What book are you reading atm??

sadie06

Reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Enjoyable so far and I love the idea of Shakespeare surviving when most other writers have fallen away.

Daisy78

eviltwin wrote: »

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I hope its a better read than American Gods.

I think I preferred American Gods to Neverwhere. The Ocean at the end of the lane is still his best though imo.

GLaDOS

I've just started Neil Gaiman's latest collection of short stories, Trigger Warning. Enjoying them so far. First time I've read any of his short fiction, though I've enjoy several of his novels.

Personally American Gods > Anansi Boys > Neverwhere > Ocean at the End of the Lane

Keyzer

Just finished The Passage - Justin Cronin. Very enjoyable, couldn't put it down...

eviltwin

Keyzer wrote: »

Just finished The Passage - Justin Cronin. Very enjoyable, couldn't put it down...

My all time favourite book. I still get chills thinking of the chase in the shopping mall. The Twelve, the second in the series, isn't as good but The City of Mirrors, the final one is back on form.

Widdershins

The Red Moth, an Inspector Pekkala story, and The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

kazamo

Reading After the crash by Michel Bussi atm.
The dust jacket has a review referring to a Stieg Larsson comparison and I am usually wary of this pedestal as often a failed comparision, but nearly halfway through and still a pleasure.

gutenberg

Reading Lynne Cox's \Swimming to Antarctica, about all her long-distance ocean swims: she was the first person to swim the Strait of Magellan, and the Bering Strait, among others. I'm a swimmer too (though not open water) and I'm loving it, so much. I really don't think you need to be a swimmer to enjoy it, or even like sports - parts of it read like a thriller

Rosie Rant

I'm currently reading Schindler's Legacy - True Stories of the List Survivors by Elinor J. Brecher. Brilliant book, I highly recommend it.

josip

Bob Bug

Ilyana 2.0

I'm currently reading The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's beautifully written but not terribly slow like some period novels tend to be (IME).

Previous to that, I gave up on The Girl on the Train about halfway through. Didn't get the hype around it, I didn't care for any of the characters. It felt more like a novel that was written to be a film than a novel for its own sake.

PowerToWait

John Healy's The Grass Arena. Recounts his time as a homeless chronic alcoholic in London's parks.

It's an eye-opener.

pumpkin4life

A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. Big brick of a thing, 900 pages long.

I think its a step down from the first book. A Game of Thrones was a big brick of a thing as well, but its a fast paced novel with very little filler and excellent character development; few problems getting through that one. In contrast, I could wipe three/four hundred pages off of this thing and very little, if anything really would be lost tbh.

Also, the quality of the writing is poorer than then first book. Reading A Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings back to back, you see the same sentences, same turns of phrase and same metaphors coming up again and again. Martin's a sparse enough writer; his strength lies in character development rather than world creating and this book suffers for it. Some naff things about Westros tbh.

Having said that

the Tyrion Lannister chapters

are fantastic and I'd still recommend it if yous like the first one. Moving on to book three now.

GLaDOS

pumpkin4life wrote: »

A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. Big brick of a thing, 900 pages long.

I think its a step down from the first book. The first book was a big brick of a thing as well, but its a fast paced novel with very little filler and excellent character development; few problems getting through that one. In contrast, I could wipe three/four hundred pages off of this thing and very little, if anything really would be lost tbh.

Also, the quality of the writing is poorer than then first book. Reading A Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings back to back, you see the same sentences, same turns of phrase and same metaphors coming up again and again. Martin's a sparse enough writer; his strength lies in character development rather than world creating and this book suffers for it. Some naff things about Westros tbh.

Having said that

the Tyrion Lannister chapters

are fantastic and I'd still recommend it if yous like the first one. Moving on to book three now.

Always felt the second book was the weakest of the series (so far!)

pumpkin4life

GLaDOS wrote: »

Always felt the second book was the weakest of the series (so far!)

That's really good to hear. I've heard a few horror stories about A Feast for Crows alright!

Rubberlegs

30 odd pages into Stephen King's End of Watch, the last of a trilogy. I love it when you follow the characters lives through a series of books, the feeling of familiarity with them when you pick up the next book. I'm enjoying it very much so far, I'm very interested to see how it all ends:)

diomed

Mr Darley's Arabian by Christopher McGrath

Lisha

Ilyana 2.0 wrote: »

I'm currently reading The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's beautifully written but not terribly slow like some period novels tend to be (IME).

Previous to that, I gave up on The Girl on the Train about halfway through. Didn't get the hype around it, I didn't care for any of the characters. It felt more like a novel that was written to be a film than a novel for its own sake.

I felt the same about the girl On the train
. Am delighted to hear it from someone else

Ilyana 2.0

Lisha wrote: »

I felt the same about the girl On the train
. Am delighted to hear it from someone else

Glad I'm not the only one! Really don't know what the fuss was about. I still don't know how it ends and I couldn't care less!

FunLover18

Ilyana 2.0 wrote:

Previous to that, I gave up on The Girl on the Train about halfway through. Didn't get the hype around it, I didn't care for any of the characters. It felt more like a novel that was written to be a film than a novel for its own sake.

I'm sure you're aware theyre making a movie of it but I don't how it will work. Ideally it would have been made in the 90s with Ashley Judd in the lead role and would have gone on to be one of RTE's go to midweek movies.

mariaalice

I am planning to read Europe in Autumn and Europe at Midnight by
Dave Hutchinson.

Both books sound very interesting, looking at what is happening in the world at the moment. Has anyone read them.

Zxclnic

'Cricket's Strangest Matches' by Andrew Ward.
Marvellous.

cloudatlas

Lisha wrote: »

I felt the same about the girl On the train
. Am delighted to hear it from someone else

I guessed it would just be a rush job written load of dross just like 'Gone Girl' so stayed well clear.

Ulysses Gaze

Conan The Barbarian : 20 Tales by Robert E Howard.

Widdershins

mariaalice wrote: »

I am planning to read Europe in Autumn and Europe at Midnight by
Dave Hutchinson.

Both books sound very interesting, looking at what is happening in the world at the moment. Has anyone read them.

They're both enjoyable reads. There's another good one by the same author , called ''The Villages ''.

Bergmann

Just started "The Girl Who Played with Fire", sequel to "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend!

ablelocks

currently, re-reading The Passage, then will re-read The Twelve, in advance of reading City of Mirrors - trilogy by Justin Cronin.

pumpkin4life

A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin.

Here's the thing. What is an absolute head**** about the first three books is that with a bit of tinkering and editing, you would have an outright classic.

What's going on with the editor, lads? Was he asleep at the wheel?

Part One is a meandering ****ing bore of a thing, but then Part Two is absolutely fantastic and is chock full of twisty, turny fast paced story telling. You cut down part one by about half, then you rewrite a few parts ("you know nothing Jon Snow", how many bleeding fecking times does that phrase occur in the book?) that don't seem to be well written (get rid of all that Bran stuff as well, its arse) at all; leaving yourself with a 900 page masterpiece; rather than a very good 1200 page book with 300 pages of waffle and some strange, oddly repetitive, sloppy writing. He's a damn good writer;

The Red Wedding

is testament to that. But then, some of the other parts of the novel feel like they didn't get past the first draft.

Maybe the guy is just a giant twat to work with in terms of editing.

Still, I recommend it. Feast, supposedly the nadir of the series, be the next one for me.

PowerToWait

Finished 'One Second After ', William Forstchen, an enjoyable post apocalyptic vision. Maybe just slightly too reminiscent of '80s movies like 'Red Dawn, but definitely worth a read.

Started 'The Stand '. As a sometime Stephen King fan I really don't know how I missed this. Shaping up really well. He really is one of the greats.

Widdershins

Just read The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins which was great