Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[Scepticalscribe]

My recollection would probably be bleak more than dark as such. I just seem to remember it felt like a world of precious little comfort, both in an environmental and interpersonal respect. Perhaps one day I will have to try and give it another try with an open mind if I can shake the colour of my first read-through. I believe it's being made into a Netflix series so I might try that first.

Sometimes, one isn't at the right age when one reads a book; I wasn't at the right age when I first read Animal Farm at around ten or eleven, but then, reading it again a few years later, in my teens, I thought it brilliant.

Likewise, I read The Catcher In The Rye too late.

I would argue that His Dark Materials is YA material, rather than for children, even though Lyra and Will are children when the books start.

 

[Macky-Mac]

nearing the end of A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Likewise, I read The Catcher In The Rye too late.

I remember disliking Catcher in the Rye when I read it in high school (most of it, at least; I believe I did change my mind slightly after the ending). But that is a book I would like to read again. I think I would appreciate it more now.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I remember disliking Catcher in the Rye when I read it in high school (most of it, at least; I believe I did change my mind slightly after the ending). But that is a book I would like to read again. I think I would appreciate it more now.

The night I read Catcher In The Rye - I was in my mid twenties and had begun teaching at the university - was the night I realised that - psychologically, in my own mind - I was no longer a teenager mentally, and that I no longer empathised with them, or felt like a teenager inside.

Instead of identifying with Holden Caulfield, I wanted to kick him; now, I strongly suspect that had I read that book at say, fourteen, or fifteen, I would have thought it incredibly insightful and identified strongly with it, and felt that it was incredibly understanding of the psychological and mental landscape of alienated teenagers.

 

[AVBeatMan]

My recollection would probably be bleak more than dark as such. I just seem to remember it felt like a world of precious little comfort, both in an environmental and interpersonal respect. Perhaps one day I will have to try and give it another try with an open mind if I can shake the colour of my first read-through. I believe it's being made into a Netflix series so I might try that first.

It’s already been made into a TV series. It aired just before Christmas over here in the UK on the BBC. They did a marvellous job of it.

 

[AVBeatMan]

It’s already been made into a TV series. It aired just before Christmas over here in the UK on the BBC. They did a marvellous job of it.

His Dark Materials (TV Series 2019–2022) ⭐ 7.8 | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

1h | TV-14

www.imdb.com

 

[pachyderm]

The night I read Catcher In The Rye - I was in my mid twenties and had begun teaching at the university - was the night I realised that - psychologically, in my own mind - I was no longer a teenager mentally, and that I no longer empathised with them, or felt like a teenager inside.

Instead of identifying with Holden Caulfield, I wanted to kick him; now, I strongly suspect that had I read that book at say, fourteen, or fifteen, I would have thought it incredibly insightful and identified strongly with it, and felt that it was incredibly understanding of the psychological and mental landscape of alienated teenagers.

yup.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The Hollow Boy - Jonathan Stroud.

 

[pachyderm]

The night I read Catcher In The Rye - I was in my mid twenties and had begun teaching at the university - was the night I realised that - psychologically, in my own mind - I was no longer a teenager mentally, and that I no longer empathised with them, or felt like a teenager inside.

Instead of identifying with Holden Caulfield, I wanted to kick him; now, I strongly suspect that had I read that book at say, fourteen, or fifteen, I would have thought it incredibly insightful and identified strongly with it, and felt that it was incredibly understanding of the psychological and mental landscape of alienated teenagers.

I'll go one better as I've re-read this recently. Teenage me loved Holden. Adult me thinks he needs an ass whipping. His dad's lack of decent parenting really let him down.

Hard to believe that Salinger had the first 6 chapters of this on him as he stormed the beaches of Normandy on D - Day in 1944.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Hard to believe that Salinger had the first 6 chapters of this on him as he stormed the beaches of Normandy on D - Day in 1946.

D-Day was in 1944.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I'll go one better as I've re-read this recently. Teenage me loved Holden. Adult me thinks he needs an ass whipping. His dad's lack of decent parenting really let him down.

Hard to believe that Salinger had the first 6 chapters of this on him as he stormed the beaches of Normandy on D - Day in 1946.

D-Day was in 1944.

Yes, D-Day was in 1944 and Holden Caulfield badly needed a serious boot (or two) up the backside.

If I thought that when I was in my mid to late twenties, which is when I read the book, I most certainly would think it now.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Had to read Catcher in the Rye in high school. Didn't like it.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

The night I read Catcher In The Rye - I was in my mid twenties and had begun teaching at the university - was the night I realised that - psychologically, in my own mind - I was no longer a teenager mentally, and that I no longer empathised with them, or felt like a teenager inside.

Instead of identifying with Holden Caulfield, I wanted to kick him; now, I strongly suspect that had I read that book at say, fourteen, or fifteen, I would have thought it incredibly insightful and identified strongly with it, and felt that it was incredibly understanding of the psychological and mental landscape of alienated teenagers.

It's interesting then that, as a teenager, I did not identify with Holden, as that seems to be the more common experience. I have a few ideas as to why: I was a late bloomer, my teenage years were simply less tumultuous than many, I found myself looking down at teenage rebellion rather than taking part (not because I was mature, but because I was more cantankerous and irritable). I found him irritating and hard to relate to. But I also think I missed the point of the novel at the time (as I missed the point of many things back then). In the past couple of years, I've read Salinger's other works and greatly enjoyed them, so I think it's fair to give Catcher in the Rye another chance.

 

[pachyderm]

D-Day was in 1944.

lol

I can't believe I did that. My bad.

 

[millerj123]

I think I’m done with SK. I read bunches of his books and then burned out on his writing style. Some pretty excellent stories though.

Loved his stuff from the 80s. I haven't read anything he's done in years.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The Creeping Shadow - by Jonathan Stroud.

 

[millerj123]

The Creeping Shadow - by Jonathan Stroud.

How is that series? I loved the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

How is that series? I loved the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

Believe it or not, - and I also loved the Bartimaeus Trilogy - this is even better, I would argue, actually, a lot better - than the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Highly recommended.

 

[Matz]

Antifa: The Antifacist Handbook, by Mark Bray

Spoiler: It’s not light reading.

For a variety of reasons I felt it worthwhile to better understand the Antifa movement, and thought it best to go to the source as part of forming a more objective viewpoint.

The author states that the book was written under time constraints, and so is a bit uneven. That said, as someone who does not follow politics closely, I’m finding it to be informative about the motivations behind the movement, a view of history that I certainly did not learn in school, and a thought-provoking discussion of the ethics of free speech.

At about 2/3 of the way through the book, I feel it has been worth the effort to read.

 

[AVBeatMan]

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

Have you read Wolf Hall?

It is worth reading first, but I actually think that Bring Up The Bodies is even better; a simply superb book.

And I must say that I am really looking forward to the release of the third book in this trilogy, The Mirror And The Light.

 

[Spudlicious]

D-Day was in 1944.

Much safer to storm the Normandy beaches in 1946.....

 

[Spudlicious]

Have you read Wolf Hall?

It is worth reading first, but I actually think that Bring Up The Bodies is even better; a simply superb book.

And I must say that I am really looking forward to the release of the third book in this trilogy, The Mirror And The Light.

I am battling through Wolf Hall at the moment, prompted by watching the generally excellent BBC TV series. Finding it slightly difficult because Mantel does not much follow writing conventions, but it's very engrossing and verisimilitudinous. That's my big word for today.

Bring Up The Bodies will be my next fiction read, so your recommendation of that book is encouraging.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I am battling through Wolf Hall at the moment, prompted by watching the generally excellent BBC TV series. Finding it slightly difficult because Mantel does not much follow writing conventions, but it's very engrossing and verisimilitudinous. That's my big word for today.

Bring Up The Bodies will be my next fiction read, so your recommendation of that book is encouraging.

Wolf Hall gives the necessary background; you need to know the background, the context, the setting, the respective relationships between the various characters - and not just the obvious ones (Henry, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Thomas More, and, of course, Thomas Cromwell himself), but other ones, such as Wolsey, Norfolk, Cranmer, Chapuys, Thomas Wyatt, and so on.

Having read Wolf Hall, Bring Up The Bodies makes an awful lot more sense, - you know who these people are, how they move in their world, and what their relationships with one another are (even though, these, too, are constantly changing) and it is more tightly written as well.

Actually, Wolf Hall takes a while to get into; I will admit that I found that the first fifty pages were a bit of a struggle, but then, the book seemed to get into its stride.

From a historical perspective, Mantel is meticulous, so meticulous, - she has studied the primary sources closely - that scholars of the era have come to hold her in serious respect as a fellow historian. For example, she is thanked, warmly, in the acknowledgements, by David McCullough, the most recent biographer of Cromwell.

She has already compelled scholars to revisit - not so much Thomas Cromwell's character - (although most now accept that the sixties reading of More good, Cromwell bad was far too simplistic) - but Cromwell's relationship with Wolsey as a strong influence and motivating factor on his life, and also, the fact that Cromwell treated his staff and protégés well, and they they felt both warmth for and loyalty to him, as well as Cromwell's sheer competence as an administrator and the fact that his religious beliefs might have also been a motivating factor in his life, rather than having been driven solely by ambition.

 

[RootBeerMan]

"Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson.