This week, I are mostly reading....

The Hill Billy

Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner.

Michael McDowell would love the piece on crime-reduction.

andrewie

Beach Road by James Patterson

tHE vAGGABOND

reading Trinity by Leon Uris..

Put off reading it for years, for some reason, but its excellent, really one of the best books I think I've ever read..

The Hill Billy

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

reading Trinity by Leon Uris..

Put off reading it for years, for some reason, but its excellent, really one of the best books I think I've ever read..

In my mid teens I asked my Mum (whom I now know is an erudite republican) to explain the situation in N Ireland & why all parties did what they did. She gave me a copy of Trinity & said I was to come back with any questions. I didn't have to.

LoLth

Just finished off Fallen Dragon by Peter F hamilton. Decent read but yet another rushed hollywood-esque ending.

starting to re-read The Others by james herbert. Much better this time round so far. I probably rushed it last time.

bringitdown

Prozac Nation, Elizabeth Wurtzel

accensi0n

The Cauldron by Colin Forbes

False Identity by Dean Koontz

The Doktor

Luftwaffe Colours and Markings Vol. 1, K.A. Merrick and The Twits, Roald Dahl

matrim

I've just finished Fevre Dream by G.R.R Martin. Very good book, starts off a bit slow but after the first quarter I couldn't put it down.

I also read Snow White and the Seven Samuari by Tom Holt. Funny, surreal book. It's the second of his books I've read and I'll be getting more.

Blush_01

Pamela - Samuel Richardson.

Not as bad as I thought initially, but it drags on so much it's almost intolerable. It's 500 pages long, I'm on p 368 and I cannot see what the ninny has left to say!

Jay Tomio

Making my way through Naomi Novik's Black Powder War (the third book in the Temeraire series out at the end of this month I think), and picked up David Keck's In the Eye of Heaven a debut epic fantasy series that had some pre-publishing hype attached to it that isn't really impressing to this pont. I started this last month, but put it down to move to something else I had to read. His ability to turn a phrase seems absent. Will be moving on to Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson soon.

I recently read an entirely forgetable epic fantasy debut by David Forbes entitled the Amber Wizard. I have read interviews where he states being tired of certain cliches, and then he goes right ahead and uses them. I also recently put up my review of Jeff Vandermeer's Shriek: an Afterword.

I have also been getting some comic book/graphic nobel reading done. I'm reading the epic fantasy graphic novel by Mark Smylie, Artesia, the legendary Osamu Tezuka's Buddah which ahs been collected by Harper Collins, The Surrogates by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele. Really enjoying all three.

John

I'm reading Requiem for a Dream. I've seen the movie, loved it but could never watch it again because it's so bloody depressing. So obviously I thought reading the book (which is bleaker) would be a good idea :rolleyes:

Watson2006

Hill Billy wrote:

In my mid teens I asked my Mum (whom I now know is an erudite republican) to explain the situation in N Ireland & why all parties did what they did. She gave me a copy of Trinity & said I was to come back with any questions. I didn't have to.

I am not Irish, but I share the North’s distrust for the Pomms. I say this in the broadest sense and generalizing never won anybody prizes.

I loved the book Trinity and can only wonder how the Catholic Irish made it this far. If you want another good book to read, then read Exodus by the same author - Leon Uris. Its about the Jews and their fight to not become extinct at the hands of most other nations (including the English). If you like it, read The Source by James Michener. One of the best books I have read. Great perspective on the Jews, their religion and fight to stay alive through the centuries.

Besides the history, one gets great perspective on how ducked up man really is and how imaginative he can be when it comes to killing fellow men. Not that the current times are peaceful etc.

lucille

this week:satanic verses/Rushdie
not my fav one so far,but have to read it

Myksyk

I'm on the last 50 pages of Robert Fisk's long (1,300 pages!!) and powerful account of politics, conquest and wars in the middle east over the last century. It's difficult not to feel utterly and bleakly cynical about politics (if not life itself) after reading this. It's wonderfully written and I think people should read it but bear in mind that Fisk describes war early on as 'the ultimate failure of the human spirit'; any comprehensive exploration of such a failure is likely to leave you informed but dejected. Not uplifting but possibly life changing.

John

I finished Requiem for a Dream last night. It's far better than the movie. Both made me feel sick at the end from despair but something about the book just has more oomph. I highly recommend it.

Now I'm re-reading WG Sebald's The Rings of Saturn which is a wonderful book.

fjon

I have gone through the first few hundred pages of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I must say I just don't get it. I read all the ones up to this one, and I kept telling myself I would give the next one a chance, but none of them have done anything for me. There, I've said it! I don't like them.

Scratch Acid

John2 wrote:

I finished Requiem for a Dream last night. It's far better than the movie. Both made me feel sick at the end from despair but something about the book just has more oomph. I highly recommend it.

If you wanna try some more Hubert Selby Jr., The Demon is a good one. Guaranteed to be 50% more depressing than Requiem and Last Exit combined!

John

Scratch Acid wrote:

If you wanna try some more Hubert Selby Jr., The Demon is a good one. Guaranteed to be 50% more depressing than Requiem and Last Exit combined!

I intended to buy Last Exit to Brooklyn next as it was mentioned on a Monty Python sketch last night but I might just buy both. I'll need something to cheer me up after my exams.

tSubh Dearg

I've just started Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman today. I'm just getting into it but it seems good so far.

I just finished Cash, Johnny Cash's autobiography. I enjoyed it a lot. It almost felt like you could hear his voice telling the story in your head.

Faerie

I've just finished the Godfather by Mario Puzo which was really good, and now I've started reading Across the Nightingale floor by Lian Hern, which is ok so far!

Blush_01

Literary Theory: A Short Introduction - not bad, quite interesting.

A Drama In Muslin - quite good, if I wasn't so distracted by the Munster match!

Myksyk

Having been entirely depressed by Fisk's (nonetheless wonderful) tome, I've opted to stay on the 'downer' route and am reading Lionel Shriver's 'We need to talk about Kevin' ... prozac at the ready!

bringitdown

number9dream - David Mitchell

Dudess

Just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt. As amazing as everyone said it was. I actually read her second book The Little Friend first, and it seems fantastic, but is ultimately disappointing. Not so The Secret History. Really hope it's not ruined by being made into a movie. No film, no matter how good the cast, screenplay, direction, could do this book any justice.
Now I'm in the middle of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It's about a wealthy Afghan father and son who have to flee to the US during the Soviet occupation (shades of House of Sand and Fog in there) and the boy from a lower caste whom the son has betrayed and left behind. Really good so far. Some of it is heartbreaking.

Fr Clint Power

Just finished the Louis de Bernier trilogy consisting 'The War of Don Emmanuels Nether Parts', 'Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord' and 'The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman'. Great reads,superbly written would highly recommend them

NADA

I'm reading "A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson"

Sarky

Just about to tuck into Gardens Of The Moon, first of Steven Eriksson's Malazan series. I've heard good things. Well about book two onwards...

dream brother

After reading the thread about the best books ever, i went out and bought the grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck! only four chapters in but i know thats its going to be one of my favourite books! Man, that Steinbeck could really write!
Describes everything,very colourful book! Plus Tom Joad is in it, didn't see that one coming!

Jay Tomio

Starting Justina Robson's Keeping It Real (first book in Quantum Gravity sequence) - I read a preview of this book a couple of months ago, and loved it so looking forward to reading it). I'm also seriously thinking about doing the unthinkable and reading Terry Brook's new Armageddon's Children (which comes out in August and merges his Shannara setting to his Word/Void series). Brooks is awful - but damn it, I'm intrigued.

I recently put up my interview with Scott Lynch, and my review of his debut The Lies of Locke Lamora.

If those fall through I'm going to start Paragaea by Chris Roberson, a sensational short story writer whose last novel Here, There & Everywhere was seriously slept on.