Books - What are you reading?

On the final McCarthy note of the evening- I was at a friends house party the other day, and got chatting to this irish fella, and wouldn't you know it- he was only called Mick McCarthy as well.

I'm just finishing Night Train to Lisbon, which is one of the best books I've ever read, and I've just started Nausea, which I'm really enjoying. I wish I'd read it when I was a miserable teenager.

Oh no you don't! For me it's the book that launched an ill advised philosophy degree and several years of embarassingly naive intellectual arrogance and adolscent drug-addled depression. I hate 18 year old me. WAC.

The Tendernes of Wolves. Great book.

Just finished God Emperor of Didcot, which I very much enjoyed.

Readign the Lemming men of Yull now, third book in the Space Captain Smith trilogy.

Three books on the go at the moment.

At work - The Quiet Girl - Peter Hoeg
At home - One foot in Laos - Dervla Murphy
When travelling - The Girl Who Played With Fire - Steig Larson

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes - It's ok, but he always seems to solve the mystery just as the plot is thickening (it's a collection of short stories). I think I'll try one of the Sherlock Holmes novels, that may prove more satisfying.

just finished some graham green, and staring a Haruki Murakami.
seen his books around and bought one on a whim
Blind Willow Sleeping Woman

sounds like a ninja rapist technique

I love murakami - have plenty of others if you want to borrow - he tends to write two types of books, dreamy nostalgic joy to read or very wierd almost science fiction with a bittersweet romantic view on the world. heads back to psueds corner

I've just finished The Rider by Tim Krabbe - been meaning to read it for ages and loved it
and also 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' another one that had been on my list for a while - very wierd, but very enjoyable.
I've gone for some non fiction for the moment, a book called 'I never knew that about London' part of a series with lots of interesting facts I didnt know about London, like that there used to be a golf course on the top of Adelaide house and we drive on the left because of jousting, and the Europeans on the right because of Napolean. Interesting stuff.

Wahey!

Surely, I would be a bit dull underneath my pretentious facade, though?
Oh, and go fuck yourself. Insulting me based on my taste in books is pathetic.

I like the amount of Sartre being read here. My friend made me and some friends act out Huis Clos in full, and in French. The interesting thing was, however, that non of us can speak French, and we learned our lines phonetically and got all the emotional content from stage directions and my friend, directing. It was supposed to be about alienation and, to a certain extent, asemic speech, no idea if it acheived that though. It did, however, make my french friend almost wet herself laughing, apparently it was like the french version of the accents in 'Allo 'Allo, mixed with child-speak.

Anyone read much Herman Hesse? Excellent stuff. The Glass Bead game is intense.

I've been reading lots of old mythological texts and folklore, it's wonderful. The prose Edda is really interesting, and the use of Kennings is really interesting too. The Mabinogion is pretty interesting too.

Hobo how you getting on with that? i'm most of the way through, though not finding much time to read. fucking loving it

I finished it a few weeks ago. An amazing book which was well worth both the time and effort. And now continuing on my mission to read lengthy books I have just started this:

just finished some graham green, and staring a Haruki Murakami.
seen his books around and bought one on a whim
Blind Willow Sleeping Woman

sounds like a ninja rapist technique

Just read "The Wind Up Bird Chronicles" ...Murakami's finest IMO.

I never really got on with Bolano, I haven't read 2666, but I found The Savage Detectives a bit of a struggle. It just wasn't ever enough to grip me.

Caves of Steel by Asimov. Lovely.

Clockwork Orange, for about fifth time around, thanks to a thread on here that had some of the horrorshow slang going on.

Right, right, right i`m off to drink some moloko, you starry ptitsas..

My GF was complaining last night that she can't get into any books lately (she's an editor, so reading is a bit of a busman's holiday), so I read her 'The Pit and The Pendulum' by Edgar Allen Poe.

I'm currently reading 'Dispatches - dateline Khe Sanh'.

It's about the vietnamese assault on the Khe Sanh and the build up/fallout etc that was involved with it. Written by a reporter that was there as a non-combatant but had to get his hands dirty when the base was overrun.. pretty amazing stuff. Pretty sad too.

My GF was complaining last night that she can't get into any books lately (she's an editor, so reading is a bit of a busman's holiday), so I read her 'The Pit and The Pendulum' by Edgar Allen Poe.

I've got some Poe lined up fro when i've finished with this Dickens. It's taken me an age to get though as I tend to only read on public transport or in the bath. And as I ride nearly everywhere and mostly take showers...

Mr Pickwick is currently in Fleet debtor's prison by by way of protest (refusal to pay damages due on bogus charge of breaking a promise of marriage) and Sam has just got himself deliberately banged up with him to make sure he's okay getting his dad to have him arrested on a manufactured charge of bad debt. I wiped away a tear of pride at this point. Gawd bless that boy!

The whole episode caused me to look up debtors prisons and the Fleet in particular which it turns out was so named as it stood on the bank of the river Fleet that runs from Hampstead Heath down to the Thames. Now covered over the river now pops out under the north end of Blackfriars Bridge... which as it turns out is right outside my window here at work. Awesome.

All you people, just reading for fun, as if it were some sort of leisure activity, or a pleasurable thing to do; as if books were just there to make you happy, or to make you laugh, or to make you think; with no need to care about any book beyond whether or not you happen to like it...makes me sick so it does.

/Picks up some more fucking Chaucer disconsolately; puts thread on ignore.

Today is my last day on the slush pile before I no longer have to read unpublishable shit ever again (except for my own writing).

Lined up for leisure reading (!):

You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers
Organizing Prosperity by our forum's very own Chukker.
Selected stories of Guy Davenport.

Surely, I would be a bit dull underneath my pretentious facade, though?
Oh, and go fuck yourself. Insulting me based on my taste in books is pathetic.

I like the amount of Sartre being read here. My friend made me and some friends act out Huis Clos in full, and in French. The interesting thing was, however, that non of us can speak French, and we learned our lines phonetically and got all the emotional content from stage directions and my friend, directing. It was supposed to be about alienation and, to a certain extent, asemic speech, no idea if it acheived that though. It did, however, make my french friend almost wet herself laughing, apparently it was like the french version of the accents in 'Allo 'Allo, mixed with child-speak.

Anyone read much Herman Hesse? Excellent stuff. The Glass Bead game is intense.

I've been reading lots of old mythological texts and folklore, it's wonderful. The prose Edda is really interesting, and the use of Kennings is really interesting too. The Mabinogion is pretty interesting too.

Wa-hey-hay!

Couldn't make it up...

"Just read "The Wind Up Bird Chronicles" ...Murakami's finest IMO."

Too right, I love the writing and world of Murakami.
However, as one would expect, his most popular are his least imaginative.
It's a matter of personal preference of course, but I prefer the dense, layered, freewheeling and unresolved to the rather sentimental although tender examinations of relationships.
Dance Dance Dance was a winner for me and Wild Sheep Chase too.
Some good stuff in Hard Boiled Wonderland as well.
Mr Smyth have you seen Toni Takitani? Murakami resisted movies for an age but this was one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema I have seen in recent years.
Go Mechamorgan! a seeking mind is a great thing - we are surrounded by the consumers of dumb pop culture all too afraid to do anything not validated by their "mates."
A crowd is usually my cue to head another way.....
The pretentious do not read the books they merely exhibit them upon their furniture to be seen by others, Rouleur anyone?

we are surrounded by the consumers of dumb pop culture all too afraid to do anything not validated by their "mates."

3-2-1 and you're back in the Junior Common Room.

Most of us have been there...

The problem with Murakami is that he writes too well.
Wind up Bird is all win.

however in my opinion its all about Dance Dance Dance.
Does anyone have any experience of similar writers?

I read some Ryu Murakami- not a relation in any stretch- but fuck some epically awesome dark books.
Well reccomended.
Really getting back into reading atm...
I've missed it.

Ps. I thought Toni Takitani was shite.

Ha, that's an online forum, love.

wind up bird chronicles is one of my favourite books. i love murakami. about to start kafka on the shore
@ plurabelle: do you think that normal people can go beyong the 100 page of ulysses? i've tried with no joy... tips