What are you reading tonight?

[Puskas]

Really? It almost destroyed my soul getting through that book.

Hardy's not cheerful, is he?

Good, though. You missed a trick - you should have told him to read Finnegan's Wake.

[Prufrock]

Really? It almost destroyed my soul getting through that book.

Hardy's not cheerful, is he?

Good, though. You missed a trick - you should have told him to read Finnegan's Wake.

Which is longer, SJM's, or Mayor of Casterbridge? Coz that's awful too.

[TANGODANCER]

Really? It almost destroyed my soul getting through that book.

Hardy's not cheerful, is he?

Good, though. You missed a trick - you should have told him to read Finnegan's Wake.

Which is longer, SJM's, or Mayor of Casterbridge? Coz that's awful too.

But they were portaying a different era: slower, simpler way of life ,without alchopops and lapdancers. Visit Howath and you get a real sense of what life, particularly rural life, must have been like in those times. A churchyard full of people dead befor they reached thirty, travel by horseback and handwritten mail that took three or four days to deliver. A time when entertainment was a rare visit to a theatre home-made fun, music and dance. The Bronte sisters had to pretend they were male in order to get any of their writings published. It's hard to relate then with now, I agree, personally I love reading and watching period stuff but you have to make allowances for time and lifestyles, surely, when you read the stuff? .

[Prufrock]

Really? It almost destroyed my soul getting through that book.

Hardy's not cheerful, is he?

Good, though. You missed a trick - you should have told him to read Finnegan's Wake.

Which is longer, SJM's, or Mayor of Casterbridge? Coz that's awful too.

But they were portaying a different era: slower, simpler way of life ,without alchopops and lapdancers. Visit Howath and you get a real sense of what life, particularly rural life, must have been like in those times. A churchyard full of people dead befor they reached thirty, travel by horseback and handwritten mail that took three or four days to deliver. A time when entertainment was a rare visit to a theatre home-made fun, music and dance. The Bronte sisters had to pretend they were male in order to get any of their writings published. It's hard to relate then with now, I agree, personally I love reading and watching period stuff but you have to make allowances for time and lifestyles, surely, when you read the stuff? .

I've been TD, and it's a lovely place, but I found the fact it's where that famous Hovis Ad was shot more interesting than the Bronte books, though the familly history was interesting. There's stuff from other times I can quite happily read (thank god, or I'd be fooked for my degree), but those just do not grab me. As for Hardy, it's the pace that kills it. It's no exaggeration to say he spends six sodding pages describing a fecking wardrobe. Tedious.

[Prufrock]

Just finished: Colin Dexter's The Remorseful Day, the last Inspector Morse novel where the great man dies. Must say I closed it, fiction or no, feeling very sad. Much like I did when the masterful John Thaw, TV's Morse, passed away. Morse and Sherlock Holmes have to be my favourite all time detectives.

Just started: The Far Side of The World. I got three of Patrick O'Brien's sea novels from the library.

I have the whole Morse series on DVD - I've only managed to watch the Remorseful Day the once...

Like Sherlock Holmes too and Poirot oh and err Midsomer Murders - Can't whack a high corpse count...

I quite liked the IDEA of MORSE - and usd to watch it because I did a degree at Oxford and it was fun for a while to spot the pub and the street etc... but - to this day - I have NEVER managed to stay awake during a whole episode....

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[Puskas]

Really? It almost destroyed my soul getting through that book.

Hardy's not cheerful, is he?

Good, though. You missed a trick - you should have told him to read Finnegan's Wake.

Which is longer, SJM's, or Mayor of Casterbridge? Coz that's awful too.

But they were portaying a different era: slower, simpler way of life ,without alchopops and lapdancers. Visit Howath and you get a real sense of what life, particularly rural life, must have been like in those times. A churchyard full of people dead befor they reached thirty, travel by horseback and handwritten mail that took three or four days to deliver. A time when entertainment was a rare visit to a theatre home-made fun, music and dance. The Bronte sisters had to pretend they were male in order to get any of their writings published. It's hard to relate then with now, I agree, personally I love reading and watching period stuff but you have to make allowances for time and lifestyles, surely, when you read the stuff? .

I've been TD, and it's a lovely place, but I found the fact it's where that famous Hovis Ad was shot more interesting than the Bronte books, though the familly history was interesting. There's stuff from other times I can quite happily read (thank god, or I'd be fooked for my degree), but those just do not grab me. As for Hardy, it's the pace that kills it. It's no exaggeration to say he spends six sodding pages describing a fecking wardrobe. Tedious.

But Hardy can convey a depth of misery that few others can rival - try reading Jude The Obscure and tell me you don't feel thoroughly hacked off with the human condition.

As for Haworth - well, the Bronte Balti House is a must visit...

[TANGODANCER]

As for Haworth - well, the Bronte Balti House is a must visit...

That's a bit like the time I visited a remote Spanish favourite village that was so typically old Spain. Can't say I was over delighted to wander into a little bar up there one year and find a pool table, and jukebox had arrived.. I know time waits for no man, ....but still.

[thebish]

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[TANGODANCER]

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You missed a comma out Bish.

[Prufrock]

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[farnworth scum]

Suttree by Cormac Mccarthy, i'm really enjoying this really funny and sad in parts, its kinda Huckleberry Finn like adventure but with booze, women, crime and fighting!

[Little Green Man]

Just finished On Chesil Beach. Will try and finish Well Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned this week before embarking on Paul Theroux's Ghost Train To The Eastern Star. (Re-read his Great Railway Bazaar recently - so I'm intrigued as to how he got on with re-writing it.)

[William the White]

Suttree by Cormac Mccarthy, i'm really enjoying this really funny and sad in parts, its kinda Huckleberry Finn like adventure but with booze, women, crime and fighting!

i think he's close to being the bleakest writer I've ever read - utterly admire what he does, but i shrink away from its cruelty... don't know this book... after the border trilogy i couldn't take any more...

[William the White]

Just finished On Chesil Beach. Will try and finish Well Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned this week before embarking on Paul Theroux's Ghost Train To The Eastern Star. (Re-read his Great Railway Bazaar recently - so I'm intrigued as to how he got on with re-writing it.)

are you on some kind of sponsored read for charity...

I thought On Chesil Beach was dire... didn't believe story or characters, and didn't care anyway...

[farnworth scum]

Suttree by Cormac Mccarthy, i'm really enjoying this really funny and sad in parts, its kinda Huckleberry Finn like adventure but with booze, women, crime and fighting!

i think he's close to being the bleakest writer I've ever read - utterly admire what he does, but i shrink away from its cruelty... don't know this book... after the border trilogy i couldn't take any more...

Compared to The Road Sutree is a right barrel of larfs!! I'm now onto Mark Kermodes new movie book which should be a good read.

[Little Green Man]

Just finished On Chesil Beach. Will try and finish Well Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned this week before embarking on Paul Theroux's Ghost Train To The Eastern Star. (Re-read his Great Railway Bazaar recently - so I'm intrigued as to how he got on with re-writing it.)

are you on some kind of sponsored read for charity...

I thought On Chesil Beach was dire... didn't believe story or characters, and didn't care anyway...

No, more setting my self a task to finish a few books - otherwise they'll probably just gather dust with the others. EREB is American short stories so I'm dipping in and out of that. I didn't think OCB was dire but I know what you mean about the characters - couldn't give a stuff about them in the end.

[ratbert]

I've been TD, and it's a lovely place, but I found the fact it's where that famous Hovis Ad was shot more interesting than the Bronte books, though the familly history was interesting. There's stuff from other times I can quite happily read (thank god, or I'd be fooked for my degree), but those just do not grab me. As for Hardy, it's the pace that kills it. It's no exaggeration to say he spends six sodding pages describing a fecking wardrobe. Tedious.

It was filmed in Shaftesbury, Dorset, not Haworth.

http://www.mrandmrshedgehog.co.uk/photos/goldhill.asp

[Prufrock]

I've been TD, and it's a lovely place, but I found the fact it's where that famous Hovis Ad was shot more interesting than the Bronte books, though the familly history was interesting. There's stuff from other times I can quite happily read (thank god, or I'd be fooked for my degree), but those just do not grab me. As for Hardy, it's the pace that kills it. It's no exaggeration to say he spends six sodding pages describing a fecking wardrobe. Tedious.

It was filmed in Shaftesbury, Dorset, not Haworth.

http://www.mrandmrshedgehog.co.uk/photos/goldhill.asp

Lying bastards! Kids, don't trust teachers!

Anyway, I've just finished Brave New World. LK recommended it over 1984. It's good, but suffers from the same difficulty in finding a satisfactory ending.

Now I'd better get on with reading that there Aeneid.

[Lord Kangana]

Now you have to read Island by Mr Huxley, to see how a similar theme can be interpreted as a positive. This will never end, there is no escape.

[Bruce Rioja]

Whilst away last week I ran out of reading material so ended up buying a novel by a guy called Robert Goddard. The book's titled Found Wanting. It promises to be a good read. I'll let you know if I think it is or not.