The last novel you read

The serving of extra rum to celebrate a special occasion. Said to come from the difficulty in splicing a thick rope thus earning a special reward for the splicee.

Lenin in Zurich by Solzhenitsyn (Sp?)

Pretty heavy going but interesting. Good quote in there along the lines of: "The eternal privilege of those who do not act tmemsleves: to compain, to interogate, to criticise".

Hope this doesn't make anybody feel self-conscious.

quote:

Originally posted by woody:
Hey jayd, great minds think alike.

I also just finished Oryx and Crake. A highly recommended novel if not a little dark.

nor, the Da Vinci code is OK but gets less interesting as you go through it and the ending is positively weak. Unfortunately I've read other Dan Brown novels and they're all the same really and his writing style really is quite poor and his research dubious to say the least.

I liked Oryx and Crake for the writing; the storytelling left me a little flat, though. The basis of the Da Vinci Code is a great story, but it was a great story years before Dan Brown got hold of it, and he didn't really add much, IMO.

Finished The Curious Incident... it could have been so much more, but I'd still recommend it. Life of Pi is next in the queue.

I had the pleasure of seeing the 'Brilliant Great²' Doris Lessing being interviewed on BBC World earlier (check it out - Hard Talk), I really must read "The Golden Notebook" again, I first was mesmerised by it many moons afore.



Fritz Von Afore Ye Go

Fritz, for a moment I thought you meant memorised it...or did you?

Just finished that Inspector Banks novel. It will be the last one. Picked up Wuthering Heights which I havn't read since school years. Time to rack up some brownie points.

quote:

Originally posted by Lomo:
Just finished that Inspector Banks novel. It will be the last one. Picked up Wuthering Heights which I havn't read since school years. Time to rack up some brownie points.

I'd love to read it, but I suffer terribly from vertigo & please forget about the Brownie points mate, this is a one Mat forum innit


Fritz Zebedee say's it's futon time

Timeline by Michael Crighton. Pulp and bad pulp at that too. Normally don't mind his stuff but give this one a miss.

Isn't Dan Brown being sued for plagarism over the Da Vinci Code?

Keith

Just finished "Rule of Four" - which is an enjoyable and fairly well written fiction about a cryptic book called the "Hypnoterachia" (IIRC) and the secrets it contains. In a sort of Da Vinci Code vein but better written and less fantastical.

John

Jayd

Just finished The Curious Incident and really rathered liked it. It was simple and to the point, but I think Haddon did a rather nice job laying the structure of the book around Christopher's character in such a believeable fashion. An abrupt ending, but hey, it should be.

It was sort of like reading a cross between the Sound and the Fury & The Catcher in the Rye. Sort of.

Next up is Twain's The Prince and the Pauper.

Not really Novels, but,
Just finished Martin Bell's only book and John Simpsons Strange Places Questionable People, both worth a read to give a insight into what really happens and not the grossly edited version of events that we finally are allowed to see/hear about on the News bulletins. I have now just started A Mad World, My Masters again by John Simpson
oldie.

I've decided that Paul Auster is my favorite living author. I've just started Oracle Night & I never thought he could better New York Trilogy.
I've had a real lucky run on books lately.

Maria, you are an honest woman. I spoke to a man last night who told me that he has just got a computer for the express purpose of playing games. However this is a solitary pursuit at times. The interaction of playing with someone using two computers is the subject of a widely played advert on television. You may have seen it. Two junior execs playing some warfare game in two separate offices. The boss walks in and the monitor is snapped off. The other guy thinks he's won and bounds through the door guns blazing, smile of victory on the dial.
Very chastened ending, but they get over it by having their cans of Johnny Walker.
The message seems to be its OK to drink on the job.

Am on GP Taylor's Wormwood, which is bloody fantastic stuff. Unlike Dan Brown, this author can write.

G

Italian newspapers this morning.

Hi Maria, You don't want to see it.It is an advertisement for Johnny Walker. Very clever but now becoming very stale. I only mentioned it as I thought that they may run a similar advert in your part of the world.
Incidentally Bourbon and coke in what we call UDL cans is the top seller in spirits in this country. Oh, and VB or Victoria Bitter is the no. one beer. Both are quite alcoholic.
Probably that is why they are so popular.

Couldn't get my hands on "The Life of Pi" this weekend, so I read Mark Salzman's "Lying Awake" instead. Interesting look into the cloistered life, well written but ultimately pretty light on story. Still, it's only ~180 pages, so a small investment.

Another by Jose Saramago, The Cave. Anyone who enjoys topics which are offbeat but involve everyday ordinary people should read this author. Once you start reading the book grabs and holds you. How can so much intensity and empathy for the characters be realised . Simply by the dialogue between them and the use of an animal in this case a dog to bind them all togeather.

As a teenager (?) I did actually read the Koran (in English) from back to back, and as well as being a beautiful work, it's a darned sight easier to understand than all that rubbish we got served with at school (though I did actually attend Sunday school for some 12 years beleive it or not ? 'Methodist') and that was rather good, as it appens.


Fritz Von Mixed bag of educashun²

Then there is method in your madness.
Sorry fritz, couldn't resist.

And have to put in a rcommendation for "English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale, a cracking good read and a bitingly funny satire on colonialism, religion and many other things.

Since a large part of it takes place "down there" have any of our Antipodean subscribers come across this one?

Not yet Tim, but our guvvermint has put in for another 20,000 of you per year so we will probably get round to it.
Must be skilled however, as we ran out of training money a couple of budgets ago and are in catchup mode!!!!
Sorry , will also take anyone else as well, except Kiwis,[all their skilled ones are here already].

Seeing as how the last three novels I read all took place in merry 'ole England, I think it's time for a change of scenery.

Next on the agenda: A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole.

The protagonist is one "...fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter."

Should prove a good read.

Thomas Mann: The magic mountain.
Because i'm gettin tired of newspapers!
hehehehehehehe

quote:

Originally posted by Aric:
Next on the agenda: A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole.

Fan-TAS-tic book. Getting acquainted with Ignatius Reilly will subtly change your life.