What books are we reading at the moment ?

[citoyen]

The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

Dear god... someone please tell me it improves because, after 12% read, I fear I might puke if I have to read much more of this tripe.

I read the first few pages on Amazon. Reminds me of The Missing Postman, but that was great and had a bike in it.

It reminds me of several other things... but not in a good way.

[Mrs Pingu]

Iain M. Banks - The Hydrogen Sonata.
It feels like coming home, all the chat between Minds and such. I shall miss him.

[citoyen]

The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

Dear god... someone please tell me it improves because, after 12% read, I fear I might puke if I have to read much more of this tripe.

Well, it kind of grew on me and I found the second half compelling, though it is rather formulaic. And cloyingly sentimental.

You can tell the author has previously made a living writing afternoon radio plays. It has that "professional writing" feel about it.

Can I invent the term "griefxploitation"? I can think of a few books that deserve the label, and this is most definitely among them.

[T42]

Funny, that. The Memory of Whiteness kinda grew on me as well. Enjoying it now.

[citoyen]

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier - historical novel based on the lives of the fossil hunters Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. Interesting but potentially could have been a lot more interesting. She's basically taken the few known facts and made up a load of nonsense to fill in the gaps. Worst bit is a cringeworthy sex scene.

The Racketeer by John Grisham - haven't read a Grisham book for many years, and based on this showing, it'll be many years before I read another. Utterly ridiculous. Thoroughly unsympathetic characters, hackneyed stock thriller plot, and the ending is telegraphed from very early on. The best that can be said about this book is that it doesn't take very long to read.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Design of Concrete Structures by the Canadian Standards Association. Heavy going...

[Peter]

 

[clarion]

A solid read, though?

[citoyen]

You would have to steel yourself for such a tome.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

It is a well-consolidated read, building up the tension of previous books from the same author.

[Peter]

I suppose a Readers' Digest version would deal with compression only?  Does Castigliano still get a mention?

[citoyen]

Slaves Of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton.

After the Grisham aberration, this is much more like it. The title - and prior experience of Hamilton - didn't lead me to expect to laugh as much or as heartily as I have done so far. Which is not to say it's a comedy - far from it. The underlying mood is unremittingly bleak and miserable. It's just brilliant, brilliant writing. Somewhere between Georges Gissing and Orwell.

[her_welshness]

Right, its that time of the year again, the Booker Prize Shortlist has just come out and as usual a diverse spread of nationalities represented:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-shortlist-2013

The challenge is to read 6 books before 15 October.

Decided to tackle the shortest one first, Colm Toibin's The Testament of Mary. Set over 103 pages, its the POV of Mary, mother of Jesus and her 'take' on her life with her son, events leading up to the crucifixion and afterwards. It starts with a stream of conscious thought (rather like Will Self's Umbrella) and then takes the shape of a sequence of events and the remainder of her life. It is very pared down writing, beautiful and humbling. Its hard reading in places, but well worth it.

Am now on the second book which is We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo. 100 pages in and so far a fantastic read 

[citoyen]

Am now on the second book which is We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo. 100 pages in and so far a fantastic read 

That and the Jim Crace are the ones that most appeal to me. I shall, as ever, be following your progress with interest!

[L CC]

I've just ordered the Eleanor Catton one- sounds just the kind of thing I like. And it's set in Hokitika. 

Possibly a complete waste of money, as it's only available as a book, and I still struggle with reading anything longer than a couple of paragraphs.

[her_welshness]

Am now on the second book which is We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo. 100 pages in and so far a fantastic read 

That and the Jim Crace are the ones that most appeal to me. I shall, as ever, be following your progress with interest!

I am reading the Jim Crace novel next!

Just finished reading 'We Need New Names'. Set in Zimbabwe, its about a girl called Darling and her group of friends who live in a tin-town called Paradise, with their frequent forays into 'Budapest' to steal guavas. This book is a cross between Pigeon English and The Sisters Brothers, moving and hilarious in parts. What lets the book down is when Darling moves to the States, its still good but Bulawayo's strengths are when she writes about her native 'Zim' and the language just flows.

[Regulator]

I've almost finished Carlos Ruiz Zafon's 'The Shadow of the Wind'.  Next up is Umberto Eco's 'The Prague Cemetery'.

[Mrs Pingu]

I've almost finished Carlos Ruiz Zafon's 'The Shadow of the Wind'.  Next up is Umberto Eco's 'The Prague Cemetery'.

Hope you get on with the Eco one better than I have...

[tiermat]

"The Dirty Streets of Heaven - Bobby Dollar book 1" by Tad Williams.

Why I am reading this, I don't know, I have read two of his series of books so far, thos being "Sorrow, Memory and Thorn" and "Neverworld".  He has a slightly irritating style of repeating information across the books (I read them in series, from start to finish, I don't need reminding that X is related to Y, Z killed A etc etc), but his books are, actually, very readable.

[Thing2]

I finally got around to joining the local library. Having disposed of the vast majority of my book collection when we moved, I've been carefully not buying too many, and therefore not reading so much. I got a bit excited about having an entire library's worth of books at my disposal, especially as you can take out up to 100 items! Walking and cycling is the only way I'm going to go there, just to reduce the number of books I can bring home...
I'm currently reading 'Fragile Things' by Neil Gaiman. It is everything I'd expected it to be (and I'm enjoying it), although last nights dreams were mildly disturbing and involved many strange creatures and universes.

[her_welshness]

Just finished reading Jim Crace's novel Harvest. Its set in a 'Larkrise to Candleford' kind of time, before industralisation but certainly after the Middle Ages. A village is getting ready for the harvest, so that they and the local lord of the manor can benefit. Three strangers show up, no back-story to these folk, but instantly the villagers are wary and xenophobic. A series of events unfold, and its not long before Master Chaos and Mistress Pandemonium rule.

I had been told that this was a slow burner but that a real story would eventually form from it. I liked the main narrator of the story, Walt Thirsk, a decent enough bloke not coincidentally into the Autumn of his own life. Its a book that I can admire, but it was not an enjoyable reading experience, for me there were areas of boredom at the beginning and towards the end of the book.

Next book of the Booker Prize is 'The Luminaries' by Eleanor Catton. Am already 30 into the 833 pages and there is a real intriguing pull to it.

[citoyen]

Just finished reading Jim Crace's novel Harvest... Its a book that I can admire, but it was not an enjoyable reading experience

Hmm. Your description fits with what I've heard about it but I'm still keen to read it at done point.

Currently reading The Beautiful And Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald - I've read Gatsby, of course, and a lot of the short stories, but this is only the second of his novels I've tackled. Beautifully written, as you expect from FSG, but what a thoroughly unlikeable bunch of characters! Which is also to be expected from FSG, I suppose.

[Nuncio]

I'm a big fan of Jim Crace.  I used to read his books as soon as they came out - Continent, the Gift of Stones, Arcadia.  He writes prose in a rhythm which is almost poetic/iambic which I find quite hypnotic, though this is less obvious in the later books. As is the habit of setting his works in worlds which feel real but are just out of reach of your experience and knowledge.  I had to look up the names of some of the luscious fruit he describes in Arcadia to find out if they were real. And they're all very different in setting and subject;  Being Dead about a murdered couple, working backwards from from the murder, and forensically forwards as their bodies rot (more beautiful than it sounds); Quarantine about a re-imagined Jesus, amongst other outsiders taking time out in the Wilderness;  the Pest House is a version of America in the future which feels more Medieval than futuristic.  The later ones are definitely harder to read, or maybe I'm more lazy as a reader.  But I'm looking forward to reading Harvest,

[her_welshness]

Crace's prose is brilliant and its a convincing enough book, especially when it touched on a whole range of subjects from just one village. But when I feel that I am forcing myself into reading it that I realise that I am not liking it!

Incidently I am 150 pages into Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood for our Reading Group and I could read her work ALL DAY. I think its horses for courses.

[mattc]

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (sp?)

I read the 4 pages given away in the times. Historical Fiction Quite Good - mattc Shocked.