Books The BOOK thread

Solius said:
I'm right into ASOIAF now. Just started part two of Storm Of Swords, Blood and Gold. I feel I've got nowhere to talk about it though. Obviously the GOT thread is a no no and I imagine the book thread is chock full of spoilers about the fourth and fifth books.

Loving it though. Fantastic books.
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Congrats Solius, you're reading what probably is the finest fantasy book of all time - 'Storm of Swords' :devil:
 
The Da Vinci Code being way up there amongst that company in the second link is kind of cute/funny.

Can't quite think of a good analogy. Maybe a black-tie event where someone's babysitter canceled last-minute and so they brought their two-year old and at first everyone thinks it's charming and a refreshing break from the norm but as the evening wears on it becomes clear that SOMEONE BROUGHT A BABY.
 
Recommend me some holiday reading

I'm off on holiday next week, staying at my Mrs's parents house. Nothing much goes on there, we always get up late, spend what's left of the morning arguing about what would be the best thing to do that day then it gets too late in the day to actually do anything.

I've got a couple of car magazines to take with but what I really need is a good book as I don't get much opportunity to read these days.

Looking at that top 100 list, the first one that actually looks like a potentially decent read is 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I've heard good things about it & thought the film was really good so am I going to find that the book bears no relationship whatsoever to the film (as usual)?

Who is Stephanie Meyer anyway?

I'm looking for a page turner.

Any suggestions?
 
If you want a page turner, I can recommend Ken Follet's books. Notably Pillars of the Earth and World Without End which are situated in the Middle Ages and the new century trilogy (Fall of Giants is already out some time, the second book is coming out this september) which will span the entire 20th century (the first book is about World War I)

Great books with a lot of great characters and stories that come together.
 
Colin129 said:
I'm off on holiday next week, staying at my Mrs's parents house. Nothing much goes on there, we always get up late, spend what's left of the morning arguing about what would be the best thing to do that day then it gets too late in the day to actually do anything.

I've got a couple of car magazines to take with but what I really need is a good book as I don't get much opportunity to read these days.

Looking at that top 100 list, the first one that actually looks like a potentially decent read is 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I've heard good things about it & thought the film was really good so am I going to find that the book bears no relationship whatsoever to the film (as usual)?

Who is Stephanie Meyer anyway?

I'm looking for a page turner.

Any suggestions?
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Colin if you're coming into the book thread, at least request info on books and not pulp-crap.

Link the top 100 list you mention and let us help you from there.
 
Oh I see, it's a top 100 selling list.

Meh, the public are idiots.
 
Frakking hell, except one book, all top 10 of UK are Harry Potter or Dan Brown's books. It really says a lot about general public.
 
Currently reading Alone in Berlin, by Hans Fallada. About a German couple who's son dies on the front in WW2 and how they deal with it and become anti-Nazi.
 
If you want a page turner you could do a lot worse than Nelson DeMille (all brilliant although my favourites to date are The Charm School or Wildfire) or Greg Iles (Dead Sleep & Mortal Fear)

You can thank me later.
 
Hmmm, I don't think I've really got anywhere here.

Books about Nazi's are a bit of a no no, seeing as my Mrs's parents were about to be rounded up to be burnt to death in the village church when the Americans turned up to liberate them. So I don't plan on upsetting them or unearthing unpleasant memories with potentially disturbing cover imagery or books about nice Nazis.

And its all very well criticising the top 100 list but you need to offer an alternative that I'm going to be able to get out of a relatively small town library.
 
It's not the best autobiography, I was actually pretty disappointed with it. The best footballers auto I've read by a long way is Paul McGrath's
 
Neville's book wasn't really an autobiography of himself, largely just a season by season football summary from his own account. Seemed to be more of a tribute to United rather than anything else.

Also consider he's had a pretty dull life unlike other footballers like McGrath and Keane.
 
Just finished World War Z- was alright. Hyped into oblivion, but the zombie equivalent of a Dan Brown book, imo. A page turner full of foreigners talking like Americans.

Just started Stewart Lee's How I Escaped My Certain Fate, which appears to be (a) him chatting a bit about how he got into comedy, then (b) transcripts from his various shows, then (c) some more talking about himself and comedy. I've only read the first 20 pages, so I'm pretty sure about (a), but (b) and (c) are guesses based on the index at the front of the book. Time will tell.
 
I brought back all of my Armistead Maupin 'Tales of the City' books to re-read. I wanted to bring all of my Carl Hiaasen books too but couldn't fit them in my bags.
 
The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid. By-the-numbers crime fiction, though I wonder if Thomas Harris' Hannibal owes a small debt to this novel*? Anyway, nowhere near as good as McDermid's A Place of Execution.

* Or perhaps, more accurately, it owes a debt to Red Dragon.
 
peterstorey said:
I always thought she was crap.
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I quite like her main characters (Jordan, Hill, Brandon etc etc) but almost everything else about the books is predictable as hell; it's got that I can even guess the wording that's coming-up next, sadly (for example, 99% of the chapters begin with a character's name). Though perhaps this is the nature of run-of-the-mill modern Crime Fiction (see below):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/aug/25/touch-of-cloth-charlie-brooker
 
Just read the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Interesting but took me a while to read and bits went way over my head.
 
I’m looking for something new to read, think I was the last time I posted in here as well, but I got sick of it after reading two massive books.

Anyway, need some suggestions, preferably from the collection below; as I have most of them on my Kindle.

I’ve just started the Hobbit but hope to have it finished before I go on holiday in a couple of weeks, so I need something to keep me busy.

I’ve got:

Loads of:

Chuck Palahniuk
Stephen King (I’ve read The Stand and IT)
Dean Koontz
Douglas Adams
Iain M Banks
Isaac Asimov
Lee Child
Michael Crichton
Tom Clancy
Terry Pratchet

And these ones tickle my fancy a bit:

Cormac McCarthy – Blood Meridian

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

For Whom the Bell Tolls & A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemmingway

The Silmarillion – JRR Tolkien

The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Wheel of Time series – Robert Jordan

The Passage – Justin Cronin

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other 2 books – Stieg Larsson


Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
Adams on holiday might be a great idea - very funny.

Conrad's HoD isn't very long and is certainly one of the finest pieces of literature in existence but I think it's a bit bleak and trying for a holiday. I suspect Hemingway would be equally bleak (though excellent) for a holiday.

I'd go for Adams or Pratchett.
 
Blood Meridian's a barrel of holiday laughs. No, seriously, Adzzz's advice is good.
 
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