What are you reading tonight?

[William the White]

I finished Narrow road to the Deep North yesterday.

It is harrowing, deeply moving, rich in its use of language - this writer knows how to paint a picture with words.

The central story is absolutely compelling - the tale of the notorious 'Death Railway' that enslaved Australian POWs were forced to construct, its horrors, tortures, beatings, the immense scale of its inhumanity and the fate of those that die, in many grotesque ways, and the fates of those that survive and must still find a purpose to living.

War, brutality, love, redemption, terror - and a powerful heartbeat underpinning it all - this deserved to win the Booker.

The story telling has no tricks, it moves backwards and forwards in time and place, but the reader is always securely anchored. i was pretty much gripped by every page.

I've just given it five stars on the 'goodreads' website.

Despite this, with misgivings and much hesitation, if I'd been on the Booker panel I might still have argued for Ali Smith's How to be both.

Am saving this till last now it's been announced.

Yesterday I finished To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. Least fav of the three I've got through.

So far:

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - loved the first half, chatty but sharp. Then, as always seems to happen, came 'the twist'. An unexpected one for me, but thankfully believable. Second half saw it somehow descend into the stuff of teen crime thriller though. Sounds harsh because I enjoyed it!

How to be Both - fav of the three. The messing with form stuff was hit and miss. Liked the boy/girl thing they both had, less keen on the gimmick of the two halves being interchangeable. I too got the modern but first, and am convinced she thought of it the other way around. You only read it once, so it adds nothing! Meant there could be no real crossover between the two halves because you can' rely on the reader having read the bit you need them to have. Despite that I rally enjoyed it. Dancing between art, gender roles in two different centuries, with a bit of grief thrown in too. Probably my fav of the three I've read so far, but not a great one for me.

To Rise Again... - irritated me. I should like it, and it started well, but for some reason it turned into a plot-driven novel, with a f*cking stupid plot. It also tried to make some bullshit pseudo-psychological point at the end. Ugh. It also grates when authors try to coin their own phrases for technology and yoof stuff. So the first time he called a phone a 'me-machine' I smiled; when he did it on page 300 I grimaced.

Despite all that, it was saved by two redeeming features. The first was the description of a rant as 'Hitchensian'; the second (which he ruins, btw) is his telling of Paul's relationship with his baseball team. This in particular, though a different team in a different sport, seemed particularly apt for a certain set of arseholes down the road:

"I didn't want my team to lose; i just didn't want my team to be the de facto winner. We already had a team that swaggered around as the de facto winner, that pinched players and purchased their pennants. It was less our duty, as Red Sox fans, to root for Boston than it was to ensure in some deeply moral way - and I really mean it when I say it was a moral act, a principled act of human decency - that we not resemble the New York Yankees in any respect".



Also, read Hitchens' Mortality over the weekend. F*ck me. His usual brilliance sharpened by the knowledge he has cancer. And then his wife's epilogue after he died writing it. One of those 'something in my eye' moments.

Yep - that section spoke for me - and all BWFC fans...

[TANGODANCER]

"On the 9th April 1657 an advert appeared in Mercurius Politicus, a London Newspaper. A public coach service was about to start running between London and Chester. The 190 miles would take four days, and a passage cost 35 shillings."

A fascinating short history of the stagecoaches, mainly around the Georgian era: http://www.carlscam.com/coachindustry.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[General Mannerheim]

Anyone read Americanah?

[TANGODANCER]

I tried to read The Bourne Retribution. Couldn't relate. Gave up. Re -read Persuasion instead.

[William the White]

Anyone read Americanah?

yes...

I'm a fan of Adichie's work - have all three novels and her collection of short stories...

Of these I think Americanah is very enjoyable, a definite good read, but the weakest so far. In my view Half of a Yellow Sun is outstanding and Purple Hibiscus almost as good.

But she sure repays reading. Excellent writer.

[William the White]

Howard Jacobson's 'J' is a sinister, clever, dystopia set 50 or 60 years from now in a Britain where a violent catastrophic holocaust seems to have ended the very existence of one group of inhabitants. This holocaust has been so savage that it is referred to as WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED. An event so horrifying that this duality is essential - everyone knows - in a way - what happened but that 'if' is essential to avoidance of the unbearable truth.

In this world the apology is essential, there are lessons in apology. Entertainment is always comic. Music is always ballads. Art is colourful, and curved, its colours always bright. This society embraces the anodyne in order to smother its viciousness.

There is a government, but no laws as such. There are policemen though. Violence inflicted on women is socially condoned. And there is a wave of mysterious murders in the small village in what is probably Cornwall that is the major setting of the novel.

In this world a love story between two misfits is played out. But they are being watched. Who by? And why?

I don't want to risk spoilers. So - this is very good. Recommend. Hugely.

Five of the booker shortlist now read. One to go. My wife thinks this list completion thing is an exclusively male thing.

[Prufrock]

Am about 2/3rds of the way through it. Saw him on TV before the winner was announced and he got on my wick, so I've taken time to warm to it but am really enjoying it now sort of despite myself!

Number 4 on my way to completion !

[Dujon]

I suppose I'd best report on two of Nicholas Monsarrat's novels that I mentioned earlier.

The first, This is the Schoolroom, I found to be a product of its age. You are probably familiar with the genre (Rich young chap falls on hard times; becomes fanatical about socialism/communism; nicks off to Spain to fight a war he knows sweet bugger all about; falls in love . . . ). There are no spoilers in that description as it's all rather predictable. I was hoping for better from Monsarrat.

Secondly his Richer than all His Tribe. I need to give this a second chance. Eleven pages in and I've already left it alone for many weeks. For the time being it'll stay on the bedside table until such time as I'm in the mood to pick it up, either to read or toss onto the bookshelves as a long shot for when I'm bored and need sleep.

As an author of seafaring exploits Monsarrat is in his element. I have three of his novels on my shelves all of which have been read and re-read. Perhaps my selections of his non-seagoing exploits have been poor but I suspect that I will not be purchasing more of such works.

[TANGODANCER]

Saints of the Shadow Bible. The latest episode of Ian Rankin's John Rebus mis-observing police procedure again.

[Lord Kangana]

Have finally taken delivery of my hardback copy of Lyn MacDonald's Roses of No Mans Land. Which will be the final book of hers that I haven't read.

I really like the format she uses, and the first hand accounts. Apparently loads of war porn readers don't!

[William the White]

Have finally taken delivery of my hardback copy of Lyn MacDonald's Roses of No Mans Land. Which will be the final book of hers that I haven't read.

I really like the format she uses, and the first hand accounts. Apparently loads of war porn readers don't!

I agree - she's tremendous.

[Prufrock]

Howard Jacobson's 'J' is a sinister, clever, dystopia set 50 or 60 years from now in a Britain where a violent catastrophic holocaust seems to have ended the very existence of one group of inhabitants. This holocaust has been so savage that it is referred to as WHAT HAPPENED, IF IT HAPPENED. An event so horrifying that this duality is essential - everyone knows - in a way - what happened but that 'if' is essential to avoidance of the unbearable truth.

In this world the apology is essential, there are lessons in apology. Entertainment is always comic. Music is always ballads. Art is colourful, and curved, its colours always bright. This society embraces the anodyne in order to smother its viciousness.

There is a government, but no laws as such. There are policemen though. Violence inflicted on women is socially condoned. And there is a wave of mysterious murders in the small village in what is probably Cornwall that is the major setting of the novel.

In this world a love story between two misfits is played out. But they are being watched. Who by? And why?

I don't want to risk spoilers. So - this is very good. Recommend. Hugely.

Five of the booker shortlist now read. One to go. My wife thinks this list completion thing is an exclusively male thing.

Finished today. Aaaargh I though it was good, but not that good. Weakest of the 4 I've read so far IMO. Didn't think it was as clever as it thought it was, and too many weird unbelievable things happened.

[Bruce Rioja]

^^^ That's just a farty version of Soldier's book!

[Prufrock]

Just finished Neil Lennon's autobiography "Man and Bhoy". Was OK as those things go (lots of tales of "banter" that don't really work on paper) and really interesting in parts, particularly his fight with depression. Wouldn't recommend anyone rush out and get it, but if you're interested in his background it's worth a read.

[Bruce Rioja]

Just finished Neil Lennon's autobiography "Man and Bhoy". Was OK as those things go (lots of tales of "banter" that don't really work on paper) and really interesting in parts, particularly his fight with depression. Wouldn't recommend anyone rush out and get it, but if you're interested in his background it's worth a read.

Would be interested to read his views on the incident in which Shearer stamped on his head and then basically bullied the FA into doing nothing about it.

[Hoboh]

I believe this piece to be well worth a read.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/de ... s-children" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[William the White]

I am reading the posthumously published Unfortunately it was Paradise, a selection of poems by Mahmoud Darwish.

Darwish is often considered, and referred to, as Palestine's 'national poet' and this offers poems extracted from 20 collections published in his lifetime (he died in 2008, as probably the most famous poet writing in Arabic).

I've never been able to read Arabic, and only, at best, spoke enough to get me bargaining in the souk, so this is in translation. I accessed online an alternative translation of his most famous poem, Mural and compared the two - to find versions miles apart in their poetic effect. The translations are recognisably of the same poem - but one is ornate, and, I suspect, more literal, more 'accurate' and the other is punchy and more immediately understandable for an English speaker - and I might prefer one that took the best of both.

In either version I know I'm reading a major poet, whose exile (from the age of six) from his native land has marked him and his family profoundly. Even while working with the PLO, and close to its leadership, it seems he maintained friendships with Israeli poets and other Jewish writers and thinkers.

I shall finish this collection poem by poem. It may take three months to do so, but it will be done. With pleasure, and, I suspect, in awe.

[Prufrock]

Just finished Neil Lennon's autobiography "Man and Bhoy". Was OK as those things go (lots of tales of "banter" that don't really work on paper) and really interesting in parts, particularly his fight with depression. Wouldn't recommend anyone rush out and get it, but if you're interested in his background it's worth a read.

Would be interested to read his views on the incident in which Shearer stamped on his head and then basically bullied the FA into doing nothing about it.

That's in there in detail.

Short answer is that he was pissed off and felt Shearer got special treatment. Main thing he was annoyed about was not getting an apology but was sick of the fuss so went along at Shearer's request at the hearing to speak for him (still not sure why!).

[Bruce Rioja]

Just finished Neil Lennon's autobiography "Man and Bhoy". Was OK as those things go (lots of tales of "banter" that don't really work on paper) and really interesting in parts, particularly his fight with depression. Wouldn't recommend anyone rush out and get it, but if you're interested in his background it's worth a read.

Would be interested to read his views on the incident in which Shearer stamped on his head and then basically bullied the FA into doing nothing about it.

That's in there in detail.

Short answer is that he was pissed off and felt Shearer got special treatment. Main thing he was annoyed about was not getting an apology but was sick of the fuss so went along at Shearer's request at the hearing to speak for him (still not sure why!).

Incredible.

[Prufrock]

Ridiculous isn't it! Shearer's reaction couldn't be more guilty.

He (Lennon) said the thing that pissed him off the most at the time was Warren Barton came over later (as I don't think the ref even gave a free-kick!) and tried to drag him off the pitch because Newcastle needed a goal. All the while he's bleeding out of his head.