Angury

That'd be great thanks (no rush though!). I've been finding the Coursera philosophy course very helpful as well. It's set at a good pace, and encourages you to think and analyse outside of the videos and texts. I'd definitely recommend it if anyone else is interested in learning more about Philosophy.

Very interesting discussion about free will to which I feel I am unable to contribute as an amateur philosopher. Do you have any recommendations for books on philosophy, particularly linked to psychology or morality, which would be easy to read for a lay audience? A lot of the books I have come across are very dense unfortunately.

I've been trying to learn more about Philosophy just through videos on Youtube. I've found the School of Life and Wireless Philosophy channels to be very useful - they make short videos which break down famous philosophers works into digestible chunks. They in no way cover everything there is to know, but they have certainly encouraged me to look deeper into the topics. I've just come across an Introduction to Philosophy course on Coursera which sounds rather interesting. I'm planning on enrolling later today - it'll be a nice way to spend the summer. I've tried reading some philosophical works myself, and while there are some authors I'm glad I've stumbled upon such as Sartre, a lot of the theories go over my head. I feel something like Coursera will give me more of a foundation first.

I used to be a big fan of A Song of Ice and Fire - I enjoyed the writing style and thought the story lines were very well done. It re-sparked my interest in Fantasy, and I was really looking forward to The Winds of Winter. Since the TV series has outpaced the story lines within the novels however, I am not sure if I will read The Winds of Winter when it is eventually released. As much as I enjoy reading Martins work, I already have an idea of where each characters storyline will be heading, and I feel that the TV series is such a a good adaptation of the books, that I don't think I would get much out of reading the rest of the series. I may as well just watch the TV episodes. I think it is a pity the release of The Winds of Winter has been delayed for so long. However, I guess it has given time for the fan base to grow from the TV series, which seems to be doing incredibly well. Personally, I can't remember much of the books any more as I read them so long ago.

What are your thoughts on Hitchens books? I have a collection of his essays which is currently stacked on my bookshelf. I know he is a good speaker and was interested to read his writing and explore more of his ideas.

I would recommend Notes from the Underground if you haven't read it yet. I felt the same way as you about his works, but I found Notes from the Underground to be very in depth.

This is a brilliant book - it stayed with me long after I had finished it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I found it sad but incredibly moving.

I would definitely read The Breaking Point - it is a collection of short stories by Daphne du Maurier, and the stories are just as mesmerising as Rebecca.

Really glad I found a thread on this book. I read it a few years back and felt it lived up to its reputation. It's unique but not too pretentious. It does take a while to get into it but I think it is worth the effort. It's a nice break from your everyday reading. Has one read his latest book, The Familiar? I have a copy lying somewhere that I need to dig into. Some of the reviews on Goodreads are hilarious.

I had no idea Marquez had also written Love in the Time of Cholera - I feel a bit silly now. That's another book that has been on my TBR pile for quite a while now. Do you guys think it's worth giving a go? As much as I enjoyed One Hundred Years of Solitude, it's not the type of book I normally read, nor do I think it's the sort of book I'd read again. So I'm not sure how I'd feel reading another of Marquez's books - although I don't know how different each of his works are from one another.

Interesting. I used to be the type of reader who read very very quickly, to the point that I would skim passages just to get to the action (I used to read a lot of Fantasy). However since I started reading genres outside of Fantasy I found myself going back to passages that I felt had been particularly well written. I find it interesting to see how the author has constructed a sentence so beautifully that it has stuck in my mind. As I've recently become interested in writing myself I find it helpful to look at the different words, rhythms and metaphors that are used as inspiration, and often also as admiration of an authors talent. Anyway, going slightly off topic - sorry.

Has anyone read Gravity's Rainbow? I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts. It has received a lot of very positive reviews but I'm wondering whether it is worth it - and also whether it lives up to its reputation of being ridiculously difficult. I want to give it a go, but am put off by its reputation.

I can't believe it's July already. Scary. I am currently reading the second of six books of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time called Within a Budding Grove. It's a fantastic series, I would highly recommend his work. His writing is different to any other style I have read before. My goal is to get through all six books, although I suspect that will take me many months.

This is an interesting thread - I enjoyed reading through the responses. I decided to give Audiobooks a go a few months back when I heard Stephen Fry mention them - he used to listen to them when he went for a walk and managed to lose a significant amount of weight as a result. I tried to do something similar but found that I just couldn't multitask in that way. If I was listening to an audiobook I had to stay focused on what the narrator was saying - I wasn't able to go for a nice walk or do some housework while listening at the same time. I found that my brain had to really concentrate to take in every word, weigh it, understand it, retain it and then join it up with every other word in the sentence to create an image. I think this is a very personal thing - I have many friends who love listening to Audiobooks, far more than reading, and use them to relax after a long day. I however find I have to work much harder to draw a mental image of the characters and their settings when someone else is speaking the words into my ear. When reading a book I feel I have much more freedom to expand upon each sentence and weigh it carefully with the rest of the story. I am able to step inside a story with more ease when I I read the words on a page. Recently I have found myself having to use my finger to follow the sentences as I read a book - I feel like I am regressing into a child. This is a very interesting idea - I might give this a go. I also find it difficult to read on a plane - even on a short one-hour flight. Audiobooks may be my saviour in this case. What makes you say this?

I have had this image for the past five years now. This is my dream bike.

What an incredible, in-depth reading log. It must be nice to look over your past reading logs and reminisce about books you'd read in previous years. I like the way you have set everything out in an organised fashion. I was particularly struck by one of your aims to concentrate on certain authors, as this isn't something I've done myself. I generally concentrate on the more well-known books by certain authors and ignore the rest of their works. This thought only came to me recently when I thought about my favourite writers and how much fun it would be to read through their collected works and watch as their writing grows. Your log has certainly encouraged me to give it a go. I was also wondering what it is about Jane Austen that makes her one of your favourite authors? She is one of those famous writers who I have not read, and indeed am not sure if I should read, as her stories sound too 'romantic' for me, but I'm not sure if I'm merely being stereotypical. I suspect there must be something in her works to make her so well known, and I'd love to hear what it is about her that reaches out to you. Also, are there certain non-fiction books that you gear towards? I had a quick skim through your list and can't say there were many titles that I recognised so I was just curious. Anyhow, best of luck with your reading and with this fantastic log.

What do you think makes it a hard read?

That sounds like an interesting book - I just looked it up on Goodreads and realised it was already on my TBR list. It reminds me of a similar book called Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom, a psychotherapist. It's a collection of ten stories about his patients and gives you a rare glimpse into the relationship between therapist and client, as well as the impact of therapy on a persons life. I found it particularly interesting as regardless of the clients background or their own personal story, I was always able to relate to their difficulties on some level. It shows how we all face the same difficulties in our day to day lives and how we are all connected in some way through our hardships and sufferings.

I feel the same way. I think he is a good writer and his plots sound very interesting on the surface, but as I have tried to read more and more of his work I just feel like I'm not really getting anywhere. I can't get into the depths of his characters, and a lot of the time I finish his books feeling like nothing has really changed for me as a reader. Kudos to him for his Crash Course Videos though. I find them easy to watch and have learnt so much about topics that I never realised held any interest for me. It's a great way to encourage learning for learning's sake and not for the acquisition of grades.

Interesting take on the BBC Adaptation. I didn't really notice the scenes that were left out from the book as I felt the cinematic nature of the series, particularly the locations and the background music made up for a lot of the story that was missing. I felt that as the audience we weren't left feeling overwhelmed with the different character arcs as they were woven in between the chapters in the book, but that the important plot points were left in and we were expected to draw our own conclusions about the characters and their relationships. I haven't heard of the older version, I will certainly look it up.

I'm glad that I have managed to persuade some of you to check out her works. I really hope more people come across her work as time goes on - I was really quite lucky as I stumbled across her name accidentally whilst on Goodreads and have since become a big fan. Just to give an example of her writing, below is one of her more popular short stories entitled 'The Thirteenth Woman:' In a town of twelve women there was a thirteenth. No one admitted she lived there, no mail came for her, no one spoke of her, no one asked after her, no one sold bread to her, no one bought anything from her, no one returned her glance, no one knocked on her door, the rain did not fall on her, the sun never shone on her, the day never dawned for her, the night never fell for her; for her the weeks did not pass, the years did not roll by; her house was unencumbered, her garden unattended, her path not trod upon, her bed not slept in, her food not eaten, her clothes not worn; and in spite of all this she continued to live in the town without resenting what it did to her. What I find particularly interesting about this short story is how it is really just composed of two sentences. If you look at the second sentence, it is full of commas and semi-colons - it almost feels as if the words are running into each other. In one of her interviews, Lydia Davis stated that after writing this piece she believed that the story revolved around quite a young woman and conveyed that feeling of being invisible at that age. It is this type of enduring yet common day emotion that I feel Davis captures particularly well, in such simple yet almost poetic sentences. I myself feel inspired to pick up the pen and write every time I read some of her works. Rarely have I come across an author who has encouraged me to do just that - a lot of the time I read a writers work and feel like I will never be able to write that well. Her work has taught me how powerful a word can be if it is used correctly - that we don't all need to have struggled through life's difficulties in order to be a good writer, but that ideas can be found from all around us, and the most mundane chores that make up our day to day lives can have a deep and insightful message when put upon paper.

One of the most original writers out there and the winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize, Lydia Davis has been described as 'the master of a literary form largely of her own invention.' Her short stories, some of which are only one sentence long, capture those small moments in our day to day lives that most of us would just walk by. I am always fascinated by how Davis can play with words, being able to jolt us out of our dreamlike states in just a few sentences. I don't think I've ever read a writer like her. I was curious whether there would be other fellow Davis fans out there, or even better, people who I have encouraged to read her work.

I just finished reading Notes from the Underground and my thoughts about Dostoevsky have completely changed based on this tiny book. Is it bad that I can relate to the narrator? He is far from likeable, yet I feel he reveals some of our innermost vices that we try to hide from society. The second part of the book in particular is a raw illustration of humanity - all of its hatreds and disgusts laid out to bare. If anyone is considering giving Dostoevsky's works a go, I would highly recommend beginning with Notes from the Underground. It really has changed my opinion of him.

This tome has quite a reputation, and one which I'm sure many of us have wanted to conquer. I imagine this book is on many people's to-read lists on this forum. I finally decided to give this a go a few weeks ago, as I had exams coming up, and when I revise I always try to find a nice novel to read alongside as a relaxing break. Tolstoy has a gift in creating complex characters. The entire story creates a beautiful arc of human life; from our desires of wealth and status to our internal agonies that we battle everyday. I always tried to avoid this novel because I assumed it would be far too dense for me. On the contrary, I think it is a story that anyone can read and relate to. Even though many of the characters reside within the aristocratic circle, we can all empathise with their hopes and their dreams, as they are dragged through their turmoils during such a chaotic time in Russian history. I liked the fact that the story was set in reality, yet was a story of fiction and creativity. Tolstoys essay in his Epilogue, and indeed his writings throughout the chapters left me with a lot of thoughts to dwell on: how much of an impact do our own actions and feelings have upon those around us, and ultimately on our society as a whole? Who is ultimately responsible for history? For all the battles, all the deaths, all the families torn apart and the lives taken so early? We are often quick to land judgement on the politicians of the day, but I think it would be a far more fruitful exercise to look within ourselves. I would love to hear other peoples thoughts; I think this is the type of book where readers can take away their own meaning based upon their unique life experiences. Also, I have just watched the recent (2016) BBC Adaptation of this novel, and I would highly recommend it. It is incredibly cinematic, with some beautiful locations shot and an incredible array of dresses and ballgowns, and ultimately I feel it stays true to the novel.

Oh wow, that's exactly the area I want to go into. I am doing a little placement in a forensics unit this summer to get a feel for it - I can't wait. Have you read any books around Psychiatry, or specifically Forensics? I haven't managed to find many books in this area that aren't merely textbooks.