sign in| help
Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:

Follows you (block)

Requested to follow you (accept | block)

Blocked (unblock)

xfmjunky

xfmjunky

has 20 followers and is following 6 people

Self-righteous, egotistical, sociopathic, opinionated, bored, Man Utd. supporting vegetarian wannabe singer-songwriter.
  • Mi, England
  • member since November 25, 2007

Groups

Following

xfmjunky’s last login was Tuesday, December 27, 2011. show recent activity »

Random books from my shelf

     
 
 
 

Public Notes

  • Jay M

    Jay M says

    Hi, Bhupash. Finally got around to writing a very few words about Christine Falls. It was quite a switch after having read The Sea, and I have bought the sequel, finding myself wondering what comes next for Quirke. Right now, though, I'm reading Banville's The Infinities, and something tells me I've become a fan. I really do find his writing remarkable, and his "serious" fiction is like fine dining.

    posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    Will definitely try to get hold of The Human Factor in the near future - I think I want to read his entire bibliography at some point. Not too convinced about film adaptations though, after being disappointed by The Third Man. But maybe I just need to keep an open mind.

    So you are an English teacher? Ahhh, makes sense... I have in fact never read Emerson, although I have been meaning to for a long time.

    My Greene phase has now finally passed, but my current read (Ficcones) was in part inspired by Doctor Plarr (the protagonist of The Honorary Consul) so at least I feel he hasn't really left me yet. :-)

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    Hahaha, yes - this is definitely my Greene period. The Honorary Consul is the last one, at least for now. I somehow keep missing his 3 most populist novels, i.e. Brighton Rock, The End of the Affair and The Quiet American. Yes, The Lawless Roads is his travelogue of the trip to Mexico that inspired The Power and the Glory, where he basically moans non-stop about how much he hates the country, the food, the people and riding on mules. I do agree with your summation of TP&TG - some nice little insights but overall just a bit dry. Travels with My Aunt on the other hand - so so funny, and The Honorary Consul is brilliant - a noir-ish plot and all the black-comic vignettes you could ask for.

    Just finished reading your review of Lady Chatterley's Lover - sublime!

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    Hey Bhupash, how are you doing? I share your sentiments exactly (and I also was recommended it by a friend, male of course!) I was also completely underwhelmed, I thought it was full of juvenile humor and many parts were very annoying. There were some interesting characters and clever sub-plots but a 20th Century must-read classic - I don't think so.

    I read Wolf Hall straight after it - a big improvement! :-)

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pawbones

    Pawbones says

    My fault... I see you already read Darkmans... Still, I really liked it - wish it had filled in a couple of more gaps then it did...

    posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Pawbones

    Pawbones says

    Overall, I really liked it - wanted to give it the full 5 stars, but there was just something that held me back... Definitely suggest giving it a read though. I might even re-read it at some point to see if it works better on the second go around... I also read Behindlings - did not like it nearly as much, it was good, but not the way Darkmans was...

    posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Romaisa

    Romaisa says

    Satanic Verses was beyond boring for me; I would have thought that it would be a better book but honestly Rushdie was all over the place with that lengthy, cumbersome novel.

    And actually Wuthering Heights and Gatsby received both three starts from me - clearly stating that I liked both novels - is that harsh?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rory S

    Rory S says

    hahaha! I read it because you said you hated it - its sitting been in the house for ages. had to see what caused such admonishment. BL,BC i read a long time ago. Well, in the 1990s anyway. It was the first book I'd encountered that used a second-person narrative, really stuck in my head

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • ajinkya pawar

    ajinkya pawar says

    HI Bhupash, I will now start to review my books.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Pawbones

    Pawbones says

    Pretty shocked myself... just not sure what I can say I liked about it honestly. I really expected to enjoy it...

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Pawbones

    Pawbones says

    I believe I stumbled across Hallucinating Foucault on your shelf... looked like something I would like. Just waiting for a copy to turn back up at the library. I'll let you know how it goes.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    Hahahaha, thanks Bupash :-) I have been reading it for two weeks and I've only finished the first part. I think it might even surpass the time spent on Infinite Jest last summer. But so far I love it, it is amazing how complex and obfuscating the lives of a bunch of stuck-up, tight-arsed Victorians can be! I read your review and I whole-heartedly agree..... Life should never be taken so seriously, but I suppose they had little choice in the matter.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Pawbones

    Pawbones says

    Thanks for joining the Best English-Language Fiction of the Twentieth Century – the name rolls right off the tongue doesn’t it…
    Hopefully the posts will start rolling in once we get over the ‘new group’ hump and out of the busy holiday season. Again, glad you joined up and I look forward to picking at the threads with you.
    Please consider inviting your friends to join us as well. See you around the shelves.
    Pawbones

    posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    Thanks Bhupash for that rather -cryptic- comment. Did you read the worst book of the decade blog? Several of the books nominated are amongst my favourites.... There's just no accounting for taste.

    posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    I read The Cement Garden a few months back. I like your review, but I don't think it's nearly as good as Atonement or Enduring Love. You are really into musician bios. The closest I came to reading one of them was John Peel's autobio/bio Margrave of the Marshes.

    I have The Heart of the Matter to read (I seem to be reading a lot of African based books recently, for some reason). Shame TP&TG doesn't live up to the hype.

    I just finished this really funny satire: Changing Places by David Lodge. Next up is On Beauty. Maybe the less said about that one the better..... ;-)

    posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )
  • Katrina R

    Katrina R says

    Hi Bhupash, long time no hear! Yes, I loved dear Count Dracula, and especially van Helsing - quality !!! It was good to finally read the original source of the vampire tale after being exposed to only the caricatures and parodies of later years.

    It was Greene's Comedians I read a wee while ago, and it is great - you should definitely read it. It's one of those rare books that combine a really serious situation with a lot of humour, something Greene does exceptionally well. And I was aware of what Papa Doc wrote about Greene after The Comedians was published, probably it would have been more of an insult if he hadn't said anything - more a stamp of approval than anything else, if you get what I mean......I want to read a lot more of him, only three so far and the previous two were during my teenage years so I don't remember them too well.

    How's about you - been reading anything good recently?

    posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )
  • Jay M

    Jay M says

    Hi, Bhupash. I haven't read DROWN, but OSCAR WAO was a book that I sincerely loved. Possibly because I understood nearly every one of the "geek" references (The Tolkien, the Fantastic Four, etc. etc), or maybe because I could relate to far too much of Oscar's adolescent anquish, but the book hit me on a personal level in many ways. I found the structure of the book remarkable, in that for all the shifting in time, and the footnotes, and the unfamiliar Dominican Republic history, I felt that I was swimming easily if anxiously through all the sadness and horror and poignancy. Despite my cynical side, the book really did move me emotionally as the narrator finds some a sort of optimism at the end. It's been a difficult book for me to describe to people, much less to attempt to "review". It is, however, a book that I've recommended to many. What was your take on it?

    posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )
  • Cassandra N

    Cassandra N says

    oh, I couldn't finish it! If i read one more line about how flawless he was, I was going to hurt something.

    posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )
  • uplandpoet

    uplandpoet says

    Welcome to Better than Starbucks! Look around, make yourself at home, start a new thread or dig up an old one or just read and jump in on the more active ones.

    We are honored to be one of your first groups!

    posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )
  • Pawbones

    Pawbones says

    Howdy, see you around the shelves.

    posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

© 2006-2012 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close