The SMB Book thread

dangermows said:
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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Even though he was a mag I couldn't help but have feeling of sadness the way self-destructed . He had enormous potential . Just a year or two too old for us now .
 


Ship of Theseus - Doug Dorst/J.J. Abrams

Got this for Christmas.

Have'nt gone back through the whole thread but has anyone read this?
Seems daunting, is it worth it? What's the best way to approach it.
 
Stoner by John Williams 10/10

The story of a mediocre college professor at a mediocre Midwestern college. Shouldn't be gripping, but in its own way it is. One of the warmest, most affectionate portraits of a man I've ever read. Comparable in a way to John Updike's Rabbit series (have you read this, @harryangstrom ?) Amazingly, the book sank without trace on publication in 1965, and has only started to find a readership in the past ten years or so.

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Monty Pigeon said:
Stoner by John Williams 10/10

The story of a mediocre college professor at a mediocre Midwestern college. Shouldn't be gripping, but in its own way it is. One of the warmest, most affectionate portraits of a man I've ever read. Comparable in a way to John Updike's Rabbit series (have you read this, @harryangstrom ?) Amazingly, the book sank without trace on publication in 1965, and has only started to find a readership in the past ten years or so.

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Loved Stoner. My type of book.
 
The Family Corleone.

The prequel to Mario Puzo's The Godfather, written in 2012 by Ed Falco after Puzo's death, mainly focuses on a teenage Sonny and his initiation into the family.

It was all a bit meh, Sonny is an annoying idiot, and I kept wanting to him to get killed off, which, of course, you know can't happen yet as it's a prequel. That's what lets it down - you pretty much know what is going to happen.

5.5/10
 
Monty Pigeon said:
One of my absolute favourites. I rate it as one of the top ten British novels of the 20th Century.
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It certainly has to be up there. I have read it maybe three possibly four times. The opening lines contain everything and the book is a huge sweep of literature and history and insight.
Was so pleased when the family bought me a signed first edition for Christmas some years ago.
 
DisillusionedOldGit said:
Even though he was a mag I couldn't help but have feeling of sadness the way self-destructed . He had enormous potential . Just a year or two too old for us now .
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I've discussed Gillespie with a few mags and they've all come round to my theory that they should've replaced him with Steve Stone and Asprilla with Hutchison. Been a bit more solid and maybe may have won summit. Thank god they didn't.
 
riffraff said:
I've discussed Gillespie with a few mags and they've all come round to my theory that they should've replaced him with Steve Stone and Asprilla with Hutchison. Been a bit more solid and maybe may have won summit. Thank god they didn't.
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Strange that cos I couldn't agree more . Stone of course played a big part in their downfall . I hope one day we'll be signing players of the calibre of Hutchison again . Unimaginable atm .
 
The Three Body Problem

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2/10
I was really disappointed, the book had great reviews but it was boring as fuck, lots of references to the cultural revolution in China if you're into your history but generally (imo) the characters were poor, the only interesting one was Shi Qiang, there are another two parts to the book to complete the story, it might get better but until someone tells me it actually does I'm not going to bother, I found it that dull.
 
SYB_DC said:
Edit: Not sure why images aren't showing. Enjoy the imaginary Amazon-linked cover images, or in the event that they choose to stop in, the real Amazon-linked cover images.

One of Us - Asne Seierstad

Anders Behring Breivik is not a nice man. This book helps explain why and what actuates him - and to a lesser extent, his fellow travelers. Very few people come out of this story looking good, with the exception of a few of the victims of Behring's massacre. The book is in some ways sadly more relevant to the present than it even was to the instant of Breivik's crimes. The book is very well researched, sometimes even uncomfortably so. 8.5/10


The Winter Fortress - Neal Bascomb

Because neo-Nazis killing people in Norway might not be your cup of tea, I present to you the story of Norwegians fighting back against actual Nazis. This history of a British-trained Norwegian commando unit's sabotage of the occupying Germans' use of a heavy-water plant in southern Norway is interesting, but it occasionally gets sidetracked by some poorly-developed additional analytical lines. For example, the book focuses primarily on a single sabotage operation but sometimes delves into other commando and resistance operations in Norway without providing enough detail to make those digressions worthwhile to the story. One thing it does do well is place the commando raids in the context of the larger nuclear arms race during WWII, although it is somewhat forced to downplay this placement because of what a full appreciation thereof would do for the historical significance of the book's primary subject matter. Nonetheless, it's a smooth read about some true patriotic heroes. 7/10


Detroit City Is The Place To Be - Mark Binelli

Detroit really isn't the place to be, and this probably isn't the book to read about it. The author, who grew up in suburban Detroit, manages to successfully convey a general history of Detroit and understanding of why it's a shithole, but he utterly fails in any attempt to convince the reader that the city's destiny is much other than to occupy a singular niche as a living corpse of a city, a post-apocalyptic metaphor that retains the trappings of major city status solely on the backs of its suburbs. A lot of people come off looking badly in this book, and it's hard to feel sympathy for many of them. The main policy position this caused me to become convinced of is that it would be a positive step indeed if Michigan could be expelled from the United States. The writing is good in some parts. In others, rather the opposite. 4.5/10.
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I'm about to pick up Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance. Not sure if you've heard of it but I think it sounds up your street. Comes with a great deal of immediacy what with Donald Trump's rise to power.
 
The last book I read was Wind In The Willows (again) but this time aloud to Mrs Kaplan (no) whilst in bed (again, no).

It was utterly brilliant because I did all the voices. Mr Toad sounded a little like Terry Thomas and shouted "poop poop" very loudly. Badger owed rather lot to a very rustic Winston Churchill and Mole and Ratty were both versions of Denis Price via Ian Carmichael.

The weasels and stoats sounded like Danny Dyer and all the women characters (yes both of them) were Peggy Mount.

I sang all he songs with made up tunes.

Mrs Kaplan hated the book but critiqued the dramatisation as absolutely first rate.

Hope this helps
 
TiredEyes said:
The Three Body Problem

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2/10
I was really disappointed, the book had great reviews but it was boring as fuck, lots of references to the cultural revolution in China if you're into your history but generally (imo) the characters were poor, the only interesting one was Shi Qiang, there are another two parts to the book to complete the story, it might get better but until someone tells me it actually does I'm not going to bother, I found it that dull.
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I know I enjoyed it at the time, but to be honest I can't remember a great deal about it.

The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas 5/10
Set during the Spanish Civil War, I was expecting great things of this translated novel. The first couple of chapters were a bit jarring, both setting up framing stories for the real story. And I certainly could have done without the magic realist aspects.
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On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan 10/10
A very quick read, but one of those books that stays with you after you finish it. Basically the story of a wedding night that goes badly wrong. But also an evocation of an England long gone. Thoroughly recommend it.
 
George Kaplan said:
The last book I read was Wind In The Willows (again) but this time aloud to Mrs Kaplan (no) whilst in bed (again, no).

It was utterly brilliant because I did all the voices. Mr Toad sounded a little like Terry Thomas and shouted "poop poop" very loudly. Badger owed rather lot to a very rustic Winston Churchill and Mole and Ratty were both versions of Denis Price via Ian Carmichael.

The weasels and stoats sounded like Danny Dyer and all the women characters (yes both of them) were Peggy Mount.

I sang all he songs with made up tunes.

Mrs Kaplan hated the book but critiqued the dramatisation as absolutely first rate.

Hope this helps
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Why did you think someone would ask for pictures of your bed? :lol:;)
 
The Sun also Rises, 6 out of 10 at best.
I've struggled thru 2 or 3 other Hemingway novels, while this was probably the pick of the bunch, I still don't get what all the fuss is about his writing.
 

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