The Official Unofficial Book Group Book Discussion thread
61 watchers
Aug 2019
11:10am, 20 Aug 2019
3,482 posts
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westmoors
So interested you posted twice 
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Aug 2019
11:12am, 20 Aug 2019
39,457 posts
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Diogenes
One to each
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Aug 2019
2:54pm, 21 Aug 2019
39,494 posts
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Diogenes
I was walking around Tesco this lunchtime, listening to the Geoff Dyer, when I found myself waiting at the checkout while Geoff described an episode where he and his girlfriend are on a beach in Mexico along with a load of stoned, naked people who are all as randy as hell. There were graphic scenes of an explicit sexual nature, and very strong language, which took me quite by surprise, but that also nearly had me laughing out loud. I had to stop listening until I was back outside the store. Also, Dyer is very good on reqret. His thoughts on the subject very much reflect my own thinking. |
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Sep 2019
2:40pm, 10 Sep 2019
40,063 posts
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Diogenes
A couple of book reviews for you. This week I have finished two book, The Quiet American by Graham Greene and A Natural, by Ross Raisin. Neither caused me to rush out and force copies upon friends. I like Greene, I think he is one of the best 20th century novelists, but this had a rather workmanlike feel to it. It’s sparse, and true, and somewhat brutal. It’s set in a place where the innocence cannot survive. In such a world it is possible to escape guilt, and to me this is a significant theme of the book. A Natural is a book about a young footballer who has been released by the academy of a Premier League club and gone to join a lower division club at the other end of the country. He also happens to be gay, something still taboo in the world of professional football, and a state he is yet to come to terms with himself. Before long he is in a difficult relationship with the club’s head groundsman, himself a former scholar at the club. Now, I like football and I like reading fiction, but I don’t think there has ever been a good novel a about football. Some might suggest David Peace’s The Damned United, but I haven’t read that, only seen the film adaptation. To me that was more of a biopic than a football book, and of course it was based on reality. Most fictionalised football books are written for boys in order to try and get them to read anything at all. All the ones I’ve ever read are terrible, and likely to put anyone off reading for good. They are generally Roy Of The Rovers type stories: a young lad struggles to get into the school team, gets bullied, gets his chance, nearly blows it, gets another, does well, then gets injured or some family issue gets in the way and it looks like all is lost, then somehow redemption comes, he does something that impresses the bully best player/captain/manager, gets a final opportunity, wins the cup final and goes on to be James Milner, or something similar. They are told simply, chronologically, and they revolve almost entirely around the tensions of team selection and social standing within the group. The language used in normally leaden and clichéd. Raisin is a respected writer and a former Granta young novelist of the year. However, I was really disappointed in this book for a number of reasons. Tom Pearman finds himself in digs in a strange town, increasing isolated, and hardly playing for his new club under their outdated manager. There are plenty of footballing stereotypes detailed in this book. That’s not the problem, Raisin is good on the dynamics of life as a footballer. The worst part about this book is the laboured narrative told in tedious details with occasional attempts at lyricism which are incongruous and often plain odd. Combined with dull one-dimensional characters, and a cumbersome, inconsistent structure, the book doesn’t have much of a chance. Despite this, I did keep me going to the end, wanting to know how things would turn out. I think that is more to do with my love of football. I wanted to see what the result would be, I never leave before the final whistle. [SPOILER ALERT] Unfortunately, things ended well for the some of the characters, in a somewhat unbelievable way, with a Roy Of The Rovers moment, and others walking off hand in hand into a golden sunset to start a new life elsewhere. This was unfortunate for me as I thought it was a cop out. There was at least two other possible endings, more difficult to write and more challenging to read, that would have done justice to all the hard groundwork that had gone before. Would I have like the book more if it had ended how I feared (and I feared what was to come)? No, but I would have respected it more in the morning and formed with it a longer-lasting and deeper relationship. Also (and this is not the fault of the book) but the narrator of the audiobook is terrible. He can’t do any accents convincingly, yet he tries plenty, often in the same sentence spoken by the same character. We know from the story that Tom Pearman’s family have moved an hour west down the M62 to support his football career, but his accent relocates from West Yorkshire to Merseyside and Manchester via Glasgow and the North-East throughout the story. Anyone with a faintly London accent sounds Australian. It really is so bad, and quite distracting, but not so much that it is the root of all my problems with the book. |
Sep 2019
2:45pm, 10 Sep 2019
13,989 posts
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Serendippily
The goalkeepers revenge was quite enjoyable - it was a book of short stories written many years ago, aimed at young boys, only one of which was even mildly about football. The majority of main characters die, are maimed or are shunned. C9 and I quite enjoyed them
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Sep 2019
2:46pm, 10 Sep 2019
29,370 posts
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LindsD
You should try The Damned United. It's so much more than just the story of what happened (or what is believed happened). It's a love story between Clough and Taylor and a reflection of those times, both in football and in the wider world. I also like Fever Pitch, but that's not really a novel either. You haven't made me want to read A Natural. |
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Sep 2019
2:47pm, 10 Sep 2019
13,990 posts
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Serendippily
google.co.uk I might leave it in Haslemere book swap for you |
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Sep 2019
2:48pm, 10 Sep 2019
29,372 posts
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LindsD
I've got a copy of The Damned Utd somewhere I could give you.
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Sep 2019
2:55pm, 10 Sep 2019
15,162 posts
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Sharkie
A gorgeous book about football is The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro, by Joe McGinniss. It's a true story told by a (very good) journalist but in many ways reads like a novel. I loved it so much I harassed selected others to read it and posted a copy to my Mum. She loved it too.
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Sep 2019
2:57pm, 10 Sep 2019
15,163 posts
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Sharkie
Damned United (via Guy, recommended by Linds) on my to read pile. Might take it on me hols.
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