Tom 14011 Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 George Orwell - Coming up for air. As recommended by Manc-Mag Just finished this book. A good read and enjoyable most of the way through, a couple of ''non-chapters'' and Orwell appears to be a bit of a hypocrite if you cross reference this with his essays based around popular literature of the time but still a decent read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo 172 Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 The Saga of Erik the Viking. just finished reading this to my kids, got to rank as the perfect kids bedtime read ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tribal 0 Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Che Guevara - A revolutionary life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammynb 3342 Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Recently finished: Richard K. Morgan - Altered Carbon Richard K. Morgan - Broken Angels Peter Carey - Theft Nick Hornby - A long way down Currently reading John Birmingham's Weapons of choice and waiting on Billy Furious's And they wonder why we drink to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walliver 0 Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Just about finished Paul Smith's Wasted?. It's one of the best autobiographies I've read. For those who don't know him, he was a cricketer best known for being part of the Warwickshire side who won the treble in the early 90s but then got banned from the game because of recreational drug use. One of his team-mates had an affair with the mother of his child for several years, he lost custody to his children, he ended up homeless for a short while and now he's helping people who have drug habits to get their interest back in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wykikitoon 19814 Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Rebus book number 7 Let it Bleed, great read so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wykikitoon 19814 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Right I am having a break from Rankin and Rebus. Who can recommend me a good Biog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo 172 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Right I am having a break from Rankin and Rebus. Who can recommend me a good Biog? Just about to start Joe Calzaghe's biog, but also tempted with this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walliver 0 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 I've just read Jon Ronson's 'Men Who Stare At Goats' and it's fantastic. Makes you feel like you're learning something (although it's a something that'll never be very useful) but it's fascinating and really well written. I originally bought it as a Christmas present but decided I wanted it instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wykikitoon 19814 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 I did want to read In Foreign Fields about the soldiers in Afghanistan but I dont like reading hardback books Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Just about finished Paul Smith's Wasted?. It's one of the best autobiographies I've read. For those who don't know him, he was a cricketer best known for being part of the Warwickshire side who won the treble in the early 90s but then got banned from the game because of recreational drug use. One of his team-mates had an affair with the mother of his child for several years, he lost custody to his children, he ended up homeless for a short while and now he's helping people who have drug habits to get their interest back in life. Sounds right up my street that, might look out for that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toonraider 0 Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 (edited) I bought my son the following Boigraphys for xmas....DC's. Sir Ranulph Fienne's, Richard Hammond's, Jackie Stewart's and Lewis Hamilton's.....plenty for me to read!! Edited December 30, 2007 by Toonraider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I bought my son the following Boigraphys for xmas....DC's. Sir Ranulph Fienne's, Richard Hammond's, Jackie Stewart's and Lewis Hamilton's.....plenty for me to read!! Is your son suffer from insomnia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magma 0 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Jeremy Clarkson - I Know You Got Soul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Flicking through Metro this morning I read about Crusaders the new book by Richard T Kelly out today. Can't find the article, bu I thought given it's North Eastern bent a few on here might be interested... Maybe it’s a post-Blair drawing of breath, but, suddenly, the British state-of-the-nation novel is back in fashion. Last year saw Blake Morrison searching for the country’s soul in South of the River; this spring we are promised several further explorations of the pre- and post-Thatcher era by Philip Hensher, Helen Walsh and Hanif Kureishi. All three, though, will have to work mightily to match the steepling ambition of Richard T Kelly’s promising debut, Crusaders. Kelly, who has previously written a clutch of film books, mentions Dostoevsky in his afterword (which gives you some idea of his aims), but there is more than an echo in this novel, too, of the grand Victorian social and political set piece. Big, unshowy and unafraid to take its time in laying out its themes or exploring its territory, Crusaders wants to map out a whole region, Kelly’s native northeast, and show how the landscape there (and, by extension, in the rest of Britain) changed between the 1970s and new Labour’s coming to power in 1997. The central figure in this quest is John Gore, a naive young clergyman, who, after an unsatisfactory sojourn in the West Country, returns north in the autumn of 1996 to “plant” a new church in a run-down, crime-infested corner of Newcastle. Motivated as much by his dead grandfather’s coalface politics as his own wavering faith, Gore throws himself wide-eyed into the community and quickly becomes enmeshed with four locals who dramatically complicate his mission – Stevie Coulson, a one-time bouncer with an unexamined respect for the church and a profitable line in “protection”; Lindy Clark, an attractive single mother fighting neighbourhood disdain and trying to juggle several mysterious jobs; Martin Pallister, a former left-wing firebrand who has thrown over his beliefs to become an opposition MP; and the forthright evangelical priest Simon Barlow, a contemporary of Gore’s at theological college, who questions his classmate’s faith and effectiveness while recognising the threat he poses. Although Kelly spends a long time setting up his story, shifting back and forth between the past and present of Gore, Coulson and Pallister, plot is not a great strength of the book – the denouement, for one thing, is too rushed. Nor are some of the protagonists, despite Kelly’s extraordinary ability to conjure up a wide array of secondary characters, entirely satisfactory; heavily fleshed out though they are, Gore and the self-righteous Coulson both ultimately seem too naive. But these drawbacks are more than compensated for by the breadth and precision of the author’s portrait of the northeast, by the great strength of his dialogue, and in particular by his ethical sensibility. For all the geographical focus, this is a novel ultimately about faith and morals – morals upheld, morals compromised, morals abandoned – and Kelly’s complex and sophisticated handling of this theme ensures that the reader remains involved until the last page of this long but rewarding book. Joel Rickett, The Independent on Sunday, January 6 2008 `A powerful, assured literary arrival that will create loyal congregations of devoted followers... darkly humorous... reaches a thrilling crescendo.' Alfred Hickling, The Guardian, January 5 2008 `A Dostoyevskian doorstopper... with an almost Tolstoyan seriousness of purpose... A weighty achievement... its long, complex narrative is impressively sustained.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Recently finished:Richard K. Morgan - Altered Carbon Richard K. Morgan - Broken Angels Peter Carey - Theft Nick Hornby - A long way down Currently reading John Birmingham's Weapons of choice and waiting on Billy Furious's And they wonder why we drink to arrive. Just finished that as well. Kind of sci fi you'd like ALEX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Cheers, I'll keep it in mind. Got an absolute mountain of books to read at present like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sh0ttie 0 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 just got Stephen Fry's Moab is my washtub...something to read when the missus is in labour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo 172 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 just got Stephen Fry's Moab is my washtub...something to read when the missus is in labour I've read that, quite enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JawD 99 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Re-reading I Am Legend. Fancied reading it again after seeing the film. Its a good read. I thought the film was ok but as usual the book is much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 The DAmned United - stunning.................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowen 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 On the Road. As others have said in this thread, it's brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) On the Road. As others have said in this thread, it's brilliant. Big Sur is the sort of follow-up (10 years on) when fame and cynicism have hit home. The Dharma Bums is excellent too. Edited January 18, 2008 by alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowen 0 Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 On the Road. As others have said in this thread, it's brilliant. Big Sur is the sort of follow-up (10 years on) when fame and cynicism have hit home. The Dharma Bums is excellent too. Good stuff, I'll look into getting them. Like yourself I've got a mountain of books in my 'to read' pile at the moment, and I'm a pretty slow reader! You had a chance to look at Kite Runner yet btw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 On the Road. As others have said in this thread, it's brilliant. Big Sur is the sort of follow-up (10 years on) when fame and cynicism have hit home. The Dharma Bums is excellent too. Good stuff, I'll look into getting them. Like yourself I've got a mountain of books in my 'to read' pile at the moment, and I'm a pretty slow reader! You had a chance to look at Kite Runner yet btw? No, but it's in 'the pile'. Want to read it before I watch the film though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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