The SMB Book thread

Barreling on with the autobiographies at the moment,

Big Sam - Was decent, obviously never says anything bad about himself and his 'bungs' were all stitch up. But interesting nonetheless. It ends after he leaves West Ham.

Keith Gillespie - Really good, he's thick as owt, and spunks loads of money and trusts the wrong people to look after his money. Interesting insight to someone being daft as owt.

Matt Le Tiss - Bit dull, but admire his honesty about being lazy and not looking after himself. Nice that he had the loyalty towards Southampton cause he had the chance to move a few times.

Craig Bellamy - Really enjoyed it, still a prick, but a likeable prick.

Found a drop box with about 40-50 on so just been working my way through them.
 


Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada . Tragic tale of a nation (jormany) conned into voting for a political party that pretended to be socialist but wasn't . A bit like voting for Tory Blair if you like. Not really a suitable subject for levity .
 
Currently reading about five books as usual but one of them is The Promise by Robert Crais which is part of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series.

For anyone that hasn't read them that likes American Crime Fiction I couldn't recommend the series highly enough.
 
Austerlitz by WG Sebald 10/10
Impossible to classify: fiction, memoir, autobiography, biography, architecture, history, travelogue. The first 50 pages are a discussion of fortifications in Europe - providing the book's own defences. If you don't get through that, you miss out on the story, of a man uncovering his own history. Amazing book, enhanced by the use of found photographs.

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A Cup of Rage by Raduan Nassar 4/10
Acclaimed book by one of Brazil's most renowned novelists - who infamously quit writing to become a farmer. Portuguese-language 'serious' writers love their stylistic tricks, and in this case it is for every chapter to consist of just one, long, sentence. I was into it initially, but then it got bogged down in interminable philosophising. If I'd read it after a book by, say, Albert Camus, maybe I'd have been more in the mood. But after Sebald, it just seemed pretentious and lightweight. The best thing going for it is that it's very short.

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Bladerunner 2:The Edge Of Human by KW Jeter. 7/10.
A Dick estate approved sequel to both Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep and the Bladerunner fillum, though it's more of a fillum follow up. About ten of the fillums characters reappear. It feeds on a few loopholes in the fillum and creates a few more as it progresses. For fans only tbh.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
Austerlitz by WG Sebald 10/10
Impossible to classify: fiction, memoir, autobiography, biography, architecture, history, travelogue. The first 50 pages are a discussion of fortifications in Europe - providing the book's own defences. If you don't get through that, you miss out on the story, of a man uncovering his own history. Amazing book, enhanced by the use of found photographs.

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A Cup of Rage by Raduan Nassar 4/10
Acclaimed book by one of Brazil's most renowned novelists - who infamously quit writing to become a farmer. Portuguese-language 'serious' writers love their stylistic tricks, and in this case it is for every chapter to consist of just one, long, sentence. I was into it initially, but then it got bogged down in interminable philosophising. If I'd read it after a book by, say, Albert Camus, maybe I'd have been more in the mood. But after Sebald, it just seemed pretentious and lightweight. The best thing going for it is that it's very short.

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Genuine question mate - how do you fit so much reading in? I'm dreadful for finding the time to read.
 
Bladerunner 4:Replicant Night by K W Jeter. 6/10.
Sequels sequel. Not as many of the fillums characters appear here but the authors still exploiting fan found loopholes in the original fillum and previous books. Not as good as the last one.

JimmyQuinn said:
Genuine question mate - how do you fit so much reading in? I'm dreadful for finding the time to read.
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I bet he commutes on the train/tube/bus.

Bladerunner 4: Eye and Talon by KWJeter. 4/10.
The series is getting weaker and still retreading and reusing stuff from the fillum. A girly Bladerunner, the owl from the fillum appear alongside a new character called Vogel. The footballer of the same name was the only itk stuff I ever posted on here btw, he almost signed during the Keane era. For fans only.
 
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JimmyQuinn said:
Genuine question mate - how do you fit so much reading in? I'm dreadful for finding the time to read.
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30-60 minutes in bed every night, 30-60 minutes in bed every morning, an audiobook on my 2-hour walk each day and when cooking. Also, line up a few short books to get through quickly between the longer ones. Helps keep the average up.

I was very late to audiobooks (only started a couple of years ago), but often they're as good as - sometimes even better - than the actual book: eg Jeremy Irons reading Nabokov's Lolita - brilliant book, brilliant narration.

(Oh, and I'm a writer for a living - hence the flexible work hours.)
 
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The Gene. By Sidartha Mukerjee. Haven't quite finished this but it is a remarkable book. Written entirely for the layman it is a guide to to our understanding of genes and a history of the developments in this from Darwin and Mendel to the present(ish) day.

It is a very accessible book and the writing style of the author is excellent.

Recommended.
 
riffraff said:
Bladerunner 4:Replicant Night by K W Jeter. 6/10.
Sequels sequel. Not as many of the fillums characters appear here but the authors still exploiting fan found loopholes in the original fillum and previous books. Not as good as the last one.


I bet he commutes on the train/tube/bus.

Bladerunner 4: Eye and Talon by KWJeter. 4/10.
The series is getting weaker and still retreading and reusing stuff from the fillum. A girly Bladerunner, the owl from the fillum appear alongside a new character called Vogel. The footballer of the same name was the only itk stuff I ever posted on here btw, he almost signed during the Keane era. For fans only.
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Replicant Nights actually the third one. Not that anyone's interested like. None have owt to do with the fillum being shot atm.
 
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 10/10

Read it years ago and loved it. Just listened to the audiobook narrated by Tom Hollander. Absolutely superb. It really brings the inventive use of language to life. The content is as relevant now as when it was published in 1962.

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rockaway said:
Keith Gillespie - Really good, he's thick as owt, and spunks loads of money and trusts the wrong people to look after his money. Interesting insight to someone being daft as owt.
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Was ages since I read it, but was laughing at his story about an away game where he had Beardsley first scorer and two nil. Beardsley scores the opener and they end up two up with not long left. Said he was counting the coin in his head whilst on pitch. Anyway, gets the ball and gives it to a centre half (possibly Peacock?) who has advanced up the pitch and hes thinking "he's shite, nowt the matter" only for him to put his foot through it and find the top corner :lol: Said he spent the last ten minutes in a daze thinking "fuck, I've just lost 40k".
 

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