Book thread: what are you reading?

[chuffer]

I'm having a bash at Ulysses by Joyce....i gave up on the forward /introduction which was 6 chapters of lofty waffle but the first chapter has been most enjoyable (though the Latin references sail over my head) so far and seems well worth persevering with

[Futtocks]

I'm having a bash at Ulysses by Joyce....i gave up on the forward /introduction which was 6 chapters of lofty waffle but the first chapter has been most enjoyable (though the Latin references sail over my head) so far and seems well worth persevering with

Ulysses is, for me, more of a performance piece than a novel, like something meant to be read aloud. The concise, down-to-earth stories in The Dubliners, while also excellent reading, are barely recognisable as the work of the same writer.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Futtocks

[chuffer]

Ulysses is, for me, more of a performance piece than a novel, like something meant to be read aloud.

I'll give that a whirl, sure the missus next to me in bed wont mind too much!

[Futtocks]

I'll give that a whirl, sure the missus next to me in bed wont mind too much!

I'm now wondering if an audiobook of it, if read by someone sufficiently talented, might turn out to be a pretty hallucinogenic experience.

[Futtocks]

I have never attempted Finnegan's Wake, though.

 

However, you can get his complete prose on Kindle for 99p, so...

[longboard]

I'm having a bash at Ulysses by Joyce....i gave up on the forward /introduction which was 6 chapters of lofty waffle but the first chapter has been most enjoyable (though the Latin references sail over my head) so far and seems well worth persevering with

 

 

Ulysses is, for me, more of a performance piece than a novel, like something meant to be read aloud. The concise, down-to-earth stories in The Dubliners, while also excellent reading, are barely recognisable as the work of the same writer.

 

 

I'll give that a whirl, sure the missus next to me in bed wont mind too much!

 

Reading Molly Bloom's soliloquy out loud might provoke an interesting reaction from your missus.

 

Ulysees is a cracking novel. It is worth reading  and then reading it again soon after. You are likely to notice lots of things the second time around which didn't strike you the first time. You may well know this but the structure is based on the Odyssey.

 

If you really get into it you could head over to Dublin for Bloomsday and follow the route of the book, including stopping off at Davy Byrne's for a pint of stout and even a ball of malt.

[Bob8]

If you liked the Flashman books, then his other really recommended works are 'Quartered safe out here' and the three McAuslan books.

 

Just below that, I'd put 'Black Ajax' and possibly 'Mr American'.

 

Some of his other books are not so great. Some are actually bad. Buyer beware!

QFT.

 

I am using an acronym for "quoted for truth".  I just learnt it recently.

[Futtocks]

I am currently waiting for the second-hand price of Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart's autobiography to drop again, following a price spike due to his recent death.

 

Why? This is why.

[getdownmonkeyman]

Just finished Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed. Bloody brilliant! Makes it even better when reading it in Prince Vultan's voice.

[Futtocks]

Just finished Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed. Bloody brilliant! Makes it even better when reading it in Prince Vultan's voice.

Docked points for not posting that with your caps lock on...  

[Futtocks]

Andrey Kurkov - The Bickford Fuse. His newest novel. Only just getting into it, but it seems promising. 

 

While it isn't the same, something about the early chapters reminds me a bit of Gravity's Rainbow, before that book started to go all flabby and self-indulgent. 

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

Shadow of the wind by carlos ruiz zaffon. Its a dark gothic story of a writer commissioned to write a book by the devil himself. the beauty of this book is that you don't realise what kind of book it is from one page to the next and its not until the last few pages that you have that eureka moment,truly brilliant

[Maximus Decimus]

Just finished listening to I Am Pilgrim. Must say it was an incredible read even if a little far-fetched at times.

[Trojan]

Just finished listening to I Am Pilgrim. Must say it was an incredible read even if a little far-fetched at times.

Is that the series about William Palmer?

[Futtocks]

Shadow of the wind by carlos ruiz zaffon. Its a dark gothic story of a writer commissioned to write a book by the devil himself. the beauty of this book is that you don't realise what kind of book it is from one page to the next and its not until the last few pages that you have that eureka moment,truly brilliant

I quite enjoyed 'Shadow of the Wind', but it was a while ago, so I don't recall it in detail. It owes not a little to the fiction writing of Jorge Luis Borges, especially the first part. 

[Maximus Decimus]

Is that the series about William Palmer?

If this is a joke it went over my head!

It's a book by Terry Hayes.

[marklaspalmas]

I quite enjoyed 'Shadow of the Wind', but it was a while ago, so I don't recall it in detail. It owes not a little to the fiction writing of Jorge Luis Borges, especially the first part. 

 

Shadow of the Wind is hugely dirivative. Very lightwieght.

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

Shadow of the Wind is hugely dirivative. Very lightwieght.

got to disagree mark,its highly original in its concept,yes,its obviously of a gothic genre but then most of his books are and authors lean to what they know best

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

for a much lighter and very amusing book try the girl who saved the king of Sweden by Jonas jonasson

[marklaspalmas]

got to disagree mark,its highly original in its concept,yes,its obviously of a gothic genre but then most of his books are and authors lean to what they know best

 

Yes, perhaps Im being a tad harsh. I read it through, it held my attention, it was quite well written.

 

Maybe it was over-hyped here (in Spain) and I expected something better. It didn't inspire me to read any of his other stuff, so there I go.

 

Not sure what a gothic genre is, but of its type I'd suggest off the top of my head both Eco and Arturo Perez Reverte did better, not to mention the obvious influence of JLB as pointed out by Sepp Blatter's mate.

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

spot on with Arturo perez reverte,the guy is class

[Futtocks]

Yes, perhaps Im being a tad harsh. I read it through, it held my attention, it was quite well written.

 

Maybe it was over-hyped here (in Spain) and I expected something better. It didn't inspire me to read any of his other stuff, so there I go.

 

Not sure what a gothic genre is, but of its type I'd suggest off the top of my head both Eco and Arturo Perez Reverte did better, not to mention the obvious influence of JLB as pointed out by Sepp Blatter's mate.

It did get a lot of attention in the UK too. It got onto the Richard & Judy recommended list, which promoted and sold chosen books to a much wider audience than they would normally have done.

 

Meanwhile, this new Andrey Kurkov novel is puzzling me. I'm enjoying it, but the underlying theme is hard to pin down. I have a theory, but it would involve spoilers. The cynical social satire of earlier books (like Death and the Penguin) is less evident, and things are more in the off-beat, almost mystical area of his recent work The Good Angel of Death.

 

At times, it even seems like a riff on the fictional poet William Ashbless' Twelve Hours of the Night, which would be a sly and obscure reference indeed.

 

I am enjoying it, but I have no idea at all where it is all heading.

[Futtocks]

Andrey Kurkov - The Bickford Fuse. Clear as mud, at least on first reading. The main protagonist, Kharitonov, could be an allegory of Gulliver, Theseus, Odysseus, Christian from The Pilgrim's Progress or someone completely other. He treks from the Japan Sea to Leningrad, dragging behind him the eponymous (and apparently endless) fuse, which is wired to a massive cache of explosives. He observes the nature of Russia while he ponders whether to let it continue as is, or to light the fuse and destroy everything.

 

Two of the other main characters are nameless. The Driver's journey appears to be that of a dead man, slowly travelling in perpetual night towards an unknown destination. The Occupant is adrift in an airship, never able to land, observing people on the ground while he dreams of an idealised Motherland and a triumphant final landing. Then there's Andrey, a pious and naive young man, conscripted by a military propagandist who searches for remote settlements where he can set up radios broadcasting news from Moscow.

 

All very odd. It shows a far more mystical tendency than the laconic and cynical humour of his more familiar works like Death and the Penguin. A very enjoyable first read, but I suspect I'll get more out of it with more than one re-read.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Futtocks

[Futtocks]

I've just started 'Keystone (The Life and Clowns of Mack Sennett)' by Simon Louvish. Interesting so far, but 300+ pages of very small type is going to be tough on the peepers.

[Futtocks]

 

I've just started 'Keystone (The Life and Clowns of Mack Sennett)' by Simon Louvish. Interesting so far, but 300+ pages of very small type is going to be tough on the peepers.

 

Okay, finished it. A good read, despite the small print. Loads of information and backed by an interesting life/career. It takes in several scandals, the most notorious being the Arbuckle case, but this is mainly about the birth of commercial cinema, with Sennett and D.W.Griffith teaming up to produce very different types of movie. Then the great ructions of sound and colour changing the industry, as well as the Wall Street crash. Mack was obsessively planning his own hilltop palace when his fortune was wiped out, Now, that patch of land is only known for being where the famous 'Hollywood' sign stands.

 

Stars like Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin, Buster Keaton, Chester Conklin, W.C.Fields, Gloria Swanson, Fatty Arbuckle, Frank Capra, Harry Langdon, Ford Sterling, Harold Lloyd and many more appear and disappear from the tale. Various reminiscences of varying reliability tell parts of the story, but much is now lost in the mists of PR.

 

And, at the heart of it is Mack Sennett's strange off-on, possibly invented romance with the comedy superstar of the age Mabel Normand. Hence the title of the stage musical 'Mack & Mabel'.