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The 'what are you reading now' thread

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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    briggi wrote:
    Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground.

    Sounds interesting, what is it about?

    I'm reading 'Ursula Under' by Ingrid Hill. I'm in a kind of asian literature phase at the mo - just read story of the stone by cao xi, 19th century chinese novel, also the art of war, kafka on the shore by murakami, never let me go by ishiguro, and memoirs of a geisha.

    Sorry but I cannot stand Dan Brown that conniving asshole. :grump: I read the Da Vinci COde, it was OK, but referenced it to the books written on the subject Before his was published, and he just stole everyone elses theories. Goddamn plagiarist. Also he cannot write for toffee. ANd his books are all exactly the same formula. SOme expert gets called into topsecret scandal, big conspiracy, vague ending. Did I mention he cannot write for toffee. I took a biro to his book to rewrite his bloody awful sentence structure (sacrelidge) and don't even get me started on his descriptive writing. :mad: I even threw the third book I tried to read of his against the world. (terrible sacrelidge) He makes my blood boil. :impissed:

    Sorry I'm quite a book snob :chin:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    talia wrote:
    Sorry but I cannot stand Dan Brown that conniving asshole. :grump: I read the Da Vinci COde, it was OK, but referenced it to the books written on the subject Before his was published, and he just stole everyone elses theories. Goddamn plagiarist. Also he cannot write for toffee. ANd his books are all exactly the same formula. SOme expert gets called into topsecret scandal, big conspiracy, vague ending. Did I mention he cannot write for toffee. I took a biro to his book to rewrite his bloody awful sentence structure (sacrelidge) and don't even get me started on his descriptive writing. :mad: I even threw the third book I tried to read of his against the world. (terrible sacrelidge) He makes my blood boil. :impissed:

    Sorry I'm quite a book snob :chin:

    God damn you being a female, I was going to suggest getting together and making lots of Dan Brown-hating babies. ;)

    I think the reason I hated The Da Vinci Code so much was because I was constantly picturing Dan Brown's crack team of researchers and ghost writers slaving away. It's such an aggresively "smart" novel (or so it thinks) that I couldn't stand it, but then again I tend to like "smaller" novels about feelings and relationships and other girly stuff. Don't even get me started on the historical inaccuracies and unacceptable writing...my head may well explode.
    Sounds interesting, what is it about?

    I really don't know that it's possible to me to "review" it, anything I say won't do it justice. If you've read The Brothers Karamazov then I'd say this underground man is cut from the same cloth as the Grand Inquisitor.

    Anyway, Notes from the Underground is in two parts; I could only describe the first as a sort of existential polemic rant about society and the second as a loose story that's intended to back up his complete rubbishing of the 19th century Utopian dream. It also features the most despicable, self-loathing anti-hero I've ever had the pleasure of reading about, this Underground character (nameless, so we can identify with him all the better I imagine) who alienates and debases himself and is basically alive for the sake of spitting on "the beautiful and the lofty" yet holds those 'qualities' in very high esteem. The first lines are him describing himself: "I am a sick man...I am an angry man. I am an unattractive man" which sets the tone quite well.

    He does strive to be loved though (awww) but it never works out, of course. All I can say is that I wish it'd been the first of Dostoevsky's works that I'd read, I think I'd have gained a lot more (from Crime and Punishment especially) if I'd known to go here first. You really ought to read it, if you listen to one recommendation then let this be it.

    Oh yeah, if you do read it then I'd like to recommend the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. It's the only one I've read so I can't really compare, but it came highly recommended to me by several people and appeared flawless.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    just about to start a book called 'adored' by louise bagshawe :) i like her writing so should be good!!

    just finished reading the collection of books by diana gabaldon. and seriously, they were BRILLIANT!! if i ever was to recommend any books to anyone i would recommend them!! i think theres 7 of them in total.. all big thick books.. and ive read each one about 5 times over.. apart from the last one which only came out a little while ago!! check em out ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I just finished the 'Confederacy of Dunces' and it was spectacular, I highly recommend it to everyone.

    I'm reading Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov which is also fantastic.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Watership Down, The Constant Gardener, Catch-22 (STILL), Hamlet, The Great Gatsby...er...I think that's it...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've also just finished Curious Incident by Mark Haddon. It was crap.

    I'm going to start Belle de Jour later. I also expect it to be crap, but at least it will be entertaining.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Coq Rouge - Jan Guillou.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Herodotus - The Histories (just finished, but an excellent read)
    Nietzsche - The Will to Power (his notebooks, also excellent)

    and

    Revelation X - The Subgenius Foundation Inc, Rev Ivan Stang, Nenslo etc..
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    iguana wrote:
    Matthew Collins- Altered State.

    Is mucho good

    Good book. I'd also recommend "Energy Flash" by Simon Reynolds.
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I started Mia Farrow's autobiography/memoir "What Falls Away" last night. It's extremely interesting reading but I keep getting infuriated at what a bad judge of character she is.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    talia wrote:
    I'm reading 'Ursula Under' by Ingrid Hill.

    Ooo, I've just finished that. It's good, although I found it quite hard work in places and sort of impatient for the story to get to the end about two-thirds of the way through.

    I am reading "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende. Someone at work recommended it. It's hard going as well, so I'm sort of reading the Chronicles of Narnia in between as a bit of a break!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Currently readin the Code Da Vinci and loving it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Villette - Charlotte Bronte
    Harry Potter and the sorscerer's stone for the billionth time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    elasticity wrote:
    Currently readin the Code Da Vinci and loving it.

    Don't get me started again. :grump:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    talia wrote:
    Don't get me started again. :grump:

    Haha.

    I'm currently re-reading Ophelia Thinks Harder by Jean Betts (and William Shakespeare). It is so, so good.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Reading Capital Politically by Harry Cleaver
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Boudica by Manda Scott, a little confusing at the moment.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ooops ignore, wrong thread
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I still haven't finished my book. I'm so goddamn lazy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well nobody reads very fast do they?

    Since Ursula under (which I realised was just detailing the sex lives of all of Ursula's ancestors) I have read Kafka on the shore by Murakami - good but really, really wierd, and for some reason reminded me of a watery version of 'Shodow in the wind' by that spanish guy.

    Just now I am reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo', by Alexandre Dumas. Its soo good. Already he has been in prison for ten years, escaped, found the treasure, and started his revenge rampage. Im only a 6th of the way through! Albeit it does have over 800 pages. What more can that dude want? Hes got the money - just let things lie, its just going to be Macbeth all over again. Any way.... good book.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm reading Bob Dylan's Writings & Drawings at the moment, which is essentially a collection of his lyrics.

    I recently read Franny and Zooey by J.D Salinger and hated it. Then again, the shine had gone off Catcher in the Rye when I read it again recently...it meant a lot to me when I was younger, but I was just seriously annoyed by Holden this time around. Also read Murphy by Samuel Beckett, which I really enjoyed despite having heard not-so-great things about it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    talia wrote:
    Well nobody reads very fast do they?
    Yeah, but I haven't picked it up in weeks! And I've only got a few pages left...
    What more can that dude want? Hes got the money - just let things lie, its just going to be Macbeth all over again. Any way.... good book.
    I love Macbeth :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    just started reading memoirs of a geisha :) pretty good so far!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The Magicains Guild by trudi canavan
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cicero - Selected Works. Man, the parallels between the American and Roman Republic...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ooh I read memoirs of a geisha - it was good, but I can't believe I am saying this., but I think I liked the film better!

    Macbeth is good, but my favourite is Hamlet 'guilt spills itsself in fearing to be spilt' 'Hamlet thou have cleft my heart in twain' Gertrud rocks! :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    talia wrote:
    Just now I am reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo', by Alexandre Dumas. Its soo good. Already he has been in prison for ten years, escaped, found the treasure, and started his revenge rampage. Im only a 6th of the way through! Albeit it does have over 800 pages. What more can that dude want? Hes got the money - just let things lie, its just going to be Macbeth all over again. Any way.... good book.

    Just make sure you never watch the film! It is such a disappointment compared to the book. I looked forward to watching it cos I loved the book and actually felt like crying cos they completely changed the ending and missed huge chunks out. Twas a very badly adapted film
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Garth Nix - Lirael
    Still... can't find the time to finish it :(

    and several forensic psychology books for uni...blergh!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I saw the film first and thought it was good, thats why I started reading the book. Although yes, it is definitely better already!
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