Jump to content

Do you read?


Luke_W

Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, leemond2008 said:

crikey I wouldn't fancy reading it again, the first 1/2 of the book was really good but the problem with the 'story in a story in a story' style is that if one of the stories doesn't grab your attention it is quite easy to lose track of the main plot.

The ultimate for that approach is Don Quixote. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

finished this today

2950715.jpg

Quote

THE CHICAGO KILLER: The Hunt For Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy is the story of the capture of John Wayne Gacy, as told from the perspective of the former Chief of Detectives of the Des Plaines, Illinois Police Department, Joseph Kozenczak. The conviction of Gacy on 33 counts of murder is a record in the archives of the criminal justice system in the United States. Two additional bonus chapters give the reader a comprehensive insight into the use of psychics and the lie-detector in a serial murder investigation

Old Gacy wasn't the nicest of fellows, I certainly wouldn't invite him round for dinner anyway.

Good book, the police were pretty much infallible during their investigations, when they started searching for Rob Peist everything just seemed to fall into place, they didn't even know they were looking for a serial killer at the time, let alone one of the magnitude of Gacy.

It's quite interesting just how much they relied on psychics throughout the investigation.

 

I'm going to be starting this next

62220.jpg

Quote

"So the Wind Won't Blow it all Away" is a beautifully-written, brooding gem of a novel - set in the Pacific Northwest region of Oregon where Brautigan spent most of his childhood. Through the eyes, ears and voice of Brautigan's youthful protagonist the reader is gently led into a small-town tale where the narrator accidentally shoots dead his best friend with a gun. The novel deals with the repercussions of this tragedy and its recurring theme of 'What if...' fuels anguish, regret and self-blame as well as some darkly comic passages of bitter-sweet romance and despair. Taken with the recently discovered, "An Unfortunate Woman", these two late Brautigan novels are a fitting epitaph to a complex, contradictory and often misunderstood genius.

It's only about 100 pages so shouldn't take more than a few hours to get it finished

Edited by leemond2008
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Xela said:

@leemond2008 do you buy the physical books or is it ebooks? If the former, you must have some collection! 

All physical books, the only time I buy something on my kindle is if the actual book is too expensive, plus you can just download them off torrent sites so they don't actually cost anything, I can't remember the last time I looked at my kindle though, I only have 2 book cases which are filled, I actually took 85 books down to a charity shop just a few weeks ago.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 06/09/2016 at 07:55, leemond2008 said:

On that note if anyone see's a reasonably priced copy of Roland Topor's 'The Tenant' 

 

It's currently priced between £90.46 and £2179.82 on Amazon, now I wanna read it but I don't wanna read it that badly

It's crazy how Amazon works, I've just got a brand new copy of this for 6 quid, I've been looking for a cheaper copy for the last 6 months and then boom there are shed loads available

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm currently waiting on some cheery deliveries, Hunting the Devil (the Russian Ripper), talking with serial killers: the most evil people in the world tell their own stories, children who murder their families.

add to that The Tennant that I have bought and that takes my list up to 7 or 8 books that I need to get through, I have promised myself that next year I am going make a point of re-reading books I already own, I've got that many that were brilliant that I want to take another look at but there is always something new that sidetracks me.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just finished Martin Chuzzlewit .Out of all the Dickens I've read , this is my favourite . The characters are just so wonderful and when it comes to putting words into the mouths of his characters , it his Dickens at his finest . He was the literary stand up comedian of his day .

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

I've just finished Martin Chuzzlewit .Out of all the Dickens I've read , this is my favourite . The characters are just so wonderful and when it comes to putting words into the mouths of his characters , it his Dickens at his finest . He was the literary stand up comedian of his day .

It is definitely one of my favourites too.

I particularly like the villain Montague Tigg.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

578185.jpg

Quote

Leyton examines true-life cases of ordinary children who turned into deadly assassins. He investigates case studies to reveal the all-too-common pressures on middle-class life that have led to the arlarming increase in this terrifying phenomenon.

Starting this today, it only cost 1p on Amazon so if it aint much good I'm not too bothered if I don't finish it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read in the main biographies, one or two novels or other non fiction but on the whole biographies. For my birthday my wife has surpassed herself, Merle Haggard biography which was good, currently reading a great Willie Nelson one, stacked up is a Tom Jones biography (expect to hear about the time he met elvis), and yesterday she gave me a George Jones biography. All set for the next month or so. Oh and also the Seinfeldpedia. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished my It re-read. Disregarding the cocaine fueled, crazy, often stupid, final 100 pages, it's still good, and has some wonderful moments. The promise that the upcoming film adaptation of the child part of the story being updated to the 80s instead of 1958, and changing some of It's forms as a result, is encouraging. I believe they've confirmed there will be no Werewolf, for example, but there will instead be 'surprises'. The options for iconic 70s/80s horror characters are near endless...Xenomorph, Kruger, Chucky, Jason, Leatherface...the Cenobites? That would be awesome. No idea how any of that would work with regards to copyrights, though.

The leper is definitely in there. "I'll do it for free!". Brr...

I sincerely hope they change up the final confrontation. It's final form from the page might translate well to a big budget production...or they could go proper Lovecraftian with it. Which the 'deadlights' were, in a way. It's described as an unimaginably massive, dark, hairy thing, and to see it properly would render one either dead, or insane. How that would actually be put on the screen, I have no idea. A big **** off freaky vaguely familiar looking creature might just work better.

Couldn't talk about It without bringing up that bit. I understand fully why it is there. The Loser's form an unbreakable bond, and that is the way Beverley cements it. I'm fine with the love & desire angle which is pushed heavily. The Loser's love each other, it's part of their bond, their friendship, and their powerful magic. Each of the boy's desire Beverley, to varying degrees, as part of childhood's end and them being on the cusp of puberty. It's also a very literal and terribly visceral way to demonstrate these kids aren't really kids anymore, given what they've just been through, and they'll never be the same again.

When asked why he included that bit King has said that it was another 'moment like the breaking of the tunnel between the Adult and Child's section of the Library', which yes I understand, but why oh why do it in that way. He also said that at the time he wrote it people weren't as sensitive to such things as they are now. Utter rubbish. I can not fathom what was going through his brain that led him to decide it was a good idea and the best way to get across his point
(although I do know, really. It was lots of alcohol and cocaine going through his brain)
a point which didn't even really need to be made seeing as Stan cuts them all literally moments later, finalising the promise to return if It returns. So frustrating. It's like the deus ex machina moment in The Stand, except, you know...that is merely God's hand appearing in mid air, and this is, well, far worse...

Next, Insomnia. Set 7 years after It in the same city, it is not a sequel, but could be called a 'spiritual successor'. Whereas It deals with childhood and adulthood, and the transition between the two, Insomia deals with old age in a similair fashion. Not only that, but it is a proper Dark Tower book. We can presume It was a monster from todash space, but in Insomnia, no such presumption is needed about the antagonist...
 

Edited by hogso
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Couple on the go: 

 

The Silk Roads - by Peter Frankopam - world history focusing more on the east. So far it's pretty good - but as with all world history books, with such a huge scope, it inevitably tantalises you with soupcons of detail, before moving on to other areas quite quickly. It's making me want to find lot's more specific histories though so it's doing it's job, be it on the Crusades, the late Byzantine Empire, and now just about to have a window into the Mongols I think. Ram packed with details - ciao comes from schiavo = I am your slave apparently, such was the massive trade in slaves across those routes back then, and all the other bits and bobs. Didn't know the Vikings had come so far east either, the Rus, unsurprisingly becoming the ancestors of the Russians I guess. 

 

Joyce - A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man - enjoying it so far. Been meaning to read it for a long time since finishing The Dubliners, and I like the style, mix of third person narrative with the consciousness of young Stephen. Again has made me look up so much more about the contemporary world of Irish politics which has gotten a few references so far. Also, think the word Cod as slang for joke or jape needs to come back into use again. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 25/10/2016 at 10:16, leemond2008 said:

578185.jpg

Starting this today, it only cost 1p on Amazon so if it aint much good I'm not too bothered if I don't finish it

Didn't finish, wasn't bad but didn't hold my interest, not exactly what I was expecting, I might return to it some day

 

started this earlier on

 

21188176.jpg

 

Quote

Twelve years of unimaginable depravity. Ten days to obtain suspect Andrei Chikatilo's confession or he goes free. Certain to join the classic accounts of true crime, Hunting the Devil is the story of how a master detective, an expert in the psychology of serial killers, ensnares a cunning, seemingly bland, but terrifying psychopath. Fifty-three frenzied murders of women and children, involving mutilation and sexual cannibalism. Not a single witness. Not a shred of evidence. A terrified populace. An incompetent local investigation. This is the challenge facing Chief Inspector Issa Kostoev, head of Russia's Department of Crimes of Special Importance, when he is assigned to the case. Five years later, in 1990, after extraordinary efforts, his hunt comes to a taut climax when he locks eyes with his prisoner. Interrogation - the most intricate game of all - is about to begin, played by two, alone for ten days in a bare room, the stakes freedom or death. Richard Lourie has had the exclusive cooperation of Chief Inspector Kostoev in the writing of this book and unrivaled access to most of the other personalities involved in the case. His own deep knowledge of Russia and its people has informed his account, a relentlessly paced story of crime and punishment in a collapsing society. Hunting the Devil is a remarkable book: an absorbing story of the brilliant detective work that finally chained a ravenous, unspeakable evil.

Pretty good so far, I'm on about page 70, it's written more like a story though, it kind of detracts from the realism of it, I might see if any of the actual investigators have ever done a book on old Chikatilo, it also bangs on about Stalin's Russia quite a bit for a while as well but I think I'm over that hump of the book now.

 

the poor fella had a massive problem with erectile disfunction and couldn't get it up so he had to kill people then shove his goo up them afterwards, not the most charming of people by the sounds of it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished hunting the devil, good book, Chikatilo was pretty damn messed up, I stand by what I said though the 'story' style takes away the realism, he seems like a fictional character at times.

anyway I'm about to start this, been waiting absolutely ages for it so I'm hoping it has been worth the wait

419F0AVAYFL._SX307_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Quote

This is the tale of Monsieur Trelkovsky, an ordinary man, against whom apparently ordinary circumstances conspire until he is enmeshed in an extraordinary and terrifying situation. It portrays a nightmare world which is only separated from everyday life by a sliver of sanity.

I've got a few other books lined up once I have finished this one but I have kind of got it into my head now that I really wanna read Paradise Lost by John Milton so I might pop out tomorrow and buy that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â