Read any good books lately?

[schmenke]

I'm not much into the "classics", but I did just finish off Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls. Athough I was pleasently surprised, I did feel that I was now in need of some less dramatic literature :D , so I'm now reading Talk To The Hand by Lynne Truss :D

Anyone have any other recommended reading?

[janneppi]

I just read Tom Clancy's Bear and the dragon, kids don't read it, it's bad. :)
Today i started reading Anthony Beevor's book about the Spanish civil war, if it's anything like his Stalingrad or Berlin 1945, i'll be happy.

[schmenke]

I just read Tom Clancy's Bear and the dragon, kids don't read it, it's bad...

I read that a while back. Although not Clancy's best, it wasn't all that bad.

[Caroline]

Have read some good books lately and am currently reading a great one! I have joined a reading circle, that was formed by a colleague of mine and we have been introduced to some good stuff.

My book at the mo is 'My trip to Lhasa' by Alexandra David-Neel, and extraordinary well heeled woman who turned her back on Parisien society way back in the early 1900s to travel to the East and become spiritually aware. She travelled alone and was determined in everything she did, even learning Tibetan. It's great. As for fiction, I have just been introduced to historical fiction and the work of Phillipa Gregory. Read 'The virgin's lover' about Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. Was surprisingly good. My taste is pretty varied!

[LotusElise]

At the moment I'm reading We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I'm not that far into it yet but it is very fascinating up to now.

[Ian McC]

No, but have a real backlog of books to read :s

Including titles by Bear, Baxter, Donaldson and Hamilton

Can't beat a good bit of sci-fi or fantasy :D

[jim mcglinchey]

I had nothing of my own left so she gave me one of hers to try. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris.It was a bit more challenging than my usual fare but I enjoyed it. Prior to that I read Killing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill, now that was more my cup of tea.

[wacked]

just started reading Paulo Coelho's - The Pilgrimage..

[fandango]

Have read some good books lately and am currently reading a great one! I have joined a reading circle, that was formed by a colleague of mine and we have been introduced to some good stuff.

My book at the mo is 'My trip to Lhasa' by Alexandra David-Neel, and extraordinary well heeled woman who turned her back on Parisien society way back in the early 1900s to travel to the East and become spiritually aware. She travelled alone and was determined in everything she did, even learning Tibetan. It's great. As for fiction, I have just been introduced to historical fiction and the work of Phillipa Gregory. Read 'The virgin's lover' about Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. Was surprisingly good. My taste is pretty varied!


Now this is the kind of post I like in a book thread. Can I ask everyone to try and say something (a line or two) about the book the mention, just to get an idea, please?

I recently finished American Tabloid, by James Ellroy. It's historically-based fiction, about the late fifties US up to the (first) Kennedy assassination. Very good, but very dense, lots of characters and double-dealing.

[schmenke]

Sorry Fandango, you're absolutely right :)

Talk To The Hand, written by the same author as Eats Shoots and Leaves, is a tongue-in-cheek look at the degredation of manners in today's society.

[Quattroporte]

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Fantastic reading, looking right back to the big bang and telling the story from there in an easy to understand and enjoyable manner.

[Gannex]

I strongly recommend "Mao: The Untold Story", by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. It is a detailed account of Mao's life and times which is grimly fascinating and keeps you constantly amazed at how utterly evil Mao was, and how awful life was for the people of China as a result of Mao's power. It's 800 pages, but I learned more about human nature and naked power politics and history from those 800 pages than from my entire career as a student.

"Snobs", by Julian Fellowes, is gossipy entertainment which you can read in a couple of evenings. I enjoyed it enormously. It tells of a world I didn't know still existed: the social lives of the English aristocracy, where mothers worry about whether their daughter's fiance's baronetcy dates back more than a paltry century or two, or where the height of excitement is being invited to a weekend shooting on a country estate. I felt, as I read, that I was peeking into a secret world of privilege, hangers-on, and social climbers. All very amusing, a bit like watching Big Brother where all the housemates are toffs.

Schmenke, I did what you did: decided to read a classic, so recently waded through "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. What an awful book! Why this is considered great literature, I cannot imagine. It was very short, but I just could not manage more than a couple of pages at a time without putting it down, so it took me forever to finish that book. I wish I hadn't bothered. As to what the book is about, I still have no idea. The author never got around to telling me that.

My other recent attempt at a classic was much more successful: "Barchester Towers", by Anthony Trollope. I read this because I am intrigued by politics, and I had been told that Trollope's novels about political life in Victorian England are very perceptive and enlightening. How right that is. After reading this book, you will feel that you have actually lived in an English provincial town in the 1850's, watching the locals jockeying for position and respectability, understanding it all.

[jim mcglinchey]

I read that book last year and your right its brilliant. its absolutely packed with stuff that you did nt know and it covers so many areas.

Heres a snippet from the section on exploitation of the seas

In the New England fisheries off Rhode Island it was once routine to haul in lobsters weighing 9 kilos. Sometimes they reached over 13 kilos. Left unmolested lobsters can live for decades- as much as 70 years, it is thought- and they never stop growing. Nowadays few lobsters weigh more than 1 kilo on capture.

[edv]

I just returned from southern Arizona yesterday, where I curled up with a melodramatic tome titled The Amazing Story Of The Fabulous Medjool Date, which related in excruciating and vivid detail the saving of this date species from the brink of extinction almost 100 yrs ago. It also talked about interesting tools.

As for The Classics, I have tried 3 or 4 times over the last 10 years to read Paradise Lost by Milton, with little success, partly due to books like the aforementioned Bryson book, which I could not put down due to its obvious nod to the instant-gratification generation.

[Storm]

Currently half-way through Bill Bryson's A short history of nearly everything. Its basically about most things from the start of Life to the earth , geology, chemistry... a bit of everything like the title says, plus plenty of anecdotes and brief summaries of famous inventors/scientists etc,

Since I am always fascinated by science and the cosmos, I would recommend it to anybody who appreciates learning more about our lovely blue earth and the universe as well - plus point is its written in quite simple terms..

Nothing like super string theories like Mr Hawking in this one :dozey:


Opps just read Quattroporte and the following responses about the same book! :up:

Also read in the last week another amazing book (it is rather a book of photos with only some text and descriptions but if you see it anywhere please have a look at it in the shop atleast !!)

Gaudí - Una introducción a su arquitectura
The photos of all the works of Antoni Gaudí are stunning and makes me want to go to Barcelona even more than before :eek:

off topic but fandango: you are a lucky bugger to be living in that city I tell you ....have you seen many of his works? Casa Battló , La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell look amazing, can only guess how they are in real life :o

[janneppi]

I read that a while back. Although not Clancy's best, it wasn't all that bad.
Yes it is. :)
There was 300 pages of Clancys own political opinions, 300 pages of the normal build up and only 200 pages of the actual fighting. I don't mind the one dimensional characters too much either unless they are in the first group i mentioned.
All his "President books" have the same fault, he's just preaching instead of telling a story.

[LotusElise]

At the moment I'm reading We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I'm not that far into it yet but it is very fascinating up to now.

We Need To Talk About Kevin is about a woman whose son has committed a high school massacre in the States. It tells the story of how the atrocity came to happen through a long series of letters to the woman's (estranged) husband.

[Caroline]

I had nothing of my own left so she gave me one of hers to try. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris.It was a bit more challenging than my usual fare but I enjoyed it.

Gentleman and Players is my next book. Heard mixed reviews about it which of course makes me even more curious.

Bill Bryson is great. A good balance of humour and fact. His travel books are hilarious (Down Under wasn't his best tbh) but 'Neither here nor there' had me in stitches. Worth checking him out :)

[gadjo_dilo]

I've read a book of a romanian journalist, "The guide of thick skin".

A bitter ironic book about how to behave to put out your fellows and about the main characteristics of the carpathian thick skin. Because the thick skin has become a ubique and aggressive presence without whom the daily living is impossible.
Anyway, the book is not addressed to the ones who aim to become thick skins but to those who already are but have to "improve" their style.

Reading it I had the strange feeling that the author had met my work colleagues. :laugh:

[Drew]

I've never been much of a reader. But I have to read a book in Spanish, then write a report on it. Could any Spaniard (or spanish speaker) recommend me a good (short and easy ;) ) book to read?

[harsha]

well reading -Manchester United Ruined my life by Colin Shindler i think,pretty good

[jim mcglinchey]

[quote="Caroline"]Gentleman and Players is my next book. Heard mixed reviews about it which of course makes me even more curious.

Theres a great twist at the end but I wont spoil it for you. Quoth I to the wife one night " Im 350 pages into this book and nothing much has happened yet, Killing ground on Okinawa, the battle for sugar loaf hill it aint " " Oh, you mean you havent come to the bit where...." and she proceeds to spoil the story. But I read on and enjoyed the end nonetheless.

[GruppoB]

Highly recommend a book called "Pirate Hunter" by Richard Zacks

It was recommended to me by a docent who worked at the Boston Naval Shipyard

Its a fascinating account on the life of Capt Kidd and how history has railroading the man to be forever known as a pirate when in truth he was an honest privateer and when his contract ran all the way back to the king. He was hung out to dry.

Also all the books by Cornelius Ryan "A Bridge Too Far" "The Longest Day" "The Last Battle" The difference between Ryan and so many other authors is that he was a combat journalist during the war and after interviewed every one involved in the story from generals to soldiers to civilians. He weaves them together into a story that is so fantastic it could only be fiction but its all the truth.

[akv89]

I really enjoyed reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving recently. It's the story of a really short person who thinks he is the messenger of God and in a way turns out to be one.
Joseph Heller's Catch-22, the tragic comedy about a bombardier in World War II, was one of the best (if not the best) books I ever read.

[schmenke]

I really enjoyed reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving recently. It's the story of a really short person who thinks he is the messenger of God and in a way turns out to be one...

A book about Tom Cruise? :cornfused:

[donKey jote]

Just finished The End of Faith by Sam Harris, about religion, terror and the future of reason - linking terror throughout the centuries with religious faith of all sorts. Bit disappointed in it to be honest, as I was expecting more of a reasoning about a future without Faith than a rant about the inquisition, "islamic terror", and how we are too tolerant about religious beliefs. Bit like reading 300 pages of Fousto and Eki (combined into one!) in the infamous threads - fun at times but never quite gets to the point. :p :

My next book is 6 Impossible things before breakfast - I'll post again in a couple of donkey's to let you know what it's about :D
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

[tannat]

Just finished "For Your Eyes Only" by Fleming. Read it for the umpteenth time...


Great way to get introduced to Fleming as it contains 5 short stories rather than a single full length, and no, it' s nothing like the movie.

It's a quick read, and a good read. Highly recommended :up:

[Hawkmoon]

I'm currently on Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. It's not as funny as some of the other Discworld novels but has a really interesting take on formal religions. All coloured with Pratchett's weird humour ofcourse.

[Skid Marx]

If you like the military techno-thriller genre (a la Tom Clancy), all of Dale Brown's books are excellent. The series contains a good regular, recurring cast of characters; I just recently finished The Tin Man and am reading Battle Born right now. Dale Brown knows his stuff!

[gadjo_dilo]

I've never been much of a reader. But I have to read a book in Spanish, then write a report on it. Could any Spaniard (or spanish speaker) recommend me a good (short and easy ;) ) book to read?

Without being spaniard or spanish speaker I hardly recommend " Elogio a la madastra " by Mario Vargas Llosa. It's very short and one of the most refined erotic novels. More than that, you may read it in english cos the author is famous and I'm sure you'll find an english edition and then write the report in spanish.

[schmenke]

If you like the military techno-thriller genre (a la Tom Clancy), all of Dale Brown's books are excellent. The series contains a good regular, recurring cast of characters; I just recently finished The Tin Man and am reading Battle Born right now. Dale Brown knows his stuff!

Yeah, I've read a couple of his novels, but I enjoy Stephen Coonts even more :up:

[EuroTroll]

Read Russian literature as well, my good folks, as the Russians - although generally a savage and barbarious race - are capable of true cultural greatness.

And Dostoyevski was the best of them. I just finished "The Brothers Karamazov" and it's truly brilliant. Just as "The Idiot" and "Crime and Punishment" are.

[tintin]

Gentleman and Players is my next book. Heard mixed reviews about it which of course makes me even more curious.




Theres a great twist at the end but I wont spoil it for you.

Gentlemen & Players is very good - quite unlike anything else she's written.
...And as Jim says, there's a great twist at the end. Well actually there are two.




At the moment I'm reading We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. I'm not that far into it yet but it is very fascinating up to now.


Again, it has a twist at the end - although it's quite predictable.


I've just finished reading "The Greatest Man In Cedar Hole" which was OK but didn't develop the main characters in anywhere near enough detail.

Not sure what's next.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I recently read 'Jenks: A Passion for Motorsport', a collection of writings by the famous motor racing journalist Denis Jenkinson. It's a fabulous book, and I would recommend it to anybody with an interest in motorsport or european touring.

[stevie_gerrard]

I tell you what a good book is

Steven Gerrards Autobiography ;) :laugh:

Also Liseys Story by Stephen King, awesome new book, very good :up:

[viper_man]

I was about to post the same stevie. Even for non football or Liverpool fans Gerrards autobiography is a fantastic read.

Finished 'Sandstorm' by James Rollins the other day, stunning read, action packed from start to finish.

Not decided what to read next!

[wedge]

Schmenke, I did what you did: decided to read a classic, so recently waded through "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. What an awful book! Why this is considered great literature, I cannot imagine. It was very short, but I just could not manage more than a couple of pages at a time without putting it down, so it took me forever to finish that book. I wish I hadn't bothered. As to what the book is about, I still have no idea. The author never got around to telling me that.

Apocalypse Now (one of my fave all-time movies) was based on that book.

Its to do with neo-conservatism (before the term was ever invented), colonialism, the nature of evil and power corrupting the soul - all represented by Kurtz.

Admittedly, its no where near the likes of To Kill a Mockingbird. If I hadn't seen Apocalypse Now, I too would never had fully appreciated Heart of Darkness.

I've just finished a couple of Andy McNab's novels. They seem to be going downhill quickly, didn't enjoy them unlike his previous stuff.

Now reading The Godfather - the Lost Years. This currently crap. Can't wait to finish this.

On my TO READ PILE:

John Peel's Biograpy
Nick Hornby - Long Way Down
Jack Kerouac - On The Road
Truman Capote - In Cold Blood

[CarlMetro]

Recently read Terry Pratchett's The Truth, which is certainly one of the better Discworld novels. It had me laughing out loud several times.

I also finished Man and Boy by Tony Parsons last week. I'm not ashamed to say that it made me cry several times, and laugh out loud too. It's a truely compelling book which I found very easy to read and difficult to put down.

Next on the list for me is I Know You Got Soul by Jeremy Clarkson.

[Loobylou]

Read that a while ago, it really is good Carl. :)

Read two Thomas Harris books on Saturday, Silence of the Lambs & Hannibal. Not read either for years so throughly enjoyed them.

Need to get hold of Red Dragon & Hannibal Rising now. :D

[donKey jote]

I'm currently on Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. It's not as funny as some of the other Discworld novels but has a really interesting take on formal religions. All coloured with Pratchett's weird humour ofcourse.

:up: nice one Hawkmoon, I thoroughly enjoyed it :D

Which would you recommend for a donkey's next Discworld, The Truth maybe ?

I'll look at the pics in The God Delusion in the meantime :)

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

[CarlMetro]

THe Truth is an excellent Discworld novel :up: I liked it a lot when I read it last year

[tannat]

From Russia with Love-Fleming

Fab thriller by England's second greatest author :D

[LeonBrooke]

I'm reading a book at the moment called How to Survive a Robot Uprising. It's a fascinating insight into survival techniques that we'll all need in the near future.