Books - What are you reading?

Books - What are you reading?

Author
Discussion

LordGrover

33,531 posts

211 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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Best of luck.
It's not worth it. Stop while you still have the will to live.

Pixel Pusher

10,188 posts

158 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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laugh

I'm only on the foreword and you're right!


AstonZagato

12,649 posts

209 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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The Hobbit is a great little book. Lord of the Rings is overblown, self-important tosh.

Laurel Green

30,770 posts

231 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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Prolex-UK said:
Just finished the burning room by Michael Connelly an excellent read with Bosch in fine form
I thoroughly enjoyed it too.

I do hope there is more on Harry Bosch to come.

King Herald

23,501 posts

215 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Just finished Ken Follets 'Century trilogy', a massive read, but well worth it.

I've never been a history buff but these books make it an interesting way to catch up on a lot of stuff I never quite absorbed at school.

Abagnale

366 posts

113 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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On the subject of the The Martian, I would have loved it if Mark Watney had come across The Beagle lander on his trip to the MAV. Oh, so that's where that ended up!

FiF

43,959 posts

250 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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John Steinbeck - Travels with Charley


Not for the first time either.


Why have I missed this thread for so long. Some good books on it worth investigating, and to be fair some dross only fit for the skip. But then we're all different.

blindswelledrat

25,257 posts

231 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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ascayman said:
ali_kat said:
LordGrover said:
blindswelledrat said:
I am Pilgrim.

Best thriller I have read in ages. Thoroughly recommend it.
£1.49 on kindle.
Purchased in October, read last week - very good biggrin
I am struggling with this am halfway through it and just cant get into it.
Its 800 pages long and a superficial thriller. If you aren't 'into' it by now I would recommend you put it down!

blindswelledrat

25,257 posts

231 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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FiF said:
John Steinbeck - Travels with Charley
.
He's my favourite author and I have read all of his books except that one. I own it and I keep looking at it, and can never muster the enthusiasm to read it. Is it any good?

FiF

43,959 posts

250 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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blindswelledrat said:
FiF said:
John Steinbeck - Travels with Charley
.
He's my favourite author and I have read all of his books except that one. I own it and I keep looking at it, and can never muster the enthusiasm to read it. Is it any good?
I like travel books and in particular those covering road trips so it has a head start. Considering it's an ambition when he's older to somehow, but God knows exactly how, take our Golden Retriever puppy Charley on a road trip in a camper round the US then I may not be the most impartial of reviewer.

But seeing as he's interacting with 'normal' Americans and seeing if the America he writes about is anything like the reality it's an antidote to the film and
television fantasy.

Seeing as you're a fan it should be interesting at a min. You may of course not enjoy it.

Not much help, sorry about that, but books are personal.



Legend83

9,947 posts

221 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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King Herald said:
Just finished Ken Follets 'Century trilogy', a massive read, but well worth it.

I've never been a history buff but these books make it an interesting way to catch up on a lot of stuff I never quite absorbed at school.
Wading through Fall of Giants at the moment. Studied the Russian Revolution at school so interesting to refresh my memory of interesting events.

It's a decent book but I do find he shoe-horns his historical facts into the narrative with very little subtlety. This wasn't so evident in Pillars of the Earth.

blindswelledrat

25,257 posts

231 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Legend83 said:
King Herald said:
Just finished Ken Follets 'Century trilogy', a massive read, but well worth it.

I've never been a history buff but these books make it an interesting way to catch up on a lot of stuff I never quite absorbed at school.
Wading through Fall of Giants at the moment. Studied the Russian Revolution at school so interesting to refresh my memory of interesting events.

It's a decent book but I do find he shoe-horns his historical facts into the narrative with very little subtlety. This wasn't so evident in Pillars of the Earth.
Which order is the trilogy in?
Amazon is crap for that. You can easily buy a random book without even knowing it is part of a series, but even when you do, like this one, it does not say anywhere in the description which part of the trilogy is. I noticed the same reading the Wilbur Smith series

Legend83

9,947 posts

221 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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blindswelledrat said:
Which order is the trilogy in?
Amazon is crap for that. You can easily buy a random book without even knowing it is part of a series, but even when you do, like this one, it does not say anywhere in the description which part of the trilogy is. I noticed the same reading the Wilbur Smith series
Fall of Giants
Winter of the World
Edge of Eternity

I would recommend Fall of Giants, it gives a really interesting "grass-roots" perspective of various societies in the early 1900s.

Follett also likes to give the impression people were fking left, right and centre!

P.s. don't read the synopsis of the second or third book as they include character spoilers from the first book!

jbudgie

8,841 posts

211 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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blindswelledrat said:
ascayman said:
ali_kat said:
LordGrover said:
blindswelledrat said:
I am Pilgrim.

Best thriller I have read in ages. Thoroughly recommend it.
£1.49 on kindle.
Purchased in October, read last week - very good biggrin
I am struggling with this am halfway through it and just cant get into it.
Its 800 pages long and a superficial thriller. If you aren't 'into' it by now I would recommend you put it down!
Keep going, it's worth it --great book .



MagneticMeerkat

1,763 posts

204 months

Saturday 22nd November 2014
quotequote all
blindswelledrat said:
ascayman said:
ali_kat said:
LordGrover said:
blindswelledrat said:
I am Pilgrim.

Best thriller I have read in ages. Thoroughly recommend it.
£1.49 on kindle.
Purchased in October, read last week - very good biggrin
I am struggling with this am halfway through it and just cant get into it.
Its 800 pages long and a superficial thriller. If you aren't 'into' it by now I would recommend you put it down!
I've read a few pages of a discarded copy of 'I Am Pilgrim'. It is very favourably reviewed but I can only summarise the experience as being similar to reading the instruction manual for a domestic appliance I don't own. Functionally it works, in that the text gets the salient points across, but I didn't really have any interest in those points. It was impossible to develop any kind of emotional bond with the story, as it just came across as a list of things happening.

King Herald

23,501 posts

215 months

Sunday 23rd November 2014
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Legend83 said:
Wading through Fall of Giants at the moment. Studied the Russian Revolution at school so interesting to refresh my memory of interesting events.

It's a decent book but I do find he shoe-horns his historical facts into the narrative with very little subtlety. This wasn't so evident in Pillars of the Earth.
Yes, the politics did take some following, relentless minor details, names, dates etc. I struggled, but it was worth it.

K50 DEL

9,227 posts

227 months

Sunday 23rd November 2014
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Started the first book (The Hunter) by new author Tom Wood over the weekend (I'm a little late to the party as the second is already released)
A great read so far, crime / political thriller that's fast paced with a good number of twists.

Recommended at the moment.

ali_kat

31,988 posts

220 months

Sunday 23rd November 2014
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ascayman said:
I am struggling with this am halfway through it and just cant get into it.
I had to persevere with it, did get a bit boring in the middle

g3org3y

20,606 posts

190 months

Sunday 23rd November 2014
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g3org3y said:
blindswelledrat said:
hehe I hated that book an indescribable amount. Just a.n.other in a series of attention seeking "Oooo, look at me. I was a drug addict and now I'm not" books.
Hated him, hated his story, hated the amount of times he repeated the mantra that he didn't expect sympathy (as if anyone might give him any?) and hated anyone I knew who liked it.
biggrin

We'll see how it goes. I quite enjoy drug related literature.
You were right. frown Once he got to rehab it all went downhill.

Such a dislikeable protagonist. Moan. Moan. Moan.

I don't think the author could have included any more clichés in the dialogue between the protagonist and his beloved Lily. You could skip pages of st chat and miss nothing.

Oh, and the ending was bks too.


colonel c

7,888 posts

238 months

Sunday 23rd November 2014
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Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment.
I had some difficulty in getting into Pratchett. Only after listening to a couple of audio books have I been able to pick up a printed copy again. Loving every page now.




Edited by colonel c on Monday 24th November 08:22