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Radio 4 just did a really really good production of Of Mice and Men the other day with David Tennant (AKA Dr Who) as George. I admired them for leaving the language of the story intact, a bold move considering it was broadcast in the middle of the afternoon. Thanks to Radio 4 I'm exposed to writers and genres I would never normally approach on my own. Something I heard last month during afternoon play was a story called Address Unknown, told in the form of letters between an American jew and his German fried duting the war. Fuuuck, it was just amazing and the ending still gets me when I think about it. I love that station.
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Mar 10, 2010 22:36
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Hedrigall posted:Why on earth hasnt this idea caught on in UK or US? What I love is when I go into a really nice second hand book shop that has an entire section dedicated to these Penguin books. Sadly all my local, small, Penguin friendly bookshops have closed and even more Waterstones have opened up. Actually, in Norwich city centre you can stand at the entrance of one large, 2 floor Waterstones and look over the steet at another large, 2 floor Waterstones. They both stock the exact same books. I don't undestand the logic behind that.
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Mar 16, 2010 09:02
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ColonelCurmudgeon posted:If I remember correctly from my last visit there, doesn't Tombland Bookshop have a sizeable Penguin section? Or am I just misremembering? The Tombland bookshop is just so lovely, like it exists in another century (possibly even another universe), with its higgidly piggilty interior and ye olde front. I've always wanted to own that shop. Yes I believe they do have a good Penguin selection. Last time I went in there though I blew £80 on a single book, so I avoid it for my landlords sake.
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Mar 17, 2010 16:27
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I miss our Borders too. Maybe I was delusional but it seemed to have a better variety of books all round than Waterstones. Sure it had the front of shop dedicated to Richard and Judy Bookclub and celebrity biographies, but shoulder your way to the back and there were some hidde gems to be found. Plus, it's magazine rack was jaw droppingly massive, where the hell can I get 'Chestnut Fancy' now?? WHSmiths? Pffft.
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Mar 19, 2010 19:22
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barkingclam posted:Has anybody here used The Book Depository before? They're a UK-based bookseller that promises free worldwide shipping. I just bought a couple books from them. It was pretty cheap, but I have no idea how long it'll take to get my books. I've used them via Amazon many times. I don't know if that makes any difference but they are pretty quick, a few days at most if I order midweek to my lovely UK address.
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Mar 28, 2010 20:17
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therattle posted:I'm 99% sure you are looking for the hilarious, superb, historically accurate "Flashman" series by George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman isn't a mercenary, he's a soldier, but the period is spot-on, and there are books set in India and Afghanistan. (Yes! got one that I knew before I was beaten!) Are these spoof books? I've seen them in the bookshop and have avoided them because I'm too fond of O'Brian and Cornwell's cheeky yet grubby takes on that era. Characters like Sharpe are sometimes absurd but the love of the history is there and so he doesn't do overly dumb poo poo like holding a rifle in each hand at the same time.
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Apr 22, 2010 16:33
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inktvis posted:World Literature Forum is one of the best, especially for European lit. They can't hold a candle to the squalid human drama of your average Book Barn thread, but the breadth of coverage is great (even 4 pages of threads on translation alone). Thanks so much for this, I just spotted the Chinese Literature thread and got so excited I'm joining up right now.
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May 25, 2010 15:24
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Donkey Darko posted:What do you guys think of eBay as a medium for independant booksellers, or as a way to get second-hand books? I haven't seen it recommended much here but I've had a lot of success in getting harder to find novels from there. In the past I've found e bay to be a difficult place to buy rare or out of print books. Not because of the lack of books on offer, but because the sellers tend to over inflate the prices, often absurdly. Writing the words 'WOW, SUPER RARE' all over the item must add value I guess. My best and cheapest finds have been made when I scour those strange, pokey, second hand places that smell like Grandad's attic. After weeks of searching for 'The Egg and I' by Betty MacDonald a secondhand bookseller sold me that, and 'The Plague and I' (Penguin orange classics) at £2 for both. E Bay at the time was trying to push them for about £15 each.
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May 30, 2010 06:54
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I had a rather odd encounter in Waterstones yesterday. I was browsing the fiction section when I saw a nice lady sitting alone at a tressle table surrounded by books. She called me over, said she was a writer of crime thrillers and then asked if I was interested in buying one of her books. I said I wasn't a huge fan of the genre and wished her good fortune with her work and her book. She started getting a little desperate and went for the hard sell, pushing plot elements and characters out to try convince me to buy her book, assuring me her crime fiction is better than the rest, that I should reallty give it a go, she might be up for an award etc. I still didn't buy one. I felt kinda bad after walking off. Sad that she had to sit there all alone and try convince complete strangers to like her work. Is it normal for writers to sit in bookshops and try drum up trade like a fruit seller on a market stall? I've never seen it before.
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Jul 11, 2010 10:04
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My library is a total unorganised mess that only I can navigate. Every time I move house I promise myself I will finally sort out some sort of system, but I never do. Woe be to my poor husband if he tries to find a particular book, he'll be in there for hours.
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Aug 20, 2010 11:36
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I'm starting an English Lit degree this month and would love to chat about the books and theories I'm studying with TBB folks without being accused of soliciting homework help.  Is this subforum the place for literary student chat, or should I get myself over to the academics subforum?
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Sep 20, 2010 14:00
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7 y.o. bitch posted:you could always use the HIGH LEVEL thread, thats where i'll be postin bout whatev im reading for classes Its a thread I've been hesitantly reading and feel stupider and stupider every time I open it. I think once I actually get into my course and start actively learning and advancing I'll be sure to jump back in 
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Sep 21, 2010 07:36
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Space Cooter posted:Hey Book Barn I was just given a kewl complete (I think) set of Charles Dickens books and they are really old and I'm afraid to read them but I decided that I'm going to have a Charles Dickens December and try to read as many as I can and I'm pretty excited about it. Anyway I wanted to tell someone so I came here because I know that you would understand how I feel. Thanks for your attention. Are they illustrated? My mum gave me an oldish set of all of Dickens books a few months ago, they stink to high hell of fusty dusty-ness but the lovely drawings inside make up for that. Go ahead and read them, thats what books want! I'm reading Little Dorrit at the moment, so I'll be with you as you embark on your journey. I have set myself the goal of reading the whole lot sooner or later.
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Sep 25, 2010 17:47
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Ohh they are nice! Much nicer than mine. I really wouldn't worry about the binding if you read them carefully. I have some books that are close to 200 years old and they still stand up to me reading and re-reading them. I guess if it is a worry then why not buy the cheapy penguin versions for readng and creasing and save these for occasional fondling?
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Sep 25, 2010 22:14
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Can anybody suggest to me some good Chinese literature? I read The Three Inch Golden Lotus by Feng Jicai earlier this year, I really enjoyed it and I thirst for more. I'm more interested in books written by Chinese writers rather than books written by Westerners about Chinese life (they always seem to want to write about concubines and court politics, which at this point I'm sick to death of.)
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Oct 3, 2010 22:35
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Cheezymadman posted:Cool thing about books from the library: The smells. I bought my copy of House of Leaves off the 'for sale' shelf in my local library for 30p. Alas it lacks a beautiful floral armoa, instead it reeks of funk and some of the pages look like somebody had a nosebleed on them. I guess, in a way, it's rather fitting?
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Oct 8, 2010 15:52
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I noticed midway through the High Level Lit Chat thread some discussion on Medieval literatre and Old English, with some mention on how it is possible to learn enough in a month to read Beowulf comfortably. I just finished a module on Medieval poetry and I'm really interested in using my Christmas break to trying to learn some Old English myself. Does anybody have any recommendations for good books, websites or courses I should be checking out? I wasn't too sure if I should post this here or in the high level thread, didn't want to spam it up in there as it's flowing so nicely.
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Dec 22, 2010 20:32
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Thanks for all the Old English advice, it seems that a month is awfully ambitious but there is no reason why I can't make a start over the Christmas break. Cheers.
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Dec 24, 2010 09:23
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imnotinsane posted:I am about half way through The Count of Monte Cristo, enjoying it so far but some times it gets confusing with so many different characters and all the relationships intertwining. Completely missed some of the relevancy until much further on, for example I wasn't sure what connection Franz had with the story and the past and only just realised he is the son of the murdered general. Sometimes in 19th Century fiction when a popular public figure or celebrity is showing up in a story the author will censor their name with a dash. The audience totally knows who it is whilst the author doesn't get into trouble. I like to think that Countess G- was a well known Countess of the time, well known for her opera box shenanigans
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Jan 17, 2011 20:31
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Borders went bust in my town and there was a crazy sale on every single book. I got there a day late and anything remotely good was gone.
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Mar 7, 2011 18:51
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Not only is her writing a mess, her voice is painfully grating too. Urgh. I don't know where she gets her gumption from. I'm in the daunting research phase of writing my first book and I am riddled with self doubt about my ability and my lack of authority in the subject I wish to write about. I'm humbled whenever I speak to professional authors, creative writers and anybody who knows their poo poo about writing. When somebody says "Yeah not bad, but this sentence is pretty horrible. Maybe cut out this word and put a semi colon there?" I am overjoyed to have fresh eyes spotting mistakes that my weary eyes have missed. The idea of getting angry and defensive about it is embarrassing.
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Mar 30, 2011 08:34
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I was just over at the British Library for a few days doing some research in the reading rooms, and I have to say I'm pretty surprised that people are allowed to bring in laptops and listen to headphones. The whole of the Humanities room was really noisy with mass typing and that *tsk tsk tsk* noise headphones makes. What the gently caress British Library? I thought you were supposed to be above all this shitness? I swear there does not exist a library in the land that isn't full of computors and noise those days.
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Apr 13, 2011 16:54
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Cellphone are allowed in, and they would ring on and off but people never took calls. Lots of texting though. Maybe it's because I've never had an office job, because I find the clattering of keys and the tinny sound of music really drat distracting when I'm trying to concentrate on research. I'm a nut I guess, but would it hurt to have a silent reading room?
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Apr 13, 2011 21:52
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More library ranting from me because I'm a grouchy old woman. I really wish they would ban Facebook in my university library. There is a dedicated computor area and students who don't own laptops rely on them heavily. It's really hard to find a free computor there and it boils my blood to see nearly half of the people using them are playing farmville of vampire wars. I also can't make up my mind how I feel about my local public library. 10-15 years ago it used to have a large, varied selection of fiction, non fiction and children's books. I used it all the time and I rarely bought books because I could borrow them all. Now-a-days there is very little floor space given over to books. There is a large DVD lending srea, CD's, Games etc, a lounge area with a playstation and music for kids, an internet area for the public to use and a Council desk so people can ask about local issues. These things are great, they benefit the community greatly and opens the library out to a larger section of society, I don't have a beef with these things and I use them too...but a part of me really misses the books. There are hardly any books in the library now, maybe a few shelves at the back. Also, the library building is tiny, so all of this is really crammed in, noisy and crowded. I would love love love our library to move to a bigger building so the books can come back, but thanks to all these cuts thats never going to happen. I can see libraries closing down because they are more centres of social entertainment than public learning.
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Apr 14, 2011 07:50
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Added bonus being I read the authors name as 'Jen Bitch' at first glance, which would have been apt given the title of her book.
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Apr 20, 2011 19:08
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When I was confined to bed after a car accident a few years ago I read a lot of Falco detective novels. I e mailed the author, just to say how much I enjoyed her books and how they kept me sane during my bed rest. The next day she wrote back to me a really lovely, fairly long and very chatty e mail. I never expected a popular author to bother writing back to a fan, and certainly not such a charming and friendly e mail. My love for Lindsey Davis knows no bounds.
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Apr 22, 2011 08:29
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I'm fishing around to see if there is any interest in a Let's Read Dante's Inferno thread. I've been working away on a Dante thread and it occurred to me that there is so much awesome stuff in it that it might be better to work our way through it together and let our journey through hell lead the discussion. If not I'm happy to post a general discussion thread, however, I worry that a huge effort post about all the circles of hell delivered at once will be so super dense people will turn off to it. So, does anybody fancy a wee trip into the depths of icy hell this winter?
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Nov 12, 2011 10:18
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All righty, seems like there is more than enough interest in the Dante read-a-long. I've pretty much sorted out the OP and a rough reading schedule so, fingers crossed, I'll post it up this weekend. Don't worry if you've not got a copy yet, I'm factoring in time to allow folk to sort themselves out and so we can agree on how fast/slow we wan't to take our reading etc. Also - what's this about Dorian Gray? I had no idea there were 2 versions!
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Nov 18, 2011 00:18
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I've got the Kirkpatrick translation and I have a few problems with it which I'll get to during the read. Mostly stylistic choices than anything else. I'm really interested to see how other translators handle the text and even if we can lure some native speakers in for some comparative readings. I wouldn't worry about Latin as Dante wrote the original in Italian. In fact I believe the reason Italian's speak the language they do today is down to Dante. If you're going to select a unified language for your country, pick the one Dante wrote in. Glad we've got a Virgil reader on board too, I even included a plea for Virgil readers in my draft OP because his influence is so drat heavy, I'm really curious to share some discussion on that guy. Also, I adore the Gustave Dore illustrations. It's impossible for me to imagine Dante's hell any other way. Hopefully get the ball rolling tomorrow!
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Nov 18, 2011 16:18
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I had no idea he had a new book coming out until now. So, who here is going to read it so I don't have to? I'm guessing it's probably a bit like the plot of Seven, dudes being murdered in outlandish ways to match Dante's Inferno. Bets are on that Langdon is assigned some bizzaro role as Dante by the murderer who considers himself to be Virgil, guiding him through each stupid set piece.
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May 22, 2013 10:21
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I'm doing a lot of driving round France this week with my husband so I borrowed a copy of the audiobook to while away the miles. Brown sure does like to describe women's skin. I'm not very far in but I already annoyed over small petty poo poo like Langdon waking up in hospital with fresh stitches underneath his thick, luscious, full bodied hair. God forbid he has his head shaved for a surgical procedure or anything.
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Jun 2, 2013 15:13
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