[retired_sajnesh]

Originally posted by Agamemnon:
One of the more creative and stunning cycle of books I read in the last years is:
Neil Stephenson, The Baroque cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, System of the World)

It's a fantastical interpretation of the history of late 17th early 18th centuries thereby passing over scientifical, philosophical, political, economical & cultural history. Found it under the header 'fantasy' but to be honest it's not really comparable to what this header usually covers.

Sounds sound to me. Just the sort of thing I would have loved a few years ago. Thanks :thup:

[drummerchick]

i have so many books sitting half-read. for example i need to finish bel-ami soon. de maupassant's a fun read, it's short and simple (although drags a little at times)... but i keep deciding to read something else

[retired_mika318]

I used to do that with Candide by Voltaire. Such an easy book to read and it's really good but it took me three or four attempts before I actually got around to reading it all the way through.

I do that with films too but I don't consider myself to have a short attention span :/

[drummerchick]

Originally posted by T!mbo:
I used to do that with Candide by Voltaire. Such an easy book to read and it's really good but it took me three or four attempts before I actually got around to reading it all the way through.

I do that with films too but I don't consider myself to have a short attention span :/

do you tend to read or watch movies before you go to sleep? i do, it conditions you to get sleepy. which is bad.


plus i'm just really disorganised generally.

[retired_mika318]

Not really. I was like that as a student and I can be bloody minded about things and bulldoze through them even if I don't particularly don't like them (Martin Amis' Money for example or EU Law by Craig and De Burca ).

It's some sort of eternal optimism that I try to find at least something redeeming about anything (Failed with 'that book' though and I haven't picked up anything by Martin Amis since :/)

For some reason though there is the occasional book or film where I just don't stick with it.

I've only seen the first 20 mins of the first Lord of the Rings films despite attempting to watch it five times now. I've fallen asleep twice at the same point and the other times I've just been distracted.

So there seems to be no reasoning behind it as it happens even when I'm enjoying something.

I am prone to being disorganised though. It has to be quite messy before I feel the need to put things right

[drummerchick]

yeah i'm the same in the organisational aspect.

i think the answer is to make up a plan of what to read. i have a lot of dry tomes to skim through for uni stuff too. suxorz.

martin amis eww

[trotamundos]

Originally posted by TheCranker:
Finished War and Peace which was excellent. Also finished Sophie's World which I thought was fairly average. Going to try and find a second hand book tomorrow as I'm getting a taste for the classics.

I need to read Sophie's World again. I read it on holiday years ago and it kinda washed over me.

[retired_justin05]

Originally posted by Herman Bloom:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Originally posted by TheCranker:
Finished War and Peace which was excellent. Also finished Sophie's World which I thought was fairly average. Going to try and find a second hand book tomorrow as I'm getting a taste for the classics.

I need to read Sophie's World again. I read it on holiday years ago and it kinda washed over me. </BLOCKQUOTE>

I wouldn't recommend it tbh. If you're reading books by Socrates and Plato there's no real point in reading a book designed to be a quick introduction to Socrates and Plato.

[retired_assy22]

Originally posted by T!mbo:
I used to do that with Candide by Voltaire. Such an easy book to read and it's really good but it took me three or four attempts before I actually got around to reading it all the way through.

I do that with films too but I don't consider myself to have a short attention span :/

I've only watched half of Der Untergang as well, it was actually amazing, but I don't seem to want to know the ending of it all

I also have the annoying propensity to want to rush over to the computer and check stuff out when I'm watching a film, which inevitably distracts.

[retired_pulestro]

I feel I may be bringing the thread into disrepute, but I've just finished reading "The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook" by Matt Dunn. Pretty good, but also pretty predictable. Worth the £1.97 I paid for it in Tescos. Also bought Clive Cussler's "Sacred Stone" which is next on my list to polish off :thup: