book stuff
in no particular order (because i'll write it as i remember it):
the oddyssey - homer simpson
OK, kraige bought/stole me a copy of this for my 30th birthday after a conversation about ulysses 31. i started reading it and really dug it, but then i lost my copy of it. i actually managed to find and exact same copy of the same translation (the novelised version, with the repetition taken out). yeah, i loved it. some of the bits about fighting and parties and stuff really got me extra excited! not bad for a book that's like 2,000 years old or whatever.
my favourite bit however, is when oddysseus arrives home, disguised by athene as an old beggar. one night he's trying to get to sleep in the palace, when some of the servant girls who have turned evil and slutty while he was away, are up making noise and fucking the suitors. oddysseus is lying there and it says something like: 'oddysseus lay there trying to decide whether or not to dash after the servant girls and put them all to death' because i don't know about you, but i always have the same dilema when my slutty neighbours are keeping me awake.
animal farm - george orwell
i have to say i was totally disappointed by this book. it was absolutely nothing like the video i downloaded from the internet the other day.
actually, i did enjoy it, despite knowing next to nothing about the history of stalinist russia. a light and short read. worth it for that classic line:
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
the art of travel - alain de botton
yeah, i liked it. more than the consolations of philosophy. the pictures fitted better too, and weren't as annoying as in the consolations. as kraige pointed out before, he'd talk about a cup of tea, and then show a picture of a cup of tea. I KNOW WHAT A CUP OF TEA LOOKS LIKE THANK YOU. in this book however, he talks about a lot of paintings and landscapes which i would have needed google to look up if the pics weren't there.
some nice insight, too.
the farewell party - milan kundera
i really liked this book. i actually liked it better than 'the unberaable lghtness of being' it was funnier and a bit lighter, but saying that it still had a darker side, and i love the way kundera paints his characters. jealous, adulterous, irresponsible, neurotic. they come across as psychologically real, or at least they've very identifiable and you are able to empathise with bits of most of them.
the day of the triffids - john wyndham
yeah, i enjoyed it. it wasn't amazing or anything, but it was fun. there were some great, amusing sexist comments in there. i love to see how attitudes have changed over the last 100 years, (this book is about 55 yeas old i think) and i find it kind of amusing to see things that have dated badly. the main thrust of it seemed fine though.
perfume - alexander suskind
i hated this book. pete got it for me for my birthday, and while i'm thankful for this (honestly!), i didn't like the book at all. it was annoyingly far fetched. like i've been sitting here thinking of which bits to exemplify as being too far fetched, but it was pretty much all of it. the end was really fucking annoyingly bad. ARGH!
actually the bits about perfume manufacturing were the only parts that kept me interested.
(fag)
the wind up bird chronicle - haruki murakami
what a marathon. i didn't like it.
well, i liked bits of it. i LOVED the bits about the japanese/russian manchurian war. the remaniscing of that old guy. honda was it? no, that was his mate. lieutenant something. anyway, i could have read a whole book about that. i liked a few other things a lot, too. i liked malta and creta for a start! i also liked the idea of the wells, and have already used it as an analogy for something in conversation! but on the whole it was too long, and too many random threads were introduced. i hated cinamon and nutmeg and wanted to be able to stab the faggy mute one.
it's put me off him for a while.
what's gutting is after raving about his other stuff to pete, that's the book i got him to read first (before me). now he isn't bothered about him, either.
i can't remember what else i've read recently. i'm going to have a look at my bookshelves when i go back to the house. that'll do for now.
the oddyssey - homer simpson
OK, kraige bought/stole me a copy of this for my 30th birthday after a conversation about ulysses 31. i started reading it and really dug it, but then i lost my copy of it. i actually managed to find and exact same copy of the same translation (the novelised version, with the repetition taken out). yeah, i loved it. some of the bits about fighting and parties and stuff really got me extra excited! not bad for a book that's like 2,000 years old or whatever.
my favourite bit however, is when oddysseus arrives home, disguised by athene as an old beggar. one night he's trying to get to sleep in the palace, when some of the servant girls who have turned evil and slutty while he was away, are up making noise and fucking the suitors. oddysseus is lying there and it says something like: 'oddysseus lay there trying to decide whether or not to dash after the servant girls and put them all to death' because i don't know about you, but i always have the same dilema when my slutty neighbours are keeping me awake.
animal farm - george orwell
i have to say i was totally disappointed by this book. it was absolutely nothing like the video i downloaded from the internet the other day.
actually, i did enjoy it, despite knowing next to nothing about the history of stalinist russia. a light and short read. worth it for that classic line:
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
the art of travel - alain de botton
yeah, i liked it. more than the consolations of philosophy. the pictures fitted better too, and weren't as annoying as in the consolations. as kraige pointed out before, he'd talk about a cup of tea, and then show a picture of a cup of tea. I KNOW WHAT A CUP OF TEA LOOKS LIKE THANK YOU. in this book however, he talks about a lot of paintings and landscapes which i would have needed google to look up if the pics weren't there.
some nice insight, too.
the farewell party - milan kundera
i really liked this book. i actually liked it better than 'the unberaable lghtness of being' it was funnier and a bit lighter, but saying that it still had a darker side, and i love the way kundera paints his characters. jealous, adulterous, irresponsible, neurotic. they come across as psychologically real, or at least they've very identifiable and you are able to empathise with bits of most of them.
the day of the triffids - john wyndham
yeah, i enjoyed it. it wasn't amazing or anything, but it was fun. there were some great, amusing sexist comments in there. i love to see how attitudes have changed over the last 100 years, (this book is about 55 yeas old i think) and i find it kind of amusing to see things that have dated badly. the main thrust of it seemed fine though.
perfume - alexander suskind
i hated this book. pete got it for me for my birthday, and while i'm thankful for this (honestly!), i didn't like the book at all. it was annoyingly far fetched. like i've been sitting here thinking of which bits to exemplify as being too far fetched, but it was pretty much all of it. the end was really fucking annoyingly bad. ARGH!
actually the bits about perfume manufacturing were the only parts that kept me interested.
(fag)
the wind up bird chronicle - haruki murakami
what a marathon. i didn't like it.
well, i liked bits of it. i LOVED the bits about the japanese/russian manchurian war. the remaniscing of that old guy. honda was it? no, that was his mate. lieutenant something. anyway, i could have read a whole book about that. i liked a few other things a lot, too. i liked malta and creta for a start! i also liked the idea of the wells, and have already used it as an analogy for something in conversation! but on the whole it was too long, and too many random threads were introduced. i hated cinamon and nutmeg and wanted to be able to stab the faggy mute one.
it's put me off him for a while.
what's gutting is after raving about his other stuff to pete, that's the book i got him to read first (before me). now he isn't bothered about him, either.
i can't remember what else i've read recently. i'm going to have a look at my bookshelves when i go back to the house. that'll do for now.