Books 2nd Edition, Foreword by m0r1arty Options

[Sostie]

I ordered The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it arrived yesterday, but I can't read it until Monday because of my exams. Grr.

I saw the film recently and it's excellent. Very tempted to buy the trilogy.


New Jasper Fforde and John Irving novels on the shelves! Why wasn't I informed?

[Everlong]

New Jasper Fforde and John Irving novels on the shelves! Why wasn't I informed?

Saw a lady on the train last night reading one of his 'Thursday Next' Novels, which I hear are very good, but have never read any of them, do you guys recommend them?

[Sostie]

Saw a lady on the train last night reading one of his 'Thursday Next' Novels, which I hear are very good, but have never read any of them, do you guys recommend them?

I think there's a bit of a Fforde fanclub within the forum.

[widowspider]

I saw the film recently and it's excellent. Very tempted to buy the trilogy.


New Jasper Fforde and John Irving novels on the shelves! Why wasn't I informed?

What what? Must go to Barnes & Noble.

Saw a lady on the train last night reading one of his 'Thursday Next' Novels, which I hear are very good, but have never read any of them, do you guys recommend them?

Yes!

I think there's a bit of a Fforde fanclub within the forum.

Yes!

Everlong - start with The Eyre Affair and read chronologically. Otherwise it'll not make as much sense. They are great books.

[Sostie]

Just seen a review for the new Fford in Metro. 2 out of 5!

[Everlong]

Everlong - start with The Eyre Affair and read chronologically. Otherwise it'll not make as much sense. They are great books.

Noted, will get that first once I've got round to it, as I'm nearly all out of new stuff, and the Murakami ones I just bought are only short.

[Sostie]

Noted, will get that first once I've got round to it, as I'm nearly all out of new stuff, and the Murakami ones I just bought are only short.

If it's your first Murakami you may find yourself diving into all his work once you finish the first. The man's books are sublime.

[Ade]

I bought The Book Thief by Markus Zusak today. I understand it's meant to be very good - has anyone else here read it?

Christ, was it two months ago already when I first started reading this?!

I'm reading it at the moment and I've had a lot of trouble getting into it but now I am I'm really enjoying it.

Sarah loves it but I've got halfway through it twice and just lost interest. Not that its a bad book. I'll have to attempt it again in a few years I think.

I've been finding the same (see above comment). Still only about 50 pages in, and struggling to get any momentum to my enthusiasm.

New Jasper Fforde novel on the shelves! Why wasn't I informed?

Wootwoot!

Saw a lady on the train last night reading one of his 'Thursday Next' Novels, which I hear are very good, but have never read any of them, do you guys recommend them?

I think there's a bit of a Fforde fanclub within the forum.

YES and YES.

Just seen a review for the new Fford in Metro. 2 out of 5!

Boo!

I have yet to start Thursday Next novel #4, Something Rotten. The first three were thoroughly excellent though, so I have no excuse.

[Raven]

If it's your first Murakami you may find yourself diving into all his work once you finish the first. The man's books are sublime.

I certainly have.

I read After Dark a year or so ago, and am now on my 5th Murakami (Wild Sheep Chase).

His writing is fantastic.

He also has a new hardback out later this year.

[Ade]

I keep seeing Murakami's name bandied about lately - I may have to investigate further now.

[maian]

The Corner: A Year In The Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood by David Simon and Edwards Burns

In 1993, David Simon and Edward Burns (who would later go on to create The Wire) spent a year observing life on a particular corner (i.e. an open air drug market) in West Baltimore. Over the twelve months they began to learn the stories of the various fiends, slingers and citizens that lived in or frequented the neighbourhood of West Fayette and Monroe to learn what it was like to be on the front line of America's ever failing, ever escalating war on drugs. What emerged from their year of study and subsequent three years of research is an exhausting and engrossing tale of institutional failure on every level and the human cost of that failure, as demonstrated by the effect that drugs have had on the denizens of the corner.

Much like The Wire, the strength of The Corner lies in Simon and Burns' ability to capture the essence of life on the ground amidst the squalor and the poverty that so typifies the urban ghettoes of some of America's biggest cities. There year of observation and thousands of interviews allow them to really get inside the heads of the players, whether they be dyed in the wool drug fiends like Fat Curt or the members of the McCullough family (father Gary, mother Fran and son DeAndre) who have slid into the corner life and each dreams of something more. Seeing the characters struggle, and often fail, is genuinely heartbreaking and really takes the reader inside the lives of people who have no recourse but a life of dealing or using. The narrative is broken up by 'editorial' sections in which the authors lay bare the inadequacies of a government that has committed to a war on drugs that quickly changed into a war on its own people, demonising an underclass whilst failing to offer them a genuine way out.

Fans of The Wire should definitely check it out, not only because it has such a clear thematic link to the series but also because - much like Simon's early book, Homicide - it provides the basis for some of the characters and events of that show. Gary McCullough, in particular, seems very much to have provided the basis for Bubbles.

This post has been edited by maian: Jan 14 2010, 08:53 PM

[PrincessKate]

25000 years of Erotic Freedom arrived today, From the images alone I feel Moore and I are on the same wavelength.

[Everlong]

If it's your first Murakami you may find yourself diving into all his work once you finish the first. The man's books are sublime.

I've started with 'In the Miso Soup', not all that far into it, but it's flowing nicely. Can see myself enjoying his stuff. Then it's Audition!

[Sostie]

I've started with 'In the Miso Soup', not all that far into it, but it's flowing nicely. Can see myself enjoying his stuff. Then it's Audition!

Aaaah! We seem to have our Murakamis mixed up. Thought you meant the genius that is Haruki Murakami.

[omni]

Just finished The Island at the Center of The World by Russell Shorto, fascinating read, especially as an American of Dutch descent. Taking a nice break with James Lee Burke's Swan Peak, and then going to move along to The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.