Posted August 29, 2009 Catch-22 No words can describe just how awesome this book is, the humor, the gruesomeness in it everything was all pact into this book and made it just that fucking awesome, this book has now gotten me back into reading again Score 9/10 (Highest score I have given to a book) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 29, 2009 Just finished Derren Brown's Tricks of the mind. I'm a big fan of DB and interested in magic and psychology so this was a great read. Very well-written and quite funny in places, comes highly recommended especially if you have any interest in the subjects discussed or if you're doing a psychology course at Uni soon. 9/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7, 2009 Cement Garden: It is interesting to say the least, follows up on three children whose parents died in a short period of time. It has a feeling of dread over it and the ending is a bit of a mindfuck. The novel is only about 120 pages but well worth the read. Also, started reading: "The Good Soldier Svejk", about 80 pages in and it has been good stuff so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 7, 2009 Catch-22 No words can describe just how awesome this book is, the humor, the gruesomeness in it everything was all pact into this book and made it just that fucking awesome, this book has now gotten me back into reading again Score 9/10 (Highest score I have given to a book) co-oincidently, i just finnished it too. i particularly liked how the humour seemed a huge contrast against the horrors that crop up. one of my favorite parts was the scene in italy near the end, it was one of the most vivd imagies ive ever taken from a book. the book made laugh aloud, and brought me close to tears, it seemed at the same time dissjointed and awkward to read, as well as beautifully written. id say thats the major theam i took from the book contrast and obviously contradiction. id give it slightly lower 8/10, simply becasuse i spent so long wandering what was going on. i also recently read Brave new world i loved it, it was so clever, so engrosing, so absorbing. the bleakness of it all, the society thats just the right mix of eutopia and dystopia, the huge sense of lonlyness, it was all so well put together 8/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2009 I'm currently on book 3 of The Dark Tower, called The Waste Lands. Brilliant meeting of fantasy and reality in these riddlesome, journey-tastic, mind-oggling books. There's a total of 7 in the series from what I hear, and knowing I have so much to read ahead of me, knowing how much the direction has changed from book to book, just makes me WET YOUR PANTS AS WELL AS MINE in anticipation. Yum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2009 Catch 22 and Brave New World both rock my world. The former, particularly, is a work ofo incredible genius. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2009 Read Hamlet from start to finish in about 2 or so hours on Tuesday and didn't really take to it. It's not that I don't like it or understand it as I do but I think the way in which I read it meant that some of it just didn't sink in fully. Still, it's another one to tick off on the list of plays to read. Next I've got to read The Duchess of Malfi, which I don't know much about so should be interesting. Must also track down copies of Frankenstein and Dorian Gray as I'll be studying them after xmas so kinda want to get them read early. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2009 Recently. Haruki Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart Quite nice. Didn't rely so much on the 'weird twist' most of his books do, was for the most part just a very grounded story. I quite like Sumire, I'd imagine she'd be fun to be around. Kazou Ishiguro - A Pale View of Hills Randomly picked up from the library. Okay. It was one of those books that while not bad/boring to read it just didn't seem to have much point to it. Kazou Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go In spite of what it may seem I'm not on an Ishiguro bint, it was actually a coincidence. I read Pale... and then as I was reorganising my room found this I bought ages ago. When Dollhouse's concept was first announced people likened it to this and I saw it in a charity shop for £1 ages ago and never got round to it. I like how it drops in little facts about who these people are and what Halisham is about. Rather than build it up and have a "shocking truth!" chapter it just slips things in casually. Again, it didn't grip me but an enjoyable read. Dunno what to read next. Having a 40 minute train ride each way to work means I'm reading a lot more at the moment but may go on a language-learning kick for a while. Run out of new books. Saw some in the Waterstones 3 for 2 ages ago I was going to buy when I got a job but they seem to have cut the line back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2009 Battle Royale Love the movie which made me read the book, I absolutely loved it. Such a pageturner! I could feel the emotion of some of the characters, fantastically written. 9.5/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 8, 2009 I love that I owned that book for 7 years before I read it Bought it when I first saw the movie on Channel 4 but never got round to it, lost it for some time and found it just before I went to Japan. Good book though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) I should get round to reading that Catch 22 thingy. See what all the fuss is about. I'm currently on book 3 of The Dark Tower, called The Waste Lands. Brilliant meeting of fantasy and reality in these riddlesome, journey-tastic, mind-oggling books. There's a total of 7 in the series from what I hear, and knowing I have so much to read ahead of me, knowing how much the direction has changed from book to book, just makes me WET YOUR PANTS AS WELL AS MINE in anticipation. Yum. You ever read/thought abouts the Wheel Of Time series? It sounds similar and is a longer series. A Christmas Carol Watching Muppets Christmas Carol inspired me to reading this, and it might have been my downfall in doing so, because it was easy to imagine Michael Caine as Scrooge, I couldn't stop myself thinking that Tiny Tim was a frog etc. Lots of rambling, and for a classic was alot shorter than I thought it would be, at about 530 DS screens. 7/10 Edited October 13, 2009 by EEVILMURRAY Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2009 Really good. And once the whole shebang becomes clear, it makes you want to go back and wonder if Esther was always like that in the earlier parts of the book. I like how the writing style changes at various points too. The ending is very affecting, when you factor in that Sylvia Plath killed herself a month after this was first published. (That's not a spoiler by the way) 9/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 8, 2009 I've read quite a few books over the past few weeks so... Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews This is utterly brilliant. A must-read. I thought I wouldn't like it but I'm glad I read it. 8/10 Doctor Who: Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Raynor I love Doctor Who and I loved reading this book. Great story, shame it wasn't made into an episode, would have been awesome. 8/10 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K Rowling Such a charming book. Very well written. The story just leaps out of the page. 9.5/10 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling Again, it's very well written and, in my opinion, better than the first book. 9.5/10 ....I'm reading Prisoner of Azkaban now. Then after reading all the Harry Potters, I'm either going to read Alan Carr's, Peter Kay's or (get) Justin Lee Collin's autobiography. Not sure yet. I've read so many autobiographies but the best I've read is Ronnie O'Sullivan at the moment. Any suggestions. Preferably a comedian's autobiography. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 The Possessed My first read of a Fyodor Dostoyevsky book and I must say I am very impressed by the way he writes the story. It was boring for a bit in the book, but every chapter it was like it continued to get better and better and then it sky rockets in a great way, only to suddenly end in a ??? type of way, I really thought there might have been a tiny bit more into the story, but that doesn't matter, it's a great little gem and I glad I had a go at it, every character in that book was so vast and different, yet they all lived so close together. A great classic Russian book and I look forward to reading more of his books. 7/10 The Shack This time I decided to read a modern Christian book for the first time in my life, after some of my friends highly suggested this book. And for the first 50 pages it was...meh...but then it turned into such an awesome great story, I could not put the book down, only took me a week to read it, which even shocked some of my friends who suggested it to me 8/10 I am surprised just how many books I bought during the time I was reading those 2 books, I'll be posting in this thread a lot more soon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 I Love You Beth Cooper Apparently the recent film of this is atrocious, but I enjoyed this book. By the guy who does/wrote/something the Simpsons, and is generally amusing with all it's geeky/pop culture references. And the characters have slight dimension rather than just being plain seretypes etc etc. 7.5/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 Middlemarch George Eliot No-one quite "does" depressing country life quite like her. Well done. :/ It's well-written, but the subjects are painful to read. 7/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 Iun... You... Read the whole thing?! How long did it take you? I think I read about 500 pages before i realised I didn't give a shit about any of the characters, nor could I differentiate between them. I understand it's the epitome of the period, but man it dragged on. (personally I'm about 100 pages from teh end of the 6th book in the Dark Tower series...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 I found Middlemarch incredibly dull. 500 pages? I think I read closer to 5 before I gave up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 how to drive a tank and outher everyday tips for the modern gentleman simply fantastic, well written, amusing, interesting and inspiring. it did have a couple of boring sections, but i love the whole "embrace life" attitude it has. 8/10 better then a self help book, particularly if you want to know how to drive a tank frankenstien bloody hell that was depressing. the start was rather dull but it picked up, 7/10 very well written but just so deppressing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 I have a friend who left it until the night before the deadline to both read Middlemarch and write an essay on it. And I think he managed it, too, though God knows how... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 9, 2009 It's not physically possible to read teh entire book in one night/sitting. Trust me, I tried. I managed 500 pages in about 30 hours (and wrote an essay as well :P) during a 3-day stint to do an essay on this and moonstone and some other book. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2009 M*A*S*H Man is the book waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay different to the series...and in a good way, it didn't take me long to read this book, but most of the way I did laugh at some of the stories that were in it. It was a lot closer to the movie but it still had a couple of different things, I could list all the difference, but that would take too long xD 7/10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 28, 2009 Ecce Homo - Friedrich Nietzsche. This is the funniest book I have read for a long time. An autobiography of sorts, with such chapter titles as "Why I am so great" and "Why I write such good books," gives an inkling of the at times biting facetiousness of the guy. Funny/ very intelligent man. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 31, 2009 jayseven! I missed your posts before about reading the Dark Tower. How goes it? Have you finished the Wastelands and read any further volumes? Wizard and Glass (vol 4) is my personal favourite of the series. There's a ton of other Stephen King stuff that links in with the Dark Tower... incase you are properly addicted to Roland and the ka-tet and want to read more about stuff relating to Mid-World and its characters. I've recently finished two novels that I started ages ago: Lisey's Story by Stephen King I started this one a couple of years ago when it first came out. It was a great read but I was dealing with some personal stuff and it wasn't the right time to read a novel that was all about the loss of a loved one. It had been sitting beside my bed since I got it and this December I felt the time was right to get back into it and see how things were going for Lisey. It was nice to slip back into it and the second half was a good read, bringing things to a nice conclusion. Reading the final page and finishing the book gave me some of my own closure too which is definitely a nice way to have finished off 2009. Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry I bought and started this in summer 2008. I fancied checking out one of Fry's novels and chose this one at random. The way he manipulates the English language in written form is just as delectable as you could imagine! I had about 200 pages left to read and blew threw it last night from midnight onwards. Things reached a nice conclusion but sadly the supernatural goings on were all explained away in the end. Boo! It might seem weird to pick up books after having so long away from them but it works ok for me- not that I always take a year away from novels I'm reading! After a page or two I get nicely back into the flow of things and can remember pretty much everything that has been happening. I got Under the Dome (Stephen King) for Christmas and I'm looking forward to digging into it in 2010. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 1, 2010 Done quite a bit of reading over the Christmas period so... Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling Loved reading it so much, you can really lose yourself in this. 9/10 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling Loved reading this book, brilliant stuff 9/10 Look who it is! Alan Carr: My Story by Alan Carr He's one of my favourite comedians and this book is just hilarious. Recommend to any fans. 8/10 ...and I'm going to start reading Peter Kay's Saturday Night Peter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
