KimyReizeger Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 All I've really read recently is a few short stories by Thomas Mann. They are all fairly similar thematically, and generally somewhat depressing with regards to a main character who disintegrates through failure to combine properly with the opposite sex. I'll outline the plot of Little Herr Friedemann to give you an idea:Baby is dropped on head at birthChild is therefore physically deformed; very small and hunchbackedChild falls in love with girl but sees her kissing other boyChild is hurt and vows never to love again and devote life to self-improvementChild grows into clever man of fine tastes in literature, music etcMan is well known and respected in community despite deformityDeformed Man falls in love with beautiful woman, despite conscience and much agonising Beautiful woman professes love for deformed manDeformed man offers a similar proclamation backBeautiful woman calls deformed man an ugly little bastard and runs off gigglingDeformed man drowns himself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 michael palin's diaries barry davies - interesting, very interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Currently reading Morbo by Philip Ball, a history of Spanish football at league and national level. Really well written, much more informative than the Culpepper book, and brings in the history of the nation on a more general level as well and how it feeds into the intense rivalries between clubs.I read that a couple of months ago, a very good book. Some very interesting stuff about Spain's regional rivalries.I read a book about Italian football a while ago which was quite similar in style, although it didn't go into as much historical details. It's called Forza Italia and it's written by Paddy Agnew. It has some very interesting chapters on Silvio Berlusconi and Maradonna's involvement with the mafia.I'm currently jsut a few pages away from finishing Utopia by Thomas More, a very interesting read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jf9tp2wd40 Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 notes from a small island - bill brysonabsolutley brilliant writer, love his books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehunger Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 All I've really read recently is a few short stories by Thomas Mann. They are all fairly similar thematically, and generally somewhat depressing with regards to a main character who disintegrates through failure to combine properly with the opposite sex. I'll outline the plot of Little Herr Friedemann to give you an idea:Baby is dropped on head at birthChild is therefore physically deformed; very small and hunchbackedChild falls in love with girl but sees her kissing other boyChild is hurt and vows never to love again and devote life to self-improvementChild grows into clever man of fine tastes in literature, music etcMan is well known and respected in community despite deformityDeformed Man falls in love with beautiful woman, despite conscience and much agonising Beautiful woman professes love for deformed manDeformed man offers a similar proclamation backBeautiful woman calls deformed man an ugly little bastard and runs off gigglingDeformed man drowns himselfThat doesn't sound very happy. Poor deformed hunchback. I'm going to find a poetry book to look at cause I can't concentrate on reading books properly some days. Mind doesn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimyReizeger Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 I'm going to find a poetry book to look at cause I can't concentrate on reading books properly some days. Mind doesn't work.Yeah, in the past few weeks Ive quarter-read a whole pile of things. Really need something good to get me teeth into but can't quite find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 LA Confidential by James Ellroy.Very different from the movie adaptation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kan' Sharuminar Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 I got Alliance by Jonathan Fenby, which is all about Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt in all their merry meetings together. Bar Antony Beevor's stuff, it's so far been one of the few non-fiction books that has genuinely gripped me.Other than that, I have the entire Calvin and Hobbes collection being sent to me this next week. Joy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amancalledbuck Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 morvern callar - alan warnerthe stornoway way - kevin macneil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaTsunami Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 My favourite Alan Warner novel is 'The Sopranos', I can't recommend it highly enough! His last one 'The Worms Can Carry Me To Heaven' was very good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachie Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha, can honestly say it's one of the best books I've ever read! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsen B Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 morvern callar - alan warnerthe stornoway way - kevin macneilThe Stornoway Way is good, although I had to swallow my pride in taking a book recommendation from the sister in reading it. Funnily enough when I read it it reminded me strongly of Morvern Callar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Adam Copeland on Edge.Put brain in neutral. Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Adam Copeland on Edge.Put brain in neutral. Enjoy.Is that ghost-written or did he do it himself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Von Mondragon Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Just finished 'Midnight Lamp' 3rd of Gwyneth Jones' Rock N Roll Reich sequence, ace. Starting a Norman Spinrad collection 'The Star-Spangled Future', looks good.Also an overview of 100 years of popular (mainly US) music, 'Rockin Out' (ouch) by Reebee Garofalo, contains just enough, but not too much, musicology, (ie very simple).And 'Fantasy Island' by Atkinson & Elliot, about the delusions that inform the NuLab project, Blair's legacy: a fantasy island trying to live beyond its means at every level | Business | The GuardianThe bits about how everybody will be able to have a rewarding, creative job, was the funniest/most depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted August 14, 2008 Report Share Posted August 14, 2008 Is that ghost-written or did he do it himself?He wrote it himself when he was out with his neck injury in like 2004. It's not very good but it's better than the ghost written ones. He just kind of races through the story like "I did this, and then I did that, and then I did this" without going into any detail about anything. Also it's pretty old so it is all before he was a main event guy. I'll give you a shot of it once you get through the Chris Jericho one.WWE books not written by ghost writers, in order:1 Mick Foley - Have A Nice Day2 Chris Jericho - A Lion's Tale3 Mick Foley - Foley Is Good4 Adam Copeland - On Edge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Tony Visconti's autobiography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 Read Chris Brookmyre's latest, A Snowball In Hell last week. I'll not give anything away, I'll simply say it's fucking superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 I'm a couple of chapters through The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart and about two-thirds of my way through The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins....my attention span is way too short, though, it's probably going to take me about three months before I actually finish either of those two. :O...and I borrowed Exit Music, that Radiohead book, off Ross and I don't think I'll ever get round to finishing it. :O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 That book is good.Not according to Cloud it seems. Perhaps he should have given the negative reputation to the author. ...But she isn't registered on the site. ...And she is dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted August 20, 2008 Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 I'm a couple of chapters through The Dice Man - Luke RhinehartNo!!!!!I gave up after 7 chapters, it's such tedious rubbish and quite easily the worst book I've ever read, and that includes reading some utter rubbish by Kazuo Ishiguro.Words cannot express my hatred for The Dice Man :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Von Mondragon Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 It is well overrated, and a bit dodgy besides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 I thought The Dice Man was great when I first read it a few years ago.I was wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Von Mondragon Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 At the weekend read 'Wild Harbour' by Ian Macpherson, one of the best things I have read in ages, I couldn't do it justice here, but in its mixture of minimalist dystopianism, and closely observed Naturalism, the story of a couple who flee Doom to live in the mountains of Badenoch is surely one of the masterworks of 20th century Scottish Literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaTsunami Posted August 22, 2008 Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 seamus deane - reading in the darkbrilliant so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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