The Book Thread

[Fierce_LiNk]

It really is! Definitely had loads of enjoyment reading it.

 

I definitely recommend, even if you're not an avid reader, which I am not.

[Haver]

I bought Money (Amis) and Ian McEwan's Saturday for the Christmas break.

 

Also a '57 Pelican copy of The Mentality of Apes because it had an awesome bookmark in it advertising a bookshop called 'Bumpus', opening on Baker Street in November 1958.

[Oxigen_Waste]

 

+

 

 

So that's all six books in two.

 

Can anyone tell me if the ones written by Frank Herbert's son after FH's death to give the story closure are any good? Same with the prequels please...

 

So... herm... anyone know?

[ipaul]

I recently finished reading Morvern Callar, found it quite entertaining - 7/10.

[Cube]

I recently re-read His Dark Materials. Awesome books.

[Supergrunch]

I read Atonement... It was brilliant, I give it 9/10. I have yet to see the film.

 

Currently reading Heart of Darkness, The Stuff of Thought, and Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go. (again)

[DomJcg]

<3 maus, weirdly awesome

 

And lirael is the best of the trilogy in in my opinion, second is sabriel and sadly the worst is Abhorsen.

[Hellfire]

I'm reading Star Wars- Path of Destruction and I'm really liking it. As a Star Wars fan I'm finding pretty interesting and the writer is great (he was one of the writers for KOTOR, so it makes sense). I look forward to keep reading Star Wars books.

[knightendo_phil]

I'm currently reading Airframe by Michael Crichton. While I don't realy care about the mechanics of Aeroplanes, it's still drawing me in. Great book so far.

 

That's the great thing about Michael Crichton, subjects that would normally turn me away become incredibly intriguing in his hands. For heaven's sake Jurassic Park was all about cloning and went into great depth about it and chaos theory. In theory (ahem) the book should have been shit - but it was shit hot! My girlfriend got me his book "Next" for Christmas so hopefully get to start it soon.

 

I'm re-reading Nothern Lights in time for the film which comes out in a couple weeks :D:D

 

Wooooooooooooo!!

 

This book is awesome! Just thought i'd get that out there for those of you who are too busy living under a koopa shell to have heard about it.

 

These Northern Lights books are definitely on my wish list, especially after reading on the Wii News Channel about all the hoopla from the church. They sound very interesting, and I'll be holding off on watching the movie until after I've read them.

 

Favourite books of all time (so far) are HG Wells' The War Of The Worlds (still to be made into a movie properly imo) and Peter "Jaws" Benchley's White Shark, which was made into an alright tv movie called Creature. Jaws just happens to be my 2nd fave film of all time, but I thought the novel it was based on was quite trashy! Benchley's other works though are superb, especially since I'm interested in the ocean myself.

 

Recent reads have included David Hasselhoff's Autobiography Making Waves (a light-hearted account of the man's life that is a very enjoyable read, written as if he's right beside you and chatting like he's your best mate), and am currently halfway through "Transformers Premiere Edition". Yes, it's a comic book compilation of two years worth of the new IDW series, but at over 500 pages it's certainly intense and bloody good!

 

Got a good few books for Christmas, Next is... um... next, and Gordon Ramsey's second autobiography too.

[Daft]

Almost finished the first Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell book. So far so good. Its seamlessly written.

[Ashley]

Reading Murakami's 'Norweigan Wood' again as I got it for Christmas. A great kind of drifter book, or just taking life as it goes book. However you want to describe it. Makes me want to visit Japan (which I should hopefully do next summer).

 

Oh and Uni books (currently ones about horror, teen tv and music) which I do find interesting normally, except when assignments are due and they're for an actual purpose.

[The fish]

Currently reading Dawn of the Dumb by Charlie Brooker - it's very, very funny! I highly recommend it, so far.

[welsh_gamer]

Currently reading Dawn of the Dumb by Charlie Brooker - it's very, very funny! I highly recommend it, so far.

 

Tell me more! I've seen that about, but havent picked it up to have a closer lool. It's something to do with zombies no? Is it a diary/spoof/story?

[Supergrunch]

Reading Murakami's 'Norweigan Wood' again as I got it for Christmas. A great kind of drifter book, or just taking life as it goes book. However you want to describe it. Makes me want to visit Japan (which I should hopefully do next summer).

That's a great book... I think it's the only non-surreal novel Murakami has written - he wrote it to prove that he could.

[M-PG71C]

I've read, recently, The Imperium, The Exception, An Inconvenient Book, and The Looming Towers. The first is about Roman politics through the eyes of Cicero's secretary, the second is about micropolitics in the workplace through the perspectives of four different women, the third is about American issues and how to solve them conservatively, and the last is about 9/11.

 

It is funny, I love politics in a sense and I absolutely hate it in another. :P

[Oxigen_Waste]

That's a great book... I think it's the only non-surreal novel Murakami has written - he wrote it to prove that he could.

 

And he sure as fuck proved it. Sublime.

[Charlie]

I'm currently readying "World Without End" by Ken Follett and its the sequel to his masterpiece, "The Pillars of the Earth" (which I personally feel is one of the best books ever written, it really is superb).

 

It's great so far, very similar to TPOTE though, I can see a lot of similarities between the characters in each book (World Without End is set 200 years later, mid-1300s, starts just after the Scottish Wars of Independence). I love books set in times like this, I find all the stuff you learn about ancient life.

 

Those 2 books are well worth a read. Highly recommended.

[gmac]

Jus started reading Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, first in a trilogy of books, pretty good so far.

 

Also just read Steve Martin's autobiography about his time in stand up, it was quite revealing.

[Oxigen_Waste]

Jus started reading Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, first in a trilogy of books, pretty good so far.

 

Also just read Steve Martin's autobiography about his time in stand up, it was quite revealing.

 

There's movies too. Of the first two, so far.

[jayseven]

Just read a couple of books lent to me - Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland and Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

 

Girlfriend is actually a fun read. It spans the lives of six friends after a pair of tragedies affecting other amigos. It is paced in such a way that you don't suddenly jump from a 17 year old kid to a 35 year old man, and it isn't your simple, predictable sentimental romp through how a guy deals with love.

 

Coupland is known to write well aimed books, focused on the youth of today's apathetic yet worrisome views on the world around them. It's not as unwavering as books like fight club or as beautiful as Time Traveller's Wife, but it paints an accurate image of the unquestioning nature of society today, and has a sweet unpredictable nature in the lines. I did feel that it became a little lazy with describing the world that the main characters were plunged into after a certain plot point two-thirds in, but perhaps it's just a personal desire to have heard more about that scenario, but I can admit that the book was different to other similar ones, and certainly an 'easy' and enjoyable read. 7/10

 

Lovely bones - admittedly I still have 15 pages to read, which I shall have finished by the time anyone has read this post - but I think it's fair to say that I get the gist of it. Roughly speaking, the novel is spoken from the omnipotent voice of a girl, viewing from heaven, narrating the unfolding lives of her friends and relatives after being raped and killed in her mid-teens. It was heavily praised in america due to its handy timing -- it was published around 9/11, and also came out shortly before a media-clamouring event that was a girl's kidnapping, and thus got a fair bit of publicity. I found it hugely sentimental from the get go, and largely predictable and, to be fair, up its own arse. It doesn't really seem to attempt any thing too deep, despite its superficial promises. The characters are see-through, and the relationships are, as I said, fairly blatant and obvious. But the charm of the story is in the telling, in the description. There is no doubt that I read it and was able to imagine the neighbourhood it was set in, and the characterised individuals in the story. Perhaps I am missing a helpful chunk of my life that would hugely increase the benefit of the book; Death. I'm lucky enough to have not witnessed or experienced much death at all, and as such I do not have the questions that the book attempts to answer; do the dead watch us? Can they hear us? Is there a heaven?

 

But as I said, it is all too predictable. By taking the easy route, it feels weak. The only area it works hard in is in comforting and pleasing the reader - but there is no challenge in that, and I am sure that when I finish the book I will feel cheated out of several hours worth of reading. Admittedly, my position as a budding creative writer means I've surely learned from the book - the descriptive element, the homely and lived-in world Sebold has written is to be commended, but the dialogue is rarely humerous and usually perceived too heavily-handed to be anywhere near subtle in the aims of the novel. I've got a Marquez book next, and I look forward to it.

 

5/10. It's a lot harder to rate books than it is movies, for in my mind there are a lot more shitty books out there. I don't think Barbara Cartland would even get onto my scale.

 

Starting a new module soon -- will be reading some children's literature Golden Compass, Harry Potter, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and all. No Roald Dahl though... Shocking.

[Daft]

So... herm... anyone know?

 

I've heard mixed things. I'm still half way through Messiah which I put down because of too much work and now I've started reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell so i won't carry that on for a bit.

[Slaggis]

Junk by Melvin Burgess (Has since been renamed "Smack" a couple of years ago)

 

I really enjoyed this book. Really nicely written and some of the characters were brilliant. Really, really recommended.

 

9/10

[Ashley]

Junk by Melvin Burgess (Has since been renamed "Smack" a couple of years ago)

 

I really enjoyed this book. Really nicely written and some of the characters were brilliant. Really, really recommended.

 

9/10

 

I really liked Melvin Burgess' 'Doing It'. A great funny read.

 

And adapted into 'Life As We Know It' which I also liked.

[Jimbob]

I'm currently reading The World According to Clarkson part 2 after an extensive session with finishing the first part of it. So far, it is pretty good but i have only just started it though.

[Slaggis]

I really liked Melvin Burgess' 'Doing It'. A great funny read.

 

And adapted into 'Life As We Know It' which I also liked.

 

Oh, cool. I might try and find that and give it a read. Thanks for the suggestion!