Book thread #8686868

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Lexingtongue said:
:lol: I honestly have no idea if I'm being whooshed here as it made little to no sense to me! ;) Could have been about robot overlord aliens for all I took from it. The protagonist sure did love eating sandwiches, taking naps on his sofa and washing up, though! ;)
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That was a joke... I don't remember much plot to Wind Up Bird...cat goes missing, lass over the road has mental issues, lots of stuff involving an old soldier and his memories from Japan occupying part of China, two sisters with strange powers are involved and there are some other characters. It's not his best - that's either Kafka on the Shore or A Wild Sheep Chase for me. I also like Norwegian Wood and After Dark as they diverge a bit from the usual Murakaminess.
 


Lexingtongue said:
Most translations ruin books because most translators don't have enough creativity to rearrange and reorder what they translate. Most publishers just rush through translations of big selling foreign novels when they would be better served finding a talented translator who does the work justice. Biggest evidence of this for me is the John Ajvide Lindquist novels that were butchered because of the success of Let the Right One In. The worst, shabbiest translations I've ever seen. Shocking.
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There have been translators who were writers themselves and it helped them do a decent job. Dorothy L Sayers, for example, was a fairly decent author of crime fiction but also a distinguished scholar of Dante who produced perhaps the definitive translation of The Divine Comedy.

The translations I've read of other Márquez books were excellent, including ...Cholera and 100 Years Of Solitude, which seemed to capture the really magnificent prose of the author. I've also read very good translations of Tolstoy, but I reckon it would take a f***ing moron to ruin Tolstoy.

I thought the translations of Stieg Larsson were pretty poor mind - I kind of assume the translator was part of the problem as Larsson was regarded as a very good writer of journalism. And he always had a point (hehe)
 
Arkle said:
That was a joke... I don't remember much plot to Wind Up Bird...cat goes missing, lass over the road has mental issues, lots of stuff involving an old soldier and his memories from Japan occupying part of China, two sisters with strange powers are involved and there are some other characters. It's not his best - that's either Kafka on the Shore or A Wild Sheep Chase for me. I also like Norwegian Wood and After Dark as they diverge a bit from the usual Murakaminess.
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That's on the 'to read' shelf as well. Picked it up for 20p at a work book sale.
 
Finally got round to reading 'Money' by Martin Amis, which was excellent: probably in my top 5.
 
Arkle said:
Inspired by @Cockney Mackem and his fantasy literature thread, what are people currently reading and what have they read recently?

For me - currently reading 'Agent Zigzag' by Ben Macintyre. Recommended on here ages ago. True story about a war time double agent, Eddie Chapman, who was born in Burnopfield and grew up in Roker. Still early days for me but shaping up to be a quality read.

Prior to that it was "Flesh Wounds" by Chris Brookmyre (no idea why Brookmyre uses Chris for some books and Christopher for others). The thrid in his Jasmine Sharp series of Glasgow underworld/police thrillers. A good read as usual from Brookmyre, not sure it's up with his best work though.

Before that, it was Stuart Maconie's "The People's Songs" which I've posted about elsewhere and prior to that "Solo: A James Bond Novel" by William Boyd. Boyd's attempt to re-Fleming the Bond franchise/name - an entertaining thriller.
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Agent Zigzag is a great read. Another good SMB recommendation.
Love Brookmyre's books but the recent ones aren't up to his old standards. Still a canny read.
Reading The Tightrope Walkers at the moment. Got great reviews but I'm just trudging through it.
Recently finished a Spy Among Friends. Again it was interesting but a bit of a chore.
 
RestlessNatives said:
Agent Zigzag is a great read. Another good SMB recommendation.
Love Brookmyre's books but the recent ones aren't up to his old standards. Still a canny read.
Reading The Tightrope Walkers at the moment. Got great reviews but I'm just trudging through it.
Recently finished a Spy Among Friends. Again it was interesting but a bit of a chore.
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I quite like his Jasmine Sharp books but I get the feeling he's trying to move away from the sharp satire/ twisted action he did and write more "mature" stuff. So much so, maybe that it makes them a bit bland compared to his old stuff because he won't use any of his previous style in them.
 
Cockney Mackem said:
I quite like his Jasmine Sharp books but I get the feeling he's trying to move away from the sharp satire/ twisted action he did and write more "mature" stuff. So much so, maybe that it makes them a bit bland compared to his old stuff because he won't use any of his previous style in them.
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They are far better than most stuff I read and I always look forward to them but maybe not as much as I used to.
 
Cockney Mackem said:
I quite like his Jasmine Sharp books but I get the feeling he's trying to move away from the sharp satire/ twisted action he did and write more "mature" stuff. So much so, maybe that it makes them a bit bland compared to his old stuff because he won't use any of his previous style in them.
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I'm not sure how they rate against the jack Parlabane stuff. Flesh Wounds may be the best of the three. Away from his series, I really enjoyed Bedlam.
 
Read the Hilary Mantel books, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies at almost breakneck speed recently as they were so readable. I will go back and re-read them at a more leisurely pace if I'm spared.
I've just started the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. So far I'm hooked but I really don't know if I have the capacity to stay with the task. My understanding is that it attempts to combine Quantum Mechanics with a touch of Freudian psychology and I'm from Roker. Very dense read and I have reread each chapter to try and grasp what he is on about.
 
HerdnMulhall said:
Read the Hilary Mantel books, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies at almost breakneck speed recently as they were so readable. I will go back and re-read them at a more leisurely pace if I'm spared.
I've just started the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. So far I'm hooked but I really don't know if I have the capacity to stay with the task. My understanding is that it attempts to combine Quantum Mechanics with a touch of Freudian psychology and I'm from Roker. Very dense read and I have reread each chapter to try and grasp what he is on about.
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I just read a short story of hers. Very interesting. For some reason it's been boiling the piss of Tories :lol:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/20...l-short-story-assassination-margaret-thatcher
 
Dougal said:
Is this a trick question to find out who's reading the Koran?

I've always got a few on the go. At the minute there's the following :

Inheritance - Chrostopher Paolini
Armageddon : The Musical - Robert Rankin
Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
The Man Who Broke Napolean's Codes - Mark Urban
The Good Beer Guide CAMRA
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Good man.
 
Recently finished Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey and I'm just about to finish Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I'd certainly recommend both. Got The Crystal World by JG Ballard up next.

KarlM said:
'Them' by Jon Ronson.
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A very good read. He did a few documentaries years back called Secret Rulers of the World which follow some of the people and groups mentioned in the book.
 
Reading "Fall of Giants" by Ken Follet.
Excellent read,
Amazing and moving insight into life around the coal mines and events leading up to and including the First World War.
An education as well as a great novel.
 
Enjoyed the new Murakami (Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage). It's very much in the Norwegian Wood category of Murakami's work.

Just finished David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks. A decent enough read, but I have no idea how it got onto the Booker long list.
 
Neebody like the Jack Reacher stuff? All seems a bit highbrow, stuck up your arse, look at me, I'm reading intelligent avant garde literature...
 
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