Books

[Thriatika]

Oh no doubt. I think I'll be following you down the Dickens road quite soon. I'm trying to read as many classics as possible and I have yet to be dissapointed so really looking forward to that.

I've been trying to read more classics myself in recent times.  'Crime and Punishment' by Dostoyevsky really knocked me for six. I thought it'd be a chore to read but I loved it.

For breezier reading, 'The Mars Room' by Rachel Kushner is funny/fucked up fiction, set inside a women's prison and "Bobby Fischer Goes to War", the methodically researched story of one of the most legendary chess matches of all time. I'm not the biggest the chess fan of all time but it's worth reading for the stories about Fisher - the Axl Rose of the chess board.

[Pedrito]

Some recommendations>

oIn terms of Classics, in case people are looking for stuff to read, I couldn't recommend Mark Twain highly enough. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are two fantastic books..he was an amazing writer. For some reason I haven't read more by him...I need to rectify that.

Another writer I was absolutely obsessed with was Steinbeck. East of Eden blew me away and it would be a hard choice for me to decide between it and Sweet Thursday or Cannery Row, both of which I absolutely adore and have read numerous times. Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday are shorter books, but there is fantastic humour and real life in them. I think they're his Huck Finn's to be honest, and they have many parallels with Twain at his greatest. Tortilla Flat another very good one and it's interesting to read Steinbeck's reaction to the reaction it received upon it's success> https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/apr/18/john-steinbecks-tortilla-flat-is-not-for-literary-slummers   A very human man and writer..one of the greats.

Jack Kerouac The Road is another marvellous book. The last page is one of the most beautiful things I think I have ever read. Be warned, you'll want to walk out of your office, sell your car and walk across America if you read it though. I also read Big Sur and that is an amazing account of his alcoholism and his struggles with, I suppose, addiction, all set against the backdrop of Big Sur in California, an, at once, truly beautiful yet utterly wild part of California that is exposed to all the elements of the Ocean..storms etc etc..in effect mirroring this internal war and conflict he is going through with alcohol followed by moments of serenity and peace..cool book.

Philip Roth> American Pastoral, The Human Stain..just wow. Serious subjects, amazing writing..a bloody genius. Porrtnoy's Complaint, whilst also unputdownable, is gas. All about being a degenerate little fuker, all the wanking he does, his complete obsession with the female of the species...I found myself dying laughing at times at some of the shit he was writing. It should be compulsory reading for all young women to understand the absolutely filthy minds that young lads have. It's harmless stuff but a real insight into male thinking and impulses and just all the wank marathons that we engage in even if we completely deny it and pretend it doesn't happen.

Paul Auster> I have read a few of his books and they never disappoint. The best was Moon Palace though. One of those truly America novels where things start out in that hazy American dreamy nostalgic way and then take a very interesting turn into, I suppose, magic realism. It's like Roth meets Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Can't recommend this book highly enough.

Vladimir Nabokov> Lolita: Just a beautiful, beautiful, disturbing, beautiful book. A must read.

Cormac McCarthy: The Road is an incredible read. Blood Meridian very disturbing, dark and as with a lot of McCarthy, you're never quite sure if you really like the book until you start to reflect on it. It leaves a kid of imprint on you that lasts for a very long time. One of those where you look at the bookshelf and pause every time you see the name.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez<: 100 Years of Solitude is truly life changing. Another amazing book is Love in the time of Cholera..an absolutely beautiful book. I also found Chronicle of a death Foretold really great. A similar writer is the Mexican Juan Rulfo who wrote Pedro Paramo..another gem of Magical realism. Loved it. Laura Esquival's Like Water for Chocolate a part of the same tradition..a very enjoyable book. Another book in this tradition is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and while it was a nice read, I would tend far more towards the likes of Love in the Time of Cholera, which seems to work on so many levels, and really is a highly pleasant attack on the senses.

Haruki Murakami: I´ve read quite a few of his books. Tokyo Blues/Norwegian Wood is one of the saddest fucken things I´ve ever read but also really, really beautiful. Up there with teh Catcher in the Rye as one of the great coming of age stories.  Another very odd, but very good read is A Wild Sheep Chase..Murakami is like coffee, just very addictive. He occupies his own space in the world. Another fantastic Japanese writer is Yukio Mishima, who was a very different type of man to Murakami(body builder, martial artist, a desire to return to traditional Japanese Samurai culture etc etc..intense Mofo) but his writing is just as incredible. I am finished The Sailor who fell from Grace and it is just sumptuous writing.

There are tonnes more of writers out there but fuck it if you are looking for somthing to read, all of the above are well worth your time. Apologies for not using more adjectives other than beautiful or great btw.

[kiehozero]

Currently fighting through Murray Bookchin's Ecology of Freedom. It is decent enough but I read a lot of this type of stuff at university and I'd forgotten the level of concentration you need to get through dense academic writing.

I got that goliath Atlas of the Irish Revolution as a birthday present as well. The detail is unreal but I don't see myself finishing it this side of 2020 as it runs to nearly 1000 pages.

[Eoin McLove]

I picked up How to Lose a Country by Ece Temekuran and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari today.  Getting stuck into How to Lose a Country at the minute and it is a depiction of the slow creeping nature of populist culture.  Interesting so far.

[Don Gately]

Reading The Plague by Albert Camus, quite interesting. I  kind of love those kind of books where they trundle along whilst the noose tightens all the time.

[kiehozero]

Reading The Plague by Albert Camus, quite interesting. I  kind of love those kind of books where they trundle along whilst the noose tightens all the time.

Never read any Camus, I'm a sucker for French 20th century philosophers like Foucault and Baudrillard so I've no idea why I've never got around to it.

Just finished the NOFX biography which is very, very dark in places. I've not read The Dirt but I can't see how this is less open and honest than this. Highly recommended.

Started JG Ballard's The Drowned World yesterday and its gripping. It is dystopian but quite refreshing in that it isn't the fault of humanity for once. Fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Reading The Plague by Albert Camus, quite interesting. I  kind of love those kind of books where they trundle along whilst the noose tightens all the time.

Great book. Will be interesting to see what you make of that tightening noose analogy by the end of it (no spoilers in the Books thread though!). Camus is a great writer alright, though nothing much in common with Foucault and Baudrillard. Speaking of French authors, I picked up the first two Paths to Freedom novels by Sartre, which I'm looking forward to getting stuck into in about 10 years time.

[blessed1]

i just finished the uncut version of stephen kings the stand. dont know why i put of reading it for so long, its brilliant.

[Melmoth]

Anyone read The Ritual by Adam Nevill? Reading it at the moment and had a hint that the author might be into metal due to the two halves of the book being titled Beneath the remains and South of heaven, but wasn't expecting the direct references to black metal, corpse paint and bands like Gorgoroth.

Good survival horror, there's a movie on Netflix added recently enough but haven't watched it yet.

[blessed1]

Anyone read The Ritual by Adam Nevill? Reading it at the moment and had a hint that the author might be into metal due to the two halves of the book being titled Beneath the remains and South of heaven, but wasn't expecting the direct references to black metal, corpse paint and bands like Gorgoroth.

Good survival horror, there's a movie on Netflix added recently enough but haven't watched it yet.

Ya I've read this it's pretty decent  although the second half of the book doesn't really stand up against the first half..the film is fairly shit.

[StoutAndAle]

Philip Roth> American Pastoral, The Human Stain..just wow. Serious subjects, amazing writing..a bloody genius. Porrtnoy's Complaint, whilst also unputdownable, is gas. All about being a degenerate little fuker, all the wanking he does, his complete obsession with the female of the species...I found myself dying laughing at times at some of the shit he was writing. It should be compulsory reading for all young women to understand the absolutely filthy minds that young lads have. It's harmless stuff but a real insight into male thinking and impulses and just all the wank marathons that we engage in even if we completely deny it and pretend it doesn't happen.

Paul Auster> I have read a few of his books and they never disappoint. The best was Moon Palace though. One of those truly America novels where things start out in that hazy American dreamy nostalgic way and then take a very interesting turn into, I suppose, magic realism. It's like Roth meets Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Can't recommend this book highly enough.

I'll second those two if you're looking for authors of great American novels post 1960 onward.

Roth's Zuckerman trilogy is worth exploring as well as the works mentioned above.

Auster's New York Trilogy is a great (and zippy) read. I would also recommend "The Music Of Chance" and "The Brooklyn Follies".

I'd also add John Irving's "The World According To Garp".


Just finished reading Scott Saul's "Becoming Richard Pryor" which spans the comedian's family history, through his childhood and onward. It's dark, in some parts bleak but you can see where Pryor got his legendary routines from.

Currently reading "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller. This is my 5th attempt at reading it and by far my most successful. I'm enjoying it far more than when I have tried in the past.

[StoutAndAle]

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[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Yeah, I read Catch-22 in my teens and remember it being a bit of a slog in places, probably because I wasn't expecting it to essentially have no story-line. I bought myself a copy a few years ago with the intention of going through it again with an adult eye, but haven't taken the time yet.

Though I've still never read The World According to Garp! Or A Confederacy of Dunces, which that title just made me think of. Two classics, going by any accounts I've hear.

[StoutAndAle]

I can definitely identify. I first tried reading "Catch-22" in my late teens and found it impossible. Tried again in my twenties a few times. Now that I'm fast approaching 40 I seem to have found some route into the book and I'm enjoying it. That said, it has taken me roughly a week to read 150 pages! 

"The World According to Garp" was very enjoyable. They made a film starring Robin Williams and John Lithgow - from what I remember. "The Hotel New Hampshire" also by John Irving is worth a look too.

I have yet to read "A Confederacy Of Dunces" - I glanced through it a few times but it seems even more dense than "Catch-22".

[Pedrito]

Just finished LOTR for the second time after around 20 years of starting and not finishing. Ah what a great bloody read. Needs to be read in 30-40  page chunks otherwise you lose interest/your way. Needs to be delved into and stuck with. Loved the ending that doesn't appear in the films. A wonderful and very different feel that, again, wasn't captured in the film. He must have been drinking mushy tea or something. Fekin legend. Had read the Hobbit before that and going to order the Silmarillion online to complete the collection here in Madrid. Have multiple copies of sll 3 books back in Ireland but fuck it, another copy always offers something new.

Something that struck me, was that in the parts of the book where Frodo is weak and fucked, the book got very descriptive and laborious. It struck me that this is some sort of literary tool that I noticed in Moby Dick too. Can anyone confirm this? I never studied literature. Similar to the GOT battle scenes where you're almost sick of seeing lads being killed, it seems to create a kind of density/claustraphobia for the reader or watcher. Essentially, the book gets purposely 'heavy' almost boring to bring about a reaction in the reader. And yet when they're legging it around the place, or drinking beers, you never have the same reaction...intrestin indeed