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[bumbillbee]

:lol yeah it's pretty strange. But it's progressing to much weirder shit (I'm 30% or so done) at first it just seems like he's a weird magician type. It's getting a bit darker than the very start where the guy seems to be in quite good spirits. Loving it. The writing style is weird, it's like you can sort of tell the guy is russian and it's been translated or something. It's well written but I hear a russian man with a strong accent when I read the words.

Which translation are you reading? I read the Pevear and Volokhonsky one and didn't really pick that up, but yeah, his style is distinctive.

Heart of a Dog is also great, if you want to read something else by him.

 

[Peronthious]

Currently:
Rendezvous with Rama[/mg]
[/QUOTE]

Marvelous [b]marvelous[/b] book. I need to read it again.


[QUOTE=afternoon delight][IMG]http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/assignments/beowulf/beowulf%20covers/heaney.gif[IMG]

[B]Beowulf, Heaney's Translation:[/B] I've actually never read it, and heard great things about this version. It's completely amazing so far, except I wish it were longer. [/QUOTE]

My english teacher back in high school swore by this translation. Is this the one with the old english side by side with the translated text?

 

[MaizeRage25]

 

[CleverGirl]

Right now I'm reading Temple Grandin's Animal's Make Us Human. Really interesting.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Which translation are you reading? I read the Pevear and Volokhonsky one and didn't really pick that up, but yeah, his style is distinctive.

Heart of a Dog is also great, if you want to read something else by him.

unsure which translation, it's the kindle version though. Maybe I just read it like that because of the distinctive style I'm not used to combined with all the russian names :lol

Getting further and met the master now just, it's fast turned from an 'I don't know if I like this but it's not that long' to a must finish book. So curious.

 

[ronito]

Still reading this, spent most of last month watching The Shield . Have to admit though the pace has picked up a bit so im interested in seeing where it goes.

Is this out in the States yet?

 

[AkuMifune]

Inspired by Red Dead and on a recommendation from my dad:

I'm surprised how funny it is. You forget how timeless mocking people (especially mormons) is. Good read.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Inspired by Red Dead and on a recommendation from my dad:

I'm surprised how funny it is. You forget how timeless mocking people (especially mormons) is. Good read.

does he do that annoying dialect thing he does in Tom Sawyer and AoHF? I hate when authors do that crap, I'd rather imagine their voice and manner of speech in my own head I don't need any help

 

[bumbillbee]

unsure which translation, it's the kindle version though. Maybe I just read it like that because of the distinctive style I'm not used to combined with all the russian names :lol

Getting further and met the master now just, it's fast turned from an 'I don't know if I like this but it's not that long' to a must finish book. So curious.

I really love the structure of the book. Always so much going on.

And yeah, the Russian names get confusing. Damn patronymics and nicknames and whatnot. Thankfully, my copy of War and Peace has a handy guide at the beginning :lol Read 200 pages of it today, only a few hundred left. So good.

 

[Monocle]

Hitch-22: A Memoir

80 pages in. Excellent so far, but then I find it nearly impossible to tire of Hitchens's writing, regardless of subject. I was surprised to notice how frequently this book made me reflect on my own early life.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Is this out in the States yet?

Dont think so, it has different cover art over there as well...... looks "different" from the usual Hobb stuff but not to bad.

 

[way more]

Inspired by Red Dead and on a recommendation from my dad:

I'm surprised how funny it is. You forget how timeless mocking people (especially mormons) is. Good read.

Mark Twain was fantastic at mocking creationists and other overly pious types. I never liked Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer but his atomic use of sarcasm against the zealous is magic.


After spending the past three weeks with my nose in military history it's nice to get some fine literature.

It is beautiful and decadent prose. Also, things get weird and I can't tell what is real or not. Kinda like Murakami but with more poetic language.

 

[Undeux]

Been reading James Clavelle's Shogun. I'm liking it a lot. I'm only halfway through but it keeps getting better.

 

[Matrix]

 

[Angst]

Been reading James Clavelle's Shogun. I'm liking it a lot. I'm only halfway through but it keeps getting better.

Loved that book. Have you read the other books from Clavell? If not, I strongly recommend you to continue the awesome-ness with Tai-Pan.

 

[Numpt3]

 

[Undeux]

Loved that book. Have you read the other books from Clavell? If not, I strongly recommend you to continue the awesome-ness with Tai-Pan.

I haven't yet, but after this Tai Pan and Noble House are on my list. What others would you recommend?

 

[afternoon delight]

Finished Beowulf - my first time. Incredible. I might be the last person over the age of 22 to be surprised by its narrative and final act. :lol

This is next, another summer read I've always wanted to have the time for:

 

[Angst]

I haven't yet, but after this Tai Pan and Noble House are on my list. What others would you recommend?

I think Shogun is definitely the best one, followed by Tai Pan and Noble House. Gai Jin is not as good as the others (but still quite a good read). Whirlwind is alright and even though it's set in Iran, some characters from Noble House returns so I'd read that after Noble House.

I'd save Gai Jin for last (it was his last book AFAIK). Even though I was a bit disappointed, particularly with the ending, it has it's nice moments.

King Rat is IMO very different in style from the others, probably because it's his first novel and based upon his own experiences in Changi.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

So for the Book Club we have chosen "The Big Short"

"The Big Short" tells a story of spectacular, epic folly. It has taken the world's greatest financial meltdown to bring Michael Lewis back to the subject that made him famous. His international bestseller "Liar's Poker" exposed the greed and carnage of the City and Wall Street in the 1980s; he wrote it as a cautionary tale, but people seem to have read it as a how-to guide. Now, he wants to settle accounts. In this visceral tour to the heart of the financial system, Michael Lewis takes us around the globe and back decades to trace the origins of the current crisis. He meets the people who saw it coming, the people who were asleep at the wheel and the people who were actively driving us all of cliff. How could we have all been so deluded for quite so long? Where did it all start? Was it systemic? Was it avoidable? And who the hell can we blame? Michael Lewis has the answers. No one is better qualified to get to the heart of this labyrinthine story. And no one can make it such an enjoyable ride along the way.

The Big Short US$20.12, GBP £13.67, Euro €16.47, AUD$24.14, all with free shipping world wide. That's the cheapest i have found.

Will be starting NEXT MONTH, so plenty of time if you wanna join in.

 

[Shinjitsu]

Just ordered:

Can't wait to start reading it.

 

[finowns]

Pretty good. Writing was impressive. Kind of flat towards the ending.

 

[Mayyhem]

I'm currently reading Slash's biography. Random i know

 

[Poohblaster]

I'm just finishing up Patrick O Brian's Master and Commander series.


I also decided to give George R. R. Martin another shot. I really didn't care for the first book in the series. It was a bit depressing.

 

[TestMonkey]

Only 200 more pages to go. Pretty standard fantasy but enjoyable character development.

 

[Wellington]

So for the Book Club we have chosen "The Big Short"

The Big Short US$20.12, GBP £13.67, Euro €16.47, AUD$24.14, all with free shipping world wide. That's the cheapest i have found.

Will be starting NEXT MONTH, so plenty of time if you wanna join in.

Oh perfect, I'll pick it up, should be fun.

 

[Salazar]

Hitch-22: A Memoir

80 pages in. Excellent so far, but then I find it nearly impossible to tire of Hitchens's writing, regardless of subject. I was surprised to notice how frequently this book made me reflect on my own early life.

I'm a few chapters into this. It is terrific. Martin Amis's memoir 'Experience' can't be matched, as Hitchens would readily admit, but this is a better, more considered book than I'd expected. The part about Isaiah Berlin agreeing to write a quick book on Marx, but telling his publishers he didn't feel up to it, is worth the price of admission.

 

[T1tan]

So for the Book Club we have chosen "The Big Short"

The Big Short US$20.12, GBP £13.67, Euro €16.47, AUD$24.14, all with free shipping world wide. That's the cheapest i have found.

Will be starting NEXT MONTH, so plenty of time if you wanna join in.

Already read it but I'm in.

 

[KingGondo]

Sounds interesting, maybe for the month after that we can use a nomination/voting system to pick the next book.

 

[Coldsnap]

 

[Mael]

Rabbit is Rich by Updike

I feel that by summer's end I'll be done with the Rabbit saga

 

[afternoon delight]

My english teacher back in high school swore by this translation. Is this the one with the old english side by side with the translated text?

Edit: yes.

 

[BigAT]

Well that's easy enough, I've already read the book club selection for this month. It gets a little heavy with financial terms in a couple of areas and might bog some people down a bit, but as an econ major I plowed through the whole thing in a few days. It's a fantastic book.

Right now I'm on:

I'm enjoying it so far. Maybe it's just because I've also read it within the last year, but does anyone else get an Ender's Game feel from many parts of the book? His initially time at the University especially.

 

[Chuckie]

Not really far into the story yet though. So little time, so many things to do

 

[thomaser]

Rabbit is Rich by Updike

I feel that by summer's end I'll be done with the Rabbit saga

How are these books? I bought the complete quadrilogy (the nice Everyman's Library edition), and it's in my bookshelf, but I don't know a thing about it. Don't really remember why I bought it either.

 

[Mael]

How are these books? I bought the complete quadrilogy (the nice Everyman's Library edition), and it's in my bookshelf, but I don't know a thing about it. Don't really remember why I bought it either.

Well so far I kinda liked Run, Rabbit, Run kinda out of this world for an european of the 90's like me :lol
Rabbit Redux is really weird, I mean when the main character describe himself as a middle aged white racist from america, all I can say is that I wasn't very sympathetic of whatever happened to him :-/
In the end I don't regret reading through it, I vastly underestimated the author there....
And I'm in the middle of Rabbit is Rich where he's indeed rich.

I'm in the middle of Rabbit is Rich and they all seem to paint the hero as some kind of guy who's always on the run somehow. ALways with a twist and never running from the same stuffs but still.

All I can say is that they've got some timeless quality that's quite strange for books with so many historical references.

There's some minor reference to sex and violence and stuff but fairly minor and not as tasteless as it seems.

Updike is not Roth though, so I find it harder to get into its books.
I don't know why but I really like the way Roth make sentences....
Updike is much more straightforward in his style.

Hope that helps.

 

[thomaser]

Thanks, Mael! Sounds intriguing. Interesting with books with unsympathetic main characters... not too many of those. I haven't read anything by neither Updike nor Roth, but I enjoy all kinds of writing styles. Will probably read the Rabbit-books next summer. This summer is reserved for The Grapes of Wrath (reading now) and Infinite Jest.

 

[eznark]

Christ, I recommended The Big Short like two weeks ago, you slow fools! I already finished it.

I'm about halfway through The Guns of August but as of today will be reading this!!:

 

[Undeux]

I might be interested in the book club. I've been wanting to read that.

Christ, I recommended The Big Short like two weeks ago, you slow fools! I already finished it.

I'm about halfway through The Guns of August but as of today will be reading this!!:

Congratulations! Or that's creepy.

 

[Maklershed]

:lol

 

[Tim the Wiz]

Hitch-22: A Memoir

80 pages in. Excellent so far, but then I find it nearly impossible to tire of Hitchens's writing, regardless of subject. I was surprised to notice how frequently this book made me reflect on my own early life.

Here's the long and short of it.

 

[survivor]

Halfway through this

I only started reading it because my friend kept telling me how it's better than Harry Potter. While I may disagree with him so far, the book is really fun. I like the way Bartimaeus thinks and how he interacts with other demons.

 

[eznark]

I might be interested in the book club. I've been wanting to read that.


Congratulations! Or that's creepy.

Thanks dude.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Sounds interesting, maybe for the month after that we can use a nomination/voting system to pick the next book.

:/ Well i did ask for some recommendations and stuff in the last thread. We chose this after some vigorous discussion on www.goodreads.com

Im totally open to a voting system, but we need more than one recommendation

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I really want to read Hitchens memoir, I may pick that up soon.

Reading American Pastoral by Philip Roth. Just started.

Also, working my way through Mark Johnston's "Surviving Death", a much more rigorously argued companion to "Saving God", which I would recommend to anyone interested in religion or the philosophy thereof. This companion piece is a bit slow for me as I just started a new job.

 

[sparky2112]

Updike is not Roth though, so I find it harder to get into its books.
I don't know why but I really like the way Roth make sentences....
Updike is much more straightforward in his style.

For Updike, I cannot stress enough how great In the Beauty of the Lillies is. And, yes, Updike is very hit-or-miss with me, so take that for what it is...

 

[Salazar]

I've added Valentine Cunningham's delightfully snippy Writers of the Thirties to Hitchens's memoir. Vastly learned, detailed yet discursive reckoning with a bunch of simultaneously very serious and boundlessly comical poets and critics and novelists. Some of the put-downs smack of classic scholarly fatigue. He's spent decades reading MacNeice and Spender and Connolly and sometimes he just fucking tires of the coterie bullshit.

I just ordered Keith Thomas's The Ends of Life, too, a history of what it meant to lead 'a good life' in early modern Europe. Partly for work, probably for pleasure too.

 

[Cep]

Really enjoying it so far, though I am not a big fan of the prose.

It is both descriptive and curt, I find that sort of jarring.

What I do really appreciate is how brutally realistic it often is.

I think I may give his other books a try after I am done (or finish Timequake).

 

[The Chef]

JUST FINISHED!

YEEEEEES!!!!!

 

[Micius]

Really enjoying it so far, though I am not a big fan of the prose.

It is both descriptive and curt, I find that sort of jarring.

What I do really appreciate is how brutally realistic it often is.

I think I may give his other books a try after I am done (or finish Timequake).

Just finished The First Law trilogy, probably going to check this one out soon as well. His writing style does sort of stand out, read somewhere that he wrote a lot of scripts and his books do have that cinematic, action driven feel. Also uncharacteristically bleak, if not quite realistic, for the genre.