Books - What do you recommend? / What are you reading?

[shudnobeta 10]

Just got a few more pages left of Dan Brown Angels and Deamons. Dont want to finish it becasue its been so good.

[Yodameister 10]

Reading The Algebraist by Iain M Banks.

 

Read one of his books about a year ago which was way below his usual standard (Dead Air) and been put off until now, but this seems to be pretty good so far (only read about 50 ages so far)

[JBee 10]

Since my last post I've finished Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson and I would highly recommend it for it's dry humour. The final chapter was a a stroke of comic genious - so good that after I'd put the book down and cackled wildly for 10 minutes I had to go back and read the last bit again! Not seen it in Waterstones though - a friend bought it for me after reading a review in the New Yorker, so I think it's an order off the net job.

 

Am now about 100-words into The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. It won the Booker Prize last year and I believe was in the shortlist for the Whitbread awards, but to be honest the jury is still out at the moment - I've been finding it a little slow. Hopefully it will get going soon...

 

Has anybody else read it?

[JBee 10]

And also... does anybody know of a decent book group in Sheffield? I love chatting about books I'm reading, but am always dubious about book clubs because I (rightly or wrongly) assume that I'm going to get saddled with reading a load of tripe.

 

Any thoughts....

[jonsastar 11]

Almost finished Billy by Pamela Stephenson.

 

Very good insite into one the worlds greatest comedians life written by his wife, this book covers his rough childhood and his life upto now. (or then as its been out a while now)

[jonsastar 11]

I can recommend the books about Dave Pelzers life for any one who wants to feel better about there own upbringing, or anyone who wants to cry, A child called it, The lost boy, and A man named Dave are all worth reading, read these years ago but they stick with me still.

[Greenback 10]

Originally posted by jonsastar

I can recommend the books about Dave Pelzers life for any one who wants to feel better about there own upbringing, or anyone who wants to cry, A child called it, The lost boy, and A man named Dave are all worth reading, read these years ago but they stick with me still.

 

Don't mean to have a go mate, but I don't really understand why anyone would choose to read what are apparently straightforward accounts of child abuse for entertainment purposes.

[jonsastar 11]

Originally posted by Greenback

Don't mean to have a go mate, but I don't really understand why anyone would choose to read what are apparently straightforward accounts of child abuse for entertainment purposes.

 

I must have missed somthing, I read these books to get a grip on my own past, and found them helpfull in my own life, to see a man come from such a terrible upbringing and make a success of his life helped me pull my self together and get over my past, or showed me the right direction any way.

 

It also seems that many other people read his books as they were the number one best sellers for a while.

 

What can I say, not all of us find life easy and to see some one achieve good from bad can be very helpfull to people who are having problems with self belief.

 

I thought the books were helpfull if disturbing.

[JBee 10]

Originally posted by Greenback

Don't mean to have a go mate, but I don't really understand why anyone would choose to read what are apparently straightforward accounts of child abuse for entertainment purposes.

 

Do you watch the news Greenback? Reality TV? Documentaries? Do you read newspapers, biographys or history books? It's just the same as reading David Pelzer's account of his childhood, and it's called keeping informed with what's going on in the world and learning about issues that face us - however unpleasent they may be. Bringing accounts like this into the open helps attitudes and laws to change, which hopefully goes towards prventing similar things happening again in the future. And it also helps remind all of us not to take what we have for granted.

 

Or perhaps you prefer the sort of entertainment that involves blasting people to death in computer games, reading murder mystery novels or watching people getting slain in gangster movies? Rape, violence and abuse on Eastenders and Corrie? Do you class that as entertainment? Just because it's fiction, that makes it okay?

 

Weird.

[Greenback 10]

Originally posted by JBee

Do you watch the news Greenback? Reality TV? Documentaries? Do you read newspapers, biographys or history books? It's just the same as reading David Pelzer's account of his childhood, and it's called keeping informed with what's going on in the world and learning about issues that face us - however unpleasent they may be. Bringing accounts like this into the open helps attitudes and laws to change, which hopefully goes towards prventing similar things happening again in the future. And it also helps remind all of us not to take what we have for granted.

 

Maybe. Or maybe the enjoyment found in reading such books is purely voyeuristic. Given today's reality-TV obsessed society and the numbers in which Pelzer's layman account of abuse sold, I'm inclined towards the latter - which would be somewhat at odds with what I presume were his intentions.

 

Or perhaps you prefer the sort of entertainment that involves blasting people to death in computer games, reading murder mystery novels or watching people getting slain in gangster movies? Rape, violence and abuse on Eastenders and Corrie? Do you class that as entertainment? Just because it's fiction, that makes it okay?

 

Weird.

 

Not sure this is strictly relevant. I just think there's a limited amount that I personally could take from an extended, unabridged account of child abuse, beyond that some people do horrible things to other people.

[JBee 10]

I think there's a certain amount of voyurism in every violent thing we watch - both fact and fiction. But surely we need to keep the factual accounts in the public domain too, otherwise we'll all just end up with an Itchy and Scratchy kind of world where violence is seen in a Play Station context of entertainment and nobody ever stops to think about the consequences.

 

If you'd prefer your violence to come prettily packaged as a soap or computer game and labled as 'fiction' then that's your choice, but personally I'd rather know what's going on in my world than bury my head in the sand.

 

And if you've ever had the opportunity to watch our criminal justice system closely then you'll realise that child abuse is hugely relevent. Many of the offenders who crop up in our courts come from a background of poor parenting to some extent, which makes it hugely relevent to our society.

 

David Pelzer's books made such an impact because they were shocking, they were grotesque, and they reminded a lot of people about the sinister world of child abuse which many would like to brush under the carpet. Would people still be so keen to donate to Children's charities if factual accounts of abuse were not in the public eye?

 

Looks like we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one, because I think that it's vital that these factual accounts remain in the public domain, and I find it quite frightening that someone would avoid the learning and enlightening experience of reading them.

[jonsastar 11]

Originally posted by Greenback

Maybe. Or maybe the enjoyment found in reading such books is purely voyeuristic. Given today's reality-TV obsessed society and the numbers in which Pelzer's layman account of abuse sold, I'm inclined towards the latter - which would be somewhat at odds with what I presume were his intentions.

 

I am not sure that the account of being abused and almost killed several times by your mentally ill and alchoholic mother should be described as a laymans account of abuse.

 

Before you shout down this man, may be you need to read his books before you give your laymans view of some one you have only read the blurb about.