Spoonie Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 No, it's the one with the guy in the coma/the crazy story about hunting in South Africa.Slaughterhouse Five is decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Easy Wishes Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 LUCKY! Have you read Way to Go by Alan Spence? If not, I recommend that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyboy Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 From the fiction I've read this year, there's a few I'd describe as "mega good"; Sea of Poppies if you want a big fuck-off page turner (I'm reading the second one now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted November 25, 2015 Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 Slaughter house 5 is a beaut' - excellent way to finish off the year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted December 3, 2015 Report Share Posted December 3, 2015 I'm reading "Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson" by Peter Ames Carlin. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CXK14DC/ref=pe_385721_48721101_TE_M1T1DP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted December 4, 2015 Report Share Posted December 4, 2015 Just finished Man in the High Castle which was pretty laborious and not that enjoyable. Loved the idea but the execution was pretty poor. Started The Money Culture by Micheal Lewis this morning on the bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 Bram Stoker's Dracula. An arduous and somewhat verbose tale of a vampire and some shit annoying people. Haruki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Existential sci-fi that is strange, baffling, compelling and mostly enjoyable. Do not read Murakami when you are hungry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 43 minutes ago, James Broonbreed said: Haruki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Existential sci-fi that is strange, baffling, compelling and mostly enjoyable. Do not read Murakami when you are hungry. Glad you enjoyed. I loved that book. Props to the translator, must be such a tough job. I have been shit at reading this year. My excuse is that I walk to work rather than get the bus, where I used to do most of my reading, but I have also just become very lazy. I've been better in the last month or though, due to rekindling my love of music books. I finished Carrie Brownstein's autobiography. It was for the most part great, but felt a little rushed at the end. "We decided to stop the whole band thing and I made up for it by getting loads of pets. Then we reunited. The end." I am currently the last person in the world who likes music to read 'Our Band Could Be Your Life'. I've been meaning to for ages, but always managed to find something else to read instead. I'm only just on the second chapter, about the wonderful Minutemen, so have only finished the Black Flag one so far. Henry Rollins used to be a colossal prick, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 It's probably my least favourite of the three I've read. But still very good. I'll probably start another one once I finish The Wine of Youth, by John Fante. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted December 11, 2015 Report Share Posted December 11, 2015 Our Band Could Be Your Life is a great read! I've just finished The Money Culture by Michael Lewis which was alright in bits and quite enlightening but as a collection of essays and articles it wasn't as enjoyable as his normal books Started Remedy is None by William McIlvanney yesterday. Decided to re-read his books after his passing last weekend and it's been a great reminder just how good he is at describing emotions and feelings. I end up reading passages over and over and highlighting them on my kindle to read to my wife because they're so captivating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Really enjoyed Remedy is None and it didn't pan out the way I'd been expecting it to Took the unusual (for me) step of re-reading something now, as I picked up Trainspotting again. It's such a great book, with fantastic characters and a great mix of the poignant and the ridiculous, with the exploration of working class Scottish life weaved throughout. I watched the film again recently for the first time in years and it's ace seeing how it was adapted and the bits they kept in/tweaked/took out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Really enjoyed Remedy is None and it didn't pan out the way I'd been expecting it to Took the unusual (for me) step of re-reading something now, as I picked up Trainspotting again. It's such a great book, with fantastic characters and a great mix of the poignant and the ridiculous, with the exploration of working class Scottish life weaved throughout. I watched the film again recently for the first time in years and it's ace seeing how it was adapted and the bits they kept in/tweaked/took out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted December 20, 2015 Report Share Posted December 20, 2015 That Beach Boys book I mentioned above is the best book I've read this year. Fucking superb read. Highly recommended. Now reading "Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane. I've read a few of his but not this one. I remember watching the film a few years ago and absolutely loving it so I've got high hopes. I also can't remember what happens in it so that's a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted December 27, 2015 Report Share Posted December 27, 2015 Started chipping away at the Elvis Costello autobiography that I got for christmas. It's an enormous slab of words. Near 700 pages. He has a very absorbing style of writing. A real wordsmith. But 4 chapters in, he has (impeccably) written about not very much at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaaakkkeee Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 Daft Wee Stories by Limmy. I like humorous books but this is the first to make me actually LOL page after page. Would recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted December 29, 2015 Report Share Posted December 29, 2015 "Sickness Behind Young Eyes" by Jack Lewis. I plucked this from the turd-infested waters of the "free" section of the Kindle store and reads like a free book. It's part of a series, doubt I'll read the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaaakkkeee Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 On 11/23/2015 at 3:35 PM, Spoonie said: Have you read Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh? That's my favourite of his. Bought his new one but the blurb bored me, his books are on a steady decline IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 Decided that my one resolution for this year will be 'More Books, Less Internet' as 2015 was my most pathetic year for reading yet (I think I only read about 13 or so...) On Friday I read 'Renegade' by Mark E Smith. Whilst it is very very funny at times and bitter the whole way through, I was mainly struck by how delusional he is. Apart from playing the martyr the whole way through, he tells all these obviously made-up stories about times he acted like A Great Guy or describes little philosophies he has that are completely contradictory to the way he conducts himself. It's mental. I might re-read it just so I can take note of how many times he mentions the fact that the pay within the Fall is completely equal. Still a good read, probably 4/5 but definitely one to be taken with a truckload of salt. Yesterday I read Jon Ronson's 'So You've Been Publicly Shamed'. He's one of my favourites and it's remarkably easy to read due to his writing style, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I have his last few books. I think that despite the fact he often deals with serious subjects, it's usually in a light-hearted way, whereas this was just grim. There's a few funny moments and I enjoyed his constant justifications for writing the book, almost doing some soul-searching himself. There's not really a conclusion to the whole thing, just a shrug of "aren't people cruel sometimes?" but I got the new paperback version, which has a very good extra chapter about the tiny backlash he has received since the book was published. Probably 3/5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 I started Lord Of The Rings. 3 hours or so in and they haven't left the fucking Shire yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 Finished the year off after the re-read of Trainspotting with another re-read of William McIlvanney's Docherty which I finished on Saturday (thus qualifying it for book 1 of 2016) and now reading his follow-up The Kiln (written about 20 years after Docherty and following the life of the grandson of the original protagonist). Regarding the Mark E. Smith book, that sounds like an interesting read and I do think it's difficult when you write an autobiography to walk the line between showing that you did some nice things and acting like a twat about it. How do you share stories of your good deeds without it looking like you're falsely bigging yourself up. I'm reminded of a guy called Bill Romanowski who played Linebacker for the Raiders, Broncos and 49ers and was a total badass and a vicious player, crossing the line into nasty and unethical with great regularity. Of course, he did some nice stuff too, but those nice stories never made the press because they didn't fit the narrative of this kind of heel character. So when he writes his autobiography, he tells all the nasty stories but adds in a few of the nicer ones and it leaves you wondering if they're made up or if he's just trying too hard. On the subject of Irvine Welsh, I'd agree to an extent that his books have declined since the 90s output, but I thought that A Decent Ride was a good return to some kind of form (after Siamese Twins which wasn't great) but Skagboys, despite being pretty long, had some fantastic stuff in it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stroopy121 Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 4 hours ago, Lemonade said: I started Lord Of The Rings. 3 hours or so in and they haven't left the fucking Shire yet. It's a difficult book to get through if you're trying to race the story along. It's one of those books that's written like prose, where the whole story stops for 5 pages to describe the colour of a tree. Just finished The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett - loved it. Looking forward to going back to Discworld books, but the lack of chapters in them really threw my pace... Anyway, I've decided I want to read more this year after hardly reading anything last year. The 50 book challenge will never happen for me, so I'm aiming for a minimum of 12 this year. I think one a month is a decent target. Just started the almost-newest Christopher Brookmyre book - Dead Girl Walking. crime drama/black comedy, nothing new for him, but I'm enjoying it as I love his stuff and I love that Parlabane is back in action. Getting this one knocked out in time for his new new book coming out at the end of the month. xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 Like everyone else, I also made the 'more reading' resolution. I got an e-reader and everything. It's good. I had to abandon the Elvis Costello bio for the time being. I thought he'd be more interesting than he is, but it just seems like page after page "So I was at this concert somewhere in middle America, and Bob Dylan was there, so we had a drink and that, because we're mates" and "This one time, me and Joe Strummer (did I tell you I knew Joe Strummer?) were in the studio, and it was a right laugh. Especially when Paul McCartney popped in for a cuppa. We argued about which one of us was Pete Townshend's bestest mate." And most of the chapters start like backwards riddles, where you don't really get a grasp of what he is talking about until a couple of pages in as he gradually paints the picture. Not what I expected of a rock and roll memoir. Just tell me what drugs you did and how many birds you nailed. I'll come back to it, but I've started on The Story of Crass by George Berger. It's good so far. First couple of chapters read like "Clash? Dogshit. The Jam? Posers. Pistols? Twats. You're shit. You're shit. You're shit. Not punx." I like it. I'm not particularly a Crass fan. I find everything that surrounded them quite fascinating, but their music didn't ever do it for me. Good read so far though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 11 hours ago, Spoonie said: Regarding the Mark E. Smith book, that sounds like an interesting read and I do think it's difficult when you write an autobiography to walk the line between showing that you did some nice things and acting like a twat about it. How do you share stories of your good deeds without it looking like you're falsely bigging yourself up. I'm reminded of a guy called Bill Romanowski who played Linebacker for the Raiders, Broncos and 49ers and was a total badass and a vicious player, crossing the line into nasty and unethical with great regularity. Of course, he did some nice stuff too, but those nice stories never made the press because they didn't fit the narrative of this kind of heel character. So when he writes his autobiography, he tells all the nasty stories but adds in a few of the nicer ones and it leaves you wondering if they're made up or if he's just trying too hard. I think I phrased what I meant badly. Not necessarily just the talking up the times when he was a nice guy, as even total arseholes are capable of good deeds, but just some of it is really weird. Like, he sort of glosses over the fact that he assaulted Julia Nagle in New York ("We knocked each other about a bit... But I refused to prosecute.") and then later claimed he was arrested for shouting ("What I didn't know was that it's an offence to do that, to start shouting, because of the fire regulations. I understand it now.") rather than the fact that he was being aggressive. In another part, also in New York pre-9/11, he has a throwaway paragraph about how outside the World Trade Centre, he'd told some guy who was going in that the building looked poorly constructed and unstable. MES "I told you so"ing September 11th. It's just bizarre little things like that. I'd definitely recommend it as a read, though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 10 hours ago, Stroopy121 said: It's a difficult book to get through if you're trying to race the story along. It's one of those books that's written like prose, where the whole story stops for 5 pages to describe the colour of a tree. Just finished The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett - loved it. Looking forward to going back to Discworld books, but the lack of chapters in them really threw my pace... Anyway, I've decided I want to read more this year after hardly reading anything last year. The 50 book challenge will never happen for me, so I'm aiming for a minimum of 12 this year. I think one a month is a decent target. Just started the almost-newest Christopher Brookmyre book - Dead Girl Walking. crime drama/black comedy, nothing new for him, but I'm enjoying it as I love his stuff and I love that Parlabane is back in action. Getting this one knocked out in time for his new new book coming out at the end of the month. xx I could 'physically' manage to 50 books challenge, but I've never seen the point. Why not enjoy good books at your own pace, rather than padding the numbers with pornstar and wrestler 'biographies'? i'd've been near 40 last year, if it weren't for Moby Dick - for instance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Dig at Ryan.... But you catch my drift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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