What Books Are You Reading?-#3
- Thread starter Jacquie
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Coco Chanel
Rookie
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
I'm about half way into Pet Sematary by Stephen King.
Scary stuff..
I'm about half way into Pet Sematary by Stephen King.
Scary stuff..
talkingtocactus
Coroner
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
i'm reading 'fahrenheit 451' by ray bradbury, i feel it's one of those books i should've read years ago but never quite got around to. i always love novels about dissent in dystopian/totalitarian states, so i'm enjoying it, i just kind of wish i'd got to it years ago!
i'm reading 'fahrenheit 451' by ray bradbury, i feel it's one of those books i should've read years ago but never quite got around to. i always love novels about dissent in dystopian/totalitarian states, so i'm enjoying it, i just kind of wish i'd got to it years ago!
MacsLady
CSI Level Two
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
^I listened to Fahrenheit 451 a while back because like you I felt I should read it at some point and also because it just sounded interesting. I really enjoyed it.
I'm reading 'The Glass House' by Simon Mawer at the moment. It's set in Europe, starting in 1928. A young couple, Viktor and Liesl, meet an architect while on honeymoon in Italy, Rainer Von Abt, who has some very modern and controversial ideas about architecture. He builds them this incredible house which has this amazing Glass Room or Glass Space, and the house becomes very important and special in the lives of Liesl and Viktor and their friends and family. But there are rumblings in Europe as the Nazi party rises to power, and when Nazi troops arrive in Czechoslovakia, Viktor must flee. But even before the Nazis come, there have been rumblings of a more personal kind in Viktor and Liesel's lives, which aren't as perfect as they seem.
I'm quite enjoying the novel, it has good strong characters, and a very strong sense of place. I also love the history stuff, the rise of the Nazis and how all the stuff going on in Germany at that time affects life in Czechoslovakia. The novel also explores the issues of different kinds of spaces and what they mean and how they effect the people who inhabit them which I find interesting.
^I listened to Fahrenheit 451 a while back because like you I felt I should read it at some point and also because it just sounded interesting. I really enjoyed it.
I'm reading 'The Glass House' by Simon Mawer at the moment. It's set in Europe, starting in 1928. A young couple, Viktor and Liesl, meet an architect while on honeymoon in Italy, Rainer Von Abt, who has some very modern and controversial ideas about architecture. He builds them this incredible house which has this amazing Glass Room or Glass Space, and the house becomes very important and special in the lives of Liesl and Viktor and their friends and family. But there are rumblings in Europe as the Nazi party rises to power, and when Nazi troops arrive in Czechoslovakia, Viktor must flee. But even before the Nazis come, there have been rumblings of a more personal kind in Viktor and Liesel's lives, which aren't as perfect as they seem.
I'm quite enjoying the novel, it has good strong characters, and a very strong sense of place. I also love the history stuff, the rise of the Nazis and how all the stuff going on in Germany at that time affects life in Czechoslovakia. The novel also explores the issues of different kinds of spaces and what they mean and how they effect the people who inhabit them which I find interesting.
smacked4ever
Prime Suspect
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
i am reading the bourne sanction by robert ludlum. (the sme guy that did the bourne idenety and bourne ultimatim)
i am reading the bourne sanction by robert ludlum. (the sme guy that did the bourne idenety and bourne ultimatim)
talkingtocactus
Coroner
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
yeah i really liked it, i do love a good dystopia, and i also love novels that either have an ambiguous ending or have a depressing as hell ending (hence my love of orwell and modernist stuff), i liked it a lot. i thought the stuff about his wife was so sad, but so perceptive as well. i always like when i read books that seem so prescient - that was written in the 50s and really it wasn't far wrong about the way the future is shaping up. and of course the same can very easily be said about 1984 and many others of those dystopian futuristic novels.
i'm now reading a proper trashy airport thriller and so far it's great - i do love a bit of trash every so often
possibly unrelated but it just popped into my head: i'm assuming you've read "the book thief"?
i'm also in the process of filling up my kindle for america - i tend to read a hell of a lot on holiday anyway (anywhere between 14 and 18 books in 2 weeks), and this time i'll have 2 long haul flights, and a 2.5 day train ride! so i think i'll have to put a lot on there. i'm just glad i won't have to carry real books around with me. i love the feel of a real paper book but on holiday they're just not practical. and very heavy.
on it so far (among other things) i have a book about forensics called "never suck a dead man's hand" (no, i have no idea why it's called that either!) - but the kindle's home screen, which is the contents page, just isn't wide enough to accommodate the full title - it cuts it off just before "hand" - everyone who ever picks up my kindle ends up having giggling/shocked fits when they see it and i have to explain that it's a perfectly legit book and nothing dodgy going on:lol::lol:
yeah i really liked it, i do love a good dystopia, and i also love novels that either have an ambiguous ending or have a depressing as hell ending (hence my love of orwell and modernist stuff), i liked it a lot. i thought the stuff about his wife was so sad, but so perceptive as well. i always like when i read books that seem so prescient - that was written in the 50s and really it wasn't far wrong about the way the future is shaping up. and of course the same can very easily be said about 1984 and many others of those dystopian futuristic novels.
for some reason i think i've read that, it really rings a bell, but i'm not sure - is it old or new? maybe i'm imagining it...
i'm now reading a proper trashy airport thriller and so far it's great - i do love a bit of trash every so often
possibly unrelated but it just popped into my head: i'm assuming you've read "the book thief"?i'm also in the process of filling up my kindle for america - i tend to read a hell of a lot on holiday anyway (anywhere between 14 and 18 books in 2 weeks), and this time i'll have 2 long haul flights, and a 2.5 day train ride! so i think i'll have to put a lot on there. i'm just glad i won't have to carry real books around with me. i love the feel of a real paper book but on holiday they're just not practical. and very heavy.
on it so far (among other things) i have a book about forensics called "never suck a dead man's hand" (no, i have no idea why it's called that either!) - but the kindle's home screen, which is the contents page, just isn't wide enough to accommodate the full title - it cuts it off just before "hand" - everyone who ever picks up my kindle ends up having giggling/shocked fits when they see it and i have to explain that it's a perfectly legit book and nothing dodgy going on:lol::lol:
MacsLady
CSI Level Two
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
I really, really, really have to get around to reading 1984!
LOL at the 'Sucking a Dead Man's Hand' thing!
'The Glass House' is new - it was published last year. I finished it, and really enjoyed it. After Viktor and Liesel flee, the house becomes a number of different things - a biometrics lab where German scientists work to try to discover if there are definite physiological 'signs' of Jewishness (nice!), a shelter from the war, and a physiotherapy centre for crippled kids, but the story of Viktor and Liesel and their friends is interwined with the house and it's various inhabitants throughout.
I'm now reading 'Black Water Rising' by Attica Locke. It's set in 1980s Houston. A black lawyer, Jay Porter, is out on the bayou one night with his pregnant wife on a romantic treat for her birthday. Suddenly they hear gunshots, and a white woman falls into the bayou. Jay saves her, but there's something off about her. Jay soon finds himself ensnared in a murder investigation, with a mysterious man following him. As well as dealing with that, Jay also becomes involved in a local dockworkers' strike which has strong racial undertones. The novel also explores Jay's past, he was an activist for black rights/black power back in the 1960s/1970s, and it's messed him up pretty good, he keeps a gun under his pillow, and is very paranoid of cops. He also has to deal with the racism that is still present in 1980s Southern society.
The book was one of Culture magazine's Top 100 Summer Reads, and I'm really enjoying it.
I recently listened to the second part of Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first half. The only story that really stood out for me was Voluntary Committal. I think enjoyed it because like 'Pop Art' it's not just a 'horror' story but also about growing up and coming of age which is a theme that really interests me.
I really, really, really have to get around to reading 1984!
for some reason i think i've read that, it really rings a bell, but i'm not sure - is it old or new? maybe i'm imagining it...
i'm now reading a proper trashy airport thriller and so far it's great - i do love a bit of trash every so often
i'm also in the process of filling up my kindle for america - i tend to read a hell of a lot on holiday anyway (anywhere between 14 and 18 books in 2 weeks), and this time i'll have 2 long haul flights, and a 2.5 day train ride! so i think i'll have to put a lot on there. i'm just glad i won't have to carry real books around with me. i love the feel of a real paper book but on holiday they're just not practical. and very heavy.
on it so far (among other things) i have a book about forensics called "never suck a dead man's hand" (no, i have no idea why it's called that either!) - but the kindle's home screen, which is the contents page, just isn't wide enough to accommodate the full title - it cuts it off just before "hand" - everyone who ever picks up my kindle ends up having giggling/shocked fits when they see it and i have to explain that it's a perfectly legit book and nothing dodgy going on:lol::lol:
LOL at the 'Sucking a Dead Man's Hand' thing!
'The Glass House' is new - it was published last year. I finished it, and really enjoyed it. After Viktor and Liesel flee, the house becomes a number of different things - a biometrics lab where German scientists work to try to discover if there are definite physiological 'signs' of Jewishness (nice!), a shelter from the war, and a physiotherapy centre for crippled kids, but the story of Viktor and Liesel and their friends is interwined with the house and it's various inhabitants throughout.
I'm now reading 'Black Water Rising' by Attica Locke. It's set in 1980s Houston. A black lawyer, Jay Porter, is out on the bayou one night with his pregnant wife on a romantic treat for her birthday. Suddenly they hear gunshots, and a white woman falls into the bayou. Jay saves her, but there's something off about her. Jay soon finds himself ensnared in a murder investigation, with a mysterious man following him. As well as dealing with that, Jay also becomes involved in a local dockworkers' strike which has strong racial undertones. The novel also explores Jay's past, he was an activist for black rights/black power back in the 1960s/1970s, and it's messed him up pretty good, he keeps a gun under his pillow, and is very paranoid of cops. He also has to deal with the racism that is still present in 1980s Southern society.
The book was one of Culture magazine's Top 100 Summer Reads, and I'm really enjoying it.
I recently listened to the second part of Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first half. The only story that really stood out for me was Voluntary Committal. I think enjoyed it because like 'Pop Art' it's not just a 'horror' story but also about growing up and coming of age which is a theme that really interests me.
talkingtocactus
Coroner
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
you never have? omg i am actually officially genuinely shocked. seriously. i thought it was one of those books that just about every english person ever (or at least who's interested in books) had read. i think some people did it at school, but i never did - i got animal farm, twice! i did it the first time when i was about 12, and LOVED it, it's that one book that i can honestly say changed my life. then i did it again for gcse (different school) and had that nice (and also not nice probably) smug feeling you get from seeing your hated classmates struggle with a book you loved even though you were 4 years younger than them. back ot though - 1984 really is a cracking book, i think it's infiltrated pop culture so thoroughly with good reason - so many of the things he describes relate so well to things we experience and there's rarely a better way to describe it than how he does. there are so many words/concepts/etc from that book that we use pretty much every day sometimes without even noticing, it's just a great great book.
it's not my favourite orwell though, even having read everything orwell ever published (and i mean *everything* - fiction, non fiction, news reports, essays, journals etc). animal farm is still my favourite (22 years later!) just because it was that life-changing book and just so well written, so perceptive, so intelligent but still understandable, and so prescient (actually 1984 is even more prescient, which is somewhat frightening).
actually, if you've not read any of his non fiction, you should try that too - "the road to wigan pier", and "down and out in paris & london" are both fantastic, although a tad depressing in parts, especially wigan pier. but knowing your liking for war books, i'd suggest "homage to catalonia", it's great, an honest but humorous account of his time in the international brigade (in the spanish civil war)
can you tell i'm a huge orwell fangirl?
that airport thing i read was called "we know" by gregg hurwitz and actually it wasn't bad. it wasn't amazing either, but it was readable and entertaining which sometimes is all you want! i love a good classic but sometimes i just want something easy, not too heavy, fun, and gripping and that ticked every box.
right now i'm reading "the passage" which i downloaded for my kindle knowing *nothing* about it. it's a bit sad to confess but i downloaded it just because i saw it in a shop and loved the cover of the book! i know what they say about judging books by covers but occasionally i just get drawn to them. anyway i've since read a little about it on the net and it appears it's about vampires - i never usually read scifi/horror/vampirey stuff, but y'know, i'm willing to give it a go and so far it's really nicely written and engaging so who knows?!
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6690798-the-passage
you never have? omg i am actually officially genuinely shocked. seriously. i thought it was one of those books that just about every english person ever (or at least who's interested in books) had read. i think some people did it at school, but i never did - i got animal farm, twice! i did it the first time when i was about 12, and LOVED it, it's that one book that i can honestly say changed my life. then i did it again for gcse (different school) and had that nice (and also not nice probably) smug feeling you get from seeing your hated classmates struggle with a book you loved even though you were 4 years younger than them. back ot though - 1984 really is a cracking book, i think it's infiltrated pop culture so thoroughly with good reason - so many of the things he describes relate so well to things we experience and there's rarely a better way to describe it than how he does. there are so many words/concepts/etc from that book that we use pretty much every day sometimes without even noticing, it's just a great great book.
it's not my favourite orwell though, even having read everything orwell ever published (and i mean *everything* - fiction, non fiction, news reports, essays, journals etc). animal farm is still my favourite (22 years later!) just because it was that life-changing book and just so well written, so perceptive, so intelligent but still understandable, and so prescient (actually 1984 is even more prescient, which is somewhat frightening).
actually, if you've not read any of his non fiction, you should try that too - "the road to wigan pier", and "down and out in paris & london" are both fantastic, although a tad depressing in parts, especially wigan pier. but knowing your liking for war books, i'd suggest "homage to catalonia", it's great, an honest but humorous account of his time in the international brigade (in the spanish civil war)
can you tell i'm a huge orwell fangirl?
yeah, that's one of those ones that always gets a giggle
hmm maybe i read *about* it then, it certainly rings a bell but if it was that new i'd probably have remembered more clearly! i might kindle it
that sounds good too *kindles*
that airport thing i read was called "we know" by gregg hurwitz and actually it wasn't bad. it wasn't amazing either, but it was readable and entertaining which sometimes is all you want! i love a good classic but sometimes i just want something easy, not too heavy, fun, and gripping and that ticked every box.
right now i'm reading "the passage" which i downloaded for my kindle knowing *nothing* about it. it's a bit sad to confess but i downloaded it just because i saw it in a shop and loved the cover of the book! i know what they say about judging books by covers but occasionally i just get drawn to them. anyway i've since read a little about it on the net and it appears it's about vampires - i never usually read scifi/horror/vampirey stuff, but y'know, i'm willing to give it a go and so far it's really nicely written and engaging so who knows?!
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6690798-the-passage
MacsLady
CSI Level Two
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
^I've ordered 1984 from the library!
I recently read It's Beginning to Hurt by James Lasdun. It's a collection of short stories set in England, Europe, and America and it's about ordinary people leading ordinary lives who in various ways suddenly find themselves in situations where they experience and deal with strong emotions - lust, fear, idealism, envy, desire (of various kinds) and in situations which are ordinary but strange in some way.
On audiobook, I'm listening to The Pickle King by Rebecca Promitzer. It's about two kids, Bea and Sam who live in the small American town of Elbow. Elbow is famous for only two things: the fact that it rains constantly, and the chlli pickle made at town's giant pickle factory. It's summer, and Bea and Sam are stuck in Elbow as always, and they're in for another long boring summer...until they find a dead body in a creepy old house, and begin to realize there are darker elements of Elbow than the miserable weather.
The book is aimed at older kids/teenagers (I'd guess in the 10 - 16ish range) but I'm really enjoying it, much like I've also really enjoyed Chris Priestley's three 'Tales of Terror' books which are aimed at a similar age range. The book is beginning to get quite dark and creepy, and it deals with some themes that are quite 'adult' - murder, child neglect, loneliness, the need to belong.
I find it really refreshing and relaxing sometimes to read books that are technically kids/teens books because they can be very good and very 'adult' in some ways, and also because sometimes 'adult' fiction can be a bit up itself/too serious/trying to make a point, when all I want is a good read. I think you can also get some pretty emotional/angsty/frightening stuff going on in kids/teens books. Oh, and there's often not nearly as much swearing in these books (though I suppose it depends what you read). I don't mind swearing as such, but sometimes with adult fiction it can feel like the author's thrown a whole load of 'f**ks' and 's**ts' etc in there just for the sake of it, or, worse, to try and make their novel come off as cool/gritty/radical. As I said, I don't mind swearing, and I definitely think it has it's place in adult fiction because adults do swear (as do most kids, actually), but I also think sometimes swearing is overused, and it just comes off pretentious and ultimately loses it's impact. Sometimes the swearing in a book can get in the way of the plot or the characters, rather than enhancing them, and I sometimes find that kids/teens fiction comes off a lot 'fresher' because of the reduced amount of or lack of swearing.
I also think that kids/teens authors, while they explore important issues and make important points through their novels, generally write more to purely entertain. While I do very much enjoy fiction that makes important points about history/society/people etc, sometimes it's just nice to read a really entertaining/thrilling story.
I've just started reading Peter Millar's 'All Gone to Look for America' which is about his travels across America by rail, but I've only read a couple of pages so far.
^I've ordered 1984 from the library!
I recently read It's Beginning to Hurt by James Lasdun. It's a collection of short stories set in England, Europe, and America and it's about ordinary people leading ordinary lives who in various ways suddenly find themselves in situations where they experience and deal with strong emotions - lust, fear, idealism, envy, desire (of various kinds) and in situations which are ordinary but strange in some way.
On audiobook, I'm listening to The Pickle King by Rebecca Promitzer. It's about two kids, Bea and Sam who live in the small American town of Elbow. Elbow is famous for only two things: the fact that it rains constantly, and the chlli pickle made at town's giant pickle factory. It's summer, and Bea and Sam are stuck in Elbow as always, and they're in for another long boring summer...until they find a dead body in a creepy old house, and begin to realize there are darker elements of Elbow than the miserable weather.
The book is aimed at older kids/teenagers (I'd guess in the 10 - 16ish range) but I'm really enjoying it, much like I've also really enjoyed Chris Priestley's three 'Tales of Terror' books which are aimed at a similar age range. The book is beginning to get quite dark and creepy, and it deals with some themes that are quite 'adult' - murder, child neglect, loneliness, the need to belong.
I find it really refreshing and relaxing sometimes to read books that are technically kids/teens books because they can be very good and very 'adult' in some ways, and also because sometimes 'adult' fiction can be a bit up itself/too serious/trying to make a point, when all I want is a good read. I think you can also get some pretty emotional/angsty/frightening stuff going on in kids/teens books. Oh, and there's often not nearly as much swearing in these books (though I suppose it depends what you read). I don't mind swearing as such, but sometimes with adult fiction it can feel like the author's thrown a whole load of 'f**ks' and 's**ts' etc in there just for the sake of it, or, worse, to try and make their novel come off as cool/gritty/radical. As I said, I don't mind swearing, and I definitely think it has it's place in adult fiction because adults do swear (as do most kids, actually
), but I also think sometimes swearing is overused, and it just comes off pretentious and ultimately loses it's impact. Sometimes the swearing in a book can get in the way of the plot or the characters, rather than enhancing them, and I sometimes find that kids/teens fiction comes off a lot 'fresher' because of the reduced amount of or lack of swearing.I also think that kids/teens authors, while they explore important issues and make important points through their novels, generally write more to purely entertain. While I do very much enjoy fiction that makes important points about history/society/people etc, sometimes it's just nice to read a really entertaining/thrilling story.
I've just started reading Peter Millar's 'All Gone to Look for America' which is about his travels across America by rail, but I've only read a couple of pages so far.
talkingtocactus
Coroner
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
excellent
that sounds interesting, i might check it out
yeah, often books try too hard to make themselves appear adult and it can be really grating (obviously i mean the authors, not the actual books!)
i swear like a trooper (i'm a vicar's daughter, i just can't help it!) but i agree actually - i think swearing is fine on the whole but you do sometimes get the impression it's thrown in to be big or clever, which kind of defeats the object. that said it can add impact. david peace, who wrote red riding, uses a LOT of swearing (like enough to even make me surprised!) but i think it works in his books because the people he writes about are the kind of people that would use that kind of language. it's when it seems incongruous with the book and/or characters that it can be annoying.
ooh i should read that, since i'll be travelling across america by train in the next few weeks another good book about travel in the us is 'the hungry cyclist', by, well, my little brother it's available on amazon and i bet most libraries would have it.
also i assume you've read travels with charley by steinbeck? it's a great book, so perceptive about america and steinbeck is an incredible writer. the audiobook version, read by gary sinise, is fantastic as well, he reads it sooooo well
excellent
that sounds interesting, i might check it out
yeah, often books try too hard to make themselves appear adult and it can be really grating (obviously i mean the authors, not the actual books!)
i swear like a trooper (i'm a vicar's daughter, i just can't help it!) but i agree actually - i think swearing is fine on the whole but you do sometimes get the impression it's thrown in to be big or clever, which kind of defeats the object. that said it can add impact. david peace, who wrote red riding, uses a LOT of swearing (like enough to even make me surprised!) but i think it works in his books because the people he writes about are the kind of people that would use that kind of language. it's when it seems incongruous with the book and/or characters that it can be annoying.
ooh i should read that, since i'll be travelling across america by train in the next few weeks
another good book about travel in the us is 'the hungry cyclist', by, well, my little brother it's available on amazon and i bet most libraries would have it. also i assume you've read travels with charley by steinbeck? it's a great book, so perceptive about america and steinbeck is an incredible writer. the audiobook version, read by gary sinise, is fantastic as well, he reads it sooooo well
MacsLady
CSI Level Two
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
I agree. I read quite a few war/military books, and there's usually a lot of swearing in those, and that's fine because soldiers obviously do swear a lot. The same goes for Karin Slaughter's crime novels in which the cop characters generally swear a lot. It didn't bother me when watching The Wire either. But it definitely grates when it doesn't fit in with the characters or has been thrown in to be big and clever, makes me want to ask the author if they're actually an adult or a teenage boy (you know like those ones who sit at the back on public transport and say 'f**k this' and 'f**king that' REALLY loudly so everyone else will know how cool they are?) I think Karen from Outnumbered made a similar point very well when she was saying Gordon Ramsay shouldn't swear because he's just a chef, the people who swear should be soldiers and doctors.:lol:
I swear quite a bit too, usually at my laptop, my tv, anything electrical....And I quite often swear in a matey way with my friends, or my sister. She once gave me a birthday card that read 'Dear F**kface', LOL.:lol:
This is going a bit OT here, but did you watch 'Rev' which was on BBC2 the other night? There's a very funny scene with a swearing vicar in there!
Wow, America by train sounds amazing. Hope you enjoy it!
I got the audiobook from the library (which has since been thrown out!) and loved it. Definitely very perceptive, and funny, and it being read by Gary makes it even better. He does indeed read it very well.
I know Gary has said in interviews he's not a big reader, but I'm guessing given that he's done quite a bit of Steinbeck's stuff and he seems quite enthusiastic about it (certainly about Of Mice and Men) he's read some of Steinbeck's stuff....we know for a fact he's read Travels with Charley, after all!
I really like Steinbeck's stuff. I've read Charley, OMAM, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden. Charley and Grapes I actually listened to on audiobook, Steinbeck is awesome in audio form!
I'm looking forward to it! Will let you know what I think.
I agree. I read quite a few war/military books, and there's usually a lot of swearing in those, and that's fine because soldiers obviously do swear a lot. The same goes for Karin Slaughter's crime novels in which the cop characters generally swear a lot. It didn't bother me when watching The Wire either. But it definitely grates when it doesn't fit in with the characters or has been thrown in to be big and clever, makes me want to ask the author if they're actually an adult or a teenage boy (you know like those ones who sit at the back on public transport and say 'f**k this' and 'f**king that' REALLY loudly so everyone else will know how cool they are?) I think Karen from Outnumbered made a similar point very well when she was saying Gordon Ramsay shouldn't swear because he's just a chef, the people who swear should be soldiers and doctors.:lol:
I swear quite a bit too, usually at my laptop, my tv, anything electrical....And I quite often swear in a matey way with my friends, or my sister. She once gave me a birthday card that read 'Dear F**kface', LOL.:lol:
This is going a bit OT here, but did you watch 'Rev' which was on BBC2 the other night? There's a very funny scene with a swearing vicar in there!
One of our branch libraries has it. It's definitely on my 'to read' list, America and food in one book? I'm there.ooh i should read that, since i'll be travelling across america by train in the next few weeks
Wow, America by train sounds amazing. Hope you enjoy it!
also i assume you've read travels with charley by steinbeck? it's a great book, so perceptive about america and steinbeck is an incredible writer. the audiobook version, read by gary sinise, is fantastic as well, he reads it sooooo well
I got the audiobook from the library (which has since been thrown out!) and loved it. Definitely very perceptive, and funny, and it being read by Gary makes it even better. He does indeed read it very well.
I know Gary has said in interviews he's not a big reader, but I'm guessing given that he's done quite a bit of Steinbeck's stuff and he seems quite enthusiastic about it (certainly about Of Mice and Men) he's read some of Steinbeck's stuff....we know for a fact he's read Travels with Charley, after all!
I really like Steinbeck's stuff. I've read Charley, OMAM, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden. Charley and Grapes I actually listened to on audiobook, Steinbeck is awesome in audio form!
talkingtocactus
Coroner
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3
i remember her saying that, it was spot on
i missed it, even though i knew it was coming up - i'm hoping it'll be on iplayer.
tom will be very pleased! and thanks, i'm looking forward to it D:
yeah he's said he's not a reader but his audiobook versions really are great - the omam one is fantastic. there was one interview as well where they said if an actor was about to play tom in tgow what's the first bit of prep they should do and his answer was simply to read the book, so i guess he's not that averse to them!
me too! i'm not quite at the stage i am with orwell just yet (mainly because i didn't get into steinbeck til more recently), but i'm close to having read everything, maybe i'm about 80% done. tgow and eofe are just phenomenal books, i loved both - they were so epic. my personal favourite (which is less well known and i guess a bit underrated) is 'the wayward bus' which is quite funny but kind of dark as well. it has the best drunken scene i've ever read, that scene is simultaneously one of the funniest things i've ever read and one of the most tragic, it's brilliant.
also, going back to that kids books read by adults thing, steinbeck's 'the red pony' is great for that. it's sort of a kids book, it's about a little boy who gets a pony, but it's got some quite adult ideas in there and oh, it's sooooo sad. it made me cry - on the tube! it's brilliant.
i remember her saying that, it was spot on
i missed it, even though i knew it was coming up - i'm hoping it'll be on iplayer.
tom will be very pleased! and thanks, i'm looking forward to it D:
yeah he's said he's not a reader but his audiobook versions really are great - the omam one is fantastic. there was one interview as well where they said if an actor was about to play tom in tgow what's the first bit of prep they should do and his answer was simply to read the book, so i guess he's not that averse to them!
me too! i'm not quite at the stage i am with orwell just yet (mainly because i didn't get into steinbeck til more recently), but i'm close to having read everything, maybe i'm about 80% done. tgow and eofe are just phenomenal books, i loved both - they were so epic. my personal favourite (which is less well known and i guess a bit underrated) is 'the wayward bus' which is quite funny but kind of dark as well. it has the best drunken scene i've ever read, that scene is simultaneously one of the funniest things i've ever read and one of the most tragic, it's brilliant.
also, going back to that kids books read by adults thing, steinbeck's 'the red pony' is great for that. it's sort of a kids book, it's about a little boy who gets a pony, but it's got some quite adult ideas in there and oh, it's sooooo sad. it made me cry - on the tube! it's brilliant.