Stafford Forum Book Club

[TENSHON]

Anybody reccommend a decent read? I recently read The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightdress (not to be confused with The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon). It tells the tale of a high-flying Irish rubgy player who discovers he has a chav son. I thougt it was funny as fook and although it's currently in the posession of Rich Upsetter any fellow forumites are welcome to borrow it. snippet below...

"So there I was roysh, life focked, reputation focked, finances focked everything completely focked, roysh, and we're talking big time. And it's all Fionn's fault, basically. He's the four-eyed focker who told me that, like, the first time you do it, roysh, you're firing blanks. Like an unloaded Uzi seriously impressive, hard as fock and totally ready for action, but the safety's, like, on, you know. Well that was a pile of stinking turds for storters. And of course it's muggins here who ends up with the kid, life is SO focking unfair. On top of all that, roysh, the goys stort to, like, totally lose it, JP has gone all Jesus on my orse, Oisinn is basically trying to fock over Interpol and Christian is talking about weddings and, I don't know, love and stuff. I mean, I am seriously beginning to feel like I am the only good-looking, loaded, sane goy in the whole of, like, Dublin."

 

[MISS T]

Read it and would recommend it. I've said before Warren Fellows, The Damage Done. Excellent read. Especially for any drug smugglers who plan to try Thailand as a route, read this and then you have been warned!

 

[Andreas Rex]

This is one of my favourite books. I first borrrowed it from Tommy T about 10 years ago, but bought a nice fresh copy recently and am loving it all over again! It was made into a film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman which i thought was crap. I'm sure it's very enjoyable for anyone who hasn't read the book, but they (obviously) miss out so much of the detail which made it so exciting. I would thoroughly recommend it.

Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charriere (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he suffered a solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil's Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison - no one until Papillon took to the shark infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantastic adventures while on the run - including a sojourn with South American Indians whose women Papillon found welcomely free of European restraints! "Papillon" is filled with TENSHON, adventure and high excitement. It is also one of the most vivid stories of human endurance ever written. Henri Charriere died in 1973 at the age of 66.

Next on my list is Life of Pi. This is another of Tommy's recommendations, and i'm really looking forward to it. The review on amazon reads:

Some books defy categorisation: Life of Pi, the second novel from Canadian writer Yann Martel, is a case in point: just about the only thing you can say for certain about it is that it is fiercely and admirably unique. The plot, if that’s the right word, concerns the oceanic wanderings of a lost boy, the young and eager Piscine Patel of the title (Pi). After a colourful and loving upbringing in gorgeously-hued India, the Muslim-Christian-animistic Pi sets off for a fresh start in Canada. His blissful voyage is rudely interrupted when his boat is scuppered halfway across the Pacific, and he is forced to rough it in a lifeboat with a hyena, a monkey, a whingeing zebra and a tiger called Richard. That would be bad enough, but from here on things get weirder: the animals start slaughtering each other in a veritable frenzy of allegorical bloodlust, until Richard the tiger and Pi are left alone to wander the wastes of ocean, with plenty of time to ponder their fate, the cruelty of the gods, the best way to handle storms and the various different recipes for oothappam, scrapple and coconut yam kootu. The denouement is pleasantly neat. According to the blurb, thirtysomething Yann Martel spent long years in Alaska, India, Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Turkey and Iran, before settling in Canada. All those cultures and more have been poured into this spicy, vivacious, kinetic and very entertaining fiction.

Bring it on!

 

[Augustus Gloop]

Currently got three on the go and all are worth a read:

Richard Matheson - I Am Legend
Marshall Fine - Accidental Genius: How John Cassavetes Invented the American Independent Film
Stephen Randall - The "Playboy" Interviews: The Directors (Playboy Interviews)

 

[jimbob23]

Just read 'I Am Legend' - not at all bad.

After reading the Neil Gaiman anthology, 'Smoke and Mirrirs', have moved on to Dickens' 'Christmas Writings'. Pretty dark stuff.

Still reading 'The Longest Crawl', by Ian Marchant, as I mentioned in the Books v Films thread. Still a great book. Unfortunately I only normally read it in bed, so only manage about 3 pages before I pass out, hence the time it's taking me to read it.

 

[poetsbumcheeks]

My I recommend this book by the veritable contemporary author; Martin Amis

Heres a little review;

From Publishers Weekly
Amis's American reputation is accelerating, and this early novel, published in Britain nine years ago, is appearing here for the first time. It bears his usual hallmarks: an irresistible narrative flow, writing that seems effortlessly to embrace extremes of tough verismo and delicate poetry, and a remorseless cynicism that one London reviewer has unerringly characterized as "exhilarating unpleasantness." Amis's tale is of two foster brothers: Gregory, an aristocratic, self-deluded esthete and sexual all-rounder, and his lower-class adopted sibling Terry, who is as physically uncouth as Gregory is gorgeous, but whose grim tenacity and realism enable him to prevail in the hideous social struggle that is Amis's vision of London in the '70s. This is not a book for the squeamish: there is misogynism and racism galore (shades of Amis pere?), an obsessive attention to the messier bodily functions, a prevailing mood of apocalyptic hysteria and a number of comic asides that inspire winces more often than laughs. Amis is a vast talent who seems to have only his prose under control; but there is no escaping his ghastly readability, or the way his festering visions linger in the mind.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

 

[MISS T]

Received Born to be Riled, the collected writings of Jeremy Clarkson, for my birthday. Titles include, 'shopping for a car? Just ask Rod Stewart', 'Styled by Morphy Richards', 'Bedtime stories with Hans Christian Prescott' and 'It's Mika Hakkinen in a Marks and Spencer suit'. Not for the easily offended.

 

[Augustus Gloop]

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Much better than the appalling film version.
Philip K Dick - Scanner Darkly / Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep.
Umberto Eco - Name of the Rose.

I'm determined to finish the latter even if it is turning into a struggle.

 

[RJS]

I'm going to recommend the 'Stafford Chronicle' for a light bit of toilet read. It's just the perfect amount of pages for you to digest while on the job during your weekend. I find, when it arrives on Thursday evening, this gives me enough time to read all 6 pages just before the weekend finishes.

 

[BBC]

it also comes in handy if you run out of toilet paper!

 

[Augustus Gloop]

I haven't read the Chronicle or the Post in years. It falls through the letterbox and slowly, but surely, each page ends up in the cats wee box!

 

[jimbob23]

Just finished 'Auschwitz: the Nazis and the Final Solution' by Laurence Rees. It's a companion to the BBC series from a couple of years ago. Interesting and chilling. A must read.

Was also reading 'The Good Old Days - Crime Murder and Mayhem in Victorian London' by Gilda O'Neill. Not bad, especially for those who like their 19th century history, but quite poorly written. Too heavy on the quotes, and reads a bit like an 'A' level essay.

Now on 'Dr Mukti and Other Tales of Woe' by Will Self and a book about Star Wars droids. :geek:

 

[Sofa]

My top tips are:-


Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins.

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky.

 

[jimbob23]

Currently reading 'Dead Air' by Iain Banks. Pretty good by all accounts.

 

[Augustus Gloop]

Sayles on Sayles by Gavin Smith. Wonderful collection of interviews with this brilliant director.
If They Move... Kill 'Em!: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah by David Weddle. I cannot praise this book enough.

 

[gon2seed]

My top tips are:-

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky.

Jeez there is a name I haven't heard of for a while, a little bit of light bedtime reading I assume, typical chick lit'

 

[MISS T]

Cash: The Autobiography (with Patrick Carr) (1997) . Interesting read from a man that lived an interesting life. Recommended.

 

[Sofa]

My top tips are:-

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky.

Jeez there is a name I haven't heard of for a while, a little bit of light bedtime reading I assume, typical chick lit'

Oh, yeah, super lightweight stuff - easy reading - if Burt Bacharach wrote books they would be like this - instantly accessable, floats over you style! If you fancy something even easier to get into I can only recommend a classic from Chomsky's Mills and Boon phase - Reflections on Language. Being one of the world's top linguists, you can imagine that some people may find this sort of candy floss / bubble gum novel a bit flimsy! (etc, etc)

Seriously, though, Chomsky has to be one of the most sane people on the planet. If only he wasn't so sodding clever at the same time!

 

[Augustus Gloop]

Pretty much anything and everything by Philip K Dick at the moment. Erm, he's a bit of an interesting chap. Had a few out there ideas.

Drugs were to blame.

 

[db]

i've been getting into Eric Carle recently.. i've just finished his anti-capitalist opus, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and i must say i was very impressed.. it weighs in at 225 words, so may not be delicate enough for everyone's literary pallet, but i think everyone can relate to it on some level so would recommend persevering..

the story follows a caterpillar as it munches its way through a variety of edibles; ice cream, salami, watermelon, and even a lollipop before it finally pupates and emerges as a butterfly.. i don't want to spoil it for anyone, but day 6 is a rollercoaster ride, leading straight into the worrisome denoument of day 7, and finally the glorious emergence in the final chapter..

George W. Bush listed the book among his favourite books from when he was growing up in a 1999 survey.. it's interesting to note that Bush was 23 when the book was first published, in 1969..