mais oui

I think of "Dexter" as more of a (sarcastic) take on the traditions of the suspense novel. I think of "American Psycho" as more...well, crazy. I also think that Dexter is lacking a huge "comment" on society that was one of the main themes of American Psycho.

I just finished "Finding George Orwell in Burma" by Emma Larkin. It details a newspaper reporter's attempt to follow the trail that Orwell did while he was stationed there. It worked well as a "window into Orwell's life" sort of book, but it also did a decent job of describing what daily life is like now in Burma (Myanmar). Really interesting.

So next up I've finally got a Christopher Brookmyre to read after King's insistence. Quite Ugly One Morning. Looking forward to it.

Have also bought Fforde's Big Over Easy. Is it going to work as a Jack Spratt novel rather than a Thursday Next novel? Anyone read it yet??

There are various Hiaasen's/McBain's still out there to be read.

Currently reading Sourcery (TP) on my re-read of all of the Discworld Books.

In case anyone missed out on reading Scott Adam's God's Debris, it's now an e-book on the Dilbert Website. It's short, worth a read, and free.

shazaam!

I may have mentioned him before but Ed McBain is a top author. The 87th Precinct novels are the ones to read, police procedural novels involving a variety of detectives from that particular precinct. Have recently read 'Fat Ollie's Book' which is good. They are definite page turners.

There is also one out recently called 'The Frumious Bandersnatch', surely worth a read just for the title. If you enjoy the likes of Poirot/Morse etc but are looking for a bit of inner city American sex appeal and sleaze then these are worth a look. Imagine Midsomer Murders set in Los Angeles and you're about there.

Mike: Brookmyre/Quite Ugly One Morning - excellent so far. And seeing as you have been telling me to read his books for about seven years you were, as always, right. Damn you!

Pete: I have got the book of 'The Fog of War' which is v. good and has reminded me how ace the film was. For those who are interested it is the lessons learned by Robert McNamara who was Secretary for Defence in the Kennedy/Johnson administration. Cuba/Vietnam and all that. Dubya should be forced to read it. Oh wait he can't read can he. Someone should read it to him. Available in film and book format.

Hey; go me.

I shall look into McBain (played by Ranier Wolfcastle?).

For the fantasy fans The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan is very entertaining. Sort of young adult level I guess and with themic similarities to others including Feist; the books tell the tale of Sonea, a young girl who manages to break through the wizards' force field with a rock, indicating untapped magical potential interesting and alarming to the Guild of Magicians who promtly launch a search...

Ok so not a great description but entertaining (if not challenging) books all the same. Dan should certainly check 'em.

I also read ...Dexter; I found it a very interesting read, a little short perhaps, I'd like to see more. Though I was rather confuzzled by all the things left undescribed by the ending...and a little disappointed by the revelation of the bad guy; a little deus ex... if you catch my drift.

Far too long since the last review (c'mon Jennie you must have hit on some gems!) so here's my latest offering:

Title: The Big Breach
by: Richard Tomlinson

In a sentence: Book written by a disenchanted MI6 officer that detailed is experience inside the secret service and his falling out.

I was sent this book via email about 5 years ago. No recollection from who or why but I held onto it. When I bought my xda I converted it into an ebook and stuck it on there for another couple years. I finally decided to read it a few months ago (though it is a little tricky reading a book on a 2x3 inch screen).

Some of you might remember Mr. Tomlison who made the papers several times in the late 90's for publishing this book. Prior to then he was also blamed publically for leaking that big list of MI6 agents.

Anyway - the book is pretty much divided into two parts. The first is his background, how he joins the service and describes some of his missions. I found it really quite interesting what they get up to in the ol' 007 department. Some might say it isn't particularly well written (he's not a writer by trade) but it kind of adds an rough honesty to the stories he tells.

The second half details how he falls out with the service and has his life made into a misery by MI6 (including 12 months in a UK Maximum Security and being banned for life from about 5 countries).

Interesting, easy read. Probably same vein to Spycatcher but i haven't read that.

3.5 / 5

I've read Spycatcher and it does sound similar. However, the vast majority of Spycatcher was interminably dull. Particularly the first half.
The rest of it isn't that great either, it's only saving grace (and one of the reasons it was unavailable for purchase in the UK) is that there is one hugely juicy part in which Peter Wright (author and 'spycatcher' of the title) accuses his boss and head of MI5, Sir Roger Hollis of being the 'Fifth Man'. Since it has since transpired that this was correct, we can assume that Peter Wright wasn't a total moron. However, from the way that the book is written, we can deduce that he is possibly one of the most boring men on the planet.

He manages to make scandals like a plot within MI5 to overthrow the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson at the behest of the CIA seem about as exciting as an average day as an auditor.

I wouldn't bother if I were you.

Reading John Peel's Biography - Margrave of the Marshes at the moment. Tis good. He had a strict private school upbringing (Shrewsbury School), then went into the army for a couple of years. He then went to Texas for much of the 60s where he got into radio by pretending to be friends with the Beatles.

The first half of the book is told by Peel (he died before completing the book) and goes up to the age of his mid-twenties when he was in the USA. Then his wife Sheila (or Pig as she was known) takes over and concludes the story.

Considering I rarely listened to Peel's radio show (mainly because whenever I turned it on he was playing random weird stuff) this is great so far and very, very funny in parts.

The people at Powell's books have interviewed Christopher Moore whom I recommended several posts back as a funny guy. The interview gives you a fair insight into the sort of books you can expect from him--funny, and decidedly odd--but what really sold me on him was this:


Anyone who manages to fit Thursday Next, bacon, and high jinks all into one interview is worth a look.

Hmm you're right; I shall have to look into him.

For anyone who likes 'kids 'n magic' type fantasy stuff may I recommend Diana Wyne Jones' The Merlin Conspiracy; it has really grabbed me. I'll have to review it proper once I 've finished it.

He is a funny guy. So far, I think "Fluke" has been his best effort with "Bloodsucking Fiends" running a close second. There is a turkey-bowling scene in "Fiends" that is truly...bizarre and hilarious.

Doesn't appear to have a British Publisher; he's not in the Surrey Library Catalogue and all the Amazon books are imports...

I'll bring "Fluke" with me when I visit in April. If you like it, I can export the rest a bit at time.

Excellent Smithers

Not really a review but am just halfway through it.

I'm reading Wurthering Heights by Emily Bronte. How confusing is this thing? Perhaps I'm just being simple but I always suffer when books have lots of characters with similar personalities with names all starting with H and having the same names and characters as their parents whilst the story jumps backwards and forwards between generations.

I think I'm getting a handle on it though. Pretty much every paragraph there's a word I don't know. Good thing I'm reading it on my PDA so I can look it up with one click. Also since the page is only 3 inches high on the screen (and about 50 words long) I can now boast a pages-per-second rate almost to that of Jennie!

Dan

Wurthering Heights eh? That a slightly different version of Wuthering Heights with more old people sucking sweets?

You know all the characters have to go to anger management classes as they almost all hate Heathcliff? No? Then you haven't read enough Jasper Fforde.

I had to read half way through this thread to be sure that all of you weren't being sarcastic. I mean MY GOD we're encouraging some sort of culture on this website.

WHO THE FUCK IS RESPONSIBLE?

I mean there I was thinking I was bringing a healthy heterosexual education to the forum by putting up my filthy polls (insert obvious joke here)...but NOOOOO you had to take it just a bit further didn't you Mikey? Well...isn't that serendipitous that I too have read a little more than the latest Larry Flynt publication (though Hef's magazines do actually have more than just tits in them)...

So here goes...

I recently read Reefer Madness and Why Do Men Have Nipples?

Both are brilliant - go get yourself an education.

Big love
Govi*

lalalalalala

And yes another area for study is perhaps this website...

http://jartelle.skynetblogs.be/

Their discourse on the shabalawbalafubbala spoondingadong is absolutely superilificospazmogodo. Give it a go. In English this means:

It has perhaps some of the finest fillies I have ever had the pleasure of not laying eyes on, simply because I happen to live in Dubai and every site off this thing is blocked. But I think you'll find that they actually do house the very best on this here wonderful unobtainable electronic gizmozoid...

So send me postcards chaps and tell me what I'm missing.

*sigh*

Govi*

Aargggh!

Oi, Mr Hairypants. It was me who started this thread and I do not want it to turn into some sort of rampant pornfest.

Watch yourself sonny, or I'll send the boys round.

I take it I shouldn't mix work and Gov's links then...

Alright alright jonnyboy Ill lay off with the 'good stuff'...only cos you've asked...

Sissy.



But you're right King - I really ought to put one of those gay but useful NSFW tags on any MANLY links...yes MANLY...so watch out for them.

But ok ok - let's do this...I started Life of Pi a few nights ago and I find it absolutely unputdownable. I tried reading that something in a cat in the night time of the dog of a roof and found the tone to be a little like Dustin Hoffman from Rain Man doing Sophie's World...so immediately threw it away. Why do people try gimmicky tones? Wankers.

And is anyone interested in redoing some of Dahl? Some of his work for adults is supposed to be awesome...I might give Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Twits another go - love that sheeyat.

lalalalla

Govi*

By the way - my avatar is a painting from the MOMA in New York - absolute bloody genius. King - care to tell us of the origins, the medium and the era of the work? I'm toying with the idea of calling you Data from now on...this Yoda stuff aint fooling anyone you know.

On clicking the link I found another Americanism which really really fucking annoys me.

Coworkers. Everyone in America is a coworker. Are they all in some kind of beehive matrix where you're either a worker or a workee? What the fuck happened to the word colleague? Were there too many vowels in it for them to handle? What's a coworker. Why not just start calling everyone a comrade?

Imagine the following sentences in a horrible long drawn out American twangdrawl:

I was out drinking with my coworkers...SLAP
I was telling my coworker the other day...SLAAAP
You know this guy at the office...Dave...he's a coworker...SLAAAAAAP

Sorry...this Tyrrhits Syndrome - American Version 1.1 is supposedly British Medical Journal Stuff...cant help it.

End rant.

[Mike carefully slides past the 'co-worker' rant to comment on books]

Now With Sailors Fighting Whales?

Yes Life of Pi was excellent (I think we may have posted before but it's worth a re-cap); well-written, great concept, the question is what do you think happened? I like to think Pi was telling the truth; it just all makes sense so much better.

The Stabbing of the Cow In the Billiards Room with a Curious Squid is worthwhile reading through once, if only to gain a perspective of how Autism works. It isn't an altogether fun book though; I ain't reading it again. [Hoffman]"48 Matches"[/Hoffman]

What makes you think I don't constantly re-read Dahl? I think Danny... is my current favourite. I really must re-read George's Marvellous Medicine...

The Merlin Conspiracy was excellent by the way.

Mike (Just to fit in with the cool kids)

Oh yes: Oof by Edward Ruscha (1962-63) Oil on Canvas. Part of the whole PopArt wave I should think.

(Govind calming down on the xenophobic tyrrhitts to engage in some booklike banter and find the parentheses buttons...) ) ))

Knew youd bloody google the oof painting. Tit.

Ahh marvellous - recently saw Burton's version of C and C factory (not the black music outfit of the 90s who did gonna make you sweat till you bleed) and loved it - except the oompa loompas being the same old Indian midget rather annoyed me - the musical contribution was rubbish to a large extent. That German kid was brilliant though - inspired by some Daniel Hertzberg type Im told!

Mikey have you read Switch Bitch and other stories by Dahl. Think you'd love it. And did you ever like any of the Archer Twist in the Tale type stories - really liked those...and I havent got so far into Pi yet so you'll have to spare me the ending and the entire basis of the plot till Im done which should be roughly around this time next year...

But yes - have you read Reefer Madness? Drew me old mucker - you might find this book absolutely astonishing. Some fantastic statistics and chats with all sorts of FBI types and talk of the incredible ways people try to illegally grow da urb in the States in order to avoid being proecuted to hell for terms longer than for rape and murder - Ahhh we come back to the good ol US of A...

(Govind avoiding turning green and tearing every thread on his body except his purple trousers)

OHHHHHHHHHHH FUCK IT......RRRRRAAAAAAARRRRR

GOVI SMASH!

My favourite Dahl was always Fantastic Mr Fox. They're all good though. Some of the short stories are ace.

Didn't he write one about the birth of Hitler? Royal Jelly? Something about him being the only one of his mother's 7 children not to die at birth.

Was that Dahl or Archer? I think it might have been Dahl so yes you're on the right track.

The First Casualty courtesy of Ben Elton.

First, let me say that this was not a terrible book; it just wasn't a very good one. It is basically Elton placing a rather dull mystery (who shot the aristocrat?!?) in the battlefields of WWI while trying to make larger points about war and man's (in)humanity to his fellow man. Unfortunately, the book falls short both in the enjoyable mystery type genre and in the idea that it has a greater point.

That is not to say that it was unreadable or badly done. I just felt the entire time I was reading it that Elton was a bit out of his depth and was compensating by making sure that his readers know just how horrible it had been during that war. Unluckily for him, Birdsong and other books like it do that better, and the mystery itself (which could have made up for the over-done atmostphere by being intriguing) wasn't gripping enough to hold my attention.

The most enjoyable bits were parts where I think Elton's true style comes through and he is funny/sarcastic in spite of himself. Otherwise, other people have done this type of novel before and done it better--but, it still wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. (I'd actually have to think about that...although Grapes of Wrath comes to mind.)

p.s. Dahl has written some amazingly creepy ghost stories as well.

Grapes of Wrath - controversial choice for worst book ever read. Nice.

I have the funny feeling I've aready said this but I con't be bothered to check, so apologies if you've heard it before.

My worst would be between:

Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
Tarka The Otter - by whoever wrote it

Call Of The Wild (Jack London) also bored me half to death. I think I must have an inherent dislike for books involving animals under adversity because I also despise Watership Down. Come to think of it, I seem to remember a book about a cheetah which I found to be pretty unbearable. Must have ejected the name of the book and author from my memory in disgust.

I just remember thinking half-way through GOW that if Rose of Sharon would just lay down and die the book would be over, the dustbowl would be rid of a rather annoying whiner, and I would be a much happier person. Either that, or it just needed to rain. Ahh, high school lit classes, good times.

On a more positive note I also finished Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World : a novel by Haruki Murakami. It was fantastically bizarre. I'd first been introduced to Murakami through his book on the sarin gas attacks in Japan: Underworld. That book is a thoughtful and empathetic piece of reporting and interviewing--he managed to re-create the attacks through the eyes of the victims and the cult members. He is much more famous for his fiction though, which comprises a few novels and many short stores--all of them very, very odd.

This novel is no exception. It follows a "calcutech" whose job it is to encrypt data by running it through a program that has been implanted in his subconcious. Naturally, the doctor who created this program has...added some options...that make everything go a bit wonky, and the man is then in a race against time to save both his life and an alternate reality. Yes, by "odd" I meant "the sort of book that, when summarized, elicts the phrase "the hell" from most people." The novel alternates between the "real" world and the alternate reality in a way that mirrors the "split" right and left "brains" that the calcutechs posses after they are implanted with their programming. Effectively, each calcutech (of which the narrator is the last) survives by being two separate contradictory people. This is NOT a cyber-punk novel in the fashion of Snowcrash. The separation of the right and left sides of a person and the alternate sides of any portion of society (police/criminals, buildings/subways, conscious/sub (un)consious) are thrown up against each other throughout the book, with explosive and fascinating results.

It's not his most approachable work--I would say that The Elephant Vanishes (short stories), Underground (non-fiction), and After the Quake (short stories) are where I would start reading this author, but the book is good, and his language, even translated, is amazing.

Also on my list of worst books ever read?
Billy Bud--Herman Melville. I actually liked Moby Dick, but I could not stand that book--required by the same teacher as GOW actually. That was a really annoying class.

Though I agree that Grapes was boring (as was Mice and Men) I think Steinbeck has a long way to go before he can write a 'classic' quite as awful as The French Lieutenant's Woman. A story of Victorian values subverted by lust in Lyme Regis (or somewhere equally fishy) written in the intrusive author style by someone wearing one too many pairs of brown flares. A book that manages to talk down to it's reader while spouting the most inane gibberish one could hope for from a man with a beard and that took me about a year to read as I had to read another book between chapters just to recover from the shock.
And yes I know Steinbeck's dead but that doesn't mean he can't at least try does it?

The Da Vinci Code

Ok won't go over this too much as it has been commented on before. I did enjoy it and thought the ending was great but I couldn't help feeling that there's something not quite right with Dan Brown. It felt like he basically took a load of historical 'facts/theories', a plot, and then tried to just kind of mesh them together. Parts of it did work, but parts of it just made me feel like I was sitting in a vaguely exciting Theology lecture taken by Indiana Jones.

7.5/10

Just read A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones and I have to say that it was excellent. You know how some authors have good ideas but it's a bit of struggle to get through their books as you don't really warm to them? Well DWJ is one of those authors has both good ideas and a writing style that beckons you on through her novels until you come out blinking on the other side wondering what happened.
This book tells of what happens when a war time evacuee is intercepted on her way to the country by two kids from a place out of time. Whilst she's there it falls mainly to these three to try and prevent the place falling apart as it comes to a time of rebirth. With added cool gadgets from the stable eras and lots of time travel.
It's written for the kids but don't let that stop you, you hear?

Exacta Mundo mon ami from the SAS. The bits in between the facts are so badly written it makes you want to vom. Feels like a Hardy Boys style of writing married with some seriously gripping and interesting facts. I mean how gay were some of the descriptions of the lectures he gave - he keeps having to hark back to memories or lectures or pieces of literature he sees in his coffee. Something not unlike this:

And as he sat in the plane and waited for the fit chick next to him to tittilate him with another riddle about goats and conch shells Langdon spotted a piece of cloth on the seat opposite him whose criss-cross pattern reminded him of a story of how a witch once destroyed the mega-universe with a black hole she was able to create out of used candles and a piece of scotch tape. It was obviously the subject of another lecture he had given at the universite de bonbon in Paris where a fat eared rugby player had asked him how the candle came to be. Langdon had explained that this one time, at Sparta bandcamp, a midget called gargomel had tried to set off a tiny TNT fuse in his ear and when it didn't work decided that wax could be used as a brilliant medium for mobile light. Another student shouted out 'phee' as a pronounciation for wax and he was immediately stripped naked and put into the recovery position for fear of ruining the plot about the Vitruvian man. And then the plane got stuck in a car chase round some cherry blossom trees on the rue de saint de gerbil and Langdon decided that it was time for another riddle...

Awful stuff but captivating legends and facts. Yup - I agree.

Wait: So what happened to the candle? What motivated the midget? Who is the Vitruvian man? And why the fuck is there a polar bear on the island?

Haha hahaha aaaaghahahahahaahahahah. Americans! (Not all of them obviously...)

What I love is the fact that after viewing items like this 23% of customers bought Wet Nightmares, Wet Dreams by Michael Huxley. Nice.

oh dear god.

Of course, in second place was "My Search for the Son of Sam" which is apparently mostly biblical and a little murderous. People who read Prince William fan fiction must be truly odd.

Also, King, how in the world did you come across the book? searching amazon for "HRH" are you? or just terrible american literature?

AHA! That's the whole point mate - it's the Da Vinci CODE!!! Its not supposed to be that obvious!

Good question, I wish my answer was interesting; I am Valorie Beardsley, a closet Wills shipper...nah it's just something I saw on another forum and thought I must share.

The people I'm worried about are the ones that published the damn thing; they must be really twisted. I swear, if I'd never met an American I'd think they're all raving idiots. Is there a critical mass? If you have more than a certain number in a room average IQ falls by 50%? Or is that just true for humans in general?

Govistar mon ami this is worthy of a Jammyploy joint email its so good. And I dont say that lightly.

Has anyone here read anything by Will Self? Recommendations please.

The Fourth Bear

Oh. fantastic.

Also, I have just read the first four books in Garth Nix's "Keys to the Kingdom" series. For those of you who like fantasy novels/young adult lit., these are great books. They follow the story of a young boy who inherits what is basically the key to a house between dimensions. Each floor of the house is assigned to a day, each day is represented by a sort of god-like figure, and the days have begun to fight amongst themselves, expand their power inappropriately, etc... It's very well done. The first in the series is called Mister Monday. Here's a quote:


So, yes, worth a look.

I have also read two of Jonnyboy's rec's: The Piano Tuner and The Ned Kelly Gang : both were excellent. Read them!

Thank you all for your contributions.

Now back to Self. Will Self. Any recommendations? Come on guys!

I think that the deafening silence implies that no-one has read any Self. I therefore recommend The Quantity Theory of Insanity. As it has his name on the front cover.

Actually Govistar I do remember reading 'Feeding Frenzy' which is his collected articles and reviews from the late 90's - which are very good obviously. But I haven't read any of his novels per se. I can imagine them being quite dark and twisted and very wordy. Other than that I couldn't possibly comment.

Two books I've been dipping in and out of recently while reading The Big Over Easy.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - ok its a bit girly maybe but quite charming in a sort of 'London/New York in the 1950's' kind of way. Its the correspondence between a screen-writer in NY (Helene Hanff) and Marks & Co booksellers on Charing Cross Road in London. Most of the humour is around rare books, rationing, the speed of mail delivery, but there are some generally funny moments and it is great to see the relationship develop even though they were 3000 miles away.

The Return of the Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper - this guy basically spends his time writing nonsensical letters to British companies/societies asking ridiculous questions. Bloody hilarious I recommend it to everyone. My favourite part is when he writes to Claridges to ask if they can accommodate his motorised calf. Yes thats motorised calf.

This is one of my favorite books. She wrote a sequel "The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street" that details the time when she finally actually gets to visit England. It doesn't have the same quality of writing, but it's a fun read to get the complete story.

How is Fforde so far?

I really like The Big Over Easy; it wasn't as overtly funny as TN1-4; I kept reading it to find out who dunnit. It reads more like a 'proper' detective novel than one might expect, but if I were to lay out the plot (which I won't 'cos it may just ruin it a bit) it would sound every bit as wierd as you might expect from Fforde; a guy who wrote a book about another character travelling within books and changing the ending of Jane Eyre.

I also like the fact that the book is quite clearly what Caversham Heights (from TN-3) became once Thursday was done (complete with the generics she made friends with) except set 20 or so years later (ie nowish). I think he's imporving as a storyteller and now he's done with plotholing Thursday Next he'll have plenty of classics to come.

None of this is very clear...I don't think I have the patience for typing at lunchtime...back to All Fun and Games...I think.