mjmooney Posted September 9, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 9, 2014 I've never read any Faulkner. He's on my list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Currently reading The Day of Battle, Part 2 of The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson. Brilliant. Part 3 waiting on the shelf. After that I have The Lobster Coast, How Football Explains the World, Lawrence in Arabia, and The Guns in August. Should keep me busy for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 I've never read any Faulkner. He's on my list. The best Southern American literature Ive ever read was All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren. Its actually one of the greatest American novels in general, ever written. Hauntingly beautiful and a good old fashioned page turner. High brow lit that reads easy, much easier than Faulkner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 I've never read any Faulkner. He's on my list. The best Southern American literature Ive ever read was All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren. Its actually one of the greatest American novels in general, ever written. Hauntingly beautiful and a good old fashioned page turner. High brow lit that reads easy, much easier than Faulkner. Hmmm, that looks intriguing. Although I'm wary, as I hate political novels (Gore Vidal's 'Lincoln' was probably the most boring book I've ever read). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Flannery O'Connor is great if you are into Southern Gothic shizzle. She can be a bit heavy with her Catholicism, but don't let that fool you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frobisher Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Flannery O'Connor is great if you are into Southern Gothic shizzle. She can be a bit heavy with her Catholicism, but don't let that fool you. Ooh yes. I read A Good Man Is Hard To Find over a lunch break at work. Beautifully disturbing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 I love Faulkner. Yep, I don't think he was that bad as Chief Exec really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Just enjoyed The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by Le Carre Haven't read a spy novel in so long to the point I'm unsure if I've even read one - aside from one or two Bond one's which frankly don't count. Anyway, was utterly superb to read. Got a collection of Camus and that Pullman one on the two Jesus' up next. I've started working as a library assistant recently and it's just too damn tempting to take out far too many books. But fun! Get to enjoy the superficial joy of browsing and selection without any cost! Libraries r gr8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 I've never read any Faulkner. He's on my list. The best Southern American literature Ive ever read was All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren. Its actually one of the greatest American novels in general, ever written. Hauntingly beautiful and a good old fashioned page turner. High brow lit that reads easy, much easier than Faulkner. Hmmm, that looks intriguing. Although I'm wary, as I hate political novels (Gore Vidal's 'Lincoln' was probably the most boring book I've ever read). ATKM is less politics and more human condition-y, without being pretentious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 Just enjoyed The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by Le Carre Haven't read a spy novel in so long to the point I'm unsure if I've even read one - aside from one or two Bond one's which frankly don't count. Anyway, was utterly superb to read. Got a collection of Camus and that Pullman one on the two Jesus' up next. I've started working as a library assistant recently and it's just too damn tempting to take out far too many books. But fun! Get to enjoy the superficial joy of browsing and selection without any cost! Libraries r gr8. Have you read any other Le Carre books? I recommend the Smiley/Karla trilogy and A Perfect Spy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 No it's the first one. Was going to look into the Smiley books after watching Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 The best one of the three was the one they didn't film - The Honourable Schoolboy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 To be fair, the film did make me want to read the book, as the film frustrated me too much as I could well imagine there being so much more in the book to capture anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 TTSS was brutally boring to watch. If or when I get back to reading fiction again, I will try Le Carre, I hear only good things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 Do you mean the recent TTSS film? The one you want is the TV version from 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 I saw the Gary Oldman one. Great actor, crap film. I will look for the older version. Or should I read the book instead? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 Hmmm, tricky. Depends if you want to have George Smiley fixed as Alec Guinness in your mind. Worked for me, but there was a long enough gap between viewing and reading, so I forgot the spoilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 Honourable Schoolboy could have been such a great miniseries if they'd had the budget (would have required far east location shooting). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted September 10, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 10, 2014 Currently reading Albion's Seed, which is a comprehensive look at both British and American folkways and the connections between them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 11, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 11, 2014 Currently reading Albion's Seed, which is a comprehensive look at both British and American folkways and the connections between them. There's a good book by one Matthew Alper called "The 'God' Part of the Brain", that speculates on why the USA is so religious (bucking the trend that affluent and well-educated countries tend not to be). His theory is that some individuals are genetically predisposed to (for want of a better word) 'spirituality'. In most populations this minority is dispersed, but large numbers of them were driven out of Europe by religious persecution, and settled in America. This unusually high concentration of the 'god gene' in an initially small population could account for its long term survival. Interesting theory, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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