What are you reading tonight?

[bobo the clown]

Time to pick one from the shelf, for me. Hmmm.......

Tom Sharpe - Indecent Exposure, it is.

Had me weeping with laughter 30 years ago!

Exactly this. I recall sitting in a bar in Ag Nik, Crete & simply crying with laughter.

The only other books that have done thatwere the 2 of David Niven's.

[thebish]

not exactly "reading" - but i guess it is like a talking book - and the "listening to" thread is more about music..

I caught most of this on R4 last night whilst driving down the A12 - and was captivated...

it turns out it was the fourth in a series of 5 telling the story from the pov of different characters.

I'm gonna listen to all five now... very moving!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... urs_Story/

A new dramatic poem by Owen Sheers about a soldier struggling to return home. Commissioned for the Radio 4 More than Words festival in Bristol and set and recorded there.

There are three comrades: Arthur is back in Bristol and wants to tell the story of his war and that of his friends, Hads and Taff.. Taff is a dubstep 'soundhead', Hads is trapped in a job in a shopping centre; they join up too Arthur's girlfriend and Had's mother and Geraint's wife also appear. With music by Jon Nicholls.

(NB - it's not a poem as in summat that rhymes - actually - am not sure why it is classed as a poem - sounds just like radio drama to me...)

thebish stamp of approval!

[Prufrock]

Finished Thinking Fast, and Slow. Sort of like a freakonomics for psychology. Interesting insight into how our mind works, and explained some of the irrationalities of the human condition. Makes you question your politics, whichever side of the divide you lie. I reckon thebish and Crayons in particular would enjoy it. First chapter is hard work as you get to grips with the terminology, but fascinating stuff. Well, I thought so

Anyway, now, to fiction. Whenever I go to the library I look through the classics section and try to find something new. I'm now on Madame Bovary. It's fantastic! Know next to nothing about Flaubert, despite finding French literature 'Fecking A', but I saw it and picked it up. He writes beautifully,


"From the backrooms of restaurants where people eat after midnight, by candlelight, there came the laughter of the motley crowd of writers and actresses. Extravagant as kings, they were, full of idealistic ambitions and wild enthusiasms. They lived on a higher plane, between heaven and earth, among storm-clouds, so sublimely."

S'nice that, isn't it? And that's a translation!

[thebish]

not exactly "reading" - but i guess it is like a talking book - and the "listening to" thread is more about music..

I caught most of this on R4 last night whilst driving down the A12 - and was captivated...

it turns out it was the fourth in a series of 5 telling the story from the pov of different characters.

I'm gonna listen to all five now... very moving!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... urs_Story/

A new dramatic poem by Owen Sheers about a soldier struggling to return home. Commissioned for the Radio 4 More than Words festival in Bristol and set and recorded there.

There are three comrades: Arthur is back in Bristol and wants to tell the story of his war and that of his friends, Hads and Taff.. Taff is a dubstep 'soundhead', Hads is trapped in a job in a shopping centre; they join up too Arthur's girlfriend and Had's mother and Geraint's wife also appear. With music by Jon Nicholls.

(NB - it's not a poem as in summat that rhymes - actually - am not sure why it is classed as a poem - sounds just like radio drama to me...)

thebish stamp of approval!

downloaded the whole thing - each episode is about 15mins or so - and listened to them all in sequence in my deckchair on my newly mown lawn...

very good indeed - a captivating listen - and a harrowing account of what the consequences of war can be for individual lives and families...

am happy to email the MP3s to anyone who is interested.

[Worthy4England]

am happy to email the MP3s to anyone who is interested.

On condition they can prove they've mowed the lawn too!

[William the White]

Last night I finally finished Mourid Barghouti's Midnight, and other poems. I have never read a better collection of poems - from the novella length title poem to the six line final poem, the writer gives us passion, insight, beauty, intelligence, humanity and a fierce anger at all oppression. He is a political poet, but far, far more than that. He is a Palestinian with a universal voice.

A review of this collection:

http://www.mouridbarghouti.net/blog/201 ... her-poems/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife went to London today with the book. I made her take it. Someone else has to read it so i can talk to them about it!

The best.

Not sure what's next, but, so far, just about managing to keep up with hew years res to read at least one book a month.

[TANGODANCER]

I'm still doggedly battling my way through Jerusalem and approaching the time of World War I. The sheer mind-blowing power struggles through the centuries over this one city is almost unbelievable. You want politics, religion, empiring, debauchery and mass slaughter in the name of it all, read this book. I thought I knew a fair amount about Jerusalem. I just went back to school.

[William the White]

First 48 pages of Snowdrops. When folks are looking for a beach page turner in summer this has every possibility... Le Carre without the the cold War... Set in Russia, still depicted as exotic and dangerous place, where the ex KGB now run the economy... Enjoying...

[Bruce Rioja]

Time to pick one from the shelf, for me. Hmmm.......

Tom Sharpe - Indecent Exposure, it is.

Had me weeping with laughter 30 years ago!

And had I actually remembered to bring it with me.....................

Remembered it today though and managed to get stuck into it. Brilliant. Piss funny. Such cutting use of sarcasm. Hope it's like this all the way through.

[Bijou Bob]

It is Bruce. When you've done, try Riotous Assembly and the Wilt trilogy. Grand stuff.

[bobo the clown]

It is Bruce. When you've done, try Riotous Assembly and the Wilt trilogy. Grand stuff.

There are a stack-full.

Then he seemed to stop writing these types. He resumed a couple of years ago & tbh they were disappointing.

[William the White]

It is Bruce. When you've done, try Riotous Assembly and the Wilt trilogy. Grand stuff.

There are a stack-full.

Then he seemed to stop writing these types. He resumed a couple of years ago & tbh they were disappointing.

He never did anything as good as Indecent Exposure and Riotous Assembly...

They got him expelled from South Africa, where he was an anti-apartheid activist.

The first Wilt was ok - but it's been diminishing returns since then... the last were close to unreadable... In fact I couldn't finish the last of his I bought, too tedious...

[Armchair Wanderer]

Think I read "Blott On The Landscape", and maybe "Indecent Exposure" or "Wilt".

May have to try "Riotous Assembly" once I get through all these footy books

Can't recall having read a South African book since "Disgrace" by JM Coetzee, it sounds very different to that one!

[TANGODANCER]

Can't recall having read a South African book since "Disgrace" by JM Coetzee, it sounds very different to that one!

I haven't read a book on South Africa since I got fed up with Wilbur Smith.

[TANGODANCER]

On the back end of Jerusalem I just read Two Tribes , a novel by Charlie Owen. All about B.N.P style activities, strikes, rioting, racism and "police brutality?" in the Manchester area. Odd book with flashes of humour mixed up with dark deeds and topical issues.

[Harry Genshaw]

Just finished 'Under the banner of heaven' by John Krakauer. A fascinating insight into the Mormon church and a murder committed by a couple of Fundamentalists in the 1980s. Would highly recommend to both the religious and non religious.

[Gooner Girl]

Jack Sheffields latest book, very enjoyable.

[thebish]

Jack Sheffields latest book, very enjoyable.

who??

[Gooner Girl]

Jack Sheffields latest book, very enjoyable.

who??

Ahhh, you wouldn't like it, has no gore, crime or murder in it!

Its a series of books set in Yorkshire in the late 70's/early 80's about a primary school headmaster at a village school and tells the tale of his life and the lives of the inhabitants of the village, its gentle reading interspersed with lots of references about what was going on that year - what songs were on the radio, what the news was, etc etc. I liked it anyway! No doubt you'll scoff!

[thebish]

Jack Sheffields latest book, very enjoyable.

who??

Ahhh, you wouldn't like it, has no gore, crime or murder in it!

Its a series of books set in Yorkshire in the late 70's/early 80's about a primary school headmaster at a village school and tells the tale of his life and the lives of the inhabitants of the village, its gentle reading interspersed with lots of references about what was going on that year - what songs were on the radio, what the news was, etc etc. I liked it anyway! No doubt you'll scoff!

very much not!! I very much enjoyed that other teacher who did summat similar - he was on the radio - was it in the Dales?? he did speaker tours and all sorts... what was his name??