what book are you reading?

cuppie · Post by **cuppie** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:34

i'm sort of reading a book called 'the israel lobby and US foreign policy.' it's very realistic, so far.

Woodbine · Post by **Woodbine** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:44

I'm reading The Book of Dave by Will Self, and rather enjoying it. Next on the list is the new Toby Litt.

crystalball · Post by **crystalball** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:11

I am reading Ian McEwan's latest, On Chesil Beach. The first chapter is bloody brilliant as it unravels the sexual misunderstandings that a young, newly married couple have to face. Genius.

I finished reading the new book by Jonathan Coe (The Rain Before it Falls) and it was a huge disappointment. I might need to re-read all of his other books to remind myself why I love him so much. Pah.

knibbles · Post by **knibbles** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 15:22

I am reading The World's Worst Medical Mistakes by Martin Fido. My Dad forced it upon me when I was visiting because he is trying to downsize. It is possibly one of the most shoddy books I have ever read. He's accidentally put the same paragraphs in twice in different places and he doesn't like using the same word twice so when he was talking about botched nose jobs he started off with the word nose, then used honker, then facial furniture, then bogey receptor then sneeze shoot, then nosular unit, then sniffter facility or something like that. I am reading it anyway because I like reading about people taking too much valium and dying of hypothermia. It is very realistic and I can empathise with all the characters in it.

islandhopper · Post by **islandhopper** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 01:14

I've been reading that David Copperfield for a while now. It scores a sensational 0.25 on the pence per page meter and I always like to take that as a sign of great literature.

ariettyspaghetti · Post by **ariettyspaghetti** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 20:51

I am reading The Book of Laughter and Forgetting at the moment, by Milan Kundera. It's quite interesting, and it's in bitesize chunks, which is nice and manageable. There's certainly a lot of dirty goings on.

ladystardust · Post by **ladystardust** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 08:25

I am still reading The Idiot. It is one of the best books I have ever read, and I never want it to end. The humour and tangented (new word) narrative is just biting and so contemporary. However, it is taking me bloody ages. I am also reading a manga version of Paul Auster's City of Glass, which is more manageable for carrying on trains.

How is the Murakami 'saurus?

ariettyspaghetti · Post by **ariettyspaghetti** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 08:54

ladystardust wrote:I am still reading The Idiot. It is one of the best books I have ever read, and I never want it to end. The humour and tangented (new word) narrative is just biting and so contemporary. However, it is taking me bloody ages. I am also reading a manga version of Paul Auster's City of Glass, which is more manageable for carrying on trains.

How is the Murakami 'saurus?

Ooh, the Idiot is a pleasing book. I really enjoyed that one. A bit hard going at times though, I'm sure it took me ages to read as well, but it was worth it.

RalphWiggum · Post by **RalphWiggum** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 08:56

knibbles wrote:I am reading The World's Worst Medical Mistakes by Martin Fido. My Dad forced it upon me when I was visiting because he is trying to downsize. It is possibly one of the most shoddy books I have ever read. He's accidentally put the same paragraphs in twice in different places and he doesn't like using the same word twice so when he was talking about botched nose jobs he started off with the word nose, then used honker, then facial furniture, then bogey receptor then sneeze shoot, then nosular unit, then sniffter facility or something like that. I am reading it anyway because I like reading about people taking too much valium and dying of hypothermia. It is very realistic and I can empathise with all the characters in it.

I've actually got that book. Oh my.

crystalball · Post by **crystalball** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:40

ladystardust wrote:I am still reading The Idiot. It is one of the best books I have ever read, and I never want it to end. The humour and tangented (new word) narrative is just biting and so contemporary. However, it is taking me bloody ages.

It's wonderful, isn't it? It took me ages as well and I remember I had to take notes so that I could remember everyone's name. But it's such a absolutely fulfilling book, so complete, so rounded, so ahead of its time. I still think about it a lot although I read it at least 10 years ago. Maybe I should go back to it.

aorta · Post by **aorta** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 18:42

The Railway Children by E. Nesbit.

I'm nostalgic for the English childhood I never had.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 18:47

I am reading too many books in a state of half finished disorder. I feel bad. I hate it when this happens.

poubelle · Post by **poubelle** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 19:13

i'm rereading Joe Meno's Boy Detective Fails

bend sinister · Post by **bend sinister** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 20:12

I'm reading Bellow's 'The Dangling Man' which is me working my way through 1001 Books you must read before you die. This challenge may well cause death.

Also 'Descarte's Error' which is about brain injury. mmm

elcondor · Post by **elcondor** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 04:02

i know it's 80,000 years old, but i am just about done with david sedaris' 'me talk pretty one day'

i often pee myself while reading it

i also just re-read 'catcher in the rye' and was astonished to discover that it is brilliant, as i thought it sucked when i was 14

rainking123 · Post by **rainking123** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 13:28

Im slowly re-reading American Gods, its so much fun noticing things that you missed the 1st time, shame i have on average 24 minutes to give to it every day. :(

nanski · Post by **nanski** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 09:58

ladystardust wrote:I am still reading The Idiot. It is one of the best books I have ever read, and I never want it to end. The humour and tangented (new word) narrative is just biting and so contemporary. However, it is taking me bloody ages. I am also reading a manga version of Paul Auster's City of Glass, which is more manageable for carrying on trains.

the idiot is one of my favorite books ever. i had a russian boyfriend who told me i couldn't really understant it if i wasn't russian, so i told him he couldn't really understand it if he wasn't Christian.

Anyway. I'm reading David Mitchell's Ghostwritten. I definitely don't want it to end, and have been stalled in the final chapter for over a week.

tompony · Post by **tompony** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:05

I love the bit in Ghostwritten about the two teenagers in Japan who love Jazz, it's one of the best bits of a book I've ever read. Although I suppose most books aren't as easy to divide into "bits"!

I was trying to read "Stranger in a Strange Land" but it's SO slow and I eventually realised I was never going to get through it and gave up. So now I'm just reading a book of excellently horrible Bukowski short stories, which fit my short attention span far better.

nanski · Post by **nanski** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 06:26

my favorite chapters were mongolia and clear island. the japanese kids made a nice story, too.

shame the terrorist was so condescending to okinawa.

crystalball · Post by **crystalball** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 18:11

I finished On Chesil Beach last week. Has anyone else read it? I really liked it. I thought it was a brilliantly crafted book, the kind of thing that McEwan can write in his sleep. But that doesn't make it any less accomplished. He deals with a difficult subject (the premise is a young married couple's difficult wedding night) and achieves absolutely bloody triumphant character development which is completely unexpected. It has some silly bits, as is often the case with him, but overall I thought it was great.

Now I am reading Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. It's ace!

anorak

what book are you reading?

what book are you reading?

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