What are you reading at the moment?

Someone sent me a copy of this some time ago but for some reason I never got round to reading it. I should dig it out.
I think it's an amazing book. Not exactly the ultimate feel good novel; but his characterisation is amazing. A worthy follow on is Requiem For A Dream. Read that and then you get an inkling of what Lou Reed and the Velvets were all about.
 
I think it's an amazing book. Not exactly the ultimate feel good novel; but his characterisation is amazing. A worthy follow on is Requiem For A Dream. Read that and then you get an inkling of what Lou Reed and the Velvets were all about.
Thank's for that. I will certainly root out my copy of Last Exit at the weekend. The trouble is, so many books so little time.
 
I have had a bit of a Maigret binge since Christmas. Iain (@Digimonkey) and I recently discussed how important books are in our life's, and I tend to reach for certain types of books according to my frame of mind. I first picked up a Maigret novel in the mid 80's when I was stressed out over an impending deadline for an essay at uni. I always tended to leave essays to the very last minute and the more panicked I became the more likely I was to dive in to some fiction. Maigret was perfect for this form of escapism. Over the years I have probably read around 30 of the Maigret series. I was gifted a couple I hadn't read for Christmas and was thrilled to be reacquainted with the Inspector. So much so that I decided to go right back to the beginning of the series and start all over again. There are over 70 in total. I genuinely believe that Simenon was one of the great writers of the 20th century. Deceptively simple little stories which somehow illuminate the human condition. And Maigret is my hero! So I'm going to allow myself one more adventure with the Inspector before I get back to what I'm hiding from - ‘Lanark'. Iain sent me a copy of Alasdair Gray's novel before Christmas and it sits on my bedside table glaring at me every night.
 
I'm nearly finished with A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab. Last in a trilogy, and one of the best fantasy series around. Really gives the characters depth and the action scenes are fascinating. It always keeps you on the edge of your seat. A solid and satisfying ending to the 3 books.
 
Been on a novella binge so far this month, about to start Bullfight by Yashushi Inoue, another short read at 127 pages.

Aside from that I have Rome: A History in Seven Sackings by Matthew Kneale and Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff on the go. I must say the latter is well over-hyped and nothing new or noteworthy, and with little sources to back anything up.

Once I finish (and/or abort F&F) them I fancy having a re-read of One Hundred Years of Solitude, it's been about 4 or 5 years since I last visited Macondo and I'm looking forward to it.
 
I have the collection sat on a book shelf, how is it so far? One of those I have been putting off.
I've just started it. It's the second in the series and it seems to chime with Mishima's Samurai genealogy and what he saw as the tension between imperial Japan and modernity. I see parallels between the characterisation and his final days. Engaging, so far.
 
I'm about half way through ‘At Day's Close' by Roger Ekirich (yet another kind gift from Iain @Digimonkey). ‘A fascinating and colourful social history of the nighttime in the pre-Industrial era‘ as the books blurb has it. This really is an enjoyable read. In fact, for the last couple of nights it has kept me awake when I should be getting my rest. I'm sure you all know the feeling...'just one more chapter'. It's difficult for us to imagine just how dark it was at nighttime before gas and electricity. Even in the towns and cities. It was bloody dangerous out there! Recommend.
 
I gave up on Fire and Fury, I'm not one to give up on a book but I will make an exception for that gossip, better suited to columns in a questionable tabloid.

Having a rare venture into poetry with The Narrow Road To The Deep North and Other Stories by the Japanese master poet Matsuo Bashō. Very interesting how it combines hiaku and prose. Hiaku is fairly new to me, beyond a few lessons when I was in school but I am enjoying it.

I still have my Rome book mentioned above to finish. So far getting some good reading done this year! Stuck to my new habit of reading each evening whether it be a little or a lot.
 
I gave up on Fire and Fury, I'm not one to give up on a book but I will make an exception for that gossip, better suited to columns in a questionable tabloid.

Interesting - I toyed with the idea of reading it but thankfully my sister did first and said pretty much what you did. It's hardly Pilger or Woodward and Bernstein. Not proper journalism - low brow gossip. I wonder though whether that the book's subject has so successfully redefined the intellectual landscape - ironic - that this work is an apparently credible response? Who knows. I shan't be concerning myself with it. If you fancy some brave, credible and fearless journalism - try - the shamefully little known - Ukrainian reporter Anna Politskovskaya - 'A Dirty War - a Russian Reporter in Chechnya.' - 2001. She paid the ultimate price being murdered in 2006 leaving her home in Moscow. In my opinion - if Putin didn't commission the killing he certainly gave it the nod - the other name in the frame is Ramzan Kadyrov - who ultimately went on to be the Russian supported leader of Chechnya. She died on Putin's birthday. Yours - I.

@Barry Giddens
 
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