Last book read

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Bag Lady
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Re: Last book read

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The last 2 books I read were:

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

Both books had central characters who had girlfriends with mental health problems as their previous boyfriends had died/committed suicide. What fun. I didn't chose these due to this link though.

Murakami often writes quite surreal books but this was more of a straight love story. I like his writing as I get very wrapped in the stories and his characters who don't presume to be super-confident.

The reluctant fundamentalist is a short book set between Pakistan and the US. The story is told directly to the reader as if you had met the central character while travelling and sit eating and drinking with him. It's a clever story that gets you to consider how you would react or respond in such a situation.
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Re: Last book read

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Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. Not a who dunnit more a "did he do it".

Chapter 6, the main character talks about the bands he saw in 1976: "And the Stranglers. They seemed to be on everywhere, the Rock Garden, the Odeon." :grin: :grin:
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Re: Last book read

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I'm not posting every book I read here... But some can be disappointing. I read Always the Sun by Neil Cross. He described someone as feline in the first couple of pages and I got my hopes up that there would be more song titles worked in. Alas, no, and he didn't bother to put in a decent story either. Don't be tempted. :evil:
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Re: Last book read

Post by C r a s s ! »

They were good mates: one was in a band, the other worked in a shoe shop. One reached the dizzy heights of stardom, the other became a music scribe. One fell out with the other, and wrote a book about him.

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http://www.strangled.co.uk/ The unofficial Stranglers site.


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dreamtime101
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Re: Last book read

Post by dreamtime101 »

C r a s s ! wrote:They were good mates: one was in a band, the other worked in a shoe shop. One reached the dizzy heights of stardom, the other became a music scribe. One fell out with the other, and wrote a book about him.

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I can thoroughly recommend The Modfather: My Life with Paul Weller by David Lines. A very funny and at times profound book which deals with how the author's life has been shaped and changed by Weller's music. Obsessive Stranglers fans might be able to draw a few parallels :smile:
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Re: Last book read

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Books read so far in 2009:

The Big If: The life and death of Johnny Owen by Rick Broadbent. Excellent book about the Welsh boxer that died after his fight with Lupe Pintor in 1980.

Coming Back to Me by Marcus Trescothick. The book deals with Trescothick’s career from the early days on to his test career and finally on to his mental health problems.

Tracy’s Tits and Other stories By Amanda. J. Weeks. A collection of short stories about the mad people the author has met in her home town of Pontypridd. Pigeon might be interested in this book – the author states: “For everyone who’s bought me a pint, are nice to animals or who have been touched by the hand of Metallica”

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. My favourite film of the year so I had to read the book as well.

Phil Lynott – The Rocker by Mark Putterford. I’m not a huge Thin Lizzy fan but I find people who are very genuine and at times extreme very interesting. Lynott lived the rock’n’roll life style to the limit – probably like rock stars should or at least in preference to some of the wankers that have a couple of pints and then book into rehab for a month.

The ABC of Chairmanship by Walter Citrine. A book for anyone that sits on Committees or attends meetings as a delegate about the structure and correct procedure of meetings. Mainly written for Trade Unionists. First published in 1939 and many times since.

Alive and Kicking – Andy Legg. Short book by the ex Swansea, Cardiff and Blues (amongst others) footballer about his career and his recent battle with cancer. Currently manager at Llanelli FC.

Ruth Ellis: My Mother by Georgie Ellis. Written by the daughter of the last woman to hanged in Britain.

From Right Wing to B-Wing by Mark Ward. Along with Tony Adams’ autobiography this is the best book written by a footballer I have ever read. Describes his early life, his fight to make the grade through non-league and his eventual career at West Ham, Everton, Man City and Blues. The highs and lows. When he finished playing it all started to go wrong, short of money he rented a house in his name that unbeknown at the time to him was used as a cocaine factory. Served 4 years of his 8 year prison term. I hope Mark can get his life back together and maybe get back into the game in some capacity – he was a class player.
As a footnote the best football biography I have read was Sir Alf: A Major Reappraisal of the Life and Times of England's Greatest Football Manager by Leo McInstry. Ramsey was a truly great English gentleman, treated shabbily by the press and football authorities in this country. Another fantastic footbal book is My Father and other working class heroes by Gary Imlach which is about Stewart Imlach who played during the 50's when conditions of professional footballers were far removed from what they are today.

Currently reading:
The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories by Anton Chekov. This book was mentioned in the film The Reader so I thought that I’d give it a try. Surprisingly easy reading by an author who was obviously a master of his craft, his descriptions of people and places are magnificent.

Next Book:
Hands of Stone: The Life and Legend of Roberto Duran by Christian Giudice. Looking forward to reading this – one of my heroes when I was growing up – hard as coffin nails :smile:

One book I did start but couldn't get into was Damned Utd (about Leeds). I saw the film and thought it was very good but I took the book to a local charity shop after reading about 30 pages. The writing was so broken up I found it very difficult to get into so I ditched it which is a very rare occurrence for me.
Last edited by dreamtime101 on 28 Jul 2009, 17:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Last book read

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[quote="dreamtime101"]Books read so far in 2009:

Ruth Ellis: My Mother by Georgie Ellis. Written by the daughter of the last woman to hanged in Britain.

I met Georgie Ellis once but didn't find out it was her till a few months later!
I'm reading 'bit of a blur' by Alex James at the moment.
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Re: Last book read

Post by dreamtime101 »

gjinblack wrote:
dreamtime101 wrote:Books read so far in 2009:

Ruth Ellis: My Mother by Georgie Ellis. Written by the daughter of the last woman to hanged in Britain.

I met Georgie Ellis once but didn't find out it was her till a few months later!
I'm reading 'bit of a blur' by Alex James at the moment.
I read the Alex James book - he's a real hedonist! an excellent read, I really like the cover as well - it is very striking on the hardback issue.
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Re: Last book read

Post by ceebs »

Just finished Charlie Brookers Dawn Of Teh Dumb which is a good book to dip in and out of as its a collection of his newspaper columns from around 2004 onwards. Extremely funny in places, especially when having a go at past Big Brother contestants (although im struuggling to remember the majority of them, not being a a huge Big Brother fan).

Currently having a go at My Name Is Daphne Fairfax by Arthur Smith, which so far is proving to be very amusing and a very easy going read. Very conversational in style i think, sort of reads like youre sat in the pub with him having a couple of pints.
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Re: Last book read

Post by pujro »

Kitchener's Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham
What an amazing guy he was....
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Re: Last book read

Post by C r a s s ! »

Thanks for the lead. That's gonna be my next holiday book for lounging by the pool. Bet I read it on the flight tho!

Re: Damned Utd, apparently those close to cloughie reckon the book is nearer the real man, not the film.

dreamtime101 wrote:
C r a s s ! wrote:They were good mates: one was in a band, the other worked in a shoe shop. One reached the dizzy heights of stardom, the other became a music scribe. One fell out with the other, and wrote a book about him.

Image
I can thoroughly recommend The Modfather: My Life with Paul Weller by David Lines. A very funny and at times profound book which deals with how the author's life has been shaped and changed by Weller's music. Obsessive Stranglers fans might be able to draw a few parallels :smile:
http://www.strangled.co.uk/ The unofficial Stranglers site.


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Re: Last book read

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I know I started this thread but I have been rubbish at updating it! Anyway, dreamtime 101's excellent round-up has shamed me into doing an update on some of my recent books with his very enjoyable piece..

I have adopted the five star system here – five is unbeatable and unmissable (say, The Raven) down to one which is unlistenable/readable (say, Goebbels. Mosley, God and Ingrams!))

David Nicholls - One Day. **** Very entertaining comic novel by a great writer who did 'Starter For Ten' (a really funny book and much under-rated film). It follows a couple who sort of get it together at uni and who are then tracked throughout their life focussing on the anniversary of the day of their first coupling as a snapshot of the way they change in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Every chapter takes the story a year on and shows how will all change – or not as the case may be. Funny, very enjoyable and full of insight.

Cormac Murphy – The Road ** Such is my love of reading that I have joined two book clubs - one in my village with old people in it and the second with my reporters with young people in it! This was in the latter and was chosen by one of the reporters as he had heard great things about it. I just found it to be terminally bleak and rather boring and pointless. Not a happy experience.

The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell ***** An extraordinary book that took about a month to read. It is over 1,000 pages long and is very tightly typed so in normal font size etc it could even be double that. And the subject is no less easy either – it is the fictional account of an SS officer who gets involved in all sorts of horrors in the Second World War. Already regarded as something of a masterpiece it is not for the faint hearted as it is pretty unflinching but it is amazingly vivid and well-researched and the writing is mind blowing at times. The sheer weight of the book and the subject matter almost made me give up at times but then something always drew me back – and that is that this is story that should be told and it is told brilliantly. An uncomfortable read about an uncomfortable subject – but well worth it. Not a comedy though! No sirreee…..

Rose Tremain – The Road Home **** This was chosen by my other (village) book club and a very good choice it was too. It is about a young immigrant who comes to the UK to earn money as he has visions of it being the land of milk and honey where all Englishman look and sound like Alec Guinness in the Bridge over the River Kwai. Soon corrected of that view he goes on to have an interesting life here – and then back home. A good insight into life through the eyes of the sort of person the Daily Mail hates. Funny at times too.

Netherland by Joseph O'Neil[/b] *** Good fiction books about cricket are rarer than bad Stranglers gigs and this has been much hyped as some sort of classic,. It is*about a Dutch banker with an apparently fantastic life who is transferred to America and then tries to get involved in New York's tiny but dedicated cricket scene. It soon turns out his life isn’t that great after all but cricket is a constant salvation. Like a five day county game that ends in a plodding draw it is actually not that exciting and I can’t understand the hype to be honest. In cricketing terms it occasionally hits the boundary - but it is probably more of a four than a six.
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