[Misc] What Book are you Currently Reading?

[KZNSeagull]

Anybody else trying to tackle any of this year's Man Booker Prize longlist selection? I'm about halfway through the list of 13 books and been hugely disappointed with all bar a couple of books so far. Would be interested to know anyone else's views. On the basis of what I've read, Tom McCarthy's 'Satin Island' is clearly the one deserving the prize but given some of the dross that the judges chose and some of the books they rejected (Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Buried Giant' for instance) I don't think McCarthy will be winning the award.

Is that any good? Heard mixed reports and struggling to shift them in my shop!!

Just finished "Us" by David Nicholls. Surprisingly enjoyable, not my sort of book at all really, but it was entertaining and very well written.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

The Beginnings of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald. I am working through selections from the Guardian (well, one of their journalists) list of the top 100 English language novels. This one is excellent. Superbly written, set in pre-revolutionary Russia. I started last evening and have about a third to read. One of those books where you look forward to picking it up again.

I get my books via West Sussex Library these days. You can search and order on-line, they email you when at the local library, and email when due for return. It all works really well.

 

[Buzzer]

Is that any good? Heard mixed reports and struggling to shift them in my shop!!

Just finished "Us" by David Nicholls. Surprisingly enjoyable, not my sort of book at all really, but it was entertaining and very well written.

It's not his usual output and the historical context by placing it in Anglo-Saxon England will undoubtedly turn some people off but IMO it's an extremely clever way of exploring the concept of loss and grieving. It's quite an easy read too, he's not tried to be too clever with it.

 

[Buzzer]

Wow. I get the Booker prize winner as a regular Christmas present and that is enough for me. Respect.

Just hope for your sake that it's not the Marlon James novel. 900 pages of unreadable God knows what. There's about 20 main characters and most speak in patois with the added problem that to add to the authenticity, James does away with punctuation too for large sections. I genuinely have no idea why reviewers rave about this book. I must have read the last 300 pages on autopilot without taking in much at all. I would have given up after just 200 pages except that I'm determined this year to read all the long list books.

 

[Titanic]

Just hope for your sake that it's not the Marlon James novel. 900 pages of unreadable God knows what. There's about 20 main characters and most speak in patois with the added problem that to add to the authenticity, James does away with punctuation too for large sections. I genuinely have no idea why reviewers rave about this book. ...

Because they have read it, didn't get it, but don't want to appear thick?

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Just hope for your sake that it's not the Marlon James novel. 900 pages of unreadable God knows what. There's about 20 characters and most speak in patois with the added problem that to add to the authenticity, James does away with punctuation too for large sections. I genuinely have no idea why reviewers rave about this book.

Ta for the heads up. I can guarantee I will not be reading that. I did read/listen to Ulysses which has Molly Bloom's unpunctuated final chapter - which I was not looking forward to - but was brilliant. But unpunctuated patois - life is too short.

 

[Nibble]

Jungle Soldier, the true story of Freddy Spencer Chapman. And English botanist, explorer, climber and fighter against the Japs in WW2. Pioneered out army's use of Guerrilla warfare. Left behind enemy lines, with the help of the Chinese, he waged a 3 year war of surveillance, counter terrorism and raids on the Yellow Peril, outwitting them all the way and avoiding capture all the while despite the Japanese sending battalion after battalion out to catch this significant thorn in their side.

His life before the war spent mountaineering, specimen collecting, hunting and survival and field craft is fascinating too. Described as the Lawrence Of Arabia of the East and The most successful war hero you've never heard of. It is a brilliant story.

 

[Buzzer]

My reviews of the other books I've read from the list

Laila Lalami - 'The Moors Account' fictitious account of a Moor slave's adventures on a Spanish expedition discovering Southern USA and Central America. It is written incredibly well, and has a 'translated from the original' feel to it. The pace of the book is swift with lots of detail. A good holiday read. The big criticism though is that it is clear what the message is that the author is trying to convey. All the baddies are Christians and the hero is the only noble 'westerner'. Even the good Christians are bad in places. Yes - slavery is bad, yes - Christians have a bad record in this respect but no less bad than the role played by Muslims. And worth noting that the part of the world that the Moor is supposed to have come from still has huge issues with slavery. Another criticism is that the style of the book goes against the ethos of the Booker Prize to my mind.

Tom McCarthy - 'Satin Island'. A quite brilliant book that Umberto Eco, Will Self or JG Ballard would be proud of. So many clever plot twists and the way that different threads are brought together is quite amazing. His breadth of subject matter and the depth of his knowledge is quite clear but he delivers it in a way that neither confuses nor patronises the reader. The downside is that the book ends so abruptly that it feels like I've missed the last two chapters of the book.

Chigozi Obioma 'The Fishermen' It's an interesting book and gives a fascinating insight into growing up in modern Nigeria but there's no WOW factor. I'm not sure it's worthy of any prize but just about earns its place in the longlist.

Andrew O'Hagan ' The Illuminations'. Standard Booker Prize fare. There are repressed relationships, family secrets that reveal people having lived a lie, characters who look wistfully out of rainy windows and dream of what could have been. There's even an implausible dialogue that could have been lifted straight from a Pinter play with a soldier back home railing about the futility of war and patriotism. It was okay but nothing special and I didn't particularly empathise with any of the characters.


Hanya Yanagihara' A Little Life': 700-odd pages and far from an easy read with the book dealing with self-harming and child abuse. It's a very American novel, the main characters are 4 friends from college who all carve out ridiculously successful careers in New York, whose friends and families are all very successful too. Now I know the subject matter is emotive but the lead protagonist has such a charmed adult life and such amazingly supportive and loyal friends that it becomes too unbelievable.
A major plot development halfway through the book (I don't want to give away a plot spoiler) is both unnecessary and symptomatic of the way the author has deliberately picked a particular problem and come up with an improbable solution knowing that it would tap into something in the popular (American) psyche and the end result would be a book that (American) people would describe as heavy/deep/insightful. The evidence for this is that I see that there are support groups and forums for people who have read this book, I kid you not - there really are. Not all of them can have suffered from the themes discussed in the book and therefore there are a lot of people who feel that they too are victims by proxy. 1st world problems, eh?
Overall, the book's not particularly well-written, it's 200 pages too long and the plot stretches incredulity often but despite that, I feel it may well win the Booker Prize and in no small way because of the subject matter and the emotions it has stirred. If it does then it's a sad indictment of modern victim culture and also for the future of the Man Booker Prize. I don't think it should even be in the long list. It's Richard and Judy/Oprah Winfrey Book Club material. This book annoys me greatly.

 

[Surf's Up]

Currently reading "Cocaine Nights" by J G Ballard - good so far

 

[Napier's Knee]

Currently reading "Cocaine Nights" by J G Ballard - good so far

If that goes well try Ballard's "High Rise" and "Kingdom Come". He makes you see the world in a different way.

 

[Stat Brother]

I read his Psychopath book a couple of weeks back. Very interesting. There are a couple of posters on here that I suspect would get a high score on the Hare Scale.

Nah the loonies on here don't come close, for one very good reason.
We're all hiding behind a persona and a keyboard.


If you want NSC in a book it's the current one I'm reading, absolutely pitch perfect NSC trolltastic.

 

[jimbob5]

Never a massive fan of the right on Tony Parsons but I DO like his thrillers. BenEltonesque. Or even surpassing the work of the aforementioned mate of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

 

[Surf's Up]

If that goes well try Ballard's "High Rise" and "Kingdom Come". He makes you see the world in a different way.

Thanks - he's created quite a bizarre and interesting world in Cocaine Nights, bit like Brett Easton Ellis in places.

 

[joeywortho]

just finished Us by David Nicholls

quite wonderful

did the new Hornby after which thought would have liked more, but no

 

[Barry Izbak]

Just back from holiday when I knocked off three books in ten days

John Grisham - Gray Mountain 6/10 - not up to his high standards
Harlen Coben - Tell No One 9/10 - never read him before but loved this and will seek out more. Best book I've read this year.
Robert Harris - Pompeii 8/10 - never fancied this historical novel before, but after visiting Pompeii on holiday this book was so much more enjoyable

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Brighton Rock. Never read it before, although seen the films a few times. Good read and shows up a few differences from the film version(s). Also good to identify places from Brighton's past, and some familiar ones.

 

[Quaid]

Return of a King by William Dalrymple. Story of the first Afghan war - a great read and a fine example of significant research

 

[catfish]

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen. Great writer and they made a pretty good film of it too.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Got book 1

 

[Barry Izbak]

Rarely do I read the same book twice, but I am currently re-reading Robert Ludlum's The Matarese Circle.
Ludlum was my favourite author years back and this is easily my favourite. Even better than Bourne, even if the story is a bit dated due to being written in the seventies.