Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
jimmyjimjim said:
Just finished 'The Martian' by Andy Weir.
"Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars."
Highly recommended. I enjoyed it enormously, one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time..
That book is high up my list. It was all told the science ended up telling the story, it sounds like a lot of research went into it. Well promoted too as numerous newspaper websites covered it."Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars."
Highly recommended. I enjoyed it enormously, one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time..
jimmyjimjim said:
"Dear Esther, you're a fat fool and your show's a disgrace."
"Keep up the good work . Here's a fiver."(NB I must shamefacedly report I'm partly reading Wilbur Smith's newest novel "Vicious Circle". My daughter bought it for me for Xmas, having seen early works by him on my bookshelf. I use the word "partly" because I keep putting it down in disgust, and then picking it up again trying to convince myself it can't be that bad. But it is. I know he has a plan to franchise the writing of his novels, but I didn't think he'd started already. It's like a 14-year old had been given the outline of the plot, and left to make up the content.)
Nom de ploom said:
I downloaded a free chapter of Bill Brysons' new tome, however the free chapter was chapter four!!??
oddly for me as I am a big Bryson fan it was pretty uninspiring to be honest.
What in God's name of all things pretentious would lead you to call a Bill Bryson novel a "tome"?oddly for me as I am a big Bryson fan it was pretty uninspiring to be honest.
Laurel Green said:
blindswelledrat said:
I've read all his others but none of them really lived up to Child 44 which was brilliant. Have you read that and if so how does it compare?
Same here. Have read his other books but this one is a tad different being mainly in narrative. The Farm is more a psychological drama and a hard hitting one at that too - one that I'd say will stay with me for some time to come. It's an easy read and quite short at some 350 pages(quite a few being mainly blank). But yes, in its way, worthy as a contender for being as good as Child 44 IMO. It was a decent page-turner, but nothing more really. I felt a bit cheated at the end as it felt a touch contrived and, if the truth be told, I didn't really care by the end.
The thing that didn't work for me was
the mother's story. All the way through it lacked any basis and the 'evidence' she had in her satchel was nothing of the sort. On one hand he portrayed her as astute, sharp and intelligent and the other hand she was stupid enough to think that this bag of trinkets would mean her son would believe her story to be fact
I wanted to like it more because it was interesting, well paced and intriguing but I just though it was average and will definitely not remember this book beyond tomorrow. Child 44 is a brilliant book and this was just another forgettable novel for me.
blindswelledrat said:
Nom de ploom said:
I downloaded a free chapter of Bill Brysons' new tome, however the free chapter was chapter four!!??
oddly for me as I am a big Bryson fan it was pretty uninspiring to be honest.
What in God's name of all things pretentious would lead you to call a Bill Bryson novel a "tome"?oddly for me as I am a big Bryson fan it was pretty uninspiring to be honest.
as penance I'm reading a walk in the woods again. utterly brilliant!
Just finished Bandit Country (IRA in south Armagh), Citizen Quinn (an in depth account of Sean Quinn and his family's rise and all including details of how the family tried to hide the Russian properties from Anglo) and just started Future Of The Mind by Michio Kaku which is absolutely fascinating. I managed to get a signed copy as well.
Just finished "The Gods of Guilt" by Michael Connolly and a fine read it was too and would make for fine holiday relaxation. I have so many to catch up on but am moving on to "You'll never find me" by Robert Wilson and it looks to be another in the same old detective genre of a divorced loner looking for his daughter. I'll let you know.
Xaero said:
i just finished reading my first biography:
It was interesting but seemed to get repetitive at the end. It was balanced showing the 2 sides of Jobs, and well written, but not quite as gripping as a good novel. I got bored half way through and took a month away from it as reading about the same person for the length of this book is a bit much. I heard good things about Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin biography so might read that at a later date though to judge him and my opinions on biographies further.
There are only a few insights into Jobs' thinking so if you want to learn about the way he worked/thought, it's probably best to read something else on him instead.
I've no interest in biographies - though I hear Bernie Ecc is an eye opener I'm more into thrillers especially the ones with lots of depravity I like a smart story with many story lines intertwined and that you don't really know until the end of the book. It was interesting but seemed to get repetitive at the end. It was balanced showing the 2 sides of Jobs, and well written, but not quite as gripping as a good novel. I got bored half way through and took a month away from it as reading about the same person for the length of this book is a bit much. I heard good things about Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin biography so might read that at a later date though to judge him and my opinions on biographies further.
There are only a few insights into Jobs' thinking so if you want to learn about the way he worked/thought, it's probably best to read something else on him instead.
t Sherlock? We'd never have guessed that 
Welshbeef said:
I've no interest in biographies
They never featured heavily for me, but then (a long time ago) I read David Niven's books. And because they were the opposite of "look at me, look at me " I took a fresh view on biography and auto biography completely - but biographies are a difficult one. Someone's own story is good - someone else's take on a story is ... Dubious ... At best.Welshbeef said:
I've no interest in biographies
They never featured heavily for me, but then (a long time ago) I read David Niven's books. And because they were the opposite of "look at me, look at me " I took a fresh view on biography and auto biography completely - but biographies are a difficult one. Someone's own story is good - someone else's take on a story is ... Dubious ... At best.
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