Books Recently Finished

[phoenix_indigo]

If you've finished a book recently, post here to let us know what it was and what you thought of it. Not all books deserve a thread dedicated to themselves; but it would be good to see what people thought of whatever book they have recently finished reading. It might give us all suggestions of things to try to read (or avoid) later too. :D

If you want to just only post the title of what you've finished, feel free. But it would be good to at least say whether or not you liked the book, and why. ;)

[phoenix_indigo]

I finished this one last night. Of the Iain Banks books I've read so far, I'd rank this one the least liked. Granted, I did enjoy reading it and kept reading out of pure curiosity as to what was going to happen to the main character next. It was set around some sort of chaotic period, as if the area was under anarchy without any particular law or order. It is never described in the book what has happened that has caused supplies to be scarce and people to choose to leave their homes. The story begins with a posh couple packing up a few necessary items, leaving their Land Rovers, other possesions, and servants behind; setting off with as many necessary resources as possible knowing full well that their castle home will end up the possession of looters or militia soldiers.

Nearly a day after they set off, they arrive at a road barricaded by one of the many militias that are running free around the land. The Lieutenant of the small army kills a dying soldier right in front of them, and then sets to questioning them for valuables, weapons, and fuel. When she learns of the castle, she requisitions their help (not that they have a choice) to take her and her group of men back to the castle.

Over the course of the book, Banks tells us more about the couple's relationship and how they met, and explains a bit about the Lieutenant and her men. The entire book is told from the perspective of the male part of the couple. The twists and turns of the book are intriguing and there are some curious details that give the book some depth; but overall when the narrator starts on a soliloquy it all turns quite high brow and pretentious. In the end, part of me is hoping the militia group string him from the rafters; and yet I get the impression that Banks wants us to be rooting for him to succeed in trying to take the castle back out of their clutches. Maybe the author's intention was to make us question in our minds whether we really liked this individual or not; but in the long run it just makes the whole book a bit dry and not easy to read at times.

In my opinion, it might have been better if he'd left off the pretentious nattering, and instead built up a lot more details and gave some more of those 'shocking' twists that he alluded to in the text.

This book was good to read once, but I don't see it ever going on my favourite books list. It also severly lacked any of the imagery and symbolism I am used to now from Iain Banks. Overall I was rather disappointed.

[phoenix_indigo]

This was a brilliant book! My first impressions of it were quite mixed I'll admit. First, it was laid out a bit strange (in my opinion). And at first I found it a bit hard to get into. Not due to language or anything like that, but I think due to the way the story is laid out, it was a bit hard initially for my simple mind to keep up. :tongue:

Glue is a story about 4 best friends. Terry Lawson, Carl Ewart, Billy Birrell, and Andrew Galloway are all blokes that happened to be born into one of Edinburgh's schemes, and subsequently became best friends. The book is basically broken up into 4 decades, and in each decade is 4 chapters. Each chapter covers the story of each one of the lads during that decade. Obviously there is much intertwining of the tale as they spent so much of their time together.

As the reader you see them learn about life, get up to hooliniganism, drink and drug themselves silly; and, especially in the part of Terry Lawson, shag themselves crazy. You follow along as they rise up from just little kids and grown into middle-aged men. You see their successes and acheivements, and witness their failures and losses.

While reading, I chuckled a lot, laughed a few times, and even found myself crying once or twice. I'll admit, at first I didn't really understand fully why Welsh chose to call the book 'Glue' but by the end it was well apparent that glue was a wonderful title as it is the only thing that could easily sum up what somehow kept the lads together, even after years of seperation from each other.

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a heart-warming story with the typical Irvine Welsh style drunken & drugged up debauchery that he is well known for.

And as a side note, before I forget, there are also several times in this book where the main cast of characters run into or are around some of Welsh's other more popular characters of Frank Begbie, Mark Renton, Spud, and SickBoy.

If I rated this book I'd probably give it a 7.5/10. :)

[Peace-Phoenix]

Just finished Lolita. It's often described as one of the greatest works of the 20th Century. Admittedly, I've yet to read the majority of the books published in the 20th Century, however I can say with some authority it's one of the best books I've ever read. It's plot, of course, is famous even for most who haven't read it, it's title is infamous and its reputation is wholly undeserved. The book itself is actually very tame. It deals with some pretty controversial issues, pedophillia naturally being chief among them, but it does so in a refracted way, through the rose-tinted lens of the narrator's flowery prose, consistent humour and witty wordplay without ever describing anything rude or dirty or even using language that couldn't be spoken in front of the Queen. A masterpiece....