What is East Dulwich reading today?

[mightyroar]

Mark you should try what was lost by caroline o'flynn or black swann green by david mitchell

[Keef]

capt_birdseye Wrote:

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> When he realised he'd lost his god, and the teacher was behaving like a right arse, do you think the impression was that he was therefore going to blow himself up anyway?

I never thought that he'd go on to blow himself up. Having discussed it with Mrs Keef (who is far better at this sort of thing), she has articulated it rather well. It's like his religious views are so black and white, and don't allow him to be human (sex with girls, normal everyday enjoyment of things that a teenager wants to do). By deciding not to go through with it (remember the 2 kids in the car in front), he has saved this society, and therefore "lost his God".

I dunno, would be interested to hear the author's thoughts.

[Rolo Tomasi]

Skinny Dip - Carl Hiaasen

[Michael Palaeologus]

A Conspiracy of Violence - Susanna Gregory

A bit of a whodunnt romp in restoration London

[Asset]

Have you read J-pod Mark?

[Asset]

I've been reading my son's Darren Shan Demonata series of books - grisly in the extreme

[SeanMacGabhann]

Keef has lent me Tell NoOne and I really want to get started on it but have been ploughing through some library books - must start that this weekend

[david_carnell]

I'm currently reading the Richard Hannay anthology. It contains all of John Buchan's novels featuring the daring-do adventures of the eponymous hero, Hannay.

The Thirty-Nine Steps

Greenmantle

Mr Standfast

The Three Hostages

The Island of Sheep

I'm on Mr Standfast at the moment. Read the first two when I got it for Xams and then took a break before going back now. They're great fun in a boys own sort of way and kind of confirm my suspicion I may have been born in the wrong era. Down the Bosch and tally ho!!

[citizenED]

Still reading the book on Summerhill school. I'm chugging away at about 2 sentences a day.

[BJL]

david_carnell: John Buchan is somewhat underrated, IMO. Nothing too deep, but a good storyteller. Radio 4 did a two-part dramatisation of Mr Standfast in March, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Which is the Buchan book where he's filled with ennui and decides to go to Scotland to play some kind of stalking game?

Mark - I read Ronan Bennett's The Catastrophist recently and found it very enjoyable.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

That would be "John McNab", BJL. Agree with comments that Buchan is brill.

Also enjoy my daughter's Darren Shan books. If you like a romping sort of read, the Young Bond series by Charlie Higson are good fun and don't require any brain power.

[david_carnell]

BJL - I agree that he probably doesn't get the credit he deserves. Some people give him short shrift due to the un-pc nature of his writing. He is fairly mysogynistic and a tad racist but I think viewed in comparison to soicety at the time it's nothing to get worked up over. Interestingly he was on the Nazi's Black Book list as a supporter of Jews and would have rounded up if Operation Sealion had been a success.

I'm afraid I don't know the book you mean. There is a John Buchan Society that would probably have the info you need. Can you still listen to the Radio 4 broadcast online?

Have you read any of the Flashman books by Fraser? They are an earlier era and of a similar ilk but I found I didn't enjoy them as much.

[BJL]

Thanks PGC - John McNab it was. I must re-read it.

david_carnell: I haven't read a JB book for many years. The last one was the aforementioned John McNab and since it isn't a Hannay book and has little political/war intrigue, there's probably less "un-pc" content in it. The R4 broadcasts (in the Classic Serial slot) don't seem to be online anymore, but PM me...

I've not read any of the Flashman books. John Buchan is about as far as I go in the Boy's Own/adventure genre.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Flashman originally appears in "Tom Brown's Schooldays" which is a rather charming picture of a good egg at Rugby.

[Ant]

I seem to have gone off fiction recently. Last book that I read and really enjoyed was In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan.

Am currently reading Book Commissioning and Acquisition by Gill Davies which is fascinating to me but possibly not to anyone who doesn't work (or want to work) in publishing.

[Marmora Man]

Can't believe I've missed this thread before.

Books to re-read:

Anything by Patrick O'Brian - the Master & Commander series.

Anything by Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Dickens + War & Peace. I recently reread I Claudius and Claudius the God - both were worth the effort. Noted earlier that someone was persevering with the Magus - which I loved in the 70's and re-read about three years ago with enjoyment.

Will read the back of a cereal packet if pressed - must have a book "on the go" at all times.

Have been reading quite a bit of trash recently - but can recommend:

The One from the Other - Phillip Kerr. A sort of Chadler"esque" detective story set in post war Berlin - part of a short series. Recommended.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon. Definitely weird but very enjoyable. Set in a parallel state where the Holocaust didn't happen because the US allowed Jewish emigrants from Europe to settle in Alaska.

Watching the Door - Kevin Myers - a MUST read book for anyone that was in N. Ireland or followed what was going on in N. Ireland in the 70's. Probably the best book I've read this year. DEfinitely recommended

[giggirl]

I'm re-reading A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY - John Irving - great book

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Just finished blubbing my way through Champion's Story the amazing tale of Bob Champion and Aldaniti winning the 1981 Grand National after such adversity.

I read the last chapter simultaneously watching the race on YouTube which heightened the experience. This quote from Champion sums up the spirit of the book:

"I rode this race for all the patients in hospital. And all the people who look after them. My only wish is that my winning shows them that there is always hope, and all battles can be won. I just hope it will encourage others to face their illness with fresh spirit."

Wow.

[TillieTrotter]

I'm just coming to the end of The Book Thief by Marku Susak. A very unusual but enjoyable book. Recommended.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Marmora Man - am I correct in thinking this is meant literally sometimes? It is for me. As a young lad I ate nothing but cereal - 3 bowls at a sitting and if I had nothing else to read I would line up cereal boxed and whatever was in the cupboards in front of me just to have something to read

hmmm.. too much info I think

[TillieTrotter]

My eldest boy does that now. Hope it means he's going to be a reader!

[Keef]

No, he's just going to spend a lot of time on a local forum.

[RosieH]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

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if I had nothing else to read I would

> line up cereal boxed and whatever was in the

> cupboards in front of me just to have something to

> read

>

> hmmm.. too much info I think

in a similar vein (and probably way way too much info), if I go to the toilet and there's nothing to read, I read the toiletry bottles. particularly exciting when visiting a bathroom for the first time - new person's unguents

[louisiana]

You folks have time to read???

I started trying to read Cocaine Nights last night at 2am, but I drifted off. (Mr Smith's book on Cuba - Land of Miracles - is very good, which is why I've started this one.)

[Izodia]

I do the same, RosieH, except I'm rather partial to the back of loo roll packs.

To lift the level of this post, I'm also reading Lie In The Dark about a detective in Sarajevo during the war. Very slow going but not too bad.