I'm reading 'Dr jekyll and mr hyde'
because my new year's resolution was to read all the classics I should have read (given that I read a lot) but haven't. It's alright; I preferred Conan Doyle.
(berk, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:29, 8 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

I prefer Conan the Barbarian.

(PsychoChomp, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:30, Reply)

Conan Doyle?
Didn't he used to present Holiday on BBC1 with Judith Chalmers?

I think he works in double glazing now.
( JeffTheDogFucker Can you dig it?, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:30, Reply)

I like that book.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:35, Reply)

"great gatsby" and "catcher in the rye"
are two of my favourite more modern classics, have you read those?
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:44, Reply)

I've read catcher in the rye
great gatsby is on the list. In all honesty I'm doing it because I had a look at one of those '100 books you should have read' things and was appalled by how few I'd read, only 30 or 40.
(berk, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:50, Reply)

gatsby is awesome
just a pure symphony of lovely writing
( rachelswipe with a fork, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:54, Reply)

don't bother with Moby Dick
it'd be good if it had been edited

also: read The Three Musketeers. I love that book, and Tom Brown's School Days.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:47, Reply)

The Count of Monte Cristo is Dumas' crowning glory if you ask me.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:49, Reply)

I've not actually read it
I have however used his name in an elaborate literary pun/insult.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:52, Reply)

That is also on the list.

(berk, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:11, Reply)

It is a work of genius.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:12, Reply)

I have tried reading Moby Dick twice
purely so that I could read the "He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it" passage in context.

Unfortunately, the book is almost incomprehensible to modern eyes and appears to be mostly turgid filler.
( Kroney, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:53, Reply)

I slogged my way through the whole thing
it was mostly turgid filler. The actual story isn't bad, and he obviously did a lot of research, but it needed cutting out, and the massive digressions slimmed right down.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:56, Reply)

I wholeheartedly agree,
An abridged version might be great.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:05, Reply)

Ditto the drum solo of the same name.

(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:06, Reply)

Name a non-tedious drum solo.
I know of only one offhand - Santana's 'Soul Sacrifice' live at Woodstock.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:10, Reply)

Depends if I have to stick to rock records
Because the drum solo near the end of Grant Green's reworking of My Favourite Things is, to me, what drum solos should be like. But as far as rock drummers go, I think Keith Moon had the right idea with his lifelong insistence that "Drum solos are boring."

Edit: The opening to the Surfaris' Wipeout is probably stretching the definition of a 'solo,' isn't it?
(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:12, Reply)

Re: your edit: it's barely a break, definitely not a solo.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:17, Reply)

I think there is one in Pictures of Home by Deep Purple
one of my band's songs has a drum and djembe bit. Not a solo though I guess, because two people are playing.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:13, Reply)

Nowt wrong with a decent drum break or percussion breakdown,
I've spent years and many grands acquiring them.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:16, Reply)

I may not have mentioned that I love the drumming on that Tractor album
simple, but the long rolls are superb. Makes me feel happy.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:19, Reply)

I'm trying to do this at the moment
trouble is, the classics I really want to read all seem to be huge epics. I'm reading a novel about refugees at the moment as light relief.
(Zoz prayed for twink on, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:47, Reply)

Have you added Bravo Two Zero
To your list of 'must read' classics?
( JeffTheDogFucker Can you dig it?, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:47, Reply)

The Picture Of Dorian Gray is good, but a bit slow moving
Wilde's storytelling is fantastic though.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:53, Reply)

that's one of my favourites
did you see the recent film? Very well done I thought.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:57, Reply)

Nope, I've not
But will give it a look!
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:03, Reply)

Is it? Might try that,
I love Oscar Wilde. Even though he was 'one of them'.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:03, Reply)

an Irishman?

(Zoz prayed for twink on, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:09, Reply)

A Whig

( Kroney, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:11, Reply)

it is one of my favourite books
and I thought the film was tremendously well done and I hope you agree.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:11, Reply)

Good news. I have no desire to see 99% of films so am keen to see this.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:14, Reply)

they haven't really tried to make it actiony or anything
quite true to the book
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 17:15, Reply)

Finished it last week
I liked the story, but the flowery language started to get a bit wearisome.
(berk, Fri 18 Feb 2011, 16:58, Reply)