The GOT Book Club

[wm02]

No I didn't really enjoy the Satanic Verses. I appreciate the significance, but I wouldn't say it was of great significance to me.

I'll check out Master & Margarita.

I find I batch read by authors from particular countries - I think stylistically and thematically they tend to be similar so easier to follow..

Same. I’ve read 4 or 5 Rushdie novels and Satanic Verses is probably my least favourite.

 

[BigMick]

Anyone read any Albert Memmi? I've just finished a reread of his 1st novel, The Pillar of Salt (1953), the first time I've read it since I was at university (back in the Dark Ages). Unlike too many of the books of my youth I found it to be every bit as powerful as I remembered, its depiction of life in French-colonial Tunisia every bit as vivid. It's firmly based on Memmi's own life growing up as a Tunisian-Jew, but unlike other such autobiographical novels, there's no trace of self-righteousness, self-pity or self-congratulation - instead it's brutally honest with the protagonist frequently unlikable. Ultimately, though, he wins me over - he's an outsider, after all, with the outsider's sense of alienation. Unsurprising, then, that Albert Camus wrote the preface to the novel.

Memmi became better known for his non-fiction work, notably The Coloniser and the Colonised, preface written by Sartre, while a couple of his later books, notably the collection of essays published in 1974 as Jews and Arabs, should be essential reading for anyone genuinely interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and compulsory for any Western would-be peacemaker. Memmi brings the same brutal honesty to his non-fiction work, which can make for uncomfortable reading, which is what makes him so readable today.

Next up for me is one of his later novels, The Scorpion.

 

[degsy]

Same. I’ve read 4 or 5 Rushdie novels and Satanic Verses is probably my least favourite.

I can read most things, but I bailed at P24

 

[degsy]

Re-reading 'Great Expectations' by Dickens.

The opening scene , Magwitch confronting Pip in the graveyard, still sends shivers down my spine.

David Lean captures this well in his film adaptation.

That opening scene - all wind swept black and white bleakness is a classic.

 

[Nobby Nobbs]

Re-reading 'Great Expectations' by Dickens.

The opening scene , Magwitch confronting Pip in the graveyard, still sends shivers down my spine.

David Lean captures this well in his film adaptation.

Snap I’m reading it too, read Oliver Twist, and Christmas Carol is next, must admit there are times I find it difficult to follow the dialogue with it being written in it’s original text but still a great read.

 

[summerisle]

If you like potatoes, a must read.

 

[summerisle]

I've got a long, long way to go.

 

[JohnRoss23]

Just finished reading ‘Scar Tissue’ the autobiography of Anthony Kiedis. An amazing read if you are a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

 

[Bilko]

Found this sequel fairly boring why has author written 600 pages,or any author for that matter, pages and pages of descriptions which don't add to the plot, turned into a pirates of the Caribbean type book which as it developed and became more and more confusing. You'd think after 600 pages you'd get the ending !.
Highly disappointing after the first book.
Must learn to not feeling I must read books to the end, very annoying

 

[Shevin Keedy]

Memmi became better known for his non-fiction work, notably The Coloniser and the Colonised, preface written by Sartre, while a couple of his later books, notably the collection of essays published in 1974 as Jews and Arabs, should be essential reading for anyone genuinely interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and compulsory for any Western would-be peacemaker. Memmi brings the same brutal honesty to his non-fiction work, which can make for uncomfortable reading, which is what makes him so readable today

This is ringing a bell, I'd be going back years but I think I have read it. Will need to check and confirm

 

[woodsyni]

If you like potatoes, a must read.

Is this available in Hasselback?

 

[summerisle]

Is this available in Hasselback?

Bed !

 

[JohnRoss23]

‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess. Which version do most prefer? I had seen the movie probably 12-15 years ago and didn’t know it was based off a book. I don’t really remember much about the movie so I’m going to give it another watch this weekend but I did like the book.

 

[Bilko]

The racketeering ,John Grisham.
Easy holiday read, what you'd expect from him tbh.

 

[Martin Alvito]

‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess. Which version do most prefer? I had seen the movie probably 12-15 years ago and didn’t know it was based off a book. I don’t really remember much about the movie so I’m going to give it another watch this weekend but I did like the book.

The book is solid. Very different vibe than Kubrick's take, in part because of the whole final chapter controversy.