What are you reading tonight?

[Lord Kangana]

Carry on Cooking.

Thanks I will.

[Worthy4England]

But

He was bright enough to see the opportunities in the 60s, 70s and early 80s

Sugar knew that middle man/importer wasn't enough (not least cos it eroded his margins) and he had his own manufacturing facility - mainly assembly, admittedly, but he did design stuff

The fact that the far east could do it cheaper by paying a bowl of rice a month to their staff is something he couldn't change

Maybe its cos I've never had and never will have the bollocks to go out on my own like him, I do have a grudging admiration for him

I can see that he's been able to achieve 'success' partly on the back of the others, but he identified and exploited the markets

Fair observation CAPS, not a person that I like particularly, but can't take away what he's achieved.

[Worthy4England]

Carry on Cooking.

Thanks I will.

I await you generating the shortfall the Sugar no longer contributes. I'll hold my breath.

I could occasionally be lying.

[Lord Kangana]

Its a bit early to be this pissed isn't it?

[boltonboris]

He hasn't actually generated new money for years. He's essentially just managed to retain the fortune he aquired in the eighties. Even he accepts he's a one-trick pony, I've heard him say it himself.

And the problem with encouraging the middle-man-only style of business, is that once the Far East cottoned on (and they did) they realised they didn't need someone like Sugar, as they'd had the brains in the first place to come up with the idea and keep the money for themselves. It encourages people to think that having no real knowledge of your product isn't an impedement, whereas in actual fact, in economies that have performed better than ours (Germany,say) its the opposite.

But at the time, middle-men were required. He knew that and made hundreds of Millions exploiting this gap in the market. Surely, that makes him a very good businessman.

He's very much a "Me, me, me. I'm this and that and everyone but me is a c*nt for not being just like me"

But you can't argue with his achievements.

[Lord Kangana]

Its not his personal achievements that I'm arguing against boris. Its that he's held up as a paragon of virtue with regards how business should be conducted in this country. He was even given one of those f*cking Tsar titles. Its old hat. His methods don't work anymore. He (not me, him, as in Sugar himself) has even accepted this.

[Bruce Rioja]

He can't cook?

Didn't he start out by boiling beetroots and flogging them to folk down the Walworth Road street market?

[Prufrock]

I finally finished Lolita this week. I don't know why it has taken me so long, time pressures mainly, but I sat down and attacked the second half this week.

I was unsure about it at first, mainly because of the subject matter, and what that word now means; however, it is a wonderful book, for many reasons, the main one being the enchanting prose of Nabukov. Fook me that man can write. Charming, witty, moving, amazing.

[boltonboris]

Pretty far into 'To kill a Mockingbird'.. It's decent enough, but I'm not so sure why it's such a classic

[Lofthouse Lower]

Agree. It's reasonable enough, but not totally deserving of the high praise.

[William the White]

I'm preparing for twelve days in Portugal. And selecting the reading. Not easy. Shelf of Shame still has far too many for a mere twelve days... And some are definitely not holiday reading... Currently David Mitchell's number9dream and Andrea Levy's The Long Song the only certs.

Recommendations welcomed - don't do pulp fiction - would really welcome page turners with a little thought behind them...

Don't know if you've read it Will, but last year on hols I realy enjoyed 'The Time Traveller's Wife' Some lovely prose which I think you'd appreciate. It's a little overlong, but very well written.

Thank you for this - I really enjoyed it and thought it got better and better as the book went on. The writer takes a pretty commonplace story of enduring love and take it to new and imaginative places. Excellent original work. after about a hundred pages I thought it was getting a little repetitive but the writer injected more and more levels of complexity and really got it going again.

Moving ending, i thought, when the daughter appears in the story, and the final page was a very sweet affirmation of the theme... Great recco...

[Lofthouse Lower]

Don't bother with the film version.

[Bruce Rioja]

No explosion in it, innit!

[Lofthouse Lower]

There are guns though

[TANGODANCER]

Pretty far into 'To kill a Mockingbird'.. It's decent enough, but I'm not so sure why it's such a classic

It was written about 35 years ago and got much praise for the many issues it addressed, not the least being racism and the bigotry and narrow-mindedness of some people. It was/is a bit of a pioneer novel in may ways. Read the book a couple of times and seen the film three or four. I like it very much. An excellent book for me and well deserves its classic literature definition.

[Bruce Rioja]

What Tango says, plus also, the way it's written. Lee manages to combine looking back on events with the experience of an adult with the naivety and the innocence of being a seven year old girl confronted by the absurdity of it all. I can't remember the last book I enjoyed as much.

Tango - I have it in my head that it was written in 1960.

[TANGODANCER]

What Tango says, plus also, the way it's written. Lee manages to combine looking back on events with the experience of an adult with the naivety and the innocence of being a seven year old girl confronted by the absurdity of it all. I can't remember the last book I enjoyed as much.

Tango - I have it in my head that it was written in 1960.

Just checked it Bruce and yes, you're right. I was a bit out in saying over 35 years, kinell, 51 years, how time flies. Absurdity of it all is dead right, as in the teacher telling a young kid off for being too inteligent for example. Very fine book and a good film to follow it.

[Bruce Rioja]

I thought that the film was good in itself, but was a million miles short of the book. In that, the film dealt with most of the subject matters, but omitted half of the characters and could never convey Lee's style of writing. Brilliantly casted though. Everyone in the film played their character exactly as I'd imagined them to be whilst reading the book.

[thebish]

at the moment I am mostly reading "Schopenhauer's Telescope" by Gerard Donovan.

I would heartily recommend it.

the blurb is as good a description as I could attempt..

In an unnamed European village, in the middle of a civil war, one man digs while another watches over him. Gradually, they begin to talk. Over the course of the afternoon, as the snow falls and truck-loads of villagers are corralled in the next field, we discover why they are there - not just who they are and how specific, sinister events in their country have led them to be separated by a deepening grave, but why the history of civilization is inseparable from the history of mass violence. Beautifully written, with a poet's eye for detail coupled with a chilling narrative drive, Gerard Donovan's first novel has been compared with Franz Kafka and Bernhard Schlink. SCHOPENHAUER'S TELESCOPE is current in the best sense - not merely about Bosnia or Kosovo, but in attempting to make art out of brutal life.

[TANGODANCER]

I thought that the film was good in itself, but was a million miles short of the book. In that, the film dealt with most of the subject matters, but omitted half of the characters and could never convey Lee's style of writing. Brilliantly casted though. Everyone in the film played their character exactly as I'd imagined them to be whilst reading the book.

Perfectly right. That very thing is why I like Jane Austen and the Brontes. The write of their own times and events in such a way that makes the reader want to know why such things were. Not the least, for me, in the ridiculously harsh law of property entailment in that period. Sent me off to find out what it was all about and gave me a far better understanding of the authors works. Modern authors can write historical novels based on good research, but reading works that are almost a diary of everyday life at the time is fascinating.