Book thread #8686868

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c032745y said:
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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I read all sorts of shite. I have a soft spot for Matthew Reilly who is god awful in honesty.
 


Monty Pigeon said:
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.
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Does it have mopish teenagers wallowing in self pity and angst for both apparent reason? Norwegian Wood really ground my gears for that very reason.
 
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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Brilliant book.

Currently reading Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger with 1914 by Lyn McDonald lined up next.

Medulla said:
Just read Simon Jordan's autobiography after a few recommendations on here.

Rattled through it but I'm sorry to say that it was utter horse chod and he came off more rather than less dislikeable than I'd thought him before starting (and I wasn't much keen on him then).

Currently reading A Concise History of the United States of America by Susan-Mary Grant.
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Any good??
 
Technopoly by Neil Postman. Alright so far, the argumentation isn't as stringent as Amusing Ourselves to Death.
taipeisafc said:
I agree on the Murakami stuff, my daughter was into Dostoevsky and she said you had to get one by a certain translator as the rest were woeful - cannot for the life of me remember the translators name. I read the english translation of the Tin Drum a few years back and that was really excellent, also read a book of japanese short stories called adventures on planet porno (or something) which was very weird but brilliant.
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Constance Garnett, Eva Martin
probably Pevear/Volokhonsky
 
Cockney Mackem said:
Read one chapter, gave up
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Oh, he's terrible. Some good ideas but you can tell all of his books are essentially screenplays for movies. He's barely a writer in honesty, but good luck to him, done all right for himself considering.
 
Recently finished The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. It's full of clever in-jokes about the South American literary scene of the 70s. Apparently. It's an interesting study of a couple of characters through the eyes of dozens of different other characters, but it's a bit long and some of the sections are a right f***ing chew-on.

I wanted to read something easier after that, so I've started reading a cheesy mystery adventure called Hexes and Xs that I got free on my kindle. It's actually harder to read than the Bolano book, as well as being painfully embarrassing. :oops:

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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I've only read Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Which one should I read next then?
 
Medulla said:
It's a good overview thus far, though I'm only a few chapters in. A little dry but then it's an academic book rather than 'popular history'.
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I`m looking for a good over view of American history. Might give it a try.

Might go for Oliver Stone`s Untold History of America too. That was a great series to watch.
 
Just started 'The Blade Itself' after it was mentioned on here, recently finished 'The Shining Girls' by Lauren Beukes (v. good, about a time travelling serial killer) and 'California Bones' by Greg van Eekhout (about osteomancy and an alternative modern USA, also v. good).
 
Recently read:
The Stranger Beside Me - Anne Rule, a true crime about Ted Bundy (recommended)
Cross - James Patterson - the usual bollocks
Now I'm reading Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano. It's alright like.
 
Pants said:
I've only read Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Which one should I read next then?
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I'd go with Kafka on the Shore. You might also like A Wild Sheep Chase and then Dance Dance Dance (the latter is a follow up to the former so worth reading in order.
 
Arkle said:
I'd go with Kafka on the Shore. You might also like A Wild Sheep Chase and then Dance Dance Dance (the latter is a follow up to the former so worth reading in order.
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I read 1Q84 by Murakami. Loved volume 1, thought it was setting up beautifully. Then I thought it tailed off badly in the second half and didn't take the story or any of the ideas anywhere. I still enjoyed it but it does smell of one of those books where a literary fiction writer uses science fiction or fantastical elements and the critics fap themselves raw over it. They go on about how rich and imaginative it is even though it's come out half baked, but they hold their noses at the real thing done better by an actual sf or fantasy genre novelist, who's often a better writer than the overpraised literary novelist.

Still, it wasn't too bad. A far worse example of this phenomenon, both in terms of the global critical fappening and the book being utter shite, was David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.
 
Cockney Mackem said:
I read 1Q84 by Murakami. Loved volume 1, thought it was setting up beautifully. Then I thought it tailed off badly in the second half and didn't take the story or any of the ideas anywhere. I still enjoyed it but it does smell of one of those books where a literary fiction writer uses science fiction or fantastical elements and the critics fap themselves raw over it. They go on about how rich and imaginative it is even though it's come out half baked, but they hold their noses at the real thing done better by an actual sf or fantasy genre novelist, who's often a better writer than the overpraised literary novelist.

Still, it wasn't too bad. A far worse example of this phenomenon, both in terms of the global critical fappening and the book being utter shite, was David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.
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The thing with Murakami is that most of his books could, loosely at least, be described as science fiction, or, at least, otherworldly fiction. 1Q84 did end a bit disappointingly for me also...
 
Arkle said:
The thing with Murakami is that most of his books could, loosely at least, be described as science fiction, or, at least, otherworldly fiction. 1Q84 did end a bit disappointingly for me also...
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True - it's just there's this inversely proportional relationship between how much an author is regarded as a science fiction writer and how much they are respected as a writer.
 
Cockney Mackem said:
True - it's just there's this inversely proportional relationship between how much an author is regarded as a science fiction writer and how much they are respected as a writer.
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Yeah. Of all of the genres of fiction, it's the one that's treated as if it's a completely separate entity with little overlap, even when mainstream critically acclaimed authors move in and out of it.
 
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