Books!! ...Again.

[Dinosaur]

That book has one of the finest first chapters I've ever read. Although Ronnie Corbett's autobiography probably just beats it.

I'm deadly serious.

Will have to give that a read. was the Micheal J Fox one an autobiog? or just I biog? I can't remember, read it a few months ago ?(

[Swingin' Ryan]

hahah! "Pseudo-inteligentsia"

You are mistaken' date=' I am not the kind of person who professes a dislike for stuff because it's popular, I just happen to have an opinion of my own, sorry if you don't agree with my impeccable good taste.

I don't understand where chris morris comes into this either, perhaps you can explain the relevance?[/quote']

Do you ever get a little bit upset in the night time when you realise that even though you hate the 'idiot simpletons' that populate this website and listen to 'dead 4 piece rock bands' and read kids books... you still come on the internet and have arguments with them.

You are the internet equivalent of Chris Morris getting a job presenting CD:UK.

[Hardcore Mel]

How is it ignorant? Surely if anyone deserves to be patronised' date=' it's people who post to a thread about books to say that they have just read the biography of a wrestler.

Then again, I suppose the ability to distinguish between commercial products and genuine, meaningful creative output is something that the people who inhabit this website seem to lack anyway. You twat.[/quote']

the thread was about books you'd recently read. not smartest book you've ever read. i've read a lot of camus, kafka, sartre and ionesco. i've read the outsider in more than one language. but i'm not so obsessed with coming across as intelligent that i refuse to read something entertaining but not particularly taxing. having said that, jimmy lucifer is right. mick foley has an amazing, witty writing style. he had to fight his publishers to get rid of the ghost writer they'd originally hired to write his first book.

should we get a mod to change the title of this thread to 'genuine, meaningful creative output!!.....Again.'?

[Guest tv tanned]

Well if the guy actually wrote it himself' date=' i'd imagine its just a series of crayon scrawls, but more than likely it's been written by someone else, in order to cash in on his "image", and lets face it, I doubt the life of a redneck chicken-strangling wife-beater who earns a living by fondling men in lycra suits is of much importance to humanity.[/quote']

Y'know you come across as the usual type, denigrating the literary choices of others while loudly talking about how much you just adored Notes From The Underground by Dostoyevsky.

You probably think that your choice of reading sets you apart from others somehow.

Reality check - nobody gives a fuck how clever you really think you are. I don't need to read tell everyone about how Zamyatin > Huxley in order to feel clever and look clever.

You sir come across as little more than a charlatan. Feeling the need to cry out to the world that you read all these 'intellectual' novels, and decrying those who chose a lighter form of entertainment.

Seems more like you want people to think you are clever, rather than actually being clever.

The giveaway of course, is in your decrying of people who appreciate 1984. It is a brilliant dystopian work, parodying Stalinist Russia and its echos are still being heard to this day.

You seem to be one of these intellectual elitists who think that books that can be appreciated by the masses are somehow invalid choices.

Well guess what, I've read all the Harry Potter books, yet still hold works by Dostoyevsky, Orwell, Kafka, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Sylvia Plath and others in my bookcase.

Therefore I > you

[Stripey]

the thread was about books you'd recently read. not smartest book you've ever read.

Yes I'm aware of that, I still think it's fucking hilarious that you even admitted to reading the autobiography of a wrestler.

[Guest tv tanned]

Yes I'm aware of that' date=' I still think it's fucking hilarious that you even admitted to reading the autobiography of a wrestler.[/quote']

have you read it?

[Stripey]

You sir come across as little more than a charlatan. Feeling the need to cry out to the world that you read all these 'intellectual' novels' date=' and decrying those who chose a lighter form of entertainment.

Seems more like you want people to think you are clever, rather than actually being clever.

The giveaway of course, is in your decrying of people who appreciate 1984. It is a brilliant dystopian work, parodying Stalinist Russia and its echos are still being heard to this day.

You seem to be one of these intellectual elitists who think that books that can be appreciated by the masses are somehow invalid choices.

Well guess what, I've read all the Harry Potter books, yet still hold works by Dostoyevsky, Orwell, Kafka, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Sylvia Plath and others in my bookcase.

Therefore I > you[/quote']

Ah right, I see, so saying that Harry Potter is written for kids and only read by adults because they are victims of a marketing campaign, makes me an elitist? Nice one. Clearly I'm a charlatan aswell for having an opinion slightly different to yours, and the gall to state my opinions in public.

And no, I am not "decrying" people who "appreciate" 1984, I just said that it wasn't my favourite book by Orwell and that I get a bit tired of people going on about it. Thanks for your amazing insight into the book, now, thanks to you I now completely understand the meaning and signifigance of 1984.

Anyway, you seem to be one of these people who assumes moral superiority and thinks you know it all, what are they called again......ah yes, wannabe politicians.

[Guest bluesxman]

Ah right' date=' I see, so saying that Harry Potter is written for kids and only read by adults because they are victims of a marketing campaign, makes me an elitist? Nice one. Clearly I'm a charlatan aswell for having an opinion slightly different to yours, and the gall to state my opinions in public. [/quote']

As a bystander to this debate and others i've seen you partake in, you don't just offer an opinion, which you are well entitled to, you always be-little the tastes of others and paint yourself as somehow superior to them. Why?

[Marillionboy]

I've just finished Ewan Morrison's THE LAST BOOK YOU READ, which I got in Ottakers. Its absolute stunning: a great collection of short stories by a Glasgow writer. Two in particular are great: "Fuck Buddy" and "Re: Your Ad".

[Guest tv tanned]

Ah right' date=' I see, so saying that Harry Potter is written for kids and only read by adults because they are victims of a marketing campaign, makes me an elitist? Nice one. Clearly I'm a charlatan aswell for having an opinion slightly different to yours, and the gall to state my opinions in public.[/quote']

No, you have an opinion which is more than slightly different chum.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime is a children's book, yet it was one of the best books I read last year.

Sometimes escapism and the reading of 'children's literature' is allowed y'know.

And no, I am not "decrying" people who "appreciate" 1984, I just said that it wasn't my favourite book by Orwell and that I get a bit tired of people going on about it. Thanks for your amazing insight into the book, now, thanks to you I now completely understand the meaning and signifigance of 1984.

I could happily go into great detail of the meaning and significance of 1984, since it was part of my Sixth Year Studies English Dissertation.

So because it is not YOUR favourite book by Orwell, you get tired by people going on about it. I get tired of you in general, care to take your own advice and shut the fuck up?

Anyway, you seem to be one of these people who assumes moral superiority and thinks you know it all, what are they called again......ah yes, wannabe politicians.

Erm, the only person with a superiority complex in this thread is you bucko.

[Hardcore Mel]

Yes I'm aware of that' date=' I still think it's fucking hilarious that you even admitted to reading the autobiography of a wrestler.[/quote']

why not? i'm obviously not as insecure about my own intellect as you are. i can read pick and choose from a wide spectrum of books and i'm not ashamed about picking something up because gridlock might not find it smart enough. 'foley is good' was recommended to me by both jonny and jimmy lucifer, both of whom i consider highly intelligent and well read. i think it's fucking hilarious that you're so desperate to be considered intelligent. bet you have a secret stash of nuts magazines under your bed that you read hidden inside the cover of Dostoyevsky's The Idiots.

[Swingin' Ryan]

Harry Potter is written for kids and only read by adults because they are victims of a marketing campaign.

Haha...'Victims of a marketing campaign'.

Surely you will never be able to top that statement.

Oooh, that fucking media machine, poisoning society with their evil marketing campaigns and making us read books about boy wizards. I've clearly been broken down, time to chuck out my Joyce and Fowles and start reading nothing but JK Rowling.

Some people do actually feel secure enough with their intelligence to read something other than classic literature once in awhile. I think you should have your own 'sticky' thread where you can update us on what 'intelligent' literature you've been reading each week, so you can feel better about yourself.

[Guest tv tanned]

Haha...'Victims of a marketing campaign'.

Surely you will never be able to top that statement.

Oooh' date=' that fucking media machine, poisoning society with their evil marketing campaigns and making us read books about boy wizards. I've clearly been broken down, time to chuck out my Joyce and Fowles and start reading nothing but JK Rowling.

Some people do actually feel secure enough with their intelligence to read something other than classic literature once in awhile. I think you should have your own 'sticky' thread where you can update us on what 'intelligent' literature you've been reading each week, so you can feel better about yourself.[/quote']

here, have a rosette for 'post of the week'.

[Louiecypher]

I love Alan Warner' date=' 'The Sopranos' is both the funniest and saddest book i've read in a while. There's a lot in there, especially for what on the surface appears to be a story about a girls choir going to edinburgh and behaving badly. 'Morvern Callar' is also brilliant in my opinion. 'These Demented Lands' was a lot harder going though, worth it in the end.[/quote']

Did you see the Morvern Callar film? I was disappointed they didn't cast a Scottish girl in the lead role, or at least get the actress to attempt a west coast accent (well, maybe not...). The accents and dialect is a large part of the appeal of Warner's writing.

[Guest Jake Wifebeater]

Ah right' date=' I see, so saying that Harry Potter is written for kids and only read by adults because they are victims of a marketing campaign, makes me an elitist? Nice one. Clearly I'm a charlatan aswell for having an opinion slightly different to yours, and the gall to state my opinions in public.

And no, I am not "decrying" people who "appreciate" 1984, I just said that it wasn't my favourite book by Orwell and that I get a bit tired of people going on about it. Thanks for your amazing insight into the book, now, thanks to you I now completely understand the meaning and signifigance of 1984.

Anyway, you seem to be one of these people who assumes moral superiority and thinks you know it all, what are they called again......ah yes, wannabe politicians.[/quote']

I sense Stripey.

[KarmaTsunami]

Did you see the Morvern Callar film? I was disappointed they didn't cast a Scottish girl in the lead role' date=' or at least get the actress to attempt a west coast accent (well, maybe not...). The accents and dialect is a large part of the appeal of Warner's writing.[/quote']

it most definitely is. i haven't seen the film yet but i keep meaning to. i used to pray they'd make a film version of 'The Sopranos'....but it'd have to be damned good to live up to my expectations.

i've just started 'Birchwood' by John Banville and I'm already liking it.

[Val]

For all those who liked the Da Vinci Code; you might like Steve Berry's Romanov Prophecy; which is fairly good if your into early 20th Century Russian history. However some of it is shockingly aawfully written and pure plagerism of Brown. Worth a try though. It's a fairly easy read.

[Stuart]

I've clearly been broken down' date=' time to chuck out my Joyce [/quote']

For the sake of your sanity Ryan, do it.

Anyway, my mp3 died, and on Friday my CD player (temporary replacement) also died, just before I was about to get the train to Aberdeen, so I needed something to keep me occupied for the next 3 hours. I went into WHSmith in Queen Street Station and saw 'The Da Vinci Code' and decided I'd buy that. Best decision ever. The train journey went so fast, and when I got home I read about another 150 or so pages, leaving myself with roughly enough to last the train journey home today. It's not the most intelligent book, it doesn't make you want to run off and construct a thesis on humanity and its downfall, but it does keep you entertained. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, is the purpose of a 6.99 novel from the WHSmith best sellers list.

Although my favourite book is probably The Crucible by Arthur Miller, or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Or Dracula, purely due to the Victorian black humour.

[Flash@TMB]

Anything by Bill Bryson. Just finished 'Down Under'. 'Notes from a Big Country' is good too. And 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' is amazing.

I've just started re-reading my favourite work of fiction. In the 80s and 90s the author Len Deighton produced a 9 book series that ranks among the greatest works of modern fiction. The books are:

Game

Set

Match

Hook

Line

Sinker

Faith

Hope

Charity

In that order. There is also a 10th book 'Winter' which is sort of a prequel but it's not really tied into the other nine and is much heavier going, lacking the humour.

Each book works as a separate complete story in it's own right, but every 3 books forms a trilogy with a bigger story running through them. The 3 trilogies tie in together to from the complete story.

The story is set against the backdrop of the British Intelligence Service, but most of the action is domestic, as in relationships, friendships, affairs etc. And MI6 is portrayed more like that programme 'The Office'. There's a lot of real life humour threaded in. The charactersation is superb with an equal split of male and female characters. And the books hold equal appeal to both sexes.

The first 5 books are narated in first person by one character. They give you this persons spin on things. This is not immediately apparent until you reach the 6th book 'Sinker' which is written in third person and covers the entire time period of the first 5 books plus 6 years previous. Then you realise that the main character does not have the complete picture and is wrong on several counts. The last 3 books are again in first person, and in the ninth book everyone comes (almost) clean.

Think of 'Coronation Street', crossed with 'The Office', crossed with 'Brideshead Revisted', crossed with 'Hill Street BLues', crossed with '24' and you get the idea!

A couple of years back I read a similar book based on the CIA called 'The Company'. It was a very good but the Deighton books still piss all over it.

[Guest Tam o' Shantie]

i can't believe i hadn't read Catcher In The Rye until last week. Read it now, if you haven't already done so.

[Flash@TMB]

i can't believe i hadn't read Catcher In The Rye until last week. Read it now' date=' if you haven't already done so.[/quote']

And afterwards shoot George W Bush. Please.

[trippinoneastereggs]

Christopher Brookmyer's A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away. Contains a two page, no holds barred slagging of Aberdeen.

"Aberdeen is not Silver it is Grey. If Aberdeen is Silver then shit isn't brown. It's coppertone"