Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon, but I am not quite sure what's going on yet...
What are you reading right now? Page 158
Quote: Scatterbrained Floozy @ July 21 2012, 8:21 PM BSThttp://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2012/07/12/judging-a-book-by-its-cover-a-6-year-old-guesses-what-classic-novels-are-all-about/#the-great-gatsby
I love this.
Brave New World was pretty accurate.
Also for Lord of the flies
"This is all about a tiny town, beneath the ground. And it looks like it has a lot of people in the town. I think they live in Africa. It looks like a fun book for kiddies! Teens! All ages!"
She's in for hell of a shock.
BTW I'm reading 2001: A Space Odyssey. And also dipping into A Clockwork Orange.
Yeah I love the Lord of the Flies one. 
Quote: Harridan @ July 21 2012, 11:35 PM BSTOoh! Are they good? I love Stanley Holloway.
Used to read then when I was a kid!
My fave :
There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool, That's noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom , Went there with young Albert, their son.
A grand little lad was young Albert, All dressed in his best;quite a swell,
With a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle, The finest that Woolworth's could sell.
They didn't think much to the Ocean: The waves, they was fiddlin' and small,
There was no wrecks and nobody drownded, Fact, nothing to laugh at at all.
So, seeking for further amusement, They paid and went into the Zoo,
Where they'd Lions and Tigers and Camels, And old ale and sandwiches too.
There were one great big Lion called Wallace; His nose were all covered with scars,
He lay in a somnolent posture, With the side of his face on the bars.
Now Albert had heard about Lions, How they was ferocious and wild,
To see Wallace lying so peaceful, Well, it didn't seem right to the child.
So straightway the brave little feller, Not showing a morsel of fear,
Took his stick with its 'orses 'ead 'andle And pushed it in Wallace's ear.
You could see that the Lion didn't like it, For giving a kind of a roll,
He pulled Albert inside the cage with 'im, And swallowed the little lad 'ole.
Then Pa, who had seen the occurrence, And didn't know what to do next,
Said " Mother! Yon Lion's 'et Albert," And Mother said " Well, I am vexed!"
Then Mr. and Mrs. Rarnsbottom, Quite rightly, when all's said and done,
Complained to the Animal Keeper, That the Lion had eaten their son.
The keeper was quite nice about it; He said " What a nasty mishap.
Are you sure that it's your boy he's eaten ? " Pa said "Am I sure ? There's his cap! "
The manager had to be sent for. He came and he said " What's to do ? "
Pa said " Yon Lion's 'et Albert, And 'im in his Sunday clothes, too."
Then Mother said, " Right's right, young feller; I think it's a shame and a sin,
For a lion to go and eat Albert, And after we've paid to come in."
Then off they went to the Police Station, In front of the Magistrate chap;
They told 'im what happened to Albert, And proved it by showing his cap.
The manager wanted no trouble, He took out his purse right away,
Saying " How much to settle the matter ? " And Pa said " What do you usually pay?"
But Mother had turned a bit awkward, When she thought where her Albert had gone.
She said " No ! someone's got to be summonsed", So that was decided upon.
The Magistrate gave his opinion That no one was really to blame,
And he said that he hoped the Ramsbottoms , Would have further sons to their name.
At that Mother got proper blazing, " And thank you, sir, kindly," said she.
" What, waste all our lives raising children, To feed ruddy Lions? Not me!"
Somerset Maugham - Cakes and Ale
Maugham's narrator describes two popular adjectives among the literary set in 1930 - 'divine' and 'shy-making'.
Quote: JohnnyD @ July 24 2012, 6:56 PM BSTMaugham's narrator describes two popular adjectives among the literary set in 1930 - 'divine' and 'shy-making'.
Divine meaning 'superb' will never be obsolete. Never heard of shy-making though.
Somerset Maugham 'The Painted Veil'.
John Le Carre - The spy who came in from the cold
Tried to jump into my course reading last week but I needed something a little easier and more fun for this weather.
I seem to remember words like 'shy-making' are used a lot in Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies. I think it's a brilliant word - much more expressive than 'embarrassing'.
Ooh good choice if you like it
Try the constant gardener or the little drummer girl
2 of his best
Quote: sootyj @ July 25 2012, 9:47 AM BSTOoh good choice if you like it
Try the constant gardener or the little drummer girl
2 of his best
I'm a 'read in sequence' sort of person. Read Call for the Dead last summer and loved it, A Murder of Quality was ok, so far this seems really good. I'm a big fan of the Alec Guiness Smiley series.
I think the guiness series superior to the books
Trying to get through Robinson Crusoe at the moment. It is really unbearably tedious. I have to read it for my course starting at the end of September but I really wish I didn't have to finish it. I'm finding any excuse to takea break from it. I think I'll just watch the Disney film - it's the same, right? Something about a monkey and a Japanese submarine?
Quote: Harridan @ August 16 2012, 9:12 PM BSTTrying to get through Robinson Crusoe at the moment. It is really unbearably tedious. I have to read it for my course starting at the end of September but I really wish I didn't have to finish it. I'm finding any excuse to takea break from it. I think I'll just watch the Disney film - it's the same, right? Something about a monkey and a Japanese submarine?
Have you finished? I have owned that book for years and have never read it, which is most unlike me. Might attempt it, in a show of solidarity.
Just received my copy of Pryor Convictions, very excited.
Cheers for the heads-up Le Bussell!
Quote: AJGO @ August 20 2012, 12:41 PM BSTHave you finished? I have owned that book for years and have never read it, which is most unlike me. Might attempt it, in a show of solidarity.
No, I haven't...I've been very good at putting it off and finding other things to do, which isn't clever as I have a load of other books to read too! I intend to finish it before Friday, which allows me some time to say 'oh, screw this' and watch TV.