Taking an idea from another forum I frequent:

Just name the last book you read, the author, and whatever else you might consider relevant, and post a short review. Make it a long review if you fancy.

I've just finished reading John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" (2006 Penguin Red Classic; ISBN 0-141-02357-0).

While it did take some getting into at the beginning, I found it progressed quite steadily through the middle of the book, and the ending genuinely came as a surprise. I thought they'd live on the fatta the lan'.

As I read it, I kept giving Lennie the voice of Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants. Perhaps that was wrong.

But, yeah, I enjoyed the book, and I'd recommend it to anyone that hasn't already studied it.

Of Mice and Men reminded me of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where he found the yeti...

Anyway, I just finished eading Mark Thomas' As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandala. It's about the Arms trade and his efforts to expose the legal loopholes. It's pretty much written as he'd do it as stand up, but not as funny as I wanted it to be.

'Tortilla Flats' by Steinbeck is quite beautiful.

I'm half way through 'Wicked' by Gregory Maguire.  It's a long book and I think it should have been edited more brutally.  But it's really well-written.  I thought it would be trash but I'm quite impressed...

Is that the one about the Wicked Witch of the West? I'd heard good things about that book.

Just finished 'Flicker' by Theodore Roszak and it's a mystery to me why no-one's ever heard of it and why it isn't a film.

The good news is that the guy who did 'Fight Club' bought the film rights a while back and is looking into it.

It's sold as 'Sunset Boulevard' meets 'Foucault's Pendulum'.

Basically, a guy gets into film theory in order to score with women, and inadvertently discovers some very intriguing film techniques in the schlock b movies of a director called Max Castle. Max Castle has discovered how to hide extra information in films that make an audience feel a certain way - the question is, to what end is he using his filmic devices, and why are they appearing in B movies?

I love this book because it has some really strong literary theory in it from the old French and Italian masters right through to modern slasher flicks, but it's also very readable, and will leave you with new thoughts in your head and a funny taste in your mouth.

Prozac nation by Elizabeth wurtzel

 

it was like reading out my life.

I liked Prozac Nation. Oddly enough, i started on Prozac not long after finishing it, but I'm sure the two are unrelated.
I need to read her second book.

yeah More,Now and again and Bitch are awesome.

Link to comment in 'Books to read' thread!

last book I read was Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh, was very disturbing but strangely addictive! (as are most of his books actually)

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. such a sad book, but something that really makes you stop and think.

My friend loved that book. Two recommendations probably means it's time for me to read it...

Mark Haddon/Hatton.

It's an awesome book. I read a proof copy of it so my claim to fame is that I was one of the first people in the country to read it.

It's like my pet.

It's a good book.
I'm smug about it because I realised the chapter numbers were prime nmbers before it was explained in the tet. I get smug about stupid little things though.

The geek in me is a sci-fi star wars junkie and am in the processing of reading yet another one in the New Jedi Order series, I will let you know how it pans out. The other 22 that I read were pretty awesome. Am also reading a comic calle I Luv Halloween, it is gory and creepy with little evil children and a suburb that has turned into zombie, and all the little dears care about is getting their candy. My favorite character is Moochie, she has a messed up dog with half its face missing, and she has a penchant for teeth. Last year she went as the tooth fairy, extracting people's teeth. This year she is somewhat religious and is trying to remove the poo pies from people's pooty parts, during the zombie apocalypse. I am finding it very funny and it has it's gory moments, but I am also addicted to horror.

I actually have 5 books on the go at any given time, Dean Koontz and Stephen King and Ane Rice are pretty good. I have read all their books that they have written. Okay, might die from the sugar buzz now........wheeeeeeeee! *plop*

just finished High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, its really good and funny!

if anyone likes a good read that is full of sarcasm, wit and sass, i would recommend kirsty brooks cassidy blair series. it's a..."kooky" read. it's not so much like stephanie plum. in fact, it's much less intense. but it's real good.

it's full of irony. way full of it.

i've read up to book 3 and what i can say about it is:

tiger leotards. singer went porn star. porn king. officer sam tasker. bad hair day. bitching. 1000 g-strings for payment. ex-druggie ex-boyfriend loaning the coach. current boyfriend = ex-druggie ex-boyfriend older brother. jock the parrot. ned maxwell, the nerdy but oddly hot detective. mince the self-defence instructor aka bodyguard of porn king. undercover status= stripper.

and i've still got loads more to add but i decided i'm being boring enough as it is-_-

if anyone likes a good read that is full of sarcasm, wit and sass, i would recommend kirsty brooks cassidy blair series. it's a..."kooky" read. it's not so much like stephanie plum. in fact, it's much less intense. but it's real good.

it's full of irony. way full of it.

i've read up to book 3 and what i can say about it is:

tiger leotards. singer went porn star. porn king. officer sam tasker. bad hair day. bitching. 1000 g-strings for payment. ex-druggie ex-boyfriend loaning the coach. current boyfriend = ex-druggie ex-boyfriend older brother. jock the parrot. ned maxwell, the nerdy but oddly hot detective. mince the self-defence instructor aka bodyguard of porn king. undercover status= stripper.

and i've still got loads more to add but i decided i'm being boring enough as it is-_-

I've just started reading Pride and Prejudice, reckoned it was about time I read some Jane Austin, instead of watching the films. It's good.

Just finished 'The Lake of Dead Languages' by Carol Goodman. Has anyone read 'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt? It's like a light version of that, and they're both fab.

The Secret History is about some moneyed students in a New England school who study the classics and form a clique set that starts getting more macabre as they apply more and more of the social values they've learned from myths and the ancients to everyday life. Has a touch of the supernatural to it.

The Lake of Dead Languages is about a woman who comes back to her old girls' school to become a latin teacher, and about the goth girls who take her course. A myth surrounds the lake that if it claims one girl as a sacrifice, it will claim three... it's an easy read but a lot of fun.

Clearly I can't get enough of that morbid classical chic!

Oh yeah, and I'm reading comics. Graphic novels. Lots... and lots... of graphic novels...

Twilight
A girl named Bella moves to the rainy town of Forks and falls madly in love with a vampire who is obsessed with her blood. I still have to read New Moon(sequal). And Magda, I like to find The Lake of Dead Languages and read it. To the librabry!

Vulcan 607 -the true story of the british bombing of the falkand island runway back whenever. Reads like a thriller rather than a military diary/history and grips from page to page with the struggles encountered to complete what was a remarkable mission. The best bit about it was it didn't try to glorify any party or action.. remaining objective and relying on the majesty of one of the greatest airplanes of all time to carry the story. 500+ pages and I got through it in 3 days, a real non put down book.

I read Elizabeth Wurtzel's More, Now, Again recently and liked it, in a depressive sort of way.
And I'm currently trying to muster the enthusiasm to carry on reading Gulliver's Travels and The Woman in White, which are both good books when I get back into them, but, well... So, I'm also reading Louis Theroux's Call of the Weird and Goodnight Steve McQueen by Louise Weiner, who used to be the lead singer of Sleeper. Both are good.

Well I admit, while this isn't really the last book i read I thought I'd mention it seeing as MookyChick interviewed the "author"(?)...
It's the "Gothic Lolita" book by Masayuki Yoshinaga. It's a book that's supposed to focus on the Gothic Lolita style going around Japan, but I must admit...It's not what I had hoped for. There's little creativity shown in each outfit (ie. three virtually identical dresses by Angelic pretty worn in virtually the same way), and some of the people photographed are clearly not even wearing "gothic lolita" attire (some cybergothy stuff and a few women in lingerie, completely defying the gothic lolita thing about modesty). And the more I look at it, the more it seems like they just grabbed the next person coming out of some club...It's a good book if you're just looking for pretty pictures and minimal words...but I think that it's more "visual kei" than "gothloli."
I don't know. maybe i'm being too picky...but nevertheless, I would definetly recommend this book if my friends were less into following trends...
(no offense to Masayuki Yoshinaga, I still think it's a good book...)

"Love in the time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Verrry difficult to get into, I found. But it really is fantastic.

It's one of the best Romance Novels I've read. Even if one of the main characters is a little strange (in my opinion, though. If i'm honest, I found him rather intense and a little scary!)
Basically, Dr Juvenal Urbino dies, leaving his wife, Fermina Daza, behind. At the Doctor's funeral/wake, there is a visit from an old friend, Florentino Ariza.
Then the book rewinds and tells you Florentino's story. It then overtakes itself, seeing the death of the Doctor from Florentino's point of view, and then you get to see what happens to Fermina Daza.

I've also heard "100 Years of Solitude" is fantastic, so I may have to look into that. After i've finished my Kafka book. =]

You have to read 100 Years of Solitude. It's, perhaps, the greatest book ever written. Much better than Love in the Time of Cholera. Which, in itself, is, perhaps, the second greatest book ever written.

I must get more Gabriel Garcia-Marquez books...

I've just read Shanghai Baby.
Similar in style to memoirs of a geisha but with a more modern setting. The whole plot unfolds effortlessly and the descriptions are truly poetic. Definately worth a read if you like general fiction.
x

The book i have just finished reading is called Politics cutting through the crap by Bali Rai.
I have to say it is a perfect guide to the way the mainstream media and politicians try to decieve us.
The book covers from captilism to anarchism to the media.
i learnt interesting stuff like the EU is actually the soverign of the UK to how the Iraq war was vey illgeal to how George W. Bush paid his way to presdient as he had very close alliances.
The book is gd yu will find something old but always somethin new.

Last book I read was actually 'Berlin Dance of Death' a detailed account of a boy sent to war within weeks of the end of ww11. It is a suprisingly good read. I did not think it would be my thing.
However you will need a heart of stone not to cry at points and it does give an insite into the last days of ww11. It was also strange to read from a germans point of view, as his built in, absolute trust of the nazi party falls apart around him and reveals itself to be a fraud.

Currently reading 'Revalution Cuban Style' ,so I will post sometime later on that one.