What are you reading tonight?

[Prufrock]

Holiday reading!

I read the Game of Thrones stuff on another thread with interest. Bobe's, I started the first one on holiday in June, and have just finished the latest one, so it's doable. They're good in an adventurey way, if appllingly written at times. There are people MEGA into it, including, to a certain extent, our kid. Been quite fun discussing who we thought Jon Snow's parents were, for example. I'v nearly finished the first series on TV. Good, but, as ever, loses soemthing from the books.

I've also nearly finished 'Arguably', a collection of Christopher Hitchens' articles and essays. I'd recommend to anyone. Tone perfect on almost everything. When wrong, he's wrong big time, but on a variety of subjects, from literature to American History via Foreign Policy and comedy, it's a belting read. Not great at out and out comedy pieces, nor is he good at writing about his friends (who is), but he was a sad loss to those who value reason and logic.

Also part-way through Nicholas Nickelby. Has anyone ever displayed a finer command over English prose? The only person I know who comes close is Nabukov (and to give him his due, it's not even his own mother tongue!).

[Prufrock]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

I used to race through books Matilda-at-the-library style until I was about 11 or 12,and then lost interest for a number of reasons. I got back into it when I was about 15, mainly through a combination of the Harry Potter books and having access to the proper, upper school, library. One of the first 'proper' books that got me back into it was 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've never seen the film ( ) which apparently has really dated, but I adored the book.

What do you reckon?

[thebish]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

I used to race through books Matilda-at-the-library style until I was about 11 or 12,and then lost interest for a number of reasons. I got back into it when I was about 15, mainly through a combination of the Harry Potter books and having access to the proper, upper school, library. One of the first 'proper' books that got me back into it was 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've never seen the film ( ) which apparently has really dated, but I adored the book.

What do you reckon?

blimey - sometimes it brings me up short to realise just what a young thing you are!

[LeverEnd]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

I used to race through books Matilda-at-the-library style until I was about 11 or 12,and then lost interest for a number of reasons. I got back into it when I was about 15, mainly through a combination of the Harry Potter books and having access to the proper, upper school, library. One of the first 'proper' books that got me back into it was 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've never seen the film ( ) which apparently has really dated, but I adored the book.

What do you reckon?

Great book and really like the film as well. His use of language is brilliant. Apparently Burgess grew to dislike the book and that it defined his career. Grumpy old git!

[Prufrock]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

I used to race through books Matilda-at-the-library style until I was about 11 or 12,and then lost interest for a number of reasons. I got back into it when I was about 15, mainly through a combination of the Harry Potter books and having access to the proper, upper school, library. One of the first 'proper' books that got me back into it was 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've never seen the film ( ) which apparently has really dated, but I adored the book.

What do you reckon?

blimey - sometimes it brings me up short to realise just what a young thing you are!

, they weren't 'just out' either. I think the first four had been published by the time I got into it!

[William the White]

Holiday reading!


I've also nearly finished 'Arguably', a collection of Christopher Hitchens' articles and essays. I'd recommend to anyone. Tone perfect on almost everything. When wrong, he's wrong big time, but on a variety of subjects, from literature to American History via Foreign Policy and comedy, it's a belting read. Not great at out and out comedy pieces, nor is he good at writing about his friends (who is), but he was a sad loss to those who value reason and logic.

Also part-way through Nicholas Nickelby. Has anyone ever displayed a finer command over English prose? The only person I know who comes close is Nabukov (and to give him his due, it's not even his own mother tongue!).

The George Orwell of our times. Sorely missed. And that is an outstanding collection.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Holiday reading!


I've also nearly finished 'Arguably', a collection of Christopher Hitchens' articles and essays. I'd recommend to anyone. Tone perfect on almost everything. When wrong, he's wrong big time, but on a variety of subjects, from literature to American History via Foreign Policy and comedy, it's a belting read. Not great at out and out comedy pieces, nor is he good at writing about his friends (who is), but he was a sad loss to those who value reason and logic.

Also part-way through Nicholas Nickelby. Has anyone ever displayed a finer command over English prose? The only person I know who comes close is Nabukov (and to give him his due, it's not even his own mother tongue!).

The George Orwell of our times. Sorely missed. And that is an outstanding collection.

It's on my list, but I haven't bought a copy yet until I get through other things.

Go on, Pru - what's he wrong big time on? I'm intrigued.

[William the White]

Holiday reading!


I've also nearly finished 'Arguably', a collection of Christopher Hitchens' articles and essays. I'd recommend to anyone. Tone perfect on almost everything. When wrong, he's wrong big time, but on a variety of subjects, from literature to American History via Foreign Policy and comedy, it's a belting read. Not great at out and out comedy pieces, nor is he good at writing about his friends (who is), but he was a sad loss to those who value reason and logic.

Also part-way through Nicholas Nickelby. Has anyone ever displayed a finer command over English prose? The only person I know who comes close is Nabukov (and to give him his due, it's not even his own mother tongue!).

The George Orwell of our times. Sorely missed. And that is an outstanding collection.

It's on my list, but I haven't bought a copy yet until I get through other things.

Go on, Pru - what's he wrong big time on? I'm intrigued.

If I can intrude - imho he's wrong in his support for the Iraq war...

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

On what basis did he support it?

[TANGODANCER]

Just picked up from the library one I've had on reserve: The Vatican Diaries by journaist John Thavis, and Please Can We Have Our Balls Back - How the British invented sport, by Julian Norridge. Looks like some good reading guarateed.

[Prufrock]

Holiday reading!


I've also nearly finished 'Arguably', a collection of Christopher Hitchens' articles and essays. I'd recommend to anyone. Tone perfect on almost everything. When wrong, he's wrong big time, but on a variety of subjects, from literature to American History via Foreign Policy and comedy, it's a belting read. Not great at out and out comedy pieces, nor is he good at writing about his friends (who is), but he was a sad loss to those who value reason and logic.

Also part-way through Nicholas Nickelby. Has anyone ever displayed a finer command over English prose? The only person I know who comes close is Nabukov (and to give him his due, it's not even his own mother tongue!).

The George Orwell of our times. Sorely missed. And that is an outstanding collection.

It's on my list, but I haven't bought a copy yet until I get through other things.

Go on, Pru - what's he wrong big time on? I'm intrigued.

You can borrow mine if you want?

Well, the one that stood out massively was his support for the French ban on the Burkha, on which there are two pieces in the collection. His starting point is that he things the Burkha is a bad thing, which I can go with. The second piece argues that it should be banned as the counter argument- that it impinges on the liberty of those who wish to wear it- doesn't add up as it isn't these women who exercise any 'liberty' to wear it, but are forced to. Now I think that's a bit weak and wishy-washy, particularly, given he's identified the overall problem of the treatment of women in certain sections of the Islamic community, he then rather weakly seems to argue that banning the burkha is in some way a solution to this. It's not an awful piece, but it jarrs with his usual razor-sharp reasoning.

The first one, however, is awful. His premise is the French ban is good because we should all be able to see each other's faces, and congratulates Sarkhozy on recognising this. Now, whilst there's nothing wrong with the starting point, anyone even casually following could see that Sarkhozy's motivation was pandering to the right-wing vote. The idea didn't pop into his head that not being able to see peoples' faces for any reason is bad, rather he wanted to pander to those who felt france was becoming too 'muslim'. Hitchens doesn't even raise the idea that this might have been the motivation. Again, massively unlike him, he starts with his end point 'banning facial covering is good' and works the rest of it backwards.

There are some brilliant pieces where he takes common wisdom, goes back to first principles, and shows it to be false, the best two examples of the top of my head being the idea that al-Qaeda is pro-palestine, and that all of the Arab world is warzone full of nutters firing guns into the air. The first article mentioned above really doesn't fit in well.

There's also a couple I think you'd like where he argues that the classic foreign policy approach of acting in our own interest is almost always compatible with a humanitarian interventionist approach. The general point is that sooner or later it DOES become in our interest to act, and so acting early saves time and money. His argument is slightly more nuanced than that though .

[William the White]

On what basis did he support it?

I think you'll have to read him yourself - there isn't an easy answer - but he developed a powerful dislike of what he called 'Islamic Fascism' from the time of the fatwa against Rushdie and this was confirmed by the 9/11 attack. As part of a generalised swing to the right that he took this century he found himself cuddling up to the Republican Party and in favour of 'intervention' in foreign affairs.

He did publish a collection of essays at this time about this change of direction, declared himself no longer a socialist, called capitalism the only truly revolutionary system etc...

I didn't find myself in tune with him at this time...

[Hoboh]

Just read this and it wet my tastebuds for viewing it again 8 years on.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... times.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TANGODANCER]

Just today finished The Vatican Diaries by John Thavis. This guy has spent thirty years reporting from the inside on all things Vatican. He doesn't pull any punches in dealing with all the controversial stuff, homosexuality in the clergy, phaedophilia, sexual abuse scandals, bribery corruption and double-dealing in the corridors of power. A really enlightening read, laid out fairly without condeming or praising it deals with the time up till Pope Benedict retiring. A cracking and thought-provoking read.

Amidst the serious, a classical fun moment. A visiting President of the U.S.A, ( doesn't name him but I know who my money's on) seeing a man in splendid uniform with gold-braided epaulettes etc, in a Vatican corridor saluted him smartly...... It was the lift attendant.

[TANGODANCER]

Finished. Child of Vengeance by David Kirk. A fictional work based around the life of Japanese Samurai Musashi Myamoto, authour of Go Rin No Sho -The Book of Five Rings.

(I have memories of reading Five Rings way back in the days when I myself was a Samurai Warrior attending Karate school, doing press-ups on gravel and assaulting harmless peieces of wood whilst uttering wierd noises. That period passed with age, of course, and normality eventually resumed.

[bwfcdan94]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

Let me get this right, you are reading Clockwork Orange, not watching it?

Yep, will watch the film when I have finished the book.

[bwfcdan94]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

I used to race through books Matilda-at-the-library style until I was about 11 or 12,and then lost interest for a number of reasons. I got back into it when I was about 15, mainly through a combination of the Harry Potter books and having access to the proper, upper school, library. One of the first 'proper' books that got me back into it was 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've never seen the film ( ) which apparently has really dated, but I adored the book.

What do you reckon?

I like it, struggled with the language in the first chapter but I got to grips with it fairly quickly, just reading a dozen or so pages every evening.

[Bruce Rioja]

I watched A Clockwork Orange for the first time a couple of years ago having heard about it for nearly all my life. Although it's fairly disturbing in places I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, but then I suppose I was comparing it with modern films rather than considering how it'll have been received at the time of its release.

[Beefheart]

A clockwork orange, creepy stuff!

I used to race through books Matilda-at-the-library style until I was about 11 or 12,and then lost interest for a number of reasons. I got back into it when I was about 15, mainly through a combination of the Harry Potter books and having access to the proper, upper school, library. One of the first 'proper' books that got me back into it was 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've never seen the film ( ) which apparently has really dated, but I adored the book.

What do you reckon?

I like it, struggled with the language in the first chapter but I got to grips with it fairly quickly, just reading a dozen or so pages every evening.

The movie is pretty faithful to the book, which probably has something to do with the book being quite short. Probably has dated, but I'd say any Kubrick film is worth a watch.

[Jugs]

Early Kubrick films are spellbinding but I think he eventually lost his way a little bit.

This is in response to the Clockwork Orange conversation.