The Munsterfans Book Thread

[thisyear?]

Not usually a fiction reader but just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Great read thoroughly reccomend it.

Just started some book with a load of yahoo's crowded around some shiny silver trophy thing on the cover...
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[JoeyFantastic]

Currently reading Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski, an excellant book about the fall of the USSR as witnessed in the last days of the satiellite states, haveactually read a few things by Kapuscinski, and would recommend his book, The Shadow of the Sun as one fo the best books on Africa I've ever read. Also, can't recommend Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck highly enough, top book.

[Kerry-Exile]

Read "Life of Pi" recently by Yann Patel which was really good, cracking twist. But one book that was recommended to me that i thought was rubbish was "Curious incident of the dog in the Nighttime". Would not recommend

Currently reading Robert Fisk "The great war for civilisation: The conquest of the middle east". Over 1300 pages long, but so far it is an enjoyable read.


Really liked his book "pity the nation: Lebanon at war".

[The Crimson King]

Ah, the return of the book thread!


Umberto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum. A classic which I recommend to anyone who thought the Da Vinci code was good (to show you how wrong you are) and to anyone who thought the Da Vinci code was rubbish (to reassure you that it is possible to craft a perfect intellectual/historical thriller).


I read about four books a week so I rrrrreally shouldn't get into the habit of posting up here about it all. I'd never get any work done.

[T.C.B.]

Things Snowball by Rich Hall. Absolutely brilliant book. Hilariously funny.

[Ruck]

Haven't had much reading time lately, but I've started "Civilization: A New History of the Western World" by Roger Osbourne. Very interesting so far.

[i_like_cake]

Read "Life of Pi" recently by Yann Patel which was
really good, cracking twist. But one book that was recommended to me
that i thought was rubbish was "Curious incident of the dog in the
Nighttime". Would not recommend




I read both, and i would recommend both......smileys/shock.gif



I also recommend anything by Neil Gaiman especially his award winning graphic novels: The Sandman

absolute genius....



His books: American Gods

Anansi Boys

Good Omens

Fragile Things

Stardust

Neverwhere

[Hugged Rugger]

i want to read fisks book but just cant motivate myself to at the moment. maybe in the spring when its brighter in the evenings (i dont know why but i find it easier to read heavier books then)


recently read "an unsung hero" about Tom Crean. super book.

[fitzy73]

For sheer wit and a stunningprose writing style, Malachy McCourts "A Monk Swimming" would probably be my favourite book.

[Snamh]

Just finished "I am Charlotte Simmons". Quite disappointed with it, Wolfe's powers are obviously fading, but its probably still worth reading forits pace and dialogueeven if its nota particulary good piece of literature. Also finished "The Smartest Guys in the Room" about Enron, which was pretty hair-raising. One of the best business books I've read.

[The Crimson King]

Snamh, agree with you re: Wolfe. The Right Stuff is a fantastic book and I very much enjoyed Bonfire of the Vanities, but A Man In Full is just...silly. I didn't even bother reading I Am Charlotte Simmons after skimming through a few pages. smileys/c&#111;nfused.gif


Just finished Arthur &amp; George by Julian Barnes - an excellent read, about a real-life struggle to clear a man's name, it's the fictionalised account of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's (Sherlock Homes) attempt to assist with the case, etc.

[Snamh]

Quite liked A Man in Full but it is totally OTT, but then so are his other two novels.

[JoeyFantastic]

I dunno, a Man in Full has it's moments but as CK says, it's just a bit too
silly. Some pretty wry commentary but the various threads didn't come
together well enough for me.

[rathbaner]

Must recommend Primrose Hill by Helen Falconer. thriller of sorts set in
contemporary London. The minute you pick it up you cannot let it down
stayed up til 3am to finish it. A real cracker. On sale now at Amazon.

[~Cat~]

My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Not the easiest read (it can be slow in parts) but worth the effort, a beautifully written mystery with stunning descriptions of life in C16 Istanbul. If you liked The Name of the Rose then this is better.

[Ronnie]

Peter Hennessy 'Having It So Good'. He's a very good social histrorian.

[Snamh]

Portnoy's Complaint. Oy vey!

[Ronnie]

'Unpeople' by Mark Curtis. Brilliant.


http://www.word-power.co.uk/catalogue/0099469723

[JoeyFantastic]

bumped for Mickyd.


Also, currently reading How Mumbo Jumbo conquered the World by Frances Wheen, very good so far.

[mickyd]

Books I've enjoyed recently -

<LI>Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan. Sci fi/Raymond Chandleresque detective book.</LI>
<UL>
<LI>Song Of Fire and Ice - George R.R. Martin. Fantasy series focusing on political intrigue and machevellian manouverings.</LI>[/list]

<LI>The Big Bang - Simon Singh. Excellent introduction to theidea and history behind the scientific theory</LI>
<UL>
<LI>Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks. Drama set during world war one.</LI>[/list]


Currently reading 'The God Delusion' - richard dawkins

[DonL]

<UL>
<LI>Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks. Drama set during world war one.</LI>[/list]





Read that recently as well micky and found it excellent. Recently read books I would recommend:


A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry. About the Irish lads who went to fight in WW1. Excellent read, beautifully written.


Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell. Intriguing more than any thing. Talented young writer who was voted as best young writer recently as far as I know. Several stories set in different times, all linked somewhat.


Also, for an easy fiction read that has lots of macho violance suited to Die hard fans, I just finished Andy McNabe's Agressor book. Nothing beats some ultra violance!!

[The Crimson King]

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell. Intriguing more than any thing. Talented young writer who was voted as best young writer recently as far as I know. Several stories set in different times, all linked somewhat.


Absolutely Don - I also recommend his other books Ghostwritten and Number9dream. Black Swan Green is his latest, and while it's well written etc, it's much more prosaic than the others - a kind of fairly standard coming-of-age-in-the-seventies story, none of the fabulous pyrotechnics you get with his other stuff.

[mickyd]

<UL>
<LI>Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks. Drama set during world war one.</LI>[/list]





Read that recently as well micky and found it excellent. Recently read books I would recommend:


A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry. About the Irish lads who went to fight in WW1. Excellent read, beautifully written.


Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell. Intriguing more than any thing. Talented young writer who was voted as best young writer recently as far as I know. Several stories set in different times, all linked somewhat.


Also, for an easy fiction read that has lots of macho violance suited to Die hard fans, I just finished Andy McNabe's Agressor book. Nothing beats some ultra violance!!








Nice one.


I'll check those out!


You should def check out Altered Carbon. Nice hard boiled detective novel set in the future.


Also read 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' - Louis DeBernieres a couple of weeks ago. Really enjoyed it.

Read "Life of Pi" recently by Yann Patel which was really good, cracking twist. But one book that was recommended to me that i thought was rubbish was "Curious incident of the dog in the Nighttime". Would not recommend

Ditto. I was given the book and I tried to read it. A load of sh1te!

[The Crimson King]

Oh, forgot to say I enjoyed "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver immensely - beautifully written, and emotionally just felt spot on.


Give it to girlfriends/wives who are becoming broody, that'll earn you an extra few years of freedom, I can tell you. smileys/lol.gif

[~Cat~]

<ul>
Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks. Drama set during world war one.[/list]


I recently finished his Human Traces - thoroughly enjoyed it, unusual story about mental illness and the beginnings of modern psychiatry.

[DonL]

<UL>
<LI>Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks. Drama set during world war one.</LI>[/list]





Read that recently as well micky and found it excellent. Recently read books I would recommend:


A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry. About the Irish lads who went to fight in WW1. Excellent read, beautifully written.


Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell. Intriguing more than any thing. Talented young writer who was voted as best young writer recently as far as I know. Several stories set in different times, all linked somewhat.


Also, for an easy fiction read that has lots of macho violance suited to Die hard fans, I just finished Andy McNabe's Agressor book. Nothing beats some ultra violance!!








Nice one.


I'll check those out!


You should def check out Altered Carbon. Nice hard boiled detective novel set in the future.


Also read 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' - Louis DeBernieres a couple of weeks ago. Really enjoyed it.





Like the sound of that. Going through one of those 'hard boiled' phases at the moment. Easy reading, and very satisfying.

I loved the Winnie the Pooh books as a kid. I loved having them read to me. Last year when I was at home I took the dusty books from the shelf and read them. They are even better as an adult. I challenge you all to have a read of A.A Milne's Pooh bear books and not smile!

[mickyd]

<UL>
<LI>Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks. Drama set during world war one.</LI>[/list]




I recently finished his Human Traces - thoroughly enjoyed it, unusual story about mental illness and the beginnings of modern psychiatry.



Yeah. He certainly can write. I have his new one 'Engleby' at home but I have yet to read it.

[JoeyFantastic]

A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry. About the Irish lads who went to fight in WW1. Excellent read, beautifully written.





Did you not think it was an overly poetic version of All Quiet on the Western Front? Too flowery for my liking.

[Upfront_1979]

may get laughed at for this but recently reread my "Biggles" collection by Capt WE Johns and really enjoyed them!

[DonL]

A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry. About the Irish lads who went to fight in WW1. Excellent read, beautifully written.





Did you not think it was an overly poetic version of All Quiet on the Western Front? Too flowery for my liking.





Haven't read All Quiet on the Western Front Joey, but the main reason I really liked this book was because of the poetic way it was written. The characters are very Irish that I found easy to relate to and put a face to. Certain scenes (for instance when they got together for a sing song) were, IMO, so well written that I felt as though I was sitting in the room with them. We obviously differ in tastes!

[Dawn Run]

[QUOTE=thisyear?]Not usually a fiction reader but just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Great read thoroughly reccomend it.

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This was probably the best book I've read this year and I recommend it to all who enjoy a good read.


Reluctantly started reading Night Journey to Buddh Gaia by the recently deceased Irish mystic, John Moriarty.( reluctance caused by size and religious content)


Am only 100 pages into it and it's absolutely fascinating, need to constantly refer to Google for word meanings, but it's well worth it.


Anyone here come across this book, or it's author, before?

[mickyd]

[QUOTE=thisyear?]Not usually a fiction reader but just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Great read thoroughly reccomend it.

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This was probably the best book I've read this year and I recommend it to all who enjoy a good read.


Reluctantly started reading Night Journey to Buddh Gaia by the recently deceased Irish mystic, John Moriarty.( reluctance caused by size and religious content)


Am only 100 pages into it and it's absolutely fascinating, need to constantly refer to Google for word meanings, but it's well worth it.


Anyone here come across this book, or it's author, before?





What is shadow of the wind about?

[mickyd]

Oh, forgot to say I enjoyed "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver immensely - beautifully written, and emotionally just felt spot on.


Give it to girlfriends/wives who are becoming broody, that'll earn you an extra few years of freedom, I can tell you. smileys/lol.gif





I've heard that it was good. Is it very harrowing?


Would men enjoy it?

[The Crimson King]

I've heard that it was good. Is it very harrowing? Would men enjoy it?


I suppose bits of it are pretty harrowing - but not so much that it's unreadable. It's what I'd call a "brave" book, on account of daring to take on the "myth of maternity". Would have no problem recommending it to a man - entirely possible you'd see different meanings in it to a woman though!


If you start it, finish it though - one of the things that's (technically) so good it is how your take on the main character/narrator changes through thecourse of the book, by the end you find your perspective on her ideas and actions evolving, whereas she starts off as a fairly unappealing character.

[Dawn Run]

Shadow of the Wind is a mystery story based in Barcelona just after the Civil War, to say any more might spoil it, but it's superb.

[theprop]

Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor is one of the best books I've ever read.

Currently reading the God Delusion by Dawkins and have just finished 'As used on the Famous Nelson Mandela' by Mark Thomas.

The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom is an interesting read.

Baudalino by Umberto Ecco. I read Ecco's Island of the Day Before. It's a tough read, but well worth the effort. In the Name of the Rose is an excellent book as well.

Through the Gates of Fire by John Simpson is a good one and My Trade by Andrew Marr gives an excellent history of the media in the UK.

[JoeyFantastic]

Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor is one of the best books I've ever read.



Baudalino by Umberto Ecco. I read Ecco's Island of the Day Before. It's a tough read, but well worth the effort. In the Name of the Rose is an excellent book as well.





Stalingrad is a great book, as is Berlin. If you're interesting in that style of historical books, check out Rising '44 about the Warsaw Rising or1812; Naoleon's Fatal March by Adam Zamoyski.


Interesting about Eco, if you have any spare time, don't waste it reading Foucalt's Pendulum, way overrated imo.

The books on my coffee table at home:

Deception point by Dan Brown-unread

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown- read and I liked it

angels &amp; demons by DAn Brown-read and loved it

Weapons of mass destruction-Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend-read and liked it

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon- couldn't pick it up! Tried on a few different occasions to read it but kept failing. Have given up-not my cuppa tea.

The boy in the striped Pyjamas by John Boyne-read and loved it

The good news bible. Gathering dustsmileys/redface.gif

The God delusion. by Dawkins-unread. No sure I'll be able for this one.

The Credit Card statement by Bank of Ireland. Unread-Definitley won't be able for this one. Might just read the last page to get the gist! smileys/biggrin.gif

[The Crimson King]

The boy in the striped Pyjamas by John Boyne-read and loved it



This sounded too sad for me to read - is it really harsh? I have good-but-terrible memories of being traumatised by "I Am David" (Ann Holm, I think) when I was very small. http://www.munsterfans.com/forum/smileys/sad.gifYou'd get emotional even thinking about it, to quote ROG on a totally different subject. Oh, hang on, that's cheered me up again. smileys/smile.gif

The boy in the striped Pyjamas by John Boyne-read and loved it



This sounded too sad for me to read - is it really harsh? I have good-but-terrible memories of being traumatised by "I Am David" (Ann Holm, I think) when I was very small. http://www.munsterfans.com/forum/smileys/sad.gifYou'd get emotional even thinking about it, to quote ROG on a totally different subject. Oh, hang on, that's cheered me up again. smileys/smile.gif
It's not harsh in the way that it doesn't sneak up on you. But my brain was telling me where it was going and my heart was begging it not to. A very simple book which teaches a simple lesson, far too simple a lesson for us adults to grasp, especially those in power. It is a lovely story.smileys/sad.gif

[mickyd]

Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor is one of the best books I've ever read.



Baudalino by Umberto Ecco. I read Ecco's Island of the Day Before. It's a tough read, but well worth the effort. In the Name of the Rose is an excellent book as well.





Stalingrad is a great book, as is Berlin. If you're interesting in that style of historical books, check out Rising '44 about the Warsaw Rising or1812; Naoleon's Fatal March by Adam Zamoyski.


Interesting about Eco, if you have any spare time, don't waste it reading Foucalt's Pendulum, way overrated imo.





I liked the idea of stalingrad, mainly because it's such a fascinating story but I found the book unreadable.


Too much information, not enough maps, way too many characters and army divisions/groups etc. introduced. Basically was dissapointed by it.


I think it's a story that is crying out for semi-fictional account to be written.

[JoeyFantastic]

Haven't read All Quiet on the Western Front Joey, but the main reason I really liked this book was because of the poetic way it was written. The characters are very Irish that I found easy to relate to and put a face to. Certain scenes (for instance when they got together for a sing song) were, IMO, so well written that I felt as though I was sitting in the room with them. We obviously differ in tastes!


All Quiet is a fantastic book, very readable and nice and short too. Probably one of the best books i've ever read. I like bits of Barry's book but overall I felt it was trying to imitate All Quiet. Barry has a lovely writing style but I'm not sure this was best story for that type of style.

[Banished to Leixlip]

Personnally I like a little fiction that I can escape from the rigours of daily life.


I have enjoyed most of Harlan Cobans books, a bit bubblegummy but easy reading especially the Marlon Bolitar books with psycho Niles like side kick.


Denis Lehane, I think, has similar Dectective duo, and an equally mad side kick called Bubba, grate easy read.


Richard Morgans altered Carbon and Broken Angels, excellent science fiction.


Reading the reviews of the Boy withnthe striped pyjamas, sounds too sad, I would rather keep my hand in the sand and pretend that the world is not that bad a place.

[kaboom]

i'd recommend anything from the dystopian fiction and related genres. all the following are thoroughly excellent books


fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury, also something wicked this way comes (excellent) and the illustrated man by the same author, different genres


1984 and animal farm obviously, also brave new world and brave new world revisited by aldous huxley


lord of the flies, was a little disappointed by this but still well worth the read. all quiet on the western front, as has been said above, is also very good.


also on a different note everybody should be made read cosmos by carl sagan. a quality book.


basically if you find a book/author you like, type it into amazon and scroll down to check the "customers who bought this also bought these" section. then copy and paste these into the cork city library online book reservation system and pick them up a week later. dead handy.i would presume limerick library has such a system as well as it's also a good library. they have sh1tloads of good cds as well. i haven't bought one since.


or print off a list of the booker/pulitzer/etc award winners list and work your way through them.powells.com is a good place to check the reviews.

[blackandwhite]

Eventually finished Robert Fisk's book about a fortnight ago. I was away last week and got through Bill Brysons new one " Life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid" as well as " State of denial" by Bob Woodward. I'd recommend all 3.

[McCloud]

The story of O

[JoeyFantastic]

The story of O

The Nothing that Is?

The story of O



The Nothing that Is?
Histoire d'O n'est pas?

[mickyd]

Personnally I like a little fiction that I can escape from the rigours of daily life.


I have enjoyed most of Harlan Cobans books, a bit bubblegummy but easy reading especially the Marlon Bolitar books with psycho Niles like side kick.


Denis Lehane, I think, has similar Dectective duo, and an equally mad side kick called Bubba, grate easy read.


Richard Morgans altered Carbon and Broken Angels, excellent science fiction.


Reading the reviews of the Boy withnthe striped pyjamas, sounds too sad, I would rather keep my hand in the sand and pretend that the world is not that bad a place.





Altered Carbon is superb!


Is Broken Angels any good? Is it the same kind of book?

[mickyd]

Anybody know a handy cheap website for buying books?

[Banished to Leixlip]

Altered Carbon is superb!


Is Broken Angels any good? Is it the same kind of book.


Same character, different body, very diferent plot. Very good but not as sensationalas the 1st but your de sensitised, the torture scene in 1st book was scary reading. Well woth a read, I am going to buy the 3rd book when I finish this other piece of rubbish I ma reading, the blue no where.

Same character, different body, very diferent plot. Very good but not as sensationalas the 1st but your de sensitised, the torture scene in 1st book was scary reading. Well woth a read, I am going to buy the 3rd book when I finish this other piece of rubbish I ma reading, the blue no where.





Is that by Jeffrey Deaver? If so I thought it was excellent smileys/redface.gif

[LZ]

Anybody know a handy cheap website for buying books?


Amazon seems to be really popular with book-lovers. Their cheap Postage &amp; Packing charges are probably a big reason behind this...

[Banished to Leixlip]

is that by Jeffrey Deaver? If so I thought it was excellent smileys/redface.gif[/QUOTE]


Different strokes for different folks,f we all liked the same thing it would be a very boring world.

[i_like_cake]

Just finished a smallish book...... Roger Zelazny...."lord of Light"...

a very good read.... amazing ideas put to print....not the easiest of authors.. but well worth it...

[dedon]

Philip Pullman - "His dark materials" Great trilogy

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished War and Peace, as good as it's supposed to be.

[i_like_cake]

Just finished War and Peace, as good as it's supposed to be.


It is quite humbling.... although Anna Karenina is my favourite Tolstoi....

[JoeyFantastic]

ge


Just finished War and Peace, as good as it's supposed to be.


It is quite humbling.... although Anna Karenina is my favourite Tolstoi....


Yeah, it's class alright, that been said, the last 40 pages of philosophical musings left me scratching my head a bit. I've started reading Orlando Fige's history of the end of the Tsarist regime, it's interesting to see the (in retrospect) obvious allegory Tolstoy was making. At the time I thought it was just a good story...

haven't read Karenina but heard it's better again.

[mr chips]

Just read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - good read from an author who was born in Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion, conveys a sense of paradise lost and holds out hope of redemption.

For political/historical books, two that have really impressed me in the past are A Secret Country by John Pilger - opens up a whole new perspective on Australian history and the largely unreported/ignored destruction of Aboriginal population and culture. One statistic that really shocked me was that the rate of deaths in custody among Aboriginal Australians was higher than that of black South Africans at the height of the apartheid regime - yet the popular image of Australia continues to be beach, beer &amp; barbecues. Some of the shady political goings-on and dodgy deals would make our Bertie look like a rank amateur.
Also, Che Guevara - A Revolutionary Life, by Jon Lee Anderson. It's a hefty tome but a very well-written, minutely researched exposure of the man behind the myth - definitely not a hagiography and pulls no punches about how callous a killer he was, but paints a very clear picture about how driven and idealistic he was in bringing about revolution. The author somehow managed to secure access to the Cuban government's archives as well as Che's own diaries - he also got to interview Che's widow.

Gotta stand up for the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, seeing as others didn't get on with it. I thought it was a great story, it really enabled me to adapt to the world view of the (autistic) main character. The writing style reflects the sort of speech patterns and some of the behaviours that I've encountered in my own limited experience of people with conditions such as autism and Asperger's syndrome.

[sparks]

Every man should read:


The Game by Neil Strauss

[heinekenhopeful]

If sci fi is your thing and you want more, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is one of the finest works of Cyberpunk ever written. That or Cryptonomicon by the same. Fantastic stuff.

[James Lynch]

Tom Wolfe's 'The electric kool-aid acid test'. It can be difficult to get into but ultimately it is a rewarding read.

A bit dated, but a clever and entertaining read nonetheless is Al Franken's 'Lies and the lying liars who tell them'

James Bradley's 'Flags of our Father's' was also a very good read (i never saw the movie).

A good rugby book that i read was the scotsman Jim Renwick's autobiography 'Centre of Excellence' (thanks to Chocolat), very enjoyable read and worth seeking out.

[dobbs]

Have recently finished The Road (Cormac McCarthy) and Winterwood (Patrick McCabe) -both fantastic reads, McCarthy's especially.


Currently getting through "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". The mind boggles at the extent of the fraud these guys perpetuated, and how they were allowed maintain the deception by sycophantic analysts, regulators and accountants.

[ferg]

Tim Severin-Corsair ....enjoyed.


Carl Hiassen-Nature Girl....very funny.


Need a new book....................smileys/sad.gif

[irishjon25]

Recently read Omerta by Mario Puzo and currently reading The Sicilian by the same author.


Both good reads.

may as well throw it in for any budding atheists .... 'The God Delusion', by Richard Dawkins ... worth a read

[lahinch_lass]

Just finished a smallish book...... Roger Zelazny...."lord of Light"...

a very good read.... amazing ideas put to print....not the easiest of authors.. but well worth it...



Zelazny wrote a series known as the Great book of Amber. I have good memories of getting thoroughly distracted from studying for an exam in college while reading the first set of the series that one of my classmates had brought in to return to another friend.


The Amber series is more fantasy but with connections to "normal" earth, rather than sci-fi as the Lord of Light book is classed.

[blackandwhite]

I read 3 good books over Christmas


The Bookseller of Kabul - About life in Afghanistan


When a crocodile eats the sun - Zimbabwe pre and post Mugabe


Mad, bad and dangerous to know - biography of Ranulph Fiennes.

[i_like_cake]

Just finished a smallish book...... Roger Zelazny...."lord of Light"...

a very good read.... amazing ideas put to print....not the easiest of authors.. but well worth it...



Zelazny wrote a series known as the Great book of Amber. I have good memories of getting thoroughly distracted from studying for an exam in college while reading the first set of the series that one of my classmates had brought in to return to another friend.


The Amber series is more fantasy but with connections to "normal" earth, rather than sci-fi as the Lord of Light book is classed.

thanks L_L, I will have a look for them..............

Have recently finished The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

What did you think of it?
I finished it recently. It's pretty grim isn't it.

[dipstick]

Reading Brian Greenes Fabric of the Cosmos. It's basically quantum theory for dummies. Basically, in quantum theory you're neither here nor there but everywhere at the same time. However, when you're spotted you're f**ked as the game is up and then you're not everywhere at the one time but either here or there. Makes perfect sense really.

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, absolutely great novel about the arrival of colonists to a remote part of Nigeria.

Also, if anyone has an interest in economics, the Undercover Economist by Tim Harford is excellent, far better than freakonomics (cheers to Snamh for the recommendation).

[Captain-Hero]

Anyone read Tipping Point?


Half way through it. Blue's Clues makes Sesame Street look like a shower of Muppetssmileys/wink.gif


Seriously though, it's an interesting read about creating social epidemics.

[JoeyFantastic]

Anyone read Tipping Point?


Half way through it. Blue's Clues makes Sesame Street look like a shower of Muppetssmileys/wink.gif


Seriously though, it's an interesting read about creating social epidemics.

it's interesting, but I won't take everything he says as gospel. If you read it along with Freakonomics you can see how a number of factors come into play in any given situation.

[Captain-Hero]

Anyone read Tipping Point?


Half way through it. Blue's Clues makes Sesame Street look like a shower of Muppetssmileys/wink.gif


Seriously though, it's an interesting read about creating social epidemics.




it's interesting, but I won't take everything he says as gospel. If you read it along with Freakonomics you can see how a number of factors come into play in any given situation.






Must get Freakonomics.


I can never take any of these types of books as gospel.There's exceptions to every rule and all that. I'm reading it at the same time as Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman. Again an interesting flick through.

[JoeyFantastic]

Not saying you would, just that Gladwell is very persuasive in his arguments, it's no harm to see a different perspective on the same event.

[Captain-Hero]

That he is.


I always find that when a writer spends so much time onspecific examples, as Gladwelldoes, to prove a point, that it can take from the arguements being made in the first place. I think it's more a case of finding an example for the theory to fit, then using that asthemeans to explain the theory.Weak IMO.


I know I did that in college and God knoew that stuff was weak.

[Red October]

Anyone read Tipping Point?


Half way through it. Blue's Clues makes Sesame Street look like a shower of Muppetssmileys/wink.gif


Seriously though, it's an interesting read about creating social epidemics.




it's interesting, but I won't take everything he says as gospel. If you read it along with Freakonomics you can see how a number of factors come into play in any given situation.



Another in a smiliar vein worth a look is "The Wisdom of Crowds". Author escapes me; think it's James Surowiecki.


Going through a drought at the moment. Must set aside time more often and get back into the old léamh. Anyone who likes a little easy to read crime stuff should check out any of Cruz Smiths books. Gorky Park is the most well-known; but his others are well worth a go.

Anyone read Tipping Point?


Half way through it. Blue's Clues makes Sesame Street look like a shower of Muppetssmileys/wink.gif


Seriously though, it's an interesting read about creating social epidemics.




it's interesting, but I won't take everything he says as gospel. If you read it along with Freakonomics you can see how a number of factors come into play in any given situation.






Must get Freakonomics.


I can never take any of these types of books as gospel.There's exceptions to every rule and all that. I'm reading it at the same time as @@@@SPAN style="font-weight: bold;">Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman.@@@@/SPAN> Again an interesting flick through.

Great book.

[Captain-Hero]

The wisdom of crowds. Thanks Red October. Another one for the list.


Was lucky enough to get four good books off Santy so made a commitment to getting through them. Enjoying it at the moment.

[Captain-Hero]

Agree so far Sculldrag. The bit about him shouting out MEEEEEEEEEEE in the hall for the hypnotism is very funny. I've definately been in a similar situation at some point. There's a follow up too called What do you care what other people think?

[joenah]

Can I be so bold as to ask that when people recommend a book they give a brief description as to what its about rather than just going 'great read'... it doesnt give the rest of us much to go on


a few very good ones recently


In Cold Bold - Trueman Capote; The US's first high profile motiveless murder of a farming family in Kanas. Goes through the lives of the family and perps. Highly recommended


Lord of the Flies - ???; If you didnt read it in school then well worth picking up. Kids stranded on a desert island, all goes pear shaped.


and a few worth a read......


The Book Thief - young girl in Nazi Germany steals books as the war progresses. Not a quirky as it sounds and nartated byDeath. Different but entertaining. Hard back only


The Nobel Sperm Bank; Fascinating book about crack pot yank who decides he's going to save the world buy getting Nodel prize winners to donate their sperm. All goes arse ways. True story

[Captain-Hero]

Again about Tipping Point a study of epidemics-from Hush Puppies to Smoking (Probably too late for this on this one joenah?)


Does anybody knowheavy smokerswho have tried the method in the case study at the end? There is the depression/heavy smoking link discussion and suggestion that by treating depression that heavy smoking can be combated. I found this fascinating. I'm looking at heavy smokers differently now.

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished "My Life as a Fake" by Peter Carey, one of those really disappointing books simply because it started so well and was great for the first half only to fall apart in the second half of the book. Pity, because it it had been held together it would have been an excellent book.

[SFBB]

has anybody read a book by the name of ''a boy called it''?
i read it a couple of years ago and it really stuke with me. deep and dark with a good ending. can somebody tell me the authors name?

[JoeyFantastic]

has anybody read a book by the name of ''a boy called it''?

i read it a couple of years ago and it really stuke with me. deep and dark with a good ending. can somebody tell me the authors name?

Dave Pelzer

[i_like_cake]

smileys/lol.gif

[JoeyFantastic]

smileys/lol.gif


eh?

[SIMBA]

There's a couple of follow up books to that too Boi. I read them a few years ago so I can't quite remember the names but they're heart wrenching.

[i_like_cake]

smileys/lol.gif


eh?


no badness....... just thought it was funny writing a paragraph to ask the name of the author, when googling was a lot faster...... Much faith placed in Munsterfans.....

[JoeyFantastic]

smileys/lol.gif


eh?


no badness....... just thought it was funny writing a paragraph to ask the name of the author, when googling was a lot faster...... Much faith placed in Munsterfans.....


He's from Cork.

Also, picked up copy "Of Around the World in 80 Days" recently, I know it's a kids book but I'm very immature so it seemed like a good option. Amazed to find it wasn't funded in part, by the English Government to show how thoroughly decent an English Gentleman is.

[mickyd]

Reading Brian Greenes Fabric of the Cosmos. It's basically quantum theory for dummies. Basically, in quantum theory you're neither here nor there but everywhere at the same time. However, when you're spotted you're f**ked as the game is up and then you're not everywhere at the one time but either here or there. Makes perfect sense really.


Really enjoying'Fabric of the cosmos'at the moment.


Have you read 'The Big Bang' by Simon Singh?


Highly recommended!

[JoeyFantastic]

Reading Brian Greenes Fabric of the Cosmos. It's basically quantum theory for dummies. Basically, in quantum theory you're neither here nor there but everywhere at the same time. However, when you're spotted you're f**ked as the game is up and then you're not everywhere at the one time but either here or there. Makes perfect sense really.


Really enjoying'Fabric of the cosmos'at the moment.


@@@@SPAN style="font-weight: bold;">Have you read 'The Big Bang' by Simon Singh?@@@@/SPAN>


Highly recommended!

Got that for one of my brothers two Christmas' ago, he reckons you'd need a degree in physics to understand it and he's an engineer (or something along that line).

[mickyd]

Reading Brian Greenes Fabric of the Cosmos. It's basically quantum theory for dummies. Basically, in quantum theory you're neither here nor there but everywhere at the same time. However, when you're spotted you're f**ked as the game is up and then you're not everywhere at the one time but either here or there. Makes perfect sense really.


Really enjoying'Fabric of the cosmos'at the moment.


@@@@SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Have you read 'The Big Bang' by Simon Singh?@@@@/SPAN>


Highly recommended!




Got that for one of my brothers two Christmas' ago, he reckons you'd need a degree in physics to understand it and he's an engineer (or something along that line).



I thought it wasn't too bad to be honest.


I thought it was fairly general. The first section which describes how the greeks measured the distance from theearth to the sun and the battle of the earlycosmologists to prove the earth revolved around the sun is fascinating.

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished "The Poor Mouth" by Flann O'Brien. Absolutely, without a
doubt, the funniest book I've ever read. The book just gets more and
more surreal as it goes on, it's a parody of growing up in Ireland in the
rare oul times. Anyone who takes being Irish a little bit seriously should
read it.

[SFBB]

There's a couple of follow up books to that too Boi. I read them a few years ago so I can't quite remember the names but they're heart wrenching.
I know I read them too Simba. I was around 13-14 when I read them so they had an even bigger effect on me than they might have had on others I suppose. Really stuck with me.

[treatycity1]

Anybody know a handy cheap website for buying books?

www.the bookpeople.co.uk
Thebookdepository.com

A few books that I have enjoyed are
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole, one of the funniest books I've read
Fat white Vampire Blues &amp; My Fat White Vampire Bride, both set in New Orleans and hillarious by Andrew fox.
Anything by John Irvine or Isaac Asimov.

[treatycity1]

Saw a mention for the electric cool aid acid tes</span>t, Tom Woolfe's book on ken kesey and the Merry Pranksters in San francisco and their trip across the US wiped on acid, excellent read, if you are into books on that era and the peole involved in the "underground movements" of the 60's in california, try Ringolevio </span>by Emmet Grogan. His involvement with a group called the Diggers and their work in San francisco is extremly interesting and shows that it was not all flowers and love in the late 60's.
Other recommendations I have are the Louis De Bernieres series
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Senor Vivo and the Coca Lords and The Troublesome offspring of Cardinal Guzman. each one exceelent in their own right and well worth a read.

[Hopelessly Devoted]

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind about the maverick/independent film makers and actors of the 70s &amp; 80s in the US and all the drugs they took.


You'll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again by Julia Phillips, Oscar winning producer, same era.


Wonderland Avenue by Danny Sugerman publicist for the Doors and Iggy Pop's manager, say no more! Great read.

[SkullinPints]

Havent read a whole lot recently.

For Summer Reading:-
</span>
<ul> The Ghost - Thomas Harris was reasonable (if let down by a poor ending) The Bourne Betrayal - Poor/avoid (Eric Van Lustbader/Ludlum)[/list]</span>- Havent started the following yet
<ul> Sepulchre (Kate Mosse) The Wars Against Saddam: Taking the Hard Road to Baghdad (John Simpson) </span> The City of Falling Angels (Berendt)[/list]<h1 style="font-weight: normal;" ="parsesans"> </span></font></h1>

Reading both Paddington and Winnie the Pooh to the young fellow (truthfully, I am getting more out of them than him) - But he loves the Madagascar movie - which given the Wolfe references above, leads to this quote from the movie........


Mason the Chimpanzee: [Mason and Phil have just escaped] I hear Tom Wolfe's speaking at Lincoln Center.
Mason the Chimpanzee: [Phil signs frantically] Well, of course we're going to throw poo at him!

[treatycity1]

Hey Skullin, the Site I mentioned Bookpeople.co.uk is fantastic for kids books, they cost a fraction of what you pay in the shops and they usually have a winnie collection. €33.90 &amp;P+P for the collection of 20 books
For adults you get this collection, read a great movie, for 19.49
<ul>
The Postman Always Rings TwicebyJames M. Cain

Minority ReportbyPhilip K. Dick

The Bourne IdentitybyRobert Ludlum

The Hound of the BaskervillesbySir Arthur Conan Doyle

Double IndemnitybyJames M. Cain

The PianistbyWladyslaw Szpilman

The Maltese FalconbyDashiell Hammett

The GriftersbyJim Thompson

HombrebyElmore Leonard

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Filmed as Bladerunner)byPhilip K. Dick
[/list]I have used them for years and find it great value,
<cite>www.thebookpeople.co.uk</cite>

[SkullinPints]

Thanks Treaty - will bookmark it......
Home PC slightly screwed - combo of Norton IS and XP SP3 !!! smileys/mad.gif

[Jenta]

I'm currently reading Blood River by Tim Butcher. Given that it is a Telegraph Journalist's account of his journey across the Congo following Stanley's route I had reservations, so far he's been fairly grounded though, he's obviously an excellent writer and he hasn't got caught up in any 'imperialism wasn't that bad' s**te.

Also reading Stephen Colbert's 'I am America (and so can you)' - Pure Colbert, good for a laugh.

[mickyd]

Bump.


Going on holidays tomorrow and need some quick recommendations?

[DonL]

Haven't read anything of interest recently MickeyD but, after just reading a few of the above posts, Hopeless Devoted made a reference to Wonderland Avenue which is a brilliant read if you are interested in the craziness of the 70's, the Doors and general mayhem. I loved it.


If you want a tougher read, that is quite harrowing at the startbut grows into a fantastic and beautiful journey home, read If this is a Man/The Truce (2 books in one, one follows on from the other) by Primo Levi. I finished reading this for the 3rd time during the summer. My favorite book.


As I said, haven't read anything of interest (other than the above) in the last while that I can recommend!

[mickyd]

Haven't read anything of interest recently MickeyD but, after just reading a few of the above posts, Hopeless Devoted made a reference to Wonderland Avenue which is a brilliant read if you are interested in the craziness of the 70's, the Doors and general mayhem. I loved it.


If you want a tougher read, that is quite harrowing at the startbut grows into a fantastic and beautiful journey home, read If this is a Man/The Truce (2 books in one, one follows on from the other) by Primo Levi. I finished reading this for the 3rd time during the summer. My favorite book.


As I said, haven't read anything of interest (other than the above) in the last while that I can recommend!





Cheers DonL. They sound good will check them out.

[Balla Boy]

Reading Tom Holland's Millenium at the moment. Superb stuff.

i'm reading a great book at the moment. It's called 'My Happy Days in Hell' and is written by George Faludy. It's about the authors life as a writer escaping Hungary before WW2, fighting in the war, and after it becoming an activist against the communist regime. It's a very insightful look at that period while at the same time being incredibly funny. Highly recommended by me.

I'm in the middle of this:

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/33260000/33264535.jpg

Very good.
There are compilations for 2007 and 2006 which I might pick up as well.

Another one worth a read is 'Emergency Sex and Other Desparate Measures'. It's about a three young professionals who head off to work for the UN in various blackspots around the world in the 1990's. It's a good take on the events in Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Haiti, etc.

Currently reading this:


http://www.munsterfans.com//uploads/images/michael/855_duignan_complex.jpg


It is not too bad so far, surprising and shocking the way people can be brainwashed into joining these cults

[Hopelessly Devoted]

Just read: A Mercy by Toni Morrison, brilliant, beautiful and heartbreaking.

[fitzy73]

smileys/badgrin.gif

<div ="mxb">
<h1>
Many lie over books 'to impress'
</h1>
</div>







<!- S BO ->
<!- S IIMA -><!- E IIMA ->
<!- S SF ->
Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what
they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a
survey suggests.



Men were most likely to do this to appear intellectual or romantic,
found the poll of 1,500 people by Populus for the National Year of
Reading campaign.



The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics.



Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare.
<!- E SF ->



Among the 1,500 who took part in the research were 864 teenagers.


About four in 10 of the 1,500 said they had lied about what they
had read to impress friends or potential partners - 46% of men and 33%
of women.


Among teenagers, the figure rose to 74%, with most saying they
would pretend to have read social networking pages or song lyrics.










One in five adults said they would read their chosen material whilst
waiting for their date to arrive in the hope of making a good first
impression.


Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading
campaign, said: "Reading is a brilliant tool for self-expression.


"I love the fact that every generation seems to know that it
can help us all increase our potential appeal in the search for love
and romance.


"For all the talk of our superficial obsession with beauty, it
looks like underneath it all we know that brains contribute to sex
appeal too."

[Loop]

smileys/badgrin.gif


<DIV ="mxb">
<H1>Many lie over books 'to impress' </H1></DIV><!- S BO -><!- S IIMA -><!- E IIMA -><!- S SF ->
Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a survey suggests.


Men were most likely to do this to appear intellectual or romantic, found the poll of 1,500 people by Populus for the National Year of Reading campaign.


The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics.


Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare. <!- E SF ->


Among the 1,500 who took part in the research were 864 teenagers.


About four in 10 of the 1,500 said they had lied about what they had read to impress friends or potential partners - 46% of men and 33% of women.


Among teenagers, the figure rose to 74%, with most saying they would pretend to have read social networking pages or song lyrics.


One in five adults said they would read their chosen material whilst waiting for their date to arrive in the hope of making a good first impression.


Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading campaign, said: "Reading is a brilliant tool for self-expression.


"I love the fact that every generation seems to know that it can help us all increase our potential appeal in the search for love and romance.


"For all the talk of our superficial obsession with beauty, it looks like underneath it all we know that brains contribute to sex appeal too."






I have just put down 'A La Recherche Des Temps Perdu" fora moment to come and checkmy email and I see this ...

[fitzy73]

I've just finished this weeks Nuts</span>.

[Hopelessly Devoted]

While pausing during my third perusal of Ulysses, I stopped to chortle at this.

[Loop]

I've just finished this weeks Nuts.


Well I know that I was lying ... butare you lying ?

[mr chips]

smileys/badgrin.gif


<div>
<h1>Many lie over books 'to impress' </h1></div><!- S BO -><!- S IIMA -><!- E IIMA -><!- S SF ->


Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a survey suggests.





I have just put down 'A La Recherche Des Temps Perdu" fora moment to come and checkmy email and I see this ...










J'aime bien les madeleines, mon ami.

[Jenta]

I can't believe I put down War and Peace to read this rubbish.


Tolstoy &gt;&gt;&gt; Munsterfans

[James Lynch]

Bought 'Frost Nixon' for a friend the other day, but then started to read it myself, they have to wait til i'm finished before they get it now!!! Also reading the biography of 2nd US president John Adams (the book that HBO based their recent miniseries on). Its well put together and he and his fellow US patriots of the 1770s are fascinating characters and one can only imagine they'd be rolling in their graves at the way their successors and descendants have been behaving of late.

[Scin]

I can't believe I put down War and Peace to read this rubbish.


Tolstoy &gt;&gt;&gt; Munsterfans

I can, I just finished War and Peace, it took me 10 months to read, 10 long months. It was long winded and boring. I know the intellulectals on this site are going to savage me over this post but that is my opinion on that book.

[SFBB]

http://www3.waterst&#111;nes.com/wat/images/nbd/m/67/9781844881260.jpg

[sparks]

Just bought two books today! Started reading one its called How many socks make a pair? Its by Rob Eastway and on second chapter, its very intriguing. Now its about Maths, but listen out, give it a chance, its everyday things that you would do that are connected to maths! Well worth a read.

The other book i got was The Fenian Anthology, what with having an interest with History since school or maybe younger, this book looks promising. Its by Joe Ambrose, basically tells the story of how it was formed, and contains many speeches and quotes from many of Irelands great patriots, cant wait to dig into it

[Skyhawk]

Just finished "The perfect storm" by Sebastian Junger, easy and excellent read. Never saw the film as I herd it was absolute garbage.

Just finished "The perfect storm" by Sebastian Junger, easy and excellent read. Never saw the film as I herd it was absolute garbage.

It's a good film.
Wolfgang Peterson can be hit and miss but the guy who made Das Booth is due a little indulgence from time to time.
And any film with Diane Lane is OK by me.

Just finished "The perfect storm" by Sebastian Junger, easy and excellent read. Never saw the film as I herd it was absolute garbage.

It's a good film.
Wolfgang Peterson can be hit and miss but the guy who made Das Booth is due a little indulgence from time to time.
And any film with Diane Lane is OK by me.



Das Booth? Is that the porno version of Das Boot by any chance?

The directors cut (i think) of Das Boot was on over christmas. Great film!

A great book that i'm currently reading is 'My Happy Days in Hell' by George Faludy. It's out of print, but see if you can get a copy. Anyone interested in most of modern european history, politics, sex, women, war, adventure, poetry would love it.

[The Gaffer]

Got Mark Little's new book,"The New America" off my sister for xmas.Half way through it now and it's very good.Anyone into politics or current affairs/American society should consider it.I've thouroughly enjoyed his other two books as well.Also got Obama's "Tales from my Father" and a book called "The State of Africa" chartering the last 50 odd years of independance in Africa.

Got Mark Little's new book,"The New America" off my sister for xmas.Half way through it now and it's very good.Anyone into politics or current affairs.American society should consider it.I've thouroughly enjoyed his other two books as well.Also got Obama's "Tales from my Father" and a book called "The State of Africa"</span> chartering the last 50 odd years of independance in Africa.

is that Martin Meredith's book? That's next on the list for me.

[The Gaffer]

The very one,yeah.

[Lebowski]

Any one here a fan of David Gemmell or Conn Iggulden's books?

Any one here a fan of David Gemmell or Conn Iggulden</span>'s books?

The Dangerous Book for Boys? I have that. Brilliant reference book for the male mind!

Got Mark Little's new book,"The New America" off my sister for xmas.Half way through it now and it's very good.Anyone into politics or current affairs.American society should consider it.I've thouroughly enjoyed his other two books as well.Also got Obama's "Tales from my Father" and a book called "The State of Africa" chartering the last 50 odd years of independance in Africa.

is that Martin Meredith's book? That's next on the list for me.



It's absolutely fantastic but a very disturbing read in parts. Well worth it.


"Somme Mud" for menext after Antony Beavor's "Battle for Spain"which is a tough read.


Read Axel on Christmas Eve in one sitting, a lot better than ROG's.

[Lebowski]

Any one here a fan of David Gemmell or Conn Iggulden's books?

The Dangerous Book for Boys? I have that. Brilliant reference book for the male mind!



You should read his rome series books or the ones on gengus khan. Historical fiction but very good read...

[Skyhawk]

Just finished "The perfect storm" by Sebastian Junger, easy and excellent read. Never saw the film as I herd it was absolute garbage.

It's a good film.
Wolfgang Peterson can be hit and miss but the guy who made Das Booth is due a little indulgence from time to time.
And any film with Diane Lane is OK by me.




Never knew that he directed The perfect Storm. Das Boot is one of my all time favourite films.

[The Gaffer]

Got Mark Little's new book,"The New America" off my sister for xmas.Half way through it now and it's very good.Anyone into politics or current affairs.American society should consider it.I've thouroughly enjoyed his other two books as well.Also got Obama's "Tales from my Father" and a book called "The State of Africa" chartering the last 50 odd years of independance in Africa.

is that Martin Meredith's book? That's next on the list for me.



It's absolutely fantastic but a very disturbing read in parts. Well worth it.


"Somme Mud" for menext after Antony Beavor's "Battle for Spain"which is a tough read.


Read Axel on Christmas Eve in one sitting, a lot better than ROG's.








Have read Berlin, Stalingrad and Paris...thought they were good.

[Fresh Start]

Any one here a fan of David Gemmell or Conn Iggulden's books?


I seem to remember reading Lion of Macedon and Dark Prince when they first came out and liking them but haven't got into any of his other books.


Having finished the last of the (R D Wingfield) Frost books a couple of months back and not wanting to go back to them again (yet), does anyone know of anything similar that would be worth reading?

[Lebowski]

Any one here a fan of David Gemmell or Conn Iggulden's books?


I seem to remember reading Lion of Macedon and Dark Prince when they first came out and liking them but haven't got into any of his other books.


Having finished the last of the (R D Wingfield) Frost books a couple of months back and not wanting to go back to them again (yet), does anyone know of anything similar that would be worth reading?





They were allright but you should read his try series unreal book's really bring it to life. He died while writing the last book in the series but his wife finished it off.


Legend is another of his books that was a good read.

[merawancha]

Got a present of all of Chuck Palahniuk's books there for Jesus' birthday. Not for the faint hearted but I
had already read Fight Club years ago so knew kinda what to expect.

So first read Choke (very good much better than the recent film which i found a bit meh) then Snuff
(interesting view of the porn industry) currently on Rant (which is awesome, much better than FC) it's
intense, all done in snippet interview form so the book feels like a weird documentary and flies by.
Haunted up next, meant to be scary...

Think if I'm still sane after all that think I'll just read some nice happy books for a while!

[Captain-Hero]

Anybody read Freakonomics?


Or Gladwell's Blink and the ltest one Outliers? Blink is about your instincts, what they are and how they are trained. Outliers is a study of success and sucessful people to see what makes them special.

[Jenta]

Freakonomics was very interesting, enjoyed it a lot. There's a sequel planned this year I think.

I read a book called 'Triumph' this week, it's about Jesse Owens and the story of the Berlin Olympics. It could have been a bit longer but was still a good read. It was a nice little insight into both athletics and the politics surrounding it at the time.

[Captain-Hero]

A sequel would be savage. Read a few bits on their site and seen some of Levitts presentations online too. Interesting guy.


I might try pick up Triumph. I'm in need of a good book at the moment. As for Blink, it's good but not as good as Tipping Point while I thought Outliers was very well put together.

[ozoyo]

This is probably the most massive book I have read lately.

Dan Simmons - The Terror

http://accel6.mettre-put-idata.over-blog.com/0/55/36/86/SF/Theterror_dansimm&#111;ns.jpg

Extremely well documented (like any Dan Simmons book), it is an extrapolation on the Franklin expedition which disappeared trying to find the North / West passage in the 1830's.

Teams of scientists are still trying to solve the mystery of their disappearance. Simmons bases his story on historical facts and on the only clues that have been found so far. It is a breathtaking book.

MUST READ

[JoeyFantastic]

Freakonomics was very interesting, enjoyed it a lot. There's a sequel planned this year I think.

I read a book called 'Triumph' this week, it's about Jesse Owens and the story of the Berlin Olympics. It could have been a bit longer but was still a good read. It was a nice little insight into both athletics and the politics surrounding it at the time.



Have you read "Dynamo, Triumph and Tragedy Nazi Occupied Kiev"? It's about Dynamo's role in keeping Ukrainian spirit going during WW2. great story, not a great book but the story deserves to be told.

[Jenta]

Freakonomics was very interesting, enjoyed it a lot. There's a sequel planned this year I think.

I read a book called 'Triumph' this week, it's about Jesse Owens and the story of the Berlin Olympics. It could have been a bit longer but was still a good read. It was a nice little insight into both athletics and the politics surrounding it at the time.



Have you read "Dynamo, Triumph and Tragedy Nazi Occupied Kiev"? It's about Dynamo's role in keeping Ukrainian spirit going during WW2. great story, not a great book but the story deserves to be told.




Haven't read the book but I'd be familiar with the story. That was the Dynamo team that refused to throw games against German opposition resulting in a number of them being executed right? I think I saw a documentary on it a few years back, great story alright.

[johnlangford]

Any one here a fan of David Gemmell or Conn Iggulden's books?

I'm reading his 'Conqueror' series at the moment, about Genghis Khan and its absolutely amazing. Would really recommend it to anybody with an interest in historical fiction books. Also anything by Valerio Massimo Manfredi is absolute gold. Can't get enough of this guy.

[Captain-Hero]

Freakonomics was very interesting, enjoyed it a lot. There's a sequel planned this year I think.

I read a book called 'Triumph' this week, it's about Jesse Owens and the story of the Berlin Olympics. It could have been a bit longer but was still a good read. It was a nice little insight into both athletics and the politics surrounding it at the time.


Have you read "Dynamo, Triumph and Tragedy Nazi Occupied Kiev"? It's about Dynamo's role in keeping Ukrainian spirit going during WW2. great story, not a great book but the story deserves to be told.





I haven't Joey. Is it very heavy reading?

[Dave Cahill]

This seems like as good a place as any...Did anyone see the Terry
Pratchett programme 'living with alzheimers' last night? I thought it was
very good

[JoeyFantastic]

Freakonomics was very interesting, enjoyed it a lot. There's a sequel planned this year I think.

I read a book called 'Triumph' this week, it's about Jesse Owens and the story of the Berlin Olympics. It could have been a bit longer but was still a good read. It was a nice little insight into both athletics and the politics surrounding it at the time.


Have you read "Dynamo, Triumph and Tragedy Nazi Occupied Kiev"? It's about Dynamo's role in keeping Ukrainian spirit going during WW2. great story, not a great book but the story deserves to be told.





I haven't Joey. Is it very heavy reading?

Not particularly, it probably would be if it had a better author. It's a great story which the book doesn't really do full justice to, but it's still a decent read.

[Grasshopper]

A few that I could my hand on my heart and reccommend!





Brooklyn Follies; Paul Auster.


Saturday; Ian McKeowen.


Empire Falls; Richard Russo.


When we were Orphans; Kazuo Ishiguro.





Good thread!

[beano66]

One of the funniest books I have ever read is Good as Gold by Joeseph Heller. I used to read it once a year to cheer myself up.

[Skyhawk]

This is probably the most massive book I have read lately.

Dan Simmons - The Terror

http://accel6.mettre-put-idata.over-blog.com/0/55/36/86/SF/Theterror_dansimm&#111;ns.jpg

Extremely well documented (like any Dan Simmons book), it is an extrapolation on the Franklin expedition which disappeared trying to find the North / West passage in the 1830's.

Teams of scientists are still trying to solve the mystery of their disappearance. Simmons bases his story on historical facts and on the only clues that have been found so far. It is a breathtaking book.

MUST READ



This looks like my cup of tea, amazon here I come.


Cheers Oz smileys/thumb-up.gif

[Skyhawk]

This is probably the most massive book I have read lately.

Dan Simmons - The Terror

http://accel6.mettre-put-idata.over-blog.com/0/55/36/86/SF/Theterror_dansimm&#111;ns.jpg

Extremely well documented (like any Dan Simmons book), it is an extrapolation on the Franklin expedition which disappeared trying to find the North / West passage in the 1830's.

Teams of scientists are still trying to solve the mystery of their disappearance. Simmons bases his story on historical facts and on the only clues that have been found so far. It is a breathtaking book.

MUST READ



This looks like my cup of tea, amazon here I come.


Cheers Oz smileys/thumb-up.gif





Just reading this book at the moment and so far, its a fantastic read.

This is probably the most massive book I have read lately.

Dan Simmons - The Terror

http://accel6.mettre-put-idata.over-blog.com/0/55/36/86/SF/Theterror_dansimm&#111;ns.jpg

Extremely well documented (like any Dan Simmons book), it is an extrapolation on the Franklin expedition which disappeared trying to find the North / West passage in the 1830's.

Teams of scientists are still trying to solve the mystery of their disappearance. Simmons bases his story on historical facts and on the only clues that have been found so far. It is a breathtaking book.

MUST READ



This looks like my cup of tea, amazon here I come.


Cheers Oz smileys/thumb-up.gif





Just reading this book at the moment and so far, its a fantastic read.

Skyhawk, have a look for a book called Barrows Boys. It touches on the Franklin expedition, but also on a number of others launced by the British Admiralty in the 1800's under it's then secretary, a guy called John Barrow. Fascinating account of adventure and folly!

p.s. as far as I recall there was a strong irish contingent on the Franklin experdition. One of the lads on it was from Clare Street in Limerick, if i remember correctly.

[i_like_cake]

Anyone read God's executioner?
it's about Cromwell and all that Jazz.......

just about to launch into it properly.. the first couple of pages are hardly incisive though..

[The Gaffer]

Got Mark Little's new book,"The New America" off my sister for xmas.Half way through it now and it's very good.Anyone into politics or current affairs.American society should consider it.I've thouroughly enjoyed his other two books as well.Also got Obama's "Tales from my Father" and a book called "The State of Africa" chartering the last 50 odd years of independance in Africa.

is that Martin Meredith's book? That's next on the list for me.



It's absolutely fantastic but a very disturbing read in parts. Well worth it.


"Somme Mud" for menext after Antony Beavor's "Battle for Spain"which is a tough read.


Read Axel on Christmas Eve in one sitting, a lot better than ROG's.








Got Battle for Spain for a fiver in Easons,as I said I'd read his other books,but this was a bit much for me.Left it down after 100 pages.Went on to State of Africa then,i'm about 4 chapters in...the Belgians were some c+nts,mind you Lumumba was a nutter.Great book,can't put it down.

[JoeyFantastic]

Got Mark Little's new book,"The New America" off my sister for xmas.Half way through it now and it's very good.Anyone into politics or current affairs.American society should consider it.I've thouroughly enjoyed his other two books as well.Also got Obama's "Tales from my Father" and a book called "The State of Africa"</span> chartering the last 50 odd years of independance in Africa.

is that Martin Meredith's book? That's next on the list for me.



It's absolutely fantastic but a very disturbing read in parts. Well worth it.


"Somme Mud" for menext after Antony Beavor's "Battle for Spain"which is a tough read.


Read Axel on Christmas Eve in one sitting, a lot better than ROG's.








Got Battle for Spain for a fiver in Easons,as I said I'd read his other books,but this was a bit much for me.Left it down after 100 pages.Went on to State of Africa then,i'm about 4 chapters in...the Belgians were some c+nts,mind you Lumumba was a nutter.Great book,can't put it down.

Damn, was hoping to start Battle for Spain in a few days.

[Jenta]

I thought Persian Fire was excellent Joey, not quite as engaging and to the point as Rubicon but obviously very well researched and thoroughly interesting.

Dynamo, while a very uplifting story about the triumph of the human spirit, reads like it was written for a junior cert pass essay.

[JoeyFantastic]

I thought Persian Fire was excellent Joey, not quite as engaging and to the point as Rubicon but obviously very well researched and thoroughly interesting.

Dynamo, while a very uplifting story about the triumph of the human spirit, reads like it was written for a junior cert pass essay.



I thought Persian fire was very slow to start but when it kicked in it was class, the bit about the Spartan who left his post and later redeemed himself still gets dragged out now and again when I've had a few pints.

Dynamo is a great story in a bad book, it deserves a better treatment I guess.

[Skyhawk]

This is probably the most massive book I have read lately.

Dan Simmons - The Terror

http://accel6.mettre-put-idata.over-blog.com/0/55/36/86/SF/Theterror_dansimm&#111;ns.jpg

Extremely well documented (like any Dan Simmons book), it is an extrapolation on the Franklin expedition which disappeared trying to find the North / West passage in the 1830's.

Teams of scientists are still trying to solve the mystery of their disappearance. Simmons bases his story on historical facts and on the only clues that have been found so far. It is a breathtaking book.

MUST READ



This looks like my cup of tea, amazon here I come.


Cheers Oz smileys/thumb-up.gif





Just reading this book at the moment and so far, its a fantastic read.




Skyhawk, have a look for a book called Barrows Boys. It touches on the Franklin expedition, but also on a number of others launced by the British Admiralty in the 1800's under it's then secretary, a guy called John Barrow. Fascinating account of adventure and folly!

p.s. as far as I recall there was a strong irish contingent on the Franklin experdition. One of the lads on it was from Clare Street in Limerick, if i remember correctly.



Cheers, BB, must add that to my list.

[McCloud]

Ok mf book fans own upsmileys/lol.gif





Last Updated: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 13:33


Ulysses among titles most people lie about reading
James Joyce's Ulysses came in third behind George Orwell's 1984 and Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace .


Not in a survey of most acclaimed titles, as might be expected, but in a list of books most people have lied about reading.


A survey, carried out on the World Book Day website in January and February, found two-thirds of people surveyed lied about reading books they have in fact not read.


Asked why they had lied about reading a book, the main reason was to impress the person they were speaking to.


Orwell's futuristic thriller topped the literary fib list with 42 per cent of people claiming falsely to have read the book.


This was followed by Tolstoy’s historical epic which 31 per cent pretended to have perused.


Leopold Bloom’s jaunt around Dublin came in third with 25 per cent of those surveyed claiming erroneously to have read.


The Bible was in fourth position, and newly-elected US President Barack Obama's autobiography Dreams from My Father came ninth.


Aside from a list of ten titles which respondents were asked to tick or leave blank, many admitted wrongly claiming they had read other "classics" including Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Herman Melville.


Those who lied have claimed to have read: 1. 1984 - George Orwell (42 per cent) 2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (31) 3. Ulysses - James Joyce (25) 4. The Bible (24) 5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (16) 6. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking (15) 7. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (14) 8. In Remembrance of Things Past – Marcel Proust (9) 9. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama (6) 10. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (6)

[Jenta]

Who'd lie about reading 1984? It's hardly in the same league as War and Peace or Ulysses, it's a relatively short book.

War and Peace and Anna Karenina have been on my bookshelf for a long time now and I do plan on reading them sometime. I just wish Tolstoy had been able to get his point across in less than 6 million pages.

[Skyhawk]

I'd have as much interest in reading ODs recipe for nettle wine as I would for Ulysses smileys/c&#111;nfused.gif

[JoeyFantastic]

Who'd lie about reading 1984? It's hardly in the same league as War and Peace or Ulysses, it's a relatively short book.

War and Peace and Anna Karenina have been on my bookshelf for a long time now and I do plan on reading them sometime. I just wish Tolstoy had been able to get his point across in less than 6 million pages.


War and Peace is an amazing book, but the only way I could get through it was to read about 100 pages at a time, however after I finished I never wanted to read a long book again, though, I generally don't read fiction anyhow so I mightn't be the best judge.

Half way through Don Quixote, same story, only works if I have time to read loads of it, picking at it just makes it seem very, very long.

[i_like_cake]

Don Quixote is the puppies privates.... enjoy......smileys/biggrin.gif

[Mack the Knife]

Reading Yugoslavia as History , twice there was a country by John R Lampe. Brings you right from the 17th century through to Tito and the eventual demise of the unsustainable experiment in federalism.

[B.A.]

For any maritime folks out there, I'd recommend Patrick O'Brien's Master &amp; Commander series. Be warned there are 21 books and you won't want to put them down.

For something very obscure try Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. It's a bit of a novelty and can be quite disturbing at times but it does make you take a new approach to reading a book.

I just finished an old book by David Simon - Homicide - A year on the killing streets. He was a baltimore sun journalist who spent a year working with a group of homicide dectives in 1988. He went on to create the Wire with one of the detectives in the book.

[SecondRowGal]

The Terror did my head in. Read half of it and then had to leave it - which is very unusual for me. Too slow and ponderous, too many characters, too wordy.

Not for a bit of light relief, I am reading the first book in the The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. All light and fluffy... smileys/sad.gif

[LuckyDucker]

Three Irish authors on Booker longlist</font>

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0728/break (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0728/breaking69.htm) ing69.htm

Three Irish authors – Colm Tóibín, William Trevor and first-time novelist Ed O’Loughlin have been named on the longlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2009 will be revealed on Tuesday October 6th at a dinner at London's Guildhall.

The full longlist is as follows:


AS Byatt The Children's Book</span> - Random House - Chatto and Windus

JM Coetzee Summertime </span>- Random House - Harvill Secker

Adam Foulds The Quickening</span> - Maze Random House - Jonathan Cape

Sarah Hall How to paint a dead man</span> - Faber and Faber

Samantha Harvey The Wilderness</span> - Random House - Jonathan Cape

James Lever Me Cheeta</span> - HarperCollins - Fourth Estate

Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall </span>- HarperCollins - Fourth Estate

Simon Mawer The Glass Room</span> - Little, Brown

Ed O'Loughlin Not Untrue &amp; Not Unkind</span> - Penguin - Ireland

James Scudamore Heliopolis </span>- Random House - Harvill Secker

Colm Tóibín Brooklyn</span> Penguin - Viking

William Trevor Love and Summer</span> -Penguin - Viking

Sarah Waters The Little Stranger</span> - Little, Brown - Virago

[Hopelessly Devoted]

Just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, loved it. Haven't read any of the others.

[rookie]

Just finished The Devils Alternative by Frederick Forsyth, very good book and before that Day Of The Jackel which I thought was brilliant.

[Kavy]

Just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, loved it. Haven't read any of the others.








He was Booker shortlisted in '99 or '00 for The Blackwater Lightship.It's a melancholy story but also very uplifting at times. Highly recommended.


(If you've read McGahern's Amongst Women you'll find certain simiarities between them)

[munsterbouy]

Can anyone recommend a book on Irish history....and also I would appreciate any Brendan Behan recommendations,,,,Thanks

[thisyear?]

Three great recent reads</span>
<ul style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;"> <h1 ="parseasinTitle">Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer</span></font></h1>[/list]<ul><li style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;"><h1 ="parseasinTitle">Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town</span></font></h1> No Country for Old Men</span></span></font>[/list]

[manofmunster]

Can anyone recommend a book on Irish history....and also I would appreciate any Brendan Behan recommendations,,,,Thanks


For a (very) shallow and fairly easily read hisotry you could do worse than Maire O Briens "Concise History of Ireland"


It reads a little like a school book but deals with all the major incidents of our history without the usual bias present in so many history books (you know - the well worn "Poor Auld Ireland" slant)


It's very brief though and serves only as an introduction.

[ListryMurphy]

Reading 'To save Russia' by Donald Norsic. About the reincarnation of Nicholas II. Interesting.

[munsterbouy]

Can anyone recommend a book on Irish history....and also I would appreciate any Brendan Behan recommendations,,,,Thanks


For a (very) shallow and fairly easily read hisotry you could do worse than Maire O Briens "Concise History of Ireland"


It reads a little like a school book but deals with all the major incidents of our history without the usual bias present in so many history books (you know - the well worn "Poor Auld Ireland" slant)</span>


It's very brief though and serves only as an introduction.

this is not what I want, thanks for the recommendation, maybe it can serve as an index for a person to explore further with other books??? it's sounds vaguely like a book we may have used in school...

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, loved it. Haven't read any of
the others.


*





He was Booker shortlisted in '99 or '00 for The Blackwater
Lightship.It's a melancholy story but also very uplifting at times.*
Highly recommended.


It's well written, but the story itself is kinda pants. Enjoyed reading it
simply for the style and quality of the writing though.

[Kavy]

Munsterbouy.


In relation to Brendan Behan have you read Borstal Boy already? If not starting there would be my recommendation. Link to Amazon page below. Plenty of other options on the linked page too including books on Behan as opposed to by him if that's what you're after.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1567921051?ie=UTF8&amp;tag= (http://www.amaz&#111;n.com/gp/product/1567921051?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thekingsengli-20&amp;&#108;inkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeAS IN=1567921051) thekingsengli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative =9325&amp;creativeASIN=1567921051

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished The Devils Alternative by Frederick
Forsyth, very good book and before that Day Of The Jackel which I
thought was brilliant. *

Forsyth has some great books, recommend the Odessa File and the
Dogs of War too.

[The Word Is Born]

For James Elroy fans the sequel to The Cold Six Thousand, Blood's a Rover is due out in September.

[Balla Boy]

Can anyone recommend a book on Irish history....and also I would appreciate any Brendan Behan recommendations,,,,Thanks


A catch all "history of Ireland" is a big task. Any particular period's you're interested in?


If it is a beginning to end effort you're looking for, The Isles by Norman Davies isgreat andgoesfrom prehistory onward, but it's across Ireland and the UK so might not be as focussed on Irish history as you'd want.

Just go through 'A Colossal Failure of Common Sense - The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers. Well worth a read

[Butty]

I recommend:


Star of the Seaby Joseph O'Connor


Brilliant book where the author has set characters and personal circumstances on board an Irish Famine Ship set sail for America. There is a follow up called Redemption Falls which I haven't read yet.


The Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson


Darkish kind of book about a journalist taking up a job on an english language newspaper in Puerto Rico in 1959. He despises the drunks and layabouts he has to work with only to slowly become one of them. Apparently Thompson was only 22 when he wrote the novel based on his experiences.


Otis Lee Crenshaw: I blame society by Rich Hall


Very funny book about a fella who gets out of jail and tries to start again. He has been married six times and all of his wives were called Brenda.

[manofmunster]

I recommend:


Star of the Seaby Joseph O'Connor


Brilliant book where the author has set characters and personal circumstances on board an Irish Famine Ship set sail for America. There is a follow up called Redemption Falls which I haven't read yet.





I'd recommend redemption falls too - you have to stick with it from time to time but it's a good read

[The Crimson King]

For James Elroy fans the sequel to The Cold Six Thousand, Blood's a Rover is due out in September.

Thank you thank you thank you, I had no idea and now I've got something to look forward to!!!!

[rookie]

Just finished The Devils Alternative by Frederick
Forsyth, very good book and before that Day Of The Jackel which I
thought was brilliant.

Forsyth has some great books, recommend the Odessa File and the
Dogs of War too.


Thanks Joey, I think Im going to tackle the Negotiator next. The detail in his books are brilliant

[JoeyFantastic]

Just
finished The Devils Alternative by Frederick Forsyth, very good book
and before that Day Of The Jackel which I thought was brilliant.
* Forsyth has some great books, recommend the Odessa File
and the Dogs of War too.


Thanks Joey, I think Im going to tackle the Negotiator next. The
detail in his books are brilliant


He has some good books of short stories too, No Comebacks was the
name of one of the collections.

Just finished reading this (http://www.amaz&#111;n.co.uk/gp/reader/1847673171/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-page), highly recommended.

[rebelkell]

Can anyone recommend a book on Irish history....and also I would appreciate any Brendan Behan recommendations,,,,Thanks


Trinity - leon Uris


kept me indoors ina small flat in Paris for a weekend once many moons ago.

[rebelkell]

Oh And for holiday reading the Troy series by David Gemmeal is fantastic stuff


leaves you wondering between fact and fiction

[Hopelessly Devoted]

Just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, loved it. Haven't read any of
the others.











He was Booker shortlisted in '99 or '00 for The Blackwater
Lightship.It's a melancholy story but also very uplifting at times.
Highly recommended.





It's well written, but the story itself is kinda pants. Enjoyed reading it
simply for the style and quality of the writing though.


Are you talking about Brooklyn Joey? I loved it. If it's the Blackwater Lightship, haven't read it but thanks for the heads up.

[munsterbouy]

Munsterbouy.


In relation to Brendan Behan have you read Borstal Boy already? If not starting there would be my recommendation. Link to Amazon page below. Plenty of other options on the linked page too including books on Behan as opposed to by him if that's what you're after.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1567921051?ie=UTF8&amp;tag= (http://www.amaz&#111;n.com/gp/product/1567921051?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=thekingsengli-20&amp;&#108;inkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeAS IN=1567921051) thekingsengli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative =9325&amp;creativeASIN=1567921051

Great stuff thank you very much.

[munsterbouy]

Can anyone recommend a book on Irish history....and also I would appreciate any Brendan Behan recommendations,,,,Thanks


A catch all "history of Ireland" is a big task. Any particular period's you're interested in?


If it is a beginning to end effort you're looking for, The Isles by Norman Davies isgreat andgoesfrom prehistory onward, but it's across Ireland and the UK so might not be as focussed on Irish history as you'd want.




Sounds good thanks very much BB....

[JoeyFantastic]

Just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, loved it. Haven't read any
of the others.


*





He was Booker shortlisted in '99 or '00 for The Blackwater
Lightship.It's a melancholy story but also very uplifting at times.*
Highly recommended.


It's well written, but the story itself is kinda pants.
Enjoyed reading it simply for the style and quality of the writing
though.


Are you talking about Brooklyn Joey? I loved it. If it's the
Blackwater Lightship, haven't read it but thanks for the heads up.


I meant the blackwater Lightship. It's an enjoyable-ish read, but I
don't think the main female character was realistic.

[Hopelessly Devoted]

Just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibín, loved it. Haven't read any
of the others.











He was Booker shortlisted in '99 or '00 for The Blackwater
Lightship.It's a melancholy story but also very uplifting at times.
Highly recommended.



It's well written, but the story itself is kinda pants.
Enjoyed reading it simply for the style and quality of the writing
though.



Are you talking about Brooklyn Joey? I loved it. If it's the
Blackwater Lightship, haven't read it but thanks for the heads up.





I meant the blackwater Lightship. It's an enjoyable-ish read, but I
don't think the main female character was realistic.


Fair enough, I'll avoid. Ta for the heads up. Now, who the hell are you? smileys/wink.gif

[The Word Is Born]

Just finished reading this (http://www.amaz&#111;n.co.uk/gp/reader/1847673171/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-page), highly recommended.


You should read Homocide: A Year on The Killing Streets. Written by David Simon, he went on a one year sabbatical with the murda po-leeese in Bodymore, Murdaland. It and The Corner form the genesis of The Wire. An excellent read.

[Balla Boy]

Just started Misha Glenny's McMafia and really impressed so far. I'd been dreading another Guy Ritchie/Football Hooligan/Gangs/Criminal Underworld lad book, but it's a fairly thorough account of the growth of organised crime over the last couple of decades.


Some really interesting stuff on the fall of communism and the criminal structures that replaced many of its functions.


Would certainly recommend on what I've seen so far.


Also finished Scourge And Fire: Savonarola and Renassiance Italy by Lauro Martines.Leans a bit towards an active rehabilitation, but an interesting view on him nonetheless. If anyone has an interest in the Medici/Borgia/Renaissance in general then it's well worth a read.

[Jenta]

Anyone interested in understanding how the Bush Administration really operated should read 'Angler - the Shadow Presidency of Dick Cheney' by Barton Gellman.

I knew the man went way outside the normal bounds of a VP's responsibility but I really underestimated just how much he redirected power towards the executive branch and himself. It's terrifying.

[LuckyDucker]

08/09/09 rte.ie


No Irish authors on Booker shortlist


The shortlist for the 2009 Man Booker Prize has been announced, with no Irish authors among the six finalists.


Ed O'Loughlin ('Not Untrue &amp; Not Unkind'), Colm Tóibín ('Brooklyn') and William Trevor ('Love and Summer') had been among the 13 authors on the longlist.


The six shortlisted authors are: A S Byatt ('The Children's Book'), J M Coetzee ('Summertime'), Adam Foulds ('The Quickening Maze'), Hilary Mantel ('Wolf Hall'), Simon Mawer ('The Glass Room') and Sarah Waters ('The Little Stranger').


Coetzee previously won the Man Booker Prize in 1999 for 'Disgrace' and in 1983 for 'Life &amp; Times of Michael K'.


Byatt won the Man Booker Prize in 1990 for 'Possession'.


This year's winner will be announced on Tuesday, 6 October in London.

[thisyear?]

Misadventures in the Middle East - Henry Hemming - good

Dublin v Kerry - Tom Humphries - lazy book full of cliches

[limkman1]

Anybody know a handy cheap website for buying books?

www.the bookpeople.co.uk
Thebookdepository.com



Another good website for buying books is www.play.com,
can only buy in sterling if living in UK ,euros otherwise ,price includes delivery,also dvds,games etc on site,new and second hand books available

[JoeyFantastic]

Thanks the summer we had, finally managed to hit into the bookshelf,
finally finished Don Quixote, The Count of Monte Cristo and Dubliners.
Well worth their place on the "best of" lists but Monte Cristo was easily
my favourite, betrayal, revenge, hints of lesbianism, what's not to love?

Also read a small book about the defence of Poland/Warsaw in 1920 by
Adam Zamoyski called Warsaw 1920, Lenin's Failed Conquest of
Europe, interesting read.

[Hopelessly Devoted]

Just finished Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, brilliant.


Also the Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski, very original &amp; if you like dogs, you'll love it.

[Eamo]

For Sci Fi fans :anything by Iain M Banks -I'd say start with 'use of weapons'.The Sparrow by some woman whose name I can't recall but it involves aliens and jesuits in space- enough said.


The Wasp factory (by Banks).The Crow Road and Complicity also (non sci fi).


Anything by Robert Wilson-start with 'a small death in Lisbon'.


Anything by James lee Burke


For history buffs '15 decisive battles of the modern world' by Creasy -written in the early 1800s but still a great read-it takes the reader from Marathon to Waterloo and is unsurpassed today.


The selfish gene from dawkins-the one that started the darwinian rennaissance.


Jeez too many great books- anything by Le Carre or Graham greene


Ribofunk-by a guy whose name I cant recall


Cosmos-Carl sagan


Killer Angels -to understand the US civil war


enough for now

[The Word Is Born]

For James Elroy fans the sequel to The Cold Six Thousand, Blood's a Rover is due out in September.

Thank you thank you thank you, I had no idea and now I've got something to look forward to!!!!


Good news/bad news scenario.
Good news- here's a sneak peek of chapter 1 (http://g-ecx.images-amaz&#111;n.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/Ellroy_chap1.pdf)
Bad news- went into Waterstones today and they won't have it for sale until November 5th despite it being relased on September 22nd.

[Point]

Not that I'll ever get round to reading them (possibly) but I bought the autobiographies of Johnson, Wilkinson and Dallaglio in Asda last week for the total princely sum of £1 in a 3 for 1 book offer.

[Eamo]

Haven't read it yet but 'talking history' show on newstalk tonight discussed a new book about Eliza Lynch who left Cork in the 1840s to become the national heroine of Paraguay.It sounded like a great read.I'll be buying it for sure.The show is usually available on podcast.

[grimjaw]

the unknown stalin by roy and zhores medvedev. only deals with certain situations such as the death of bukharin and operation barbarossa. shows the man to be an extremely intelligent man but also a friggin nutjob. chapters about the race for the atomic bomb are also quite interesting.


the great shark hunt- hunter s thompson. i love fear and loathing but i hate the fact that the book and the film have been put on pedestals by stoner faux left wing idiots as a justification for drugs. one of the best writers i have ever read. the great shark hunt, kentucky derby articles are pricless while the article about the killing of rueben salazar is masterful and not what most people would come to expect from the man.


i would also agree with i like cake's recommendation of good omens by terry pratchett and neil gaiman. one of the funniest books ever written.

[friendofthedevil]

finished 'american gods' by neil gaiman, enjoyed it very much
before that it was 'the corner' and 'homicide: a year on the killing streets' by david simon, both great reads.
'the wind up bird chronicle' by haruki murakami is an excellent book. completely bizarre but a very enjoyable read.
'cloud atlas' by david mitchell is stunning also, can't recommend it enough.

[DONC]

Not read through the previous 8 pages in full so apologies if these books have already been mentioned. I thought D. B. Shans first two books in the city trilogy were a magnificent read and I am really looking forward for the final installment next Spring (unless he does a Douglas Adams and has a trilogy in 5 parts which was quite unique I think).


Just finished John Ajvide Lindqvist Let the last one in, excellent book actually scarey in places, have to read some more of him.

[Upfront_1979]

Reading Rubicon again, great book. Also for something a little light hearted I read Scepticism Inc, (can't remember the author offhand) funny little book.

[Mack the Knife]

Just finished reading "The Delegation" by Michael Moloney for the second time, great read.

[i_like_cake]

finished 'american gods' by neil gaiman, enjoyed it very much




I have found that anything by Neil gaiman is worth reading.. he's an absolute genius.. his Sandman comics just blew me away... and it's a comic..!! worth getting in the Absolute Sandman format now on Amazon....

You should try reading his Neverwhere and Good Omens books...

Incidentally, Gaiman was one of the first writers to have an online blog... it has been going for many many years... and the links he puts up from opther people and his own musing are worth a read...

HERE........ (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/)

Just finished reading: Cantona, the rebel who would be king. (http://www.amaz&#111;n.co.uk/Cant&#111;na-Rebel-Who-Would-King/dp/0230706347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1253536170&amp;sr=1-1)


Highly recommended.

[blackandwhite]

I'm halfway through Alastair Campbell "The Blair Years", excellent book that shows what was going on behind the scenes and how little some politicians know or care about the real world.

[munsterbouy]

Just finished "Stakeknife"(it was first published 5 years ago) by Martin Ingram(former Btiish army Handler)and Greg Harkin, abook about collusion in the North.....very interesting, and Trying to get stuck into Dubliners...

[sparks]

Would really recommend "The Lie" by Chad Kultgen

Just get this book, you will not be able to put it down!!</span></font>

[Captain-Hero]

I know it's a bit old but has anybody read It's in the blood. My Life? Just going through it there. Not bad. He says he made a big mistake going to the Limerick Races the day after losing to Munster. One of the nicer comments he received was "Jaysus, Dallaglio,you were f*ckin useless yesterday" smileys/lol.gif

[beano66]

Just found this thread. Can I draw every ones attention to the funniest books I have ever read. Good as Gold by Joeseph Heller. I read it once a year to cheer myself up.

[bedstuybosco]

Folks


Can anyone recommend a good book on THE SPARTANS (the greek warriors)


Ws having a look on amazon but there s a clatter of em


Thanks in advance smileys/wink.gif

[rebelkell]

Would really recommend "The Lie" by Chad Kultgen

Just get this book, you will not be able to put it down!!
Liar!!!!!!!!!!


I'll get my coat-


Reading Jungle Soldier at the moment By Brian Moynahan About a English artic explore who spent over 3 years behind Japanese lines in Malay while the Japs looked for him its great stuff!

[rebelkell]

Folks


Can anyone recommend a good book on THE SPARTANS (the greek warriors)


Ws having a look on amazon but there s a clatter of em


Thanks in advance smileys/wink.gif


Gates of fire is the obvious one by stephen presfield ( or something like that)


Fire of Ares is another one by Micheal Ford A simple but pleasing read book 2 in the series has just been released

[bedstuybosco]

Folks


Can anyone recommend a good book on THE SPARTANS (the greek warriors)


Ws having a look on amazon but there s a clatter of em


Thanks in advance smileys/wink.gif


Gates of fire is the obvious one by stephen presfield ( or something like that)


Fire of Ares is another one by Micheal Ford A simple but pleasing read book 2 in the series has just been released








Are there 2 versons of ths book? On amazon they are listed as follows ...


The Fire of Ares (Spartan Quest)


The Fire of Ares: Spartan 1 (Spartan Warrior)


?

[rebelkell]

Folks


Can anyone recommend a good book on THE SPARTANS (the greek warriors)


Ws having a look on amazon but there s a clatter of em


Thanks in advance smileys/wink.gif


Gates of fire is the obvious one by stephen presfield ( or something like that)


Fire of Ares is another one by Micheal Ford A simple but pleasing read book 2 in the series has just been released








Are there 2 versons of ths book? On amazon they are listed as follows ...


The Fire of Ares (Spartan Quest)


The Fire of Ares: Spartan 1 (Spartan Warrior)


?


Spartan warrior - Just remember its more boy in stipped pajamas than joyce but not bad.


Try David gemmals Troy series - Easy and unputdownable holiday reading stuff

[rebelkell]

Folks


Can anyone recommend a good book on THE SPARTANS (the greek warriors)


Ws having a look on amazon but there s a clatter of em


Thanks in advance smileys/wink.gif


Gates of fire is the obvious one by stephen presfield ( or something like that)


Fire of Ares is another one by Micheal Ford A simple but pleasing read book 2 in the series has just been released








Are there 2 versons of ths book? On amazon they are listed as follows ...


The Fire of Ares (Spartan Quest)


The Fire of Ares: Spartan 1 (Spartan Warrior)


?


Spartan warrior - Just remember its more boy in stipped pajamas than joyce but not bad.


Try David gemmals Troy series - Easy and unputdownable holiday reading stuff





Dawn of empire is another good one


Harry sidebottom has a book outwhich is his first one about a romanin Syria at the begining of the fall of theRomqn empire which is slow to start but then class


A GUY CALLED BEN kANE HAS ANOTHER 2 books out which are good reads of that type


AND also ship of rome by a cork author is a great read

[Hopelessly Devoted]

For James Elroy fans the sequel to The Cold Six Thousand, Blood's a Rover is due out in September.

Thank you thank you thank you, I had no idea and now I've got something to look forward to!!!!


Good news/bad news scenario.
Good news- here's a sneak peek of chapter 1 (http://g-ecx.images-amaz&#111;n.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/Ellroy_chap1.pdf)
Bad news- went into Waterstones today and they won't have it for sale until November 5th despite it being relased on September 22nd.



Finished Blood's a Rover the other night, absolutely brilliant.

[wally_fan]

Was reading this article today. I've been meaning to read it since it came out

<h1 ="ing">Ice-cold killers run rampant in Ellroy's imagined America

</h1>


<div ="story- lead-media-n&#111;ne">
<div ="story-ino">


<s&#111;ng>

Blood's a Rover By James Ellroy Century, 656pp, $32.95

</s&#111;ng>
</div>



JAMES
Ellroy, a devoted boxing aficionado, is a little like the Joe Frazier
of American letters. While Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and Cormac
McCarthy get spoken of as contenders for the title of America's
greatest novelist, Ellroy often gets dismissed as a mere crime writer.
His amour-propre, his past as a teenage neo-Nazi and the fact he writes
about that most gauche place, Los Angeles, has never endeared him to
the literary establishment.

Blood's a Rover, however, may well
change their opinion. It is the completion of Ellroy's near 2000-page
American Underworld trilogy that began with the evocative American
Tabloid and continued with the extraordinary The Cold Six Thousand.



American
Tabloid is a technically impressive and often brilliant novel
structured around the Cuban revolution and John Kennedy's
assassination, written in a clipped ultra-telegraphic prose style that
reinvents American crime fiction in a way no writer has attempted to do
since the 1920s.

Harsh, single word, verbless sentences pile
on top of one another like the dripping tap of a water torturer,
producing a hypnotic, trance-like effect that repels as many readers as
it seduces.

But where American Tabloid is a book teetering on
the edge of a cliff, The Cold Six Thousand jumps into the abyss with an
even sparer haiku-like prose style and a complex narrative of
conspiracies, invasions and cover-ups starting with JFK's murder and
ending with the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.


Blood's a Rover breathlessly continues the story in the days
following King's death in Memphis. The central characters are the ones
we got to know (and in most cases dislike) in The Cold Six Thousand:
the conspirators who planned the hits on both Kennedy brothers and MLK.


If this sounds a bit crazy, well, it is.

In Ellroy's
America (and one assumes he does not actually believe this) King was
shot by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI working with the mafia, Cuban exiles and
the CIA. King's murder incites rioting in America's black ghettoes and
Richard Nixon rides the conservative backlash to get elected with a
little help from the mob, Dominican drug dealers, an ex-FBI macher
called Dwight Holly and a murderous ex-Las Vegas cop, Wayne Tedrow Jr,
who ended book two of the trilogy by helping beat his father to death
with a golf club.

To complete the Freudian triad of central
protagonists in Blood's a Rover we are introduced to the new character
of Donald Crutchfield, a neophyte private investigator, voyeur and
pervert.

Ellroy has described himself as the Tolstoy of crime
fiction and Crutch is transparently Ellroy's Pierre Bezukhov, a mostly
sympathetic avatar of the novelist who gets his kicks (as Ellroy once
did) by breaking into women's homes to sniff their underwear. We follow
these diverse sociopaths on a wild ride through the politics,
controversy and insanity of America in the 70s, with Ellroy gleefully
libelling the conveniently dead Nixon, Hoover, Lyndon Johnson and
Howard Hughes, who were all in on the whole Kennedy thing.

And,
yes, I know this is a novel and not history but I still find it a
little disturbing that Ellroy absolves real-life individuals such as
Sirhan Sirhan, Lee Harvey Oswald

[Captain-Hero]

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw</span> arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?

It's amazing how comforting the blindingly obvious can be when dressed up in Gladwell's nice prose.

I find it hard to shake the notion when reading Gladwell the the entire thing is a con job - a gossamer web of perhapses and mabeys surrounding some interesting factoid and the whole structure disintegrates if handled to roughly.

It's the type of thing you read in Starbucks, easygoing yet intellectually reassuring.

[Captain-Hero]

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?




It's amazing how comforting the blindingly obvious can be when dressed up in Gladwell's nice prose.

I find it hard to shake the notion when reading Gladwell the the entire thing is a con job - a gossamer web of perhapses and mabeys surrounding some interesting factoid and the whole structure disintegrates if handled to roughly.

It's the type of thing you read in Starbucks, easygoing yet intellectually reassuring.




Am forced to agree.


I enjoy reading him (but I'd say it to his face if I got the chance smileys/lol.gif) but all with a pinch of salt.


He made an arguement that we're better off with 12 smart guys rather than 1 natural genius based on Wiles solving of Fermat's last Theorum V's Michael Ventris cracking the Linear B code. That's it. One example of each form of solution and then concludes that one is better. Maybe a few more examples to show a pattern would have been useful?


He also bases a lot on the 10,000 hours rule and says that there are no exceptions. But surely he argues against that while using Ventris as an example of a natural talent?

[THEPARISH]

As I am a bit of a dummie I find the Dummies series of books
a good start if you are looking for a broad introduction to a
topic or area of interest brfore reading more concise books.
Also found Shane Ross's book The Bankers a good read for
the layman about the banking crisis.

[Captain-Hero]

My mother said something about the Bankers being a good read alright.


Might try and whip it when I'min her house again smileys/wink.gif

[buster]

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?





Read Freakenomics and really enjoyed it. Superfreakenomics is the next book I'll buy (have one or two at home to get through first). Let us know what you think.

My mother said something about the Bankers being a good read alright.


Might try and whip it when I'min her house again smileys/wink.gif

It's fascinating. You honestly couldn't make it up.

I'm reading Matt Coopers one at the moment as well- not as startling but still enjoyable.

[JoeyFantastic]

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw</span> arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?

It's amazing how comforting the blindingly obvious can be when dressed up in Gladwell's nice prose.

I find it hard to shake the notion when reading Gladwell the the entire thing is a con job - a gossamer web of perhapses and mabeys surrounding some interesting factoid and the whole structure disintegrates if handled to roughly.

It's the type of thing you read in Starbucks, easygoing yet intellectually reassuring.



Gladwell can run a very long way with one or two facts, I wonder if he posts here sometimes.

[buster]

My mother said something about the Bankers being a good read alright.


Might try and whip it when I'min her house again smileys/wink.gif




It's fascinating. You honestly couldn't make it up.

I'm reading Matt Coopers one at the moment as well- not as startling but still enjoyable.




Really? I'm only going to read one or the other and was holding out to read Coopers.

My mother said something about the Bankers being a good read alright.


Might try and whip it when I'min her house again smileys/wink.gif




It's fascinating. You honestly couldn't make it up.

I'm reading Matt Coopers one at the moment as well- not as startling but still enjoyable.




Really? I'm only going to read one or the other and was holding out to read Coopers.

The Bankers if frightening - it's the parts before the current crisis are the best - the 70's and 80's. What a banking industry we had....a parade of gangsters, wideboys, patrician arseholes and preening cockatoos.

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw</span> arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?

It's amazing how comforting the blindingly obvious can be when dressed up in Gladwell's nice prose.

I find it hard to shake the notion when reading Gladwell the the entire thing is a con job - a gossamer web of perhapses and mabeys surrounding some interesting factoid and the whole structure disintegrates if handled to roughly.

It's the type of thing you read in Starbucks, easygoing yet intellectually reassuring.



Gladwell can run a very long way with one or two facts, I wonder if he posts here sometimes.


I wonder if he has an opinion on Cullen.

[buster]

My mother said something about the Bankers being a good read alright.


Might try and whip it when I'min her house again smileys/wink.gif




It's fascinating. You honestly couldn't make it up.

I'm reading Matt Coopers one at the moment as well- not as startling but still enjoyable.




Really? I'm only going to read one or the other and was holding out to read Coopers.




The Bankers if frightening - it's the parts before the current crisis are the best - the 70's and 80's. What a banking industry we had....a parade of gangsters, wideboys, patrician arseholes and preening cockatoos.





I love books involving preening cockatoossmileys/biggrin.gif. I'll pick it up. Cheers.

[JoeyFantastic]

Superfreakenomics and What the dog saw</span> arrived yesterday.


I was trying my best not to start on them because I have some travelling to do shortly and they're for that.


Unfortunately I started on the former last night. Has anybody been through these yet and if so any comments?

It's amazing how comforting the blindingly obvious can be when dressed up in Gladwell's nice prose.

I find it hard to shake the notion when reading Gladwell the the entire thing is a con job - a gossamer web of perhapses and mabeys surrounding some interesting factoid and the whole structure disintegrates if handled to roughly.

It's the type of thing you read in Starbucks, easygoing yet intellectually reassuring.



Gladwell can run a very long way with one or two facts, I wonder if he posts here sometimes.


I wonder if he has an opinion on Cullen.



If he does, it'll be one that ties in his try scoring ability inversely to the growth of the internet, or the rise of the religious right in American politics, or somesuch.

[No. 16]

One for that little tiny table in the loo?

WB Yeats and the Glittering Prizes</span> , by WJ McCormack, will be published by UCD Press in March

Did Yeats accept a prize of Nazi gold?</span>

The Irish Times (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0125/1224263035335.html) - Monday, January 25, 2010

ON JANUARY 1ST this year, Yeats finally went out of copyright, 144 years after his birth. It was a long, carefully managed career, before and after death. A notable high point was the poet winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, generally taken as an acknowledgement of Irish independence, writes WJ MCCORMACK

As early as 1909, Yeats thought he was in with a chance, but the winner turned out to be the Swedish novelist, Selma Lagerlöf. Scandinavians featured prominently among the prize’s early recipients, starting with the Norwegian poet, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, in 1903, and including his compatriot, Knut Hamsun, in 1920.

In addition to the fame the prize brought with it, Yeats also appreciated the Nobel money. According to legend, he interrupted the telephone call notifying him of the honour with the blunt question: “How much?”

If it remained the greatest prize he garnered, the Nobel was not the last. On February 16th 1934, after Hitler had already come to power in Germany, The Irish Times announced that Yeats had been awarded the Goethe-Plakette by the city of Frankfurt-am-Main, together with Hermann Stehr, a “blood-and-soil” novelist. Later in the year, the Nazi-supporting Knut Hamsun was awarded a Goethe-Preis, both prizes originating in liberal civic initiatives in 1927 (the Preis) and 1932 (the Plakette).

Preis winners included poet Stefan George (1927) and theologian Albert Schweitzer (192smileys/cool.gif, who was thereby enabled to build a house in his Alsatian home village. Another beneficiary was Sigmund Freud (1930), whose papers establish the honorarium at 10,000 marks (George also received 10,000 marks, though he failed to turn up for the ceremony).

While several “regime changes”, national and local, occurred between 1927 and 1934, it is worth noting that, pleased to be honoured in August 1934, Hamsun refused the cash, believing that the new Nazi regime deserved it more than he did. He is said by Mark Deavin to have refused precisely the same sum Freud and George had been given, suggesting a constant amount down the years with regard to the Goethe-Preis.

The Plakette was a lesser thing, instituted mainly to reward administrators and supporters of events commemorating the centenary of Goethe’s death. I have not located any record of payments made to Plakette or Preis recipients. On the one hand, the Nazis were tight with money; on the other, Yeats was scarcely in the same league as Dr Paquet, secretary of the Preis committee. Is it improper to ask on what verifiable documentation we might conclude that Yeats was not a beneficiary of commensurate Nazi (“souls for”) gold, in keeping with the theme of The Countess Cathleen , staged in February 1934 by SS Untersturmbahnführer Bethge? The question bears upon Yeats’s second manoeuvre on the dangerous intersection between flattery and brutality.

The critic and pacifist, Carl von Ossietzky (who championed James Joyce’s work), had been thrown into a concentration camp, where he was most barbarously treated. A rescue campaign was supported by Karl Barth, Augustus John, Thomas Mann, Virginia Woolf and others. One proposal was to have the prisoner awarded a Nobel Prize, thus obliging the regime to release him for the award ceremonies. Peace prizes were in Norway’s gift, not Sweden’s. Hamsun denounced Ossietzky in the press on November 22nd 1935, and no award was announced at that time, despite a campaign that had been active since January 1934.

Yeats became embroiled in the Ossietzky affair early in 1936, when English novelist Ethel Man

The Irish owe reparations to the rest of the world for Yeats, Joyce and Beckett. Between the three of them they managed to completely f**k literature of all kinds for an entire generation.

When I try and read Thomas Pynchon I want to cry, then I want to find the f**ker that gave him a copy of Ulysses and kick the little pr**k to death.

And Christ but Yeats is tiresome drivel.

[The Word Is Born]

For James Elroy fans the sequel to The Cold Six Thousand, Blood's a Rover is due out in September.

Thank you thank you thank you, I had no idea and now I've got something to look forward to!!!!


Good news/bad news scenario.
Good news- here's a sneak peek of chapter 1 (http://g-ecx.images-amaz&#111;n.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/Ellroy_chap1.pdf)
Bad news- went into Waterstones today and they won't have it for sale until November 5th despite it being relased on September 22nd.



Finished Blood's a Rover the other night, absolutely brilliant.





It was an excellent read alright. The fact that it took him nearly 8 years to write it had the expectations high, so at least he fulfilled his end of the bargain there.


Although it doesn't auger well for another book from him. He said that the events from the end of Blood's A Rover are too recent and too many people are still alive to continue along the same lines.


I heard mention that Tom Hanks' production company had optioned American Tabloid for a mini series last year but haven't heard anything since. They could do worse than getting David Simon and Ed Burns to do the screenplay/production.

[wally_fan]

The Irish owe reparations to the rest of the world for Yeats, Joyce and Beckett. Between the three of them they managed to completely f**k literature of all kinds for an entire generation.

When I try and read Thomas Pynchon I want to cry, then I want to find the f**ker that gave him a copy of Ulysses and kick the little pr**k to death.

And Christ but Yeats is tiresome drivel.





With views as vehement as that I haven't a hope of changing your mind, but I would totally disagree. Don't even know why I'm replying but I couldn't resist smileys/biggrin.gif

[No. 16]

Ohhhh Goody - I thought that one might be emotive!