Read Any Good Books Lately?

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

It's still missing and, seeing as my threats of torture were met by much derision at BHB Towers, I have decided to be typically British about it- ie, I shall wait, do nothing about it and see if it turns up.

 

Until then, James Ellroy's 'LA Confidential' has my attention.

[Gunjaman5000 30]

It's still missing and, seeing as my threats of torture were met by much derision at BHB Towers, I have decided to be typically British about it- ie, I shall wait, do nothing about it and see if it turns up.

 

Until then, James Ellroy's 'LA Confidential' has my attention.

Now that Ellroy would be a strange old fish. He's employed detectives to solve his mother's unsolved murder and owns the police crime scene photos. Yoiks!!!

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Just finisted Hide and Seek, by Eric Clark, a crime novel. Well written, if a bit overdone in details of the environment to give scenes in the past authenticity. Good story, nice read.

 

regards,

Hein

[maryportfuncity 10,646]

For the sake of an upcoming course I'm working my way through Thomas Hardy's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' thought I'd hate it but I love the way he does dialogue and character.

[pulphack 6]

Godot - hope you enjoyed The Ascent Of Rum Doodle, which is a lovely book. If you liked it, look out for The Cruise Of The Talking Fish, which is even funnier. I didn't even know Bowman had written another one until I replaced my long since lost copy of Rum Doodle with a Pimlico volume that housed both of them, a few months back. If, by any chance, your copy has any information in it, do you know if there were more than those two?

[TLC 9]

For the sake of an upcoming course I'm working my way through Thomas Hardy's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' thought I'd hate it but I love the way he does dialogue and character.

If you're doing a course, remember that if a brief description of Michael Henchard is ever needed, just use the phrase 'Caged Lion' and smile enigmatically. When you've finished the book you should see that his character fits the description well enough all the way through.

 

Trust me, it worked for my 1992 A Level English Literature exam anyway, although the supervising teachers probably wondered why I kept smiling enigmatically to myself....

 

Hardy is the only author I studied for A levels that I ever willingly purchased other books by. Far From The Madding Crowd was pretty good I seem to recall. A shame Hardy is fixated with changing the names of amost all of the towns in the semi-mythical 'Wessex' area, seeing as he doesn't alter anything else about them so there's no point to it. For instance, there's still Portsmouth, but Reading becomes Kennetbridge (due to the river Kennet I think, but still...) just because he feels like it.

 

I am currently avoiding reading Allan Carr's stopping smoking book. I read it once before and I stopped for 3 weeks which is about 2 1/2 weeks longer than any of my other attempts. I mean my one other attempt. A very weird book; nothing in it that you don't already know, easy to spot the sales/brainwashing techniques (repetition of key phrases through the whole book etc.) and I had no feeling of 'I hate cigarettes' when I finished it, but I just didn't want one at all, no craving. I was convinced for 3 weeks that I'd never smoke again. Shame about the cannabis though, as soon as I tried that again it all went up in smoke. Pun intended & acknowleged as lame.

[Godot 149]

Godot - hope you enjoyed The Ascent Of Rum Doodle, which is a lovely book. If you liked it, look out for The Cruise Of The Talking Fish, which is even funnier. I didn't even know Bowman had written another one until I replaced my long since lost copy of Rum Doodle with a Pimlico volume that housed both of them, a few months back. If, by any chance, your copy has any information in it, do you know if there were more than those two?

I didn't know about that second book. Most of his other (unpublished) work it says was on the Theory of Relativity. Think I might give that a miss. Haven't read much of RD yet. Anyway I see he did do some more stuff according to this:

 

http://www.rumdoodle.org.uk/works.htm

[Godot 149]

Mmm Pulp... not sure that Mith Son of Nith will have me racing on to Amazon. I think he must have been taking something.

 

http://www.rumdoodle.org.uk/works.htm#mith

[Canadian Paul 97]

Wayyyy back when I joined this forum in November, I mentioned I had been reading "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexander Soly for the past little while. Well, a year later, after large periods of on-again, off-again reading, I finally finished that nightmare of a novel this morning.

 

It's an exceedingly interesting book, and I think he deserves his Nobel. By goly, though, is it ever crap to read (whoa, I just got a total Deja Vu - like I need one of those to remind me of that book ) The middle section where he discusses the trials could have been cut down by one or two hundred pages and I would have still gotten the same point. It took me quite a long time to go from "I think I'll bang my head against the wall instead of reading the rest of this chapter" to "I think I'll finish this chapter before I go to work. It's very difficult to get through because all the interesting parts are surrounded by traditional Russian wordiness. I'd say it's an interesting read in the end, but only if you have a LOT of time on your hands.

 

Plus, seeing everything he went through, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes to 90, probably even way beyond.

 

Next up, I'm going to try and redeem him by reading "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." Since it's a fraction of the length, I'm guessing it will go buy much faster.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother - Gabriel Garcia

 

A girl is forced to prostitute herself to pay back a debt to her heartless grandmother after accidently burning her house down. Laugh a minute stuff.

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

I'm currently flying through "Harry Price: the Biography of a Ghost Hunter" by Paul Tabori, a fascinating insight into one of the finest showmen of the century, and a high quality sceptic to boot.

[pulphack 6]

Splendid choice, ATJ - a class book and a cracking read. And, if you've got the 'Dennis Wheatley Library Of The Occult' edition, one of many top 70's covers in the series. If you crave more, try and find Harry's own 'Search For Truth', which - er - strains with modesty. Harry - the Barnum of the occult!

[Brinsworth House Baiter 12]

Well, finished Ellroy's 'LA Confidential' and have to say I was mighty impressed. Was completely lost for the first three or four chapters due to the volume of introduced characters and the LA fifties 'cop speak', but I'm glad I stuck with it. Now I can watch the film that I've had on video for years and never gotten round to seeing.

 

Over the weekend I relaxed in the sunshine with 'Inside the Firm' by Tony Lambriouni (wrong spelling but can't be arsed to go and check- he's retired from his knee capping days so I don't think he'll be too upset if he reads this). He was one of the main players with the Kray Twins in the sixties and went down with them for the Jack the Hat murder. Interesting read and the chapters concerning his time in jail were enough to remind me that it's not really a place I ever wish to spend my days.

 

The whole sixties gangster scene fascinates me- although not in a romantic, 'Robin Hood', they loved their dear old mum and only hurt their own kind of way way, because these guys were undoubtedly heartless bastards, but they did seem to have a certain class.

 

One line from it will stick with me forever. Talking about his impoverished childhood in the war hit East End, he said that they never had any toys and added:

 

'Our toys were bricks and our playgrounds bomb sites.'

 

I liked that, so I thought I'd share it. See? They were all misunderstood pussy cats really...

[Tempus Fugit 214]

John le Carre's "The Constant Gardener", pretty good read, those bastard Pharmas. Haven't seen the film mind, probably not a patch on the book.

[Banshees Scream 110]

John le Carre's "The Constant Gardener", pretty good read, those bastard Pharmas. Haven't seen the film mind, probably not a patch on the book.

 

Tell me more about the Constant Gardener. And what is nurtured.

[Gunjaman5000 30]

John le Carre's "The Constant Gardener", pretty good read, those bastard Pharmas. Haven't seen the film mind, probably not a patch on the book.

I found the film to be arseulent. Slow beginning, drab middle, dull end. I spent most of the time wondering how Ralph is pronounced rhyming with safe and not Alf.

 

Ridiculous all round.

[Banshees Scream 110]

John le Carre's "The Constant Gardener", pretty good read, those bastard Pharmas. Haven't seen the film mind, probably not a patch on the book.

Ridiculous all round.

 

Second thought, Tempus you won't have to waste your time.

[Lady Grendel 139]

I spent most of the time wondering how Ralph is pronounced rhyming with safe and not Alf.

 

This site seems to explain the pronunciation G5000, my grandfather's middle name was Ralph and he pronounced it Rafe, seems daft to me but there you go.

[Lady Die 63]

I spent most of the time wondering how Ralph is pronounced rhyming with safe and not Alf.

 

This site seems to explain the pronunciation G5000, my grandfather's middle name was Ralph and he pronounced it Rafe, seems daft to me but there you go.

That site doesn't really explain it at all. Personally I think it's just affectation. From now on please could everyone call me Lady Dee-ay.

[maryportfuncity 10,646]

Currently reading the classic; 'Fact and Fiction; The New Journalism and the Non-Fiction Novel' pretty much does what it promises on the cover, albeit it's a classic - published in 1977.

 

I'm doing some research into non-fiction novels. Has anyone read such an item recently they might - like - enjoy sharing with the group?

[Lady Grendel 139]

I spent most of the time wondering how Ralph is pronounced rhyming with safe and not Alf.

 

This site seems to explain the pronunciation G5000, my grandfather's middle name was Ralph and he pronounced it Rafe, seems daft to me but there you go.

That site doesn't really explain it at all. Personally I think it's just affectation. From now on please could everyone call me Lady Dee-ay.

 

I thought the fact the site said this:

 

i) "Ralph" was traditionally pronounced this way in Britain

 

explained it, the 'proper' English pronunciation is 'Rafe'. Nowadays I think it probably is an affectation, perhaps those who prefer this think it makes them sound upper class.

[in eternum+ 22]

I thought the fact the site said this:

 

i) "Ralph" was traditionally pronounced this way in Britain

 

explained it, the 'proper' English pronunciation is 'Rafe'. Nowadays I think it probably is an affectation, perhaps those who prefer this think it makes them sound upper class.

Like how the last name 'St John' is pronounced to rhyme with 'engine' instead of 'moron'?

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

I thought the fact the site said this:

 

i) "Ralph" was traditionally pronounced this way in Britain

 

explained it, the 'proper' English pronunciation is 'Rafe'. Nowadays I think it probably is an affectation, perhaps those who prefer this think it makes them sound upper class.

Like how the last name 'St John' is pronounced to rhyme with 'engine' instead of 'moron'?

 

Or why the ancient and distinguished surname "Featherstonehaugh" is pronounced "Fenshaw"

[TLC 9]

Or why the ancient and distinguished surname "Featherstonehaugh" is pronounced "Fenshaw"

And indeed 'Mainwaring' is pronounced 'Mannering', just in case English isn't already non-phonetic enough.

 

I have just purchased a book called 'Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary' (sic) which is supposed to go through many of the irregularities of English spelling, common mistakes and the reasons behind them. I consider myself a fairly good speller, but already my lack of spelling ability has been massively exposed by this book. It mainly consists of lists, so is more a reference book than a novel.

 

For that sort of thing, The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg is a well written story, and is also full of interesting facts. None of which I can remember, but they seemed good at the time.

 

Much like with Dr. Johnson's dictionary, the heroine of the story is Old Mother Tongue, and no-one gets into a sticky situation over a pound note in Mr Bragg's book either.

[in eternum+ 22]

I have just purchased a book called 'Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary' (sic) which is supposed to go through many of the irregularities of English spelling, common mistakes and the reasons behind them. I consider myself a fairly good speller, but already my lack of spelling ability has been massively exposed by this book. It mainly consists of lists, so is more a reference book than a novel.

I always considered myself a relatively good speller, until one night I watched part of that programme "The Great British Spelling Bee" or whatever it was called, where they invited "celebrities" onto teams and basically, well, had a spelling bee.

 

I boasted confidently to my housemate prior to the programme's commencement how good a speller I was; I was then systematically proven otherwise.

 

I've also discovered that, for the life of me, I cannot spell the word "exghstaughsted". I can never remember where the 'g', the 'h', or the 's' goes, and I'm pretty-sure-though-not-entirely-convinced that there's an 'x' in there somewhere too. It's extremely frustrating, as I tend to use the word all the time.