Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@KALofKRYPTON I listened to a Bond story on Radio 4 a few years ago, quite enjoyable. Which would be a good Bond book to start with?

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Go from the start, Casino Royale. Fleming wrote 14, a couple of which are collected shorts from varying publications and commissions.
I must say, there aren't any of them I didn't like. The lowest point I'd say, was the character Dr. No, and that's only because he skirts being a little cartoonish and like something from the films. There is on the whole a credulity and verisimilitude to the books that, despite the amazing feats and good fortune - is thrown off a little bit by Dr. No.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic Yeah, I agree that starting with Casino Royale is best. As long as you keep an open mind and acknowledge that the books were written during a different time, with different attitudes, they’re great books to read. Live and Let Die can make for some rather uncomfortable reading at times but that was the attitude back in the day.

Let's see... I myself have just finished up reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and Impulse by Ellen Hopkins.

When it comes to the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I've read the comic before give the first three books over Christmas. All I gotta say the book was so much better and set a more darker tone than the comic. But of course it's a book so way more detail and all.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins focus on 3 teens who all in some way tried to end their lives. Ending up in a mental hospital all facing their own demons. You got Connor, the image of perfection yet tried to end it all with a bullet to the chest. Tony, a boy with a terrible childhood and did what he could to survive on the streets. Finally, Vanessa whose secrets make her turn to the blade for comfort. The book touches on different mental issues and how forgiveness and connecting to others can help. The books poem format makes the book quick to read through despite being over 600 pages.

What do people think of the Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions? Many of them have quite nice, luxurious covers and are printed on special paper.

Just finished my 4th read of a book called house of leaves by mark z danielewski
Bought it when i was 18 and still got it 22 years later! A difficult read but well worth it if anyone fancies it 😊

@Oldiebutnoobie Never heard of that book. What's that all about?

@RagingFire_Fox
Its hard to explain but i will try 😊,its a book within a book about a film!
Hopefully this can help a wee bit
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves

@Oldiebutnoobie Just from the bit I read it seems like a maze of a book! I like it.

@RagingFire_Fox it is but worth it, i hope you get a copy and enjoy it as much as i have over the years!

@Oldiebutnoobie I am a reader/book collector. So I wouldn't mind getting it. Though lately I been trying to find apocalypse genre books myself.

Currently reading Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, it's an intriguing and engaging read, with some flaws in the form where Lawrence tends to repeat certain words too much, I have the deluxe edition of the book though, and am very pleased with it.

Following on from the immensely enjoyable Fleming written Bond books, I was gifted Time And Time Again by Ben Elton.

I wasn't going to read it as I'd started Popcorn a few years back and thought it was pretty bad, but I was unsure what to jump in to next (considering another run at Gene Wolfe's solar cycle) so a single novel was just the ticket.

It was surprisingly quite good. Elton's prose is somewhat basic for the most part, but the narrative is very well constructed and characterisations are decent.

A nice take on a time travel story. Worth a go if you ever come across it.

I'm re-reading Heart of Darkness by Conrad, a classic. Anyone else read it? Thoughts on the novella?
And I just finished Lady Chatterley's Lover by Lawrence, great book, the use of language in that one elevates it above his less-polished works that approach the mediocre in comparison to Lady C. Highly recommended, over 18's only though! (Due to all the profanity and whatnot that's peppered throughout the text).

@LN78 Yeah, The Secret Agent is probably my least favorite Conrad novel, I think that Heart of Darkness is awesome though, really an incredible book. I haven't heard the Orson Welles play but I think the novella blows Apocalypse Now out of the water.

@LN78 Yes, I was very fond of Citizen Kane when I first watched it and I still think the set pieces created for Xanadu were among the best for the time. I must watch The Magnificent Ambersons sometime, heavily trimmed as it is, did you enjoy it in the form in which it was released? I will do a bit of research and see if I can find any copies of the Welles screenplay for Heart of Darkness, that would be a real gem. Perhaps a copy or two will surface on ebay? We can only hope, and dream.

I also quite like Hitchcock with regard to film, but maybe the Movie Thread is a better place to discuss that, so feel free to reply to me in there. Have you ever seen Shadow Of A Doubt? That sounds like a great film. I haven't watched that, but I would like to and I have thankfully seen Vertigo a couple of times and thought that that was amazing. Have you seen that?

Currently reading a few books in conjunction with Heart of Darkness, Henry Miller's book on D H Lawrence, Robert Ferguson's book on Henry Miller, The Letters of D H Lawrence, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Red Book by Carl G. Jung and ,lastly, Hamsun's Tales of Love and Loss.

Finished Henry Miller's book on Lawrence, now reading Miller's 'Plexus' novel, second in the 'Rosy Crucifixion' trilogy he did.

Last book I read was Farenheit 541, recommend it if you like psychological books

I'm trying to decide on which art books to read next. Can anyone recommend one that could rival John Fleming's or Elie Faure's works? P.s, if you think either of their books are worth getting in addition to others out there please let me know, as I am thinking of getting them too.