What are you reading right now?

[black bart]

This is all very encouraging to me...ahem...

It was a dark and stormy night and...

[TwistedSister]

Try reading Don Quixote..... caPiTal lEtters alL over the place. Poor punctuation, makes for a hard read.

Been there, done that. Have you attempted "The Sound and the Fury" by Faulkner? He rivals Dickens with his run-on sentences.

No thanks....I had a hard enough time with A Tale of Two Cities.

[Roland Deschain]

I'll see your Faulkner and raise you Look Homeward, Angel, wherein Thomas Wolfe writes, pens, sets forth, and describes at great length innumerable scenes, adverbally illustrating them if you will, with a host of redundant and repetitive adjectival descriptors. Such that the weary reader, wearily trudging ever forward, trudgingly, through a veritable thicket of purple prose, wearily and steadfastly setting one faltering foot falteringly ahead of the next, endeavors to arrive ultimately at the last, weary and faltering, upon the final page, and so offer a heartfelt thanks to God, whose tender mercies have tenderly strengthened the drooping eye and faltering hand of the readering reader.

I used to love you. I don't now...

Twisty, what's wrong with Dickens? I love his style, and found A Tale of Two Cities to be a wonderful book. Also, what's wrong with Don Quixote? I loved that too, the story of the world's first LARPer. Shame he was the only one involved. Maybe the translator of DQ wanted to stick to what Cervantes wanted, with the punctuation and the capital letters, and that to change it would be to alter the text. Or maybe you just got a bum copy? Similar goes for the Dickens, as to alter the text would be to remove the original meaning?

I've just started re-reading Contact by Carl Sagan. I was in one of those moods where no book I looked at seemed to take my fancy, but upon spying that one, my eyes lit up and I decided to read it again.

[ET, the Extra Terrestrial]

what's wrong with Dickens?

His stuff was written for serial publication, and he was paid by the word. The result was that he would draw stuff out forever, never get to the point of a sentence, paragraph, chapter, or story. The first sentence of "Two Cities" runs on for a page and a bloody half. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was happy, it was sad; people were tall, people were short; the sun came up, the sun went down..... GET TO THE BLOODY POINT ALREADY!!!! And that's one of his least offensive works. I couldn't manage to choke my way through Great Expectations, and I have a few others of his works that I can't bring myself to even try. Overrated rubbish, IMO.

[pieces o'nine]

what's wrong with Dickens?

His stuff was written for serial publication, and he was paid by the word. The result was that he would draw stuff out forever, never get to the point of a sentence, paragraph, chapter, or story. The first sentence of "Two Cities" runs on for a page and a bloody half. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was happy, it was sad; people were tall, people were short; the sun came up, the sun went down, the tide went in, the tide went out, and no one can explain that ..... GET TO THE BLOODY POINT ALREADY!!!! And that's one of his least offensive works. I couldn't manage to choke my way through Great Expectations, and I have a few others of his works that I can't bring myself to even try. Overrated rubbish, IMO.

FTFY

[ET, the Extra Terrestrial]

what's wrong with Dickens?

His stuff was written for serial publication, and he was paid by the word. The result was that he would draw stuff out forever, never get to the point of a sentence, paragraph, chapter, or story. The first sentence of "Two Cities" runs on for a page and a bloody half. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was happy, it was sad; people were tall, people were short; the sun came up, the sun went down, the tide went in, the tide went out, and no one can explain that ..... GET TO THE BLOODY POINT ALREADY!!!! And that's one of his least offensive works. I couldn't manage to choke my way through Great Expectations, and I have a few others of his works that I can't bring myself to even try. Overrated rubbish, IMO.

FTFY

I came that close to putting that in there myself...

[tris]

"The Mind of God" by Paul Davies.... so far it mostly talks about the difference between the religious and the scientific visions of the world and the way quantum cosmology has given a satisfactory explanation of the creatin of the universe and the big bang without having to bring an omnipotent creator into the picture... It's interesting stuff, but I find it hasn't completely gripped me and my otherwise preoccupied mind, so I'm only reading about a page a day, and not even every day!

[Auntie Blackbeard]

Well blow me doon !
If it taint Tris !
How be Ye , me prodi... progi ...
Ye be back!

How Auntie luvs thee return of all her yung darrrrlings
AND CHARLY WAS A FINE AND IMPOORTINT ROIGHTER !
Cuz Auntie sez so .

[black bart]

Is no one going to stand up for Charlie Dickens?

Right then...are you telling me that you didn't enjoy 'The Pickwick Papers' or 'A Christmas Carol'...

[daftbeaker]

Christopher Brookmyre. Just about all of his work.

Having gotten bored with computer games in the last month or so (there's only so many times you can make pre-teens rage at you without it feeling samey) I've started reading properly again. Currently I've gotten through 2 de Xavias, a standalone and 2 and a bit Parlabanes. Disturbingly, I've read them in less than a week. At this rate I'll have read all of my Brookmyre's within a fortnight.

Incidentally Roy, did you say you knew Brookmyre? Several of your viewpoints are disturbingly similar to those expressed in his books (the most glaringly obvious one being the 'terrorists are wankers' bit). Were you by any chance the inspiration for Ray 'Larry the Drummer Boy' Ash?

[Roy Hunter]

Incidentally Roy, did you say you knew Brookmyre?

I am a friend of a friend, we have met a few times way back when, he once tried to kill me in a five-a-side match. Does that count?

Were you by any chance the inspiration for Ray 'Larry the Drummer Boy' Ash?

Partly. I used to live in the same street that Brookmyre had Ash living in. I suspect, however, there is more than a little of me in the character of Spammy Scott:
Hangs around a recording studio? Check.
Computer nerd before it was cool to be a computer nerd? Check.
Slept in a cupboard to avoid the insanity of elder siblings (sisters rather than brothers, but close enough)? Check.
Out his face for several years? Big check right there. With bells on.

[Roland Deschain]

Is no one going to stand up for Charlie Dickens?

Right then...are you telling me that you didn't enjoy 'The Pickwick Papers' or 'A Christmas Carol'...

I'd forgotten about this. I'm standing up for Charles! Both of those books are fantastic. I bet everyone who doesn't like Dickens buys their clothes at the toilet store!

Hmmm. Roy, you have me intrigued about this Brookmyre dude. I think I may check out a couple of his books some time soon.

Slept in a cupboard to avoid the insanity of elder siblings...

Harry Potter, much?

EDIT: Don't mind if I get out the image editing software, do you?

[daftbeaker]

Incidentally Roy, did you say you knew Brookmyre?

I am a friend of a friend, we have met a few times way back when, he once tried to kill me in a five-a-side match. Does that count?

Hmph. I was angling for a 'sure, I'll drag him to the pub for you to meet him ' but that'll do

Roland, if you can decipher printed Glaswegian then Brookmyre's books are excellent. I'd suggest starting with Quite Ugly One Morning (the first Parlabane) or A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away (the first de Xavia). You won't lose anything in the way of plot twists from reading them out of order but there's a bunch of references to earlier books that make them more satisfying in order. Plus ...Unsinkable Rubber Ducks is so much better when you know the main character's personality

Having said that, I read the third de Xavia first so it doesn't matter much

[Roland Deschain]

Roland, if you can decipher printed Glaswegian then Brookmyre's books are excellent. I'd suggest starting with Quite Ugly One Morning (the first Parlabane)...

I can quite easily decipher written Glaswegian (I didn't need subtitles in Rab C Nesbitt, either*), as that title reminded me that I own the bloody book! I loved it! Plus I read and understood Trainspotting, which is nothing short of amazing.

* Most of the time.

[daftbeaker]

Roland, if you can decipher printed Glaswegian then Brookmyre's books are excellent. I'd suggest starting with Quite Ugly One Morning (the first Parlabane)...

I can quite easily decipher written Glaswegian (I didn't need subtitles in Rab C Nesbitt, either*), as that title reminded me that I own the bloody book! I loved it!

Excellent, the next few should be Country of the Blind, Boiling a Frog, Be My Enemy and Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks (I think that's the order, it's a bit hard to tell).

Country of the Blind is interesting, I didn't enjoy it that much as I was generally a bit angry and shouting at the pages in sympathy to appreciate the plot twists