What book are you currently reading?

[Gulli]

i quite enjoyed the northern lights trilogy, the first book is probably the worst of the lot though. the last one is undoubtedly the best, but it gets a bit 'loved up' at points which spoiled it a bit for me.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

I've read about 100 pages of it so far and it's taken a slow start to say the least.
Nothing much has happened, but it's introducing everything (some things at teh moment seemingly unnecesary) at it's own pace.

 

[RoyalBlueStuey]

i quite enjoyed the northern lights trilogy, the first book is probably the worst of the lot though. the last one is undoubtedly the best, but it gets a bit 'loved up' at points which spoiled it a bit for me.
[/b]

The third part of that trilogy is absolute BILGE. It's AWFUL. Shoddily written tripe. I loved the first two parts....the third one explained nothing and was full of gaping plot anomolies. I genuinely think it was written by somone else or he wrote it years ago....it just doesn't marry up with the first two at all.

It's very rare I'd tell people to steer clear of books but His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife & The Amber Spyglass) falls into that category. I was so dissappointed when I finished them.

Seriously Cyrmu just step away from it....It's a con.

The loved up bit is nonsense too...................Don't get me started on why that third book didn't work.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

Well, i've had more people telling me bad things about the Trilogy than good things, but I'm not gonna stop reading this book.
I paid £3.50 for it so i'm gonna finish it.
I will then decide if I want to read on.
But still, nothing much is really happening. *deep sigh*

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

Has anyone read any of the Flashman books by George McDonald Fraser?

I started reading the first in the series by chance after I ran out of other material on holiday, but I now love them.

Very funny and also suprisingly historically researched and accurate, aside from the obviously ficticious.. Adn if you don't know what I'm talking about they are well worth checking out.

 

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Has anyone read any of the Flashman books by George McDonald Fraser?

I started reading the first in the series by chance after I ran out of other material on holiday, but I now love them.

Very funny and also suprisingly historically researched and accurate, aside from the obviously ficticious.. Adn if you don't know what I'm talking about they are well worth checking out.
[/b]

I've always had them in my hand but I've had 10 Jack Aubrey books to plow through so never actually sat down with one.

Well, i've had more people telling me bad things about the Trilogy than good things, but I'm not gonna stop reading this book.
I paid £3.50 for it so i'm gonna finish it.
I will then decide if I want to read on.
But still, nothing much is really happening. *deep sigh*
[/b]

You see that's why I took time out to warn you off....you'll get to the end of part one and be very intrigued, you'll get to the end of part two and think it's set up nicely and then natrually proceed to the final part and and only then discover that it's just shoddily written tripe. I could critique WHY it's tripe but I'd have to give away some of the *snigger* plot.

Suffice to say that it goes from a story about a sweeping, gargantuan pan-dimensional apocalypse to a story about tiny ickle people flying round on dragonflys and wheeled elephants (I kid you not) and giant anti-social geese and some of the main character develop hitherto un-mentioned super-powers, use them once and then never use them again and then it's not touched upon or explained at any stage.....the things I've mentioned there are just the minor points I haven't even got onto the gaping holes in the plot.

The final part is a load of old tosh...because of it's cool atheist anti-religious themes the Guardian reading, Radio4 listening literati have an 'emporers new clothes' thing about it.

Then again perhaps I just wanted the bear to smash more stuff.....for me the bear didn't smash nearly enough stuff.

Anyway deep breath........

i've just bought The Gunslinger by Stephen King...the first part of the Dark Tower series. Anyone give me a thumbs up or thumbs down.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

Ok, well i finished the first of the northern lights trilogy on holidays and to be quite honest i stuggled to get there. Had it not been cold and raining on the first few days i doubt i would have completed it. Suffice to say i shall not be venturing onto the second book, not any time soon, not at all. But i could have enjoyed it so i'm glad i'm content in the knowledge that i DID read it and didn't enjoy it...rather than not read it and wonder whether i would have enjoyed it.

I also read JPR's autobiography whilst on hols. It was quite a good one, some brilliant stories and he clearly doesn't like the dirty on-field tactics of the all blacks. However, because the man is a surgeon he loves to have a moan about the current state of the NHS. All fair and good, it's his autobiography, why not write about your professional career also? I'll tell you why, becuase the ***le of the book is:

JPR, Given the Breaks: My Life in Rugby.

MY LIFE IN RUGBY!
That was ALL i expected from the book. He is probably my favourite player of all time, but to be honest i couldn't care less about how he would make the NHS better.


But my dad kindly bought me on of Jeremy Clarkson's books recently, 'Born To Be Riled'
Looks entertaining.
I shall probably start that soon.

 

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Ok, well i finished the first of the northern lights trilogy on holidays and to be quite honest i stuggled to get there. Had it not been cold and raining on the first few days i doubt i would have completed it. Suffice to say i shall not be venturing onto the second book, not any time soon, not at all. But i could have enjoyed it so i'm glad i'm content in the knowledge that i DID read it and didn't enjoy it...rather than not read it and wonder whether i would have enjoyed it.
[/b]

In the second book this bloke called Will (I think) is introduced and he stumbles across a gateway into the paralell worlds, Lyra is also moving from world to world trying to catch up with Lord Asriel whilst Mrs. Coulter is chasing her.

It transpires that the universe, with all it's paralell dimensions, is old and corrupt and broken and that dust stuff is being sucked away. A load of old tosh happens, Asriel tries to start a war with God. Lots of bizarre paper-thin characters drop in and out of the story at random and at the end the universe is healed 'cause Lyra and this lad Will have a bit of a fumble in a forest somewhere. Then for some reason they visit hell and almost fall in a big pit...There is lots of other weak crap that happens and lots of potentially intrigueing stuff that almost happens but never does but essentially that's it : Two adolescents getting it on = universe healed.

Kids deserve better really.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

Agreed. I'm sure a person who enjoyed the book would put more of a positive spin on the storyline, but the first book was quite monotonous for me and really didn't spark my imagination.

If you're a kid, i recommend Children Of The Dust.
Stunning book, it'll make you **** yourself about nuclear fall outs forever more. I read it when i was young and i'm still petrified of the idea.

 

[Ripper]

Has anyone read any of the Flashman books by George McDonald Fraser?

I started reading the first in the series by chance after I ran out of other material on holiday, but I now love them.

Very funny and also suprisingly historically researched and accurate, aside from the obviously ficticious.. Adn if you don't know what I'm talking about they are well worth checking out.
[/b]

Funny you should mention that, I just got one of them out at the Library the other day (Flashman on the March) and i'm loving every page of it, definatly a new character to get into now that i've read all the Sharpe novels I can get bar 2 or 3 i'd have to spend a crapload on importing them myself.

Also just finished rereading The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Brysn for the 131367th time - never get tired of that book, even if it is 18 years out of date, need to find myself a copy of his latest book.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

After being a huge fan of the film, i decided to start reading the book day before yesterday: -

CHOPPER

It's a very funny book.
The film clearly managed to capture his humour and the way he saw criminal events very well.

 

[shtove]

I'm reading Imperium by Robert Harris, a fictional biog of the Roman senator Cicero. It's better than his previous novel Pompeii, but not a patch on I, Claudius - doesn't have the sex and *****iness.

I've only just found this thread, so here are responses to early posts:

I once started a Matthew Reilly book (novel?) and put it down with a stunned look on my face. Haven't picked it up since. Isn't he the Australian guy who couldn't get published and went and self-published, like Grisham did in the beginning? I was told that screenwriters for computer games like his style, but ... uuuuh wow, like how crap! And he's sold millions.

The Bronte parents were from Ireland (original name Prunty), and ended up in N England, where the father was a fairly lowly clergyman, I think. So, not a wealthy family. Haven't read WuthrinOits for years - but it is great.

The first half of Great Expectations is brilliant; the second half is sentimental tosh. Hard to compare it to Bleak House - they're very different animals.

Q: Is American Psycho the funniest novel of all time? Loratadine might be into that.

Credibility +ve: I read Don Quixote all the way through and found it funny. And I've never read a Harry Potter book.

Credibility -ve: Jeffrey Archer and Dan Browne are good storytellers, because even though they drag you backwards through fields of shitty prose they still make you want to know what happens next. Actually, Browne is almost unbearable, but Archer knows his stuff.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

Q: Is American Psycho the funniest novel of all time? Loratadine might be into that.
[/b]

:lol:

I know exactly what you mean. You kind of expect the bloke to end up in the papers one day, don't you?
Silly, Lora...

But the film, as f***ed up and entertaining as it is, doesn't leave a scratch on what the book does for me. Genius and disturbing.
An awesome novel.


EDIT: By my estimation we may be closing in on double figures as to how many people on this site read books and enjoy talking about them!

I thought books were becoming more and more popular, evidently the masses are still as book shy as your average blind man.

 

[melon]

At the moment I'm reading:

• Steve Waugh: Out of my Comfort Zone
• Jones Town

The Steve Waugh autobiography is the thickest sporting biography i have ever laid my eyes on....it's absolutly chockers with everything cricket and is a must for cricket fans!

Jones town is a controversial biography written by Chris Masters which is totally frowned upon by Alan Jones. Wonderful read, provides a left hand, bias view...but with and open mind you can really enjoy it.

 

[Wellycane]

Well Im reading Michael King's 'History of New Zealand'.....ummmm and it's good. Not my type but it's compulsory for my studies. As a New Zealander I find it very interesting, I am starting to understand more of the fact how this country is in it's current state.

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

Picked up a couple of novels I had lying around by Robert Llewellyn recently, just so I could read something light and un-work related for a change.

For those of you who don't recognise the name, he is the guy who played Kryten in Red Dwarf. No I'm not making that up and yes he does write novels. Imagine his work in the style of Ben Elton, but slightly less satire, slightly more clear humour.

They aren't classics by any stretch of the imagination, but definately keep you amused right until the end. My favourite has to be Sudden Wealth although The Man of Platform 5 is also very enjoyable; firstly due to the fun of following the progression of the main character, the way class is clearly defined, and secondly because it is one of the few novels I have ever come across which is set in Northampton.

Not exactly a glamourous backdrop (which is probably why the action does shift around a fair bit) but understandable considering Llewellyn grew up in N'hants, and I believe this was his first attempt at writing.

 

[getofmeland]

I am reading Stephen Gerrards Autobiography and getting ready for dare I say it, the final Harry Potter book...

I read the first couple and got hooked...

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

Picked up a couple of novels I had lying around by Robert Llewellyn recently, just so I could read something light and un-work related for a change.

For those of you who don't recognise the name, he is the guy who played Kryten in Red Dwarf. No I'm not making that up and yes he does write novels. Imagine his work in the style of Ben Elton, but slightly less satire, slightly more clear humour.

They aren't classics by any stretch of the imagination, but definately keep you amused right until the end. My favourite has to be Sudden Wealth although The Man of Platform 5 is also very enjoyable; firstly due to the fun of following the progression of the main character, the way class is clearly defined, and secondly because it is one of the few novels I have ever come across which is set in Northampton.

Not exactly a glamourous backdrop (which is probably why the action does shift around a fair bit) but understandable considering Llewellyn grew up in N'hants, and I believe this was his first attempt at writing.
[/b]

You have a welath of knowledge; you are like the fountain of interesting books i should read but have never even heard of.
I await each and every time you post in this topic because if you're not introducing me to a new book, then wtih a lot of understanding of literature and solid intelligence you're reasoning why a book should be enjoyed or disliked - critically and fairly.

See me as your literature stalker. When ever the words "books" and "SFW" are around, I'm just behind, waiting in the wings.
I'm there watching your every move and by god, one day i may become so obsessive that i will end up killing you.
But rest assured, rape has never - and will never - be on my mind...

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

My Dad bought me a really classy-looking hard back version of Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville.

I eagerly anticipate reading this before bed tonight.

No doubt plenty of childish giggles shall arise as the words "Moby-Dick" and "semen" are a prominent feature.

 

[getofmeland]

hehe hehe hehe

he said dick and semen

hehe hehe hehe