Reply With QuoteHa- it's great right? I got my mate to read it (in retaliation for him getting me hooked on "I am pilgrim")Originally Posted by whatmeworry
He couldn't put it down and went straight onto the second
she's a gifted writer to be fair to her
Funnily enough it was reading the first one that made me want to revisit Potter. I have the second lined up to read soon.
Ha- it's great right? I got my mate to read it (in retaliation for him getting me hooked on "I am pilgrim")
He couldn't put it down and went straight onto the second
she's a gifted writer to be fair to her
Yes, she's very, very good and deserving of her success.
I liked I Am Pilgrim, but found it a bit formulaic.
A great description - I kinda hated myself for being so swept along with the formula but couldn't put down :-)
Between that and "the girl on the train" have read too many gripping thrillers recently - time to move onto something slower :-)
Yes, it's a simple formula but an effective one. Lots of short chapters and always end them with a cliffhanger.
It's like McDonalds though. Nice while you eat it but after you feel dirty.
Anathem, by Neil Stephenson. A fiction about maths and physics, as far as I can make out. Way cool. And it fits in with another book I've been working through, or at least the parts I can understand (some maths in it way over my head): The Emergent Multiverse, by David Wallace. I can't decide whether the latter is fiction or not (clearly presented as not).
Best wishes,
Bob
Very true
Personally, I'm starting to blame my kindle - it's hard to find anything else when connecting to the Amazon store
As a result have read a string of those thrillers recently
I donīt believe Neil Stephenson has written a less than excellent book yet, I always find something thought provoking in his work.
Or a less than confusing book ;)
Just finished "Girl on a train", which was very readable - recommended.
Khaled Hosseini - And The Mountains Echoed
I haven't read his others, but know of them of course. I wasn't looking forward to it very much, but I must say I really did enjoy it. Some people I know didn't as some of the loose ends didn't tie up if that makes sense, and some people found it disjointed, but it was very interesting.
I've just re-read Heart of Darkness. I suppose it will only be a matter of time before Apocalypse Now features on the movie thread...
Currently enjoying the 2nd volume of Clive James' autobiography; Falling Towards England.
You could try Rubbernecker or the Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer. Read both and both are good reads.
I suppose you have already read 'Unreliable Memoirs'; I can also recommend (if you haven't already read it) 'Visions Before Midnight', a collection of James' reviews from his time as TV critic with The Observer.
Coincidentally, in yesterday's FT Jeremy Paxman admits to having always been rather scared of 'this philosophical Ned Kelly, with his armour of aphorisms'. I imagine the list of people who scare Paxo is extremely short!
Yes, I have but some time ago. I have no idea why it took me so long to get the next one, and get round to reading it - I picked it up in Dublin over Christmas and it's been on the bedside table since. Funnily enough I read the Paxo article this morning (I take it that FT Weekend is the only dependable UK paper in Paris as well) and, though I can't say that I've particularly enjoyed James' poetry in the past, I will seek it out. From the tone of the FT piece I get the impression that the obit writers are sharpening their pencils as we speak; not a wonderful thought.
I am very much enjoying the Didius Falco series by Lindsey Davis. Set in ancient Rome, the books are about an informer (detective) who has all sorts of adventures, woes and troubles in love and crime. Great humor too, so not exactly the noir type of thrillers.
They are good, if a tad anachronistic.
Best wishes,
Bob
The FT is the only dependable UK paper in the UK too.
I tried Clive James' poetry a couple of times but struggled. However, James' Cultural Amnesia is permanently on my bedside table. Largely because its so bloody heavy, but also because its almost casually brilliant.
True on both accounts :) As the pleasure of reading derives from the first and is only slightly impeded by the second, I allow myself to be a gullible reader :)
I recently read Pocket Kings by Ted Heller (son of Joseph Heller).Its about a failed author who becomes a online poker player .Its not very realistic in its depiction of poker but its very funny with lots of black comedic moments in it . I also read a series of thrillers by Jon a Jackson there are nine in the series all well written and if you like this genre I recommend them, better than most in the genre .
Guy Martin autobiography. If your into bikes, engines, oil, racing and cups of tea! Funny and very interesting...to me anyway! Some say he could be the next presenter on top gear.....
Reading the newish linwood Barclay book. They all follow a similar format but my type of book. Short sharp thrillers
All of the Roy Grace series by Peter James
Stephen Leather's "supernatural thriller" Jack Nightingale series is currently proving to be very enjoyable!
Key to Rebecca, Ken Follett, my first read of his books, quite enjoying.
Ready player one by Ernest Cline.
Essential reading for 80s nostalgia and a brilliant ride. Bidding wars for filming rights were extremely hot and it now looks to be Steven Spielbergs next directed venture which is very exciting.
Would thoroughly recommend it for escapism.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-O.../dp/0307887448
Look Who's Back. Just read it. A great read and idea.
Finished the last Harry Potter book last night, I've read them pretty much back to back over the last 2 months. What an amazing achievement the series is, and very much deserving of its success.
I've been a fan of the pulp fiction crime author, Duane Swierczynski, for several years now. He just published a new hard cover, "Canary," that is the best thriller I've read in the past few years. The guy is amazing, and his past work is equally outstanding.
Last edited by pacifichrono; 30th May 2015 at 18:45.
I actually got thru the John Carter of Mars Series recently. Wonderfully Pulpy sci fi. It has a real retro feel to it, almost like you're watching one of those black and white flash gordon or buck rogers serials
The Martian - Andy Weir
Just read it. It doesn't matter if you aren't particularly a fan of sci-fi.
I could not put it down,and if the planned film is anything like the book it will be a spectacular film.
I mentioned that a couple months back, and its fantastic, if i could convince one person to read it id be happy. But people think its scifi when it really isnt.. its more like Robinson Crusoe with an applied science twist
Youīhave inspired me; just ordered it to my kindle and looking forward to starting reading it in a couple of days.Thanks.
I think I may have read it on your recommendation. I enjoyed it enormously.
Nice, cheers man :)
And i agree, i hope they get the film right.. I can actually see Matt Damon doing Mark Watney. And its just the kind of scifi/fact that Ridley Scott specialises in
I read it a few months ago and wrote my thoughts in Amazon: This is an amazing work, especially for a debut novel. Weir's level and breadth of technical knowledge are astounding. He completely convinces you that he knows and understands virtually everything about NASA's manned space program, in fine detail. Weir shows off a nice flair for writing style, keeping you moving along at a nice pace, although his soliloquies got to be too long and too technical for my appetite. It helped that his protagonist offered a witty sense of humor, but the sarcasm may have been a bit too much like DeMille's John Corey character.
I must admit I was disappointed with the type of ending to this excellent work. I would have preferred a much bolder treatment. Nevertheless, a towering first effort!
POSSIBLE SPOILER
Mm i dont know that the ending required boldness, the sheer tension supplied throughout the rest of the book, his basic fight for survival, lends an air of absolute relief to the conclusion, which is really effective imo
Had the book been non-fiction (which might actually be possible in the future sometime), I agree that the pure act of survival would be a massive accomplishment, but as a work of fiction, I expected a more dramatic conclusion than: "Phew, I survived this impossible set of circumstances!" (Which the reader should have guessed at the outset, since it was written in the first person.)
Last edited by pacifichrono; 30th May 2015 at 23:55.
Exactly, the book was about the journey, not the destination. and potatoes
Currently reading "Life" by Keith Richard - a heavy tome, unbelievably detailed
and
The Mission song by John Le Carre.
Enjoying both.
Cheers,
Neil.
Recently re-read 'East of Eden' by John Steinbeck and 'Ask the Dust' by John Fante - both very different but very good.
Just read this:
Confederates in the Attic, a factual tour and investigation by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tony Horowitz
Has some funny bits that had me laughing ( not sure whether that's what the author intended ?), also wierdly disconcerting in places. Worth a butchers'
Richie
Thanks for this thread, I'm always on the lookout for good books.
Currently reading Children of Men by PD James. It was made into a film but as ever, the book is better. I like books that have been made into films, perhaps because they're generally good enough to have the money spent on them to make them into a film. Then you can read the book, or watch the film, whatever you did first, and see someone else's interpretation.
^ Just don't read Bonfire of the Vanities and then watch the film!
I just read The Girl on the Train, which was okay, and Ring (on which the movies were based) which was great fun.
No, but I'm reminded of the first item on the agenda at our local crow women's institute meeting: 'Bred any good rooks lately?'
I decided to start reading some classic books I thought I should have read. I started with "The Great Gatsby" and I'm struggling to understand why it's so highly regarded. The writing style is attractive but the story is rubbish.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I'd recommend anything by John Irving, whose novels never cease to astonish me.
It took me three years to read this book. I must have started it six or so times only to lose interest each time. I was out with a friend one night and the subject of the book came up. She raved about it and said there was a huge pay-off at the end so with a new sense of purpose I gave it another shot. It was a struggle but about 40 pages from the end it suddenly moved into another gear.
It kind of reminds me of The Exorcist. The first two thirds of that movie is spent setting the tone, creating a sense of dread. Quite frankly it's all a bit dull. Then the last twenty minutes are a complete assault in the senses, all the more so because of the contrast with the preceding period.
It is the simply best book I have ever read - best on every level. The writing syle is masterful, especially when you realise that Fitzgerald was only 26 when he wrote it and also an alcoholic. For me, the storyline is the work of genius as it succeeds on every level - you can read it and enjoy it on the beach (unlike other so-called masterpieces which are unreadable intellectual masturbation) or you can analyse it for a doctoral thesis - for its ability to capture a moment in time (the Jazz Age, a term coined by Fitzgerald) or the flawless characterisation of flawed characters.
Edith Wharton said 'good literature should be like good plumbing; nothing should leak'. This book achieves that, we have no need to know what happened before, after or outside the story.
In my not so humble opinion, saying 'The writing style is attractive but the story is rubbish' is like saying of Van Gogh's The Sunflowers 'the brushwork's not bad but the picture is crap'.
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