Last book(s) you read?

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lombano
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Last book(s) you read?

Post by lombano » Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:20 pm

Juan Marsé - Rabos de Lagartija (Lizard Tails?): It's about a family, narrated by a foetus, set in Spain in the early days of Franco's rule. So-so.

Ismail Kadare - The Palace of Dreams: Set in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century, it's essentially an allegory of totalitarianism about a young man from a powerful family takes up employment at the Palace of Dreams - a powerful and secretive government agency set up to collect, examine and interpret all subjects' dreams. It's very good.

Vargas Llosa - Conversación en La Catedral (Conversation at The Cathedral?): It's centred around a character who essentially embraces mediocrity as a wholesale rejection of his society (rejecting both the elite and its detractors), with the focus being on a drunken conversation at a bar with an old acquaintance. It's pretty good, though the setting for the story was in my view not the best choice (or should have been explored a little differently).
Bli mig lite.

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moonvibe34
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by moonvibe34 » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:50 am

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - Carmilla :twisted:
"But dreams come through stone walls, light up dark rooms, or darken light ones, and their persons make their exits and their entrances as they please, and laugh at locksmiths."
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

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cmfireflies
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by cmfireflies » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:00 am

several of the discworld novels.
"When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it."

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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by a_contemplative_life » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:12 am

Steven Pressfield - Killing Rommel

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Swiped from Amazon.com...

Starred Review. After five novels about conflict in ancient times (Gates of War, etc.), Pressfield effortlessly gives fresh life to wartime romance and the rigors of combat in a superior WWII thriller. Framed as the memoir of a British officer, the book is based on an actual British plot to assassinate the "Desert Fox," German field marshal Erwin Rommel, during late 1942 and early 1943 in North Africa. The author painstakingly sets the stage for later fireworks by charting the prewar career of R. Lawrence "Chap" Chapman, especially his relationship with the brilliant but doomed Zachary Stein, Chap's tutor and mentor at Oxford. Chap also falls in love with sexy Rose McCall, whose brains and brass later get her posted to naval intelligence in Egypt. As a young lieutenant, Chap joins the team assembled to go after Rommel. Pressfield expertly juxtaposes the personal with the historical, with authentic battle descriptions. Crisp writing carries readers through success, failure and a final face-to-face encounter with Rommel that's no less exciting for knowing the outcome. (Apr.)
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intrige
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by intrige » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:41 am

The Norwegian book: Svart gull. (Black gold) It's about a slavery ship in around 1700.. Where black African slaves was transported to America to be sold. A Norwegian tennage boy maniged to sneak on the Dannish ship. And fall for a slave girl. It's a dark and horrible story, but still. Kind of cute..:)
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EEA
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by EEA » Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:21 am

I am reading Leo Tolstoy's works.

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covenant6452
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by covenant6452 » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:06 pm

"The Passage" by Justin Cronin.
A post-apocalyptic vampire-"type" novel, the first of a trilogy, that has been optioned by Ridley Scott's production company who wants to direct as well.
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by thestich » Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:34 pm

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

Nicely done.
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ZWD40
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by ZWD40 » Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:47 pm

Can't remember the last novel I read
last books i read were:
Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond
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The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - David Landes
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Summits - David Reynolds
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... she looks like a kid who has just been overindulgent with chocolate cake or a messy candy bar...
I could just picture Arnold planting a bloody kiss on Oskar telling him "I'll be back."

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StefL
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Re: Last book(s) you read?

Post by StefL » Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:24 pm

I'm reading - guess what - Låt De Gamla Drömmarna Dö by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Yes, I know I'm rubbing it in on you but it's true and I can't lie :D
In parallell with JALs book I'm reading two books by Dale Carnegie for a course I'm taking - How To Make Friends And Influence People, and Stop Worrying And Start Living. Both actually very good and I've learned quite a few things about how to relate to others both professionally and privately, and also how to actually worry less about things.
I'm also in kind of a break reading another book which I started a few months ago since I'm trying to improve my German reading skills - Als ich ein kleiner Junge war (When I was a small boy) by German author Erich Kästner. It's his autobiography about growing up in Germany around the year 1900.

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