Books

Sweet Time by Leonard Cohen

by Ian on January 29, 2012

How sweet time feels
when it’s too late

and you don’t have to follow
her swinging hips

all the way into
your dying imagination

From ‘Book of Longing

51HZCU4VBKL. SL160  Sweet Time by Leonard Cohen

{ 0 comments }

Snowdrops by A. D. Miller

by Ian on November 1, 2011

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011, which was ultimately won by Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending - deservedly!

Snowdrops, like Barnes’ novel, is not a long book. I thought it was quite a surprising Booker nomination – fairly predictable story, simply written and pleasant to read, but I couldn’t find any real depth or drama in it. A low-key thriller tale with a low-key ending. I probably appreciated the evocative descriptions of Moscow and Russia in winter more than the story itself.

51W8rVmo%2B9L. SL160  Snowdrops by A. D. Miller

A worthwhile read to pass a couple of hours, but I can’t see myself re-reading it – which I probably will do with The Sense of an Ending.

Incidentally, the Kindle edition had numerous typographic errors in it – more so than I’ve noticed in any other recent premium priced Kindle book I’ve purchased.

{ 0 comments }

Wages by D.H. Lawrence

October 19, 2011

Browsing through a book of poems by D.H. Lawrence last night and came across this, which I’m sure I’ve read before and forgotten about. It may suit the ethos of this site! Wages The wages of work is cash. The wages of cash is want more cash. The wages of want more cash is vicious [...]

Read the full article →

Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy

October 13, 2011

It’s been quite a long time since I read any of Kafka’s novels. Metropole by Hungarian author Ferenc Karinthy was a timely reminder that I probably should revisit them. A central character thrust unawares into an unidentifiable situation and left isolated and lonely floundering for explanations. That’s The Trial and that’s Metropole. Rather than being embedded in the pseudo-legal [...]

Read the full article →

Amazon bookmark

May 26, 2011

New Amazon customised bookmark: http://amzn.to/directbook Now, everyone start using it!

Read the full article →

Rorke’s Drift

February 2, 2010

After watching Zulu again when my son was off school ill I’m getting to the end of reading Rorke’s Drift by Adrian Greaves. Very interesting, well researched and informative book on the subject – and readable! Certainly lot about the events and background to the battle that I didn’t know. Now would quite like a [...]

Read the full article →

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

January 14, 2010

Finally finished reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Probably my third attempt at starting to read it, but persevered this time and it was definitely worth doing so. Still found the central post-apocalyptic section slightly difficult going, but overall the storyline, symmetrical structure and links between the sections kept me going!

Read the full article →