The 'Currently Reading' Thread.

[Panhead]

I just finished reading No Country For Old Men and really enjoyed it. It took a little getting used to the style of it (No speech marks etc) but I couldn't put it down once I got going. I haven't read any of Cormac McCarthy's other books. Does anyone have any recommendations for which one I should pick up next? 

I'm just about to start Joe Hill's Horns. I've a stack of books that I've picked up from charity shops, 2nd hand book tables and stuff, that I've been neglecting for years in favour of newer stuff. Finally getting around to reading them! 

[SaitoRyo]

I got a little lazy about reading after coming back from a visit to my folks' house, but I started Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America the other day and I'm really into it. 

It's a memoir about a guy who (in his mid-20s at the time) attempted to cross the width of America on a four-year-old horse back in the mid-1970s. Naturally, he encounters some interesting characters and challenging situations along the way. 

I took a punt on after spying it in an Oxfam while I was back in Newcastle. It's been well worth the £2.45 I paid thus far.

[SuperBacon]

41 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

took a punt on after spying it in an Oxfam while I was back in Newcastle. It's been well worth the £2.45 I paid thus far.

Games gone.

[Keith Houchen]

3 hours ago, Panhead said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for which one I should pick up next? 

Blood Meridian is a must, as is The Road. Your sides won’t hurt from laughing, let’s put it that way. 

[SaitoRyo]

4 hours ago, Panhead said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for which one I should pick up next? 

I really liked All The Pretty Horses. 

[Loki]

I found McCarthy's books unbearably sad.  I couldn't read past halfway in The Crossing, just too much.  Wonderful writer but, too much for me.

[Panhead]

7 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

I really liked All The Pretty Horses. 

 

7 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Blood Meridian is a must, as is The Road. Your sides won’t hurt from laughing, let’s put it that way. 

Thanks for the recommendations. Might go for Blood Meridian first then. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

Blood Meridian is incredibly well-written, but there's some absolutely horrifying imagery in it. The Road is my favourite of his I've read, his writing style suited that genre so well I think I read most of it in one sitting, and it's so immersive it felt like I was getting the breath knocked out of me every time something else happened, but I just had to know what happened next.

[LaGoosh]

On 2/15/2024 at 9:25 AM, Panhead said:

Does anyone have any recommendations for which one I should pick up next? 

He's my favourite author, literally any of them are fantastic. Blood Meridian is probably his best book, though it's a brutal read. The Road is probably his easiest and most accessible book (though also a brutal read...they are all pretty brutal). Child of God and Outer Dark are on the shorter side so might be worth a go.

Overall though Suttree is my favourite and is often overlooked. It's a long book, significantly less violent than most of his stuff, incredibly funny and sad.

[hallicks]

Read a couple of autobiographies that I got for Christmas. First was Reborn in the USA, by Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers fame (or non-fame). It’s a coming of age story about growing up as a Jewish kid in Liverpool in the 70s and 80s, where he develops an insatiable passion for all things American. Despite some bleak moments, he writes with the acceptance of having grown older, and as he’s never afraid to poke fun at himself, I read the whole thing with a smile on my face. He’s a funny, warm bloke and it really shines through in this book.

The other was My effin life, by Geddy Lee from Rush. Full disclosure, I’m a massive Rush fan. I’m not sure what I was expecting really. There’s a chapter that goes into great detail about his parents experiences in WW2 concentration camps, which is extremely harrowing. Most of the rest is his career in Rush, which comprises of recording albums, touring, and doing drugs. And actually, after about the 7th album, it’s pretty boring and extremely repetitive. (And that’s just the music AMIRITE!!!!1) Even though it’s a “with [someone]” autobiography, none of his obvious non-writer tendencies seem to get reined in, he waffles on and around things but it’s all just a bit woolly and I couldn’t wait to finish it.

[Panhead]

10 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

He's my favourite author, literally any of them are fantastic. Blood Meridian is probably his best book, though it's a brutal read. The Road is probably his easiest and most accessible book (though also a brutal read...they are all pretty brutal). Child of God and Outer Dark are on the shorter side so might be worth a go.

Overall though Suttree is my favourite and is often overlooked. It's a long book, significantly less violent than most of his stuff, incredibly funny and sad.

Thanks for the suggestions. Is there a lack of speech marks in all his work or is that just in No Country For Old Men? Not that it puts me off, I'm just curious. 

[LaGoosh]

27 minutes ago, Panhead said:

Thanks for the suggestions. Is there a lack of speech marks in all his work or is that just in No Country For Old Men? Not that it puts me off, I'm just curious. 

Yeah all his stuff is like that. McCarthy saw speechmarks as pointless and never used them. 

[Panhead]

3 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Yeah all his stuff is like that. McCarthy saw speechmarks as pointless and never used them. 

That's amazing. 

[wordsfromlee]

Not really a currently reading as I've never actually read it but this seems the best place for it:

My Mum and Dad came round on Saturday night for a curry and my old man had a gift for me. About 25 years ago, my sister was in primary school and her class were going to read the first Harry Potter book together. The teacher told them that if they already own it, bring their copy in. My sister didn't own one but knew that I did. Now I had never read the book because I wasn't a massive nerd and at the time was into cool dude stuff like Peter Schmeichel, ninjas, and hair gel. I owned a copy though as my Dad had done some building work at the place that was printing them and got one amongst a bunch of other books he was "given". Anyway, even though both my Mum and sister had read that book more times than I had, and they have had it in their possession for far longer than I ever did, my Dad gave me back my copy of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.

I asked him why he was giving it back to me after all these years as I have never read it, never had any intention of reading it, still don't have any intention of reading it and am completely ambivalent to the Harry Potter franchise. He said that he felt bad that I'd been deprived of my book for all these years because it's been at their house - the house which I could go over to at any time and get it but haven't because as I've said, I couldn't give less of a shit about Harry Potter. I'm sure it's got nothing to do with the fact that now both of my sisters have moved out, they're downsizing to a one-bedroom house and they're trying to palm off all their unwanted shite on to anyone who'll take it.

Off handed he mentioned something about it having a spelling mistake on the back cover which could maybe mean it's worth something.

Earlier today I decided to look up if this version with the spelling mistake is actually worth any money. Sometimes they can be, but sometimes a book thats sold such mega numbers as this one means there are a lot floating around with the same mis-printing thus making it only really worth a few extra quid.

I googled it and found out that the spelling mistake is one of the five identifying factors that mean the book may be a first edition.

The others are:

• The publisher must be listed as Bloomsbury at the bottom of the title page. Which mine is.
• The latest date listed in the copyright information must be 1997. Which mine has.
• The print line on the copyright page must read “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1”. Which mine does.
• On page 53, in the list of school supplies that Harry receives from Hogwarts, the item “1 wand” must appear twice, once at the beginning and once at the end. Which mine does.

Whats even more mad is that while doing this research, this tweet pops up...

So basically the short story is:

today I found out I'm the owner of a first edition of the first Harry Potter book

 

[BomberPat]

lovely stuff!

I just finished Michael Moorcock's latest, The Woods of Arcady. It's the second part of what's at least a trilogy, in which Moorcock begins writing autobiographically, but then it all gets waylaid into a fantasy story. He ends up going on a Boy's Own adventure romp through the desert with the Three Musketeers, musing on his ideas of the Multiverse, while there's also a little sci-fi side-story that pops up unexpectedly into the narrative at times. There are some references to the previous book, but it doesn't seem to follow on directly (multiverse, innit), so I'm not sure whether the next book is intended to tie it all together or just more of the same.

It had its moments, but I don't think it really worked for me. The autobiography sections are interesting, because Moorcock is an interesting guy who has been around the sci-fi/fantasy world for decades, met everyone and done everything, and it's interesting when fantasy tropes and ideas start infringing on that story. But then for most of the second half of the book, at least, it just becomes a fairly pedestrian sword-and-sandals adventure with pretty odd pacing, and the fact that the central character is Michael Moorcock is barely relevant. It just feels like an idea that's never fully explored, but maybe that comes of being book two of three.