Rhiannon
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things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 14:48
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I've just finished 'Hard Times' by Dickens. For those wot haven't read it, it's a view of the 1850s and the industrial revolution, and people being ground down in their jobs by the evil mill-owning capitalist bastards - who think any of the hands that complain just want to be fed on turtle soup and venison with a gold spoon (instead of just wanting a reasonable existence). Also that education should be that children have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they are full. It's actually quite an amusing book! Ah, Dickens, he would have had some useful input to U-know I'm sure.
Anyway, I was just wondering whether anyone else would like to recommend any U-knowish authors or titles. My other obvious favourite is George Orwell and his 'road to wigan pier'. Feel free to disagree.
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Rhiannon
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 14:50
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(can't bear to watch the tv and accidentally see any more of news-at-ten / gmtv style reporting of the war so am retreating more than usual to books)
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ratcni01
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 15:16
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I read lots, not a lot direct u-know stuff 'cos me and factual books *gna* (except these hefty therapeutic books on the reading list for my training, well bit *gna* to them as well)
have you tried che's bolivian diary or his motorcycle years one, good insights to the man himself, as well as a bit o history
graham greene will always cheer you up, also like ben okri stuff
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necropolist
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 15:28
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tony benn quotes a section from it in his history of socialist writing (or summat) 'Writing on the Wall'
its the bit where the kid is asked by the workhouse schoolteacher if britain is a rich country (after the school teacher has listed the countries etc that the british empire has colonised & the richers they contain)
i dont know, replies sadi lad.
dont know, says teach, why the hell not (okay im paraphrasing here obviously)
because it all depends WHO has all the money says child, who promptly gets a good beating, cheeky little scamp
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anthonyqkiernan
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 15:35
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Got a Fopp handy (here he goes again...)? They've always got interesting stuff at prices low enough to warrant hte risk. (Including the above mentioned "Motorcycle Diaries").
I'd reccomend anything by Christopher Brookmyre. His style is totally inelegant. He's marketed as a cross between Tom Sharpe and Colin Bateman. But, he really does have a brilliantly honed satirical eye.
ps. Dickens is great. As is Graeme Greene
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grufty jim
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 15:50
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i recently plugged my fave author over on HH, but i see no harm in giving Thomas Pynchon a mention here. There's a rich satirical edge to his novels; even if his writing wouldn't be filed under "satire". And beyond the mind-boggling surrealism and wealth of gorgeous symbolism, there's also a wickedly sharp social commentary at work in almost everything he does.
Yay "Vineland"!
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necropolist
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 18:38
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cpouldnt get into vineland, tho the crying of lot 57 is superb
should probly give V anutha go...
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wychburyman
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Re: things to read made of trees
Apr 03, 2003, 20:00
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like both of these - class
Gradgrind
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PaulMakesMusic
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The ragged trousered philanthropists.
Apr 03, 2003, 22:09
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Written at the turn of the century by Robert Tressell. This book did more to shape my political ideas than anything else. It's a treatise on utopian socialism but in the form of a novel, so that the ideas aren't just abstract, but placed into their proper context. Socialism = society. Communism = community.
It breaks down the struggle for existance into its obvious and logical parts and explains why change is neccessary, and what we should be changing to.
You can get the full text by following the link at the bottom of this post, but who reads e-books?
The same link will also tell you something about the author.
It's ISBN number is ISBN 0586090363
http://www.1066.net/tressell/
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Merrick
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George Orwell
Apr 03, 2003, 22:42
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With you all the way on the Orwell thing. Although 1984 and Animal Farm are (rightly) always praised highly, it's his non-fiction that really gets me. I love Homage To Catalonia, his book about his time in the Spanish Civil War and written only months later.
Best of all is the Collected Essays, Letters & Journalism, a 4-volume set put out in the early 70s but still easy to find second hand. It has all the big essays (Inside The Wahle, etc), plus loads of personal letters and book reviews. The reviews were done for literary mags to pay the bills, and he frequently uses them as a platform for a big rant.
The really refreshing thing about this stuff is that he didn't think of posterity or great statements when writing it, so it is very sharp and incredibly historically informative. As late as 1936 he goes to a public discussion group in a pub in Leeds, and all but 2 people present are pro-German; how different to the good/evil image we've been taught about the rise of the Nazis and the British response.
And in his own mind, it's refreshing to see someone intelligent who changes their mind and readily admits it and explains why.
There was an utterly complete Orwell set published several years ago (£700 a pop), which led to a proper re-examining of his stuff so that a bunch of the non-fiction has been repressed in affordable chunks. A 500 page essays compilation is readily available, ISBN 0141183063.
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