Funnily enough I just finished Great Gatsby last night, not the usual sort of thing I pick up, but I was recommended it by a friend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like you say incredible writing, great characterisation. I found some Patrick Bateman in Gatsby and wonder if it was an inspiration.
Quote from: Stubbs on June 14, 2012, 08:13:02 amFunnily enough I just finished Great Gatsby last night, not the usual sort of thing I pick up, but I was recommended it by a friend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like you say incredible writing, great characterisation. I found some Patrick Bateman in Gatsby and wonder if it was an inspiration.I found The Great Gatsby a very odd book. Not a lot actually happens for 99% of it. I do like American Psycho though, I've read it a few times now.
I just read Maus:
Quote from: GCW on August 13, 2012, 02:02:19 pmQuote from: Stubbs on June 14, 2012, 08:13:02 amFunnily enough I just finished Great Gatsby last night, not the usual sort of thing I pick up, but I was recommended it by a friend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like you say incredible writing, great characterisation. I found some Patrick Bateman in Gatsby and wonder if it was an inspiration.I found The Great Gatsby a very odd book. Not a lot actually happens for 99% of it. I do like American Psycho though, I've read it a few times now.I'd agree, I sit on planes a lot and read a lot so recently went for the 'classics' and i enjoyed the great gatsby but wouldnt exactly sing or dance about it, good but not to the legend level I half expected. Some of these classics are good, but not that fekking good.Looking for something else next.
Quote from: Ti_pin_man on August 16, 2012, 01:04:11 pmQuote from: GCW on August 13, 2012, 02:02:19 pmQuote from: Stubbs on June 14, 2012, 08:13:02 amFunnily enough I just finished Great Gatsby last night, not the usual sort of thing I pick up, but I was recommended it by a friend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like you say incredible writing, great characterisation. I found some Patrick Bateman in Gatsby and wonder if it was an inspiration.I found The Great Gatsby a very odd book. Not a lot actually happens for 99% of it. I do like American Psycho though, I've read it a few times now.I'd agree, I sit on planes a lot and read a lot so recently went for the 'classics' and i enjoyed the great gatsby but wouldnt exactly sing or dance about it, good but not to the legend level I half expected. Some of these classics are good, but not that fekking good.Looking for something else next.**SPOILERS**I don't read a lot of these sort of books (mainly stick to PKD) but I kind of thought the point of it was that it documented a gradual downwards decline - everything starts off quite rosy for Nick and Gatsby seems like a mysterious but great guy, but as the book rolls on the parties get more out of control and become darker; you realise the majority of the main characters are living hollow lives with little meaning (or based on falsehoods) and everything spirals towards the climax. I loved how it was slow to start but everything seems to become more chaotic until everything crashes together.I hope Mr Popp will be along to put me right!
Wasn't sure whether this should go on the comics thread but it's a bit more than that so...I just read Maus:http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Maus.html?id=BmtQAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=ySaw it in the library and remembered it had been mentioned on here a few times. It's really, really good. In some ways perhaps a graphic novel is the best way to convey the utter horror of the holocaust and it couldn't have been done a lot better than this. It's fucking savage, but it should be, that was what happened. It also perfectly conveys the way things got gradually worse and worse for people without them realising how bad they could get, and then it was too late....There is even plenty of dark humour in there as the author shows the difficulty of dealing with the behaviour of his father, the survivor, who is telling him his story.I can't recommend it highly enough.
house of rumour - really good. here’s a proper review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/house-of-rumour-jake-arnott-reviewit’s a good read and, pastiche aside, he comes over like a less up himself mid-period Pyncheon with more sympathetic and believable characters. I’m an anti-conspiracy theorist but weird things do happen, like the flight of Hess and his suicide decades later, Fleming’s erm wartime career and Waldheim’s come to that, with his Sec Gen UN recordings launched on Voyager; Crowley’s connections with the above, pulp sci-fi authors funding a new religion… All woven together nicely. Bit of a romp really. And as someone else who spent time there, I think I can smell the mid-80s Leeds 6 undergrowth… Which is a good thing.
