My Current Reader

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Monte Reel, Between Man and Beast.

About the discovery of the gorilla and all the people around it, including Darwin and Owen.

Good read.
 

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moginie said:
I've decided to not buy any more books until I've read a few more on my (ever sagging) shelves.

With that in mind, I've just finished Peter Carey's 'Illywhacker' & have started Peter Goldsworthy's 'Honk if you are Jesus'.

Also read the Land Acquisition Act 1969 & the 2004 Regulations. Very dry.
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Some years since I read Illywhacker. Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on it. I have not read much of any real interest lately although Bonjour Tristess has a compelling theme.
 
Lord Mud of Glenferrie said:
Some years since I read Illywhacker. Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on it. I have not read much of any real interest lately although Bonjour Tristess has a compelling theme.
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Lord Mudd, funny you mention Peter Carey, 'cause the book I posted about above - and a very, very fine read - 'The flamethrowers' is one Peter Carey said he'd enjoyed immensely.
 
Lord Mud of Glenferrie said:
Some years since I read Illywhacker. Would be very interested to hear your thoughts on it. I have not read much of any real interest lately although Bonjour Tristess has a compelling theme.
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One of Peter Carey's great skills is to describe the landscape, whether urban or rural, with great clarity & also giving the reader moments where they can say "Ah, I remember that landmark/feature/intersection!" It is this strength that allows him to give such a sense of reality while spinning together a story that is almost, but not quite, like a far-fetched concept.
There is a point in the Carey novels I've read when, after suspending disbelief for so long, he introduces an idea so absurd that it puts a real dampener on the remainder of the novel. The character of Hissao did it for me this time. It was almost as if Carey had lost direction with Herbert, who had driven the narrative so well up until then, so he introduces a character whose origins are so fantastic that a lot of the interest that had been built up for so long was lost for me.
That said, there are some wonderful passages - ones describing Charles' ability with birds & animals is a good example - that show what a great writer he is. Jack McGrath is a great character. So is Leah, but a little less believable. He's got a great ear for Australian vernacular & there are some genuinely funny moments. It's just that the book tends to peter out at the end.

Well, that's my take on it.
 
Funny you should mention Carey . . . I wrote my thesis on him. Let me start by saying the juxtaposition . . . ok, ok I won't bore you all to death :p

Illywhacker is one of my favourite Carey novels behind Kelly Gang and My Life as a Fake. It isn't as technically good as his later works but his ability to transport the reader in time and place is vividly on display in Illywhacker. I read it over 10 years ago and I still think about it from time to time. :thumbsu:

I am reading The Belgariad (5 book series) by David Eddings. I hadn't read a fantasy novel since the early 2000's but picked up it up at the lifeline book fest and thought it might be an antidote to brain fry I had incurred by reading too much non-fiction and technical books. It is aimed at teenage/young adult so I won't recommend it but is a reasonable exploration of character more than anything else. Many plot turns, indeed the entire story arc, appears to be contrived to provide an opportunity for characters to interact. The pages fly by at a rapid rate so it has served its purpose. Next I'll be moving onto my microeconomics and corporate finance text books as Uni starts next week :(

For anyone interested in non-fiction I recently completed 'The Australian Moment' by George Megalogenis and found it offered a good perspective on Australia's economic evolution from Whitlam to Rudd. Its non-partisan and doesn't over-glorify or needlessly condemn the protagonists.
 
Reading the Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

About HH Holmes - a rather nasty but somehow under-the-radar serial killer - and Daniel Burnham - the guy behind the Chicago World Fair.

A cracking read.
 
Thought I would read The Winds Of War by Herman Wouk fully expecting it to be another of the thousands of the Great American Novel that usually become the Great American.Third of the way through it and it has not disappointed. Still it may be alright.

But I then stumbled on The Good Soldier Hasek by Jaroslav Svejk in an Op Shop ( I buy all my books in Op Shops).

The first paragraph
'And so they killed our Ferdinand' said the charwoman to Mr Svejk, who had left the military service years before, after having been finally certified by an army medical board as an imbecile, and now lived by selling dogs - ugly, mongrel monstrosities whose pedigree he forged.

I'm afraid World War 2 will just have to wait.
 
Lord Mud of Glenferrie said:
But I then stumbled on The Good Soldier Hasek by Jaroslav Svejk in an Op Shop ( I buy all my books in Op Shops).
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Ah, the book that inspired Catch 22. Read it at uni. It's unfinished, if I remember correctly.
 
grizzlym said:
Ah, the book that inspired Catch 22. Read it at uni. It's unfinished, if I remember correctly.
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Yep, unfinished. Hasek had 6 volumes planned but only completed 4 before his death.

I like good satire and farce. I suspect I am going to get a good dose of both.

Interesting you say you read it at Uni. The taxi driver I mostly use is from Croatia and this book was one of the 'required reading' novels at Uni. There you go a Croatian University degree and it only qualifies him to drive a taxi in Australia. His wife is a doctor. I think she works as a mature check out chick. So, there is nothing like the good old Aussie Bogan education.
 

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Lord Mud of Glenferrie said:
Yep, unfinished. Hasek had 6 volumes planned but only completed 4 before his death.

I like good satire and farce. I suspect I am going to get a good dose of both.
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I loved it when I read it back in the 80's. It will have to be on my "must read" books list later this year.

During my wife's long convalescence she has been reading the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I picked one up expecting the standard crime book. I was entranced. He has a great turn of phrase & writes female characters brilliantly. Thoroughly enjoyed the book.
 
Lord Mud of Glenferrie said:
Yep, unfinished. Hasek had 6 volumes planned but only completed 4 before his death.

I like good satire and farce. I suspect I am going to get a good dose of both.

Interesting you say you read it at Uni. The taxi driver I mostly use is from Croatia and this book was one of the 'required reading' novels at Uni. There you go a Croatian University degree and it only qualifies him to drive a taxi in Australia. His wife is a doctor. I think she works as a mature check out chick. So, there is nothing like the good old Aussie Bogan education.
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My Dad was a university professor so I got fed all sorts of stuff when I was growing up. And being a left-leaning Brecht-loving man, he ensured I got a taste for European literature. He gave me the Master and Margarita for like my 15th birthday and said, "read that, it's funny'. Followed up with the little known Black Snow, which segued into Stanislavski...

Can't remember the context at uni - might have even chosen it myself. Did 9 years at uni, so had plenty of opportunity to read stuff!
 
moginie said:
I loved it when I read it back in the 80's. It will have to be on my "must read" books list later this year.

During my wife's long convalescence she has been reading the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I picked one up expecting the standard crime book. I was entranced. He has a great turn of phrase & writes female characters brilliantly. Thoroughly enjoyed the book.
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My wife also enjoyed that series/ You read any Michael Chabon?

I've got a couple of his books lined up next. Never read any of them, but have been told he's great. This novel won the Pullitzer some time back.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/09/24/reviews/000924.24kalfust.html
 
moginie said:
No, I haven't. You recommend?
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Haven't read any yet. Next cab off the rank. My brother literally eats books like one of those tree-shredders. He says they're great.
 
moginie said:
Keep me posted then, please.:thumbsu:
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Will do.

What sort of books do you like? You don't strike me as the sort of sort of bloke who's methodically reading Ian Healy's biography!
 
grizzlym said:
Will do.

What sort of books do you like? You don't strike me as the sort of sort of bloke who's methodically reading Ian Healy's biography!
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I stopped reading the modern novel several years ago because I realised I wasn't drunk enough, stoned enough or dysfunctional enough to identify with a lot of it.

It was a lot of Pratchett etc for a while. I like satire/comedy & at the moment the toilet reader is the scripts of the 1970's series 'Porridge' with Ronnie Barker . Really witty & doesn't date anywhere near as badly as Chopper Read's books.

I go through periods of fantasy style stuff - devoured all of the Game of Thrones series in 2012 - I must be the only person who has read all the books but never seen any of the tv series!

Have read more than my share of sport biogs - mainly cricket. I picked up 'High on Hawthorn' yesterday & I'll try to finish it before the season starts.
 
moginie said:
I stopped reading the modern novel several years ago because I realised I wasn't drunk enough, stoned enough or dysfunctional enough to identify with a lot of it.

It was a lot of Pratchett etc for a while. I like satire/comedy & at the moment the toilet reader is the scripts of the 1970's series 'Porridge' with Ronnie Barker . Really witty & doesn't date anywhere near as badly as Chopper Read's books.

I go through periods of fantasy style stuff - devoured all of the Game of Thrones series in 2012 - I must be the only person who has read all the books but never seen any of the tv series!

Have read more than my share of sport biogs - mainly cricket. I picked up 'High on Hawthorn' yesterday & I'll try to finish it before the season starts.
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Ah, the modern novel. I've had a purple patch recently. Dave Eggers, Rachel Kushner, both excellent writers.

I went through a massive non fiction phase for a couple of years, but swinging back into fiction now.
 
moginie said:
I stopped reading the modern novel several years ago because I realised I wasn't drunk enough, stoned enough or dysfunctional enough to identify with a lot of it.

It was a lot of Pratchett etc for a while. I like satire/comedy & at the moment the toilet reader is the scripts of the 1970's series 'Porridge' with Ronnie Barker . Really witty & doesn't date anywhere near as badly as Chopper Read's books.

I go through periods of fantasy style stuff - devoured all of the Game of Thrones series in 2012 - I must be the only person who has read all the books but never seen any of the tv series!

Have read more than my share of sport biogs - mainly cricket. I picked up 'High on Hawthorn' yesterday & I'll try to finish it before the season starts.
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Have you read any Murakami?

The Wind up Bird Chronicle.

Magnificent writer.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wind-Up-Bird-Chronicle-Novel/dp/0679775439

And then he has a whole heap of other great books.
 
moginie said:
No! My cousin has recommended him & I've not taken her advice.

So many books, so little time.
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Wind Up Bird is an utterly incredible book.

He's a very difficult writer to categorise: has aspects of magic realism, is surreal but in an everyday way, and so intimate and emotional too.

He's unique and his books are a joy.
 
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