Buying books
Posted on | June 13, 2008 | 161 Comments
I love books. I always have a book on the go. I cannot go to sleep when sober, or relatively sober, without reading. Nighttime routine = brush teeth/go for wee (yes, together, it saves time), go to bed, read book, get up for another wee, read book some more, sleep.
I love bookshops. Sometimes I look around in a book shop and think ‘There’s so much work here. So many words. Ideas. Thoughts’. It gets a bit overwhelming when you stop and think about it. How many hours went into writing so many sentences, paragraphs, pages and chapters? Do it the next time you’re in Waterstones or Hodges & Figgis. Think about how long it’d take you to read every book in the shop. It’s the book equivalent of ‘What’s at the end of the universe’ or ‘Who made God?’.
I love to browse. Read the back of things. Check the reviews. Look at the covers. A good cover can sucker me in to a purchase just as much as a good blurb on the back. It’s good to pick them up, feel them, get that new book smell. Mmmmm.
However, I just finished a book last night which a very kind lady sent to me and which I enjoyed immensely. When I got to the back of the book though there was that book ordering page. You know the one. You tick a box or two, put in your credit card number and post it off in an envelope and some time later they send you your books.
These things have been in the back of books for as long as I can remember but in all my life I have never met one person who has bought a book that way. I assume they must sell some, otherwise they wouldn’t keep printing those pages, but it just seems wrong to me. I know online ordering has probably taken its place but even on Amazon etc you can read the blurb, read customer reviews, get a picture of the cover. It’s not as good as actually going to the bookshop but it’s better than ordering from the book ordering page.
Have you ever ordered a book from that page? I often wondered if you picked up a really old novel and you sent off your money and the page would you get anything back? It’s not like the page says ‘You must order before the end of June 2008′ or anything.
Maybe I’ll try that as an experiment. I’ll wander down to Oxfam, buy a yellowed Harold Robbins novel and send off my $1.98 for one of his other great works.
I’m not sure I’ll hold my breath though.
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June 13th, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Jesus, I have wondered the very same thing a good few times over the years. Maybe everyone has but nobody has ever said it to anyone, if you know what I mean.
The Armada paperbacks from childhood always had a bunch of those at the back.
Go on, do it as an experiment.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:23 am
Last thing at night in bed is book and smoke. Interesting places bookshops – see some fascinating human behaviour, both sides of the Till.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:27 am
Not for sale in Canada
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:43 am
I bought two books today, best of Spike Milligan and some essays by Woody Allen.
I usually have about 4 books on the go, one on the car for when I have to stop and have tea while driving, one I take to the toilet should my stomach be upset, a sit-down downstairs book and a by the bed book.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:45 am
on the car = in the car.
I cannot eat without reading, it drives people nuts, but what the fuck else can you do while eating, you can’t talk, because you’re eating right?
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:19 am
Listening to the new coldplay, just to annoy Major, and excite Jo…
I used to love giving hours in Easons browsing books, and then giving hours in the stationary department perusing selotape and staples..
Always read at least four books at a time, no big feat, just poor concentration…
Favs.. Clive James, Hunter S, Joe O C, Fitzgerald, Will Self, Flann O Brien, John Mc Gaughern, Grisham,
Blyton, the list goes on…
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:21 am
2 great Irish books you should read:
The Bodhran Makers … John B Keane
That they may Face the Rising Sun ….by John McGahern
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:23 am
I’ve only started reading properly in recent times, so only know big names and stuff, favourites are murakami, bukowski, vonnegut, kafka and o’brien.
absolutely dispised on the road.
planning on buying some spike milligan, woody allen and steve martin sometime soon, recommendations?
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:27 am
Buying a book in a shop called Hodges & Figgis must be extra good too.
Rob, if you mean Woody Allen’s Mere Anarchy, you’re in for a treat.
Sam, I have Clive Allen’s memoirs right beside me just now! Haven’t started it yet but it’s coming on holiday with me next week. I’ve holidayed with Clive before and he’s brilliant company.
Anybody looking for an amazing, startling book that will stay with you after you’ve read it, could do a lot worse than Anne Enright’s The Gathering. Exquisite.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:30 am
Read Pride and Prejudice, ordered Persuasion, 4 1/2p, delivered one week later. Result. I’m with Sam on Sean McGahern.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:31 am
Also, for a great summer read, The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Or Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:32 am
Trots off to Google McGahern. I don’t know him.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:33 am
Prob Child
I started (irish style) with the fourth book in the series, then the first 2, and am saving book three… of Clive james Auto that is..
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:33 am
Vonnegut’s Fates Worse Than Death is quite simply perfect. I like his fiction too, but there is something about that book which pleases me. It’s bitterweet because a few months after I bought it, he only went and fucking died. Maybe I am a jinx, in which case I am off to buy Celine Dion’s Bio right now.
I don’t read a lot of fiction, but Douglas Adams is (was) great. I also loved Robert Rankin and his Brentford series. In fact I always suspected that Twenty raped those books for inspiration, as the whole Dirty Dave and Stinking Pete are quite reminiscent of Pooley and Omally in Rankin’s books, except Rankin’s are actually, well, enjoyable and well-written.
But if I was to recommend one book that should be in every house, it would be “A Short History of Everything” by Bill Bryson, or failing that, any book by Bill Bryson as he is a great observationalist and funny, but he does look like a hedge for some reason
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:34 am
oh memoirs is different I think, got for christmas, is in the pile…
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:35 am
childbride it is indeed Mere Anarchy and I have already coughed up a lung reading the first chapter.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:35 am
a short history is simply fantastic… should be a copy beside every latrine…
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:36 am
his auz book and growing up in US are fab too..
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:37 am
I loved the road too, sorry…
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:39 am
Rob,
I got paranoid I was killing authors too, when I read Pete Mc Carthys Mc Carthys Bar, I loved it so much I google him, only to find he had just croaked it!!!
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:39 am
The Australian book is awesome, and The Life and Times of The Thunderbold Kid made me laugh out loud. “I came from Iowa, someone had to”
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:40 am
But if you like this site, there is only one author to check out
Hunter S thompson
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:41 am
Sam, this is turning into a love-in McCarthy’s bar has two of my favourite asides in it;
1. The roadies mantra “If it’s wet drink it, if it’s dry, smoke it, if it moves, fuck it, if it doesn’t, chuck it in the van”
2. They say that choking on your own vomit is the worst way to die, I dunno, choking on someone else’s….”
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:41 am
Again, I loved “Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail ’72″ the guy had a fucking nervous breakdown during it (as chronicled in the book)
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:43 am
though he was more of a journo and only really wrote 2 novels, most are collections.. he cited The great Gatsby as greatest ever novel, as did Clive James… I read and is a masterpiece, but soapy…
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:45 am
Loved Hells angels, but its not really rated by the Hunter Fans… thought Rum Diaries was weak, but Passable..
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:46 am
Sorry to the morning folks, just skip over this… I’m going to bed… nighty-night Rob!
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:48 am
And finally Major, and all witers/aspiring writers,
Book 4 of Clive James Auto biog, series “North Face of Soho” is an absolute must….
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:59 am
fear and loathing is really easy to read, but doesn’t seem that good overall.
Bill Bryson is looking great from what I’m reading about him now, added to my list.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:03 am
b’dum, lots of young wannabe dope fiends herald Fear and Loating cause of all the drug shit, but the writing, if you really look at it, the pace and the tension is totally insane…
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:27 am
McGahern – the best. RIP.
PCB – worth reading his books in order.
Liam O’Flaherty, Frances Stuart, Frank O’Connor, Patrick Kavanagh, Seamus Deane, Ciaran Carson, Flann O’Brien – so many great writers
These days – Colm Tóibín.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:32 am
Charles Bukowski – Ham on rye.
William Burroughs – The Naked Lunch
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:44 am
B’dum b’dum – try Puckoon by Spike Milligan. Surreal and brilliant, almost Flann O’Brien level. Then work your way through the war memoirs. Inspired lunacy.
For a great Irish book, Michael O’Gorman’s Clancy’s Bulba takes the cake. Cockfighting, tinkers, and a character called Paganini O’Leary, whose battle with piles has to be read to be believed. A gem of a book.
June 13th, 2008 @ 5:29 am
maggot, yup – Colm Toibin is a beautiful writer. “The Master” was my personal best book of the year when it came out. Medbh who comments here also recommends Tóibín’s “Love in a Dark Time and Other Explorations of Gay Lives and Literature”
June 13th, 2008 @ 5:45 am
I was enjoying a Tom Clancy book until i came to the part where the yanks are questioning a kurd terroist (freedom fighter) and the hero in the buke says something along the lines of ; ” he won’t talk and we don’t use torture like they would ” , yeah right . fuckin American facists.
June 13th, 2008 @ 5:48 am
“Caw”, said the crow.
“Balls”, said Milligan.
Agree 100% with Puckoon as a great read. Has anybody else read The Diceman? Cracking stuff!
June 13th, 2008 @ 7:22 am
Jesus, do you lot ever sleep?
Clive James was a TV Critic in the Guardian in the 1970s, and they made 3 books of his columns which were the among the funniest things I’ve ever read.
May not be as funny if you’re too young to remember the actual programs (Roots, Wonder Woman, the year Abba won Eurovision) but sentences like “Matt Munro wore his usual expression of a man who has simultaneously been told to say cheese, and shot in the back with a poisonous arrow” are gems forever.
June 13th, 2008 @ 7:24 am
Anyone who likes Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker books should also read his “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency”, which is simply awesome.
June 13th, 2008 @ 7:34 am
I’m not counting you in the “do you ever sleep” PCB, coz I know it’s still yesterday where you are.
Don’t be in any hurry to get up when it becomes today, it’s bloody freezing.
June 13th, 2008 @ 8:05 am
Yes, I realise I’m going to be slated here for being a pedantic fuck but……
If we take the largest library in the world (library of congress) and the number of books there (about 20.5 million books)
Now, the average novel has about a maximum of 120,000 words (so we assume for the moment, just for the sake of it, a Hodges Figgis with this number of books, and that they are all about novel size).
The “average” person reads about 200 words per minute.
So, this would mean that, without break, sitting down to read these, with sufficient supply of coffee and fig rolls….
Total time = 12319615200 minutes
or about
23,439 years
I’ll just get my coat…….
June 13th, 2008 @ 8:12 am
In fact I always suspected that Twenty raped those books for inspiration, as the whole Dirty Dave and Stinking Pete are quite reminiscent of Pooley and Omally in Rankin’s books, except Rankin’s are actually, well, enjoyable and well-written.
Har har, never read those though. Must have a look.
June 13th, 2008 @ 8:40 am
must confess to a love of fantasy fiction :
George R.R Martin’s Game of Thrones series is superb.(and oh so dark).
Stephen Erikson’s Malazan series is amazing too.
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:04 am
Perhaps the worst thing about quitting smoking is the impact it has on your reading. I used to read for at least 45 minutes a night, it would take that long to fall asleep anyway if you had smoked a fag in the last hour before bed.
Once you stop smoking though it takes you about five minutes to drop off, which is pretty sweet, but you do miss the reading like.
Here’s a good book: ‘The Thought Gang’ by Tibor Fischer.
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:06 am
Morgor, the cunt (George RR Martin) has left it hanging though he can only churn out a book every three years , not much good in a series.
I will generally read anything (except Clive Cussler), HST is good but I must confess I like Tom Wolfe, the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test is far superior to Fear & Loathing.
Tend to avoid biographies but have enjoyed Cider with Roadies but thats because I can identify with the music of the time.
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:19 am
B’dumx2, nice list but got a pain in the tits with Bukowski (yeah, yeah, sacked again, booze, some unfeasibly fine chick who thinks you’re great, etc.) some years back and liked On The Road.
Re Murakami, I have been a Haruki Murakami reader for a long time but only lately discoverd Ryu Murakami (no relation).
Both excellent. But Ryu is messed up in the head. Check out “Coin Locker Babies” and “In The Miso Soup”.
On the subject in general – is The Grapes of Wrath
the best book ever?
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:23 am
This week’s strange little coincidence – Twenty mentions Harold Robbins last night and then in the car this morning Squeeze come on the stereo with Pulling Mussels From The Shell which mentions the same Harold Robbins.
All I need now is to happen across the Basil Fawlty Robbins (oh, you mean Harold RobbINS??) and my Friday 13th shall be complete.
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:25 am
I’m staring at my bookshelf now. Nothing but Classics;
The Fish Supper
The Pearl Necklace
The Big Bell End
The One String Banjo
The Butcher’s Dustbin
The Sausage Sandwich
and of course, Roger’s Profanisaurus.
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:33 am
Ah the Viz specials. Marvellous stuff
June 13th, 2008 @ 9:42 am
MMN is right (see, we can get along) about the effects of giving up smoking on reading.
When I smoked I was resticted to one room in the house coz of the kids and when I popped in there for a fag I’d read something, & sometimes wouldn’t come back out for 2 hours.
Now I just splodge on the couch in front of the TV with the rest of the family.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Supergro… is that as in the 1970′s ‘groove’ or as in a grove of trees? (Hint: don’t answer that)
Now without picking a fight for no good reason, cause I really don’t have the time for it, the Grapes of Wrath is the best book ever only if you like long descriptions of dust and a fictionalised history of American white trash. If, on the other hand you find that to be achingly boring, then the grapes of wrath is a shit book. A book to put you off Steinbeck altogether even, which is probably no bad thing.
Catch 22 is probably the greatest book ever that is enjoyable to read, otherwise we’re into literary guff.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:06 am
I buy books like women buy shoes. I have literally hundreds that I don’t think I’ll ever get around to reading. I’m a total sucker for the Waterstones 3 for 2 offers. Cannot walk by a book shop without buying something.
Recommendations (some recent, some not so):
“Engleby” by Sebastian Faulks
“The Wasp Factory” Iain Banks
“If on a winter’s night a traveller” Italo Calvino
“Lunar Park” Bret Easton Ellis
“The seven days of Peter Crumb” Jonny Glynn (a bit too derivative of American Psycho, but worth a look)
“The speckled people” Hugo Hamilton
“The Blackwater Lightship” Colm Toibin
“The Road” Cormac McCarthy
“Amsterdam” Ian McEwan
“After Dark” Haruki Murakami
“Out” Natsuo Kirino
“Strangers” Taichi Yamada
“Notes from an Exhibition” Patrick Gale
In the middle of “Netherland” by Joseph O’Neill at the moment – jury out at present.
…that’s all for now
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:07 am
hehe, yeah the grapes of wrath bored the shit out of me and it was just depressing.
Catch 22 on the other hand made me laugh out loud on a regular basis.
PS: smoking in bed is disgusting, you may as well just get a bed pan and move the fridge beside your bed too so you don’t have to move at all.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:12 am
If you like Clive James, try his last one – Cultural Amnesia. Short bios and observations on who he considers to be the major figures of the 20th century. Sounds pretentious but isn’t; it’s also a great ‘dip in and out’ book.
Regarding love of bookshops, there’s a great part in the recent film The Edge of Heaven involving bookshops and what they mean to people. Am with you all the way, Twenty – nothing to beat the pleasure of browsing in a bookshop.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:16 am
I have noticed the Order of Phoenix Park has not been mentioned here…..Twenty will be weeping in his double skinny, frappamochachino
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:18 am
“Maybe I’ll try that as an experiment. I’ll wander down to Oxfam, buy a yellowed Harold Robbins novel and send off my $1.98 for one of his other great works.”
That is a great idea idea Twenty. Do it!
I can just see it, a long forgotten ISBN awakened in a dusty old publishers warehouse somewhere in England. A Biggles, long consigned to the mercy of moths is touched by thin sword of light as the bone dry cardboard box lid is opened, dust specs lifting and floating and glistening. An old man, well past retirement, feels the blood of youth race through his veins once more as he reaches for the book. Goggles, flappy cap and the distant whine of a spitfire, gritted teeth over the English channel, everything to lose, the Gerry’s everywhere. His story to be told yet again, fresh and real as it every was and all because of that simple page.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:19 am
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band – The Motley Crue Bio – absolute gem and you dont need to be a fan of the band/music to enjoy
Take it like a man – boy George bio another cracking read without being into his music/dress sense
Oh, just realised I love books with more smack then sense
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:25 am
“Meín Kampf” By Gerry Adams – in fact any shinner book is a marvellous read – so dreadful that they become worth reading.
A book that really is worth hunting out – “Thy tears might Cease” by Michael Farrell, see link.
I’m starting to like James Joyce.
Steinbeck – genius.
I hate that Rushdie Cunt. Go Iran Go!
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:25 am
I just loved The Order of Phoenix Park, as a debut novel it took my breath away. The depth of charcterisation and the level of satire was just up my street. My only dissapointment was there were no new novels by this writer, whom I now consider a soul brother. I count myself his No1 fan.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:29 am
Patrick McCabe – Butcher Boy – sheer class
Yasunari Kawabata – The master of Go.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:35 am
MMN and Morgor, seems like I must like ‘long descriptions of dust and a fictionalised history of American white trash’.
So much so that the descriptive passages took my breath away.
Vive la difference and all that.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:38 am
Jude: level 1 by Julian Gough.
The first chapter won the BBC short story award and now the whole book has been shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:45 am
Count me in with the Catch-22 brigade. Staggering book.
Read Terry Pratchett – he just gets better as he goes along.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:45 am
sounds like the loolahs are speaking bertie.
cowen go fuck yourself.you think democracy is telling your party that if they vote no they’re fired?and if we vote no we’ll lose our jobs and investment?
i think we should fire cowen and vote in tony benn.
a man who smokes a pipe always knows what he’s talking about.
June 13th, 2008 @ 10:51 am
PS I love You – Can’t put it down.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Twenty – you should get yourself a post office box so we can send you presents – books and the like.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Holemaster you cunt.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:05 am
Dessiegee – Have you read the Marylin Manson autobiography The Long Hard Road out of Hell? I’m not a big fan of his musc, but the guy is very intelligent and educated and has some pretty interesting stories to tell! I picked it up one day in a library in San Diego and couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it.
Slash by Slash & Anthony Bozza is a great read as well. The chap was a nutjob.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:06 am
smoking in bed is disgusting
Jealousy!
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:08 am
“Holemaster you cunt.”
I know I just can’t help it I don’t what it is. After a few pages of Ulysses I have to read a bit Ahern to offset the brain trauma. Then there’s that aging blonde knacker who a book a while back and thinks she’s an author, can’t remember her name. She can barely even talk properly. Anyway, love her stuff, riveting.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:10 am
Is it OK to make up some books? I have read some in my time, but I can’t remember the names of any of them.
(I wouldn’t want anyone thinking I was some kind of illiterate gobshite.)
Here goes then;
‘In The Closet’ by M.A. Gott
‘Feed Your Family On 2c A Day’ by F. Freegan
‘Louder Than Bombs, Thicker Than Shite’ by Glue Stain
‘Fun With Balloons’ by Jo De Mamma
‘I Dream Of Electric Sheep’ by M. Orgor.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:10 am
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry……beautiful.
And McGahern’s That They May Face the Rising Sun is wonderful.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:16 am
morgor
I’ve looked for “holemaster, you cunt” can’t find it on Amazon, can you give me a bit more info..
My current reading (in the bog) .. Shaky: The Biography of Shakin’ Stevens – it is a waste of paper & time..
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:18 am
sirens of titan- kurt vonnegut
alphabet of manliness- maddox
brave new world-huxley
world according to garp-irving
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:19 am
The Big Book Of Shakie – Chapter One
“So, you want to be an 80′s hip-wiggling Elvis”
“Yes, and I want to sing the old style boogie-woogie etc”
“Excellent, just one thing, I’m finding it hard to detect what part of the Southern Staes you’re from, is is Kentucky?”
“I’m from Wales”
“Wales?”
“Yes”
“Fuck off”
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:23 am
lazlo panaflex jr (as referenced by troy maclure?) i am in the middle of brave new world right now. never read it before. good stuff, warming to it more all the time.
in the bog – the history of donabate and portrane by peadar bates.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:24 am
Morgor – I’m also a geek, did you ever read the Robert Jordan wheel of time series? Twelve books, he fucking died after the eleventh. He did leave notes and an almost complete twelfth, and his estate is releasing it, but still – what a selfish cunt.
Everyone else, got to admit am very impressed at the erudite chat today. Think I’m gonna go git me some o them thar buks.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:28 am
I’ve just finished reading the dictionary, turns out the Zebra did it.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Shit, I’d money bet on the Zygote.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:33 am
wheel of time is excellent, that robert jordan is some fucker though.
he even says in the comment from the author at the beginning of the book that he’s going to “keep writing til they nail the lid of his coffin shut”.
He could have fucking finished the book before dying.
I read up to book 7. And then stopped because the rest were’nt out, then book 10 came out so I re-read 1-7 and then read 8,9 and 10 but it’s still nowhere near finished, so I’m just gonna wait til the series is completed and then start from scratch.
Katherine Kerr has a good series too but at least she does it in bunches of 3 so there’s no overall plot to finish.
Edward Feist has good books and David Gemmell churns out very enjoyable books (they’re sort of a guilty pleasure though, like “the scorpion king” or something.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:34 am
Holemaster you stupid cunt, you stopped befor the end the zyzzyva did it.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:35 am
thats the chap.i’m his son.he was a legend.you might remember him from such films as………….
and brave new world.what a book.have read it 3 times.so prescient its spooky.especially the soma.
and is that and catch 22 the only book titles to enter the lexicon?probably not but still,top notch.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:37 am
No PP. It was two zyzzyves.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:39 am
Cunting fuckbags anyway.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:40 am
I’ve just finished reading the dictionary, turns out the Zebra did it.
yes holemaster, but the fucking aardvark started it
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:40 am
David Gemmell is bit like the Catherine Cookson of the fantasy world, v popular but a bit shit.
Stephen Donaldson is excellent, and JV Jones is not too bad. In Science Fiction, Philip K Dick, Iain M Banks and Julian May. Crime fiction: James Lee Burke Ian Rankine, Jame Ellroy or Robert B Parker.
Journalism Hunter S Thomson and Tom Wolfe
Still reread George Orwell, Albert Camus and Alekskander Solzhenitsyn.
Have tried read Ulysses but can never finish it, its a bit arse.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:42 am
The last book I bought was your book, Twenty. It’s put me off for life.
In other news, I was in the Dáil this morning. I had a brief chat with Mary Hannafin. I’d give her one.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:47 am
did you ever read the Robert Jordan wheel of time series?
I did – excellent though strange – he has a fascination with the dress of his female characters, goes on about their bosoms and has a real thing about spanking.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:49 am
Nah there’s no way I’d fuck any female Irish politician, except maybe Mary Lou, but even then it would only be so I could donkey punch the bitch.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:50 am
A Long long way – Sebastian Barry anyone?
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:51 am
goes on about their bosoms and has a real thing about spanking.
What’s your point exactly?
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:51 am
“Nah there’s no way I’d fuck any female Irish politician, except maybe Mary Lou, but even then it would only be so I could donkey punch the bitch.”
Ah hah ha ha ha
Well looks like the Nays have it so far folks….
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:52 am
HM – Really loved a long long way – if it’s the one i’m thinking of….. Dublin kid joins british army in WW1?
Stunner of a book.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:54 am
Seriously, because someone just reminded me of it;
The Plague by Albert Camus
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:58 am
That’s the one RM. Very good account of the dilemma many irish fellas faced then. Most joined in the hope we would get our freedom as reward afterwards.
June 13th, 2008 @ 11:59 am
Really like the relationship between him and his dad too.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
Heartbreaking stuff and his mate ratting on him! Fuck. Better not say anymore in case I spoil it for someone.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
I did – excellent though strange – he has a fascination with the dress of his female characters, goes on about their bosoms and has a real thing about spanking.
I thought everyone likes bosoms and spanking?
(he
doesdid go on about about clothes details a bit too much.June 13th, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Brenjammin – Had to do some real work hence the delay
No I hav’nt read Marilyn Manson but I will give it a go. I’ve been impressed by him on interviews not related to music
I started reading some stuff on Guns & Roses a few years ago but hated that toss pot Axl, wot a wanker – Slash seemed a likable enough rogue though might give him a go
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
“How they stole the game” by David Yallop – excellent stuff on the rise and rise of FIFA and the world cup, the money, the corruption, the match fixing, You’ll never look at international football in the same way again.
“we was robbed”
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
Speaking of David Yallop, his book on the murder of Pope JPI is brilliant. “In God’s Name” is the title and nearly 30 years later, the Vatican have yet to prove one material fact in this book incorrect.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
One of my favourite authors – Patrick MacGill – what an amazing life story , Link – “Children of the dead end”.
Behan, Borstal Boy
Robert Tressell – The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Patrick De Rosa – Pope Patrick!
June 13th, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
Somebody alreaady mentioned “PS I love you”. Does anybody believe that stupid bint actually wrote that book. I always assumed somebody else wrote it on her behalf.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:02 pm
Black Books – A great comedy!
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
Dan Brown: Overhyped cuntish novels
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
Dessiegee: quite correct at #103. It is obviously a money laundering scam for Bertie:
Step 1: Get daughter to allegedly write an alleged blockbuster book;
Step 2: get cronies to fund the publisher (or preferably establish new independent publishing house);
Step 3: buy millions of copies of the unmitigated shite with your stash of dirty cash;
Step 4: get nice inflow of lovely clean royalties to the daughter (tax free of course with artists exemption);
Step 5: get daughter to bank roll you in your retirement.
Step 6: You’re laughing like a fat spider
How has nobody spotted this yet??!
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
How has nobody spotted this yet??!
Bertie’s lawyers may yet want a word with you if they spot your allegations cantona!
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
Looks like it’s NO then!
http://tinyurl.com/4zwgxe
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Which allegations Maggot? That she allegedly wrote it or that its an alleged blockbuster? Everything else is pure fact
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
The worst thing about the no vote is having to put up with a few days of Mary Lou Chipmunk McDonald looking smugger than she normally does.
Other than that, life will go on, despite the scare-mongering on both sides.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
“How has nobody spotted this yet??!”
No but I would not be surprised at all. It makes perfect sense to me and it’s just the thing a Fianna Fail gangster would do. Organised crime indeed.
I used to wonder what Paisley was talking about when he suggested southern politicians were dodgy. I sure as fuck know now, bunch of corrupt selfish bastards.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Today’s respondents seem to be posting a very large quantity of tedious cockwash.
Oh, have you read the latest by blah blah blah
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Have you read the latest comment by fourth former… it demonstrates how much of a pointless wanker he is
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
Oh, to your question, no, I have never bought a book from the list at the back of paperbacks.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
Was the comment @113 written by Rob or was it really Oscar Wilde?
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
Does anybody believe that stupid bint actually wrote that book.
I thought she copied it almost word for word from another book.
Can’t remember where I heard that, but i’d well believe it.
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Are Mary and Fourth Former 2 sides of the same person, cleverly linked by Mary of the Fourth Form by The Boomtown Rats?
June 13th, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
She’s so modern!
Let’s stop the willy-waving, and slag the fuck out of someone. I’m getting bored.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
I can’t believed I’ve missed Book Day. I’m here for Torture day and child abuse day, but not this?
I’d send you stuff, Twenty. Good idea, morgor. My favourite erotica author sends her commenters her spare author copies! And once included fancy pencils! Now that’s dedication. I even send her a really nice notebook for christmas in appreciation.
On my bookself, there’s Toni Robinson, ‘Beloved’ is wonderful.
Tom Robbins, you’d all like him, I think. Well, maybe.
I loved Spike Milligan when I was a kid. I recently re-bought his war autibiographies, and they still held up.
I loved Mc Gahern’s ‘Amongst Women’, even taught it on the Comparative course, but I didn’t enjoy ‘They That May Face The Rising Sun’, I think I’m missing something, everyone else likes it.
What else is on hte shelf – Anne Rice, though I’m too old now, oh, to be 13 and reading the vampire books again!
Terry Pratchett, I like the new ones about the young witch, the Discworld ones got too samey – did you hear he has Alzheimers? Sad. Perhaps accounts for the joke recycling.
I love Barbara Kingsolver but she might be a bit of a women’s writer (my favourite kind, I must admit).
I used to love Douglad Coupland but I think he’s lost his inspiration a bit. Or maybe I’m too old now. I think it’s him though.
Mc Carthy’s Bar – the bit when he thinks there’s a crow up his exhaust pipe is hysterical.
Fear And Loathing, god, so funny, achingly funny, I tried to read my husband some one morning, and we couldn’t keep going we were laughing so much. He seems to have abeen a wanker, bu Gonzo journalism is just perfect.
I read the Motley Crue diary, my husband loved it, I don’t know, it was enjoyable alright, but the descriptions of drug – doing get boring after a while. It’s interesting how people who don;t like fiction love non-fiction, my husband loves an autobiography or John Simpson type book, I bought him Anthony Keidis’ ghost written autobiog and it put us both off the whinging little prick for life.
I have a few waiting for when I have the time and energy – Middlesex, award winning, meant to be brilliant, something new a friend sent that I can’t remember.
Definitely no more children, I want my brain back.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
MB, you can slag me if you want, I don’t mind.
Here’s some help – today I am wearing a v-neck jumper.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
I love the thing about the back of paperbacks by hte way, I always wondered the same, and Holemaster, your bit of fiction about it was excellent. Just thought I’d opo back in before the stroppy non-readers assert their rights and wrestle back the blog. Seriously, I have to miss book day? Sigh.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
Where’s your cape SG?
http://oneneatthingaday.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/supergrover1.jpg
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
Hanging in the wardrobe. It’s more of a weekend thing these days.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
Think that’s Tony Morrison there Jo, though maybe they spell ‘Morrison’ with a ‘Robinson’ in the States.
I can’t help it, okay? It’s a sickness. It’s sick that I want to come onto this website and read something that makes me laugh rather than trawl through the drivel of gurning inanity, but as I said, it’s just a sickness, something for me to worry about in my own good time.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
Just thought I’d opo back in
I assume you meant to write “poo back in”, typo’s can be so confusing.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
My constituency is number 1 so far in the highest percentage of NO votes! Hooray!
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
Ah Jo, the Spike Milligan war books… best reading ever.
I even remember some of the captions to the pictures… ‘Harry Edgington inflating his head while playing the piano’, ‘The terrible effect of Mepacrin on Gunner Woods’…
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
Twenty, when I was a teenager I did send away one of those order forms from the back of a novel. It was a yellowed copy of “On the Road” and I ordered another Kerouac for a much out dated price.
I sent cash and well, the book never came.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
MB – seeing as you’re bored – did you ever finish that rap you were working on. The one inspired by Nailerzzz. Dont remember ever seeing it anywhere, If you’re stuck for a few words to rhyhme with maybe we can help seeing as were all in “willy waving” mode.
SG I assume you keep the cape under the v-neck pringle
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
We had a massive library of books at home when I was growing up. Seven kids in the family and a Dad who read a lot too so there was great stuff all lined up along bendy shelves.
One thing that really sticks out in my mind is being “sick” and in in bed reading and noticing all the cough and splutter marks on the books from when my siblings had actually been sick in bed with colds and flu.
I could go all Ryan Tubridy on your asses but I won’t because I hate when he goes on about being so intellectual and. That rant is for another day, tweedy fuck.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
Twenty, when I was a teenager I did send away one of those order forms from the back of a novel. It was a yellowed copy of “On the Road” and I ordered another Kerouac for a much out dated price.
I sent cash and well, the book never came.
I wonder is the problem that you sent cash and the posty/book ordering chap pocketed it or that the book ordering page orders to go a place that doesn’t exist and which has no books in it…
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
On the Road! Forgot that one, very much a coming of age read for me. I also read Off the Road by his friend’s missus who was riding. He wrote On the Road in her house i think.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
Dessiegee, I need a new microphone. The old one doesn’t seem to work, and it smells funny.
I’ll get around to it someday.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:38 pm
Oo dear, of course it’s Toni Morrison. It was the Tom Robins that confused me, even though that doesn’t make sense.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
There is only one book that i would be worthy of inclusion.that you would all really really enjoy…
A spot of Bother – Mark Haddon….Funniest book ive ever ever read..
Btw…Twenty MAjor and the order of the Phoneix Park is in our Local Libary…
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
MB – try pointing the microphone at the right end – that’ll be the end with the teeth/dentures in, not the puckered end without.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
A Spot of Bother is excellent, A good zippy read.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
I like Barbara Kingsolver as well Jo.
Evelyn Waugh.
Strange – nobdy has mentioned Peig ?
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
on the road should be deleted.
I really want that Motley Crue biography thing.
anyone read Nick Kent’s the Dark Stuff? best music journalist ever.
“The woman pushed on the baby’s stomach and sucked its penis into her mouth; it was thinner than the American menthols she smoked and a…” , think I’ll stick to the other murakami.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
On the Road didn’t work for me at all – loved John Fante’s “Ask The Dust” though.
H.E. Bates and C.S. Lewis.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
I read ‘A Spot of Bother’ too, it was great! It read like a book by/for women to me, which I found strange, it didn’t seem written from a man’s viewpoint. Just an observation, not a criticism.
The ‘Curious Incident’ is excellent too, I’m looking forward to whatever he publishes next.
June 13th, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
For Children
Raymond Briggs – Fungus the Bogeyman
Werner Holzwarth – The Story of The Little Mole who knew it was none of his business – a book about Poo – what could be better?
(Link)
Adults :
Matt Haig – The Last Family in England – amazing!
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
“The woman pushed on the baby’s stomach and sucked its penis into her mouth; it was thinner than the American menthols she smoked and a…” , think I’ll stick to the other murakami.
Yep. Cracking read.
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
I used the address at the back to order a book, though the book wasn’t listed on the order form. It was The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
Did you ever get it?
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
“Twenty, when I was a teenager I did send away one of those order forms from the back of a novel. It was a yellowed copy of “On the Road” and I ordered another Kerouac for a much out dated price.
I sent cash and well, the book never came.”
That explains your skepticism toward goodness in people that you expressed yesterday, Medbh, and after that I don’t blame you.
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
It’s peculiar that those back of book lists seem so anachronistic when Amazon and Ebay etc have been such a huge success.
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
:) Tinman
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
Jo, I can aassure that HST is not a wanker, a bit mad but certainly not a wanker. Read his bigraphy
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
I have PP. He’s great in one way – but all the guns and wife slapping – I wouldn’t want to be married to him…
June 13th, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
The very latest Pratchett books are amazing, esp Night Watch and Thief of Time, if you’ve been reading them before & know all the characters.
Shame you missed book day, but don’t fret – Monday is Underpants-Skidmarks Day!!!
June 13th, 2008 @ 4:12 pm
Not going to read 151 comments so excuse me if somebody has already said this :- Jeez Twenty, you sound quite normal today.
June 13th, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
” anachronistic”
Jo, ye ride.
June 13th, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
?
Are you saying you like the big words Hm?
June 13th, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
Hey Twenty, the twice nightly weeing sounds a bit worrying. Is it the prostate acting up? Or do you just quaff beer from a personalised tankard in bed?
June 13th, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
MMN, a point: how is the discussion of books and reading ‘the drivel of gurning inanity’? The other day you were whinging about nothing worthwhile or funny being said. Today you’re whining that a conversation about the books that mattered to people is ‘gurning inanity’. If you want humour, say something funny.
June 14th, 2008 @ 7:47 am
Just read one of me Da’s old books. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance…………….cool read………..
June 14th, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
Anthony Trollope.
Sure it’s 150 years ago but his character depictions are the same today, especially the politicians.
June 15th, 2008 @ 1:16 am
I love books. I love they way they feel, the paper, the bindings – hardback or paperback, the print be it new roman or sans serif, I waste a lot of time nowadays on the internet but books are my first love.
June 16th, 2008 @ 1:01 am
has no cunt written anything ….i have….check this out…. http://laurahird.com/showcase/charlieskinner2.html
July 26th, 2010 @ 8:19 pm
As it’s our 1st visit to your blog, I just wished to say hello there! Wonderful web site incidentally.