Books The BOOK thread

hungrywing said:
Now that's just upsetting. Try what Nick is describing. I don't know how your library system works but often they'll have some sort of request program (you request, they order) if not a sharing program in which you can get books from another library in the same district. The more people request, the more they get to budget beg the next time around. (If they keep track, that is)
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Interlibrary loan is what it's called here in the US. It's pretty much free here at least at the University libraries. It's a bit slow but that's because they have to personally send a request for it and then have it confirmed and sent. There's a growing program called Link+ where books catalogues are made available online so any university participating in the program can lend any of its books out so you can effectively search all participating university catalogues for the same book if your local one doesn't have it. It's a lot faster that way.

And yes they keep track.
 
Sir Matt said:
The fat man better finish soon! I've been reading the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. They're all pretty good.

I'd recommend Glen Cook's Black Company if you're looking for something kinda dark. I'm not sure how available it is though.

I might have to pick up the Name of the Wind. I've heard good things about it.
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Think A Dance With Dragons is out in September? Well it is for us in the UK anyhow. It's got to the stage where I've forgotten certain parts of the other books, so I'm looking forward to going back and re-reading them again just in time for ADWD to be released.

I actually looked at Black Company. That and the Painted Man. But after reading a few extracts from the Painted Man I couldn't work out what all the fuss was about. Can't remember why I decided against Black Company, think maybe the Name of the Wind just appealed more.
 
SCM said:
Red Norse Jordan before he died left behind enough notes to finish the Wheel of Time series off, he actually left so many notes that the last planned book has been split into 3. Book 12 is the first of the 3 books written by Brandon Sanderson off the notes etc that Jordan left behind. He did a great job of converting Jordans notes into Book 12 with such ease it still reads like Jordans work.

Livvie Unseen Academicals is well worth the read especially with the Football theme running through it. Some Discworld books can be hard to get into but some of that is the characters or story but i find them ok once i get far enough in. His next book is another in the Wee Free Men series coming out in September.
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Thanks for the input, SCM. I rarely google or wiki writers, so this was news to me. A bit old fashioned I guess about fiction, unless I already know the writer I'd rather let the book speak for itself.

And livvie, I don't know how I've managed to quote you in my post as it has no relation to what you wrote. Ethanol and copy/paste, a lethal concoction :o
 
Red Norse said:
Thanks for the input, SCM. I rarely google or wiki writers, so this was news to me. A bit old fashioned I guess about fiction, unless I already know the writer I'd rather let the book speak for itself.

And livvie, I don't know how I've managed to quote you in my post as it has no relation to what you wrote. Ethanol and copy/paste, a lethal concoction :o
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No worries. :)

I live in a permanent state of confusion anyway.
 
Red Norse said:
Thanks for the input, SCM. I rarely google or wiki writers, so this was news to me. A bit old fashioned I guess about fiction, unless I already know the writer I'd rather let the book speak for itself.

And livvie, I don't know how I've managed to quote you in my post as it has no relation to what you wrote. Ethanol and copy/paste, a lethal concoction :o
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Book 12 does speak for itself and the Jordans did a great job in hand picking Sanderson to finish the Wheel of Time off, as he did an amazing job in converting Jordans notes into the book while still writing it in a way close to Jordans style of writing. Only issue now is waiting for Book 13 which is slated for publishing in November :(
 
almost finished "a prisoner of birth" by jeffrey archer

great book so far
 
SmashedHombre said:
Think A Dance With Dragons is out in September? Well it is for us in the UK anyhow. It's got to the stage where I've forgotten certain parts of the other books, so I'm looking forward to going back and re-reading them again just in time for ADWD to be released.
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Unfortunately this is not true. Martin has not finished writing the book yet, thus any date you see you mere speculation. He is probably close to finishing, but since he has been struggling with a certain plot-line issue for years it is not clear when he will figure out how to resolve it.

Once the manuscript is done, the publisher may decide to streamline the process of making a book out of this. However, would take at least 3-4 months, making the September date nearly impossible to meet.
 
DoctorEvil said:
Unfortunately this is not true. Martin has not finished writing the book yet, thus any date you see you mere speculation. He is probably close to finishing, but since he has been struggling with a certain plot-line issue for years it is not clear when he will figure out how to resolve it.

Once the manuscript is done, the publisher may decide to streamline the process of making a book out of this. However, would take at least 3-4 months, making the September date nearly impossible to meet.
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Yeah, he's said several times that he's quite close, but he still isn't finished. Could finish it next month or next year.
 
Just finished The Gunslinger by Stephen King and I'm not all that impressed, but I've heard that the second book in the Dark Tower series is much better so I'll bite on that one.
 
jveezy said:
Just finished The Gunslinger by Stephen King and I'm not all that impressed, but I've heard that the second book in the Dark Tower series is much better so I'll bite on that one.
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They do get better the further in you go and King wrote the Gunslinger early on in his career with the rest of the series following on later. So by that time he had nailed the writing style down and the books improved for it.
 
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. Great read IMO.
 
just ordered "My Championship Year" by Jenson Button from amazon

Have been wanting to read it for a while but not got round to it yet, looking forward to it
 
I'd like to start reading frequently again and I'm looking for recommendations.. fiction/nonfiction anything.. where should I start?
 
zing said:
where should I start?
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zing said:
I'd like to start reading frequently again and I'm looking for recommendations.. fiction/nonfiction anything.. where should I start?
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It's a bit like saying you'd like to listen music again after a period of hearing impairment, I'm sure you'd get lots of good suggestions if you were more specific about what interests you.
 
I'm just over half way through Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley and tbh i've found it incredibly slow paced and quite dull. Does it get better?
 
Finally finished the Word and the Void Trilogy by Terry Brooks and carrying on now with the books that follow in the sequence even though they weren't written at that time. So Armageddon's Children is now being re-read and the way i read it before will be stuff i have missed.
 
Finally picked up Hyperion (Dan Simmons) from my book shelf after years of it being on my to-read list. Rushed through the first book, took me a while to get through it but now I'm finally beginning to see what the hype was all about.
Started with 'Fall of Hyperion' now.
 
DoctorEvil said:
Unfortunately this is not true. Martin has not finished writing the book yet, thus any date you see you mere speculation. He is probably close to finishing, but since he has been struggling with a certain plot-line issue for years it is not clear when he will figure out how to resolve it.

Once the manuscript is done, the publisher may decide to streamline the process of making a book out of this. However, would take at least 3-4 months, making the September date nearly impossible to meet.
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This makes me so sad. I was so sure that it would be out this year. GRRM really has got to put more effort into finishing these books. It would be a far greater tragedy(than Wot) if ASoIaF were to stay incomplete.
 
The_Red_Hope said:
This makes me so sad. I was so sure that it would be out this year. GRRM really has got to put more effort into finishing these books. It would be a far greater tragedy(than Wot) if ASoIaF were to stay incomplete.
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I would desecrate his grave if he died before he finished it. :mad:

Hint: no one cares about your other crap, GRRM!
 
Thoughts on Chris Ryan? Used to really like him, good books to pick up and finish quite quickly, full of action. Now, and maybe this is the English student in me, I'm pretty sure all his books follow the same pattern (ex SAS guy recruited to sort out some big international issue). They seem to be the male equivalent of trashy airport novels birds read.
They aren't well written - and he only seems to get published on his knowledge of the subject (for which I cannot fault him).
 
How many books do you own? I've got over 200 at last count.
 
esmufc10 said:
Has anybody on here read the God Delusion by Dawkins? If so what's it like?
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I think it would be hard for me to enjoy the book, what with me being a muslim, but I thought the arguments he presented were a rather poor carbon copy of those found on any atheist web-site (ironic as he himself accuses intelligent design theorists like Behe of rehashing 16th century "Watchmaker" arguments). There have been better arguments made by past skeptics.

His book "The Ancestor's Tale" was fantastic, though.
 
Read the Kite Runner a few days back. Don't get the big deal, although I suppose it was more or less for people who don't have a thorough understanding of Afghan culture and find all the details rather exotic.
 
maldini said:
Read the Kite Runner a few days back. Don't get the big deal, although I suppose it was more or less for people who don't have a thorough understanding of Afghan culture and find all the details rather exotic.
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I had to read that as my summer reading before going to university. It was all right but nothing particularly special. It is a pretty good insight into the situation and culture, but it's also quite depressing. I haven't read his other book thought.
 
I really want to read Lord of the Rings just because I feel I should. I've got all three books but never could get into them. They seemed so dull. I don't think the genre is for me, sadly.
 
maldini said:
Read the Kite Runner a few days back. Don't get the big deal, although I suppose it was more or less for people who don't have a thorough understanding of Afghan culture and find all the details rather exotic.
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Sir Matt said:
I had to read that as my summer reading before going to university. It was all right but nothing particularly special. It is a pretty good insight into the situation and culture, but it's also quite depressing. I haven't read his other book thought.
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I actually enjoyed Kite Runner quite a bit and I do think the second one was even better, but I guess if you don't like Kite Runner you may not like A Thousand Splendid Suns.
 
esmufc10 said:
Has anybody on here read the God Delusion by Dawkins? If so what's it like?
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Interesting read for anyone with an open mind. He makes some fair points against organized religion but his tone is as fanatical as the religious extremists that he so detests. Well worth a read however.
 
MJLD said:
I really want to read Lord of the Rings just because I feel I should. I've got all three books but never could get into them. They seemed so dull. I don't think the genre is for me, sadly.
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The first book is heavy reading even if you are a fan of Tolkiens work and have read it before. Stick with it though as once you get so far in it becomes a lot easier to read.

Book wise for me managed to get through the Terry Brooks series i wanted to read so Word and the Void trilogy gone plus the 3 books that follow in the time line of the Shannara world. Waiting on the follow on book/series now starting to be released later this year so while i wait gone back to my City Watch trilogy book for some Pratchett humour after the latest poor SKY attempt at a Pratchett book.
 
"My Shit Life So Far" by Frankie Boyle

cannot wait to start reading this one, fecking love frankie boyle and have heard that this is a great read
 
"The Pastures of Heaven" by John Steinbeck. Have now read every one of his minus "East of Eden". Magnificent writer.

I get to travel a lot for work and play and in every country always ask what 3 seminal works I should read. In response I always recommend "The Grapes of Wrath".
 
I enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men too. I've also had East of Eden on my bookshelf for too long.

The other day I read an excellent graphic novel by Will Eisner called Dropsie Avenue. It spans the history of a single neighbourhood throughout American history.
 
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