mjmooney Posted April 28, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted April 28, 2023 (edited) 17 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said: I wish I had jotted down some of the best quotable bits, but there were just too many. And that's the problem, imo. It reminds me of that old Monty Python sketch about Oscar Wilde, where everybody is trying to make everything they say a witty aphorism, and after a while* it just becomes word salad. [* 'a while' to the tune of over a thousand pages] I'll keep on with it, but it's not remotely in the same league as Proust or Joyce. Edited April 29, 2023 by mjmooney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 30, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted June 30, 2023 Currently on the go: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 15, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 15, 2023 I wonder if I'll ever read these again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 4 hours ago, mjmooney said: I wonder if I'll ever read these again? I have to say I found them very entertaining, even though they are hilariously ridiculous sometimes. Rosa Klebb is a wonderfully despicable villain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 16, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 16, 2023 10 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said: I have to say I found them very entertaining So did I, but I was about 16. I'm slightly curious to see what I'd make of them now. Just can't see them ever getting near the the top of the 'read next' pile. I mainly keep them for sentimental/nostalgia reasons, as they are my original 1960s paperbacks, with uniform cover art, which pleases me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 11 hours ago, mjmooney said: So did I, but I was about 16. I'm slightly curious to see what I'd make of them now. Just can't see them ever getting near the the top of the 'read next' pile. I mainly keep them for sentimental/nostalgia reasons, as they are my original 1960s paperbacks, with uniform cover art, which pleases me. Sometimes I just need entertaining and they do that alright. On the subject of one's 16-year-old self, I 've been watching Callan on YT, and my younger self seems to have had better taste than I imagined. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 16, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 16, 2023 16 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said: On the subject of one's 16-year-old self, I 've been watching Callan on YT, and my younger self seems to have had better taste than I imagined. I have the DVD set. You're not wrong. Nothing like Fleming, somewhere between Deighton and Le Carré. Despite my claims on another thread, I may yet watch them again. Incidentally, the Alexandra Harris book (upthread) is excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robby b Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) I'm reading an interesting short story called The Hunters' Café, by Daniel Boulanger. It's about a veteran from one of the World Wars who's in a wheelchair and who has received a few really nasty jeers and insults from a few horrible, very unkind car drivers now and then. And then when the press reports someone cooking an egg in the flame of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe, that's the last straw! He's suddenly so angry about lack of respect and appreciation towards him and fellow veterans that he tries to speak with a minister by phone but can't get through to him... So then as a protest he organises a blockade of the traffic on the Champs Elysée... He and some of his veteran friends all go up it in formation, in a horozontal line, in their motorised wheelchairs as fast as they can and then they all suddenly stop halfway... and chaos ensues! Lots of klaxons from angry drivers stuck behind them suddenly... and then a bit later they go right up to the famous roundabout and cause more chaos there with another huge traffic jam. Edited July 18, 2023 by robby b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa87 Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 Currently got my History on: Katja Hoyer - beyond the wall James Holland - Normandy 44 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 This was the last book I read I am fascinated by what really happens in the pop music business and this book gives a real insight via honest interviews with members from all of the major UK pop groups of the 10 years between 96 and 2006. Really interesting. No one comes off totally unlikeable, apart from Louie Walsh, who is just a word removed, a despisable word removed. But the overwhelming aspect is that pop bands were worked like dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 3 hours ago, Villa87 said: Currently got my History on: Katja Hoyer - beyond the wall The mysteries of how life was lived in East Germany has always fascinated me, since I was a mad leftie in my youth. Films like The Lives of Others gives one view, but I am more interested in the lives of ordinary workers. The fact that the GDP of East Germany was about the same as the UK in the 1970s, or so I am told, always makes me wonder about life lived without consumerism. As an Ossi once told me, 'it was okay, as long as you didn't want fashionable shoes'. Other Germans have told me that Saxony still feels more German than the states in the west. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 10 hours ago, robby b said: I So then as a protest he organises a blockade of the traffic on the Champs Elysée... He and some of his veteran friends all go up it in formation, in a horozontal line, in their motorised wheelchairs as fast as they can and then they all suddenly stop halfway... and chaos ensues! Lots of klaxons from angry drivers stuck behind them suddenly... and then a bit later they go right up to the famous roundabout and cause more chaos there with another huge traffic jam. isn't that just daily life in France ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 1 hour ago, Seat68 said: This was the last book I read I am fascinated by what really happens in the pop music business and this book gives a real insight via honest interviews with members from all of the major UK pop groups of the 10 years between 96 and 2006. Really interesting. No one comes off totally unlikeable, apart from Louie Walsh, who is just a word removed, a despisable word removed. But the overwhelming aspect is that pop bands were worked like dogs. looks interesting I seem to recall reading that Girls Aloud at the height of their fame were being given about £80 a week to live on by the record company .. they made little to nothing on the record sales , the money was in touring , which was a problem as only one of them could sing ... but Sheryl traded on her looks and did ok in the end and just shows a pretty face will take you further than talent ever will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 8 minutes ago, tonyh29 said: looks interesting I seem to recall reading that Girls Aloud at the height of their fame were being given about £80 a week to live on by the record company .. they made little to nothing on the record sales , the money was in touring , which was a problem as only one of them could sing ... but Sheryl traded on her looks and did ok in the end and just shows a pretty face will take you further than talent ever will Louis Walsh was their manager, but didnt manage them, so they didnt have a manager at all, it was decided amongst them that as Kimberley had been to uni, that initially she should look after that side of things. I am not sure about the singing ability, I felt that they were great singers but some greater than others. The most interesting chapters in the book are on Girls Aloud, S Club 7 and weirdly Five. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 18, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 18, 2023 On 14/09/2017 at 09:24, Stevo985 said: Well, a confession. I'm actually listening to ASOIAF. I've got the audiobooks. So it won't take me as long as if I was reading them. yes I'll definitely go back to the Dark Tower. Like I said I'm a King fan so it's sure to entertain me if it's as good as people say. Just put it aside for now. It took me almost 6 years, but I've finally gone back to the Dark Tower. I re-read (ok, I'm listening to them, wanna fight about it?) the first book and I still found it very hard going. I mean it's fine but it was confusing and didn't really hook me. But **** me, The Drawing of the 3 is incredible right from the start. I'm absolutely gripped Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robby b Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 I'm currently reading 'Memoirs of a Ship's Captain', by Mandy Lifeboats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 20, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 20, 2023 48 minutes ago, robby b said: I'm currently reading 'Memoirs of a Ship's Captain', by Mandy Lifeboats. Didn't know @Mandy Lifeboats was a published author. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 2 hours ago, robby b said: I'm currently reading 'Memoirs of a Ship's Captain', by Mandy Lifeboats. You owe me money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robby b Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 29 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: You owe me money. Why? For stealing your joke? Oh no, I guess it might be a kind of copyright joke?! Yikes how much are we talking about?! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 1 hour ago, robby b said: Why? For stealing your joke? Oh no, I guess it might be a kind of copyright joke?! Yikes how much are we talking about?! For reading my book. Let's say £9.99. You might be interested in my new book written under a new pseudonym.... "Being a Birmingham City Supporter" by Issac Hunt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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