What books are we reading at the moment ?

[citoyen]

I read them again occasionally and still get the same joy from (re)discovering them as I did then.

Thing is, there are so many books I haven't read before that I should be reading them rather than going back over old ground...

Although I must admit to occasionally finding comfort in re-reading my favourite PG Wodehouse classics.

[fuzzy]

I read them again occasionally and still get the same joy from (re)discovering them as I did then.

Thing is, there are so many books I haven't read before that I should be reading them rather than going back over old ground...

Although I must admit to occasionally finding comfort in re-reading my favourite PG Wodehouse classics.

In the same way, there are many many films I have yet to see that I should be catching up with. It doesn't stop me watching something for the umpteenth time and thoroughly enjoying it though.

Sometimes old familiar ground is just the right thing.

[ferret]

I've just started Stonehenge, exploring the greatest stone age mystery, it's the story of the archaeological dig that took place a few years ago and what they found and how it changed the way that Stonehenge is looked at now. Only just got past the introduction and a bit of waffle and I've already learnt that Stonehenge isn't (technically) a Henge due to the position of it's ditch.

[Ruth]

Pear Shaped. As recommended by E Gallumbits of this parish.

It's so refreshing when a writer acknowledges that thing that happens when you hit thirty, when you become invisible to eligible men because they're conditioned to be attracted to women in their twenties.  Something to do with ovaries, probably.  I extrapolated that to women in their mid-forties, obviously, but it was so restful to have the loneliness of being 'out there' when you are past the age of being attractive, written into a novel, simply because it's true..  And to have every stage of a bad relationship documented.  You can see the car crash coming (because you've done that very same car crash) but you can't stop it, because it's happening to a character in a book.

Thanks for the rec, EG. The main character (Sophie) was so much better-off without that fuckwit of a boyfriend, and sometimes in your life you need someone to tell you that.

Recommended for those who have recently been filed on the shelf by a fuckwit.

[tonyh]

past the age of being attractive

Such an age appears (to this male) not to exist!!

[Ruth]

past the age of being attractive

Such an age appears (to this male) not to exist!!

Sorry tonyh.  It's unjust to take the general and apply it to the particular.  There are many men who view women like this - but not all men do.  Acknowledged.

But in the context of the book, if you ever read it, it is all too familiar.

[tiermat]

Just finished "Inside Team Sky", it seems to actually go nowhere, David Walsh likes to sit on the fence, doesn't he?

Then I started "Orange is the New Black, a Year Inside a Women's Prison".  It is compelling, so much so that I ended staying up $FAR_TOO_LATE to read more.

[pcolbeck]

Finally finished "In the Shadow of the Sword:The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World"

Its an account of the late antiquity, the end of the Roman and Persian Empires and the rise of the three monotheistic religions. If you think the Middle East is violent and screwed up these days try this book, it was far far worse then. Some parts of it read like they could be about events now, suicidal Muslim fanatics suddenly erupting into a the market place in Basra and killing everyone they can for example.  The Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians weren't any better.

[rogerzilla]

Ovid's Ars Amatoria.  He's a bit of a comedian and he knows it.  The bit on male personal grooming is classic.

Don't let your hair stick up in tufts on your head; see that your hair and your beard are decently trimmed. .Take care that your breath is sweet, and don't go about reeking like a billy-goat.  All other toilet refinements leave to the women or to perverts.

[tiermat]

Unbroken - A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

The story of a guy who became an Olympic runner, then joined the AAF during WWII, and what happened to him.  It's funny, nicely paced and sad in places.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini has more background.

[rogerzilla]

HhHH.  Or is it HHhH?  About the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, one of few people who may really have been worse than Hitler.  There is a theory that the Allies wanted him dead in case he took over as Führer and they had to deal with an intelligent fanatic, not a mad one.

[Nuncio]

I've just embarked on Donna Tartt's The Little Friend.

Good luck with that. I remember thinking it was one of those books that felt like it was never going to end. It certainly lacks the pace of The Secret History. There are some passages of brilliance in it, but it's about 200 pages too long.

Her new one is supposed to be better.

OK. I'll skip the next 200 pages.  That should do it.

Should have skipped about 450.  I think I've done with Tartts now.

[citoyen]

I've just embarked on Donna Tartt's The Little Friend.

Good luck with that. I remember thinking it was one of those books that felt like it was never going to end. It certainly lacks the pace of The Secret History. There are some passages of brilliance in it, but it's about 200 pages too long.

Her new one is supposed to be better.

OK. I'll skip the next 200 pages.  That should do it.

Should have skipped about 450.  I think I've done with Tartts now.

My memory of The Secret History turned out to be somewhat faulty. Certainly in respect of its pacing. It is sluggish and verbose. At half the length, it might have been a nice, light thriller. I'm now thinking that The Little Friend might be better than The Secret History, but I don't want to put the time into reading it again to find out.

And I've gone right off the idea of reading her new one. She's dead to me.

[T42]

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford. A very nasty little story set in the watering-places of early 20th-century Europe.  Very slow and painstakingly detailed at first, then fairly whacks you in the teeth as you realise what's going on under the genteel exteriors.

[ian]

And I've gone right off the idea of reading her new one. She's dead to me.

A wise choice. She's obviously got some serious talent as a writer, but it just lolls around for 800 pages. Basically there's a very good 200 page book lost in there. I think there's a theme, I also thought The Secret History sagged like a waterlogged ceiling in the middle and things seemed to get worse in The Little Friend. It's the everything-must-be-described style of writing. Entire dictionaries are sequestered and put to labour. I'll agree that occasionally scenes need  to be elaborated and ornately decorated (and she's very, very good at doing just this) but when every scene must slowly pirouette around every possible detail it becomes writing for the sake of it. There's also that slightly sickly narration that captures everything in gilded tones of wealth and privilege that makes it hard to really care about the characters.

[citoyen]

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.

Brilliant book. Having read it myself a few months ago, I'm amazed that it doesn't have a much greater reputation. It's undoubtedly one of the finest English-language novels of the 20th century. I'd struggle to name a better piece of writing.

[citoyen]

There's also that slightly sickly narration that captures everything in gilded tones of wealth and privilege that makes it hard to really care about the characters.

They all seem like hackneyed pastiches of F Scott Fitzgerald characters to me. Entirely lacking in authenticity.

[citoyen]

Compare and contrast:

I'm currently reading Silas Marner. I deliberately chose it for its length - it's a short-ish novel, which is all I have strength for at the moment. Thing is, it's so wonderfully well written that I've ended up wishing it was much longer.

Tempted to read Middlemarch again now. There's a book that truly justifies its word count. 

[tiermat]

For the last week or VSO no have been reading the first Bill Bryson book I have read that has held my attention for more than 20 pages.

One Summer, America 1927

Starts by recounting the successful flight of The Spirit of St Louis (and numerous failed flights) across the Atlantic, then ties other stories in, such as Babe Ruth's most successful season, the eugenics movement and the seeds of the Wall Street Crash.

A great and interesting read.

[Chris S]

I liked that too. Then again, I've not yet found a Bill Bryson book I didn't like.

Which reminds me. I need to re-read ("listen to", probably - audiobook) Walk in the Woods; I laugh a lot at Stephen Katz.

ETA: The audiobook "One Summer, America 1927" is narrated by BB himself. I don't find him anywhere near as good a narrator as William Roberts, who narrated the edition of A Walk in the Woods I've previously listened to.

[mattc]

For some reason I haven't read any of the recent Bryson books, despite loving the first few. But I have heard him doing readings (probably on R4?) and he's not great.

Audiobooks peeps: please stick to proper actors, or those with experience/training at this sort of thing 

[Regulator]

'Spain' by Jan Morris.  An oldie but a goody.  Very evocative...

[Mrs Pingu]

Hmm...I need some new books. Just finished the latest Alastair Reynolds one, which was good. Have scoured the Guardian books pages and bought Wool by Hugh Howey and got Raising Steam by Pratchett on the basis it'll be something to read on holiday next month.
Could do with some more to keep me going after that though. I will probably go back and start re-reading the early Murakami stuff but new is good. Any reccomendations?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Currently reading Skagboys.

[Ruth]

Have you read 'How To Be A Woman' by Caitlin Moran? I just finished it and, while I don't agree with her necessarily, it's very very funny indeed.