ORIGINAL: Pidge

ORIGINAL: Jez

ORIGINAL: dwbls

Moving on to On The Road by Jack Kerouac. I've heard good things.

I read this a long time ago. I think I was maybe expecting too much of it, or expecting it to be something other than what it was, but I found it incredibly boring and pointless. Maybe that is the point of it. If so, I missed it completely. I should go back and try it again in the light of an extra 20 years' experience.

I read that a while ago, really enjoyed it. It is what it is, a beat-poet's novel. Eliptical and adventurous, free and aimless, irreverent and sentimental at the same time, all while trying to maintain a sense of cool which it sometimes struggles to convince (and which feels anachronistic anyway) but by failing at points it only adds to its charm. The Cassidy character didn't live up to what I'd heard but as I was reading mainly during my lunch breaks at work I think I failed to really get into the guy, although he reminded me of enough friends to enjoy it. There was one moment towards the end though that really got me, a throwaway passage which just reverberated through lost memories of childhood. 9/10

I'd recommend reading "and the hippos were boiled in their tanks" as well, it's a joint-effort between Kerouac and Burroughs which is based on real events. The prose is a little shaky and Burrough's is much more focussed than Kerouac (as you'd expect). But it's a good light read. 8/10

I read On The Road last year and absolutely loved it, it's in my top 5 favourite books of all time. Then after I'd read it I started reading The Dharma Bums which was shit.

the history boys, frantically this morning in preperation for me to write an 1500 word essay on it which is due today

(which i have done in style ;)

Underworld - Don DeLillo.
8/10.. I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. I only got it because I needed something to read and it was the only title in the HMV sale that I recognised [8D]. When it eventually gets deeper into the story it is amazing. Really enjoyed his writing style, which is why I was surprised, as I've noticed a few people moan about it.

Ian McEwan - Atonement.

8/10

First time round I couldn't get past the first few chapters in which nothing at all seems to happen. This time, I managed it and was suitably rewarded although I felt the whole thing was bogged down by drama and sadness - some light relief occasionally would have made everything else that happened so much more shocking.
Recommended, but stick with it through those boring first chapters.

The Wire: Truth be told - 8/10
 
very interesting, although quite often it just tows the party line about the show.

harry potter and the half blood prince- 9/10

 
my faverate of the potter book rereading through the series

Dark Winter by Andy McNab. A good read, fast paced and packed with detail.

Last book I finished was Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake.

Was so good to finally read it, having first read Titus Groan years back and a few times since. Need to get the third book out of the library sometime, when it's next in.

ORIGINAL: ChesterChestertonPhD

ORIGINAL: Pidge

The Wire: Truth be told - 8/10

very interesting, although quite often it just tows the party line about the show.

Seems a bit over the top to write a book about the first 2 series of the show...all this ****ing hype about The Wire...The Shield ****s all over it.

Anyway you might want to check out Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets by David Simon. 

Truth be Told covers all 5 seasons...

I got Homicide, The Corner and Truth Be Told all for xmas and they are sitting in my book queue at the moment, can't wait to read them!

Recent reads of mine have mainly been climbing stuff:

The Next Horizon by Chris Bonnington
Philosophy of Risk (about Dougal Haston)
Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage by Herman Buhl (must read for anyone interested in this kind of thing)

Just about to finish Freakonomics and start Superfreakonomics, very interesting if a little targeted towards the more casual market...

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

6/10

Not really sure what the problem I had with it was. Maybe I expected a little too much after all the accolades it's had, the blurbs on the inside covers calling it a classic and saying it'd go down as one of the greats in twenty/thirty years time... but I didn't like it.
I don't know if my copy had some kind of printing error, but having the entire book say "dont" "cant" "didnt" etc. instead of the correct spellings infuriated me. As did the total lack of speech marks which meant sometimes I couldn't tell who was talking, or when they started and stopped talking.
The plot was paper thin - man and boy walk along a road, find some food, eat it, find some more, eat it, run into people and be in danger, find some food, eat it, find some more... you get the idea. There's only so many monotonous days you can read about, which made me glad the book was fairly thin.
The ending was ambiguous and quite obvious too, so I didn't even find any purpose in reading it. It was impossible to get attached to any character as none had names. There wasn't a proper explanation of what had actually happened.
I expected more encounters, some character development - there didn't seem to be any. I was really disappointed by the whole thing, but there was potential for something a lot better, and the writing was, on the whole, pretty excellent hence not a total dismal score.

ORIGINAL: Roo.

Cormac McCarthy - The Road

6/10

Not really sure what the problem I had with it was. Maybe I expected a little too much after all the accolades it's had, the blurbs on the inside covers calling it a classic and saying it'd go down as one of the greats in twenty/thirty years time... but I didn't like it.
I don't know if my copy had some kind of printing error, but having the entire book say "dont" "cant" "didnt" etc. instead of the correct spellings infuriated me. As did the total lack of speech marks which meant sometimes I couldn't tell who was talking, or when they started and stopped talking.
The plot was paper thin - man and boy walk along a road, find some food, eat it, find some more, eat it, run into people and be in danger, find some food, eat it, find some more... you get the idea. There's only so many monotonous days you can read about, which made me glad the book was fairly thin.
The ending was ambiguous and quite obvious too, so I didn't even find any purpose in reading it. It was impossible to get attached to any character as none had names. There wasn't a proper explanation of what had actually happened.
I expected more encounters, some character development - there didn't seem to be any. I was really disappointed by the whole thing, but there was potential for something a lot better, and the writing was, on the whole, pretty excellent hence not a total dismal score.

McCarthy has a strange way of writing, so I can see where your dissapointment came from. I've not read The Road yet, but I read No Country For Old Men and I loved it. If you're not too put off by his writing style, give it a read.

ORIGINAL: ChesterChestertonPhD

ORIGINAL: Pidge

The Wire: Truth be told - 8/10

very interesting, although quite often it just tows the party line about the show.

Seems a bit over the top to write a book about the first 2 series of the show...all this ****ing hype about The Wire...The Shield ****s all over it.

Anyway you might want to check out Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets by David Simon. 

Never watched The Shield not too keen on cop shows in general.
 
Really want to read Homocide at some point.

The Shining- Steven King (obv) 10/10
 
Even with someone ruining the different ending compared to the film (jack nicholson) it scared the poo outta me...i was never bored like the harry potter books you have to keep reading cos you just neeeed to know what else is gonna happen!
(but no doubt all of ya have read it!)
gotta make my way through all the King books....may take me a littleeee while!
x

10/10

best book EVER!

Frankie Boyle - My **** Life So Far

Ok seemed like just one long build up for him to use his joke...most of which ive already heard too. :/

I was a little dissapointed, you do find out some bits about his life but not as much as i would have hopes and for that i only give the book a 7/10.

Perfect Fool - Stewart Lee 8/10

Intricate, witty and cleverly structured. Although it feels like it reaches a sense of thematic closure about 30-40 pages before the narrative itself ties up all of its loose ends.

Finished 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs - 5/10, typical Kathy Reichs book, nothing special

Have now moved on to The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell

Battle Royale- What a brutally entertaining book. Definitley worth a read but you'll be finished with it very quickly, as it is a page turner!

9/10

Want To Play - PJ Tracy. 10/10

I haven't read a book this good in such a long time. I read it in just over 2 days, I couldn't put it down.

Ozzys bio.. really good book has some really funny bits and some sad

10/10