[musical.x]

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

[KnifeWRENCH]

Originally Posted by 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. .

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? Spoiler: 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.

Spoiler: 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]

Originally Posted by Slow Show

@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]

Originally Posted by Insect Overlord

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 *

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]

Originally Posted by Namlub

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!]

Originally Posted by marko93

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

Used to LOVE those The original Series is it?

[Snibbles]

Originally Posted by Neon-Circles

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