Books - What are you reading?

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.

no. but having watched the trailer on you tube i probably will.
sakamoto did the soundtrack which is a bonus.

Wa-hey-hay!

Couldn't make it up...

Get out of my life, horrid beast :(

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.
Not sure I could cut it as a literature academic/teacher. It must be hard, when people ask what you do, and then you become 'the person who knows about literature' - like comedians always get asked to make a joke when they tell people what they do. Or maybe that's a stupid comparison.

Anyway, to the person wanting recommendations on Vonnegut - I enjoyed Mother Night, and keep meaning to read Breakfast of Champions. Apparently his later stuff is less good.

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

just read the last page (or the last couple of paragraphs) the bit about the seedcake on Howth head. it's the best bit and very romantic. the rest is just waffle.
then listen to the sensual world by Kate bush.

probably not the correct way of ingesting JJ recommended by academics but i don't care.

Well, I found the shite good shite.

Film's a different kettle fish and people have perhaps other demands of it.

I liked the space, time scale, small gestures and details of the relationship on screen better than in the novels around similar themes.

Enjoyed Kafka On The Shore very much, it has some of his best characters and a great deal of wit.

Look out for Johnny Walker.

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

yes, with some (well, a lot of) patience and a guide book; the first time through is like doing the translation and the second time is just reading a book. That's what I found anyway. And I'm a normal person.

if you've done it twice and are normal, i am really thick :)

if you've done it twice and are normal, i am really thick :)

I forced myself to read it at school and then again at university. It is really good once you get the hang of it; the first time I used a companion book to 'explain' it as I went along. I don't think I'd have the patience nowadays though.
And avoid Finnigan's Wake. It just leads to bad aliases.

Currently reading You can't win by Jack Black (not that chunky unfunny actor). So far it's been great, very interesting insight into the life of an American freight train hobo.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was the topic with Melvyn Bragg this morning. Much more readable than *Ulysses *or, god forbid, Finnegan's Wake...

@ plurabelle: do you think that normal people can go beyong the 100 page of ulysses? i've tried with no joy... tips

If you're not enjoying it, don't force it. But if there's something you're getting out of it, be it the language, or the feel, or the sense of place, or anything: keep going. It's difficult; its setting is going to be alien to you, as is the language it's written in, and the constant linguistic playfulness can be slow going. Don't feel bad if that stuff puts you off. It's no reflection on you, at all, if it does; lots of people, including me, needed to study it to get it. That said, it is wonderful - and if you're able to get that straight away then keep going. It wasn't written for an academic audience - it was written for everyone.

Not sure I could cut it as a literature academic/teacher. It must be hard, when people ask what you do, and then you become 'the person who knows about literature' - like comedians always get asked to make a joke when they tell people what they do. Or maybe that's a stupid comparison.

Ha! S'no that bad, really. You have, eventually, a pretty small field that you know a shitload about. The other stuff you're allowed to be ignorant about sometimes :-)

Finnegans Wake (get it right, people ffs :D) is absolutely fucking brilliant.

platini did a typo thing? wtf?
must have been a splash of Rioja making the keyboard sticky

If you're not enjoying it, don't force it. But if there's something you're getting out of it, be it the language, or the feel, or the sense of place, or anything: keep going. It's difficult; its setting is going to be alien to you, as is the language it's written in, and the constant linguistic playfulness can be slow going. Don't feel bad if that stuff puts you off. It's no reflection on you, at all, if it does; lots of people, including me, needed to study it to get it. That said, it is wonderful - and if you're able to get that straight away then keep going. It wasn't written for an academic audience - it was written for everyone.

Ha! S'no that bad, really. You have, eventually, a pretty small field that you know a shitload about. The other stuff you're allowed to be ignorant about sometimes :-)

Disclaimer: I was exceedingly drunked when I wrote this post.

Don't tend to read books much except when on holiday...following books are on stand by for Xmas break

American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Far North by Marcel Theroux
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Let me know if any of these are on to avoid list

I'm reading a book about how to interpret handwriting; very interesting.

The Wild Things - Dave Eggers

I'm reading a book about how to interpret handwriting; very interesting.

I'm taking it down today. Every time I open the door I cringe. You win, you heartless bastard.

Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book. Got it for 10p down the charity shop yesterday...!

Finnegans Wake (get it right, people ffs :D) is absolutely fucking brilliant.

Innit man, as Flann O'Brien said, 'that poor writer's end was hastened by that damned intrusive apostrophe', or words to that effect. Incidently, has anyone mentioned Flann the man yet? *The Third Policeman *has important things to say about the relationship between man and bicycle, and is very funny. Indeed most of O'Brien's stuff is like Joyce with better jokes.

A good 'walk through guide' to *Ulysses *is The Bloomsday Book, by Harry Blamires (sp). Well worth the effort.

Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book. Got it for 10p down the charity shop yesterday...!

all you need now is a copy of the spitting image book.

"butter is the devils spunk"
ad campaign by the margarine marketing board.

@Plurabelle and Wiganwill
thanks for the advice. I will try again as i feel that i am really missing something if i don't read it.

and yeah, FW can lead to bad aliases :)
didn't have to read it to get involved with te=hem though!

Innit man, as Flann O'Brien said, 'that poor writer's end was hastened by that damned intrusive apostrophe', or words to that effect. Incidently, has anyone mentioned Flann the man yet? *The Third Policeman *has important things to say about the relationship between man and bicycle, and is very funny. Indeed most of O'Brien's stuff is like Joyce with better jokes.

Yes yes yes - it is brilliant. TTP is all I've read, though. What else would you recommend?

@Plurabelle and Wiganwill
thanks for the advice. I will try again as i feel that i am really missing something if i don't read it.

and yeah, FW can lead to bad aliases :)
didn't have to read it to get involved with te=hem though!

Ha ha! I've been some sort of version of ALP on every internet thing I've ever been on.

Way Of The World... two guys driving from Geneva to the Khyber Pass in the Fifties. Inspiring

I've just read The Little Prince to my son, had'nt read it for years. It's beautiful.