[Misc] What Book are you Currently Reading?

[Buzzer]

I got through Hiromi Kawakami 'The Briefcase' (also titled 'Strange Weather In Tokyo') very quickly. This is the first book by this author that I've read and I'll definitely look out for more. Relatively short, it's about a very slowly blossoming love affair between a thirty something woman and a retired teacher. It gives a very good insight into Japanese sensibilities and culture and it seems from reading this book that modern day Japanese courtship/manners aren't that far different from Jane Austen novels.

Now almost finished reading Martin Amis 'Zone of Interest'. His second Holocaust-themed novel, this looks at the lives of those who work in or around Auschwitz, mainly focusing on the fairly mundane machinations of 4 or 5 central characters including the camp commandant, his wife, a mid-ranking official and one of the forced labour Jewish workers. It's an interesting spin on the genre; the strange, large-scale horrors committed daily are recounted quite casually as details to the main plot. The way that Amis has made the characters three-dimensional with their own justifications for doing what they did doesn't trivialise the facts neither does it make you empathise. It's a very tricky type of book to write and Amis does it well. I think I still prefer his first Holocaust book Time's Arrow though as it packs a much bigger punch.

 

[Marshy]

I'm currently reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and I think it''s ruddy fantastic.

Just added this to my Amazon wish list, looks bang up my street.

 

[JakyBF]

I'm currently reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and I think it''s ruddy fantastic.

Friend at work suggested Ready Player One to me and I couldn't put it down.

Growing up in the 80s, I loved all the retro video game references. Passed it on to both my teenage boys and they both loved it too. (a rarity nowadays to find something we all agree on!)

Ready Player One was the best book I read all year last year. If anyone can recommend anything like it, I'm all ears!

 

[Buzzer]

The Man Booker Int'l 2017 longlist was announced the other day and I'm going to try to read as many as possible. I think I did most if not all last year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Last night I read "A Horse Walks Into A Bar" by David Grossman. It's a short novel that revolves around a 2 hr skit by a small-time comedian in a bar in an Israeli suburb. Without giving too much away, he invites a schoolfriend to appraise his performance which turns out to be far more autobiographical than stand-up. There's plenty of Jewish humour mixed with pathos, guilt and sarcasm.

The concept is novel and the length of the book just about right for trying to frame it solely around one night's performance and it works very well. Highly recommended.

 

[clarkey]

The Man Booker Int'l 2017 longlist was announced the other day and I'm going to try to read as many as possible. I think I did most if not all last year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Last night I read "A Horse Walks Into A Bar" by David Grossman. It's a short novel that revolves around a 2 hr skit by a small-time comedian in a bar in an Israeli suburb. Without giving too much away, he invites a schoolfriend to appraise his performance which turns out to be far more autobiographical than stand-up. There's plenty of Jewish humour mixed with pathos, guilt and sarcasm.

The concept is novel and the length of the book just about right for trying to frame it solely around one night's performance and it works very well. Highly recommended.

I'm about to start Yan Lianke - The Explosion Chronicles from that list. A previous of his, The Four Books, was in the list in 2016. Fiction based on particular eras of Chinese history, but which shed a fascinating light on life in the country. The Four Books centred on The Great Leap Forward and was quite a harrowing read to be honest. The Explosion Chronicles tells the story of a fictional Chinese village from its inception through its modern existence as part of a megapolis, and how it interacts with the money, corruption, and power plays inside China today. Will complement Dragons in Diamond Village by David Bandurski which I read recently, which is a non-fiction account of urban villages in Guangzhou and how the authorities nefariously attempt to bring about their destruction.

 

[sydney]

i am reading the follow up to shantaram ......it's that boring i only manage 5 pages at a time......zzzzzzzzz

 

[Buzzer]

I'm about to start Yan Lianke - The Explosion Chronicles from that list. A previous of his, The Four Books, was in the list in 2016. Fiction based on particular eras of Chinese history, but which shed a fascinating light on life in the country. The Four Books centred on The Great Leap Forward and was quite a harrowing read to be honest. The Explosion Chronicles tells the story of a fictional Chinese village from its inception through its modern existence as part of a megapolis, and how it interacts with the money, corruption, and power plays inside China today. Will complement Dragons in Diamond Village by David Bandurski which I read recently, which is a non-fiction account of urban villages in Guangzhou and how the authorities nefariously attempt to bring about their destruction.

You're spot on about The Four Books. It started off routinely enough with a sort of Catch-22 black humour to it but by the middle of the book it got very dark indeed and the end was about as bleak as anything I've read. Cheers for the heads up on the other books. I'll try to check them out.

 

[tinycowboy]

The Nix by Nathan Hill. Very enjoyable so far, but it's long and it's in hardback, so it's making my bag heavy when I go to and come back from work. I really shouldn't complain. Before that, Idaho by Emily Ruskovich which was borderline OK/good and A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan which was definitely good.

 

[crasher]

The Man Booker Int'l 2017 longlist was announced the other day and I'm going to try to read as many as possible. I think I did most if not all last year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. .

That's impressive - sounds slightly daunting. Out of interest, how long a day do you spend reading to get through that amount of books? Do you read other stuff too or just concentrate on that task.

 

[BBassic]

I gave up on Shogun. Couldn't get past how Clavell was writing the dialogue for the Japanese characters. Have moved onto City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin and Moonglow by Michael Chabon.

 

[crasher]

I've just started The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. It seems he deliberately chose to set it in the most boring place imaginable - a tax office in Peoria, Illinois.

The author's revered by a lot of fans of postmodern literature. You can't avoid comparisons with Thomas Pynchon I think, not least in the way that anything and everything, the tedious fragments of life, are brought into the scope of the book. Sometimes the effect is humorous, other times it feels almost despairing. (Perhaps not surprisingly from a writer who killed himself).

 

[Buzzer]

That's impressive - sounds slightly daunting. Out of interest, how long a day do you spend reading to get through that amount of books? Do you read other stuff too or just concentrate on that task.

I spend about 2-3 hours a day reading on the train and maybe an hour or two at night in bed. When the Man Booker lists come through I tend just to read those but if the book was particularly heavy-going or just not enjoyable, I'll switch to an easy-read thriller. There's always something like 2 months between the longlist being published and the winner being named so it's not too difficult a task although I do hope each year that there's not a 900-pager.

 

[Gwylan]

Have moved onto City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin and Moonglow by Michael Chabon.

Like to hear what you think of the Chabon. I like his novels but this has got decidedly mixed reviews.

I'm currently reading Weapons of Math Destruction about the way that about the impact data algorithms are having on our lives - it's a very interesting (and scary) topic.

 

[pearl]

LEMMY by Mick Wall

 

[clarkey]

Like to hear what you think of the Chabon. I like his novels but this has got decidedly mixed reviews.

I'm currently reading Weapons of Math Destruction about the way that about the impact data algorithms are having on our lives - it's a very interesting (and scary) topic.

Saw a review of that recently, I think. A very relevant and, as you say, scary topic.

On a similar note, there was an article in Foreign Policy magazine recently about how AI, by learning from its environment ie humans, seems to inevitably drift towards sexism, racism, and intolerance. An interesting slant on the AI debate.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Looking for recommendations please - hard sci-fi/hard space opera and, I guess separately, credible time travel. Not fantasy.

Good:

Asimov
Arthur C Clarke
Alastair Reynolds

Bad:

Dune - wtf?

 

[BBassic]

Like to hear what you think of the Chabon. I like his novels but this has got decidedly mixed reviews.

I'm currently reading Weapons of Math Destruction about the way that about the impact data algorithms are having on our lives - it's a very interesting (and scary) topic.

Will drop a little review when I'm done. I'm a big fan of his, Kavalier and Clay is in my top 10.

Your read sounds interesting as well. Going to add that to my list.

 

[dolphins]

Not really my sort of cup of tea normally, the supernatural, but just finished The House on Cold Hill by Peter James, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Really enjoy his Roy Grace series (he's a detective in Brighton) but this is not part of that series. A contemporary ghost tale, set in a small village just outside Brighton/South Downs, that absorbed and a definite page turner.

 

[BBassic]

Looking for recommendations please - hard sci-fi/hard space opera and, I guess separately, credible time travel. Not fantasy.

Good:

Asimov
Arthur C Clarke
Alastair Reynolds

Bad:

Dune - wtf?

The Expanse series is very good. It's not hard hard but there's definite science in there along with the fiction.

 

[Goldstone1976]

The Expanse series is very good. It's not hard hard but there's definite science in there along with the fiction.

Book 1: Leviathan Wakes - Hugo nominated; that's a good start! The setting looks like it might be my type of thing...I haven't read the plot, obviously. I'll give it a go. Thanks...