Fazer Owners Club - Unofficial
General => General => Topic started by: VNA - BMW Wank on 12 April 2020, 07:55:58 pm
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OK, so we’ve got the ongoing ‘What are you listening to thread’, so what about ‘what the foc are you reading now’ thread?
VNA is not a big reader of books. I’m always wanting to read books, sometimes I buy books, and occasionally I even read one or two of them. Shocking really.
I figure, a lot of us, though not everybody, has a certain amount of time on their hands now and again at the mo.
So, rather than take out a Netflix subscription – all the rage these days – I’m gonna read some books.
So what the foc are you reading just now? And if you are reading something really foccin good and would recommend – well go on, let us know.
VNA has just finished The Changeling by Robin Jenkins – which was absolutely fantastic. Set in the 50’s in Glasgow, School teacher Mr Forbes takes an interest in bright young Tom Curdie, a troubled boy from the slums of Glasgow. Unintended consequences I think is the phrase that springs to mind in this deeply dark short novel.
If you do get a copy don’t whatever you do read the introduction! (and don’t worry the use of Scots is fairly minimal)
I’ve now moved onto Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. An absolute hoot as Vonnegut savages every aspect of modern American society – at least I think that’s what he’s doing – foc knows, but it’s a heck of a laugh anyway.
So yeah, both recommended if you haven’t already.
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Nothing arty farty for me. Agricola has recently finished A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking. Ever since Agricola were a lad, Agricola has had a keen interest in things cosmological, and thought Carl Sagans 80s tv programmes were enthralling as he was exeptional at expalining complex matters. A B H O T was interesting and imformative, and understandable early on, but the more it delved into particle physics, virtual and antiparticles, the more Agricola became lost. Ill pick it up and try again in a year or so when my brain has reset.
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YamFazFan found this an enjoyable read and YamFazFan recommends it to VNA whole-heartedly...
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I always try and have a book on the go.
Currently working my way through the entire Ian Rankin Rebus novels from the beginning to the end. I know Edinburgh very well, so an added bonus. Currently on The Black Book, so loads to go.
Alternating with other authors, and just finished S J Parris' 'Treachery' set in Tudor England. The politics of the time!
My favourite book ever - 'Treasure Island' Robert Louis Stevenson. Read it so many times. My late father's copy awarded to him as a school prize :)
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YamFazFan found this an enjoyable read and YamFazFan recommends it to VNA whole-heartedly...
For Focs sake don't set him off already 🙄 can we at least have 1 thread that doesn't end up with you two bickering 🤔😝
As for the books, I'm a fan of fiction myself and have read pretty much the whole library of Mr Dean Koontz. I find his style of writing much better than Stephen King and the stories more interesting but I'd imagine that's very subjective.
Other than that I quite like to read comedians autobiographies. I find as a rule they have a very unusual outlook on life. I'm currently half way through Lee Mack's
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The life of a racer... Michael Rutters' story so far,a cracking read IMO, also my 5 yearly reread of Catcher in the rye,Fangios' life story and Jimmy Wilde,I've been reading these 3 books for years now and still enjoy them,when I was younger they used to fill me with inspiration whenever I read them.
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Not normally a book reader any more, but a colleague was discussing this at work and he made it sound interesting, albeit unbelievable, so i thought I'd give it a go.
It's an eye opener to say the least from what I've read so far, about a subject I knew nothing about.
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Currently working my way through the entire Ian Rankin Rebus novels from the beginning to the end. I know Edinburgh very well, so an added bonus. Currently on The Black Book, so loads to go.
Not long started on the same journey. Just finished Hide and Seek. Did try Black and Blue first (book 8), the critics say from that book on he really had Rebus nailed. But yeah, gone back to the beginning and working my way through.
I’ve also got One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre to read, my Scots teacher of English friend tells me that if I like Rankin I’ll love Brookmyre – apparently.
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That should say book 8 - not 8)
Dunno what the foc that's about.
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I'm reading this at the moment. Quite informative and makes you realise how much bullshit and bias there is in MSM.
However, if your intellect isn't up to the job, may I recommend the second option. :lol :lol :lol
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Not long started on the same journey. Just finished Hide and Seek. Did try Black and Blue first (book , the critics say from that book on he really had Rebus nailed. But yeah, gone back to the beginning and working my way through.
Saw Rankin being interviewed at the last Ed Book Festival, and he said it took 'Black and Blue' before he was taken seriously. Lots of rejections prior to that. A good interview, then we all went to the Oxford Bar after :thumbup
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OK, so we’ve got the ongoing ‘What are you listening to thread’, so what about ‘what the foc are you reading now’ thread?
Currently the collected Sherlock Holmes stories :thumbup
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YamFazFan found this an enjoyable read and YamFazFan recommends it to VNA whole-heartedly...
So I'm sure YamFazFan would be quite capable of giving us a precis of the book... :rollin
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Currently working my way through the entire Ian Rankin Rebus novels from the beginning to the end. I know Edinburgh very well, so an added bonus.
As mentioned above, I'm reading Sherlock Holmes and, even though I don't know London that well, occasionally a street name pops out and I think "Hey, I know where that is...!"
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So I'm sure YamFazFan would be quite capable of giving us a precis of the book...
Spoiler - it ends rather messily :lol
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Chickenhawk By Robert Mason.
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That's a good read Oldgit.
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A +1 for Chickenhawk. Currently I'm on Harry Redknapp's Always Managing.
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Last ones:
Edward Snowden: Permanent Record - surprisingly well written. Take it all with a grain of salt, but it is informative, more than entertaining, or enlightening.
Isaac Asimov: Robots, Empire and Foundation series (https://blog.bikegremlin.com/161/isaac-asimov-robots-empire-foundation/). I love Asimov and SF in general, while the link has all the books listed in their "in-book-universe" chronological order. Suppose it makes most sense reading them that way, though it's not crucial.
Now reading some Serbocroatian collection of Noam Chomsky's works - couldn't find an English publication of that "compilation". It's not bad, but not too good either, anyway.
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+1 with the Dude for Dean Koontz novels - they are extremely good reads.
My favourite being "Intensity", which had me gripped from start to finish.
I've never been the biggest fan of autobiographies, until I read "My Shit Life So Far" by Frankie Boyle.
I cannot remember being so entertained and, in places quite moved, by what seems to be a genuine, warts and all, self portrait - excellent.
If you like thrillers, I recently read "I Am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes - astounding novel that grips from start to finish and really makes you ponder what might actually be going on in the world that we know little or nothing about. One of my favourite books ever.
If I had to choose one book, it would be "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" by Douglas Adams - quite possibly the best book ever written. Had me physically laughing out loud on many occasions and the only book I've read 3 times.
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Just finished "Blue Moon" by Lee Child.
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If I had to choose one book, it would be "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" by Douglas Adams - quite possibly the best book ever written. Had me physically laughing out loud on many occasions and the only book I've read 3 times.
:agree
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If I had to choose one book, it would be "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" by Douglas Adams - quite possibly the best book ever written. Had me physically laughing out loud on many occasions and the only book I've read 3 times.
If you haven't listened to the original Radio Series (or the Records where they re-did it, possibly better) I'd strongly recommend them, because having the actors (especially Peter Jones as The Book and Simon Jones as Arthur Dent), plus the sound effects which were produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but "orchestrated" by Adams himself, just gives the stories a whole new dimension :thumbup
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Grahamm, you're absolutely spot regards the original Radio 4 series :thumbup
I used to be allowed to stay up late on a school night to listen to it at 10:30pm when it was first aired back in 1978 - it was truly amazing and way ahead of its time.
Can you imagine kids today having to listen to the radio for their entertainment???!!!!
Those were the days eh?? :D
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Grahamm, you're absolutely spot regards the original Radio 4 series :thumbup
I used to be allowed to stay up late on a school night to listen to it at 10:30pm when it was first aired back in 1978 - it was truly amazing and way ahead of its time.
Can you imagine kids today having to listen to the radio for their entertainment???!!!!
Those were the days eh?? :D
Wish I'd been a kid in '78 never mind listening to the foccin' radio. :lol
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Grahamm, you're absolutely spot regards the original Radio 4 series :thumbup
I used to be allowed to stay up late on a school night to listen to it at 10:30pm when it was first aired back in 1978 - it was truly amazing and way ahead of its time.
Can you imagine kids today having to listen to the radio for their entertainment???!!!!
Those were the days eh?? :D
Wish I'd been a kid in '78 never mind listening to the foccin' radio. :lol
Some 12 years old, was alone home, reading The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells). Serbocroatian translation, of course. While reading, on the local very cool alternative radio (dead now) - they played the novel, in English, with actors reading it. I had known English well enough at that time to understand it is the very book I was reading. And it was spooky - alone at night, with the dramatic voice from the radio... Really cool experience. :)
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Grahamm, you're absolutely spot regards the original Radio 4 series :thumbup
I used to be allowed to stay up late on a school night to listen to it at 10:30pm when it was first aired back in 1978 - it was truly amazing and way ahead of its time.
I was trying to listen to it on a dodgy little transistor radio I'd been given some years before which was completely crap (mono and a crackly speaker)!
It wasn't until I bought the records that I appreciated just how good it was.
Somewhere around I've still got the original scripts that the BBC published, plus I've still got the official Towel (and I know where it is!) :thumbup
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Well Breakfast of Champions got a little too directionless and weird for my liking, whilst the hilarity thinned out. I can’t help wondering if Kurt Vonnegut was completely out his box when he wrote that.
Enjoyed Slaughter House 5 much more.
So some more Rankin.
My Scots teacher of English friend had also recommended The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg. I dunno why though. I had stressed to him that I often find older texts difficult and nor do I ever find any convoluted style of wiring enjoyable.
This falls into the former having been first published in 1824. And one wonders how the heck Hogg even managed to get it published.
I ignored the introduction, got stuck in and was stumped after only 30 pages. This short novel comes with a 30 page introduction, a glossary of Scots words (though it is largely written in English so don’t let that put you off) and 24 pages of explanatory notes.
So, I selectively read the introduction, did some googling on the politics and religious friction of the time and tried again. I took it now as a challenge.
It is a fantastic and haunting book, a study of religious madness, schizophrenia perhaps, the memoirs of a serial killer in the Scottish borders at the beginning of the 1700’s.
If you love classic literature and gothic romantic fiction, it might be for you if you.
For me it was only the Covid19 lockdown that gave me the patience to wade through it. :evil
Back to Rankin.
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I'm between Rankins. Reading 'The Testaments' by Margaret Attwood. The follow on from 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Frightening stuff.
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You recommend Margaret Attwood then I take it?
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For these books yes. Haven't read her others.
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Half way through Michael Rutter’s book, Life of a Racer. Very easy reading.
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:thumbup A cracking read.
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Whoops. Sorry. :o
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This :D
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Brilliant.
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Just started Shane Byrnes "Unshakeable".