Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Ant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I liked Microserfs, and Generation X; the rest

> weren't anywhere near as good imo. A bit

> disappointing.


I think these two are the most original of his books, but Girlfriend in a Coma, Life After God and All Families Are Psychotic have got more heart. After that, I think his fiction went down hill a bit, though I did enjoy his odd but marvellous one-man show in Stratford-on-Avon a couple of years ago.

Another favourite is Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in particular float my boat.

I stopped reading Iain Banks's stuff after the The Crow Road or was it Espedair Street and I've never been into his science fiction stuff as most sci-fi bores me to tears, besides I prefer to read the classics from the 19th century whether it be English, French or Russian, for example, Dickens, Hardy, Baudelaire, Zola, Du Maupassant and De Balzac, Dostoyevsky, Gogol and Tolstoy. I read voraciously and obviously I enjoy a lot of more contempory stuff too and there is a lot to recommend but maybe I'll get back to you on that at another time.

Well I'm quite enjoying it as it goes so far (about half way through). Quite an easy read, good sense of humour and things are clearly going to get pretty dark pretty soon.


It's reminding me a little bit of the film Very Bad Things which was hilarious in a feeling guilty about laughing sort of way.

Jah Lush, no punch line on Dickens vs. Eastenders!


I was once told that he wrote his books as episodes for weekly magazines, for young Victorian mums to vicariously live their lives through.. in much the same way that the role is filled by Eastenders now.


Apparently it accounts for the slightly formulaic feel to his narrative, and those endless decriptions about the weather reflecting the emotional state of the protagonists.

Cool, cheers Polly! I'll check through Mrs Keef's collection first, but if she doesn't have it, I'd be very grateful for your spare :)) Trying to think which Dicken's Mrs Keef was laughing about recently, because 2 characters who are basically sh!ts have Merde within their names!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Doubt you would have got much change out of £150.00 for battery and certainly having forked out for it, best to use your car. I recently sold  my car via webuyanycar.com - very pleasant experience & was roughly what I was expecting. Pop your bangers reg jnto their website to get an idea of price - they do send e mails once a fortnight/month just as an aid for you. Easy enough to delete - don’t even have to read valuation. They literally buy any car - if you can’t get it to them, they will charge you to get it there or recommend a co that will do it for you. Must say, mine was a 2014 reg and whilst a bit suspicious, paid extra to get money into my account as needed it for next car but was assured funds had I not gone down route I took would be in my account within 5 days. I now live in the country - every time I have been back to Dulwich and surrounding area, normally get a fine for driving at wrong time or parking at  wrong time so if I drive now, park in West or East Dulwich and do everything else by public transport and walking.  Were I still to be living in ED then before I left was pondering this very issue but since I have been back regularly for health reason I no longer drive but take the train and then buses, walk or Uber. Much cheaper than running a car and had I stayed, that would have been the course I would have taken. I don’t go out everyday, have an allotment or job to go to or family so in my case, would be cheaper not to have a car.  Was truely shocked   at the cost of second hand cars…..but where I now live only has a smattering of buses so no choice but to have wheels to get from A to B etc.          
    • If you don't use the car often then suggest disconnect the battery between use by undoing the earth (negative / minus sign) cable from the battery and the battery will then last longer between use. Remember, central locking, alarm, clock, etc won't work with battery disconnected and wit ours I have to lock the doors with central locking before disconnecting battery as only have key on one door (leave bonnet open before locking doors). Hope this helps  
    • last week's Janda Diner visit reviewed. https://open.substack.com/pub/eatsdulwich/p/restaurant-review-janda-diner?r=8oe6m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
    • Ahh shame about the cost of replacing the battery - especially (and I am assuming here) as the car probably isn't worth that much.  I do, however, think your decision is better than scrapping the car.  I will still update the results of our "experiment" in case this is of interest to others.  I absolutely refuse to scrap an otherwise perfectly good vehicle (especially as ours is ULEZ compliant - despite its age).  Nor am I enamoured with the idea of driving more just to keep the battery going.  If this little £35 gadget does the business then I shall be very happy.  We shall see......... Enjoy all those extra journeys, though if our gadget works then you might benefit from purchasing one and trickle-charging from time to time to save you having to make them.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...