The 2nd "What are you reading now" thread

Hawk88

Club Legend
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Posts
1,240
Likes
530
Location
Melb, Australia
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Washington Wizards
I know this is a hard questions to answer, but for the last 10 years (only mid twenties) mostly all i have read is scifi and fantasy and looking at getting stuck into some great books. Where should i start? There seems to be so many recommendations i have no idea!
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

WALDENPOND

Club Legend
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Posts
2,018
Likes
1,744
AFL Club
Richmond
I know this is a hard questions to answer, but for the last 10 years (only mid twenties) mostly all i have read is scifi and fantasy and looking at getting stuck into some great books. Where should i start? There seems to be so many recommendations i have no idea!
The easiest answer is start with short stories and novellas from quality writers. But is their any sort of theme or subject you would like to read about?
 

fpcookie

Norm Smith Medallist
Joined
Oct 9, 2013
Posts
5,030
Likes
4,710
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Dallas Mavericks
I know this is a hard questions to answer, but for the last 10 years (only mid twenties) mostly all i have read is scifi and fantasy and looking at getting stuck into some great books. Where should i start? There seems to be so many recommendations i have no idea!
see my sig!

As voted by big footy ;)

Some of the more discerning readers may not say it's the highest quality list but I think most books there have some merit! And most are pretty accessible.
 

Quokka

Premiership Player
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Posts
4,216
Likes
4,774
AFL Club
Fremantle
There might just about be half there that's not science fiction or fantasy so I'm guessing you're not alone on bigfooty with starting your reading there :)

It's hard to go past ipcookie's post for a recommendation. It took me a couple of tries to get into it but Catch-22 is still one of the funniest books I've ever read.
 
Last edited:

ChubbMuff

All Australian
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Posts
717
Likes
508
Location
Gong
AFL Club
Sydney
It took me a couple of tries to get into it but Catch-22 is still one of the funniest books I've ever read.
+1 - Catch 22 is a favourite of mine as well. Read it for school and I remember the whole class cracking up at times it was just so funny. From memory it was Heller's first book, took 8 years to write and he was never able to equal it with anything he wrote later. I read Good as Gold after it but it was nowhere near as good. He actually invented the phrase Catch 22 and it's meaning. Genius. The quote below is one of my all time favourites, it says so much whilst being so piss funny.

"Racial prejudice is a terrible thing, Yossarian. It really is. It's a terrible thing to treat a decent, loyal Indian like a fellow, kike, wop, or spic."

*Obviously "fellow" is the n-word - I will not mess around with the filter and respect the board's natural censoring. It is interesting to note that kike, wop and spic are allowed through...
 
Last edited:

Northworth

rebmeM ytooFgiB
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Posts
10,766
Likes
11,924
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
The Exers
Thanks Guys, i have started with 1984 and looking at Catch-22 next.

I also have never read hitchhikers also, always thought it would be to kiddy?
hitchhikers is awesome - very witty.... 1984 was phenomenal too...


I have bi the bullet - am 30 pages into A Tale of Two Cities.... got to get through more classics
 

Dagless

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Posts
34,372
Likes
9,994
Location
Not Scotland
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
NYGiants
Today I Wrote Nothing by Daniil Kharms

Relatively unknown Stalinist Era Russian writer, absolutely phenomenal stuff.
Absurd 'micro fiction' vignettes, Today I Wrote Nothing is a collation of his works, a weird blend of poetry with a Pythonesque quality all revolving around the hidden truths of the Communist regime at the time.

“There lived a redheaded man who had no eyes or ears. He didn’t have hair either, so he was called a redhead arbitrarily. He couldn’t talk because he had no mouth. He had no nose either. He didn’t even have arms or legs. He had no stomach, he had no back, he had no spine, and he had no innards at all. He didn’t have anything. So we don’t even know who we’re talking about. It’s better that we don’t talk about him any more.”
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Posts
2,305
Likes
4,472
Location
Pining for the fjords
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
******* stupid game
Currently reading Dan Simmons "The Abominable", a fictitious take on Mallory's lost 1924 expedition to mount Everest.

if you've read his "The Terror" which was a fictitious take on Franklin's lost 19th century expedition to the Northwest passage, you'll like this one too.
 

Unique Name

Norm Smith Medallist
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Posts
8,067
Likes
17,868
AFL Club
Fremantle
Currently reading Dan Simmons "The Abominable", a fictitious take on Mallory's lost 1924 expedition to mount Everest.

if you've read his "The Terror" which was a fictitious take on Franklin's lost 19th century expedition to the Northwest passage, you'll like this one too.

Have you read Jeffrey Archers Paths of Glory?
 

ChubbMuff

All Australian
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Posts
717
Likes
508
Location
Gong
AFL Club
Sydney
Just finished Surface Detail by Banks. Another belter of a book, loved it. My favourite character was the ship Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints - hysterical at times but always a deadly psychopath. I think I will give The Culture a rest for a while or maybe re-read some of the ones I've finished once.
 
Last edited:

Allan Shorty

All Australian
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Posts
898
Likes
766
Location
Chewin' qat in the outer
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Today I Wrote Nothing by Daniil Kharms

Relatively unknown Stalinist Era Russian writer, absolutely phenomenal stuff.
Absurd 'micro fiction' vignettes, Today I Wrote Nothing is a collation of his works, a weird blend of poetry with a Pythonesque quality all revolving around the hidden truths of the Communist regime at the time.

“There lived a redheaded man who had no eyes or ears. He didn’t have hair either, so he was called a redhead arbitrarily. He couldn’t talk because he had no mouth. He had no nose either. He didn’t even have arms or legs. He had no stomach, he had no back, he had no spine, and he had no innards at all. He didn’t have anything. So we don’t even know who we’re talking about. It’s better that we don’t talk about him any more.”
Sounds like Gogol and the nose story.
 

Allan Shorty

All Australian
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Posts
898
Likes
766
Location
Chewin' qat in the outer
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Just finished 'the wet and the dry' by Lawrence Osborne. Non fiction. Drunk prose stylist travels through the Middle East looking for a drink.

And also just finished a history of Cairo. I'm doing histories or travelogues of cities this year - done New York, j burg, Lagos, Karachi, Mexico City, and Cairo. Looking for more.
 

Ocha905

Club Legend
Joined
Mar 19, 2014
Posts
1,029
Likes
1,205
Location
Melbourne
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Dallas Mavericks & Stars, Liverpool
Just finished two Tostoy short stories 'How Much Land Does A Man Need' and 'What Men Live By'. Best stories I've ever read. Will have to get an epic of his now does anyone have a recommendation?

Currently reading Oliver Twist. I've only read one other Dickens novel- Great Expectations which was fantastic until the last page.
 

RolandF1

Club Legend
Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Posts
1,385
Likes
1,367
Location
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Reading Abarat Book 2 by Clive Baker.

Really weird but equally fascinating fantasy world. Hard to explain outside of its a chase novel in a fantasy world. The only thing I can compare it to is Hayao Miyazaki's weird and wonderful worlds, not knowing what's around the next corner.
 
Last edited:

Allan Shorty

All Australian
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Posts
898
Likes
766
Location
Chewin' qat in the outer
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Currently reading Dan Simmons "The Abominable", a fictitious take on Mallory's lost 1924 expedition to mount Everest.

if you've read his "The Terror" which was a fictitious take on Franklin's lost 19th century expedition to the Northwest passage, you'll like this one too.
There's a book called 'discovery of slowness' which Is also a fictitious account of the franklin expedition. By sten nadolny. The same Franklin is a huge figure in tassie history too.
 
Top Bottom