Good Books...

[folk_radio_uk]

A friend recently rang me who has been through her fair number of personal battles. She has found her own solace in Buddhism in a pretty cool way which I won't go into here, just believe me, it's cool and very different...

Anyway, we got chatting about things that made us happy, we got onto books and she named a few and I mentioned a few of mine...based on memories I suppose...and being an escapist

Jack Keroouc novels in particular have a very high place in my mind....biggest influence was "Dharam Bums"...

John Steinbeck....Grapes of Wrath

A heap of victorian fiction which is the literary equivalent of a warm fire for me: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I'm a big Holmes fan, got a nice collection), HG Wells and Jules Verne (escapism at it's best)

My most enjoyable recent book was by Umberto Eco: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. A great book that led me down my past encounters with books...the main charater struggles to deal with amnesia after an accident. he travels to his childhood home, where he reconstructs his life through a collection of old newspapers, comic books, school papers, record albums, and his grandfather’s diary.

I say no more other that it is beautifully illustrated with those paper/memory encounters.

Let us know your recommedations or tell us about what you're reading...or memories of books from the past....

Dig deep

[Fudged]

Ah, the other subject I go on about at length....
I was well pleased (but not a bit surprised :)) to see so many familiar names.
John Steinbeck is one of my (many) literary heroes. I recently re-read East of Eden yet again. I love Cannery Row, Tortilla Flats etc - I could go on about him for hours. If you enjoy travel writing read Travels With Charley.

I haven't read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, but enjoyed (eventually) Focoult's Pendulum and, of course, The Name of The Rose, so I'll have to look out for that one - when I've got through all the reading I aqcuired over the Christmas break...
Other than the obligatory seasonal catch-up on Terry Paratchett's prolific output - MrsFudged got me an old favourite I'd lost (lent) years ago - Mr Pye by Mervyn Peake.
Peake's best known for his Gormenghast books and although I'm not one for having a 'favourite' anything, Peake is the exception. His nonsense poems and children's stories are a joy, but stranger than Lewis Carrol :)
He was also a professional artist & illustrator - his novels are full of his wonderful line drawings.

I tend to have 2 or 3 books on the go at once - the other I recently started was Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author and academic Chinua Achebe. The story was inspired by The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats (which is what caught my eye). Published in the late 1950's, it's a story of African village culture and seems, so far, to be challenging the Western idea of African cultural traditions being primitive or savage.
I'm looking forward to finding out what else this novel has to offer. I have the feeling it's going to set me off on an exploration of African literature :)

Other authors who take up a lot of space on my shelves... Iain Banks - Wasp Factory, Crow Road etc, Song of Stone is beautifully written. Christopher Brookemyre - Crime stories with biting satire, great comedy. and whaky titles like A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away. W Somerset Maugham - very dated but every line a lesson in creative writing. The Magician, The Razor's Edge and The Moon and Sixpence are favourites.
Kid's books - Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl, the 13yo master criminal - great stuff), Eva Ibbitson (Journey to The River Sea & others) and, of course, Lemony Snicket.

[folk_radio_uk]

Ah, the other subject I go on about at length....
I was well pleased (but not a bit surprised :)) to see so many familiar names.
John Steinbeck is one of my (many) literary heroes. I recently re-read East of Eden yet again. I love Cannery Row, Tortilla Flats etc - I could go on about him for hours. If you enjoy travel writing read Travels With Charley.

I haven't read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, but enjoyed (eventually) Focoult's Pendulum and, of course, The Name of The Rose, so I'll have to look out for that one - when I've got through all the reading I aqcuired over the Christmas break...
Other than the obligatory seasonal catch-up on Terry Paratchett's prolific output - MrsFudged got me an old favourite I'd lost (lent) years ago - Mr Pye by Mervyn Peake.
Peake's best known for his Gormenghast books and although I'm not one for having a 'favourite' anything, Peake is the exception. His nonsense poems and children's stories are a joy, but stranger than Lewis Carrol :)
He was also a professional artist & illustrator - his novels are full of his wonderful line drawings.

I tend to have 2 or 3 books on the go at once - the other I recently started was Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author and academic Chinua Achebe. The story was inspired by The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats (which is what caught my eye). Published in the late 1950's, it's a story of African village culture and seems, so far, to be challenging the Western idea of African cultural traditions being primitive or savage.
I'm looking forward to finding out what else this novel has to offer. I have the feeling it's going to set me off on an exploration of African literature :)

Other authors who take up a lot of space on my shelves... Iain Banks - Wasp Factory, Crow Road etc, Song of Stone is beautifully written. Christopher Brookemyre - Crime stories with biting satire, great comedy. and whaky titles like A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away. W Somerset Maugham - very dated but every line a lesson in creative writing. The Magician, The Razor's Edge and The Moon and Sixpence are favourites.
Kid's books - Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl, the 13yo master criminal - great stuff), Eva Ibbitson (Journey to The River Sea & others) and, of course, Lemony Snicket.

Nice change of signature...I love Snicket and my kids aren't old enough to read....

kids fiction is so much better now or maybe I just want to regress:frown2:

Eoin Colfer!!!! Another favourite...got to have been written for adults as far as I'm concerned. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

Some for me to look up there as well...I have to admit...I have just as many books as I do CDs....We are now double stacking both...and yes, I do feel very attached to every one of them.

Going to have to sticky this one as I love readin as much as I do music...

[folk_radio_uk]

Anyone read the new Iain Banks novel: The Steep Approach to Garbadale? Nearly got a copy last week but got distratcted by some music mags, I've enjoyed all the novels I've read of his, including his sci-fi under the name Iain M. Banks.

I did get Dean Koontz's "The Good Guy, which my wife finished yesterday, she couldn't put it down. "Timothy Carrier is an unassuming stone mason who, while having a beer at his regular bar, is accidentally mistaken for a hitman by a stranger who hands him an envelope containing $10,000 and a photo of the intended victim, a writer named Linda Paquette"....I say no more.

[Fudged]

Still haven't got round to The Steep Approach to Garbadale. Reviews varied (of course) but there seems to be an impression that IB still writes brialliantly but still writes about the same themes.
I've hardly read any of his Iain M. Banks output 'cos I've never been big on SciFi.
Haven't read Dean Koontz either, but I like the sound of The Good GUy, I'll look out for it!

[basketbob]

Hi there. I'm new here today, so I'm hunting around the threads.

I don't read many novels, but one that really floated my boat recently was "How to talk to a widower" by Jonathan Tropper.
It made me laugh out loud one minute, and the next I couldn't talk 'cause of the lump in my throat.
A good read IMHO.

Enjoy

Rob

[folk_radio_uk]

Hi there. I'm new here today, so I'm hunting around the threads.

I don't read many novels, but one that really floated my boat recently was "How to talk to a widower" by Jonathan Tropper.
It made me laugh out loud one minute, and the next I couldn't talk 'cause of the lump in my throat.
A good read IMHO.

Enjoy

Rob

I like the sound of this one Rob, I see he's been compared to Nick Hornby, I like he's writing. Not heard of Tropper before either so that's one for my list. I'm planning to get away for a break soon so maybe I'll have to get this one, the Mrs would love this as well I think.

I've not had much chance to read recently, been too locked into this station and re-designing bits of the site and re-planning bits and bobs...I'll need to make more effort. I have Bob Dylan's "Chronicles" right beside me but I've failed to get very far.

Thanks for the recommendation

Alex :)

[basketbob]

I've not read any Hornby. Would you care to recommend a starter?

Rob

[folk_radio_uk]

I've not read any Hornby. Would you care to recommend a starter?

Rob

I'd have to for Hi-Fidelity, you can see why:

Is it possible to share your life with someone whose record collection is incompatible with your own? Can people have terrible taste and still be worth knowing? Do songs about broken hearts and misery and loneliness mess up your life if consumed in excess?

For Rob Fleming, thirty-five years old, a pop addict and owner of a failing record shop, these are the sort of questions that need an answer, and soon. His girlfriend has just left him. Can he really go on living in a poky flat surrounded by vinyl and CDs or should he get a real home, a real family and a real job? Perhaps most difficult of all, will he ever be able to stop thinking about life in terms of the All Time Top Five bands, books, films, songs - even now that he's been dumped again, the top five break-ups?


WHAT THE CRITICS SAY


'Leaves you believing not only in the redemptive power of music but above all the redemptive power of love. Funny and wise, sweet and true'
Mick Brown, Independent

'The most frequent response to High Fidelity is "Oh God, I know people just like that!" His characters are truly archtypes, culled from sources and brilliantly reconstituted so that they evoke facets of many, many different friends and relationships'
Elizabeth Young, Guardian

'Very funny and extremely cleverly observed'
William Leith, Mail on Sunday

'Funny, compulsive and contemporary'
John Williams, GQ

'Brilliant ... a very funny and concise explanation of why men are as we are'
Harry Enfield, Independent on Sunday

[basketbob]

Cheers Alex, I'll give it a try.

Regards,

Rob