[SA Chris]

canadiens

And you had the cheek to pick me up for spelling Cannuck incorrectly.

[dave]

Whats wrong with "canadiens"? bearing in mind montreal is in quebec, i.e. french canadian - "Canadiens de Montréal".

 

[SA Chris]

In that case it should have been capitalised.

Anyhoo...

Just finished reading A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Pretty ambitious in it's scope, and probably gets slated by experts in any of the fields mentioned, but for a non-science brain like mine I found it really interesting and understandable.

[Sloper]

A "friend" just bought me War and Peace - she thinks I need "distracting." Will have to tackle it over the summer out of friendship but am contemplating buying her Proust in revenge

Go for the Seven pillars of wisdom instead.

Proust is actually ok if you're stoned.  TEL is just a headache on paper.

[Paz]

It's here!  It's here!  Now that I can lift my threat of extreme violence towards anyone who spoils the plot for me, I can only say thank god it doesn't dissappoint. 



It'd be great if they called it Harry Potter and the Relics of Death which is the Swedish name.  Hallows isn't even in my (Chinese) dictionary.

Thankyou JK Rowling.  Thankyou Asda.

[Dr T]

Read it in one day yesterday.....

[Falling Down]

David Mitchell - 'Black Swan Green' will appeal to those of us in the mid 30's bracket and should be read after Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten.  It's about a middle class lad of 13 with a poetic orientation and a stutter growing up in 'comprehensive' land in the early 80's.. sometimes veers a bit close to 'top ten things about the 1980's' but then opens up in some areas and steps into Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten territory.  I've not looked back through this thread but I suspect this has been covered before.

Gerard Donavan - Julius Winsome: Quite a short read... almost a short story.  If you're a dog lover and also fallen in love with someone who then dumped you for no apparent reason then you will cry at this book.  It'd make a good Coen Brothers film.... (Incidentally - they are shooting Cormac McArthy's 'No Country for Old Men' at the moment which should be totally outstanding if they can do any justice to the book itself).

Alan Garner - Thursbitch: This has blown me away... I picked it up randomly in Waterstones in Macclesfield on the strength of enjoying The Wyrdstone as a kid and the high praise from some highbrow reviewers on the cover.  20 years in writing and just over a 100 pages in length its very, very powerful and condensed - almost stripped to poetry. The fact that it's almost a true story opening up some very, very odd and otherworldly goings on within spitting distance of my house is very strange indeed.  One for the curious....

A S Thomas: Collected Works Fans of the Lleyn will enjoy Thomas' elemental verse... very worthwhile.

[Falling Down]

Here's some more from me...

M John Harrison - Anima   - Anima brings together the two of M John Harrisons novels that explore the theme of Love.  After completing it, I've come to realise that MJH (the author of Climbers) is possibly the most underrated writer in the UK.  He's like a better Iain Banks in that he writes both Sci-Fi and contemporary fiction. Too hard to generalise or squeeze into a genre, both these novels are dark, beautiful, easy to read, pretty demanding and very rewarding. 

[Johnny Brown]

Mad props to MJH, he wrote the text to Fawcett on Rock after all. Only read The Climbers, very good. Also enjoyed Black Swan Green, will check out other stuff.

Excited to hear about that Alan Garner book, sounds amazing. Going to school in Alderley it was unavoidable I'd end up spending weekends looking for Svartelfein, seem to remember the sequel to Wyrdstone was the first book I ever read in a sitting...

And RS Thomas, dynamite. I've got a bit of his prose in a book on landscape, even amongst the collected 'best writers on landscape' his stuff stands out, only Ted Hughes can compete.

Have you checked out Robert MacFarlane's new book on british wilderness? Have read a couple of extracts, very good. Also on the lookout for Roger Deakin's final book, Wildwood.

[Falling Down]

Thanks for the comments JB.. you'll enjoy Thursbitch - this might whet your appetite.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~xenophon/votd.html

I bought both The Wild Places (Macfarlane) and Wildwood last month from a tiny little bookshop in Dornoch near Inverness.  I read the first three chapters of the Macfarlane in front of a log fire over a few pints of Guiness in a local pub which was the perfect setting in which to immerse myself.  I sometimes catch myself thinking 'Is he overdoing it a bit?' but then think 'f*ck it.. someones got to do it'.

I read the introduction and opening chapter to Wildwood and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.  Saving the rest of it until I've finished the Thomas Pynchon (nearly there after 9 months).  If you can get the hardback of the Deakin book I would as it has a lovely cover and the print/paper quality is well worth the extra money.

Did you know that R S Thomas lived in the little cottage below Plas yn Rhiw overlooking Porth Neigwl?  There's a blue plaque there now and you can go for a wander around the garden. 

[Pantontino]

FD/JB check this for a R S Thomas encounter:

http://shipoffools.com/Cargo/Features00/Features/RSThomas2.html

I'm keen to read the David Mitchell books. I thought Cloud Atlas was an astonishing book, one of the best I've ever read.

Whilst hanging around various French campsites this summer I read two excellent books:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers - turned out to be a riotous stream of conscious rap which somehow skips back and forth between deeply amusing and deeply moving with incredible surges of energy and drive.

Saturday by Ian McEwan - I haven't read any of his books for years, and whilst I thought the plot a little clunky, the prose was superb and the characters (all bar one) were brilliantly realised. A strong book which left me with plenty to muse about (the modern world, the Iraq conflict, love and family relationships).

[cofe]

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers - turned out to be a riotous stream of conscious rap which somehow skips back and forth between deeply amusing and deeply moving with incredible surges of energy and drive.

this annoyed the tits off of me. so arrogant.

recently read The Bookseller of Kabul - wonderful insight into an increasingly misunderstood country and culture.

[Pantontino]

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers - turned out to be a riotous stream of conscious rap which somehow skips back and forth between deeply amusing and deeply moving with incredible surges of energy and drive.

this annoyed the tits off of me. so arrogant.

I was thinking more ironic/piss taking/self aware than arrogant, but there you go... granted it is a bit annoying, but I soon got used to his style.

[cofe]

i think i'd read most of luke rhinehart's dice man shortly before so i was already fairly cheesed off. i'll never get those hours back.

[BenF]

I'm keen to read the David Mitchell books. I thought Cloud Atlas was an astonishing book, one of the best I've ever read.

Seconded, although I think his first book "Ghostwritten" is his best and a total triumph of storytelling but "Number Nine Dream" is pretty close to that too.  I've read all four of Mitchell's books that I know of and have been glued to each one, hardly able to put the books down each night.  The best new author I've come across in recent years.

I'm currently reading Waterlog by Roger Deakin and it's pretty damned good too.  An account of one man's travels around the UK swimming in all kinds of places; from rivers, to ponds, to springs and the sea.  It's more than just an account of him swimming in strange places and more an inquiry into the history, ecology, anthropology of the British people and an exploration of their relationship with water through the ages. 

[Falling Down]

 

[Falling Down]

BTW that was for Cofe's wasted Dice Man hours rather than Bens excellent review of Waterlog (which is a fabulous book).

[Johnny Brown]

Thanks for the comments JB.. you'll enjoy Thursbitch - this might whet your appetite.

Finished it last night - superb. Now possessed by a need to wander Shining tor at dusk, with a camera. Does Thoon actually exist?
My only slight beef was 1750 seems a bit late for an east cheshire family never to have been reached by christianity, though this is based on nowt admittedly. I guess it has to fit with the enclosures mind, he's certainly right that the 200 years from 1750 to 1950 were responsible for the destruction of more megaliths than the previous 4,000 though.

Edit: Just read the link. Holy cow! Got goosebumps . Very glad I read the book first mind. Perhaps wandering about at dusk might not be such an idea. Be nice to get some more detailed info on those alignments, they've long been a bit of an obsession of mine. Would have been nice to see that lecture, especially as it was in my hometown.

I read the first three chapters of the Macfarlane in front of a log fire over a few pints of Guiness in a local pub which was the perfect setting in which to immerse myself.  I sometimes catch myself thinking 'Is he overdoing it a bit?' but then think 'f*ck it.. someones got to do it'.

Starting that tonight...

If you can get the hardback of the Deakin book I would as it has a lovely cover and the print/paper quality is well worth the extra money.

Aye, I was going to wait for the paperbacks and save a few quid but they won me over in the shop.

Did you know that R S Thomas lived in the little cottage below Plas yn Rhiw overlooking Porth Neigwl?  There's a blue plaque there now and you can go for a wander around the garden

I did, but not which one exactly - will check it out. I've still got a cutting of his obituary somewhere with a lovely photo of him leaning on the bottom half of his door, surrounded by roses, whitewashed walls and deep-set windows, with a face like he was licking piss off a thistle.
The landscape essay of his I've got is about a thicket which I'm pretty sure is the one downhill of Plas yn Rhiw. An incredible and unique place which I discovered in wonder about six months before they built a fucking bypass through it. The Lord giveth etc...

[clm]

a bypass with the smoothest tarmac a longboarder has ever seen...

Put the whole summer into anna karenina - good if you can find the time.  Slightly irritating evangelical ending - or could be viewed as a genuine discussion of faith and itsjust im a bit cynical.

[al]

I'm keen to read the David Mitchell books

probably been mentioned before on this thread but 'black swan green' si - captures the 70's just as i remember them (all brown nylon shirts,other people's back gardens and bullying)
also regards 'heartbreaking work of........', raced through it myself, loved it, and also his 'you shall know our velocity' is well worth checking out - but am really struggling with 'what is the what' (his lost boys of sudan story)

[Falling Down]

Panto - That R S Thomas encounter was worth reading. I don't know much about him so that helped illustrate his character a bit more.  Interesting website too.  I've had that David Eggers book on the shelf for ages and never got through the first couple of pages.  I'll give it another try...

Edit: Just read the link. Holy cow! Got goosebumps

Anyway, it's all there in the valley although I've not done the full walk yet.

[cofe]

I've had that David Eggers book on the shelf for ages

you can have my copy too to keep yours company.

[Yossarian]

Thanks for the comments JB.. you'll enjoy Thursbitch - this might whet your appetite.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~xenophon/votd.html

I bought both The Wild Places (Macfarlane) and Wildwood last month from a tiny little bookshop in Dornoch near Inverness.  I read the first three chapters of the Macfarlane in front of a log fire over a few pints of Guiness in a local pub which was the perfect setting in which to immerse myself.  I sometimes catch myself thinking 'Is he overdoing it a bit?' but then think 'f*ck it.. someones got to do it'.

I read the introduction and opening chapter to Wildwood and I'm looking forward to the rest of it.  Saving the rest of it until I've finished the Thomas Pynchon (nearly there after 9 months).  If you can get the hardback of the Deakin book I would as it has a lovely cover and the print/paper quality is well worth the extra money.

Did you know that R S Thomas lived in the little cottage below Plas yn Rhiw overlooking Porth Neigwl?  There's a blue plaque there now and you can go for a wander around the garden. 

i too have bought thursbitch, but haven't started it yet. it does sound wonderful though.

which pynchon are you reading? i've just started vineland. i like it.

i want to read some more don delillo. i think my enthusiasm for american authors goes in waves.

speaking of waves, has anyone read pirates! in an adventure with scientists?  gideon defoe. short and funny - the kind of thing that transforms an otherwise miserable flight or train journey into a pleasantly memorable experience. and they would probably turn a miserable car journey into a massive multiple pile-up...

[Falling Down]

Pynchon - "Against The Day" his new one published in December last year.

I'm nearly done and will post up a report once completed.

[Johnny Brown]

Read Macfarlane's 'The Wild Places' last week. Not bad, but quite annoying in places. His enthusiasm to talk geology whilst clearly knowing nothing ('coccolith' fossils in basalt, gritstone a glacial deposit etc) and generally talking down to the reader wound me up. Plus the fact he's clearly having experiences just to write about them grates.

Halfway through Deakin's 'Wildwood' now, enjoying it much more though it seems to lack a point so far...