Seat68 Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 4 minutes ago, Rodders said: Very much enjoying Catch 22 at the moment, but in successive pages I have seen the phrase "clearing in the woods" written out and it is quite disconcerting The problem with catch 22, you need catch 22 to have word removed spread across its pages, without it, it just isn't catch 22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 I read Silas Marner by George Eliot, the description of 'an outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, a novel notable for its strong realism' didn't sound that thrilling but as I wanted to read something short and having read and liked Daniel Deronda last year thought I'd give it a go. I liked it a lot, almost has the feel of a fairy-tale, and despite the 'realism' description there are a lot of supernatural elements, with references to witches, ghosts and other cult related things, albeit presented as being in the minds of some of the characters as a way of expalining things they don't understand rather than being real elements of the story. Also read A Little Guide to the Fifteenth Arrondissement for the Use of Phantoms by Roger Caillois - 'As he strolls the streets of Paris's fifteenth arrondissement, Roger Caillois imagines the phantoms that inhabit the modern metropolis, drawing on everything from science fiction and the detective novel to urban mythology ' - Was an interesting little book, again another one that had a supernatual feel to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 The New Jack Reacher book...first time since I started reading them in 2007 that I have read a few chapters, put it down, and not bothered. I don;t know about Lee Child handing the reins to his brother, I think they should just end the series. Not up to standard, nowhere **** near. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 17, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 17, 2021 Having a second go at Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", having started and given up on it a few years ago. And it's still hard work. I think it may be the translation (Pevear and Volokhonsky), which has garnered much praise as the best ever, but reads terribly clunky to me. Considering getting the old (Constance Garnett) translation, to see if it's any better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted November 17, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 17, 2021 1 hour ago, rjw63 said: The New Jack Reacher book...first time since I started reading them in 2007 that I have read a few chapters, put it down, and not bothered. I don;t know about Lee Child handing the reins to his brother, I think they should just end the series. Not up to standard, nowhere **** near. I’ve just finished it, they have nicked several plot lines from previous books and the outcome was exactly formulaic. It really is a shame because I’ve loved every book until the last two. If you fancy something of a similar nature Please try the Victor the assassin books, Absolute quality 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Salad Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Just finished the latest Charlie Park book, "The Nameless Ones'. John Connolly just proved again why he's my favorite author. Now just wish Ian Rankin would write another Rebus novel ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 18, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 18, 2021 11 hours ago, rjw63 said: The New Jack Reacher book...first time since I started reading them in 2007 that I have read a few chapters, put it down, and not bothered. I don;t know about Lee Child handing the reins to his brother, I think they should just end the series. Not up to standard, nowhere **** near. Happens to all genre writers in the end. I used to like the Alan Furst spy novels, but his last couple have been poor and formulaic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 I have read about 5 Reacher books but now I find them repetive.Its all about fighting and how as a man throws a left jab,Reacher figures out that he has an extra split second to kick him in the nuts.Also he does not work,refuses money yet always has heaps to spend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Just re-read this again. Owned the book 20 years. One of the best autobiographies I have ever read. Funny as ****! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 On 17/11/2021 at 20:06, rjw63 said: The New Jack Reacher book...first time since I started reading them in 2007 that I have read a few chapters, put it down, and not bothered. I don;t know about Lee Child handing the reins to his brother, I think they should just end the series. Not up to standard, nowhere **** near. He must run out of ideas for the books so it must feel as though they are going through the motions. Also on a wider point, maybe @mjmooney might be better suited to answer, but once you've financially made it and don't need to write, you're probably just honouring a commitment to write 'x amount of books' for a publisher. Do any writers get better as they become more successful? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Some books i enjoyed: Dune Series (Frank Herbert - book 1-6) The Expanse Series No Country for Old Men Moneyball Foundation Series Witcher series Altered Carbon I could name many history/cultural type books i think are good also....but i can only list so many! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 I have read 3 Martina Cole books and I find them different to most crime books in that instead of concentrating on 1 murder or 1 robbery she starts from when a criminal is a teenager and just starting and ends up at the end of his career/life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 On 17/11/2021 at 21:25, mjmooney said: Having a second go at Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", having started and given up on it a few years ago. And it's still hard work. I think it may be the translation (Pevear and Volokhonsky), which has garnered much praise as the best ever, but reads terribly clunky to me. Considering getting the old (Constance Garnett) translation, to see if it's any better. Tried Crime and Punishment years ago and found it utterly unreadable. Won’t go near Dostoevsky again. File next to Joyce and Hamsun and run for cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 22, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 22, 2021 9 hours ago, El Zen said: Tried Crime and Punishment years ago and found it utterly unreadable. Won’t go near Dostoevsky again. File next to Joyce and Hamsun and run for cover. Yeah, I failed on Crime and Punishment, too. Joyce is at least wacky (I did get through Ulysses, but not a hope in hell with Finnegan's Wake). Never tried Hamsun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 It's been quite a while now since I read it, but I remember the The Brothers Karamazov starting off slow but getting better as it went along and then getting really good. I'm not sure if i'd like it as much now as I've read quite a few other books since, so my taste may have changed. The mistake I made with Dostoevsky is reading his novels one after the other, so now they've kind of blurred into my mind as one, Crime and Punishment being the exception because I've read it again since, and Notes from Underground as that one's quite different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 24, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 24, 2021 3 minutes ago, useless said: It's been quite a while now since I read it, but I remember the The Brothers Karamazov starting off slow but getting better as it went along and then getting really good. I'm not sure if i'd like it as much now as I've read quite a few other books since, so my taste may have changed. The mistake I made with Dostoevsky is reading his novels one after the other, so now they've kind of blurred into my mind as one, Crime and Punishment being the exception because I've read it again since, and Notes from Underground as that one's quite different. Well I've now switched from the 'award winning' 1990s translation to the 1912 Constance Garnett, and it's like night and day. Way better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 I think the Constance Garnett mush have been the one I read because it was a really old edition in two volumes. Edit I've just googled it and mine looked exactly like this one on Sothebys... although I don't think mine was a first edition, at least I hope not as I had to throw it away because some dampness got to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 On 17/11/2021 at 20:01, useless said: I read Silas Marner by George Eliot, the description of 'an outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, a novel notable for its strong realism' didn't sound that thrilling but as I wanted to read something short and having read and liked Daniel Deronda last year thought I'd give it a go. I liked it a lot, almost has the feel of a fairy-tale, and despite the 'realism' description there are a lot of supernatural elements, with references to witches, ghosts and other cult related things, albeit presented as being in the minds of some of the characters as a way of expalining things they don't understand rather than being real elements of the story. Also read A Little Guide to the Fifteenth Arrondissement for the Use of Phantoms by Roger Caillois - 'As he strolls the streets of Paris's fifteenth arrondissement, Roger Caillois imagines the phantoms that inhabit the modern metropolis, drawing on everything from science fiction and the detective novel to urban mythology ' - Was an interesting little book, again another one that had a supernatual feel to it. I have a great liking for Silas Marner and I tend to list it amongst the short and sweet, along with The Go-between and Henri Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes. Eliot has written greater books, but not many more pleasurable. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 24, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 24, 2021 (edited) 37 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said: I have a great liking for Silas Marner and I tend to list it amongst the short and sweet, along with The Go-between and Henri Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes. Eliot has written greater books, but not many more pleasurable. I'll have to try it. 19th Century English novels have always been pretty much a no-go area for me. Never got beyond a chapter or two of anything by Jane Austen, the Bröntes, Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray, George Eliot, Mrs Gaskell. I'm fine with the 18th Century (Swift, Defoe, Fielding, Richardson, Smollett, etc). 19th Century American, French and Russian novels are OK. And I positively love the early 20th C (modernism). But the Victorian stuff leaves me cold. Edited November 24, 2021 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted November 24, 2021 Share Posted November 24, 2021 (edited) 39 minutes ago, mjmooney said: I'll have to try it. 19th Century English novels have always been pretty much a no-go area for me. Never got beyond a chapter or two of anything by Jane Austen, the Bröntes, Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray, George Eliot, Mrs Gaskell. I'm fine with the 18th Century (Swift, Defoe, Fielding, Richardson, Smollett, etc). 19th Century American, French and Russian novels are OK. And I positively love the early 20th C (modernism). But the Victorian stuff leaves me cold. I would not recommend it to a man of your tastes. I understand that you would find the fate of the character Tony Last in A Handful of Dust, to be horror beyond horror. Edited November 24, 2021 by MakemineVanilla 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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