Horsecorset

I imagine this thread will evoke various emotions as David is an unconventional writer. I read Number 9 Dream first and although I enjoyed it wasn't quite sure what to make of it, it didn't go the way I thought it would (silly having expectations). Cloud Atlas was next and I loved this one -the narrative was so different and the story so unconventional. I wasn't sure what I thought when I reached the last page but I knew I loved it and I look forward to reading more.

Sorry to be forum rude (an' detract from the issue).... None of you read The Ragged Trousered Philantropist? I highly recommend. Anybody with just a hint of socialist bone in their body will love it. Those who don't will soon find themselves fighting for the 'Red' cause. lol

Robert Tressell - The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists I think this just falls within the cut-off date. I'm about 2/3 way through this and I am loving it. Such rich characters. Working class socialist philosophers -genius.

Timeless stories that could happen anywhere do, in my opinion, have more merit. Settings when they take on a life of their own almost become characters in themselves. Ancient cities have a mystery that is timeless, something hard to define in a single story.

Tatty books have character. I love getting an old copy of a book where the pages are all yellowish and the cover knackered. They smell great!!

It's almost been done to death but there is something appealing about London's 'vibe' that makes it the leviathon of settings. There are some amazingly sinister books based around a bleak pre-20th century feeling that has never left London. Conversely London can be painted as a vibrant hub to globalisation. I prefer the London that is dark, where grave robbers and prostitutes ply their trade. A foul-smelling city where vice is a way of life.

John Steinbeck - 'The Grapes of Wrath' 10/10 (actually said 'wow' when I finished) Gabriel Garcia Marquez - '100 Years of Solitude' 10/10 (didn't want that dream to end) Mikhail Bulgakov - 'The Master and Margherita' 10/10 (brilliant, funny and bizarre) Jack Kerouac - 'On the Road' 10/10 (cliche to say, but it changed my life) Kurt Vonnegut - 'Slaughterhouse 5' 10/10 (read it in school -didn't get it, re-read it couple of years ago and cursed my previous stupidity) Ken Kesey - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' 10/10 (Kesey is a legend -I was born to the wrong generation) -Influenced my next choices. Tom Wolfe - 'Electric Cool-aid Acid Test' 10/10 (yeah man, pass the joint) Hunter S. Thompson - 'Hells Angels' 10/10 (Sociology when it's interesting)

No, no , no Red Gator!!! This is all wrong! I can't admit 'Love in the Time...' is better than '100 Years...'. I'm sorry - total denial!

This book about a dog's adventures to get home is a heart-warmer and crusher at the same time. It's one of the best studies of relationships I have ever read. Has anyone read this? What are your thoughts on the brutally sad ending?

To Freewheeling Andy, I get what you're saying - his work is an exercise in how utterly clever he his, this is an underlying theme, it doesn't mean the work is terrible or completely 'self-serving' (hehe, I made a pun).

He's one of the few authors who is truly original. He also crafts beautiful sentences time after time. He is a heavyweight intellectual.

Yeah, I really enjoyed this book but found it's pace a little meandering an' lacking the dream-like quality Garcia Marquez nails so well in '100 Years of Solitude'. I read '100 Years' first an' so set the bar very, very high.

There is no mention of this literary genius on this site so I'm presuming that nobody has heard of him. Check him out if you like a surreal read (he has a Novella -A **** an' Bull Story- about a woman who grows a penis an' rapes her husband, and a man who grows a vagina in his knee-pit an' is seduced by his Dr.). I recommend also 'Book of Dave','Great Apes' & 'My Idea of Fun'. p.s. keep a Dictionary by your bed for Mr. Self.