar subjest called The Omnivores Dilemma which I might tackle next.

I'm also back and forth to Will Huttons book about China. Economics makes my head spin but I'll keep plugging away.

I've started one called The Dirt on Clean which is a history of personal heigene - interesting so far.

 

[sarah]

Reading Don DeLillo's Underworld at the moment. Not blown away by it.

have you read anything else by him? I vaguely remembering starting some book of his and being completely lost -it went on huge big baseball related descriptions that went on forever- completely put me off.
v. v. boring.

 

[Super Dexta]

have you read anything else by him? I vaguely remembering starting some book of his and being completely lost -it went on huge big baseball related descriptions that went on forever- completely put me off.
v. v. boring.

that's probably underworld. rakes of baseball, but once you get past it it's quite good.
white noise is better, and shorter.

 

[timbot]

have you read anything else by him? I vaguely remembering starting some book of his and being completely lost -it went on huge big baseball related descriptions that went on forever- completely put me off.
v. v. boring.

That sounds like Underworld actually - the whole first chapter is set at a baseball game in the 1950s and there is an ongoing plot about someone trying to buy the winning ball from that game.
Yeah, I am finding it quite boring but one of the guys I live with is doing his PhD in English at the moment and tells me that he is a well respected writed so who knows...? Maybe I am just not getting it...

 

[travispickle]

Just finished Shakey - Neil Youngs bio; now onto The Humours of Planxty. good old read so far.

 

[timbot]

Just finished Shakey - Neil Youngs bio

Tis really good. I normally get a bit annoyed with bios of musicians but it is a really good read.

 

[travispickle]

Yeh its a great read. He's some odd fella.

 

[MDR]

Anyone read - "Neil Young - the Shakin' Stevens bio"?

 

[BC]

over the week:

neil strauss : the game. (hilarious!)

e e cummings : 100 selected poems (great stuff, use [abuse?] of grammer is wonderful)

peter sotos : special, tool, timeless. (special and tool have their moments, far from his best [selfish little / tick / lazy] though. the ending of special is amazing though. timeless is brilliant, thanks J!)

eric sholsser : reefer madness. (very good, and despite the title, the topic of the economics behind the "war on drugs" only makes up a third of the book, with the topics of illegal immigration as a means of cheap labour and the economics of the pornography industry and the legal treatments of obscenity are covered also. easy to read, clear-eyed and interesting.)

the collected seminars and workshops of milton h. erickson. (inspiring and useful)

picked up the motley crue biography "the dirt", i really look forward to reading that!

 

[muffin]

I'm currently double booking:

Atonement- Good so far.
Jane Eyre- One of those books I always meant to read but didn't. Now the book club I'm in is reading this and The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I plan on reading The Eyre Affair whilst on my holidays next week. Haven't a clue what to expect from it though.

 

[Gambra]

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. It was going cheap in HMV so I picked it up. Great read after seeing the film. Filled in my theories nicely so it did. Also got Charlie Wilson's War to read after it too.

(Yes, I only buy books after seeing the films)

 

[coast to coast]

I am currently reading Herzog by Saul Bellow. Promising so far. I had tried to start The Adventures of Augie March before but failed spectacularly in the face of tiny typeface. This is much more direct.

I just finished Football with the Enemy and Ajax, The Jews and The War both by Simon Kuper, who is the FT's brilliant football columnist. The first one is excellent though unfortunately dated, the second one less interesting as it goes on about Jewish history in Second World War Netherlands in relation to football, which isn't really all that interesting to me.

 

[david jatt]

"A murder of quality" by John Le Carre and now onto his "break through" novel "The Spy who came in from the cold".