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Off Topic Art & Literature

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by Beddy, Nov 26, 2019.

  1. Schrodinger's Cat

    Schrodinger's Cat Well-Known Member

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    Talking bleak, but brilliant, "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Hardly any real dialogue but what there is...heartbreaking, depressing and very real. It doesn't have a happy ending, which would have spoiled it. I read it straight through in an evening, couldn't put it down.
     
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  2. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    Stick with it Dave. Takes til about half way but then it gets going.
     
    #62
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  3. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    Where does it stop Chilcs?

    Can I have a favourite food thread?

    I love books and discussing them, but it isn’t right that it gets stickied. Other people have had requests turned down before.

    It does smack of special privileges .
     
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  4. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    That’s wrong mate. You’ll only encourage a whole load of other off topic threads.

    Corbyn would stay neutral if he was in charge here. :emoticon-0105-wink:
     
    #64
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  5. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    Like I said, let’s leave it for a couple of days. If it dies, we’ll unstick it.
     
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  6. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    Is that the rule going forward then? Having it’s own thread goes against the grain, let alone stuck at the top.

    Anybody else would have to have it in Ralph’s
     
    #66
  7. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
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    I’ll unstick it tomorrow if you feel that strongly about it.
     
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  8. Libby

    Libby 9-0

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    I don't think it necessarily smacks of special privileges, just that we were told previously that OT are pretty much off limits. I don't think you can have half and half either because what's worthy to some isn't to others.



    I'm not saying I have any issues with this thread, would be nice to have some clarification though.
     
    #68
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  9. ......loading......

    ......loading...... 25 undefeated

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    I personally also love Atwood. So many brilliant and thought provoking novels. Cat's Eye is a particular favourite. I love Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5 and Bluebeard are brilliant war novels which barely really mention war. I love Martin Amis, particularly London Fields. I am also a huge detective fan. I love the Matt Scudder mysteries by Lawrence Block, all the Rebus novels and I am a big fan of Harry Bosch, too.

    I am going to come out and say I can't stand Lee Child. I read most of the books - they are definitely page turners, but I felt dirty doing it. Not a great writer and seems to regurgitate 3 plots over and over...
     
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  10. Beddy

    Beddy Plays the percentage

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    That’s ok then perhaps we should unstick all not football matters..........that way it will be even as you say. Starting tomorrow morning.
     
    #70

  11. Libby

    Libby 9-0

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    <laugh>

    That's not what I said at all mate but you crack on.
     
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  12. Lovelocum

    Lovelocum Well-Known Member

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    Raymond Chandler and George McDonald Fraser joint top for me.
     
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  13. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

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    Oddly, I'm the opposite: Notes From the Underground is one of my favourite works, as is The Brothers Karamazov, but Crime and Punishment was a harder read. A window into a troubled mind, but Raskolnikov is such a difficult character...Dostoevsky writes the delusional well (and often), but Raskolnikov isn't a particularly relatable sort of delusional.

    War and Peace is a fantastically-written work of the highest quality but dear god I really don't care if the children of nobility get marriages suiting their station. Rating: War 9/10, Peace 6.5/10.

    I agree on Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn took a rather problematic turn later in life, which wasn't uncommon in Russia (the shift to right-wing nationalism being an unremarkable reaction to the Soviet state), but it doesn't devalue his earlier writing.
     
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  14. Kaito

    Kaito Well-Known Member

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    I also read A Day in the Life of Aleksandr Denitsovitch and loved it. How on earth did you read that in a day? You must have an insatiable appetite for reading.

    If you can still order The Gulag Archipelago in three separate volumes, that is the most accurate translation. It will take some reading.
     
    #74
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  15. fatletiss

    fatletiss Well-Known Member

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    Michael Connolly’s Harry Bosch is my favourite. He’s excellent as is the TV series.

    I agree with you on Lee Childs as I alluded to in my reply with Beddy. I read them all, but they’re not very taxing, but good for emptying your head. They remind me of the Incredible Hulk series without a green monster but a bloke wandering aimlessly around the US, saving the day.
     
    #75
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  16. MorgansBitOnTheSchneid

    MorgansBitOnTheSchneid Well-Known Member

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    The Rats and Domain were cracking books.
     
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  17. Kaito

    Kaito Well-Known Member

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    Another great book is - Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. I can't recommend it highly enough.

    It's about the conflict between the United States government and the Native Americans. Heartbreaking, and anyone reading it will recognise the echoes of that time are still with us today.
     
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  18. Le Tissier's Laces

    Le Tissier's Laces Well-Known Member

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    Extraordinary, important, and overlooked book.
     
    #78
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  19. West Kent Saint

    West Kent Saint Well-Known Member

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    I’m in to Tim Winton at the moment. Loved Dirt Music. I like a lot of American frontier and southern Gothic stuff. I’ve read a lot of American literature. Quite a contrast from Herman Hesse in my student days!
     
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  20. West Kent Saint

    West Kent Saint Well-Known Member

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    Oh and American Rust and The Son by Phillip Meyer. He’s very good.
     
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