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Read any good books lately?
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Finished 'A Quiet Belief in Angels' (R.J.Ellory)
Was not sure what to make of it, so I've read back to see what others have made of the book. I don't really get the Steinbeck references... I'd have put it more in the Harper Lee camp. EG Quiet Southern town disrupted by horrible events, childhood under siege etc...
I liked the descriptive meandering style and I was totally immersed in the atmosphere of sultry suspicion, childhood guilt and self-doubt.
Now the flaws... I couldn't really identify with the lead character and for the second half of the book I actually really disliked him... I guessed who was doing the bad deeds half way through and was very dissapointed to be proved right. I hated the contrived ending... so lazy and lax by the author.
I'd recommend it though...for atmosphere alone... and the guy can write
6/10
I'd read a Steinbeck anthology three years ago so his style was still fresh in my mind - it was the style more than the setting and themes that seemd plaigiarised. And the references to Steinbeck in the text didn't dispel my thoughts.
He can write, but I wish he'd write with his own voice.
I can see the similarity in style to Steinbeck SVT... but the book screamed 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' at me from page one... he was also quite obviously very influenced by Trueman Capote's style... which is suggested by the dedication to Capote at the beginning.
Methinks he sees himself as a continuation of a school... perhaps?
if he was trying to emulate the style of tkamb he came up very short
that book has class on every page, so many different themes on the go at the same time
the feeling of a slow southern town during a hot summer - as you read it you could almost be there
this was a pale immitation if it was - and then he lost it in the second half
i have just started reading "in the belly of a whale" am only a few pages in and enjoying it already
squishy - cormac mcarthy - mr really likes him
i must try one of them - i just had the impression that althoguh really well written, they were really depressing, not that that's a bad thing, life is not all fun and laughter - but i thought it was like reading a hardy - all doom and gloom
Not read any Harper Lee myself but I love Steinbeck. If you want a short book to start with try Of Mice and Men. If you've got time for longer ones try Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. I spent ages avoiding them as they had been praised so much but in the end I thought they were fantastic books. They create their own world and envelop you. Cannery Row is good too in an interlinked short story kind of way.
Hi all
I hope you don't mind me inviting myself in - I've just joined the forum and to find a group of runners who also love reading has made my day
For Steinbeck, I'd read Cannery Row if you want a "bittersweet" story that is a homage to the underside of life, or Grapes of Wrath for it's portrayal of dignity and grit in the face of despair. For Harper Lee, it has to be To Kill A Mockingbird.
Ugly Betty - is A Spot of Bother anything like A Curious Incident...?
LCB I've only just joined in here too - been on the forum for over 3 years but on the FLM Virgin thread (any of you doing a first london marathon its a great place to go!). I too am delighted to discover other runner/readers!
Thanks for the recommendations - going to see if have any of those at home as daughter is doing an eng lit degree so has books everywhere.
I won't disagree with any of the Steinbeck recommendations.
I bought a hardback anthology at a book sale containing The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, The Moon is Down, Cannery Row and Of Mice And Men. That must be the best £1 I ever spent.
Hi, my New Year resolution was to get back into reading after a long time without. So I have jumped in here to get some recommendations. I am currently reading James Kelman's "You Have to be Careful in the Land of the Free" which is quite interesting but probably not for everyone.
So far this yearI have read the Haruki Murakami marathon book and a couple of his novels, the marathon book was not what I expected, the novels were both a tale within a story where the tale was a much more surreal version of what was happening within the main story. I have a book of his short stories queued up for later to see if they follow the same format.
I really like short story anthologies - I have been ploughing my way through the collected short stories of JG Ballard for years now, but I can only do 1 or 2 at a time - and there seem to be hundreds in the book!
I don't think that there are any bad Steinbeck stories, but as I recall they are very bleak tales.
My son is getting into reading now and he dusted off some old books that we have lying around and was really impressed by To Kill a Mockingbird.
i reqad one recently which was tripe but i thoght "empire of the sun" was fantastic
'To kill a Mocking Bird' is one of the few books were the film does the book some justice (Pun, not intended). Gregory Peck gets Atticus Finch spot on, even though Finch was about 20 years older than Peck was when he played him...
'The Grapes of Wrath' film is also a passable interpretation of the book... though, massively abridged.
But do yourselves a favour - read the books first.
TKAMB - 1962
TGOW - 1940
Anyone would think you know what you're talking about.
i love the film of TKAMB, gregory peck is class when he takes his glasses off and lifts the gun to his shoulder and shoots the rabid dog it's a great moment
it only contains about 2/3 of the plot - focussing on the tom robinson plot line - but there is no way you could get it all in
Loved 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. I did it for my lit exam and we went to see the film, but I prefer books generally, they last longer
I've read it about 4 times since.
Lots of lovely recommendations on here <frantically scribbles wish list>
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time - Mark Haddon
A friend like Henry - Nuala Gardener
Both very good. About children with Autism/Asperger's but written in different ways
Are you Dave Gorman? - Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace
The Googlewhack Adventure - Dave Gorman
Both hilarious books! True stories but utterly brilliant!
My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson
A good bit of chic lit, but more than the standard love story
Squishy - I buy most of my books from the charity shop as well..... They have a market in my town every Saturday as well with a pretty good book stall
Gutted i've not been able to do much reading the past 3 weeks. I've ben on teaching practice and it's just been crazy, I've had no time!!
I generally don't re-read books, once they're done that's it for me.
Iron Squishy - I'm with you on the book over film, if I ever want to watch a movie of a book I generally prefer to read the book first and then I get the chance to complain about how bad the movie was in comparison to the book.....................
SVT - re JGB, he has many more short stories than he has ideas! Over the time he has been writing them one could expect a bit of overlap, but when confronted with the full works it is quite scary how the same ideas come up.