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I read to escape from normal every day life. It is a wonderful way to relax.

 

At the moment I am re-reading Gone with the Wind. It is so un"PC"in how it is written, but has a great romantic quality about the writing.

 

I also have on the go: Bob Dlyan, Chronicles Volume 1. Ben Elton, The Blast from the Past and New Optimum Nutrition Bible by Patrick Holford

 

My recent readings are 'His Dark Material' trilogy by Philip Pulman, while they may be aimed at children, I have found they make you think!

I regulary read the Chronicles of Thomas Convenant (hence the user name).

 

I love reading books, and have built up a no bad peerie library over the years.

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^^The code book is an excellent read BigMouth.

 

Simon Singh's stuff is generally pretty good. Have you read "Fermat's last theorem"?

 

I have read Fermat's Last Theorom twice. The last time it took 6 months as every time I started to read it a colleague would come and talk to me. Some of it is a bit heavy going, but it really is a good read on the whole.

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'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. Pretty grim stuff but very good nonetheless. It's got lots of words that I don't know so I'm reading it alongside a dictionary, which is good cos you get to learn lots of new stuff. Anyone else here read it? I'm studying it for my degree so any opinions would be helpful :)

 

iA key text in the post-colonial field, eh no?? ... (where u studying?) But I can't think of it now without imagining grunty old Brando in Apocalypse Now ... the story goes (I quote) "Francis Ford Coppola believed that Marlon Brando was familiar with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and had prepared for the role before the legendary actor arrived on the set. When Brando did come out, Coppola was horrified to find that Brando had never read "Heart of Darkness", did not know his lines, and had become extremely fat (Kurtz had always been written as a tall but starvingly-thin man). After some panicking, Coppola decided to film the 5'10" Brando as if he was a massively built, 6'5" brute (to explain Brando's size) and steered the camera clear of Brando's huge belly ..." So apparently Coppola spent days reading "Heart of Darkness" out loud to Brando on the set ...

 

Otherwise, I read a GREAT novel a few weeks ago, the first truly GREAT novel I've had hands on in a long time - Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita . It had been on my bookshelf for years and I'd picked it up a couple of times but always got stuck at the first Pontius Pilate chapter - but this time I persevered and it was absolutely transporting .... can't recommend it highly enough. Fabbie ...

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"Narrow dog to carcassonne" by Terry Darlington. Tale of man, wife and narrow dog (a whippet) taking a narrow boat from northern England to the south of France. The journey with the boat would be a fascinating read but some of the authors descriptions of Jim (the whippet) are really funny

 

I got this last year for christmas and only picked it up the other week. God I can't stand his writing style, I just can't get my head around his jumpy notatation way of writing. It really grinds my gears. It's one of the few books I've needed to force my self to read. Urgh.

 

Anyhoo, I've just finished reading the last couple of my christmas books: "The Stornoway Way" Keith McNeill. I thought this was a brillant read, bit of a heart-string tugger in the end. A tale of whisky fuelled escapisim, the protagonist trys to make sense of his life as he spirals into despair. Think "Catcher in the Rye" but with more tweed and Gaelic swearing.

 

"The life of Pi" Yann Martel Woah knock me down with a Cybernetic Arnold! This was an awesome novel. Before I'd finished it, it was in my top 5. I can't explain through words how amazing and supery-dupery this book was! So I'm not going to bother... Just go out and buy it, borrow it or steal it.

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'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. Pretty grim stuff but very good nonetheless. It's got lots of words that I don't know so I'm reading it alongside a dictionary, which is good cos you get to learn lots of new stuff. Anyone else here read it? I'm studying it for my degree so any opinions would be helpful :)

 

iA key text in the post-colonial field, eh no?? ... (where u studying?) But I can't think of it now without imagining grunty old Brando in Apocalypse Now ... the story goes (I quote) "Francis Ford Coppola believed that Marlon Brando was familiar with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and had prepared for the role before the legendary actor arrived on the set. When Brando did come out, Coppola was horrified to find that Brando had never read "Heart of Darkness", did not know his lines, and had become extremely fat (Kurtz had always been written as a tall but starvingly-thin man). After some panicking, Coppola decided to film the 5'10" Brando as if he was a massively built, 6'5" brute (to explain Brando's size) and steered the camera clear of Brando's huge belly ..." So apparently Coppola spent days reading "Heart of Darkness" out loud to Brando on the set ...

 

Otherwise, I read a GREAT novel a few weeks ago, the first truly GREAT novel I've had hands on in a long time - Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita . It had been on my bookshelf for years and I'd picked it up a couple of times but always got stuck at the first Pontius Pilate chapter - but this time I persevered and it was absolutely transporting .... can't recommend it highly enough. Fabbie ...

 

Hi, I'm studying in Edinburgh. The Apocalypse Now story about Brando is funny and kinda sad i think too, to think he used to be such a dane. I've read HoD about 5 times now and can rate it as one of my favourite books ever.

 

As for now, I've nearly finished 'The Stornoway Way' which is the best recent novel I've picked up for years. All Shetlanders should read it especially. It's very funny and forlorn at the same time. Read it.

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