What books are we reading at the moment ?

[T42]

Here's a treble for you:

Yu-fang
Bao Qin
Yung Chang

Three names, one title

[geraldc]

That'll be wild swans. The author used to teach at SOAS, where apparently all the chinese language staff after reading her book thought her family had it easy. Chinese can get very competitive about suffering.

[Legs]

 

Loved Wild Swans.

[T42]

Akasha**




** thank-you.

[Mr Larrington]

Needing something to offset the relentless grimness of sixteen straight Discworld books today I are mostly reading Ann Cleeves' latest, Cold Earth, book seven of the increasingly inaccurately-named "Shetland Quartet".  A bit subdued so far - the only killin' to date has taken place off-camera - but I'm still liking it.  It's just confusing coz in the distascopic adaption Jimmy's daughter Cassie is a Penniless Student Oaf while here she's about seven and dressing up as a princess and making terrible jam tarts.  Of course there's no reason why Penniless Student Oaves shouldn't do that too, but has there ever been a TV adaption of a series of crime novels where the scriptwriters have sat down and said "no, we're sticking to the books?"

[Quint]

The nearest adaptation I have seen was Silas Marner (a few years back on tv) I so enjoyed it I read the book (a thing you should never do either way) I enjoyed the book as well and was surprised at the closeness.

[L CC]

P.C. Fox might be another.

Ooh, don't know that one.

Rather than drag this out, seeing as it's strictly OT, here are the answers in full:

(click to show/hide)

Ayesha - She
Emma Rouault - Madame Bovary
Dolores Haze - Lolita
Eva Beaver - The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year
Anne Catherick - The Woman In White
Miss Woodhouse - Emma
Shen Te - The Good Person of Szechuan
Lisbeth Salander - The Girl Who Played With Fire
Amy Dunne - Gone Girl

All female title characters, of course. I thought this would make the good basis for the literature round of the pub quiz but I'm struggling to come up with 10 good ones. Shen Te is a bit of an outlier, being from a play rather than a novel. Could extend it to include male characters as well, I suppose - eg Allan Karlsson (The 100 Year Old Man...), Trotwood (David Copperfield), Edward Ashburnham (The Good Soldier).

Ruth Cole
Rachel Watson

[Mr Larrington]

The TV version of Iain Banks' The Crow Road was also close enough not to have me shouting "Butbutbut that's WRONG" at the haunted fishtank but usually with a series based on a, er, series of books the first one is a reasonably faithful adaptation, the second one has a Several of (grating) tangents and the third is based on characters created by.

[Quint]

Well do not watch "The Poison Tree" I found the book very good but my wife was actually ranting at the tv adaptation it was that far out.

[citoyen]

The nearest adaptation I have seen was Silas Marner (a few years back on tv) I so enjoyed it I read the book (a thing you should never do either way) I enjoyed the book as well and was surprised at the closeness.

I loved the book, but I don't recall any TV adaptation, so I just looked it up on imdb...

Ah, ok! When you said 'a few years back', I didn't realise you meant as long ago as 1985! 

[Quint]

Sorry, time flys 

[citoyen]

Ruth Cole

I must confess I've never even heard of the book but it sounds intriguing. Not sure I've ever read any John Irving at all, come to think of it.

Rachel Watson

Another good one, and extra points for topicality. I've not read the book but I'm going to see the film this evening.

[Quint]

The Communist Manifesto, my aim is to try to understand why it all went so wrong, I do feel there is a big clue on the first page "Karl Marx born Prussia"  and
  " Freidrich Engels born Prussia".
                     William Shirer in his books explains the Prussian mentality of that period as being bred to command unswervingly or if a subordinate to obey unswervingly which of course leads to inevitable conflict. (I might well be wrong of course).

                     As Wolfie used to say "Come the revolution brother"

                                                                       

[ElyDave]

P.C. Fox might be another.

Ooh, don't know that one.

Rather than drag this out, seeing as it's strictly OT, here are the answers in full:

(click to show/hide)

Ayesha - She
Emma Rouault - Madame Bovary
Dolores Haze - Lolita
Eva Beaver - The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year
Anne Catherick - The Woman In White
Miss Woodhouse - Emma
Shen Te - The Good Person of Szechuan
Lisbeth Salander - The Girl Who Played With Fire
Amy Dunne - Gone Girl

All female title characters, of course. I thought this would make the good basis for the literature round of the pub quiz but I'm struggling to come up with 10 good ones. Shen Te is a bit of an outlier, being from a play rather than a novel. Could extend it to include male characters as well, I suppose - eg Allan Karlsson (The 100 Year Old Man...), Trotwood (David Copperfield), Edward Ashburnham (The Good Soldier).

Smilla Jaspersen - MIss Smilla's Feeling for Snow

perhaps a little easy, but a great boook nonetheless

[Redlight]

Shut Up Legs, by Jens Voigt and Triumphs and Tribulations by Chris Boardman, back to back.

Jens' is stream of consciousness, dictated to a ghost writer, and unsurprisingly good fun, although in truth he doesn't reveal a great deal that isn't already known about most things. The Boardman book is generally better written and gives equal weight to the three main stages of his career, including some interesting insights into the early days of British Cycling and Team Sky. He's also refreshingly candid about his time racing in Europe and how hard he found it.  Both enjoyable reads and you can pick them up for well below RRP at the moment.

Next up is Nick Clegg's new book - once Mrs Redlight has finished it.

[Legs]

Started reading Lolita in bed last night. Blimey. One of those books whose reputation goes before it, which is part of the reason I've never got round to reading it sooner, but initial impressions are that it probably is as good as everyone says it is.

Absolutely.  Just started reading this at the weekend - it's interesting reading so far.

[citoyen]

Started reading Lolita in bed last night. Blimey. One of those books whose reputation goes before it, which is part of the reason I've never got round to reading it sooner, but initial impressions are that it probably is as good as everyone says it is.

Absolutely.  Just started reading this at the weekend - it's interesting reading so far.

I still haven't finished it - up to about 80% on the Kindle. This is partly because I haven't done much reading at all in the last few months - well, not reading for pleasure. I've done plenty of reading for work, which is why I don't have the energy/enthusiasm for other reading.

It's also partly because I find it so uncomfortable to read. At times, it's even more uncomfortable than American Psycho.

[Legs]

I was toying with using the word 'uncomfortable' in my earlier post, but was wondering what kind of reflection of my personality is given off by my feeling uncomfortable.    Maybe I'm feeling uncomfortable that I find Humbert quite charming?

[citoyen]

Maybe I'm feeling uncomfortable that I find Humbert quite charming?

That is Nabokov's genius. As I understand it, a lot of the historical controversy around the book has arisen from the belief that Nabokov intended him to be a sympathetic character. He certainly comes across as very plausible... up to a point.

[Legs]

I really didn't expect it to be as funny as it is.

[ian]

I always assumed Nabokov did it on purpose. You're suppose to be caught between the man and his actions. The genius is Nabokov's sleight of writing that lets the dilemma effectively sneak up on you. Quite a few of his books follow a similar theme, though Lolita is most brilliant observed and given the rise of Pedobear-fear it's has a perfect pitch for current generations. Sadly, so many people won't read it just because of the subject matter. I don't think it's going to turn anyone into a paedophile any more than reading a book about a murderer will have you getting stab-happy with the neighbours.

It's also brilliantly written sharp and witty prose, no mean feat considering he did it in English, probably his third language after Russian and French.

[T42]

A few days ago I finished Death's End, the third book in Cixin Liu's Three-Body Problem trilogy.  As the missus remarked after reading a third of it, this is a weird story. Worthy of the first two, though.

He has a rather sad but accurate view of humanity.  See under Brexit, inter alia.

[Kim]

I've just finished KSR's Science in the Capital trilogy.  Astounding how datedly optimistic it seems after so little time.

[T42]

He'll be really chuffed when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses.  Told ya so!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Armadale by Wilkie Collins, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by whoever wrote it.