Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
James Lee Burke; The Light of the World.
I was full of praise for "Creole Belle" since it was easy to read and descriptive. I didn't previously know the author it must be said. Now though, at 1/3 of the way through the new book, I see but a copy of the last tome and feel I know him like the back of my hand. I never knew that Mr. Robichaux and his mate had as many enemies nor that America had so many escaped mass murderers. Déjà vu comes to mind.
I was full of praise for "Creole Belle" since it was easy to read and descriptive. I didn't previously know the author it must be said. Now though, at 1/3 of the way through the new book, I see but a copy of the last tome and feel I know him like the back of my hand. I never knew that Mr. Robichaux and his mate had as many enemies nor that America had so many escaped mass murderers. Déjà vu comes to mind.
I've never really got on wiht JLB stuff - just not really my kind of thing.
Currently reading "Knees up mother earth" by Robert Rankin, which is also not my kind of thing but I'll soldier on until the end. Part of a batch I bought from a local warehouse clearance so getting to the dregs now.
Currently reading "Knees up mother earth" by Robert Rankin, which is also not my kind of thing but I'll soldier on until the end. Part of a batch I bought from a local warehouse clearance so getting to the dregs now.
Just finished The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings - a brilliantly vivid story with great characters. As I read it I thought to myself, this would be ripe for a film translation.
Just started Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien. It's heavy going with many nautical terms but the under-current of humour and great characters are keeping with it.
Just started Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien. It's heavy going with many nautical terms but the under-current of humour and great characters are keeping with it.
torqueofthedevil said:
Finished The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo. A decent adventure. Gets a bit daft.
7/10
I loved that book. Its intriguing, different and wonderfully atmospheric. I cant even remember the exact storyline, I just remember how absorbed I became in what felt like almost a grown-up childrens book7/10
blindswelledrat said:
torqueofthedevil said:
Finished The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo. A decent adventure. Gets a bit daft.
7/10
I loved that book. Its intriguing, different and wonderfully atmospheric. I cant even remember the exact storyline, I just remember how absorbed I became in what felt like almost a grown-up childrens book7/10
It reminded me of The Celestine Prophesy both the good points and the bad.
Welshbeef said:
Lynwood Barclay - a tap on the window.
I've read a number of his books and have enjoyed then all good thrillers.
Should finish this within a few days and so far its a 4 out of 5.
I've read that, I think, though a lot of his are pretty similar. "Trust your eyes" was good, a bit away from the "massive deep secret you knew nothing about" that most of his novels revolve around.I've read a number of his books and have enjoyed then all good thrillers.
Should finish this within a few days and so far its a 4 out of 5.
Not necessarily bad for that, well written and keep me turning the pages, but often quite predictable.
Welshbeef said:
Lynwood Barclay - a tap on the window.
I've read a number of his books and have enjoyed then all good thrillers.
Should finish this within a few days and so far its a 4 out of 5.
Agreed generally although I think Tap on the Window is the worst one of the lot . Not particularly thrilling or page-turning.I've read a number of his books and have enjoyed then all good thrillers.
Should finish this within a few days and so far its a 4 out of 5.
FOr me it was only a 2.5 at most and a number of times I couldn't even be bothered to pick it up. A far cry from some of his earlier ones that made me resent having to go to sleep at night
I've got a few on the go at the minute.
Capital by Thomas Piketty - God knows why, probably just to see what all the fuss was about. Tough slog, some interesting stuff, mostly as dull as you'd expect a book on economics to be. Will be glad when I'm done with it but it's interesting enough that I want to see it out and draw some further conclusions about it.
The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson - WW2 non-fiction, the 3rd of his trilogy. Not exactly light reading, but fantastic. Especially like that throughout the three books he balances praise where it's due with bluntly pointing out some of the less brilliant decisions made by senior ranks on all sides.
Poking a Dead Frog - conversations with comedy writers by Mike Sacks. I just started this last night as I fancied something lighter. So far it's pretty good, an insight into behind the scenes of comedy shows and the like.
Not sure what to try next. The missus has literally thousands of books so I'll probably just pull something at random from the shelves and dive in. Quite fancy revisiting some Douglas Adams.
Capital by Thomas Piketty - God knows why, probably just to see what all the fuss was about. Tough slog, some interesting stuff, mostly as dull as you'd expect a book on economics to be. Will be glad when I'm done with it but it's interesting enough that I want to see it out and draw some further conclusions about it.
The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson - WW2 non-fiction, the 3rd of his trilogy. Not exactly light reading, but fantastic. Especially like that throughout the three books he balances praise where it's due with bluntly pointing out some of the less brilliant decisions made by senior ranks on all sides.
Poking a Dead Frog - conversations with comedy writers by Mike Sacks. I just started this last night as I fancied something lighter. So far it's pretty good, an insight into behind the scenes of comedy shows and the like.
Not sure what to try next. The missus has literally thousands of books so I'll probably just pull something at random from the shelves and dive in. Quite fancy revisiting some Douglas Adams.
Reading the 4th book in the Otori saga set in ancient feudal japan. I always knew it was written by a foreigner (I.e. Non Japanese), and assumed maybe a grandparent of Japanese origin, but having just clicked the wiki link on the authors name, I'm gob smacked!
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Otori
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Otori
King Herald said:
Believe it or not, but I just picked up a copy of George Bests biography: Blessed, in the ships library. I scoffed at first, as I'm a total non-soccer fan, but thought I'd give it a go.
About 60 pages in and it is fairly interesting so far.
Funnily enough I read this a few years back, and like you as a completely non-football fan I really enjoyed the book.About 60 pages in and it is fairly interesting so far.
5potTurbo said:
If anyone likes historical fiction like Sharpe, my cousin, Michael Arnold, has a series of books out. They're best sellers. 
I almost picked up one of his books recently. I will give them a go.While I wait for the next Ken Follett "Century" book to arrive I've started reading "Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera" by Rex Brown.
With a lot of these bands who split I'm expecting a biased view but I've always loved Pantera so we shall see.
D-Day, Stephen Ambrose. Very well written, I like they way he spends a reasonable amount of time on the build up, and then works through all the different units/locations, so there's a couple of chapters on the airborne units in the night, then sections on each of the beaches, with loads of individuals stories not just the big picture.
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