Toonpack 15600 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 Goodbye to all that, Robert Graves. Written from his diaries, Interesting commentary on turn of the century (18th/19th C) upper class society and how they thought, and his war experiences great insight in to the trenches (brutal) and the officer mindset (posh cunts). Paraphrased: I was annoyed when I awoke and my tea was not ready, and I had to shave in cold water because my servant had gone missing. I left the dugout and finally saw him undergoing company punishment in the reserve area, he was strapped in an X to a wagon wheel, as I appeared he tried to salute me, even from his position, he had been given 12 hours punishment for turning up drunk for duty. Another favourite: A private soldier may not address an officer without an NCO present as intermediary. We so needed a revolution like the French. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJS 5298 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 (edited) 9 hours ago, Dr Gloom said: I despised Chaucer. Loved English lit at GCSE until the Canterbury cunt ruined A levels for me We did that - not even English as far as I'm concerned. We also did Oliver Twist - put me off Dickens for life - hundreds of pages of nowt happening dross, Julius Caesar was the only semi-interesting thing we did. Edited October 3 by NJS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddockLad 22505 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 (edited) We did Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Animal Farm for SCE O Grade. There were others that I can't remember now. Strangely the very paper I sat in the final exam turned up on Twitter a few years back, the interpretation passage taken from a novel written by the poster 's father William (brother of sports journo legend Hugh) Edit: found the questions..... you can all have a go now 😊 Edited October 3 by PaddockLad 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 17238 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 I’m another one for who Chaucer can get fucked. I remember we did Brave New World and Handmaid’s Tale at A-Level. Probably got off quite lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 43941 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 I'm struggling to remember my English book subjects, think animal farm was one, the twelfth night I think as well? I must've blanked them out! (I only did English at GCSE, never did A levels). History, and to a lesser degree, English were the only subjects I had any interest in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 63240 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 The thing with Chaucer was the stories weren't even good. It was bad enough that it was written in basically another fucking language, but the actual content was complete bullshit too. I hated it almost as much as I hated the English teacher pretending he thought it was the funniest book that had ever been written. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 42155 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 13 minutes ago, Gemmill said: The thing with Chaucer was the stories weren't even good. It was bad enough that it was written in basically another fucking language, but the actual content was complete bullshit too. I hated it almost as much as I hated the English teacher pretending he thought it was the funniest book that had ever been written. I know it’s not Chaucer but I fucking hate people who pretend that Shakespeare’s comedies are funny purely to demonstrate their superior intellect 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 63240 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 5 minutes ago, Alex said: I know it’s not Chaucer but I fucking hate people who pretend that Shakespeare’s comedies are funny purely to demonstrate their superior intellect Aye, same people basically. I'd rather watch Duty Free any day of the week. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 42155 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 6 minutes ago, Gemmill said: Aye, same people basically. I'd rather watch Duty Free any day of the week. I’d rather watch Shakespeare and Hathaway 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Carr's Gloves 4949 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 I like twelfth night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzler 16205 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 38 minutes ago, Alex said: I know it’s not Chaucer but I fucking hate people who pretend that Shakespeare’s comedies are funny purely to demonstrate their superior intellect I remember my school taking us to London to watch a Shakespeare play at the globe. I lasted ten minutes before I snuck out to smoke tac and throw pebbles at pigeons for the remaining hours. The place was full of utter plebs chuckling away at shit that was barely English. Maybe if I'd gone in half chonged I would have gained an appreciation for it, but I suspect it would have been even worse. Ever since that experience I've hated anything and everything Shakespeare or Shakespeare adjacent. It's all absolute shite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 43941 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 34 minutes ago, Kevin Carr's Gloves said: I like twelfth night We went after school to watch the twelfth night, purely voluntarily, I only went because it was mainly lasses one of whom I fancied. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmill 63240 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 Twelfth SHITE more like amirite guys? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 42155 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 1 hour ago, Dazzler said: I remember my school taking us to London to watch a Shakespeare play at the globe. I lasted ten minutes before I snuck out to smoke tac and throw pebbles at pigeons for the remaining hours. The place was full of utter plebs chuckling away at shit that was barely English. Maybe if I'd gone in half chonged I would have gained an appreciation for it, but I suspect it would have been even worse. Ever since that experience I've hated anything and everything Shakespeare or Shakespeare adjacent. It's all absolute shite. Tried that. It would’ve been worse 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 50751 Posted October 3 Share Posted October 3 Only time I ever “got” Shakespeare was in Middle school when our (excellent) English teacher, Big Nige, split us into groups and gave us all a scene from various of his plays- we had to spend the first half of the lesson translating it in to Geordie, then perform it in the second half. I remember our group got a scene with Falstaff, who, once we’d figured out that he was a fucking mentalist, I absolutely insisted I played him in our performance Other than that, I can take it or leave it. I think way too much time is still spent on him at schools, to the detriment of other, far more relevant, modern British playwrights. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wykikitoon 28557 Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 Just finished Blacktop Wasteland by SA Crosby. Thanks again for the recommendation for this author @Gemmillhe's fastly becoming one of my faves. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 26363 Posted Monday at 15:07 Share Posted Monday at 15:07 I binge read Flesh by David Szalay ove the weekend. Best book I've read this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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