What Are You Reading V.3 At The Fourth Grade Level

[CFC]

Very interesting. When you say heavy going consumer, what do you mean? Lots of history/science, or just poorly/dull written?

 

[quiet roar]

I found it (Blitzed) fascinating. Troops being on amphetamines was well known but I was blown away how pretty much everyone was on it.

I forgot to take Quarry with me the other day so I started Ross MacDonald's Zebra Striped Hearse, which is another noir crime novel a la Raymond Chandler. Loving it and will finish it before going back to Quarry.

 

[consumer]

I found it (Blitzed) fascinating. Troops being on amphetamines was well known but I was blown away how pretty much everyone was on it.

I forgot to take Quarry with me the other day so I started Ross MacDonald's Zebra Striped Hearse, which is another noir crime novel a la Raymond Chandler. Loving it and will finish it before going back to Quarry.

I found it fascinating too i just thought towards the end it lost its way a bit. How the blitzkrieg occurred with a methed up German army just continually advancing without need to rest was quite eye opening. I am not saying its a bad book by any means but some of it for me was a bit heavy going and repetitive.

 

[CFC]

Did they talk about Allied troops who were amped up, or just the Nazis? My grandad enjoyed his 'pep pills' as he called them, on D-Day, till he got captured!

 

[steewith2ees]

Just started it this morning.... real eye opener!

I'm no history buff but I have really developed an interest in 20th century warfare books over the past few years, especially ww2 but this is some next level revelations. Respect to EADD for the recommend!

 

[quiet roar]

I found it fascinating too i just thought towards the end it lost its way a bit. How the blitzkrieg occurred with a methed up German army just continually advancing without need to rest was quite eye opening. I am not saying its a bad book by any means but some of it for me was a bit heavy going and repetitive.

Yep, agree with that. Better editing would have made for a snappier read.

 

[steewith2ees]

Was up really late reading this. About half way through. At the risk of repeating myself its quite the jawdropper.

Really depressing how he demonstrates the parallels between the Reich's policy, use of language and the use of their 'Drogenkrieg' as an excuse to target minorities, to the Bullshit Nixon legacy that we still suffer under today.

 

[BecomingJulie]

Been reading Black Dog by Stephen Booth. It's part of a series of crime novels, set in the Peak District so not far from my own stomping ground. Next in the series is Dancing With the Virgins ..... I can sense my credit card is going to be getting a bit warm soon, if it's as good

 

[Jackal]

I was reading "Out of it: A history of cultural intoxication".

Ironically lost my copy while partaking in a baachian celebration over the past few days.

 

[Jackal]

T. A. Z - The temporary autonomous zone, ontological anarchy, poetic terrorism. By Hakim Bey

 

[Shambles]

Got that queued up for future reading here. Not an author I'd usually go for but loves me some Roman (and other) history so...

Now reading Iain Banks' last novel, Quarry. Only 40 pages in but it's showing promise.

Bought that (second hand) just t'other day so also queued up...

... It may be clear by now that many, many books are currently queued up...

bukowski, that guy is the man.

Why yes, yes he his. Some surprisingly decent films based on his work out there too - and some absolutely belting interviews and assorted other candid footage.

 

[Jackal]

Just read Solar, by Ian McEwan yesterday.

It's a fast and easy read. Had no sympathy for the fat antihero, probably would have enjoyed this book more if I were still in the UK, where it is immersed. The authors turn of phrase outstrips his narrative, imo.

 

[Bearlove]

The boy on the bridge - Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy.

The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world.

To where the monsters lived.

Same author who did Girl with all the gifts

 

[keeping]

The Maiden Tribute to Modern Babylon
- W. T. Stead

its for my b.a., regarding the remarkable criminalisation of sexuality with both great and terrible circumstances.
i do not recommend but if you're an Oscar Wilde fan you may fidn it interesting - specifically as it pertains to his internment in Reading Gaol.

 

[quiet roar]

Just read Solar, by Ian McEwan yesterday.

It's a fast and easy read. Had no sympathy for the fat antihero, probably would have enjoyed this book more if I were still in the UK, where it is immersed. The authors turn of phrase outstrips his narrative, imo.

I really liked it - giggled my way the whole way through. The antihero was wonderfully awful but very believable.

"authors turn of phrase outstrips his narrative" is a pretty fair appraisal.

I just finished Quarry by Iain Banks and it was very good - now about to start Trieste by Dasa Drndic.

 

[Bearlove]

The Hatching - Deep in the jungle of Peru, where so much remains unknown, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist whole.

Great fun book (horror)

 

[keeping]

Factotum by Bukowski
thought i'd enjoy it a bit more as it deals with his earlier stories when life was a little crazier for him but i wouldn't put it any higher than Hollywood.
his short stories really do knock his novels out the water though - The Most Beautiful Woman in Town is probs the best i've read to date.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I urge you all to read ALL of the Iain M Banks SF novels. Fan bloody tastic!! I really resent the cunt for dying and denying us any more of his brilliance...

 

[Shambles]

Some recent books what I haz read include...

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage,
by Haruki Murakami

Not sure how to frame this as a review. Murakami is such a tricky author to pin down. Will a person that has never read any of his other books enjoy this book? Maybe. Will a person familiar with his work enjoy this book? Maybe. He changes up the style and content so drastically between books it really is hard to say. All I can really say is that this man is a genius and he does not write bad books. This is one of his less flashy ones but, perhaps, all the deeper as a result. Or is it just bland and uneventful? Much like a... colourless individual... who may or may not be struggling towards a thing...? Meh, wanky or not, I Murakami and enjoyed this book... still hard to think how to wrap it up in a bow and "sell" it, mind.

How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life & Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian,
by Stewart Lee

Finished this just recently and tis a belter. I can't deny that I am an absolute Stewart Lee fanboy (one of the finest stand-ups of all-time - not even slightly kidding) but even leaving that aside this is a fascinating book for anybody who enjoys and appreciates the art of comedy. It's always gonna be a hard-sell to those that just cannot stand him cos he does reprint the transcripts of three entire shows verbatim complete with extensive (and I really do mean extensive) footnotes... but for those interested in the workings of comedy - and I'd actually say that goes double and then some for those that find his work insufferable - this is unmissable. His writing is so good it pains me at times. And for those that just "don't get it" this should help immensely with the catch-up. I mean, they've got it over there and have now for quite some time now. We don't want to hold it against you... but it's starting to be a little embarrassing now. Not just for you but for your entire species... ... ... (you'll either get it now, after reading this book, after watching all of his live shows available back to back on repeat, or not at all... the latter of which would make me sad )

Snow Crash,
by Neal Stephenson

Is what I have most recently finished. Bit of a cyberpunk classic I never did get around to reading until now and I'm glad I did. There are definitely a few wobbly bits that haven't held up too well, and there are certainly some (frankly fairly significant) technical issues when it comes to extensive (way, way too extensive) exposition, but overall still very much worth a read for skiffy fans who, like me, missed out first time round. The plot is... Ancient Aliens meets Tron... kinda... sorta... And the characters are... knowingly ironic in a very 90s kinda way for sure (the hero, or protagonist if you will, is named Hiro Protagonist and his spunky, SK8RGRRL partner is named Y.T. (Yours Truly) so... yeah... so... early 90s)... But somehow he gets away with it cos it's just a joyful read. Humorous, prescient in many ways, and just rather satisfying all around. But also dated in that very specific way that only mid-era cyberpunk can be. If new to the genre this may be an "easy" inroad... but the more substantial and timeless works of other genre authors that precede and succede works such as this may be more ultimately satisfying. Well worth a read for established fans of the genre whom, like myself, missed it originally though... albeit a somewhat aged-before-its-time one.

The Quarry,
by Iain Banks

Is what I iz currently reading. I'd actually forgotten that Iain Banks died a few years back so this final and largely posthumous novel that - apparently entirely coincidentally - deals with the very subject of cancer that took the author's life immediately prior to publication is especially... timely? Untimely? Fuck. Even just a quarter of the way in and already every other sentence and paragraph reads like a personal struggle with the disease that was unknowingly taking his life at the very time he was unwittingly writing about it. A very strange dynamic indeed. But, that aside, the writing is immaculate as ever and he maintains the ability to draw the reader in to even the most middle-class "old friends gathering at a rickety auld house for the weekend to get wasted and talk about stuff wot happened in the past" plotlines as he ever has in previous works.

 

[steewith2ees]

Listening to the audiobook of this due to insomnia