The Hit List

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:13 am

FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS - Hunter S Thompson

rolling stone corrospondant thompson is given the task of covering the mint 400 race in las vegas, and drives there from los angeles in a red convertable with his attorony and enough drugs and alcohol to have the mother of all benders en-rounte. arriving at their hotel surrounded by other pressmen and an alarming amount of halluninary zoo animals, thompson struggles through acid trips, freak outs and a seriously dangerous lawyer recording every drug induced second of madness in a writing style as original and unique as has ever been committed to paper. always irreverant and occasionally paranoid, thompson manages to stumble into all sorts of trouble helped and hindered by the drugs and his attorony in equal measure. the stoned pair gatecrashing an anti-narcotics convention in the city is far too funny to relate here, and even smashed out of his mind on ether, thompson natural humour and intellect shine through making this far more than just a tale of some junkie. a must read of modern literature.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 1:28 pm

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace is a vast epic centred on Napoleon's war with Russia. While it expresses Tolstoy's view that history is an exorable process which man cannot influence, he peoples his great novel with a cast of over five hundred characters.

This is an excellent book, it is interesting, thrilling and a thoroughly easy read. Very much to be recommended by Me! :D

Claire · Post by **Claire** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:01 pm

Middlemarch, George Eliot. also very long, also very good. i aspire to read a Russian classic one day. but i fancy starting with Anna Karenina. anyone read that one?

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:36 am

anna karenina [which i studied at uni] and war and peace both suffer from the same problem as far as i am concerned - too many long pointless sections where the characters do humdrum things without any baring on the plot. there is a long section in war and peace when a nobleman joins his servants in threshing wheat - i understood the metaphor within the first few lines but tolstoy insisted on droaning on for page after page of it. secondly - and without giving away the story - after the climax in anna karenia why does he drag the thing out for another hundred or so pages?

a great russian epic to read is crime and punishment - there was also a decent bbc adaptation of it some years ago with john simm.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:19 pm

This is not a book but an author I am critisising here. Robert Jordan really seems to lack an understanding of what a prologue is! He has a 800 page book of which 90 pages is the prologue. I don't quite know what he intends to achieve with this one but it seems daft that over 10% of the story is the introduction.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:25 am

The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

This is the story of a very proud and violent man d'Artangnan and his four friends Porthos, Aramis and Athos. The story unfoulds around the political battle between Cardinal Richellu and the King of France.

This story was originally a set of chapters published in a daily newspaper. You really get the feeling that the story was writted pretty quick as ages frequently change and also the number of people and days to travel seemed inaccurate too! It was a trashy novel of the 19th Century and I loved it. A true swash buckling adventure! :D

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:31 am

have you seen the film adaptation starring oliver reed? a favourite of mine on bank holiday afternoons, though i suppose i should get around to reading the novel as well

Post by **Mike** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:02 am

I have never seen the film but I should make the effort one day. It seems like there is such a lot of entertainment stuff out there it is difficult to watch it all!

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:25 pm

I should read it because it spawned one of my favourite cartoons of all time - Dogtanian!

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:05 pm

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Well, I'm not the best ever at reviews, but it's a stunning book. Very simple, detached writing, but it provides a stark contrast with the events that unfold, and works well. Centred mostly around Afghanistan, it's pretty much about loss, guilt and redemption. Left me in shock and occasionally tears in places. At the end of the day, art is about emotion, feeling alive, and this does it for me. Available to borrow at anyone's request.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:41 am

mr_e wrote:Available to borrow at anyone's request.

Anyone's? Anyone at all? That is a really good service

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:50 pm

but does it come dog-eared and coffee stained like a literary equivalent of amazon's dvd rentral?

Post by **Mike** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:57 pm

An amazon DVD rental equivalent would be with the last page of a murder mystery missing. . . . either that or a significant portion of the book, like maybe 10 or 20 pages.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:24 pm

Fez wrote:but does it come dog-eared and coffee stained like a literary equivalent of amazon's dvd rentral?

It comes in damn fine condition (like, the spine is barely creased), and shall be returned in such. It is the high class call-girl of the book world: looks good, intelligent, only lightly fing...no, I can't say that...only used once or twice. Except it doesn't cost three grand a night.

Fez · Post by **Fez** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:37 am

what's this girl's number?