Books - What are you reading?

Finished Fahrenheit 451 - wasn't mad about it to be honest, it was readable enough but I struggled to stay motivated beyond the early promise of his meeting Clarissa - I get why the general premise is compared with Orwell, but I find Orwell's style clearer and much deeper.......it actually made me think of Huxley's Brave New World, although that is a better book I think

Brave New World is brilliant.

Finished Fahrenheit 451 - wasn't mad about it to be honest, it was readable enough but I struggled to stay motivated beyond the early promise of his meeting Clarissa - I get why the general premise is compared with Orwell, but I find Orwell's style clearer and much deeper.......it actually made me think of Huxley's Brave New World, although that is a better book I think

I was underwhelmed by Fahrenheit 451 too. I think the premise is more interesting than the actual story.

'The War In The Air' by Wells is well worth a read, in my opinion better than "War Of The Worlds' and 'The Time Machine'.

I've spent the last 2 hours finishing off The Road and listening to Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I am now utterly depressed. I've still got 4 hours to kill so I'm going to make a decent dent in Fahrenheit 451. I wish I'd brought more books with me now!

You should be reading "Guards! Guards!" - depressing and hilarious.

On the note of Dostoevsky:

Is brilliant, and totally approachable. And really short.

Fahrenheit 451 finished. It was alright. Definitely draws comparisons to 1984 and Brave New World, both of which I preffered. Now I'm out of books, better spend my second week in Germany getting solidly pissed then.

Where's the cycling books thread gone? Am on the search for a good new biog / bike miscellany read

https://www.lfgss.com/thread126814.html

Thanks Oliver, I'd searched for it on the threads finder thing but obviously am too much of a 'tard to make it work

Do you have a forum on ignore?

Page 251 of The Brothers Karamazov. #slowlygettingthere

That's 250 pages further than I ever got.

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

H P Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life, by Michel Houllebeq. If you're into Lovecraft then it's a pretty good read. No major insights but it's very nicely written and well argued, and it's good to see a fairly odd and under-appreciated author get some love. Had The Call of Cthulhu at the end as a bonus so I reread that too. Great stuff. Made me wish all my books weren't in storage so I could read some more.

No Country for Old Men is a rollicking yarn. The Border Trilogy is an immense (in every sense of the word) work of beauty. Blood Meridian is downright psychotic. Suttree is meditative, poetic and sad. Pick and choose according to your mood. They're all good.

Blood Meridian I found really tough going. I didn't find it particularly pleasant or enjoyable to read, but I can see why it's a good book. Sort of like the film Tyrannosaur, I am sort of glad I went through it, but I wouldn't want to repeat it or recommend it to others.

I finally, finally finished Nicholas Nickleby. There's a great story in there in serious need of a good editor, or an author who wasn't paid by the word. Doesn't compare well to Great Expectations, which is probably just as long, but didn't feel so padded out.

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.

^ Completely agree - All the Pretty Horses is one of my favourite books, but Blood Meridian just left me feeling a bit, well, brutalised. It got to the point where I was expecting the worst and was almost let down if something horrific didn't happen.

Brutal is totally the right word for it. It's such a strange book. The fact that it doesn't really have a main character doesn't help because you don't have anything to latch on to. You're just adrift in carnage. Ostensibly the novel follows the kid around, but the kid is such a blank character that you can't really identify with him. The only real constant is the Judge and the Judge is fucking terrifying.

I'm about halfway through The Man In The High Castle by Philip K Dick and enjoying it so far. The next book I read should probably not be set in a distopian alternate future......

Heading into the final third of Guerillas by V.S. Naipaul. Enjoyed some of it but it hasn't really grabbed me. Teeing up India: A Million Mutinies Now which I'm hoping will be a bit more compelling.

Cloud Atlas. Hated the film, can't even remember a thing about it other than how much I didn't enjoy watching it.

The Mrs came back from her folks' with a copy that her Dad had given her to give to me, thinking I would like it. Started it out of a feeling of obligation and about 4/5 of the way through, I have to say, I think it's been brilliant and gets better and better as each of the sub-stories are finished and the whole thing ties together more and more.

not read the book but the film was absolutely dire

Recently:

Tried Catch 22 for the umpteenth time - still can't get past page 50 or so. Unreadable nonsense imho, obviously millions of people love it but I just don't get it. If you want 2nd World War comedy/commentary/satire then this reviewer suggests looking no further than Gravity's Rainbow

^ stick with it!! it took me nigh on 5 years on and off, but once I got into it it was incredible and did over half the book in a week, one of a handful of books I can honestly say has stayed with me and probably will for life