New now reading

in reality, all of this has been a total load of old bollocks
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mentalist (slight return)
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Re: New now reading

Postby mentalist (slight return) » 12 Jan 2018, 08:09

Finished Ferrante 1, My Brilliant Friend. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Have started Ferrante 2, The Story Of A New Name.
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Velvis
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Re: New now reading

Postby Velvis » 12 Jan 2018, 18:20

Right now:

Grant by Ron Chernow
The Familiar Vol. 3 by Mark Z. Danielewski
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
a gibbon running freely

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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 13 Jan 2018, 09:14

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James Lee Burke is a terrific writer with more similes than something with a lot of similes. And I love the hard boiled Texas novel genre but one thing I don't care for is the appearance of another serial killer. I like Elmore Leonard because his bad guys were thieves and shysters with actual motives. But Burke's characters and settings are as well etched as other well etched things. I am happy to find this writer as he has many books but if each succeeding book has a serial killer I will quit him like I quit other things.
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Minnie the Minx
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Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 16 Jan 2018, 15:25

Currently reading John Keay's 'India - a History'. It's beautifully written, but a bit hard to focus on early into the book as in the absence of names and events and only working on archeological clues I find it hard to 'cement' myself to the ideas. I'm looking forward to later in the book where there is more 'tangible' history to go at.
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Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

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Minnie the Minx
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Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 16 Jan 2018, 15:29

That's my lounge reading. My bedside reading is the Man Who Sold The World by Peter Doggett and I'm loving dipping in and out.
I have just bought a ton of books with birthday vouchers - I'm going to have a shit load of stuff to get through this year. I hope I manage to get through 'Leaving the 20th Century' better than I did the first time around but then this time I don't have to write down my thoughts about it and present it to the weekly meeting of comrades. Hopefully Baron won't subject me to the same scrutiny.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

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Snarfyguy
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Re: New now reading

Postby Snarfyguy » 16 Jan 2018, 17:13

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GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

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echolalia
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Re: New now reading

Postby echolalia » 17 Jan 2018, 13:32

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It was going for a song on Amazon. I’m only about 40 pages in and I’m enjoying it so far. Basically it’s a collection of testimonials by members/survivors of Fassbinder’s inner circle. Ulli Lommel is the only glaring omission that I can see. Great title!

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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 17 Jan 2018, 14:08

Jimbo wrote:Image

I don't care for is the appearance of another serial killer.


About two thirds through and this book's serial killer is turning out to be a much more complex and interesting character than I had thought he would be. Violent, dark, explicit, it's turning out to be a hard boiled masterpiece.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 27 Jan 2018, 09:31

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I'm now into my second James Lee Burke book. The previous book was really good but the ending, while impactful kind of sneaked up on me and was less satisfying than I'd expected. This new one is set in Texas as well featuring the father of the last book's hero. The story is so far compelling and I am excited to get back to it after a put down for some hours.

While choosing contemporary novels I tend to consider the technology the characters use, especially when it comes to the internet and computers. Stories from olden days can't get the technology wrong. What was was. If the story takes place now sometimes there is a clunkiness when it comes to cell phone and computer usage. Does that make sense?
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Ray K.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Ray K. » 29 Jan 2018, 17:02

Copehead wrote:Anyone given these a go:

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Surely a made up name due to similarity to Lovecraft ?

2 for just over £6 on kindle and given a good review in the guardian end of year round up.


I have some Holmes/Lovecraft book I read a number of years ago.... I don't think it was one of these. It was through one of those Sci-Fi/Fantasy book clubs so maybe it's a different packaging. I'll have to look at it when I get home... I can't recall the actual title at the moment.

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Re: New now reading

Postby harvey k-tel » 29 Jan 2018, 18:16

Just about to wrap this one up:

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Antrim's a pretty great writer. This one's about a group of psychology professors and trainees who go out for dinner together at a pancake restaurant, during which, the protagonist, Tom, has an odd, um, 'episode' and winds up flying around the restaurant, mostly observing, and sometimes interacting with the other characters. It's a bit crazy.
Tempora mutatur et nos mutamur in illis

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The Modernist
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Re: New now reading

Postby The Modernist » 29 Jan 2018, 18:42

The Modernist wrote:Image

Quite enjoying this. At times it gets a bit swamped in detail, but he certainly knows his stuff. Maybe lacking a bit in the kind of insights a Reynolds or Savage would've bought to the table, but overall very good so far.


I've finished this now. If ever a book needed a good editor it was this; it was unclear to me what some of the chapters were even meant to be about. It needed a far firmer sense of purpose and clarity. That said, he does really know his stuff and it does send you to plenty of things to discover.

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quix
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Re: New now reading

Postby quix » 04 Feb 2018, 09:54

I have high hopes for this. Anyone read it?

Image

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harvey k-tel
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Re: New now reading

Postby harvey k-tel » 05 Feb 2018, 14:18

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This is really fantastic. A collection of aphorisms that honestly reads like a whole bunch of really well-written tweets. Highly recommended.

Some excerpts:

“The trouble with setting goals is that you’re constantly working toward what you used to want.”

“Biographies should also contain the events that failed to foreshadow.”

“The trouble with letting people see you at your worst isn't that they'll remember; it's that you'll remember.”
Tempora mutatur et nos mutamur in illis

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copehead
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Re: New now reading

Postby copehead » 05 Feb 2018, 15:14

Harvey K-Tel wrote:Image

This is really fantastic. A collection of aphorisms that honestly reads like a whole bunch of really well-written tweets. Highly recommended.

Some excerpts:

“The trouble with setting goals is that you’re constantly working toward what you used to want.”

“Biographies should also contain the events that failed to foreshadow.”

“The trouble with letting people see you at your worst isn't that they'll remember; it's that you'll remember.”


Beer isn't distilled at all, stupid analogy, fancy putting that on the front of the book
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Bear baiting & dog fights a speciality.

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Minnie the Minx
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Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 05 Feb 2018, 16:08

Copehead wrote:
Harvey K-Tel wrote:Image

This is really fantastic. A collection of aphorisms that honestly reads like a whole bunch of really well-written tweets. Highly recommended.

Some excerpts:

“The trouble with setting goals is that you’re constantly working toward what you used to want.”

“Biographies should also contain the events that failed to foreshadow.”

“The trouble with letting people see you at your worst isn't that they'll remember; it's that you'll remember.”


Beer isn't distilled at all, stupid analogy, fancy putting that on the front of the book


Oh, shut up you dullard.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

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northernsky
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Re: New now reading

Postby northernsky » 05 Feb 2018, 17:46

quix wrote:I have high hopes for this. Anyone read it?

Image


Yes, it’s terrific. Big sister and I managed to buy it for one another as Christmas presents. :|

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quix
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Re: New now reading

Postby quix » 05 Feb 2018, 20:00

northernsky wrote:
quix wrote:I have high hopes for this. Anyone read it?

Image


Yes, it’s terrific. Big sister and I managed to buy it for one another as Christmas presents. :|



Yep. So far so good. I shall report back when it’s done. :D

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Ray K.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Ray K. » 05 Feb 2018, 20:09

Just about to finished Volume 2 of Karl Ove Knausgaard's "My Struggle".... this guy may be a Norwegian but, damn it, this (and the first volume) cut damn close to home. This would have never worked for me at 20 but at 48 I'm hooked.

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Re: New now reading

Postby Darkness_Fish » 06 Feb 2018, 15:59

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Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.


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