Books

[StoutAndAle]

Forty or fifty pages in...

Of "Leonard & Hungry Paul", is it?

Perhaps I sold you a pup - I really enjoyed it and thought the writing was excellent.

Horses/Courses.

[Eoin McLove]

Yup,  Leonard and Hungry Paul. Funnily enough,  I was just complaining about the writing style to my wife just now and reading a few lines to her that wound me up  I'm on page 70 (the part when they are buying suits for the wedding) and fuck me, if I was the editor I would have put a bit fat fucking red X over the last ten pages  I shall plough on because it's an easy read, but Jaysus...

[Eoin McLove]

I picked up The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter today. Delighted to see something new by him. Lanny was a little masterpiece and Grief is the Thing With Feathers was also unique and interesting if not quite as fully realised. The new one is a tiny little hardback and I'll get through it in an hour or two. His other two were very succinct as well but so full of energy and creativity that they weren't lacking in form. Anyway... tea and reading time 

[StoutAndAle]

Finished Tom O'Neill's "Chaos" - first 350 pages are rip roaring, then O'Neill goes into the weeds a bit - invoking conspiracy theories and making it a real fucking slog to get through - before turning it around for the last chapter. Worth a read.

Finally getting around to "Fargo Rock City" by Chuck Klosterman after having it on my shelf for a year or two. Decent enough so far. Definite smug, rock journo from the late 90s vibe to it though. 

[Caomhaoin]

I prefer a physical book myself but if anybody's got the kindle app, you can get the entire works of George Orwell for (literally) pennies. Bargain or bargains, and reading sorted for the Christmas.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Works-George-Orwell-Aspidistra-ebook/dp/B08WHJLPKN/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=2CFQU04MVX30B&keywords=george+orwell+kindle+complete&qid=1639246593&sprefix=george+orwell+kindle+complete%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-4

[Eoin McLove]

I've been trudging through the unenjoyable mire of Emma and Dune for too long now. I think I'm throwing in the towel on both of them. Just not for me, either of them.

I decided to reread Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan and it was a joy to revisit as most of the detail had left my brain in the fifteen or twenty years since I first read it. Just incredible writing from a master.

Having wrapped it up this morning I decided to revisit Solar, another of his and one that didn't do much for me on its release but I'm really enjoying the second time round. Almost nothing from this book has stuck in my memory so it more or less feels like an entirely new experience.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Dune is a book for undivided attention, certainly not to be split with shite like Emma.

It's still not for everyone though, of course.

[Caomhaoin]

I'm about half way through Burmese Days by Orwell. Love the clear, crisp style, you can almost smell and taste the gaff, for better or worse. His point that Imperialism is essentially legalised robbery (even though he clearly views the natives as inferior) is a good one.

A clergymans daughter up next.

[Necro Red]

Orwell is great. I haven't read that book though. Reading Ecstasy, a book of short stories by Irvine Welsh at the moment which I'm really enjoying.

[Eoin McLove]

Dune is a book for undivided attention, certainly not to be split with shite like Emma.

It's still not for everyone though, of course.

I don't think that giving it my undivided attention would have made any difference. I've found it daunting to open up for ten or twenty pages each night. Herbert falls into the trap, as I see it, that much Sci fi falls into and that is an anal attention to every detail about the world he's building but zero attention to the personalities of the people who populate the world. Almost every character is interchangeable with the next. It makes the reading of it an incredibly dull experience for me, but hey, I think the Star Wars films are a load of boring shite too. I think the genre, with occasional exceptions, isn't for me.

[Caomhaoin]

Orwell is great. I haven't read that book though. Reading Ecstasy, a book of short stories by Irvine Welsh at the moment which I'm really enjoying.

Can't go wrong with Welsh. I went straight to Leith last time I was in Edinburgh looking out for landmarks and places he mentions in the books. Found fuck all bar one pub and the Hibs stadium

[open face surgery]

Sure I've mentioned this before but I met Irvine Welsh in a mate's gaff before. He was buying coke off his housemate. Got a pic with him anyway. haha.

[O Drighes]

Finishing "The dead school" by Patrick McCabe. Really enjoyed it. He has a thing for making suicide stories sound somewhat  funny.


Also reading Michael Shellenberger's "Apocalypse Never," bold book against environmental alarmism to say the least.

[Eoin McLove]

McCabe never fully clicks with me for some reason, at least the two or three books I've read by him, The Dead School among them. I tend to enjoy them to a degree but can't seem to fully get into the spirit. There's a staginess to them or something that holds my suspension of disbelief at bay somehow.

I was listening to Shellenberger on Michael Shermer's show last week discussing his book. Against the grain thinking but certainly compelling. I'll have to keep an eye out for his book.

Edit. I'm ripping through Solar at a fair clip. No idea why it didn't hit the mark for me first time round as I'm loving it now. The protagonist is a dislikable old prick which might have been part of the problem but I'm even warming to him, flaws and all, this time. I'm eleven years older now which might have something to do with it 

[O Drighes]

The thing about Shellenberger is that serious environmentalists support his claims, it is the activists that don't. He has some valuable information in this book, I am also curious abkut his "San Fransicko" and the rise of drugs and violence in cities run by the democrats.

McCabe is class. This is the third book by him I am reading and I really like his style. This is the one I enjoyed the most though.