Good Books...

[hippy-law]

I see Michael Ende who wrote Never ending story has another book titled Momo, have you read that one?


Folk Radio UK Folk Music Store: books: michael ende

Nope but if The Neverending Story is anything to go by it's next on my list :)

[peteaberdeen]

i've a load of time on my hands just now and a new library to plunder. often though i find myself reading stuff and wondering whether to bother going on to the end (usually do, that nasty sense of duty thing usually wins over the 'life's too short' impulse) it's been a while since i read a book, got totally involved and didn't want to get to the end. i did that with murakami's books, and i've read a lot of the stuff recommended above. anyone any ideas - something preferably from continental europe or south/central america, political, accessible, amusing and a rattling good tale. well, 2 or 3 out of that lot would do.
on a related note -for those of us who still like to have a physical thing (cd in box) when we buy music. there are many cd's i've bought in recent years and rarely bothered to take out the accompanying booklet. have i missed anything -are there any of them worth looking at/reading?
listening to kris drever at the moment -on folk radio of course, this new cd sounds like a cracker

[Fudged]

Please forgive if it's too obvious, Pete, but for South American reading you'd have to go a long way to beat Gabriel García Márquez. I've enjoyed 100 Years Of Solitude (hard work, I thought, but rewarding), Love In The Time Of Cholera and The General In His Labyrinth. The latter was fascinating and, in places, funny. They proably lose a fair bit in translation, but I can only read English but I have no choice :)

For something European though - just now I'm reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. The author's australian but the book is set in Nazi Germany. It's a beautifully written and thoroughly rewarding book and I can't recommend it strongly enough.

[JohnnyDrum]

Pete

After shying away from all the noise surrounding them for what seemed a reasonable time, I took the plunge into the Stieg Larsson trilogy over Christmas. Only read the first of the 3 (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as yet but looking at your list of required attributes, it ticks the accessible, amusing and rattling good tale boxes and has political and social commentary aspects that, whilst certainly not the strong points, give the book a little more depth than the average crime novel. I recommend.

[jrdavis50]

What Fudged said about Marquez and Zusak. I just finished reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, the latest Newberry Awards book. It's spare and brilliant and has at its core another Newberry Winner, A Wrinkle in Time.

I'm also in the middle of Libba Bray's Going Bovine, which is set in Texas - to begin with, anyway - and is a bit bizzare and funny and a bit scary.

[peteaberdeen]

thanks a lot y'all. i thought i'd get an early start before a couple of walks near ullswater - just read the above and think maybe i should be heading to the library instead and then stay in bed with the folk radio. no -i must get walking, reading later. no pub later, reading tomorrow. difficult life isn't it? when am i going to get time to get the job applications in?
right -i'm going walking as long as i can be confident that there'll only be crap on here all day (keep kris drever, RT and eliza for tomorrow) thanks again for some interesting suggestions -please keep them coming.

peace and love

pete

[jools]

Please forgive if it's too obvious, Pete, but for South American reading you'd have to go a long way to beat Gabriel García Márquez. I've enjoyed 100 Years Of Solitude (hard work, I thought, but rewarding), Love In The Time Of Cholera and The General In His Labyrinth. The latter was fascinating and, in places, funny. They proably lose a fair bit in translation, but I can only read English but I have no choice :)

For something European though - just now I'm reading The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. The author's australian but the book is set in Nazi Germany. It's a beautifully written and thoroughly rewarding book and I can't recommend it strongly enough.

Fudged, I thought Love in the time of Cholera
very confusing but worth the unravelling if you had the time. Think you probably need time for all of these!

[peteaberdeen]

i got the book thief from the library - quite easy to find with the author's surname zusak -a couple of days ago and should finish it tonight. very good, though the sense of impending doom over the whole length of the story makes it a painful read.
marquez -love in the time of cholera. i read that and found it one of those books where you're never sure if you are understanding the whole story (well, for me anyway) for example, it occurred to me as i finished it that the characters may well have been dead for much of the tale and i must have missed some fairly obvious signs along the way. couldn't be bothered to go back and read more carefully though.
i loved the shipping news by annie proulx but it was only when i was reading for the third time that i realised it was a comedy. by the same writer -someone mentioned that the guys in brokeback mountain were gay? no, i did realise that -but it is the sort of thing i could miss when i bite of more than i can intellectually chew. oh well....

[Nick M]

I have just been introduced to a whole new set of books - the writer in question is Jasper Fforde - bit sureal but once you accept them for what they are rather than trying to allign with what society is I think they are worth a punt!!!:thumbsup:

[jo stutz]

I'm sure for this I'll be struck down and bannished! but has anyone else (apart from me and a million 14 year old, hormone crazy teenagers) read the Twillight Saga's?
Also, has anyone read The Time Travellers Wife?
I fell in love (and Blubbed) with the film. Which I hate doing. I'd much rather read the book first than see the movie. But is it worth a read?