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I think Catch 22 has more laugh-out-loud (or should I say LOL?!) moments than any other book I've read. Does waffle on in some sections though.
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow.
Just finished The **** Up by Arthur Nersesian, enjoyable stuff in an Alan Warner vein.
Before that was Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, which was fantastic.
I think Catch 22 has more laugh-out-loud (or should I say LOL?!) moments than any other book I've read. Does waffle on in some sections though.
I just didn't get it, I had a little bit of joy with it 1/2 way through when I started reading it with black adder goes forth picture in my mind.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though I need a break now as good as it is I don't really want to read every single Sherlock Holmes story ever written back to back.
Very entertaining though and only a fiver from my local secondhand bookshop.
Also have recently finished reading The Great Gatsby which was good and For Whom The Bell Tolls which I really enjoyed. Never read any Hemmingway before and was expecting it to be really hard going for some reason when it is actually completely the opposite.
I think Catch 22 has more laugh-out-loud (or should I say LOL?!) moments than any other book I've read. Does waffle on in some sections though.I just didn't get it, I had a little bit of joy with it 1/2 way through when I started reading it with black adder goes forth picture in my mind.
I've read Catch 22 twice and never fully 'got' it I don't think. I just can't see what all the fuss is about. I do like Yossarian but I'm not sure if I can be bothered trying it again.
Did you know, samurai, that when warriors of feudal Japan confessed to mental weakness, they were honour bound to commit the ritual of seppuku? Just a thought..Ulysses, although I'm just about to give up on that. Got to about page 200 and it's just painful.
Another reading the re-released Catch 22, am finding it alternately excellent and a chore, I remember it as brilliant but less so now. I suspect I don't have the time or maybe have too many distractions to let me fully concentrate on it.
[i]Suspended in language: Neils Bohr's life, discoveries and the century he shaped[/i] just arrived today. Looking forward to reading it.
Hey Grantway, and other dyslexia sufferers, how do you cope with graphic novels? Do the pictures help or hinder.
Re-reading (after a gap of some years):
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The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
One of if not the best book I've ever read.I've just finished East of Eden and can't believe I waited 25 years after reading the Grapes of Wrath to read it.
Ron jeremy the hardest working man in porn 🙂
Three.
Main read is a collection of stories on themes military from The Economist which I am reviewing for a website. The second book is Losing Small Wars, with the alternate read being Dark Market.
All three are pretty good to be honest.
Flashmans Lady
Took two on my travels, selected not least for their compactness: A Moveable Feast by Hemingway and JA Baker's The Peregrine.
The Hemingway is simply superb. It's really 'just' a memoir, written not long before his death, of his time in Paris as a struggling writer (who could hang out with Ezra Pound, F Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein etc). It's concise but concentrated. He was a man's writer and never mind the bravado of the big game hunting or the bull fighting (Death in the Afternoon is a must), he was heartbreaking in the last couple of pages about his own failings (I won't spoil it further, suffice to say, it's very short book and could be finished over a few beers in a dilapidated Parisian bar).
The Peregrine is also recommended. The author follows a pair of peregrines in his patch of Essex one winter in the 1960s ,becoming part of their lives. Sounds repetitive - peregrine wakes up, bathes, kills, eats, sleeps - but the imagery he uses means it's never dull. Worth it for one page-long description of a high-speed stoop.
Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson
Leopard - Jo Nesbo
Good Vibrations - Tom cunliffe
The Sign - Raymond Khoury, this was recommended by a chap in Waterstones who when I was wandering around looking for anything new by Paul Sussmann pulled this out of the shelves and said "it's in a similar vein", we'll see, I've only got to page 4..
I think Catch 22 has more laugh-out-loud (or should I say LOL?!) moments than any other book I've read. Does waffle on in some sections though.
I just didn't get it, I had a little bit of joy with it 1/2 way through when I started reading it with black adder goes forth picture in my mind.I've read Catch 22 twice and never fully 'got' it I don't think. I just can't see what all the fuss is about. I do like Yossarian but I'm not sure if I can be bothered trying it again.
I never got on with this book... mainly because it is too close to the truth.
Disgusting.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped to be honest. A third in though so some way to go.
I think Catch 22 has more laugh-out-loud (or should I say LOL?!) moments than any other book I've read. Does waffle on in some sections though.I just didn't get it, I had a little bit of joy with it 1/2 way through when I started reading it with black adder goes forth picture in my mind.
I've never simultaneously hated and enjoyed a book as much as Catch 22.
I ran out of books to read the other night, so i borrowed 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' from my housemate. It was dreadful. I rarely start a book without finishing, and i've plowed through some really dire novels, but it was a total waste of my time. I'm amazed at how much hype it got when it first came out.
I took Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor out of the library yesterday instead.
Buttercup - track down a book called one people by guy kennaway - thats the funniest book Ive ever read with the most lol moments! Tony Hawks is good for it as well - round ireland with a fridge and playing the moldovans at tennis both stand out.
Thanks for that, Thunder. It's now on my list.
Mugabes war machine! its a hoot
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Just finished Caitlin Moran's "How to be a Woman".
By her definition, I am a feminist and always have been; also by her definition, women should be fawning over me.
Dave
Finished "The Business" by Iain Banks last night. A good light weight easy read. Just reading Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" now. Collected short stories and surprisingly good - does not really feel dated at all.
And put me down in the Catch-22 refuseniks group. Didn't really get on with it at all. At least I tried.
[i]Did you know, samurai, that when warriors of feudal Japan confessed to mental weakness, they were honour bound to commit the ritual of seppuku?[/i]
oh dear.
Ah well, if them's the rules, I best go and do the necessary.
It really is a hard book, I'm not sure it's a terrible failing to struggle with it. Anyway, i'll just go and kill myself.
"The Road" Cormac McCarthy.
Excellent but unswervingly bleak. Had to put it away for 6 months as I have a young son about the age of the boy in the book, which made it a very depressing read.
I ran out of books to read the other night, so i borrowed 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' from my housemate. It was dreadful. I rarely start a book without finishing, and i've plowed through some really dire novels, but it was a total waste of my time. I'm amazed at how much hype it got when it first came out.
How far did you get ? It does start off a bit slow and strange, but then it develops into a truly great book.
If I recommend it to someone I always warn them its a slow starter.
"The Road" Cormac McCarthy.
Put this on my amazon wish list this morning to remind me to order it.
#8 in Steve Erikson's Malazan books
Nicholas Roche biog. Reasonably interesting but was half price on kindle otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought it. A lot is reprints of his very good race diaries which appear in the Irish independent. Before that it was Ian Fleming's Commandos: The Story of 30 Assault Unit in WWII - not bad either.
How far did you get ? It does start off a bit slow and strange, but then it develops into a truly great book.If I recommend it to someone I always warn them its a slow starter.
Not very far 😳 . But the vulgarity of the ear problem in the first chapter, combined with the irritating monologue from the Italian dictator in the second chapter, was enough to put me off. Actually someone else said it's a good book to start halfway through and then read the beginning at the end. Perhaps i'll revist it.
Just finished: The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow - ace
Just now: I, Partridge - rubbish but funny
Then: The Day of The Jack Russell by Bateman. I have high hopes.
"The Road" Cormac McCarthy.Excellent but unswervingly bleak. Had to put it away for 6 months as I have a young son about the age of the boy in the book, which made it a very depressing read.
Yup, phenomenal isn't it?
We now make frequent reference to what the "Road-Like Existence" will be like when it comes. 😐
Im always surprised by how many people seem to be read fiction books. Until I brought my kindle I had nt read a fiction book for like 5-7 years.
Almost got to the point when I felt fiction books were just something you read as a kid.
Since I got my kindle alot of fiction book you can download for free so have read more.
Something I havent read since I was a child are books of short stories. This one is good http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twilight-Gods-Other-Tales-ebook/dp/B000JMKWKM/ref=pd_ys_iyr87
I suppose I like stories for the same reason I tend to like short TV programs rather than films.
I've also read great gatsby = pants and three men in a boat = good
Nothing right now, but funnily enough I have [b]"Cyclecraft"[/b] (John Franklin) and [b]"Go Snowboard"[/b] (Neil McNab) arriving from Amazon tomorrow after numerous recommendations by folk on here.
Winter In Madrid - C.J.Samson
Excedllent too boot, wife's recommendation.
Those of you enjoyed the bleakness of The Road: Try "Blindness" by Jose Saramago. Takes bleak to a whole different level.