So I took a little survey of what people in the office have been reading lately....
 
- The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
- What I Loved: A Novel by Siri Hustvedt
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- If You're Talking to Me, Your Career Must Be in Trouble: Movies, Mayhem, and Malice by Joe Queenan
 
What are you reading?
Have you read any of these?
What would you recommend?

I was making my way through 'Tristram Shandy' (bought it at uni, never read it, the film adaptation 'Cock and Bull Story' blew my mind so I thought I'd read the book). Was really loving it but have lost momentum half-way through and might abandon it in favour of Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'.

Oh, and the only one from your list I have read is 'In Cold Blood' and I would definitely recommend that.

I'm reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Loving it so far - really enjoying all the knowing references to other books in similar genres. Bit bemused that it's marketed & jacketed with absolutely no reference to the magical element - looks more like another Da Vinci Code knockoff!

In Cold Blood is excellent. I liked What I Loved while reading but it didn't stay with me... not very keen on A Long Way Down. Started well, fell apart near the end, IMHO.

I've not read any of the Latitude office reads, but I've recently finished David Mitchell's 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet', which was as close to perfect a book as I've read in years. Made me laugh, made me cry... and is based around accurate turn of the (20th) century history of the Dutch East India Company.
 
I'm currently reading Richard Herring's biography, 'How Not To Grow Up', and I'm hoping to read Latitude stalwart Robin Ince's 'Bad Book Club' before the festival!

this month i have been reading:

the book of dead philosophers by simon critchley (hilarious and interesting)
the spirit level: why equal societies almost always do better by richard wilkinson (utterly fascinating, very well written and very convincing with charts as far as the eye can see)
the sublime object of ideology by slavoj zizek 
less than zero by bret easton ellis (q&a prep)
labyrinths by jose luis borges (my poor brain)
the complete short stories by graham greene (immensely talented writer)
the complete short stories by vladmir nabokov (immensely talented in a different way)
assorted medical/psychiatric texts 

blamelarkin


this month i have been reading:

the book of dead philosophers by simon critchley (hilarious and interesting)
the spirit level: why equal societies almost always do better by richard wilkinson (utterly fascinating, very well written and very convincing with charts as far as the eye can see)
the sublime object of ideology by slavoj zizek 
less than zero by bret easton ellis (q&a prep)
labyrinths by jose luis borges (my poor brain)
the complete short stories by graham greene (immensely talented writer)
the complete short stories by vladmir nabokov (immensely talented in a different way)
assorted medical/psychiatric texts 

 

have you read 'the garden of forking paths' by borges? 

robert is an affable amiable amicable young man of

blamelarkin


this month i have been reading:

the book of dead philosophers by simon critchley (hilarious and interesting)
the spirit level: why equal societies almost always do better by richard wilkinson (utterly fascinating, very well written and very convincing with charts as far as the eye can see)
the sublime object of ideology by slavoj zizek 
less than zero by bret easton ellis (q&a prep)
labyrinths by jose luis borges (my poor brain)
the complete short stories by graham greene (immensely talented writer)
the complete short stories by vladmir nabokov (immensely talented in a different way)
assorted medical/psychiatric texts 

 

have you read 'the garden of forking paths' by borges? 

 


indeed, i'd love to sit down and look through borges' imagination. can only wonder about what he thought but didn't publish. 

blamelarkin

robert is an affable amiable amicable young man of

blamelarkin


this month i have been reading:

the book of dead philosophers by simon critchley (hilarious and interesting)
the spirit level: why equal societies almost always do better by richard wilkinson (utterly fascinating, very well written and very convincing with charts as far as the eye can see)
the sublime object of ideology by slavoj zizek 
less than zero by bret easton ellis (q&a prep)
labyrinths by jose luis borges (my poor brain)
the complete short stories by graham greene (immensely talented writer)
the complete short stories by vladmir nabokov (immensely talented in a different way)
assorted medical/psychiatric texts 

 

have you read 'the garden of forking paths' by borges? 

 


indeed, i'd love to sit down and look through borges' imagination. can only wonder about what he thought but didn't publish. 

 


nice. it's one of my favourite short stories. definitely up there with Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge', which i'd suggest people read if they have time. it's only a few pages. probably on the web somewhere. 


i was reading one of Alberto Manguel's fantastic books the other day and there was a chapter detailing how he had been privileged enough to read to Borges during his later, blind years. probably got a nice look through Borges' imagination during those sessions. can't imagine how badass that must have been. getting to chat to someone of such talent and listen to their views. although apparently their reading wasn't always that varied. Borges made him read 'Treasure Island' over and over for a lot of the time. 


reminded me of A Handful of Dust's ending. but awesome, not quite creepy. 

Borges made him read 'Treasure Island' over and over for a lot of the time.

well wouldn't that be just the most perfect job, reading one of my favorite novels to one of my favorite writers...pretty sure life could not get any sweeter...

though, rob, one of my all time forum best mates that you are...and this is where i is gonna sass you again...
garden of the forking paths ? really...for me mr borges is at his very best when he forgets his high- faulting intellect and gets down, and and gets real nasty, with the Buenos Aires gangster underworld...
but this is just all part of Borges genius, really...even his flimsiest gangster story holds untold resonances until one dwells upon them...
all time favorite, something of a half way between the two...death and the maiden

my favourite borges is still the library of babel. it links in with stuff i was interested in studying in mathematics, and in philosophy. 

reading certain works again and again is immensely rewarding. pale fire by nabokov needs a good few readings and most good short stories deserve reading repeatedly.

blamelarkin


my favourite borges is still the library of babel. it links in with stuff i was interested in studying in mathematics, and in philosophy. 

reading certain works again and again is immensely rewarding. pale fire by nabokov needs a good few readings and most good short stories deserve reading repeatedly.

as harold bloom (someone whose literary opinions correspond with mine more often than not) once said: 

're-reading is far more important than reading, in opinion. after all, if something isn't worth reading again, what's the point in finishing it the first time?'

're-reading is far more important than reading, in opinion. after all, if something isn't worth reading again, what's the point in finishing it the first time?'

It really never ceases  to amaze me how many people i know would ever consider to re-read a novel, but would have no problem in re-watching a movie, listening to an album over and over, and having their favorite art print on their wall, to look at endlessly.
a good text, novel, play, poem...etc, is as endless a work of art as any other, if not more so, as words are in fact the ultimate in, in, in...well, for want of a better one; the best in plastic, mailable things....words in fact fail me 

Currently reading Ulrich Haarburste's novel of Roy Orbison in Cling film...which has to be the most absurd book since trout fishing in america...(as sgarped eyed readers will note, the u in Haarburste should have an umlaut)...only trouble is, i am going away tomorrow, and expect i will finish it 3500 feet somewhere over the Adriatic... so wha to read on the beach?

got it down to 2 choices...Manituana, by Wu Ming, hat crazy Italian anarchist collective, formally known as Luther Blissett
or
Memphis Underground, buy Stewart Home...Englands greatest living writer...

what to do, what to do...probably take both and see which grabs me

hoppo


.....expect i will finish it 3500 feet somewhere over the Adriatic....
 

Bit low isn't it? What is it a bombing raid?  Just to be anal I'll point-out that I think you've missed a '0' off that... unless you plan to finish the umlaut guy's book during final approach.

sorry, roger, the height is correct...3500 is the correct altitude when flying in a dehaviland moth

http://www.google.co.uk/i...amp;ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

oh all right then you caught me out

You can tell I've obviously been spending too much time on WizzAir, I'm now querying someone's altitude when it's out by 1 digit.  I'll try to get out more.

So, I can go along with the theme of this thread, because slightly unusually for me I am actually currently reading a book:  ‘Watergate’ by Fred Emery (got for 2 quid in a charidy shop last week) - I’m getting yet another angle on those events of the early 70s.
 
A brief review.  It does contain a few ‘new’ facts and thoughts that I haven’t heard before, and it was written with all the advantages of 20 years of hindsight - and by a Brit too, a BBC guy, not some American who sees this whole event as a tragedy of his/her nation.  To a semi-obsessive like me it is interesting, but it’s not the best written account I’ve ever read, the writing style feels a bit stop/start, I know the facts and events of all this do get a bit complex at times, but the story in this version doesn’t flow as nicely as dear old Bob and Carl managed.  But I’ll definitely finish it, hey I might even learn Jeb Magruder’s shoe size, so it'll all be worth it.

Have you read Nixonland, Roger?

No, should I?  I'm intrigued enough to check it out