Books - What are you reading?

The Road by Cormack McCarthy, anyone else read it?

i had to read that in class last year, i still have nightmares.

The Road by Cormack McCarthy, anyone else read it?

Read it?

I can even spell the author's name correctly...

http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/cormacmccarthy/

Today I saw a young mother reading The Road waiting for the tube at Hampstead, she had her baby in a sling around her neck... found that quite poignant.

The strange thing about reading this book, half the time you're thinking about the whole situation as a tragic and poetic event, then suddenly its a training manual - "OK when this happens, everyone else is fucked, but not me".

I've definitely noticed myself buying more canned goods, and I cleaned my Leatherman for the first time in years.

Has anyone read Let the Great World Spin by Colom McCann? Its sitting on my shelf ready to be opened when I've finished Clarissa and Ulysses.

HP Lovecraft stories here, while eating 4 cheese gnocchi and coping with hangover of uncanny strength.

All combines to create a powerful sense of dread and foreboding.

I've definitely noticed myself buying more canned goods, and I cleaned my Leatherman for the first time in years.

This will definitely help in the event of nuclear warfare.

Just finished Under the Dome by Stephen King. I liked it but I dont think its his best work.

Just finished a terrifying article about James Patterson. He publishes nine books a year.

I've just started "The Escape Artist" by Matt Seaton.
Great work so far.

Just started this, trying to get into this whole bed reading thing, as i no longer do any public transport commuting.

Just finished a terrifying article about James Patterson. He publishes nine books a year.

It might be true, but a little known fact is how he manages to do it.
He has a team of writers doing it for him.
Like a sculptor who get's his minions to do the hard work of chipping away at the bulk of the rock, he just steps in and at the end and gives the books his 'Patterson' polish.
Not real writing, if you ask me.

Just started this, trying to get into this whole bed reading thing, as i no longer do any public transport commuting.

Flashman is awesome! I love it.
It's one of the few good reasons to go to bed early - to read George Macdonald Fraser for two hour hours.

I've just finished 'Don't look know' and other short stories by Daphne du Maurier. Brilliant, chilling stuff. Recommended.

I'm on The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson at the mo - a gripping ghost story/psychological thriller. It has been made into a couple of films, both of which I've liked.

Most people have seen the film of 'Don't look know' - I've not, but I'm going to.

It might be true, but a little known fact is how he manages to do it.
He has a team of writers doing it for him.

It's not that little known - he puts their names on the cover too, Tom Clancy style. There's lots of detail about that in the article:

"In at least one instance, Patterson took on a co-author in an effort to boost sales: last year, after noticing he wasn’t selling in Scandinavia, he invited Sweden’s best-selling crime writer, Liza Marklund, to collaborate with him on an international thriller. Their novel, “The Postcard Killers,” is just being published in Sweden and will be out in the U.S. this summer."

Plus lots of other frightening stuff that bodes badly for real books.

I knew that Tom Clancy basically sticks his name on books he approves.
Shame on him.
I know these chaps make incredible money from doing this, but really.
It fucking stinks. I'll not be reading any of their work.

I've finished my first novel and I'm in the process of editing it, so I know it's hard work - I can't imagine giving it to some rich fucker to stick his name on the front, no matter how much they might pay.

At the moment:

• Exhibition Design, David Dernie
  
• Design: Intelligence made visible, Baiyley & Conran
  
• The Art of looking sideways, Allan Fletcher
  
• If you could collaborate, various
  
• Designing Design, Kenya Hara
  
• Shitloads of books about the Industrial Revolution
  
• A novel about German/Argentina Nazis in the 50s. Crime thing.
  
  

Yes, I'm a lazy student!

At the moment:

• Exhibition Design, David Dernie
  
• Design: Intelligence made visible, Baiyley & Conran
  
• The Art of looking sideways, Allan Fletcher
  
• If you could collaborate, various
  
• Designing Design, Kenya Hara
  
• Shitloads of books about the Industrial Revolution
  
• A novel about German/Argentina Nazis in the 50s. Crime thing.
  
  

Yes, I'm a lazy student!

Is that about Design, or about Nazis?

Well spotted! It's a book about various artists and designers collaborating with each other over a period of one year. http://www.ifyoucould.co.uk/collaborate

I've finished my first novel and I'm in the process of editing it, so I know it's hard work - I can't imagine giving it to some rich fucker to stick his name on the front, no matter how much they might pay.

Best of luck - what's it about?

I've always wanted to write [a novel, short stories, etc] but unfortunately, I can't write [sentences, paragraphs, etc].

Everyone can write, but people who want to yet don't are often simply frightened of being judged.
One thing I like to do is write really short stories - 1000 or less. It's still a story, and it's quick. Doesn't have to be about anything, just be descriptive.
Try it, Seeds.

The novel is a bit dark, I suppose.
It's about a man who's wife disappears, killing herself and their child in a fit of post natal depression.
He has a break down, and after a failed suicide attempt he drifts for six years before finally landing a job at a stately home, as a night shift security guard.
Just as he thinks his life is getting back on track he starts to see disturbing things at the house, and fears his mind is slowly unravelling, but soon he finds evidence that the things he sees might actually be real, and dark happenings are brooding behind the walls of Burton Fairfax house...
etc.

If it's horror, I like it.

Lit Horror is how I'm going to make my millions. Good genre fiction is surely the best of both worlds; commercial success while you're around, then a critical "reevaluation" after a decently long interval, allowing your descendents to live off their trust fund with heads held high.

He has a team of writers doing it for him.
Like a sculptor who get's his minions to do the hard work of chipping away at the bulk of the rock, he just steps in and at the end and gives the books his 'Patterson' polish.
Not real writing, if you ask me.

Well, it's real writing, just not JP's real writing. Is it all total rubbish? I have no idea who he is. :B

Best of luck - what's it about?

I've always wanted to write [a novel, short stories, etc] but unfortunately, I can't write [sentences, paragraphs, etc].

Just write some seedy stories first, on the off-chance that that might be your genre. ;)

Just write some seedy stories first, on the off-chance that that might be your genre. ;)

Good advice.
Write some seedy stories, Seed - then sell them to me.
A tip - people seem to like stories about bumming.
Don't know why.