Lukeozade100
-
Posts
52 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Books
Posts posted by Lukeozade100
-
-
I'd like to think my library is pretty broad, Novel wise I don't tend to go for one paticular genre, more just general novels, though thrillers are never really my thing, theres a bit of romance in there, a few more philosophical novels, a few lighter reads (Alexander Mcall Smith, Nick Hornby etc.) and a couple of collections of short stories by a couple of authors (Franz Kafka, Ivan Turgenev, Charlotte Perkins Gilman & a collection of Italian Folktales by Italio Calvino). Then I Have a few autobiographys (Martin Brodeur (NHL Netminder), Ronnie Corbett, Richard Hammond, John Peel, Paul Thompson (Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey Coach). I also have a bit of non-fiction, the New Scientist books, Herodotus, Freud, Orwells essays. Its pretty much just novelly novels though.
-
As ever the blurb to start (lifted from Amazon, so it might be the amazon review);
Golding's best-known novel is the story of a group of boys who, after a plane crash, set up a fragile community on a previously uninhabited island. As memories of home recede and the blood from frenzied pig-hunts arouses them, the boys' childish fear turns into something deeper and more primitive.
This is a book that many read at school, and so many probably don't really have fond memories of (I do believe that you will almost never enjoy any book you are forced to read and talk about at Secondary school, college/uni apparently it is different, but secondary school... nah.) I also think that there are books that would be much better suited to secondary school than this, its almost like they decided to use it in schools because it is so well known and is about kids of that age. I think maybe Animal Farm, Trainspotting (For Year 10/11 only), and several other books would be much better.
But thats not because this isn't a good book, it is. Though it is slow to start, the first half of the book isn't really that good at all, theres little of interest and if that was the book it would recieve a meager 6/10 from me, but as the lads on the island begin to descend into madness the novel erupts into brilliance, especially towards the final chapters. Here it reaches the heady hights of 9/10.
Goldings use of language isn't anything spectacular, but his portrayal of how a society can collapse really is great to read.
Overall, worth reading for the ending, 8/10.
-
The boy with the fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of the rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon.
Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
-
Sounds interesting Lukeazade. Is it a study book, or are you just reading for interest?
I'm just reading it out of interest really, there are a lot of books that aren't novels that I pick up and think this could be really interesting but have never bought them because I've not really felt I could manage to work my way through them, but I've decided to try a few (Herodotus - The Histories being another and i'm intending to buy Da Vinci - Notebooks, A Very Short Introduction to Hegel & Plato's The Symposium on payday). I've always been sort of interested in dreams, probably because mine are so very very odd!
-
Yeah, the blurb and the first chapter (which is ok) were what made me buy it, it does sound darned good from that, it's a real pity it never really goes anywhere.
-
In the following pages I shall provide proof that there is a psychological technique which allows us to interpret dreams, and that when this procedure is applied, every dream turns out to be a meaningful psychical formation which can be given an identifiable place in what goes on within us in our waking life.
Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation Of Dreams
(Wish me luck with this one!)
-
As ever to begin with, the blurb (supplied by Amazon...);
In this enthralling debut, psychiatrist Dr. Leo Liebenstein sets off to find his wife, Rema, who he believes has been replaced by a simulacrum. Also missing is one of Leo's patients, Harvey, who is convinced he receives coded messages (via Page Six in the New York Post) from the Royal Academy of Meteorology to control the weather. At Rema's urging, Leo pretends during his sessions with Harvey to be a Royal Academy agent (she thinks the fib could help break through to Harvey), and once Re- ma and Leo disappear, Leo turns to actual Royal Academy member Tzvi Gal-Chen's meteorological work to guide him in his search for his wife. Leo's quest takes him through Buenos Aires and Patagonia, and as he becomes increasingly delusional and erratic, Galchen adeptly reveals the actual situation to readers, including Rema's anguish and anger at her husband. Leo's devotion to the real Rema is heartbreaking and maddening; he cannot see that the woman he seeks has been with him all along. Don't be surprised if this gives you a Crying of Lot 49 nostalgia hit.
This could have been so great, after seeing a spotlight on it at the Amazon website about a month ago and reading the first chapter I stuck it straight on my wishlist and when I received it through the post I couldn't wait to get started. Madness, romance, intrigue, it has everything a novel needs! But then I swiftly realised a novel needs the authors voice to be addictive enough, or to be beautiful enough, here it is just a very dull voice.
The premise for the book is just not carried out well enough, so many oppurtunities to make this story wonderful are missed, the romance wasn't touching, you couldn't feel for either Leo or Rema, they were clearly just characters, and pretty dull ones at that. There aren't even the sparks of wonder in this book that would make me feel it was worth reading, there wasn't even one line that might stick with me. This tirade may be too much if I am honest, but when there are so many books in the world that can leave a mark on you forever (no puns about hefty hardbacks here sorry!) then this book just isn't worth the bother. Sorry.
Overall 4/10
-
Last December a woman entered my apartment who looked exactly like my wife.
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
-
Well, the blurb to start this review I guess;
Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of 42 junior high school students are taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are electronically collared, provided with weapons of varying potency, and sent out onto the island. If they are in the wrong part of the island at the wrong time, their collars will explode. If they band together to save themselves a collar will explode at random. If they try to escape from the island, they will be blown up. Their only chance for survival lies in killing their classmates. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, and a potent story of politics and survival in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, and is now available for the first time to the UK mainstream.
I don't really read war novels, or any novels with a lot of deaths in, and I think this is probably the book that has the highest death count of any i've read... But it isn't just frivolous in how many people die, it is actually a very good book that takes an amazingly interesting premise and works it into one of the better novels I have read, at 616 pages I wasn't expecting to be able to read through it paticularly quickly. But the pages flew by. Theres even a fairly decent romance written into the novel.
For anyone whos seen the movie, the book is so much better. As i've said in another thread its the sort of book that you can tell will gain a huge cult following, though despite knowing of two other people who have massivley varied tastes in books who enjoyed this I don't think it's maybe for everyone. If you don't paticularly enjoy reading about insanity or having a count telling you how many people are left alive at the end of each chapter then this isn't for you. But for everyone else this could quite easily be the sort of book that you'll read, lend to a dozen friends (even those who aren't avid readers) and be able to chat about in the pub.
Overall 8.5/10
-
I think its a pretty good holiday read, its not the sort of book thats going to improve you as a person, or even the sort of book that'll stay in your mind for a long time (I can only vaguely remember the plot and I only read it a year ago (i'm usually pretty good at plot remembring and stuff)), but as a nice quick read it was pretty good.
-
What? Battle Royale? ''Whats Battle Royale?'' Come on don't tell me you don't know that!?
From Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, i'm just over half way through and it seems like a really good read, the sort of thing that you can see will easily become a 'cult' novel.
-
Why thanks everyone! A Room With A View is a brilliant novel, and quite short as well which can sometimes be a nice plus when your considering what book to read next (a book that can squeeze in under 200 pages can be a godsend if you've been reading through 2 or 3 'doorstoppers:mrgreen:)
I think that Where Angels Fear To Tread would be better to read than this as a next Forster novel, though it is sort of more of the same (Again in Italy, the English abroad etc.) but I think if you liked A Room With A View you can't go wrong with Where Angels Fear To Tread.
-
A Passage To India by E.M. Forster
Well then, A Passage To India... It is a good book, but sadly not approaching A Room With A View or Where Angels Fear To Tread (The other books I have read by Forster).
It is though, clearly Forster.
It is also very hard to review! I suppose a synopsis is in order;
Amazon says: ''When Adela and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced British community. Determined to explore the real India', they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz. And the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. A masterly portrait of a society in the grip of imperialism, A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world.''
But I feel that really the star of the show is one Mr. Fielding, it is he that I truly liked in this book and it is he that keeps the book flowing. Mr. Fielding is the Brit who doesn't quite sit well with all the rest and it is he that bridges the gap between the British & the Indians.
Sadly though it is not the most amazing book ever, it is worth reading if you like Forster, as I do. But at times the conversations are difficult to follow, you occasionally find yourself skipping a line ahead or two, not through want of getting to the next exciting event or revealing some secret, but because it is a paragraph that neither astounds us with its beauty or brings the story along. There are though moments of brilliance, there is a chapter in a courtroom that is one of the best chapters of any book I have ever read, and all because of the introduction of a silent Indian adonis who does nothing in the chapter but pull on a rope to turn a fan! It is in moments like this when the book truly shines, but sadly the moments are not quite often enough for me to feel that it is a book that shows the author at his best.
Overall 7/10
(My First review! Forgive it for being a little disjointed and maybe not the best review I will ever write, I will excuse myself by saying that I didn't really want to have to shove spoiler tags in everywhere as I don't feel retelling the plot is the point of a review, and also it is a book that really hasn't taken kindly to my reviewers mind, I think maybe I should have let the narrative settle in my head a bit more before I writ this:smile2:)
-
What is with all the dislike of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, I loved that book! But ah well, each to his own.
I can understand why people wouldn't reccomend Sophies World, unless someone wanted to study Philosophy (or was interested in that sort of thing) I think it'd be pretty rubbish for them, the actual story is pretty rubbish, but I learnt enough from it and I can get my head round a bit more in life than I could before so I guess it does have it's good points.
Middlemarch I loked as well
Though anyone who had to study it I can completley understand why they'd dislike it. I don't think i've ever enjoyed a book that I had to study at school, probably why I didn't do English lit at A level! I remember really not enjoying Of Mice & Men when I had to study it in Year 9, I didn't even find the end moving, but when I reread it earlier this year I thought it was wonderful and it was the first book that has ever made me cry 
(Also I think a spirited defence of Dorian Grey may be in order, I don't think its at all a book where you should relate to the people, or even like any of the characters, I think if you don't mind not relating to the characters this can be a great read but if you do prefer a book that will completley draw you in its maybe not for you)
Now, books I wouldn't reccomend;
The Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury
I bought this on holiday because i'd read all the books i'd taken with me, and I have to question if i'd have seen it through if there'd been any other book to distract me (and I almost always see novels through!) It is just shoddy Dan Brown and I really just thought it was all codswallop.
Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett
This isn't a novel but a sort of journalistic look back on the Spanish Civil War and its repurcussions in Modern day Spain, and I thought i'd enjoy this when I bought it (having just read Homage to Catalonia and the Shadow of The Wind and Winter In Madrid and being mildly taken in by all things Espanol) but it is just so so dull, the chapters are too long to finish in one sitting because of there length and slow slow pace, and its just a badly written book:irked:
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera
Or it may be 'The Book Of Laughter & Forgetting, one of them is wonderful, but the other really nowhere near it, sadly they have now just blurred into one book in my mind (Kundera isn't the sort of writer who drives his books through the narrative and characters) theres ideas in the books like Litost http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Litost+%5BLee'+-+toast%5D that to my then 16 year old mind were great, but now I'm a bit unsure of the whole thing!
Other than that I don't really know, I doubt i'd reccomend Herodotus to anyone whos thinking of buying it purely because of The English Patient, which is why I bought it
but fortunatley I think i'll be able to see it through as I do enjoy a bit of History now and then, and there are little odd bits in it that are pretty good, but I am having to break it up by reading a novel inbetween each of the 6 books Herodotus is split into... Winter In Madrid wasn't actually all that good. And I found The God of Small Things to be very heavy going and a bit unintelligable at times. -
Ooh, this looks quite good, i've been using http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/ to sort of keep track of my reading and its also pretty useful for getting reccomendations. Guess i'll see what this site has to offer as well!
-
My favourite sport to play is by far football!! I can actually convince myself i'm ok at that. To watch though I find footie rather tedious, much better spectator sports are Ice Hockey, Rugby & Cricket.
-
I only have a measly 4 books next to my bed
though 3 of them are 600+ pages... I really need to get a job so I can buy some nice novellas/relativley small books. (My plan for getting through Herodotus was to read a novella in between each of the six books the big book is split into! Sadly that plans falling apart with my lack of jobness...)
-
This is by far my favourite chilldrens book of all time, I have a lovely hardback copy that i've had since I was five and it is one of my dearest possesions! I think I might read it again soon!!
-
I thought I might as well actually use this as a nice little list of 'chunky books' that i've read and give thoughts on those that i'm reading as well; (are we allowed to edit posts, if so, sorry for the double post & could someone point me to the right button please
)Here go's, so far in my reading career i have read these 'doorstoppers';
Louis de Bernieres - Captain Corelli's Mandolin (533pg) - One of my favourite books that I have ever read, it is such a good story, funny and touching and very easy to read.
Bill Bryson - A Short History Of Nearl Everything (574pg) - I don't know if this really counts in the 'challenge', but it was interesting, though much more dense than the wonderful CCM
George Eliot - Middlemarch (838pg sans notes) - Apart from ginormous fantasy books I read when I was 12/13 to bridge the gap between finding most childrens books to easy and most aduly books to unnaproachable (when you know that your getting bored of kids books, moving over to the adult bit in a bookshop can be really daunting!!) This is probably the biggest book I have ever read. Though it is wonderful. And it does contain a poem I really like;
A child forsaken, waking suddenly,
Whose gaze afeard on all things round doth rove,
And seeth only that it cannot see
The meeting eyes of love.
Stephen Fry - Making History (572pg) - This really is a wonderful book as well, it has a really interesting premise (changing the past, how it affects the future etc.) and is well worth a read.
David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas (529pg) - Again, a fantastic book, as the blurb says 'six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure'.
C. J. Sansom - Winter In Madrid (535pg) - This is probably the only book here that didn't really win me over to it, it was never really going to be my sort of book, but after reading The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon & Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell I had wanted something set in spain and its civil war had begun to pique my interest. Sadly it didn't keep my interest going.
Harry Thompson - This Thing Of Darkness (610pg) - Even if your not interested in Charles Darwin this is still an amazing novel. I feel sadly missed by many people. It follows Darwins travels on The Beagle and is written so so well and is an incredibly good book.
Theres a few other 'tomes' i've read that are pretty darn huge, but none of these are novels on their own, generally trilogys or as with The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a trilogy in six parts. There may be one or two books that I have lent to people or have dissapeared that break the 500pg barrier, but sadly they are probably not to be seen again. B)
-
Hi, I thought that this might be the best place for this;
If you haven't heard of this book this is apparently the longest novel in English literature, weighing in at a wonderful 1536 pages. I only know one person who has even attempted to read this, but she says that its actually alright though one of the slowest paced books shes ever read. So I was wondering if anyone here had read it and if they had any opinions on it...
You may even sway me into reading it, though I am going to require a LOT of persuasion, especially when the pile of books next to my bed include;
The Histories by Herodotus (the book without accompanieing notes weighing in at a relativley weak 603 pages)
Leo Tolstoys Anna Karenina (A much more reasonable 811 pages without notes) &
Italian Foltales compiled and edited by Italo Calvino (200 fairytales squished into a magical 703 pages, though this is for reading when I want something very light and quick (each fairtale being very short!))
Anyway, what I wouldn't give right now for a nice novella...
-
I think 'Of Mice & Men' is definatley a book to set people off, apart from that I don't think i've ever cried at a book, frankly i'm much to repressed to cry at most anything so Of Mice & Men is definatley somethin special.
-
A few years ago (well, several years ago) when I was still reading books aimed at children and teens that had a larger font, I could read a 100 pages an hour and just read non-stop for hours on end if i wanted and whenever I wanted, but now i've realised that speed really doesn't matter to me, if i want I can still storm through a book at a stupid pace but you just really don't appreciate it as much, little nuances pass you by.
Nowadays I just read at whatever pace the book gives me, it means that it's really rare for me to have to re-read paragraphs or lines because maybe i've been going so fast i've missed a crucial word that without it the para just makes no sense. I think its much better to read at whatever speed the book demands so that you can take it all in rather than setting yourself a set amount of books you want to read.
A new first line of current book
in General Book Discussions
Posted
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley