But The Aenid starts with 'T', so you've gone wrong straight away. That's torn it. You're stuffed, you are. You'll have to strat again. Or alternatively, start again.
I've never been on the dole, but I remember reading "Les Faux Monnayeurs" by Gide, and when the hero is down to his last sou he admirably spends it on a cake.
*
By the way, what do you make of "Jesus' Son"? That's on my list (for when I next have a sou); I've read just one story by Dennis Johnson, and it was a cracker.
d.beswetherick.
Confederacy of Dunces is wonderful, and soon to be a movie, I recall hearing somewhere.
For reading, I suggest anything by Charles Bukowski. If that guy could survive to the age of 75 with his lifestyle, ANYBODY can. Besides, reading the Buk always inspires me to write something.
You missed out exoscope. Call yourself a thesaurus?
Also, try Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. Brill. (whats his name,...Peter Hoeg) and The Constant Gardner (John le Carre..which everyone on here is too snobby to read, but its also brill.)
PS. Oxfam sell loads of cheap second hand books. So do help the aged. And they'll buy them back after you've finished. Anyway, I was dyslexic once, but I'm KO now.
Good fiction authors for getting by on the dole. Kurt vonnegut, Tolstoy, Anne Tyler. For factual adventure try 'Into the Void' by Joe Simpson. For a witty and contemporary(ish) book about Britain try CJ Stone's 'Fierce Dancing'.
Bad dyslexic joke: 'did you hear about the devil worshiper who sold his soul to Santa?'
'Jesus Son' is absolutely wonderful Bes, it does the shift between lucid and dreamy so wonderfully.
It's one of the best novels I've read by someone who started off as a poet. Each line has a beatiful understated image that gives a concrete sensory impression, rather than a simple abstract linguistic one. The language of the book is very, very concrete, but not in a hemingway, erm, way.
Oh sod it, it's delicious and one of my faves of all time.
I owe just about all of my reading to time on the dole, which is what makes me the erudite, witty yet debt riddled figure you see before you today
no its not fun at all having dylexia at all. like now iam lookin for jobs in the really world and not in a art student way i have to think of the things i cant do. i know iam not stupid but will the people out there that are handing out jobs think that after lookin at my gcse's.
i didnt find out i had it till i was in my first year of uni. i was told i have it to such an extent its a discrase that it wasnt picked up on. i have grounds to sue my old schools. and i know there are mis-spelling in there. but, hey i get worse when iam sleepy. :)
jesus son is top. i read it in a couple of hours. i think i got it coz mark told me to.
yes, but if you made Uni you must have A levels or the equivalent so it's not like you are a thickie. A spellcheck and getting someone to check over job applications will hide dyslexia from potential employers. books on the dole are no different to books when employed (as flash hinted). are you for real or are you greco in yet another thin disguise?
I've read The Constant Gardener, but le Carre hasn't been at top form for many years.
"God's Other Son" by John Donald Imus This will be difficult to find in the UK, but a library might have it. Very funny take on American for-profit evangelists and fakers. Imus is a radio personality in NYC.
Any of Kinky Friedman's detective novels. They are very lightweight but very funny.
Nice thread, Alison (a book thread on the General Dis.. are my eyes deceiving me?)
Thumbs up for Peter's recommendation of The Master and Margarita. Electric Brae is winging it's way to me presently. Could you mail ME a copy of Crimson Petal, Peter? Not many books round my way at the mo.
Nick Mark's copy of Down and Out in Paris and London, Alison. Mind you if you need some escapism from the lack of finances then maybe it's not the best thing. The Idiot.. Dostoyevsky? Lovely book.
Oh, The Sheltering Sky- Paul Bowles. Brilliant.
Or both volumes of Peter Reading's Collected Poems 70-95. He's funny, obscure, delightfully up his own @!#$ and er.. mind blowing. You can get them from The Poetry Library at Royal Festival Hall (membership is free and they ludicrously don't even charge on late returns)
yeah, andrew - no worries - i can send you a crimson doodah
I actually put a copy of the new Coetzee in the post to you this morning too
alison - you can mail me at peter-wild@ntlworld.com with yr address
i wish i had heard andrew greig reading from electric brae ... but i am wondering jimmy why you didnt want to read the book after hearing him ... did he put you off?
he writes so convincingly about passionate love that it is painful to read... i was a bit looney when i read it but i was sick with envy in parts ...
and if anyone is posting any books anywhere can they please post some to me?
i'm gonna make a pauper of myself here i can see it . . .
would you like a copy of the crimson petal and the white, fish?
consider it a peace offering . . .
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