Currently reading
The Collected Stories
Middlemarch
Omensetter's Luck
Swann's Way
A Naked Singularity (Paper)
The Master and Margarita
Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews
Infinite Jest
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self
Maps and Legends
Gentlemen of the West
Read this as part of her Collected Stories. Wonderful funny writing. Poor working class young man, a brickie, finding it tough to find work in mid 80s Scotland. He and his mates have few skills and even less ambition. They like their drink, but that's just an integral and unavoidable part of life. He still lives at home with his Ma. They're tough people that don't want to reveal any vulnerable softness, but it leaks out. The brief scenes with his mother, usually either leaving the house or coming home, are little pregnant gems of hilarious family ties. He and his mates are often desperate for money or booze, and some of the very black scenes made me laugh out loud. Terrific.
