I am reading "The last hero" at the moment. After rading the Colour of Magic in gr 8, I realized it was the funniest, most humorous fantasy series I have read to date...and it made sense. Trust me, I've read alot of fanstasy. My school library had 2 full shelves of fantasy, and I was through them by the end of gr 11. I didnt get all those 50's and 60's for nothing you know.
Read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde the other day. The message was interesting, but I felt Wilde should have expanded on it a bit more.
Haven't read Dorian Grey before, always mean to but never get around to it. Currently working on more Lovecraft shorts. This may be blasphemy to some, but I've found most of his work to be highly deserving of its original amateur/pulp publication, but a few of these are utter gems. I found myself suddenly 20 years younger last night, and having to dash the whole way from the bathroom to bed after reading the next to last page of The Unnamable. Course, HP being HP, he should have stopped it two or three paragraphs earlier...
I am curently reading endangered speices which is a superb colection of SciFi/Fantasy short stories by Gene Wolf.
For school I had to read Things Fall Apart, the Awakening, East of Eden, and Othello. Ahhh, school books.
I'm reading Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. Quite hard for a nonnative english reader. And I'm reading Philip Roth's the Ploth Against America, which is an interesting read so far.
I just finished The God of Small Things by A. Roi. A beautiful and sad story, written in a style very new to me. Just thinking about it makes me want to read it again I'm currently reading The Bookseller of Kabul by A. seierstad, so far so good.
I'm ashamed to say I have still not finished Good Omens...It's taken me over a week and I am only half way through...I am almost finished Hex's but have been adding lots of nice comments to prove it
I'm reading 'A Rock and a Hard Place' it's quite harrowing in parts, but also quite upbeat in others. Always moving though.
I'm reading the truth by pTerry of course. I finally finished Angels and Demons and Digital fortress. I still haven't got deception point back off one of my friends :? she's a slow reader. So I'm reading The Truth wile I'm waiting
Thank you I'm looking forward to Thud! Immensly. But until it arrives I am re-reading The Fifth Elephant, justs because I can. I have all my old books from London now, so I need to finish unpacking them and figure out what to read next
This is a really nice long story, and if you haven't read it it's worth a look. I thought the message came across well enough though.
Definitely worth picking up, it's a pretty quick read too. The core message comes across very well, but I felt that the underlying message (beauty is innocence and even something wholly untainted by society) didn't come across that strong.
I read "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini last week. Last night I re-read "Monstrous Regiment". I've got to get to the bookstore or library this afternoon.
I just finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. It is better than the Da Vinci Code (but then, so are the yellow pages). Overall it is still overlong, and textbook 'look at me, bet you didn't see that one coming, did ya?'
Is the first one of his any good? I started reading it, got to about the second chapter, put it down and forgot about it. I was just wondering because most of the poeple I know wo have read it aren't the best for recomendations (in other words my one friend who has read it, has not read anything else since it came out - except re-read it)
The first one starts out as a ripoff of Tolkien. About halfway through, he starts to find his own pattern. I enjoyed it. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it was very good, especially for someone his age. I read a review of Eldest that pretty much said that it was shit. It was claimed to be too long, slow, and much else. I found it very interesting. The story jumps around following different character's happenings. I would say that the best thing about his writing is his ability to snag you at the end, waiting for him to finish the next one. All in all, both books are recommended by me. The first is 497 pp and the second is over 650 pp. They're pretty long, but they have pretty good character development. If anyone else has read it and has different opinions, I would be interested to hear.
My little brother (ten years of age) read Eragon and is now obsessed with it. He hasn't bought Eldest yet, but I assume he will and become obsessed with that too. He says they're good books, but I haven't found time to read them yet.
Thanks, I may go back to it at some point. At the moment I am reading Something Rotten by Jasper Fford. It looks promising... I have also gotten about half way through life, the universe and everything by Douglas Adams...I figured I should try and finish the series while I still know where the books are.
I just finished "The Sopenauer Cure" and I am halfway through "The Gift of Therapy", both by Irvin Yalom (salutes).
I am reading "Magician: Apprentice" from Raymond E. Feist. It's realy good book. It's aabout some kid who has special kind of magic, that nobody has seen before ... :idea:
Still reading Going Postal, but also started book 7 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I've been reading them for years but kind of stopped because someone told me part 8 was the worst thing ever, so I kind of dreaded getting closer to it. Anyway I saw a lovely hardback edition of part 7 two days ago in a charity shop for only 70p and thought it would be silly not to buy it.
I'm currently reading Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. I'm on Chapter 2 and so far it's very good.
I read "Timeline" by Michael Crichton. It was recommended to me as a good book, but I didn't think it was really different from the usual go back in time type of books. And it really, really felt like I was reading a book meant for a movie. I've started reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" now, that is proving to be a much more interesting read. I had read it aeons ago, but I had read a simplified English version (that was the only version in the school library) and never got back to it again, so this is definitely different and much better.
What's that about? I've never heard of it, but the title sounds good! I've finally got through all the baby pamphlets, and back on to the book I've been supposedly reading for months! So maybe now I'll get somewhere...
It's the story of a girl from Alabama who , when she went to college promised god that she would never lie or sleep with every bloke she meets if the body of the guy she murdered in High School doesn't turn up. She hasn't been back to her home town in 10 years but is now compelled to do so. Throw in and African American boyfried which her racist family don't know about, arguements about religion (shes American Baptist and her family are Southern Baptist*),crazy relations and you've pretty much got the gist - it's very well written and I'm looking forward to getting into the story in earnest! * I have no-idea what that means but maybe someone here knows? Perhaps the story will elaborate more in later chapters.
While waiting for the new gem in bookstores soon I have been rereading a series from Roger Zelazny about a place called Amber. The reason for rereading them is because a new chap has just finished a trilogy based on the original series. Just love books that are in series form like visiting old friends and catching up on gossip. New author named John Gregory Betancourt
A friend of mine who works at the local Ottakars has recommended a writer called China Miéville. Has anyone read his books? Opinions would be appreciated!
Just read Wilfred Owen - A critical study by D.S.R. Welland. Pretty interesting, although it wasn't quite what I had expected.
Ok I finished this book (Gods in Alabama) last night and thought I'd give a quick update to say that it was a good read and I would reccommend it. The storyline is a little predictable but the characters and imagery make up for that.* I am now reading In the company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander Mc Call Smith- (part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Series) I've found these books to be very interesting as I know little (read:nothing) about life in Botswana. * I still haven't discovered what the difference between a Southern Baptist and an American Baptist is though- Does anyone know?
I really enjoy reading books set in other countries sometimes, even if the story isn't so good, to get an insight into other cultures, and it kind of feels like going on a trip somewhere.
When I was a kid, I loved Willard Price's animal adventure stories (featuring the sons of a naturalist who specialised in catching wild animals alive for zoos). Price was an explorer and naturalist on the National Geographic team in the earlier part of the 20th Century, as I recall. Although I enjoyed the stories, what I loved most about them was the information about animals and their habitats and, to a lesser extent, other cultures. There were a couple of years when, almost every time I came up with an interesting fact in conversation (which is more impressive from a kid of six than of an adult, I hasten to add), it was learned from a Willard Price book.
I was exactly the same, those books rocked! Although I never managed to get hold of 'Volcano Adventure', it was the bane of my childhood!
I have recently read Skin Tight and Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen. Skin Tight wasn't very good, but Native Tongue was good. I find that any book of Hiaasen's that includes Skink is good.
Picked up and read The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents the other day. Great book. Look out for a discussion coming up on this one in a month or so, I want to do a lot of preparation first. The last one was hindered by other activities too much.
I just finished Reading The System of the World By Neal Stephenson. It was Probably the best book I have read all year.
I loved those too. Currently I'm revisiting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which I love. Waiting on the shelf for me to finish is Neil Gaiman's latest - Anansi Boys. I'm itching to get on and read that one, trying not to rush through JS&MN!!
I'm currently reading Trainspotting. Absolutely excellent book. Not that any of you could actually read it of course. It'd be pretty indecipherable for the most part, as it's written entirely in colloquial Edinburgh dialect
I didn't have too much trouble when I read it several years ago. Irvine Welsh is great - I also enjoyed his book The Acid House, have you read that one?
I've red Trainspotting, too, years ago... and no, it was not translated. But I got along... well, I might have missed a few... subtleties.
No, just read trainspotting and it's follow up, porno. I should probably have a look at his other ones sometime though
Definitely. Acid House is probably, in my opinion at least, the weakest, but they are all pretty enjoyable.
I am currently reading Going Postal. Again. The amount of small yet quite amusing details I miss on the first, second, and probably even third reading appall me.
I've been reading Carl Hiaasen recently. Hoot is a book aimed at a younger crowd, but it's been a while since I saw a book for children that was extremely good. If you think Pratchett did good with The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, The Wee Free Men, and A Hat Full of Sky, then this book is for you. A children's book with an edge, and an edge I like. The next was Basket Case. Until this book, I thought Hiaasen was just a good writer. With this book, Hiaasen has me completely hooked, as the main character is the most amusingly cynical character I've met since Vimes. Add to this a good plot, written well, and you have a sort of detective/thriller that makes you smile more than once.
I'm reading John Varley's Red Thunder, like Carl Hiassen's novels it is set in Florida. If you like Robert Heinlein and Hiassen chances are you'd like this one, too. I've read a couple of Hiassen's books, I am not much of a mystery fan but his stuff is so crazy cool, I plan on reading more of them.
John Varley looks very interesting, Tamyra, thanks. I think I'll take a look at his earlier books first.
Gah, I'm stupid. I know Varley, read his earlier works in Hebrew translations. Liked Steel Beach more than the earliear ones in the Eight World series. Anyways, I'll try to locate Red Thunder. What I read of it so far has me interested.
I'm reading mort, again. Can't get "Thud", allthough i can get a copy of "The Last Hero", if i can get some cash.
Why 2? Is there a non illustrated version? Please forgive my ignorance. I've been living in a backwater country for the last 4 years, with no internet access.
