The GOT Book Club

[Black Belt Jones]

God knows I've tried but I've never stuck with Proust. Or Joyce's Ulysses I might add. 100 pages and that's it. I'd say self-indulgent is the reason but that's probably a bit obvious.

I've done two volumes of Proust and have to say they are mesmerising if you can break the back of them and get into the flow of it. Like waking from a dream when you put the book down, never read anything as immersive. Tough writing, though - so incredibly introspective that there are some really challenging passages, he's a kid / teenager in the first two as well, so we're not talking profound meditations, it's more the equivalent of I think that girl might like me but I'm not sure.

Need a clear run at them - wouldn't make any headway trying a few pages a night before bed. I had vol 3 lined up this summer holiday but ended up reading something else and probably be next summer before I try it again.

 

[gonetomorrow]

I've done two volumes of Proust and have to say they are mesmerising if you can break the back of them and get into the flow of it. Like waking from a dream when you put the book down, never read anything as immersive. Tough writing, though - so incredibly introspective that there are some really challenging passages, he's a kid / teenager in the first two as well, so we're not talking profound meditations, it's more the equivalent of I think that girl might like me but I'm not sure.

Need a clear run at them - wouldn't make any headway trying a few pages a night before bed. I had vol 3 lined up this summer holiday but ended up reading something else and probably be next summer before I try it again.

I made a mistake in starting at Book 3 Guermantes Way and it wasn't amusing merely ironic in parts. There is a difference.
I couldn't get on with it.

 

[summerisle]

Three quarters of the way through :

First hand testimony from people (civilians, military and Germans) from the Second World War.
Harrowing details starting from the outbreak ; the shambles of Norway and D Day, continuing to include the graphic horrors of the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, North Africa and the Far East. The best segment (so far) is the description of the Battle for the Atlantic. The horrors that the Merchant Navy endured during sailing, sinking and the treatment they received when back home is something that should be more widely known.
Incidentally, I bought this at the Oxfam book shop at the top of Bold Street, and I can highly recommend it.

 

[summerisle]

Currently reading :

In it a cracking story by Elizabeth Taylor called The Fly Paper. It's not often you're completely surprised at the ending, but this does it to a T. Apparently it was adapted for an episode of Tales of the Unexpected. I'll have to look out for more of her work.
So far, most of the other short stories are of a fine standard. Any recommendations of short story writers, apart from the obvious, will be gratefully received.

 

[wembley84]

If you like Rebus mate, have a look at the Detective novels written by another Scottish author - Stuart McBride.

Set in Aberdeen, based around the trials and tribulations of Det Sgt Logan Macrae.

Ultra black humour, which will have you openly laughing at times. Dark, with some difficult subject matter at times and very well written.

Better than Rebus in my opinion.

Eleven novels to date.

Enjoy the Rebus books so just ordered the first one of these mate, nice one.

 

[COYBL25]

Enjoy the Rebus books so just ordered the first one of these mate, nice one.

I`m just about to finish book 10 of the series - In the Cold Dark Ground.

The quality of the writing never diminishes, in fact it gets better, as you become more familiar with the characters.

I guarantee you`ll be hooked after the first book

 

[random]

Just finished




One of the better books I have read recently, proper page-turner.

Fans of Richard Stark and Dan J Marlowe will like it I am sure.

 

[gonetomorrow]

I've started reading Thomas Hardy again. I had to read it for A level back in 1969. This time I'm reading short stories.

He's brilliant and quite funny underneath it all. Just a great writer. Better than Dickens by far.

 

[Lickle eric]

Mark Ward hammered.
Very good read.

 

[random]

Just finished



Good read about a P.I. recently out of jail
(1st in a 3 book series)

 

[Lickle eric]

Read it yonks ago..but re reading KING RAT by JAMES CLAVELL.
Awesome book.

 

[No Alla Violenza]

Just got the Beastie Boys book and the audiobook - both look/sound amazing, just unsure which one to go for first...

 

[summerisle]

Excellent.

Spy novel amongst the negotiations at Munich. Very good at explaining the motivation of Chamberlain, excellent at the minutiae of the conference and its delegates, and all in all a classic page turner. Features the Hossbach memorandum for those who know what that is.

 

[atrottel]

Just reading Sea of Rust by Robert Cargill.

Good for those of us who enjoy dystopian novels, with the twist that it is robots who are facing the end of their world...

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Finished a re-read of Gene Wolfe's book of the New Sun, last volume the Citadel of the Autarch. Lord have mercy that is some book - not often you pick up a book you thought was mind-blowing as a teenager and realise you were actually under-rating it.

There's something a bit unsettling about its quality, like if you went to the remotest part of Siberia and saw someone had built a palace in the wilderness. A beautiful, amazing structure but just really hard to figure out why it was there and what possessed the architect to build such a wondrous thing.