Books - What are you reading?

Reading Charles Stross' new book, the Rhesus Chart.

Still as excellent as his other stuff already, apparently this one is about investigating occult lovecrafty shit in the banking world.

catch 22......got over halfway through.....and lost interest! first time that that has happened.

I must have read Catch 22 at least 5 times if not more when I was a teenager. I completely loved it then. Not read it again as an adult, so I don't know how it holds up, but if it was anywhere near as hilarious as I found it back in the day then it must be good. Great structure as well.

Just finished Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo. Moments of brilliance, but I didn't feel like the whole thing worked. Didn't help that it had a macho streak a mile wide, which I found put me off. Nice prose style, horrible stilted dialogue. It is, however, nicely prophetic of the 2008 crash, which it gets points for. Weird book, expected to like it a lot more than I did. Never read any DeLillo before and I'm not so tempted to go back again, though people tell me that White Noise and Underworld are amazing.

I loved Catch 22 when I read it last year. Didn't find it hard to read at all and I'm usually pretty quick to give up.

I've just started Dominion by CJ Samson, and I love it so far. Much easier go get through, but really atmospheric. I loved Fatherland by Robert Harris which is in a similar sort of vein.

I finished this really quickly, because it was bloody great and I really wanted to know what was going to happen. I was a bit sluggish reading it at first, simply because I was doing so much Wikipediaing to find out more about the characters in the book.

Basically, Sansom is imagining Britain in 1952, after Lord Halifax became Prime Minister in 1940 rather than Churchill, and signed a Peace Treaty with Hitler. One of the best things about it is the amount of real-life people who are basically imagined as collaborators or victims of the new regime. It is completely believable and really gripping.

There are a few bits that seem a little bit stilted, for example some of the dialogue is catching the reader up with past events a bit too obviously and becomes a little clunky, and the fictional characters are a pretty broad sweep of potential opponents in a way which is quite clearly left liberal, but even that doesn't really detract from the atmosphere (and kind of suits my politics anyway - Peter Hitchens hated it, so if you like him steer clear - and fuck off). The only bum note actually comes in the author's notes afterwards, which is basically a polemic against the SNP and the Scottish independence movement. I'm glad I didn't read that first or it might have coloured the way I read the rest of the book.

Anyone interested in politics, history, Britain, Germany, Nazis, etc., should really, really give it a read.

Now reading this:

John Cale - Graham Greene - YouTube

A digestif then.

Now reading this:

Beautiful cover.

Currently reading the Mass Effect series as the games were such a hit with me. Can't get enough of them. They have graphic novels too.

Beautiful cover.

I'm not so sure, that's the one I've got but for some reason I find it a bit tacky. I like the old illustrated Penguin versions better, but when buying from charity shops I can't be choosey.

I just meant the typesetting.

The Brothers Karamazov: A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue eBook: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Just started.

^ 3 days and I'm only on page 83! Fuck, this hard going.

Page 251 of The Brothers Karamazov. #slowlygettingthere

I must admit I nearly bailed before 100 but it has started to pick up at bit now.

1 Month & 2 days and I'm still reading The Brothers Karamazov. Currently on page 586 of 770. According to my Kindle I have 5 hours left in the book, which at my current reading rate I have about 10 days left.

I think thats me done with russian lit for the time being.

You will prevail, Rob! :)

I see what you did there ...

Ancillary Justice: started slowly but really grew on me. Lots of very interesting ideas and one of the darkest overall feel to a book I've read in a long time.

The Goldfinch: I think it may be a masterpiece. Took her 10 years and I'm glad she didn't rush it. Every sentence is word perfect yet the pace is relentless for 800-odd pages. A triumph - now I want to go to Den Haag to see the damn thing for real.

Ragnarok by A S Byatt - lovely book. Smart retelling of the myth, which plays a nice meta-textual trick to keep the whole exercise from seeming stale and regurgitative. Some really beautiful imagery and some heartfelt nature writing. Good stuff.

Going to read a bit of H P Lovecraft now, because that's never a bad idea.

Blood Meridian is a strong contender for my favourite book of all time. I've just never read anything like it and the blend of frontier savagery and gothic mysticism just blew me away. I also love that it boldly disregards convention while remaining immensely readable. (To me, at least.) There's some amazing discussion around the web on the meaning and context of the novel. It works on so many levels.

I mainly stepped in here to recommend Stoner by John Williams. There's been a lot of hyperbole about this book in the last year so I won't prattle on but basically, Stoner was the most moving book I have ever read. In a sense it's a slow, gentle novel about the trials of a university professor. In another sense it's a beautiful, crushing treatise on existence. I can't really recommend it enough. It killed me.

Page 644 of 770...

I'm reading this:

Blown Away - Seeds on the Winds of War: An Evacuee's Memoir: Amazon.co.uk: Mr Ted Baverstock, Ms Emma Calin: Books

Written by my Great Uncle.

Land of Second Chances
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515EoSnSOpL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_SX342_SY445_CR,0,0,342,445_SH20_OU02_.jpg

is so moving and a must read.

A history of Rwanda and bicycles. The historical context and description of the genocide and its background and survival stories, as well as a focus on the economic affect of cycles in the post genocide coffee growing country demonstrates the power of 2 wheels.

About redemption and passion- read it!

this. i liked it, would read more by her

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and started on this. its ok. lots of sitting around in the jungle so far.

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At the Mountains of Madness, H. P. Lovecraft. Technically a short story, I suppose. Possibly a novella. Frustrating story, really. Has all the hallmark traits that make Lovecraft great, and it has all the elements of a fantastic story, but it's encumbered with a fairly tedious 'potted history of an alien race' midsection that really drags the pacing into the mire.

Moved onto Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child. Not read any Lessing before. The strength of the prose in the opening pages is promising.

So the Fifth Child went pretty quickly. Only 159 pages long but it really packs a whole lot in: psychologically discomforting, creepy and deeply unhappy. Good read.

Absolutely, a truly devasting book on all levels. Cried for about 20 mins after I finished it.

^^ As regards Stoner...