sirinrob

Oops forgot about dialogue switching ,and agree with finding "said" lazy.

I've read it twice, once in the English translation and once in the German original.

Totally agreed - there are plenty of more nuanced words avaialable. even more radical why use 'said' at at all - if its clearly dialog then thats a given. Internal thoughts can use the more nuanced words.

That sounds like fun. Glad you enjoyed it . I've noew finished 'The City of Dreaming Books' by Walter Moers - all I can say is WOW . Thank you for putting me on to that I've written a review here.

I read this book following a recommendation by BookJumper Here is a short synopsis taken from amazon.co.uk Optimus Yarnspinner, a young Zamonian writer, inherits very little from his beloved godfather apart from an unpublished short story by an unknown author. This manuscript proves to be such a superb piece of writing that he can't resist the temptation to investigate the mystery surrounding the author's identity. The trail takes him to Bookholm, the so-called City of Dreaming Books. On entering its streets, our hero feels as if he has opened the door of a gigantic second-hand bookshop containing millions of musty old volumes. His nostrils are assailed by clouds of book dust, by a hint of acidity reminiscent of lemon trees in flower, the stimulating scent of ancient leather, and the acrid, intelligent tang of printer's ink. Yarnspinner not only falls under the spell of this book-obsessed city; he falls into the clutches of its evil genius, Pfistomel Smyke, who treacherously maroons him in the labyrinthine catacombs that extend for many miles beneath the surface. He finds himself in a subterranean world where reading books can be genuinely dangerous, where ruthless Bookhunters fight to the death for literary gems and the mysterious Shadow King rules a murky realm populated by Booklings, one-eyed beings whose vast library includes live books equipped with teeth and claws. Walter Moers transports us to a magical world where reading is still a genuine adventure, where books can not only entertain people and make them laugh but drive them insane or even kill them. Only those intrepid souls who are prepared to join Optimus Yarnspinner on his perilous journey should read this book. We wish the rest of you a long, safe, unutterably dull and boring life! This is the third book in Walter Moers Zamonia series. It is a standalone book. I found the start to be a bit pedestrian, but it soon grabbed me by the collar and I was hooked. The protagonist is a lovable character who gets himself into alsorts of bother, often innoncently. The other main characters are good as well and make the whole story work. Bearing in mind this was originally written in German, the English version flows very well, so much so its difficult to believe it is a translation ( tho there are a couple of times where you can detect is). My favourite part is when Yarnspinner ends up with the Booklings. These little guys completey won me over, at one point I felt very sad for them but then got very pleasantly surprised near the end - I found myself cheering them !!! One of the fun parts of this book are the literary puzzles which are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. Most are anagrams of real authors names, with a book title attached which is cryptic clue to one of their books, but some are crpytic clues. There also a large number of literary allusions. so if you like books, authors, words and the like I believe you will love this book. I found the last 100 pages caught me completely by surprise. It wasnt just the story but other concepts to with creative writing/reading as well. what Moers points reveals , though the reader has to follow this up, is the creative process for some of the events in the story. Ilearnt alot about creative reading from this, so I'm well pleased Whist reading the book I got to one point and it struck me that I had read something similar in concept before. Sure enough I found it 'The library of Babel' by Borges. The concept was similar , but the detail was different. Reading the Borges fiction again I spotted a host of other parrallels. this leas me to think that the Borges fiction provided the conceptual model for Moers book, so extending the literary connexion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and going to put sometime aside to track all of the refernces it contains.:D:D:D wish I could give this infinity points but guess a 100 out of 10 will have to do...

I'm in Ireland, dont know my name and I'm having to deal with some odd policemen

Yes I agree he is a comic genius and a good writer to boot. I'm currently reading 'The Third Policeman' - the one about policemen and bicycles etc. The collected Myles I'm keeping an eye out for as well.

Re Steinbeck - yes classic, but seems as far as forum concerned classic only before first world war

Just started on 'The city of dreaming books' by Walter Moers - this is really fun read. Have you got the edition with the illustrations? I have and they add to the book. also did you spot the refs to other authors and their works? I've spotted some and even worked out the associated books in a couple of cases.

This was Flann O'Brien's (one of Brian O Nuillain's many pseudonyms) first novel. He was greatly influenced by James Joyce, but at the same time was sceptical of the cult that grew up round Joyce. Like Joyce he likes to use long convulted sentences to convey simple actions. There use is often comic as they are so preposterous - its almost as if hes saying 'Look I can write pretentious sentences just as well as joyce ,but mine are sillier'. This novel is writtten as a continous text,broken into chunks. There are many stories some embedded within others. all have a beginning middle and an ending. The whole spirit of the novel is a comic send up of Irish literature and culture and story writing as well - many of the characters are seen as employees of an author. Many of the stories are based on a madcap premise - one early in the book involves cowboys, red indians, the dublin police and a tram!! I found myself chuckling all the way through the novel - definitely on my reread list.

Well I've tried reading his 'Wind-up Bird Chronicle' and given up. I found it overwrought, repetitive and somewhat lacking. The main character Toru is self centred, taking advantage of all that falls his way. The other characters just dont gel - with the exception possibly of May. The only theme of interest was the philosophical. I got to about 100 pages within the end and just found I'd lost interest. I might try 'Norwegian Wood' as that seems to be different, as its unfair to dismiss an author on the basis of one book.

If you still hav'nt found a novel to slot into the 1950's then 'Sweet Thursday' by John Steinbeck (1954) might fit the bill

i'm a young man who has entered an elite school and is trying to decide his future

I've been spurred into picking up Hesse's 'The Glass Pearl Game' again. I'm reading the German original - wish me luck

Having read 'First Love' previously and enjoying his style, the next step was to read 'Fathers and Sons'. This written in the same lyrical style, but is more polished. The novel is set against the backdrop of the 1861 reforms in Russia - The peasant reform and the land reforms. In it explores the social impact of these reforms from several angles. He was aware of the divide that existed between the liberals of the 1830's and the 'new men' of the 1860's. The former ,represented by the fathers, saw the reforms as a threat to the traditional social order, whilst the latter, represented by the sons, saw the reforms as a way to clear away the old social order and start anew. The characters are sharply drawn and do develop as the novel unfolds. Turgenev adopts an impartial view, acting more as an observer of the complexities involved. This impartiality annoyed critics at the time of publication on both sides of the debate. Of the characters portrayed, the following deserve some brief observations: Arkady - young and impressionable. Obstensibly a nihilist, but more out of admiration for Bazarov than out of conviction. By the end of the novel he has become more realistic, but is still progressive. Bazarov - he is the archetype nihilist - art to him is pointless, science is the only pursuit worth following. He stays steadfast to this belief right up to his death, even though emotions do cause him doubts. Nikolai - Arkady's father. He is a well meaning landowner who is prepared to try the new system, but still hankers for the days of serfdom. As the novel unfolds he becomes more attuned to the new way of thinking. Pavel - Arkady's brother. He is portrayed as a bourgoise, with delusions of grandeur. He does have other sides which are brought out in the novel. He is the antitheist of Bazarov. Their arguments are used to show the divide in opinion between the old and the new. Anna - She is an egnimatic character. Both emotionally cool and emotionally moved. Katya - Annas sister. She is calmy intelligent, and for much of the novel lives under the shadow of her sister. Eventually she blossoms and becomes more independent. the themes of the social reforms and nihilism were also taken up by Tolstoy and Dostoyesky. Tolstoy adresses the land reforms in Anna Karenina in the character of Levin. His treatment of the subject is similar to Turgenev's. Dostoyesky for his part shows his contempt for nihilism in The Idiot. This review has only really scratched the surface of the novel, one I intend to reread and explore.

Well most of them are short (200-300 pages), so as I'm a fast but attentive reader I have been able to read them in fairly quick succession. Also nearly all of them have had a n easy style which does help. The rate of reading is likely to drop slightly as I have some doorsteps looming Glad you like the thread, I try and provide a reasonable review :)

I started reading 'The GlassPearl game' in the original German by Herman Hesse sometime back , but put it to one side as I hit one of his leaps in complexity which at the time I struggled with. Did you ever get back to reading this?

I'm currently jumping between 'Fathers and Sons' by turgenev and 'The wind -up bird chronicle' by Murakami Really enjoying both

This work is well written. The style is very evocative and I found myself drawn in. the plot is relatively straightforward, but there are several underlying themes that I found interesting. The edition I read had useful endnotes which indicated several references to other authors: T Carlyle, Maupassant, Shakespeare, H G Wells, Schopenhauer amongst others. One of the frequent criticisms of this work is its apparant racism. Yes the language used in regard to the Africans is generally racist, I take the view that such language was the acccepted view at the time the book was written. Also the issue isnt clear cut as there are moments in the text where the author is scathing about fellow Europeans and very humane towards the Africans. Overall it is a good read and is now on my re-read list.

I tend to have a short list of books I want to read - either of authors I already like or recommended. Have been known to enter a bookshop, find they havnt got what I want, leave sans books and try another lol

Another of my peeves is older people who appear to have difficulty in walking who miraculosy manage to get to the front of the quque as a bus turns up from out of nowhwere. I accept some genuinely have problems, but a lot around where i ~Live exploit it a nd take grave exception if you happen to get on before them. Also thay seem to think they have right to a particulr seat on the bus - what the heck is that about!!

Unfortunately Roxi lots of people dont have any money sense. I use a local shop and they have no end of problems with people trying it on. i alwys pay cash there so there is no problem. If i dont have the cash then tough I cant buy. Some people think ill put crd in and he wont notice - fat chance.

This book chronicles the numerous adventures that befall Svejk when he joins the Austrian army at the start of WW1. Svejk is no idiot - one of his catch phrases is 'The best thing you can do.... is pretend to be an idiot'. He infuriates various authorities with his behaviour. There is a lot of humour, but there is always an undertow of satire. Most, if not all of the instituitions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire come in for barbed comment. I have this abiding image of a short man, with a beaming smile and twinkling eyes standing quietly , thinking how do I get out of this mess. Whoever is having a go at him is usually shown to be idiotic and Svejk usually manges to wiggle out of the situation. I found the book began to drag in places as if Hasek was spinning the plot out, which the notes provided by the translator bear out. The translation worked well, given the various difficulties presented by lack of complete manuscript, the unconvential Czech it was written in and Haseks disregard for following grammatical syntax. This edition includes the coarse language and bawdiness of Hasek's original, though in reality its not a prominent feature. I enjoyed the read.

find myself ,if I have 10 minutes or see free, dipping into 'The Book of Imaginary Beings'. Each one is a little gem of allusion and reference. Some of the references I spot others I have to research, which adds to the fun

Always been a reader. Once I could read -(about 4 years old) reading was what I preferred. My mother has often related the dtory of taking me to a scholl friend's house where it transpired I played for abot 15 mins then slunk into a corner and read!!