mjmooney Posted July 26, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted July 26, 2020 For some reason, there's no 'edit' option on my 'pre-review' of 'Utopia Avenue' (above), so here's my Amazon review in full: Very, very disappointing. I'm a huge music fan, I lived through the sixties, and I love Mitchell's novels, so I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, it's his worst book by some distance. He was born in 1969, and this is clearly based on 'research', rather than experience, and boy, does it show. Cliches, errors and anachronisms abound. The dialogue from the 'famous names', who just happen to be everywhere the protagonists go is excruciatingly unconvincing. And the plot is pretty much 'airport novel' standard, with some truly groan-inducing scenes. Typical example: at a "swinging sixties" party, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones and Keith Moon just happen to be talking to each other. A little kid points his toy gun at them and says "Bang bang, you're dead". Seriously? It's the sort of thing a sixth-former would write and think was original. Not until halfway through does Mitchell remember to shoehorn in his trademark supernatural links to previous books (in this case, mainly "Ghostwritten", "Jacob de Zoet" and "The Bone Clocks"). I suppose anyone under 60 might be better able to read it just as a story, but don't for a minute think that it captures how things were in the sixties. It's a cartoon version of it. The world still waits for a convincing 'rock novel' (Iain Banks' "Espedair Street" is a better attempt than Mitchell's, but still misses the mark). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCU Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I really don’t read very often if at all, but my girlfriend recently finished ‘The tattooist of Auschwitz’ as she’s a keen reader. We’ve come on holiday this week so forced myself to finish the book after I started it ages ago. Anyone who’s read the sequel ‘Cilka’s Journey’ recommend it or one to avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Yes, recently read 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter' by Carson McCullers, which I thought was very well written, but at the same time in places found it a bit boring, so I ended up taking quite a while to read it as I wasn't as motivated to pick it up, but at the same time can see why it's considered a classic. Am now reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot which I'm quite liking so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 I use my nerdy books to get zoom calls at just the right height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted October 5, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted October 5, 2020 4 hours ago, chrisp65 said: I use my nerdy books to get zoom calls at just the right height. I use a hefty "History of Christianity" for that exact same purpose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 12 hours ago, useless said: Yes, recently read 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter' by Carson McCullers, which I thought was very well written, but at the same time in places found it a bit boring, so I ended up taking quite a while to read it as I wasn't as motivated to pick it up, but at the same time can see why it's considered a classic. Am now reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot which I'm quite liking so far. My wife counts this as one of her favourite books by one of her favourite authors. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 It's considered a classic, well liked by many. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCU Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 As somebody who rarely reads, I'm quite proud I'm flying through the LOTR books. Think it's safe to say fantasy is my preferred genre! Anybody have any recommendations on what to pick up next? Noticed the Game of Thrones books are going quite cheap on Amazon. After enjoying the series I'm tempted to pick these up next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted November 21, 2020 Moderator Share Posted November 21, 2020 I'm reading No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai and finding it fascinating - but the bloke who did the translation has added a forward which is both pompous and riddled with spoilers, I hate that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 21, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted November 21, 2020 1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said: I'm reading No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai and finding it fascinating - but the bloke who did the translation has added a forward which is both pompous and riddled with spoilers, I hate that. I've learned to only read the foreword after reading the book. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubbs Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 Read a couple of books from Cesar Millan. He's a Mexican dog physiologist who has an amazing ability to read body language in dogs. Since reading them I've been able to change some of the behaviour of our two dogs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 (edited) Lots of people who like Lord of the Rings also like the Harry Potter series, or at least they seem to get banded together Edited November 24, 2020 by useless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 On 21/11/2020 at 18:47, MCU said: As somebody who rarely reads, I'm quite proud I'm flying through the LOTR books. Think it's safe to say fantasy is my preferred genre! Anybody have any recommendations on what to pick up next? Noticed the Game of Thrones books are going quite cheap on Amazon. After enjoying the series I'm tempted to pick these up next. The Game of Thrones books are very good but be prepared to wait a long time (possibly forever) for George R R Martin to get around to finishing them. The above comment on Harry Potter being banded with Lord of the Rings is true but I wouldn't really recommend Harry Potter unless its something which you've grown up with. I am a big fan of the Harry Potter books but would say that's largely due to being the right age to have grown up reading them. They're good books but possibly not what you're looking for. Other fantasy series that I found particularly good are The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie and The Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence. Both of these are probably a darker fantasy series than LOTR but I enjoyed both and do plan to get around to reading the later stuff by these authors. The Wheel of Time is a long series by Robert Jordan which has a TV series on Amazon Prime coming soon. I've only read the first few of these and found them to be pretty decent. Have the rest on a bookshelf and they may get read at some time. If you're at all interested in Sci-Fi then The Expanse series by James Corey is also very good. Its often described as Game of Thrones in space and again the TV series is also supposed to be very good (I haven't watched any of it to confirm). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 Finished reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot a week or so back, one of those where the story itself didn't grab me a great deal, but I still liked it a lot because of the writing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted December 25, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 25, 2020 Phew. Just about to finish the Game of Thrones series (so far gggrrrrrrr) for the second time and today Santa bought me the 3rd and 4th books in The Dwarves series. Someone on here recommended them and I've read book 1. Without those gifts I would be scratching around to re-read something else. I really really hope George RR Martin gets his shit together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted December 25, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 25, 2020 1 hour ago, useless said: Finished reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot a week or so back, one of those where the story itself didn't grab me a great deal, but I still liked it a lot because of the writing. George Eliot/Mary Ann Evans is in that massive "19th Century British" blind spot for me - along with Austen, Mrs Gaskell, Thackeray, Trollope, Dickens... that lot. I just won't go near them. Dickens's mate Wilkie Collins is a rare exception to the rule. Probably stupid of me, but there it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 On 21/11/2020 at 18:47, MCU said: As somebody who rarely reads, I'm quite proud I'm flying through the LOTR books. Think it's safe to say fantasy is my preferred genre! Anybody have any recommendations on what to pick up next? Noticed the Game of Thrones books are going quite cheap on Amazon. After enjoying the series I'm tempted to pick these up next. The Hobbit? Found it much better to read as opposed to LOTR, which i struggled with for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted December 26, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 26, 2020 8 hours ago, Xela said: The Hobbit? Found it much better to read as opposed to LOTR, which i struggled with for some reason. The Hobbit was always intended as a kids' book. I was the other way round. Back in the late 60s/early 70s, LOTR was a real cult read among the counterculture, and I was constantly being urged to read it by friends and 'trendy' schoolteachers. This had the inevitable result that I resisted going near it for years. When I finally gave in and decided to give it a go, I insisted on reading The Hobbit first, as I knew that was the correct 'chronological' sequence. It was OK, but I didn't love it - and it very nearly put me off carrying on with the 'big book'. But I did, and I absolutely loved it. I later read it as a serialised bedtime story to my kids - started with the Hobbit and went straight on to the trilogy. Took months, and they loved it (they read it again themselves when they were older). As for the huuuuge fantasy fiction industry that it spawned - nah, not interested in the least. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Salad Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 Best crime fiction series I have ever read are the Tom Thorne series by Mark Billingham and the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly. Reading Billingham's newest 'Cry Baby' right now.Great so far. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted December 26, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 26, 2020 (edited) Took a break from the heavyweight literature for a bit of spy fiction - Len Deighton's "Game, Set and Match" trilogy. I always saw Deighton as the middle ground between the two big names in cold war espionage writing - Fleming and LeCarre. Where the Bond books were overly stylised and rather silly (but fun) and the Smiley series was austere and rather dry, Deighton's Bernard Sampson books combined the best features of both. I first encountered G, S & M in the form of the 1980s TV adaptation, starring Ian Holm. I really enjoyed that, not least due to the superbly atmospheric soundtrack music by Richard Harvey (the CD has for years been my annual go-to car listening when summer turns to autumn - it has that feel about it. But I digress). Finally reading the book was enjoyable, but not as much as I'd hoped it would be. The characters are a little stereotyped, and the plot has holes you could drive a bus through. But still fun. Can't beat a good KGB thug or two. Edited December 26, 2020 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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