The SMB Book thread

I have just finished another book and ready for my next one

But. The book I have is War and Peace. Yes I know all the jokes but it is a massive tome and I’m not sure I really fancy it. I have not read it previously and have read lots of the classics so I think I should.

Anyone read it and care to share their view?
 


Big Jeff said:
I have just finished another book and ready for my next one

But. The book I have is War and Peace. Yes I know all the jokes but it is a massive tome and I’m not sure I really fancy it. I have not read it previously and have read lots of the classics so I think I should.

Anyone read it and care to share their view?
Click to expand...
I haven't read it but I'm in a similar position with Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. Just got to give it a go!
 
Big Jeff said:
I have just finished another book and ready for my next one

But. The book I have is War and Peace. Yes I know all the jokes but it is a massive tome and I’m not sure I really fancy it. I have not read it previously and have read lots of the classics so I think I should.

Anyone read it and care to share their view?
Click to expand...
Not read it but I hope you get a good translation. I got a cheap version of the Count of Monte Cristo from the Works or somewhere like that and it reads like it was translated to English at the time rather than modern English. I eventually gave up on it cos it was such a struggle.
 
mikemanc said:
Not read it but I hope you get a good translation. I got a cheap version of the Count of Monte Cristo from the Works or somewhere like that and it reads like it was translated to English at the time rather than modern English. I eventually gave up on it cos it was such a struggle.
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I have literally just picked it up. The print is tiny and it’s around 1000 pages - I have put it back on the bookshelf for a possible future read .
 
tunstallhill said:
MAUS - art spiegelman

Absolutely fantastic. The only other graphic novel I've read was V for Vendetta which I loved, but this is completely different. It's very similar in detail and storyline to Night by Eli Wiesel which I read last year after visiting Auschwitz, and it's equally as horrifying.

However, they way it's put together it's fantastic, very inventive and makes it a bit more relatable. It's written about him trying to write the very book that you are reading, picking his dad's concentration camp story out of him even though he's a cranky old man in the 1980s nearing his life's end. The detail about inside the camps is horrifying

There's loads of interesting back story to the book, it was un-classifiable at the time due to the graphic novel genre not existing, it was in super hero comic book form only.. also a lot controversy around him portraying different ethnicities as different animals. I picked up on that but I thought it worked very well in the animated form. It's a work of art, it really is. Not for children.

Happy to lend it to someone if anyones interested as it wasn't cheap brand new. Takes about 4-5 hours to read. Highly recommend

I've bought some more graphic novels on the back of it, not super hero marvel shite, actual novels. Just got two delivered today
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Maus, Watchman and Vendetta seem the most popular entry level GNs. All excellent.
 
im just about finished the secret by lee child, debating on starting the discworld series or theres a few odd books i fancy reading like the running man its meant to be alot darker than the Arnie movie
 
Big Jeff said:
I have just finished another book and ready for my next one

But. The book I have is War and Peace. Yes I know all the jokes but it is a massive tome and I’m not sure I really fancy it. I have not read it previously and have read lots of the classics so I think I should.

Anyone read it and care to share their view?
Click to expand...
It is long but gripping, I seem to recall flying through it like Count of Monte Cristo as the writing and story was so good. Get it read.
 
Acidphire21 said:
im just about finished the secret by lee child, debating on starting the discworld series or theres a few odd books i fancy reading like the running man its meant to be alot darker than the Arnie movie
Click to expand...
Discworld is fantastic, though I’m glad I read Mort first.
It’s been a long time since I read Running Man but I don’t recall the movie having much of a resemblance.
 
riffraff said:
Maus, Watchman and Vendetta seem the most popular entry level GNs. All excellent.
Click to expand...

Just today finished Fun Home by Allison Bechdel. Its a memoir and It's definitely unique, works very well as a graphic novel but the subject matter is a bit too philosophical for me. The storyline is great, but lots of deep references to classic literature (Joyce and Wilde) and the gay-rights movement of the 80s, her own sexuality , a father and daughters fractured relationship in a rural American town, his suicide and sketchy past with underage boys... I think I may have missed a lot of the points it made due to not being able to relate to it. Going to lend it to a friend. It's funny and inventive.

www.theguardian.com

Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel: tragic scenes from a comic family

Jess Sutcliffe: This witty graphic novel focused on family relationships, sexual orientation and grief resonates with a comforting honesty and literary depth
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
psr said:
I haven't read it but I'm in a similar position with Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. Just got to give it a go!
Click to expand...
Read this. Read it immediately. It is bloody brilliant.
Big Jeff said:
I have literally just picked it up. The print is tiny and it’s around 1000 pages - I have put it back on the bookshelf for a possible future read .
Click to expand...
I've never read it or attempted too. I did read Anna Karenina which was very very good.
 
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Drifter said:
Discworld is fantastic, though I’m glad I read Mort first.
It’s been a long time since I read Running Man but I don’t recall the movie having much of a resemblance.
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Loved Mort. Trying to read them in order. Currently reading Guards, Guards! and enjoying enormously.
Back to Dickens after this one mind.
 
During my last 3 holidays I have read books by Rowland White. All true stories.

SAS : Storm Front, brilliant book about Oman in 1972.

Vulcan 607, again brilliant, about the very long range bombing of Port Stanley airport during the Falklands '82.

Phoenix Squadron, good read but not as amazing, about Belize in '72.

I paid less than £4 for all of them off eBay. I've already bought Harrier 809 for my next trip.
 
Keith S30S said:
During my last 3 holidays I have read books by Rowland White. All true stories.

SAS : Storm Front, brilliant book about Oman in 1972.

Vulcan 607, again brilliant, about the very long range bombing of Port Stanley airport during the Falklands '82.

Phoenix Squadron, good read but not as amazing, about Belize in '72.

I paid less than £4 for all of them off eBay. I've already bought Harrier 809 for my next trip.
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Could fancy that Vulcan 607 one about the Falklands. Off to Amazon now.

£10.11 paperback on Amazon up to over 20 quid.
 
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Just finished the prequel to Trainspotting, Skagboys, the other day.

Our lass bought me The Silmarillion a couple of weeks ago but not sure if am ready to start a dense Tolkien tome
Big Jeff said:
I have just finished another book and ready for my next one

But. The book I have is War and Peace. Yes I know all the jokes but it is a massive tome and I’m not sure I really fancy it. I have not read it previously and have read lots of the classics so I think I should.

Anyone read it and care to share their view?
Click to expand...
Ha'way mate, just start it, it's not War and... Ah.
 
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Big Jeff said:
I have just finished another book and ready for my next one

But. The book I have is War and Peace. Yes I know all the jokes but it is a massive tome and I’m not sure I really fancy it. I have not read it previously and have read lots of the classics so I think I should.

Anyone read it and care to share their view?
Click to expand...
I've read it- Getting your head around all the names of the characters and families I found the most difficult part, but I enjoyed it. Tolstoy is the gold standard of novel writing, maybe George Eliot comes close to him in English literature, but not many others can match his mastery of prose. I read it about 15 years ago and a few chapters still stick in my mind. The battle scenes of Austerlitz and Borodino the latter under General Kutuzov is fantastic reading and the hunt scene with Count Rostov. It's definitely worth it and accessible to anyone, unlike Joyce's Ulysses which I gave up after around 400 pages.
 

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