What Are You Reading?

Grindylow

Pygmalion wrote: »

If it's fantasy books we're talking about, read Night Watch and its sequels.
Awesome books, the films are pretty bad in comparison though ;_;

That looks like a good book actually. I looked up The Book Thief and it doesn't really appeal to me, but this one does!

Are they really long? Like 1000 pages-ish?

Pygmalion

Noel2k9 wrote: »

That looks like a good book actually. I looked up The Book Thief and it doesn't really appeal to me, but this one does!

Are they really long? Like 1000 pages-ish?

About 400-500 pages each (first one is the longest).
Each is split into like 3 shorter stories though, so it's pretty much like 9 really short books instead of 3 regular ones (the 4th book is kinda separate IMO, story-wise anyway), but they all come together really well.

Grindylow

Pygmalion wrote: »

About 400-500 pages each (first one is the longest).
Each is split into like 3 shorter stories though, so it's pretty much like 9 really short books instead of 3 regular ones (the 4th book is kinda separate IMO, story-wise anyway), but they all come together really well.

Oh cool, I'll invest in them as soon as the LC ends and hopefully have them done by the end of July!

EuropeanSon

Noel2k9 wrote: »

@Indiego: To Kill A Mockingbird is an amazing book, definitely worth a read!

I must get back into reading once I finish the LC.. anyone got any suggestions? I'm a fan of Jodi Picoult, J.K. Rowling (who isn't?) and Stephenie Meyer.. so any similar authors/fantasy/rom-com books, feel free to tell me...

For something easy to read (on a similar level to Harry Potter) and quite witty at times, I'd recommend the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.

For something written in a very similar style to Twilight (shallow plots, easy to follow, made-to-order characters, etc.) read Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

Both of the above are fantasy books.

Insect Overlord

Noel2k9 wrote: »

I'm a fan of Jodi Picoult, J.K. Rowling (who isn't?) and Stephenie Meyer.. so any similar authors/fantasy/rom-com books, feel free to tell me...

Lisa Jane Smith has several series of vampire/shape-shifter/witch type books. I've only read the Night World, but the Vampire Diaries is supposed to be good too. They made a TV show out of it and everything.

Slow Show wrote: »

Noel read The Book Thief!

I started this a few nights ago. 40 pages into it now. So far so good!

Noel2k9 wrote: »

That looks like a good book actually. I looked up The Book Thief and it doesn't really appeal to me, but this one does!

Judging a book by its cover? Tut tut tut! :pac:

Grindylow

EuropeanSon wrote: »

For something easy to read (on a similar level to Harry Potter) and quite witty at times, I'd recommend the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.

For something written in a very similar style to Twilight (shallow plots, easy to follow, made-to-order characters, etc.) read Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

Both of the above are fantasy books.

Thanks! I've read Eragon before, but I'll check out the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Lisa Jane Smith has several series of vampire/shape-shifter/witch type books. I've only read the Night World, but the Vampire Diaries is supposed to be good too. They made a TV show out of it and everything.

I've read all The Vampire Diaries ones (I love the TV show too! :P) but I'll check out her other ones! Thanks

Judging a book by its cover? Tut tut tut! :pac:

Just the storyline, doesn't seem like something I'd be interested in! :P I got bored 1/3 of the way into Wuthering Heights and had to struggle my way through it!

Lawliet

Have you read any of Trudi Canavan's stuff? Her Black Magican trilgoly is pretty good, the Age of Five one not so much.

Grindylow

Lawliet wrote: »

Have you read any of Trudi Canavan's stuff? Her Black Magican trilgoly is pretty good, the Age of Five one not so much.

Just looked up the Black Magician trilogy there and it looks pretty interesting.

My list of books to read is now massive! :P

Thanks

musical.x

about a quarter of the way through Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

EuropeanSon

Couldn't hack waiting a few days for the Malazan books to arrive, so I began reading A Song Of Ice And Fire again, to refresh my memory for when the 5th one comes out in July.

Aoibheann

Seems to be quite a few ASOIAF fans here, awesome. July 12th is far too far away. I've also been re-reading the series in anticipation of the new book, but I got through them all too quickly. I need more books! More!

Slow Show

I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's so unbelievably good, once I got used to the way it's written I was engrossed in it. I'm two hundred pages in so I might get it finished tonight. I have a feeling it's not going to end well though.

I'm thinking I might line up A Song of Ice and Fire for summer reading now after looking at this thread, although I've intended on rereading The Inheritance Cycle before the final instalment comes out and finally getting round to reading TLOR. And depleting the stack beside my bed. So little time so much to do.

almostnever

Slow Show wrote: »

I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's so unbelievably good, once I got used to the way it's written I was engrossed in it. I'm two hundred pages in so I might get it finished tonight. I have a feeling it's not going to end well though.

One of my favourite books! It's really fantastic.

I'm reading The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

highlydebased

Reading "One Day" by David Nicholls at the moment, quite enjoyable thusfar. Seems to be a narrative of my life!

musical.x

started GUARDS!GUARDS! by terry pratchett last night. quite good so far

KnifeWRENCH

Slow Show wrote: »

I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's so unbelievably good, once I got used to the way it's written I was engrossed in it. I'm two hundred pages in so I might get it finished tonight. I have a feeling it's not going to end well though. .

You should watch the film, if you get a chance. Viggo Mortensen is brilliant in it, I don't know how he was skipped over for an Oscar nomination. I was actually kinda underwhelmed by the book, but that was most likely because I had seen the film first so I knew exactly how the plot went.

Also, what do you think of the main character?

Is he a good man or not? Personally, I think he was an ass for not doing what his wife wanted, i.e killing the boy and then committing suicide - would have spared all of them a lot of unnecessary suffering. So I really can't admire him that much as a character.

^ Above spoiler does not ruin the ending btw! If you're 200 pages in and nearly finished, it shouldn't spoil anything....

Lawliet

I always kind of thought the boy was a hallucination, that the man went mad and his subconscious invented a reason for him to keep going. The boy doesn't act like you'd expect a child in that situation to behave; he's mature, intelligent and pretty calm throughout. He also seems to voice the man's fears -like telling him not to open scary doors- and acts like his conscience encouraging him to help the people they meet and show mercy to the thief. Seems kind of strange that he'd be so kind and forgiving considering all he's ever known is this brutal, savage world. He's described using a lot of religious/angelic imagery and (I could be remembering this wrong) I don't think any of the other characters acknowledge the boy directly.

And at the end when the man dies his final hallucination is that against all odds some decent people show up and look after the boy

Slow Show

Aaaaaaahhhhh why do I always have to read spoilers? and I was just about to go finish it.

@Lawliet, interesting point, but having just been on this part last night, the man and the boy meet an oldish man who they share food with because the boy begs the father to, and he acknowledges the boy and said he thought he'd never see a child again.

@Knifewrench: Hmmmm I'll get back to you on that when I finish it tonight.

musical.x

going to start Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett later

Lawliet

Slow Show wrote: »

@Lawliet, interesting point, but having just been on this part last night, the man and the boy meet an oldish man who they share food with because the boy begs the father to, and he acknowledges the boy and said he thought he'd never see a child again.

Damn I was so proud of my theory...

Redlion

Started reading 'Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith. So far, so good..it's a real page turner, would be recommendable after just a hundred pages in.

Jackobyte

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I started this a few nights ago. 40 pages into it now. So far so good!

I've had it out of the library for about a month and a half at this stage and I haven't gotten past page 26. I start it, read it lightly for a night, then abandon it before picking it up again 2 weeks later and doing the same. I suppose I should give it back to the library...

*proceeds to start it again*

TheBegotten

The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz is quite good, particulary the last two. Also, the Stephen King Bachman books are good if you don't mind/enjoy the mental imaging.

jefreywithonef

Finished The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy and in doing so put an end to my ludicrously long run of starting stories without finishing them. This was about sixty pages long so I really eased myself back into things. Anyway a very good book on mortality, dragged a bit but it kinda gave me a kick up the arse to get things done in my life and not spend my dying moments lamenting all of it. Well played Leo.

Got a big bastard beast of a book in the post today, Roberto Bolano's 2666, supposedly brilliant. Gonna rip into that tomorrow and try and stick to a regime of reading at least 50 pages a day, don't want it taking up my whole summer when I have a score of other books lying around yet to have been read.

Namlub

Definitely need to set myself an overambitious reading list for the summer, any suggestions?
Already have A Thousand Splendid Suns ordered on amazon

marko93

I'm reading Darren Shan.. *dont hate :P *

What I do need is some suggestions for Fiction/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/War/or anything good for my summer after the leaving cert. Hopefully getting a Kindle

jefreywithonef

Namlub wrote: »

Definitely need to set myself an overambitious reading list for the summer, any suggestions?
Already have A Thousand Splendid Suns ordered on amazon

I heartily recommend David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (it's not the Peep Show lad). It contains five or six stories; each story is related to the next story by being read by that story's main character (hopefully that makes sense..). I read it last summer and thought it was superb.

Also The Diving Bell and the Butterfly which I read a while ago, excellent read.

SarahBeep!

marko93 wrote: »

I'm reading Darren Shan.. *dont hate :P *

Used to LOVE those The original Series is it?

Snibbles

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Reading "One Day" by David Nicholls at the moment, quite enjoyable thusfar. Seems to be a narrative of my life!

I thought it was a load of drivel myself. Characters were fairly unsympathetic whingers. Not worth the hype

marko93

SarahBeep! wrote: »

Used to LOVE those The original Series is it?

All of them..
Read the original series over the past few days, now onto the Demonata series.. NEXT STOP MR CREPSLEY SERIES!