A jolly good read?

[Paddingtonwolf]

The ending is very sad. Sorry wrong book.

Tell you what - When the Wind Blows is one of the most moving books out there. And I liked Fungus the Bogeyman too. Raymond Briggs is genius stuff.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

During my winter hibernation i read Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathin in Las Vegas, and frankly i'm not sure what to make of it.
I enjoyed it, but truthfully have no idea why.

At certain points i wondered if i should be stoned to read it, although i don't partake.
At other times i backtracked trying to decide if it was meant to be more of a "documentary" dare i say it.
Is this the american Tom Sharpe i wondered, but on acid? or the zany and quite mad Spike Milligan.

Or did i simply not get it.

I have it close at hand and will certainly read it again, in the hope, that like "Catch 22" it all becomes clearer second time around.

So if any of you have read it, I would be very interested to read your critique.

I've read Fear and Loathing - I've also done a fair bit of acid and liked the film so my opinion was already tainted.

Its written in his 'gonzo' style journalism that he pioneered. Its basically a drug fuelled stream of conciousness style of writing, a bit less comprehensive than earlier pioneers of the style (like Joyce) but with some brilliant observations and lines (my signature being one of them) Ive struggled to read any of his other stuff to be honest, but as a weird trippy novel, its not bad.

Considering that he was meant to have been covering a motorbike race, its an interesting take on it!

If you ever get the chance, read 'one flew over the cuckoos nest' it was written through the Indians eyes as opposed to the film which centred on Jack Nicholson's character, its a brilliantly written book

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Thanks Newbridge, i haven't really encountered his "gonzo" style journalism, and "a wierd trippy novel" kinda sums up perfectly where it left my mind after finishing it. I will give it another go though, and see if i can find any of his journalism on the net. I did find it very funnybin places, (not sure if that should worry me) and the lawyer character was something else indeed.

Shows how confused i got, i thought they were covering a dune buggy race, ala Paris Dhakar, as opposed to motorbikes.

I will certainly get hold of "cuckoo's nest" and thanks for the recommendation.

 

[t3ch]

Finally arrived... so now I'm reading this. Kind of hard for me to get through it though... I don't understand a lot of the inside jokes and humor so far.

 

[Penk Wolf]

If you want you could stick them on 'The Boys from The Black Country' thread and we'll try and explain them.

 

[Langers]

Had to go back to page 5 to find this thread. What a bunch of Philistines we are.

Anyway, just finishing Ian Sinclair's London Orbital, the story of his walk around the M25. (Not actually on the motorway, but through the villages, towns, shopping malls etc nearby.)

Some fascinating stuff. Frinstance: the sleepy Middlesex village of Heathrow was bulldozed to make way for the airport under completely false pretences. The then government claimed it was going to be a military airport, needed for long range bombing missions to the Far East. This, though, was bollocks cooked up to circumvent planning regulations. It was always intended to be a civil airport but they knew they'd never get that through, so by claiming it was for military use, they could essentially do whatever they wanted. And they had the arrogance to document all these shenanigans as well.

And, apparently, London is ringed by mental asylums from the Victorian era. Now mostly knocked down to build more profitable housing estates, with patients' records hastily burnt in skips. Not surprising really, as one treatment was to put an unknowing naked patient into a sealed room and then release swamp mosquitos, who would bite said patient until infected with malaria. This was thought to cure such conditions as schizophrenia. 3 out of 10 patients died afterwards. This was going on until the '60s.

I found this summary really interesting - thanks for posting. I might check this book out for when I go on holiday in May.

 

[So Long Architect]

Had to go back to Page 9 to dig up this thread.

Just finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Excellent book all about Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, Anne Boelyn etc.

It's fiction, but really well-researched and gives a nice alternative take on Cromwell, who, if you had a Catholic upbringing like me, was previously Satan's best buddy.

Plenty of blood and guts too.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Sounds intriguing.

Of on holiday in a week or so, so I am sure I will pick up a book or two for consumption.

Got given a nice piss-take of wisden called W G Grace ate my pedalo, which is great for dipping into for a giggle.

 

[lemonjelly]

Drawn from the depths of page 5!

I'll do an overview of stuff I've read in the past 4 months. I'll probably split it into more than 1 post to avoid getting logged out & the being all :argh: cos I lost what I typed...

Anyways, first book up was :

A biography of a polish criminal active in the late victorian period. Good, quite lengthy book giving quite an insight into the criminal classes in 4 different continents. I was interested as the guy was active in whitechapel during late 1888 (more evidence of the interest of that will follow).

After that I read:

A collection of essays culled from a magazine covering a bit of detail into the events in whitechapel in 1888.

After that I read the Upside of Irrationality (reviewed in a post above). This was a truly exceptional book, very revealing in how we expect certain things to occur, yet in reality, outcomes are regularly the opposite. Also is very relevant, for example the first section looks at reward culture, and the impact of (eg) bankers bonuses on performance. The results are quite eye opening & rubbish completely the notion that it attracts the best people to the role or it improves performance.

I then moved onto:

Can you see a trend developing here? This was (I think) the first text to genuinely put forward George Hutchinson as a suspect. Hutchinson came to the police & made a statement a couple of days following the murder of Mary Jane Kelly in 13 Millers Court. His statement is so detailed, many feel it has to be a hoax. Whether that is enough to suggest he is Jack The Ripper is another thing. The book is fairly convincing with some evidence. My criticism of it would be the style. Except for the last 2 chapters (which are excellent) the text is filled with way too many exclamation marks, which spoils it a little.

 

[lemonjelly]

After the above, I realised that I read far too little fiction. So I picked up:

Really good book this. Was over too quickly (I read it in an afternoon, as I couldn't put it down). Really good thought experiment of a book.

I then read:

I used to read Stephen King books a lot as a kid. I kind of felt I grew out of them, I dunno. Recently, I read his On Writing book, and that is a fantastic read on the creft of writing in itself. It obviously referred to one or two of his books, & I still have a few I hadn't read. The reference it made to this book made me read it. I did enjoy it, but had the usual experience of great book except for the ending which imo happens with Stephen King books. It is almost like he gets so far in & then doesn't really know how to end it, & the ending seems rushed and could be better. A good book, but unfortunately suffered the same problem.

I then moved on to:

Patrick Hughes is an artist, and an exceptional one at that (imo). Following university there was a book by a P Hughes that I wanted to read, & was unable to acquire at a reasonable price until late last year. Until I read it, I hadn't realised that the author & artist were the same fella. Google his name, & if you ever get a chance, see one of his exhibitions. His art really is thoughtful!
Rarely do you ever read a book that really impacts on you. This book did for me. It is a fantastic insight into words, language and art and how they represent life & our understanding of it. Truly, this book did make me look at the world slightly differently. I loved this book. That may sound all wishy-washy & new-agey, but it is true. My life was genuinely improved by reading this book. Fantastic.

I then read an old book I'd had.:

I have to say ( as a philosophy graduate) that this wasn't a gripping read. However the last 2-3 essays in it were very worthwhile, & did give me some food for thought...

 

[Penk Wolf]

Anyone who is or used to be into clubbing, 'Hacienda - How Not to Run a Club' is a good read.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

LJ, I have just read "The Crimes of Jack the Ripper". And after finishing it, I remain of the opinion that Dr Tumblety was the Ripper.

 

[Langers]

Almost finished Game of Thrones.

Clash of Kings arrived this morning, so I will carry on as soon as I finish the first book.

 

[lemonjelly]

Last one if I'm quick...

I then reverted to familiar ground:

2 respected researchers in the field called "ripperology". Unfortunately, this book didn't set me alight. There is a fair amount of very interesting stuff with respect to Montague John Druitt (a popularly held suspect), but then the book brings in some really out there stuff suggesting he was framed covering for some other strange faced man, & it loses some credibility with that I felt.

I continued this theme with:

An interesting and fairly (though not completely) impartial re-telling of the discovery of the so-called Jack The Ripper Diary in the early 1990's. The story of the diary itself is quite interesting. I switch between feeling the diary is a hoax, & that it isn't. I am generally more of the feeling that the diary is a hoax. However, this has yet to be conclusively proven to be the case, and as it has not yet, we cannot completely write it off.

Back to a bit of fiction with:

I have to say that this was a better finish by Mr King. I liked the ludicrous idea of a fictional character coming to life. In a couple of ways the book had some predictability, but over the course of the whole book, it was a decent enough read, and the ending wasn't really a let down, as some of his other books have been.

I've just finished:

This was recommended by a mate, & I read it on holiday. Good holiday book. Read through it quite quickly, and was a decent enough piece of fiction. Only criticism I'd have, is that it is too short! There is so much more to say in the narrative, and it seems to end a bit in the middle of nowhere. There are a fair few questions unanswered, and to be honest a lot left unexplained. It coul;d have gone so much further. That said, I've just googled & seem to have found other books by the same authors, so I will have a scoot to see if they pick up the story...

I have just started the following inspired by SLA's recent thread on architecture. I have liked most of De Bottobs books - Status Anxiety, and in particular The Art of Travel were really worth reading.

I also omitted somewhere the following:

A great book. I hadn't been aware Newton worked at the royal mint, and this is a fascinatiing insight into newton, the development of currency, and much more!

 

[lemonjelly]

Just done a google. There have been 3 books post "Tunnels", with one more about to be published.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

If anyone likes Stephen King, then "IT" is a must. You will never see clowns in the same light after reading this.

I too have my doubts about the "Ripper diary"

 

[Penk Wolf]

I'll say it again Frank. IT Clowns = Frank.

The film is good though.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Only one clown in "IT" The evil Pennywise, or shall we call him Frank??

 

[Penk Wolf]

IT as in Information Technology.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Just to say - I really enjoyed the Dark Half when I read it. It is no Stand or Shining but is a great read. Along with It and Misery probably the best of King's later horror output.