What are you reading tonight?

[Verbal]

went to the bookshop today...got Machievelli's 'The Prince' (which I shamefully haven't read yet) and the first of the Stieg Larsson trilogy. Suppose I should read that too really.

[Prufrock]

Steig is good. 'The Prince' is......dated? And boring. And stupid.

[Verbal]

Steig is good. 'The Prince' is......dated? And boring. And stupid.

Your boring and stupid.

Like you labelling a 500-year old book 'dated' though Anymore fish you want to shoot in that barrel?

[TANGODANCER]

Steig is good. 'The Prince' is......dated? And boring. And stupid.

Odd statement Pru? Never read "The Prince" but everything ever written becomes dated at some stage. I love re-reading older stuff because it gives great historical insight into the way things and mind-set were back then. Jane Austen, The Brontes, Stevenson, Conan Doyle, G.K Chesterton etc are all great. I've currently got Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone to re-read and have just read three James Bond novels again. Even they could be said to be dated, but when first written were a very current resume of life and times.

[William the White]

Not reading these myself, yet... but my wife works at bury college tues eves, and they had a library 'sale' (for college librarians this means we will almost pay you to take away these books we have to get off our shelves because we cannot bear the pain of pulping them - i ask Monty if I'm romanticising here...)

So, for £1.50, (£1.50!!!) she bought six hardback novels/short story collections, four of which had never been borrowed, two of which only once...

None of which, we both had to confess, we were really interested in reading... The shelf of shame creaks on...

[William the White]

Not reading these myself, yet... but my wife works at bury college tues eves, and they had a library 'sale' (for college librarians this means we will almost pay you to take away these books we have to get off our shelves because we cannot bear the pain of pulping them - i ask Monty if I'm romanticising here...)

So, for £1.50, (£1.50!!!) she bought six hardback novels/short story collections, four of which had never been borrowed, two of which only once...

None of which, we both had to confess, we were really interested in reading... Though they included Saul Bellow, Henry James and Margaret Drabble... The shelf of shame creaks on...

[Prufrock]

Steig is good. 'The Prince' is......dated? And boring. And stupid.

Your boring and stupid.

Like you labelling a 500-year old book 'dated' though Anymore fish you want to shoot in that barrel?

HA-HA FAIL.
[/b
]
Which I guess means I proved this

Last sentence made me smile .

Point I was lazily making is that it is often held up as some sort of psycholgical masterpiece that will turn you into Derren Brown. In fact it is a bloke describing what would make a good leader in way-back-when Italy. All whilst sucking up to some other dude. If you're interested in the history then would be interesting, but prepared to be underwhelmed as to how un-Machiavellian Machiavelli was.

[Prufrock]

Steig is good. 'The Prince' is......dated? And boring. And stupid.

Odd statement Pru? Never read "The Prince" but everything ever written becomes dated at some stage. I love re-reading older stuff because it gives great historical insight into the way things and mind-set were back then. Jane Austen, The Brontes, Stevenson, Conan Doyle, G.K Chesterton etc are all great. I've currently got Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone to re-read and have just read three James Bond novels again. Even they could be said to be dated, but when first written were a very current resume of life and times.

It's not the same sort of book though TD. People don't tend to read it for an idea as to what life was like then, but as to how to become an evil super-genius, or at least how an evil super-genius thinks, and large parts really aren't relevant. There are bits, a couple of really clever bits (they sound clever, I don't know if they'd work) but is largely a big old suck up book to (I think ) the Medicis, talking about diplomacy.

[Verbal]

Steig is good. 'The Prince' is......dated? And boring. And stupid.

Your boring and stupid.

Like you labelling a 500-year old book 'dated' though Anymore fish you want to shoot in that barrel?

HA-HA FAIL.
[/b
]
Which I guess means I proved this

Last sentence made me smile .

Point I was lazily making is that it is often held up as some sort of psycholgical masterpiece that will turn you into Derren Brown. In fact it is a bloke describing what would make a good leader in way-back-when Italy. All whilst sucking up to some other dude. If you're interested in the history then would be interesting, but prepared to be underwhelmed as to how un-Machiavellian Machiavelli was.

oh dear. mindslip.

Fair point. I knew it was basically some guy writing to a prince hoping to curry favour so im going to take it with a pinch of salt. Just feels like one of those things i "should" have read by now.

[Prufrock]

Aye, I know what you mean. Don't worry though, not many people have read the Prince, but I only very recently managed to cross To Kill a Mockingbird of my list

I finished The Prince, but only because I hate not finishing things I've started. It just wasn't what I expected/hoped. Most of it is common sense, some is irrelevant and some is interesting, but hardly any 'useful'. I wanted to become the Brain from Pinky and the Brain.

[Armchair Wanderer]

I'm dipping into the Prince every now and again. Read it a few years ago, then read up on that period in history, and now re-reading. It's pretty good if you know what he's referring to when he talks about different mistakes/successes people have had. The general ideas he was talking about are not a million miles away from some of the politics these days, these days it is common sense though.

[Dujon]

I've just about finished re-reading John Fowles' The Magus. It's that long since I last read it that apart from the general outline most of it had slipped away from memory to the extent that some of my recollections have been proven wrong. Thus the exercise is almost like reading it for the first time. It's very much a psychological inquest and, at times, is outlandish but I have found it (again) intriguing and enjoyable.

Should any one here have read any of his other books I'd be interested in your comments.

[William the White]

I've just about finished re-reading John Fowles' The Magus. It's that long since I last read it that apart from the general outline most of it had slipped away from memory to the extent that some of my recollections have been proven wrong. Thus the exercise is almost like reading it for the first time. It's very much a psychological inquest and, at times, is outlandish but I have found it (again) intriguing and enjoyable.

Should any one here have read any of his other books I'd be interested in your comments.

A writer that embraces the post-modern demand to reflect upon the act of writing... i almost read The French Lieutenant's Woman. But gave up. I'm not proud to say.

[Dujon]

It seems, William the White, that your opinion of Fowles is not particularly high. He is certainly not the first author to use introspection as the spine of a plot and to then wind the external events around the, presumably, preconceived premise with which he started? I found it interesting although, as I have mentioned, at times a bit far fetched.

I'm a bit wary of The French Lieutenant's Woman as I took my wife and her sister to watch the film many, many years ago, at our now defunct local 'drive-in' cinema. I went to sleep - a fact that was used against me on a few occasions.

Thanks for your comments.

[Lord Kangana]

I'm halfway through Stewart Lee's book How I escaped my certain fate/The life and deaths of a stand-up comedian. Its very funny, if you can get over the constant page jumping you have to do to follow the footnotes that sometime run to pages, and frequently have several per page.

After that its The Gulag Archipelago, which I picked up for a couple of quid in a charity shop. Wish me luck.

[William the White]

I'm halfway through Stewart Lee's book How I escaped my certain fate/The life and deaths of a stand-up comedian. Its very funny, if you can get over the constant page jumping you have to do to follow the footnotes that sometime run to pages, and frequently have several per page.

After that its The Gulag Archipelago, which I picked up for a couple of quid in a charity shop. Wish me luck.

The gulag archipelago is grim as feck, but essential reading as well - the totalitarian nightmare laid bare...

[clapton is god]

Peter Ackyoyd History of England - Foundation.

This is the first of eight volumes and takes us from pre-history through the Romans and Dark Ages and the Plantagenets on to the Tudors. All told in an accessible and easy to read style. I had no idea we knew so much about these times.

Excellent stuff and learning such a lot from it. I had no idea that just 40 years after the Battle of Hastings we invaded and conquered Normandy! And from there to the ridiculous, Henry the 1st had a court Jester called Eric the Farter.

[thebish]

Peter Ackyoyd History of England - Foundation.

This is the first of eight volumes and takes us from pre-history through the Romans and Dark Ages and the Plantagenets on to the Tudors. All told in an accessible and easy to read style. I had no idea we knew so much about these times.

Excellent stuff and learning such a lot from it. I had no idea that just 40 years after the Battle of Hastings we invaded and conquered Normandy! And from there to the ridiculous, Henry the 1st had a court Jester called Eric the Farter.

AKA Bobo the clown....

[Bijou Bob]

Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie, a look at how the North is viewed by both us northerners and by southern jessies.

[Bruce Rioja]

Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie, a look at how the North is viewed by both us northerners and by southern jessies.

Started reading it but put it down as soon as he starts spouting socialist bile (which didn't take long).