What are you reading at the moment?

[moosegrinder]

The writings a bit clumsy but I like all that Steampunk bollocks so I'm going to give it a chance.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

Thirst for Love by Mishita. Powerful, crazy writing from a man who was both himself!

[SnoopZakaDaVe]

i've just been reading a book i've had for ages called "Screwed. The Truth About Life as a Prison Officer" by someone called ronnie thompson, it's alright but nothing special. just gives insight into prison stuff and what the staff have to go through and put up with.

[DeadRussian]

Just finished "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell. A somewhat sobering and unromantic account of his time spent fighting with the POUM (Spanish Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) during the Spanish Civil War. Through his eyes, the whole war is borderline farcical and he remains so delightfully bourgeois and English throughout the whole experience. An enjoyable read anyway, I especially appreciated learning a bit more about both the Spanish Civil War and George/Eric. Give it a read, you filthy running dogs of imperialism.

[Sirloin]

I've just finished From the city, from the plough by Alexander Baron. Its about a British battalion before and in the weeks following D-Day. I haven't really read too many novels dealing with the British in WW2, well, not purely military focused ones as this book is. The nearest parallels I can think of are probably The Thin Red Line or Naked and the Dead, but its not really like them in that is does have an extended home focused section unlike the aforementioned US novels. There does seem to be a paucity of novels like this from the British side, which is a shame as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Its been out of print for a while, but it really is a great little book. He really captures the chatacters of the individual soldiers well, and his descriptions of the battles in the later stages of the book are really vivid. A lot of it is based on his own experiences, it was published just after the war, and I think its now relative obscurity is undeserved. Check it out if you can find a copy.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

That sounds intriguing as well. If you're looking for more WW2 British military fiction, I can heartily recommend more or less anything that Derek Robinson wrote, but particularly Piece of Cake and A Good Clean Fight. Piece of Cake is about a Hurricane squadron between September 1939 and September 1940 and I've recommended it at length before now. One of the most powerful works of fiction I've read, perfectly capturing the pilots' experiences and the flawed humanity of those involved in the war. Also very funny at times. A Good Clean Fight is the follow-up, essentially, with a couple of the same characters. It's about the desert war in 1942 in North Africa, and also takes in SAS raiders and several groups on the German side as well. It's not quite as pure as Piece of Cake (which is basically Robinson's masterpiece) but it explores the horrible futility of war more effectively, in a way - the sheer wasteful pointlessness of the desert war is more stark than the Battle of Britain (even though Robinson makes a case for the aerial battle being essentially irrelevant to Britain's survival). Like the book you mention, they're out of print as far as I'm aware, but you can pick them up on Amazon Marketplace. Just try to get the version of Piece of Cake with the crashed Hurricane on the cover, all the other covers are godawful.

Just finished "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell. A somewhat sobering and unromantic account of his time spent fighting with the POUM (Spanish Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) during the Spanish Civil War. Through his eyes, the whole war is borderline farcical and he remains so delightfully bourgeois and English throughout the whole experience. An enjoyable read anyway, I especially appreciated learning a bit more about both the Spanish Civil War and George/Eric. Give it a read, you filthy running dogs of imperialism.

I found Homage to Catalonia a deeply moving book, as well as being written with a style and clarity and humour that was very engaging. His descriptions of the Barcelona street fighting leapt off the page despite the economy of language.

[Swallow]

The charges for books on the Kindle store are really pissing me off now. I'd have Homage... by now based on your two recommendations but as I have an irrational objection to paying c.50% more for an electronic edition that is probably riddled with grammatical errors as every other one I've bought has been I've got to wait for a pulp version to come in the post. Sorry trees. At least it will match nicely with my other Penguin Modern Classics which is a lovely imprint.

edit: and it only cost me 24p as I had some credit left on my account. Cash back!

[DeadRussian]

I found Homage to Catalonia a deeply moving book, as well as being written with a style and clarity and humour that was very engaging. His descriptions of the Barcelona street fighting leapt off the page despite the economy of language.

I loved how he never really seemed to get particularly close to anyone while he was out there, making him appear like an outsider looking in a lot of the time, even though he was in the thick of it at times. His descriptions of nearly all the people he came across in Spain and the respect he had for the men fighting out there (even the men he was fighting against), and of the Spanish population in general, were really touching and heartwarming.

[vamecum]

Just finished Hunger by Knut Hamsun. The book is based on a struggling writer that goes hungry and a bit insane. The style is a bit similar to the in depth psyche description I got when reading Crime and punishment.

Now I'm about to start on the great gatsby.

[Swallow]

The Great Gatsby is a good story but thinking of it after having read Tender is the Night it doesn't seem as special. It has some wonderful passages for sure though, and you're in for a treat. I can't recommend Tender enough though.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

Cityboy!

Why are you so fat?

Because every time I fuck your wife she gives me a biscuit.

[Flub]

I'm currently reading Iris Abroad. The latest collection of short stories about Iris Wildthyme. Iris is a spinoff character from the Doctor Who novels (The ones published while the show was off the air). Her origins are uncertain but she travels through time and space in a red double decker bus (The Number 22 to Putney) which is slightly smaller on the inside than on the outside with her stuffed Panda "Panda". Panda is an art critic and snob.

The first story sees them travel to Darlington to pickup some booze only to find the Tesco Express infested with evil creatures and all the gin in the local boozer replaced by water. The second story had me lolling. Summoned by the military to Texas Iris is tasked with rescuing an air force pilot called "Junior" from a UFO. (George Bush for all of you who haven't read it ) Panda sees this as a chance to fix history by not saving him and Iris (In a fantastic parody of Pyramids of Mars) takes him forward to 2010 to show him the mess not saving Junior will cause. Where they find a utopia. Everyone has jet packs and flying cars and the rivers flow with gin. The ending is not what you'd expect.

[Monkeyboy]

Finished The Invisible Man. Quite an exciting, yet tragic ending. Now onto the third John Carter book, The Warlord of Mars. I have a total boner for Edgar Rice Burroughs' books.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

I just read Cityboy in about 2 sittings and it was great! He's not the best writer around 'he was as likely to x as y was to do z!) is not a great comedy device and the character is hard to get along with, but it was compelling, funny and most of all, completely honest. On a personal level, his first day in the city just rings true... the description of the character types - the geeky spreadsheet wresters and the fat Essex boys especially are spot on.

If you don't find laddish humour too offensive and have an interest in how ridiculous banking culture is then you should read this book.

[Kingpin]

I've just finished off Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks. Honestly, I was bored to death by the time it ended. I've been reading his sci fi stuff in order and it has been downhill since Player of Games for me. I think I'll skip feersum and go to Excession next time I fancy reading one of his books.

[moosegrinder]

Finished the first Pax Britannia book. Apparently the guy's wrote Sonic The Hedgehog and Warhammer 40k novels, which explains a lot because it read like someone who wrote for dorks and kids a lot of the time. He made repeated use of words like he'd just found out their meaning which annoyed the living piss out of me. I hate reading mediocre books.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

Finished the first Pax Britannia book. Apparently the guy's wrote Sonic The Hedgehog and Warhammer 40k novels, which explains a lot because it read like someone who wrote for dorks and kids a lot of the time. He made repeated use of words like he'd just found out their meaning which annoyed the living piss out of me. I hate reading mediocre books.

They say that you shouldn't, but when you posted a link to the front covers I made a very quick and, it turns out, accurate judgement.

Some of the 40k books aren't too bad though!

[moosegrinder]

Yeah, the covers are awful but I'm a sucker for Steampunk shit. It's just the most spectacularly derivative, boring, predictable steampunk it makes me a little sad. I still read the fucking thing. I'm back onto Jasper Fforde now though, so we're all good

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Is there any good steampunk? I mean, really?

Is anything ever improved by adding an airship?

[MikeJones]

I finished Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes in a single plane flight - fantastic novel.

It is a delightful and simple (yet emotionally challenging) read, if you're up for more from the Sci Fi Masterworks list I would recommend Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg as a follow up. It has a similar arc of inevitable downfall of a character's ability - which the character has come to define as his identity, but instead of hyper-intelligence in this case it is telepathy that wanes throughout the story. I finished it a few months ago for the first time and keep having to force myself to read other books instead of going right back to it.

Right now I'm reading Lord of the Flies for the first time, it's part of my quest to fill in all the cultural blanks I feel I'm missing from having shit English teachers throughout school and college. So far, so excellent.

[Wickedkitten]

Totally and utterly absorbed with Horns by Joe Hill, this guy is a serious talent. Within the first 10 pages of this one I was hooked. Highly recommend it

Check out Heart shaped box too. amazon currently have his book of short stories on their US site for 99p. Definitely as talented as his dad

[moosegrinder]

Is there any good steampunk? I mean, really?

Is anything ever improved by adding an airship?

Only manga seems to get it right. I should have read up on the writer really. Oh well, nay mind.

[Swallow]

I've just read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Never has a sucker-punch made me feel like more of a sucker or hit me so hard. Incredible technique that elevates the story to greatness, if such a word is appropriate to use in this context.

[MrPogo]

Reading the second "True Blood" book at the minute (after getting ten of them for a tenner on some website or other a while back). I'm not quite sure whether or not to keep reading after the third; it seems the TV series essentially follows the plot of one book per season, but in a vastly expanded form (in terms of sub plots and characters), so as far as I'm concerned the TV show is the main event. As such I'm torn between "Don't want to spoil series four" and "But there have been several key differences in each book so far, so I'll still get a fair few major surprises (and they'll be all the more surprising on the occasions I'm expecting something else to happen)"...

[Kingpin]

Just put down The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy. Absolutely superb as you would expect. I think Black Dahlia edges it slightly but both wonderful books. I'll get to LA Confidential soon enough but I already own American Tabloid, I assume that's completely separate from the LA Quartet?

Next up is Horns by Joe Hill.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

American Tabloid is indeed completely separate from the LA Quartet, except for a couple of very tiny links (such as Hush-Hush Magazine being featured in both). It's the first book of his Underworld USA trilogy. I recommend reading LA Confidential first, if only for storyline continuity. The LA Quartet, from what I've seen (yet to get onto White Jazz), would more properly just be called the LA Trilogy and have the Black Dahlia be counted as standalone. TBN and LA Confidential (and White Jazz) are pretty closely linked by contrast.

In The Big Nowhere, did

Danny Upshaw's suicide hit you as hard as it did me? He was easily my favourite of the protagonists and his abrupt downward spiral shocked me.

[Art Vandelay]

I'm reading The First 49 Stories by Hemingway at the moment, but it's taking me ages. The individual tales are amazing of course, but with no overarching narrative to grab you it's easy to put it down and forget about it. I'll be glad to finish it now and get onto a proper novel.

[Silent Runner]

In The Big Nowhere, did

Danny Upshaw's suicide hit you as hard as it did me? He was easily my favourite of the protagonists and his abrupt downward spiral shocked me.

Totally destroyed me that bit. Fucking Dudley Smith.

[Kingpin]

In The Big Nowhere, did

Danny Upshaw's suicide hit you as hard as it did me? He was easily my favourite of the protagonists and his abrupt downward spiral shocked me.

Yeah, though I had a feeling it was all going to go tits-up as soon as he started being recognised as a homosexual. It all just happened so quickly though Later on I was hoping Buzz would just shotgun the whole room at the heroin deal, taking Mickey & Dudley out.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

I'm reading The First 49 Stories by Hemingway at the moment, but it's taking me ages. The individual tales are amazing of course, but with no overarching narrative to grab you it's easy to put it down and forget about it. I'll be glad to finish it now and get onto a proper novel.

I kinda feel the same way about 1001 nights. Great stories and I love how they slosh into each other, but I struggle to put more than an hour in at any one time.