What is East Dulwich reading today?

[blinder999]

Ant Wrote:

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> 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.

[Jah Lush]

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend, inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

Groucho Marx.

[Huguenot]

Just finished that Iain Banks. The ending was a little wet. Bloody updated Greek tragedies.

[mockney piers]

Hang on, isn't the book* you leant me something of an updated greek tragedy. tsk

*Donna Tartt's The Secret History

[Jah Lush]

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.

[Huguenot]

Ineed, all good worthy stuff. I remember the dark corner of my education that they populated! :))

Did you ever consider the relationship between Dickens and Eastenders?

[Jah Lush]

Well, basically I had a lousy education and came to them later on in life and perhaps that's why I have enjoyed them so much rather than have had them ramned down my throat at school.

And, no I haven't or is there a punchline coming there Hugenot?

[Keef]

My other half loves a bit of Dickens..... In fact, she loves reading full stop, which is why our flat has more bookshelves than your average library!!!!!!!!!

Still, at least I can always find something to read :))

[Jah Lush]

A home is not a home without bookshelves loaded with good books Keef.

[Keef]

Yes, but it helps to be able to move around them ;-)

[Jah Lush]

This is true Keef. I can barely move in my flat for books, records, CDS and tapes, the place is overflowing and I need to move to bigger premises as to throw any of them out would be like losing a limb.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Piers

Is that Donna Tartt book worth persevering with ? It just became one of those books I lugged around for a month but never enjoyed reading so a 30 min bus ride would go by and I would have read 2 paragraphs

[mockney piers]

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.

[Huguenot]

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.

[Keef]

Thing is, much as I love a lou of the classics, they all seem to ultimately stick to a pretty rigid formula, with just a few different bits between start middle and finish.

[Jah Lush]

He did indeed Hugenot with illustrations too and the worse case of that was in his first one, The Pickwick Papers. Apropos of nothing I grew up in Pickwick Road in the Village.

[Jah Lush]

You need to read some Milan Kundera then Keef, who often starts in the middle and goes off into other tangents back and forth betwixt the beginning and end. Try "The Unbearable Likeness of Being." It's absolutely brilliant.

[Polly D]

Keef - I have two copies, you can have one.

[Huguenot]

That's dedication Polly D - one for each eye!

[capt_birdseye]

Donna Tartt's the little friend is an amazing book. I found it much more enjoyable than the Secret History, hard to believe it's the same author really. Not that the Secret History was bad though.

[Polly D]

Then I'd look like this (6) or maybe this ;-)

More like presents from two different people and never quite got round to returning the second. If Mrs Keef lets you have some room, it's all yours.

[Jah Lush]

I sense the start of a book club here. Nice one Polly.

[Keef]

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!

[capt_birdseye]

Tale of Two Cities is ace. Great Expectations less so, partly due to the main character "Pip" being such a twerp.

[Jah Lush]

If you want something quick and easy to read in your lunchbreak I'd like to recommend to anyone who's interested Joseph Roth's "The Legend Of the Holy Drinker.":)-D