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Notes from an Exhibition...

61 replies

MaryAnnSingleton · 18/08/2008 07:39

took this to read on my hols as I like Patrick Gale and really liked it- was meant to be reading No Time for Goodbye which is my book group's book for August - really wish it'd been Notes from an Exhibition instead (mind you my last recommendation for book group which was his Friendly Fire didn't go down well with the ladies- tsk)...
I loved the descriptions of painting,colours etc and loved the bit about 'Barbara Hepworth' - coincidentally we came across a sculpture of hers at Snape Maltings...have posted a pic on my profile,or will do in a sec.

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BeckyBendyLegs · 25/08/2008 11:07

He's also very gay... Someone above mentioned Tim Lott. I love his books. I always get them mixed up with Toby Litt though who has also written some good books, esp one about the couple who suffer a still birth. Very, very moving. How about Scarlotte Thomas? Anyone read her? My favourite is Popco which I thought was so clever. The End of Mr Y is also very good. I recommend her if you like the likes of Tim and Toby.

mizzannie · 25/08/2008 09:25

just finished reading notes... LOVED it. i found it really dense as i usually storm through books i am enjoying, but this was really full and took me longer. dh said the same, we were reading it at the same time. patrick gale is v handsome...

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MaryAnnSingleton · 25/08/2008 08:28

ha ! I will try the Jonathan Coe
David Lodge rings a lot of Catholic bells in me btw !

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Marina · 24/08/2008 23:24

I must admit I'm not a John O'Farrell fan either. May Contain Nuts was not my cup of tea at all.
Shame you don't like The Rain Before it Falls oi, but I think most critics have dismissed it as a scanty marking-time work
I love his prose so much I was not bothered about the critics
I may well have recommended him before but I have also read and loved the poet Gerard Woodward's scary, funny trilogy about the blight of addiction on one suburban family. I'll Go to Bed at Noon was shortlisted for the Booker and is far more blackly entertaining than you'd think. August is the first in the trilogy.
I was flirting with going over to Rome when I read How Far Can You Go, malory, so it has a special place in my affections . It did indeed affect my decision to remain a card-carrying member of the woolly C of E

janeite · 24/08/2008 22:44

Now I didn't get on with Tim Lott at all; or John O Farrell. Farrell just seemed to be desperately trying to be funny and sort of chuckling along at himself all the time.

Now Bill Bryson is REALLY funny; snorting out loud on the train type funny.

oi · 24/08/2008 22:06

was 'the best a man can get' the one where he did jingles for ads and had another flat where he went to escape his wife and kids? I remember reading it before I had kids and thinking how awful and then having kids and thinking 'god, wouldn't it be nice to have my own peaceful, clean and tidy flat'

MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 22:04

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MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 22:03

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FluffyMummy123 · 24/08/2008 22:03

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MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 22:02

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oi · 24/08/2008 22:02

I am very tempted by Therapy because that's exactly the sort of book that makes me laugh (have you read Philip Roth's Everyman? it's also quite funny and sounds in a similar vein).

Amazon have a 3 in 1 book for just over a tenner of Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work which will probably break my arm but will definitely keep me going for a bit!

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MaryAnnSingleton · 24/08/2008 22:00

scent of dried roses
I can recommend John O'Farrell's May Contain Nuts

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oi · 24/08/2008 21:59

I didn't get on with the new JCoe. Couldn't get past the first 40 or so pages. I don't know why because I normally love his stuff. It may be because I'm reading it on a commute and therefore I either get straight into it or I'm distracted iyswim and I think this one is a bit of a slow burner? I don't know. I keep meaning to try it again at home but don't get the time.

Haven't read the Lott mother suicide one.

MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 21:58

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MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 21:58

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oi · 24/08/2008 21:57

I think I've read her memoir (was she the one with the thyroid thing?) but not any of her novels. Have read the JC but a long time ago.

Thanks for the recommendations. It is wonderful to hear about books I haven't read that I might enjoy. I'm going to order the David Lodges and Experiment in Love and they should keep me going for a month/couple of months or so hopefully!

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MaryAnnSingleton · 24/08/2008 21:57

I like Tim Lott - have you read the one about his mother's suicide ? forgotten title, has gort roses in it..the scent of roses maybe ? [senile memory emoticon]

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MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 21:56

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MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 21:56

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MaryAnnSingleton · 24/08/2008 21:56

I was going to suggest How Far Can You Go - was the first David Lodge I read. Am about to start the Jonathan Coe,as soon as I've got through book groups choice (No Time for Goodbye)

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oi · 24/08/2008 21:51

yes I've read quite a bit of Tim Lott (was he White City Blue? was living in W6 when I read that!) and O Farrell.

I normally read books like that but then went through a big spy and detective phase but have come out the other end of that now I think. There are only so many murders I can absorb.

Haven't read ANY Bill Bryson. I don't know why. I see him on TV and I get put off the books. Are they really any good?

Marina · 24/08/2008 21:51

Have not read Patrick Gale but if you are touting for ideas oi I highly recommend How Far Can You Go of the early David Lodges
Do you like Hilary Mantel? An Experiment in Love is fantastic, and her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, equally good
Have you read JC's earliest, The Dwarves of Death? It's fairly rough but also extremely funny

MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 21:47

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oi · 24/08/2008 21:41

oh malory, I can't tell you how this has cheered me up . I LOVE the thought of new books, especially ones that might be entertaining!

MaloryDontDiveItsShallow · 24/08/2008 21:40

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