Garret Basic Member Posts:244  
| 7/23/2006 4:05 PM |
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Right, I'm headed off on holidays in a couple of weeks and wonderin if you can recommend me some good books to read.
For example, other than Animal Farm and 1984, did Orwell write anything else worth a reading
Can anyone recommend some Dostoevsky (apart from C&P which iv read), Sartre, Camus, etc
Any decent music related books that are good?
Thanks
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aidan Advanced Member Posts:638
| 7/23/2006 4:25 PM |
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There's an old 'music books' thread here that should help you http://www.cluas.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5827
As for Orwell and Dostoevsky: Orwell's essays and his non-fiction are excellent: try 'Down and Out in Paris and London', his tale of slumming it in these two cities. Any collection of his essays is well worth having. 'Notes From Underground' by Doestoevsky is excellent - and it's short!
For something a bit lighter for your holidays, how about something by Flann O'Brien or John Irving or 'A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole or 'Lucky Jim' by Kingsley Amis or the Jeeves & Wooster books by PG Wodehouse.....
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DaraghAdvanced Member Posts:666
| 7/23/2006 4:50 PM |
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orwell is brilliant, he wrote a book about burma which you should pick up.
Highly recommend "Dispatches" by Michael Herr, best book written about the vietnam war, and youll love the bit where he describes hearing hendrix for the first time. "THe Sorrow of War" is kick ass too, written by a VC special forces dude, amazing writing.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance i think by Pirsig is kick ass, One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey is mind blowingly good, Catch 22, Stoned and Stoned 2 by Andrew Loog oldham are decent
Anything by Hemmingway, try Farewell to Arms, then For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man of the Sea.
thats all i can think of at the mo
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DaraghAdvanced Member Posts:666
| 7/23/2006 4:51 PM |
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actually frankenstein is a really good book if you havent read it
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Unicron Veteran Member Posts:1696
| 7/23/2006 5:03 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by aidan
As for Orwell and Dostoevsky: Orwell's essays and his non-fiction are excellent: try 'Down and Out in Paris and London', his tale of slumming it in these two cities.
I hated that book so much.
quote:
Originally posted by aidan
'A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole
Damn straight.
Seeing as you mentioned Camus, I've only read "The Outsider" but I thought it was excellent.
Also Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" is wonderful. |
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GarretBasic Member Posts:244
| 7/23/2006 7:03 PM |
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Some really good advice there
thanks all
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| 7/23/2006 10:21 PM |
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glue porno trainspotting and filth by irvine welsh. hilarious books.
picture of dorian gray is my most favourite book at the moment.oscar wildes only novel i think.
perfume by Patrick Süskind is pretty interesting altough very weird.
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elmo95Basic Member Posts:156
| 7/24/2006 1:45 AM |
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At Swim two birds by FLann O' Brien is the one getting all the nods recently (silly lost reference aside its a good book), the Burmese Orwell book is called Burmese Days though my memory of it is a bit blurry its not his best and does not give us much to engage with in terms of empathy. I read Candide by Voltaire and it seriously made me feel better due to its absurdity despite the measly 100 pages. I'd bring Lord of the Flies for the irony value
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palaceBasic Member Posts:392
| 7/24/2006 8:34 AM |
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it's a holiday - some easy literature is what you want... leave the hi-brow stuff for when you come home again when you should read anything from samuel beckett's mid-period, all of flann o'brien, infinite jest by david foster wallace, lanark by alasdair gray etc.. etc.....
...go with catch 22 - it'll have you laughing out loud
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klootfanAdvanced Member Posts:851
| 7/24/2006 9:01 AM |
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Catch 22 is brilliant, but a hard read all the same.. once i got into it i couldnt put it down.
One of my favourite Orwell books is "Coming up for Air", Burmese days is pretty decent as well.
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off the postBasic Member Posts:284
| 7/24/2006 9:26 AM |
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East of Eden by Steinback or The Secret History by Donna Tarrt. 2 easy enough reads and fairly un put downable.
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DromedAdvanced Member Posts:900
| 7/24/2006 9:56 AM |
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Anything by Chuck Palahniuk is a good read - especially for holidays - would recommend Choke, Haunted or Survivor. Down and Out in London and Paris is also great, as is Perfume, which have been recommended above. Would also recommend London Fields by Martin Amis, Speed/Kentucky Ham by William S. Burroughs Jnr, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway and The Wrong Side of Paris by Honore De Balzac - also anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Favourite book of all time though is Papillion by Henri Charriere - a truly life changing book!
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DaraghAdvanced Member Posts:666
| 7/24/2006 10:25 AM |
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dromed, papillion is class isnt it? f**king loved that book, theres a follow up too, think its called banco! very good read as well, what a life that dude had.
oh n junky by william burroughs is really really good, as is doors of perception/heaven and hell by huxley, if you liked 1984 read brave new world by huxley too, gotta find me some of that soma!
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UnicronVeteran Member Posts:1696
| 7/24/2006 11:12 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by klootfan
Catch 22 is brilliant, but a hard read all the same.. once i got into it i couldnt put it down.
This is true, the first time I tried to read it I abandoned it halfway through, which is something that I never do but it had more to do with stuff going on in my life at the time that meant I wasn't amenable to reading military satire. The second time I had a go at it I loved it.
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palaceBasic Member Posts:392
| 7/24/2006 11:18 AM |
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i reckon catch-22 isn't all that hard a read as it's too hilarious... if you go into it with absurdism on the brain, then you should be ok... dose up on some david shrigley or eugene ionesco first
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nerrawBasic Member Posts:475
| 7/24/2006 11:45 AM |
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Catch 22 is fantastic, just sheer genius. I was amazed to read the book was turned down by over 20 publishers.
Recently read On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Good book, was expecting better. Bit mind boggling at times.
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klootfanAdvanced Member Posts:851
| 7/24/2006 12:16 PM |
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For an easy read, Id recommend "McCarthys Bar".. no brain crunching here, just a humourous story of one english mans trip around irish pubs with his name on them
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| 7/24/2006 3:15 PM |
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Would Highly recommend "54" by Wu Ming. Set mostly in Italy and Yougoslavia in 1954 and with cold war politics and politics in general as a backdrop it inlcudes Cary Grant,Lucky Luciano and Tito among the people involved as well as a host of other people and is very engaging and clever book.
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 7/24/2006 4:18 PM |
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'Down and Out...' is fantastic. Orwell is probably the most economical writer EVER. Legend.
I don't read much fiction, so if you're into non-fiction, I'd highly (HIGHLY) recommend:
'Female Chauvinist Pigs' by Ariel Levy
'Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx'' by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
'Hiroshima' by John Hersey
'The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down' by Anne Fadiman
on the fiction side of things, I've recently finished 'I Am Charlotte Simmons' by Tom Wolfe, which is just fantastic. Also, 'Life After God' and this first half of 'Girlfriend In A Coma' by Doughlas Coupland, 'Atomised' and 'Platform' by Michel Houelbecq (am reading his new one 'The Possibility of an Island' at the moment, not really feeling it) are all really worth a look.
And for a bit of trash, I read 'Bling' by Erica Kennedy recently. It's a pretty funny novel based on a Russell Simmons-type and his Beyonce-type protege.
But the writers I always return to are Graham Greene, Hunter S Thompson, JM Coetzee and John McGahern - anything by them is gold.
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palaceBasic Member Posts:392
| 7/24/2006 4:30 PM |
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"Orwell is probably the most economical writer EVER. Legend."
i don't know how to do that quote thing - how crap am i?
anyway, he's not - samuel beckett is... and i only point this out because you put "ever" in capital letters 
ah, i dunno - it's not as if i devour books...
but i find good holiday books are the more plot based literature... not low-brow stuff, just easily accessible story based stuff
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 7/24/2006 4:37 PM |
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hmmm, Beckett V Orwell. I'm not sure if you can compare their technical modes of writing. I guess from a journalistic point of view, Orwell's books, articles and essays are the pinacle of economic writing. Non-fiction is different.
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GarVeteran Member Posts:1676
| 7/24/2006 4:39 PM |
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All depends on what you are after......
Music: 'Milk It!' by Jim DeRogatis
Sport: 'Booked!' by Tom Humphries
Film: 'Which Lie Did I Tell?' by William Goldman
I'd recommend anything by Mario Puzo, Graham Greene or Mark Bowden. I've recently read 'Forza Italia' by Paddy Agnew, 'Everyman' by Philip Roth and 'Paula Spencer' by Roddy Doyle, but just started in on 'Saturday' by Ian McEwan.
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palaceBasic Member Posts:392
| 7/24/2006 4:52 PM |
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i'll bow to your greater knowledge from a journalistic point of view, una... you're becoming quite ubiquitous in your paper these days - fair play to you...
i was being slightly tongue in cheek because you can't get any more economical than beckett's late period stuff... if he could have written prose without using words, i'm sure he would have tried
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 7/24/2006 5:13 PM |
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"if he could have written prose without using words, i'm sure he would have tried" - that's a good one, must remember that.
thanks for the nice fair play remark :)
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AntistarAdvanced Member Posts:544
| 7/24/2006 5:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Una
hmmm, Beckett V Orwell. I'm not sure if you can compare their technical modes of writing. I guess from a journalistic point of view, Orwell's books, articles and essays are the pinacle of economic writing. Non-fiction is different.
More of a Marian Keyes person myself. She's an absolute fcuking genius. Beckett and Orwell are NOTHING next to her. |
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AntistarAdvanced Member Posts:544
| 7/24/2006 5:39 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Una
hmmm, Beckett V Orwell. I'm not sure if you can compare their technical modes of writing. I guess from a journalistic point of view, Orwell's books, articles and essays are the pinacle of economic writing. Non-fiction is different.
Una, there are two Ns in 'pinnacle'!!! Anyway, what do I know-I don't write for a top-quality national Sunday broadsheet newspaper!!!!!! No offence, but poor spelling and misplaced apostrophes
does my head in. Rant over. Sorry. |
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BinokularVeteran Member Posts:1665
| 7/24/2006 9:32 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by palace
i don't know how to do that quote thing - how crap am i?
At the top of each post on a thread there are a couple of icons, it's the one with the little circle-y arrrow. If you're not sure, hover your mouse cursor over each icon and a description will appear next to your cursor. Alternatively you can just type quotes using forum code in the message box. Begin with quote in square brackets , type your quote and end with /quote in square brackets and it will appear as a quote
Thus ends any useful contribution I can make to a thread about books as all I seem to read for pleasure these days is articles like "Engine management for beginners" or "Do you need adjustable Coil-overs?"
Sad, but true. |
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palaceBasic Member Posts:392
| 7/25/2006 8:21 AM |
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quote:
Una, there are two Ns in 'pinnacle'
just trying out the quote thing - wonder if it worked...
...antistar, she may just have made a typo... i'm on a laptop and forever miss letters or mix them up...
...anyway, aside from that, i don't think spelling everything right is the be all and end all - it's the beauty of the words that count, isn't it?... if the idea's right and you understand it and you like the way it's written, then who gives a toss about spelling...
...and anyway, una will have her sub-editor to sort out those problems for her
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Vent My SpleenAdvanced Member Posts:500
| 7/25/2006 9:23 AM |
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I'd recommend Papillion also, great read. For me, Camus and Beckett would be too much like hard work for hols. I like to put the old brain firmly in neutral.
If you are looking for some superior reading in the line of thrillers, anything by Michael Connelly or Henning Mankell would be my poolside recommendation. Particularly Mankell whose books are set in southern Sweden. The landscape is so foreign to our own as to be interesting for that alone.
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| 7/25/2006 9:27 AM |
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Oh i nearly forgot Amercian Pastoral by Philip Roth as well, great great book. And of course Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels which must be the most powerful and most carufully crafted book every written IM(H)O.
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off the postBasic Member Posts:284
| 7/25/2006 10:03 AM |
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Has anyone read "War and Peace"? Only started it on Monday nite. When I'm half way through it I'll come back with a more rounded opinion of it...which should be around Christmas..
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 7/25/2006 10:33 AM |
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my spelling is s**t. I have no problem admitting that fact.
I like John Connolly thrillers. I have only read Every Dead Thing and Dark Hollow (Dark/Black Hollow? Can't remember) but they are excellent holiday material.
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nerrawBasic Member Posts:475
| 7/25/2006 11:10 AM |
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Its not exactly holiday reading but at college I had to read The Trial by Franz Kafka.
Worth reading alone just to fully appreciate when someone describes something as kafkaesque.
His collection of short stories are also quite good. I don't read half as much as I should, will pick up some of the recommendations.
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GarVeteran Member Posts:1676
| 7/25/2006 11:14 AM |
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Una....You were right the first time, it's 'Dark Hollow'. One of the best things about Connolly is his taste in music, he's always namedropping bands in his books. In fact, I got a decent compilation cd with 'The Black Angel' that features acts such as Pinetop Seven, Kate Bush, Lambchop, Red House Painters, Neko Case and The Go-Betweens.
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ishrinkBasic Member Posts:195
| 7/25/2006 11:48 AM |
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Recent reads of mine I'd recommend;
Chronicles : Volume 1 - Bob Dylan
The Proud Highway - Hunter S Thompson
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 7/25/2006 12:05 PM |
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Gar: CD/Book combo - awesome!
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Vent My SpleenAdvanced Member Posts:500
| 7/25/2006 12:16 PM |
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Conolly also has a good blog on his site www.johnconolly.com if you are interested in how a writer practices his craft and the general things around it like promos, dealing with publishers etc etc
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AntistarAdvanced Member Posts:544
| 7/25/2006 1:44 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nerraw
Its not exactly holiday reading but at college I had to read The Trial by Franz Kafka.
Worth reading alone just to fully appreciate when someone describes something as kafkaesque.
His collection of short stories are also quite good. I don't read half as much as I should, will pick up some of the recommendations.
From "The Squid and the Whale": Trying to impress Sophie, Walt tells her she really should read Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," because it's a masterpiece. She does. And when she tries to discuss it with him, it becomes clear he hasn't read it himself. "It's very Kafkaesque," he says, trying to weasel out of any meaningful conversation. Pause. "It's written by Franz Kafka," Sophie says, deadpan. "It would have to be."
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UnaVeteran Member Posts:1721
| 7/25/2006 2:21 PM |
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I love that film. It's the fillet of cinema.
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| 7/25/2006 2:53 PM |
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i love jesse eisenberg & owen kline's performances in that film....they were outstanding
as were jeff daniels and laura linney but i just wasn't expecting the level of intensity which was delivered by their younger co-stars
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AntistarAdvanced Member Posts:544
| 7/25/2006 2:54 PM |
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Yeah, it's a flawless masterpiece! So funny.
When I saw it in the cinema, Mick Pyro from R o L was there on his own with a huge bucket of popcorn and an even bigger container of coke!!! Fact!
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MullyAdvanced Member Posts:849
| 7/25/2006 3:35 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Antistar
When I saw it in the cinema, Mick Pyro from R o L was there on his own with a huge bucket of popcorn and an even bigger container of coke!!! Fact!
Must be awkward to snort in the dark 
I was at the premiere of Pirates 2 a few wks ago. Some of the Loose were there, seems they've been elevated to the D List level of celebrity.
Martin King was there, as was Marty Whelan* & Katryn Thomas.
* Marty had to accompany his 12yr old son to the toilet ... He seemed surprisingly at ease with hanging around the gents. |
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yoshimi New Member Posts:63
| 8/16/2006 8:33 PM |
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Just found this post...
Don't suppose there's any (ahem) Sci Fi (not fantasy) fans out there?
A.
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iliketechnoNew Member Posts:20
| 8/18/2006 9:10 AM |
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Confessions Of Zeno by Italo Svevo
Is a truly great book. Cannot reccomend it enough
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klootfanAdvanced Member Posts:851
| 8/18/2006 10:31 AM |
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I dont read sci-fi...but for a completely off topic post... Battlestar Gallactica eh... best thing on TV at the moment.. well, it would be if the 3rd season had started.
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Norman SchwarzkopfBasic Member Posts:427
| 8/18/2006 10:44 AM |
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A Confedaracy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Hil-AR-ious!
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