scottyboy Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 I've read (finished) 0 thus far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 I've downloaded a load of Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, etc too - it definitely takes a different approach to my usual 'get the gist of it and smash through the pages' approach to reading! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ca_gere Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 This is me this year: Foul! : The Secret World of FIFA by Andrew Jennings. - Very in-depth and a bit samey but fascinating and head-shakingy at times. Legacy: The autobiography of Tim Cahill - dunno why I bother with these. There's something about semi-obscure footballer biographies that draws me in. This one is all 'he took me to the side to have a word in training... then the next day I done a goal' Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. - Silly, addictive and a lot of fun. I'm having so much fun here without you by Courtney Maum - Shite. Written by a person who clearly doesn't know how to write the opposite gender. The Son of a Gambler : Winners, losers and What to do when you win the lottery by Don Mcnay - This book was cited in an article about lottery winners. I thought it'd be interesting to read about some of the stories behind big wins and the bankruptcy/murder/shenanigans that follow. Instead I got a collection of newspaper columns where the writer makes the same point every time (don't buy a lottery ticket) and merely references stories instead of telling them. Utter waste of money that would have been avoided if I was able to flick through the book in a store. This being a kindle book, I didn't have that luxury. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson - good read. I like Ronson. Too Much Information by Dave Gorman - read this in a day and a half. Dave Gorman is one of my favourite comedians and I agree with almost every point he makes in this book. It's a really easy read if you want a book to jump into to take breaks from a proper book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 10 minutes ago, Spoonie said: I've downloaded a load of Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, etc too - it definitely takes a different approach to my usual 'get the gist of it and smash through the pages' approach to reading! I'm usually hopeless with old timey literature, but I absolutely loved Wuthering Heights. Figure if I can get through that I can get through some Jane Austen and hopefully enjoy it as much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 On 6/24/2008 at 10:29 AM, Lemonade said: I am reading Wuthering Heights. On 9/22/2009 at 1:11 PM, Lemonade said: I've actually re-started Wuthering Heights. I'm getting more into it this time. Before I was just giving it 20 minutes a day on my lunch break, but it's really a book you need to concentrate on without people coming in and out and talking to you. Now I've got Stephen King in my desk drawer for lunch breaks and Wuthering Heights next to my bed On 7/6/2011 at 1:07 AM, Lemonade said: I'm making a second (*third) 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. It took me a few attempts mind you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 2001: A space odyssey: Once again, I was amazed at Arthur C Clarke's knowledge on the subject of space travel. A lot more existential than the previous Clarke book I read, which is a very good thing. Interesting to read it and watch the film close together. Kubrick did an amazing job but it's interesting to see his - visually spectacular - take on things. 2010: Odyssey 2. I got 70 pages through this and realised that most of the book was missing from my .epub file. Fucking wankers. I'll need to get another copy though as it started off pretty strong. The spy who came in from the cold - John Le Carre. Yet another book where I've seen the film. Fairly straight up cold war spy thriller. Bish bosh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 So far this year I've only read the Elvis Costello autobiography, and The Story of Crass. Both informative, few good bits but neither really grabbed me overall. Just started Battle Royale. I'm a quarter in. Its weird. Oddly tranlasted. Some sentences just don't make sense. And there's loads of characters with names which are difficult to differentiate. Hard to know if its badly written or just badly translated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyboy Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 (I haven't read Battle Royale but) Japanese is notorious for having relatively few sounds and tonnes of homonyms (in actual Japanese one can tell the difference because the logarithmic/"Chinese" characters are different; which obviously get dispensed with in translations). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted March 3, 2016 Report Share Posted March 3, 2016 Jane Austen update: fuck me this a sair chav. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted March 4, 2016 Report Share Posted March 4, 2016 Didn't persist with Woolf but I will go back to it - instead I read The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday which was superb. Now on Crime by Irvine Welsh which was one I'd missed along the way. About 1/3 of the way through and it's pretty standard fare for Welsh but good with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 5, 2016 Report Share Posted March 5, 2016 Finally finished Battle Royale. It some some persevering with, because of the crappy writing/translation. The dialogue is just weird. The idea is better than the execution, it's just told in an annoying way. I watched the film straight after to see how it compared. The film put it together better IMO. The dialogue isn't as jarring, and the flashback scenes are a bit more organic. The Hunger Games really just ripped everything about this. The concept isn't new by any means, but there's far too many minor details which are identical in both for it to be a coincidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted March 5, 2016 Report Share Posted March 5, 2016 For some reason I've been mainly reading books where I've already seen the film loads... The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton. A gripping read about germs from outer space. If you're a fan of 'the science bit', like Jennifer Anniston, I can't see why you wouldn't like this book. The film is also a child-hood favourite of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Easy Wishes Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Okay, I might have asked this before, (so soz), but can anyone recommend some reading on the history of Aberdeen? Happy to read about murders, architecture, politics, industry, whatevs, as long as it's a good/interesting piece of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Adam Easy Wishes said: Okay, I might have asked this before, (so soz), but can anyone recommend some reading on the history of Aberdeen? Happy to read about murders, architecture, politics, industry, whatevs, as long as it's a good/interesting piece of work. I've read this one a couple of times, it's very good. Full of interesting info. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Granite-City-History-Aberdeen/dp/0859764834 I'm currently reading "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. It's set 20 years after a flu pandemic has wiped out 99% of the population, the world is a hostile place with no electricity or modern technology, and it follows a group of actors and an orchestra who go from town to town putting on Shakespeare plays. It's pretty good so far. Edited March 10, 2016 by Lemonade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoonie Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Crime was a good read, definitely better than Sex Lives, but not as good as the Edinburgh-based stuff. Now reading The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1 and dipping into more non-fiction stuff along the way too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted March 10, 2016 Report Share Posted March 10, 2016 Has anyone read Solaris by Lem Stanislaw? I'm half way through it and don't really know what the fuck's going on yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted March 14, 2016 Report Share Posted March 14, 2016 On 3/3/2016 at 9:46 AM, Lemonade said: Jane Austen update: fuck me this a sair chav. Jane Austen update: given up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 16, 2016 Report Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) Reading a book about Black Metal, by that guy who writes for Metal Hammer. It's alright so far, but it's all about the music. I was hoping for more about the murdering, the church burning and the obscene right wing conservatism. Not just "We couldn't source bass amps so we just used guitar amps, and that tinny sound became a staple of the genre forevermore." Somebody better die soon, or I'm shelving it. Edited March 16, 2016 by Soda van Jerk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Prelude to foundation - Getting back into my Asimov, I think I'll read the whole foundation series from start to finish chronologically at some point in my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 (edited) I'm just rounding off "We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves" by Karen Joy Fowler, which is essentially a family drama with a twist, which I won't give away but it's a very unique story. It's mostly a woman talking about her unusual childhood and how it affected her in adulthood. A very good read, I've enjoyed it, but without ever felling that I couldn't put it down. Edited March 17, 2016 by Lemonade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Broonbreed Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Oh, I finished Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. I still have no idea what the fuck was going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 On 14/03/2016 at 0:01 AM, Lemonade said: Jane Austen update: given up. Good work. She is the worst. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, kirsten said: Good work. She is the worst. Yeah! Fuck Jane Austen! I'm currently reading "Forget You Had A Daughter" by Sandra Gregory, an English girl who was caught smuggling drugs in Thailand and sentenced to a 25 year stretch in a women's prison in Bangkok, (although she was transferred to the UK after 4). It's written in very simple language for simple lady folks, very much aiming for that womens paperback section in Tesco that's full of books about child abuse, also she's an idiot and I don't feel sorry for her but it is an interesting story, and I always enjoy prison books. Despite being a first offender, non-violent, and only being caught with a few grams, because of the length of her sentence she was sent to a maximum security prison (the UK classifies prisoners on the length of their sentence, not the nature of their crime) and this fairly normal woman is suddenly sharing activity time with Rose West and some of Britain's worst paedophiles and murderers. OK maybe I feel a bit sorry for her. Good story, crap book. Edited March 23, 2016 by Lemonade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 The Black Metal book was so-so. Some chapters interesting. Some dull. Varg Vikernes is a right cunt. Very intelligent, articulate, but a total cunt. A good proportion of the guys involved with the 2nd wave of the Norwegian stuff were total lunatics. The Norway chapters were good because of that, but the stuff sandwiched either side was a bit meh. Just about to start 'The City of Darkness'. A photo journal about the Kowloon Walled City, with essays and interviews with people who lived there. I know nothing about the place other than that it existed, and vaguely what it looked like. Looking forward to getting in to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain America Posted April 1, 2016 Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 I'm doing ok on the 50 book challenge this year. Slowed down the last week or two but I've done 15/50 so far, so on track. Nothing particularly clever all fiction nonsense but most have been good. Was really disappointed with UBIK (Phillip K Dick) as I've enjoyed everything else of his I've read and this was super highly rated. The Martian was a joy to read, I haven't seen the film and probably wont but the book was excellent. I'm usually dubious of bestsellers like that but this one was worth it. Quite technical in his details of THE BOSS Mark Watney surviving 9/10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.