[Jim's book list]

Trident on Trial by Angie Zelter

 

My book list at the moment is seriously huge - I've just packed my bag to go down to England for XMas - but I thought I should mention the above book as it is fascinating and really relevant at the moment.

 

Essentially it presents the legal arguments for the Trident nuclear missile system being illegal under international law (seven counts, including the Geneva Convention and Nuremburg), and also contains a plethora of stories written by peace activists about what they do and why they do it.

 

What with the imminent parliamentary vote regarding the upgrading of Trident, I've found this book fascinating in terms of pointing slightly more in-depth coverage than the BBC News website!

[Jim's book list]

Did you know that there is a Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre at Arbuthnott? I have never visited it myself but it may be interesting.

 

I should check that out; have to add it to the list of pilgrimages! Although the planned trip to Langholm to see the MacDiarmid stuff is probably a little easier for me (I'm in Edinburgh)...

 

We were forced to read Sunset Song for Higher English, seeing as it was set locally, and I'm sad to say I hated every second of it.

 

I think that's a problem with being forced to read books in school - a lot of people get turned off all books for life, or at least the sort of books they were forced to read at school. It's a massive shame, especially with stuff like Shakespeare. I was pretty lucky in that I rediscovered books in my late teens/early twenties and managed to re-educate myself: I subsequently switched from an undergrad degree in Maths to doing a postgrad degree in English!

 

Loved 1984 though - excellent book & one that everyone should read at some point in their life. I also adored Animal Farm - Orwell is a wonderful writer!

 

Definitely have to agree with you there, Kell.

 

I have a few Orwell's waiting on the shelf. Must get round to reading them soon!

 

I started reading a book last night about Orwell:

 

Betrayal Of Dissent: Orwell, Hitchens and the New American Century by Scott Lucas

 

It's all about Orwell's changing politics towards the end of his life and how he (and his books; especially NEF and Animal Farm) were co-opted by the establishment to support various political enterprises. Very interesting to see how the Orwell we all read has been produced.

 

On a similar note I think Who Paid the Piper?: The CIA and the Cultural Cold War by Frances Stonor Saunders would be interesting. I've been meaning to read it for a few years but am yet to get round to it; it's all about how the CIA financed various cultural projects: such as, for example, the 1950s cartoon version of Animal Farm. I think they were also involved in the financing the 1950s movie version of NEF...

[Jim's book list]

I read Sunset Song a long long time ago. The first book of A Scots Quair is one of my all time favourites too. It may be time for a re-read.

 

I note from your profile that you're in Scotland: I guess that's why you know A Scot's Quair! I had never even heard of Grassic Gibbon before I moved up here, but when I read ASQ I was blown away, especially the first book of the trilogy. The style is something else: almost Faulkneresque. Have you read Cloud Howe or Grey Granite? I don't think they're as good, but they're still excellent books IMHO.

[Jim's book list]

Yes, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a fascinating book. I read it in my mid-teens and have returned to it for my academic work a number of times over the past few years.

 

I would go so far as to say that I think it is the most important book of the 20th century, for various reasons - I'm trying desperately to work it into my PhD but I don't think I'll be able to!

[Jim's book list]

Hi guys,

 

So far my only contribution to the forum has been here so I thought I should make a bit more of an effort now I have a few spare moments - don't want to be thought of as a spammer . I'm not going deliberately to promote books I'm publishing here, but I am rather fond of a few of them so they will get mentioned for that reason.

 

I've just finished a Master's degree in English Literature (specifically, Writing and Cultural Politics) at the University of Edinburgh, so I've done my fair share of reading over the past year. I might also be starting a PhD in September 2007, so I'm reading towards that too.

 

I'll get this started now, and then add to it when I get some more time - and when I've remembered what I've read!

 

Currently reading:

 

Scotland: A New History by Michael Lynch

Hugh MacDiarmid's Poetry and Politics of Place: Imagining a Scottish Republic by Scott Lyall

1982, Janine - Alasdair Gray

 

Recently read:

 

Lanark by Alasdair Gray - 10 out of 10

Ulysses by James Joyce

The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh - 8 out of 10

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - 8 out of 10

The Complete Poems of Hugh MacDiarmid - 9 out of 10 (overall; the quality of the poetry does vary a lot though!)

The Early Auden (W. H. Auden's 1930s poetry and prose) - 9 out of 10

In Defence of History by Richard J Evans - 7.5 out of 10

A Scots Quair by Lewis Grassic Gibbon - 8.5 out of 10

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray - 7 out of 10

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - 8 out of 10

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - 9 out of 10

Beloved by Toni Morrison - 9 out of 10

The Gulf War did not Take Place by Jean Baudrillard - 9.5 out of 10

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon - 9 out of 10

The Cyring of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 9 out of 10

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson - 5.5 out of 10

The Political Unconscious by Fredric Jameson - 9 out of 10

For Marx by Louis Althusser - 8.5 out of 10

Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays by Louis Althusser - 8.5 out of 10

Illusion and Reality by Christopher Caudwell - 8 out of 10

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter - 8 out of 10

 

All time favourites:

 

Journal of a Sad Hermaphrodite by Michael de Larrabeiti - 10 out of 10

Lanark by Alasdair Gray - 10 out of 10

Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Book 1 of A Scots Quair) - 10 out of 10

Intruder in the Dust - William Faulkner - 10 out of 10

Nineteen Eighty-Four - 10 out of 10