A Long Way Down | 
so-soSome say coincidence - but I might go as far as to say fate, brought this unlikely bunch of characters together, while they're teetering over the edge of a fifteen-story high tower block on New Year's Eve. Instead of leaping to their doom, Martin, Maureen, JJ & Jess trudge back down having formed a bizarre pact. Hornby delivers a Breakfast Club -esque journey, exploring four various narratives. A memorable dark comedy. A little lacking in parts.
All of the characters meet on a #rooftop famous for suicide jumpers. Happy ending.
#WishesandBlessings
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickNick Hornby never disappoints! Who knew that a book that begins with four very different people meeting because they all pick the same spot to commit suicide could be so entertaining and sweet? This ragtag group of unlikely friends will make you laugh at their hijinks and reflect on your own life while simultaneously charming the pants off you.
Today‘s card is: Jack of Diamonds/ The Star; HOPE
“Jane Fairfax was orphaned as a girl, yet she grows up to sing, play piano, and sew, and marries happily.”
The characters in this book, through many misadventures, help one another realize life‘s not so bad and literally talk one another off the ledge. While “hope” may be a strong concept for them, it felt relevant.
What does this make you think of? Comment below!
pickLoved this one. The characters were so great and meshed together so well, some in unpredictable ways. I laughed out loud during so much of this book.
This book gets me to my first bingo in #bookspinbingo !!! @TheAromaofBooks
“Oscar Wilde once said, “One‘s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.” Well, fucking right on, Oscar.”
Loving all these characters already, excited to keep reading.
#ThankfulThursday
Thanks for the tag @julesG – how funny, the first book that came to my mind was also “The English Patient”. Although it was the other way ‘round, first film than book.
Concerning @RamsFan1963 and “Ready Player One” (also thanks for the tag) I sticked with the “correct” order. 😂
• “A long Way Down”. Loved the book – not only for Nick Drake.
1.) “Dawson‘s Creek”
2.) Grateful for summer weather and my boss who let‘s me alone
panI didn't like this book nearly so much as About A Boy. For one thing, the author seems to be making fun of suicide, which is sadly much too prevalent in this day and age. Secondly, the author again writes a book that has no redeemable characters in it; I don't even know if any of them learned anything by the end. I doubt it. I would take a pass on this one.
🌟🌟
Pulling these out made me want to read them again! #clouds #BloomingBibliophiles
@OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Four strangers at the end of their respective tethers meet on top of a skyscraper in this novel #SetOnNewYearsEveDay
#AuldLangReads @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620
pickFour very different people find themselves with the same problem on New Year's Eve: they aren't sure if they want to live. To top it all off some of them are very unlikable characters. Not your usual holiday read, but still I found it a funny, enjoyable read. #WinterGames #TMSkellington @Crimson613 @StayCurious @Clwojick
Picture 5/5 of the latest batch of books we‘re getting queued up for processing for our library‘s branch in the county jail.
Surprised we take any of these particular titles?
Have you read any of these?
#LitsyLovesLibraries
pickI enjoyed reading this book because of its completely different take on a serious topic. I found my self laughing way too much for a book that started with four people wanting to jump off of a tower block. As the four people begrudgingly help each other to carry on. I love that four stranger who didn't want anything to do with each other in the end help each other solve problems, acting as each other's own cosmic prime minister.
Starting February by reading a long way down 📖 xx
Book - Long Way Down
Author - Lori Lansens
Movie/Tv - Luther
Food - Lemon Curd
#manicmonday #whoopsitswednesday @JoScho
1. I honestly don‘t know lol
2. Going for food and just talking, I‘m simple 😆
3. 17
4. It was a while ago but it just moved too slowly for me at the time.
5. Here I go!
#FriYayIntro
I like Nick Hornby, but this was the only one I didn't enjoy all that much. I think the premise - four people unexpectedly meeting on a rooftop, all contemplating suicide on the same night - just seemed too artificial to work. Like a Breakfast Club for adults that couldn't get the humor/drama ratio quite right. #waydownwego #getmovin @eanderson @Cinfhen
pickNick Hornby! 😘 ❤️ 😘 ❤️ #favoriteauthor #authoryoulove #readingresolutions @Jess7 #aprilbookishmadness @maich
The author has really accurately gotten inside the head of the characters. You're not crazy, the world just sucks too much sometimes. Respect ✌️ #beyondblue
Dear Mr Hornby. I'm from Sydney. I take no offense. Your book is dark but hilarious . I also note the irony that I missed my therapy appointment because I got lost in your book 😂😂😂
Littens I need your opinion. I recorded a podcast episode with this lovely human yesterday, and even with edits it will end up around two hours. Most of my episodes are around an hour, some are shorter! What should I do? Post as two parts but post the same day? Post two weeks apart like two separate episodes? Just post the damn thing? #podcastproblems
I used to be pretty resourceful when I was being unfaithful to Cindy..I once drove a new BMW into a wall, simply because I needed to explain a 4-hour delay in getting home from work. Cindy came out into the street to inspect the crumpled bonnet, looked at me, and said, You‘re seeing someone else, aren‘t you? I denied it of course. But then, anything is easier than telling the truth. That look you get...Who wouldn‘t go that extra yard to avoid it?
I don't think you can call it stalking when it's just phone calls and letters and emails and knocking on the door.
I'm not telling you that suicidal people aren't so far away from people who can get by; I'm telling you that people who can get by aren't so far away from being suicidal.
I was still owed an explanation I thought, but so what? What good was it going to do me? It wouldn't have made me any happier. It was like scratching when you have chicken pox. You think it's going to help, but the itch moves over, and then moves over again. My itch suddenly felt miles away, and I couldn't have reached it with the longest arms in the world. Realizing that made me scared that I was going to be itchy forever, and I didn't want that.
People go on about places like Starbucks being unpersonal...but what if that's what you want? I'd be lost if there was nothing unpersonal in the world. I like to know that there are big places where no one gives a shit...I'm happiest in the Virgin Megastore, Borders, Starbucks...where no one gives a shit and no one knows who you are. My mum & dad are always going on about how soulless those places are, and I'm like Der. That's the point.
One could argue that most of the trouble in the world is caused by introspection.
I've been thinking with my guts since I was fourteen years old, and frankly speaking, between you and me, I have come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.
Telling me I can do anything I want is like pulling the plug out of the bath and then telling the water it can go anywhere it wants. Try it, and see what happens.
The trouble with my generation is that we all think we're fucking geniuses. Making something isn't good enough for us, and neither is selling something, or teaching something, or even just doing something; we have to be something.
You're fucked. You thought you were going to be someone, but it's obvious you're nobody. You haven't got as much talent as you thought you had, there was no Plan B, you got no skills, no education, and now you're looking at 40 or 50 years of nothing...That's pretty heavy. That's worse than having the brain thing, because what you got now will take a lot longer to kill you. You've got the choice of a slow, painful death, or a quick, merciful one.
Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.
How do people, like, not curse? How is it possible? There are these gaps in speech where you just have to put a "fuck." I'll tell you who the most admirable people in the world are: newscasters. If that was me, I'd be like, "And the motherfuckers flew the fucking plane right into the Twin Towers." How could you not, if you're a human being? Maybe they're not so admirable. Maybe they're robot zombies.
And anyway I didn't think it was stalking when someone owed you an explanation. Being owed an explanation is like being owed money, and not just a fiver either. Five or six hundred quid, minimum, more like. If you're owed five or six hundred quid, minimum, and the person who owes it to you is avoiding you, then you're bound to knock on his door late at night, when you know he's going to be in.
I'm really liking this one! And a new drink--White Russians (yes, I recently rewatched The Big Lebowski)
pickI picked this one up on a whim, truthfully not expecting much. When I read that it's a book about suicide the last thing I expected was to laugh. I was wrong!! The book is hilarious! The characters are both real and a little out there but so lovable in a hot mess kind of way. 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 gold stars!!!
Someone's spying on me doing a little early morning reading in bed before braving the crowds for some last minute shopping. 👀#catsoflitsy
Day 5 of #octphotochallenge im picking four characters who were terribly flawed but that I still ended up loving at the end of the book.
“If you borrow someone else‘s clothes or their interests or their words, what they say, then it can give you a bit of a rest from yourself, I find.”
