Who's reading what?

[Raisin]

I read The Road after seeing the film as well, the film is great but that scene in the house in the cellar made me want to throw up. I'd agree with Nash that I did expect a bit more but for me it was still a good read.

Re-reading the Invisible Man which I didn't like so much the first time but now I'm really enjoying it.

[Raisin]

Oh, and also The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell- definitely not as good as My Lover's Lover. I read that when I was 11, even though I was forbidden from reading it because it was a 'grown-ups' book, so it was a reading-under-the-covers-with-a-torch kind of thing. Really enjoyed it though.

[Select Samaritan]

Currently reading both The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and The Selected Poems of Irving Layton. The latter is on for $4.24 right now, for the harcover! Paperback is $14.95...

Don't get too excited. It's only a little thing, 63 pages long. Still, it's a good deal and it's an actual first edition from 1977 (I know because I just bought one). And of course it's Irving Layton and he's pretty good and all that...

A couple of excerpts:

In the Midst of My Fever

In the midst of my fever, large
as Europe's pain,
The birds hopping on the blackened wires
were instantly electrocuted;
Bullfrogs were slaughtered in large numbers
to the sound of their innocent thrummings;
The beautiful whores of the king
found lovers and disappeared;
The metaphysician sniffed the thought before him
like a wrinkled fruit;
And the envoys meeting on the sunny quay
for once said the truth about the weather.
In the midst of this rich confusion, a miracle happened: someone
quietly performed a good deed;
And the grey imperial lions, growling, carried
the news in their jaws.
I heard them. So did Androcles.

Recipe for a Long and Happy Life

Give all your nights
to the study of Talmud

By day practise
shooting from the hip

[Nash]

Not heard of Irving Layton before but I like the examples there, might well look into him some more.

Don't really need to comment on Douglas Adams, everyone likes him don't they? Have you read the first Dirk Gently? Not the second one, that's crap, but the first one's good.

I'm reading Great Gatsby at the moment, never read it before, s'alright innit?

[David]

I'm reading Great Gatsby at the moment, never read it before, s'alright innit?

It's great, isn't it? I only read it for the first time last year, and I remember that feeling of relief that this, a supposed classic, really was pretty good.

[Nash]

Yes, it is beautifully written David. Have you read any more of Fitzgerald's? Are they as good?

[Raisin]

I loved Gatsby, I feel like reading it again now it's been brought up.

Yesterday I got The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht which is fantastic, very natural storytelling and really vivid descriptions.

[Select Samaritan]

Have you read the first Dirk Gently? Not the second one, that's crap, but the first one's good.

Never have, no. But I might, in the future. I've heard nothing but good things. Thing is though, once I'm done with the full Hitchhiker's series (every second novel I'm reading right now will be a HGTTG one, until I finish the series) I will likely have had my fill of Adams for a while. I'm already growing a bit weary. Perhaps I should space them out even more...

[k-j]

Yes, it is beautifully written David. Have you read any more of Fitzgerald's? Are they as good?

I've read his debut, This Side of Paradise, which was published when he was only 24 and it shows. Not a terrible novel though.

I've not read Tender is the Night yet, but his short stories are fantastic, every bit as good as Gatsby. Check them out for sure. You can read them online if you like: http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/writings.html. Try "May Day".

[Nash]

Thing is though, once I'm done with the full Hitchhiker's series.......I will likely have had my fill of Adams for a while. I'm already growing a bit weary.

I know what you mean. As much as I like Douglas Adams I think he does get a bit tiresome in large doses. I think my favourite Douglas Adams read was his anecdotes and articles in Salmon of Doubt.

I've not read Tender is the Night yet, but his short stories are fantastic, every bit as good as Gatsby. Check them out for sure. You can read them online if you like: http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/writings.html. Try "May Day".

Thanks KJ, I'll give them a go when I've finished Gatsby. I'll have to get them on paper though, I can't read fiction on screen.

[Select Samaritan]

Finished the second Hitchhiker's novel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Found it better than the first. More of a cohesive narrative. And the jokes were slightly more in service of the story rather than the other way around, which was an impression I often got with the first one.

After some deliberation I'm going with The Lathe Of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin. Starting it today.

[lemonstar]

I hardly read fiction although I'm trying to "make an effort". My reading habits are, I think, a bit odd or erratic. I'm not a prolific or rapid reader and I tend to dip into a lot of books simultaneously - in a day I might reads something out of 2 or 3 different books (out of maybe 5-10 books I'm looking at)- sometimes I have a main one, often not.

I see Nassim Taleb's Black Swan as a main read atm. See the first 3 pages of the prologue that got me hooked:-
http://twitpic.com/6bevmz p1
http://twitpic.com/6beuvv p2
http://twitpic.com/6beubv p3

Then in rough order of the time I'm giving them:-
     Juliana Hatfield - When I Grow Up (A Memoir)
equal with:-
     How Not To Write A Novel (Sandra Newman & Howard Mittelmark)

Poetry - RS Thomas Collected 1945-1990, Staying Alive and Being Alive (Neil Astley Collections Bloodaxe), A Quark for Mister Mark - 101 Poems about Science.

The Number Mysteries - Marcus du Sautoy

[Select Samaritan]

Life, the Universe and Everything, 15 Canadian Poets, and Arguably, Essays by Christopher Hitchens.

[lemonstar]

While still dipping into the other books I mentioned before I've finished Haruki Murakami's:-
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (I'd really recommend it to any one who runs),
After Dark (wonderfully weird - I don't know why it's not more highly regarded)and
started (and temprarily abandoned) The WInd-up Bird Chronicles (found it tedious, plotless and implausible but will take another run at it before long)

however I'm currently gripped by Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar - about half-way through the book (middle of ch10) and I'm completed knocked out by it - I think it's a fabulous piece of writing. (and I've also started reading her Collected Poems)

Neil

[Mercurygirl]

I've been reading Edgar Allan Poe, a collection of poems and short stories. I love it!

[k-j]

I've been reading Edgar Allan Por, a collection of poems and short stories. I love it!

I've been reading Poe lately too - poems, stories, letters and criticism. His poetry walks the line between genius and embarrassing!

[k-j]

started (and temprarily abandoned) The WInd-up Bird Chronicles (found it tedious, plotless and implausible but will take another run at it before long)

I really enjoyed Wind-up Bird although the ending is unsatisfactory which is a Murakami trademark. I don't know if you made it to the Mongolia section yet but there is an excruciating description of a wartime atrocity which I think is the only thing I've ever found "hard to read" if you know what I mean - incredible writing.

[k-j]

I've not been reading as much this year. I seem to be falling asleep earlier.

I have just finished "A Melon for Ecstasy" (1970) by John Fortune (of later Bremner, Bird and Fortune fame) and John Wells. Difficult to sum this one up. It's a satirical comic novel about a man who fucks trees, and the turmoil his habit brings about in a sleepy, leafy English village. There isn't really anything like it, and it's extremely funny. It spoofs numerous genres, especially porno literature and the comedy of manners; it's also an expertly-crafted farce in its own right and a field guide to the trees of Britain and the world.

See if your library system has it, and if not I'd say it's even worth the 17 quid a used copy is listed for on Amazon UK (my copy was a lot less on the US version).

[Raisin]

I have just finished "A Melon for Ecstasy" (1970) by John Fortune (of later Bremner, Bird and Fortune fame) and John Wells. Difficult to sum this one up. It's a satirical comic novel about a man who fucks trees, and the turmoil his habit brings about in a sleepy, leafy English village. There isn't really anything like it, and it's extremely funny. It spoofs numerous genres, especially porno literature and the comedy of manners; it's also an expertly-crafted farce in its own right and a field guide to the trees of Britain and the world.

Sounds excellent, I'll try and find it.

I'm currently reading "How to be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran which I'm really enjoying, very funny, honest writing.

Read "The Passion of New Eve" by Angela Carter for one of my English modules, thought that was fantastic, bizarre though.

[lemonstar]

I have just finished "A Melon for Ecstasy" (1970) by John Fortune

Decidedly weird - I've never seen or heard of that one!

I really enjoyed Wind-up Bird although the ending is unsatisfactory which is a Murakami trademark. I don't know if you made it to the Mongolia section yet but there is an excruciating description of a wartime atrocity which I think is the only thing I've ever found "hard to read" if you know what I mean - incredible writing.

No - I only managed first 3 or 4 chapters - another purposeless protagonist, another slightly dysfunctional teen girl, another missing animal, another meeting with a mystical stranger - I don't know - I had the feeling he was trying to get away with not having any kind of meaning or plot - I don't mind so much not having a profoundly meaningful destination in a Murakami book but I like to find soem small meanings in it along the way but I may well have not read enough. I started reading Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar (now just over half way through) and there is so much I like about it - it's so wry and colourful and has so many beautifully observed details sketched into every charcter and scene and it's full of very quotable writing... and the real point of the story is emerging very subtly I think.

[Nash]

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski

Not my usual sort of thing at all, it's relatively modern for a start, but it's really quite remarkable.

I've been quite ill with a respiratory infection for the last few weeks and have had high temperatures. I can't work out whether this is by far the best book to read when you're feverish or the worst, it blurs an already fuzzy reality.

[k-j]

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski

Not read it and not sure whether I want to. It sounds like fun but also the kind of excessively po-mo book that just ends up eating itself.

Looking forward to your review. Did you hear about Danielewski's mammoth advance for his next project?! I can't remember whether it was a million dollars or half that but it's a pretty staggering number.

[Nash]

Thanks k-j. To be honest, I'd never heard of Danielewski or this book before, I just stumbled over it while browsing Amazon.

I'm a ridiculously slow reader so I'm only part way into it at the moment, it's huge book. I'm enjoying it very much so far but I think that you could be right, it may well be the sort of thing that disappears up its own arse.

We'll see.

[brianedwards]

Currently reading Sean O'Brien's The Drowned Book and getting out of the Xmas spirit with Anne Applebaum's Gulag.

B.

[Tim Love]

I keep a list of what I've read at http://litrefsreviews.blogspot.com/. In the last 3 months I've read 11 poetry books, 6 novels (Christie, Drabble, etc), 3 theory books and 2 short story collections. Nothing that I'd especially recommend, though The Best British Poetry 2011 is interesting. I'm saving Stephen Burt's "Close Calls with Nonsense" to read over Xmas.