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[Gypsum_Fantastic]

Didn't really know where to put this, after hearing about the Graham Chapman docu i went on a wikipedia binge and found this, think i read it a while ago but it is a very moving and funny eulogy from John Cleese about Chapman.

Graham Chapman, co-author of the 'Parrot Sketch,' is no more.

He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky, and I guess that we're all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, such capability and kindness, of such intelligence should now be so suddenly spirited away at the age of only forty-eight, before he'd achieved many of the things of which he was capable, and before he'd had enough fun.

Well, I feel that I should say, "Nonsense. Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard! I hope he fries. "

And the reason I think I should say this is, he would never forgive me if I didn't, if I threw away this opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. Anything for him but mindless good taste. I could hear him whispering in my ear last night as I was writing this:

"Alright, Cleese, you're very proud of being the first person to ever say 'shit' on television. If this service is really for me, just for starters, I want you to be the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fuck'!"

You see, the trouble is, I can't. If he were here with me now I would probably have the courage, because he always emboldened me. But the truth is, I lack his balls, his splendid defiance. And so I'll have to content myself instead with saying 'Betty Mardsen...'

But bolder and less inhibited spirits than me follow today. Jones and Idle, Gilliam and Palin. Heaven knows what the next hour will bring in Graham's name. Trousers dropping, blasphemers on pogo sticks, spectacular displays of high-speed farting, synchronised incest. One of the four is planning to stuff a dead ocelot and a 1922 Remington typewriter up his own arse to the sound of the second movement of Elgar's cello concerto. And that's in the first half.

Because you see, Gray would have wanted it this way. Really. Anything for him but mindless good taste. And that's what I'll always remember about him---apart, of course, from his Olympian extravagance. He was the prince of bad taste. He loved to shock. In fact, Gray, more than anyone I knew, embodied and symbolised all that was most offensive and juvenile in Monty Python. And his delight in shocking people led him on to greater and greater feats. I like to think of him as the pioneering beacon that beat the path along which fainter spirits could follow.

Some memories. I remember writing the undertaker speech with him, and him suggesting the punch line, 'All right, we'll eat her, but if you feel bad about it afterwards, we'll dig a grave and you can throw up into it.' I remember discovering in 1969, when we wrote every day at the flat where Connie Booth and I lived, that he'd recently discovered the game of printing four-letter words on neat little squares of paper, and then quietly placing them at strategic points around our flat, forcing Connie and me into frantic last minute paper chases whenever we were expecting important guests.

I remember him at BBC parties crawling around on all fours, rubbing himself affectionately against the legs of gray-suited executives, and delicately nibbling the more appetizing female calves. Mrs. Eric Morecambe remembers that too.

I remember his being invited to speak at the Oxford union, and entering the chamber dressed as a carrot---a full length orange tapering costume with a large, bright green sprig as a hat----and then, when his turn came to speak, refusing to do so. He just stood there, literally speechless, for twenty minutes, smiling beatifically. The only time in world history that a totally silent man has succeeded in inciting a riot.

I remember Graham receiving a Sun newspaper TV award from Reggie Maudling. Who else! And taking the trophy falling to the ground and crawling all the way back to his table, screaming loudly, as loudly as he could. And if you remember Gray, that was very loud indeed.

It is magnificent, isn't it? You see, the thing about shock... is not that it upsets some people, I think; I think that it gives others a momentary joy of liberation, as we realised in that instant that the social rules that constrict our lives so terribly are not actually very important.

Well, Gray can't do that for us anymore. He's gone. He is an ex-Chapman. All we have of him now is our memories. But it will be some time before they fade.

[kirsten]

Just finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions which is quite frankly insane. Totally absorbing, surreal, darkly humorous and made me rethink the possibilities of a narrative voice. Hints of autobiographical information too which are really interesting/deeply personal and touching.

Now reading Margaret Atwood's "The HandMaids tale". Incredible so far. Very sinister.

Hooray! Breakfast of Champions is my favourite Vonnegut novel, incredibly weird and ace drawings. I am easily pleased. Keep meaning to read the Handmaid's Tale but still haven't got round to it yet.

[Lucius]

I just started reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on Saturday.

Only half way through it but I can honestly say I haven't loved a book this much in years.

[Guest]

Hooray! Breakfast of Champions is my favourite Vonnegut novel, incredibly weird and ace drawings. I am easily pleased. Keep meaning to read the Handmaid's Tale but still haven't got round to it yet.

Want to borrow my copy? Just finished it, it's a masterpiece! Very eerie and sinister, brilliantly told, can't say much else without giving stuff away though.

Now going to attempt to read Doris Lessing's "The Grass is Singing" by T in the park, wish me luck!

[Lemonade]

I'm making a second attempt at "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. I struggled with it first time round and didn't finish it, but I'm really really getting sucked into it this time. Unputdownable.

[KarmaTsunami]

Finished Caitlin Moran's How to be a Woman today and I can honestly say that it is brilliant. It's extremely funny in places, a lot smarter than I expected it to be and the chapter on abortion has to be one of the best things I've ever read on the subject and should be required reading. In fact, the whole book should be. It's just really, really good.

Also finished off Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf which is a lot better than a book about werewolves has any right to be. It goes into the moral and spiritual ramifications of becoming and continuing to be a monster, the blurring of the line between the man and the animal and is also very touching. There are also some very rude sexy moments but they're written well enough not to be cringeworthy.

[Monster Zero]

Was reading 'Devilfish', the autobiography of poker player Dave Ulliott, which I bought at Asda in a '2 for 7' deal with Simon Pegg's autobiography, it was an OK read.

Now reading 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. I have never read anything by him so thought it was time to give him a go.

[Paranoid Android]

I'm reading one of Murakami's short story collections, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. So far it's been quite a mixed bag, some I've really liked and others that have just left me puzzled.

[Alkaline]

Whilst i'm waiting for the new George R R Martin to come out at a sensible price for the Kindle i read both Dying Light and Broken Skin by Stuart MacBride and have just started re-reading The Stand by Stephen King.

The MacBride books are enjoyable enough and while they don't hit any new ground i find them endearing.

The Stand is a monster, i love it though. Must be over 10 years since i last read it though.

[sophiejones880]

I was curios about the Twilight saga why people like it especially the film because so far I don't like the film. I've read the first (Twilight) and third(New Moon) book. And lastly The fourth one (Breaking Dawn). The story was okay. I like the fourth installment because all the revelations are their.

[kirsten]

Paul Auster's 'New York Trilogy'. Have only read his latest one, 'Sunset Park'. It was kinda dull but have heard NYT is ace and so far, so good.

[Paranoid Android]

New York Trilogy is great. I should read that again soon. If you feel like some more Auster after this you should get a hold of Book of Illusions. It's fabulous and my favourite thing of his I've read by far.

[Old Gold]

Whilst i'm waiting for the new George R R Martin to come out at a sensible price for the Kindle i read both Dying Light and Broken Skin by Stuart MacBride and have just started re-reading The Stand by Stephen King.

The MacBride books are enjoyable enough and while they don't hit any new ground i find them endearing.

The Stand is a monster, i love it though. Must be over 10 years since i last read it though.

Man, I love the MacBride books. I've got one offshore with me at the moment, but because the covers all look exactly the same, I can't remember which one.

I also intend to finally read Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut if work is slow. Liked Slaughter House 5, but couldn't tolerate Breakfast of Champions. What a crap book.

[Surfer_Rosa]

Liked Slaughter House 5, but couldn't tolerate Breakfast of Champions. What a crap book.

Pretty much how I felt. Mother Night and Hocus Pocus might be worth checking too, they're a bit more like Slaughterhouse 5.

I just finished Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets, and going through some Philip K Dick short stories just now. Had to give up on Naked Lunch as bedtime reading, need to read it when I'm properly awake.

[stoney_stu]

Reading "A wizard a true star" about Todd Rundgren and his studio genius, very interesting read. I actually dont have any of his albums, but i do have quite a few on the ones he produced. of which my favourite is XTC's Skylarking.

Also reading Michael Dibdins Zen detective novels after seeing the TV series... Oh Caterina Mureno is gorgeous ! the books are of course much better than the TV series excellent.

@Plinth, Steinbeck is an amazing writer, been a while but I devoured all his books as a teenager... East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath. I guess they'd be old fashioned no wbut superb stories.

[Outdoor Miner]

The Assistant by Robert Walser - I liked the cover so I got it. It's about a guy who starts a new job.

[Old Gold]

MacBride hit the spot, once again. Excellent trash.

Cat's Cradle is starting slowly. Heartened by the introduction comparing it to Slaughterhouse 5 though.

[Guest E.C]

Reading 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad, but struggling to get through it as the sentences are so luxuriously materialised and I'm so luxuriously slow, I have to read every sentence about 6 times before I understand what's going on.

At least I can admit it.

[Guest]

Reading 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad, but struggling to get through it as the sentences are so luxuriously materialised and I'm so luxuriously slow, I have to read every sentence about 6 times before I understand what's going on.

At least I can admit it.

The only reason I finished this book in the time it takes me to read a normal novel is that it's quite short. Bit like Nabakov in that Conrad has quite elaborate and floral sentences but it get's easier as you go along, I think.

Also, I don't think the book is as inherently racist as everyone plays it up to be, either. Jus' sayin.

I liked Cat's Cradle but then again I'm a Vonnegut fanboy so I'mma probably just stop talking about him.

Anyone know where I can pick up a Richard Brautigan book around town somewhere? You can just get Waterstones to order for you, eh?

[Guest E.C]

It's a quotefest though. I've been highlighting passages as I go because they're so well written and/or ring so true to my mind.

It is definitely prejudiced in a few places, but thats inherent of the time it was written/published. (Not saying that makes it OK, just clarifying)

Hopefully I'll be finished with it before 2012 and can give a further review.

[KarmaTsunami]

The only reason I finished this book in the time it takes me to read a normal novel is that it's quite short. Bit like Nabakov in that Conrad has quite elaborate and floral sentences but it get's easier as you go along, I think.

Also, I don't think the book is as inherently racist as everyone plays it up to be, either. Jus' sayin.

I liked Cat's Cradle but then again I'm a Vonnegut fanboy so I'mma probably just stop talking about him.

Anyone know where I can pick up a Richard Brautigan book around town somewhere? You can just get Waterstones to order for you, eh?

Yup, as long as it's in print it can be ordered.

[kirsten]

Anyone know where I can pick up a Richard Brautigan book around town somewhere? You can just get Waterstones to order for you, eh?

I think the only one we've ever had in is Revenge Of The Lawn, I keep meaning to try order up others but wouldn't really know where to start. Dear publisher, just send us anything, bye.

[Shaki]

I just finished Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets

Did you enjoy it? I absolutely loved it. The detail and soul to his writing is exceptional. Educational and heart breaking.

[KarmaTsunami]

Such a good book. 'The Corner' is even more heartbreaking. I mean, the miniseries is difficult to watch but I kept having to put the book down and do something else where I just blazed through 'Homicide'.

[Surfer_Rosa]

Yeah I probably enjoyed it more than any other book I've read recently. I bought The Corner for my brother a while ago so I'm definitely going to borrow it in the near future.