What book are you reading atm??

Paddy Samurai

About 30% read ..........unique and strange , but enjoying it big time.

Vaudeville: mad, mercenary, dreamy, and absurd, a world of clashing cultures and ferocious showmanship and wickedly delightful deceptions.But sixteen-year-old pianist George Carole has joined vaudeville for one reason only: to find the man he suspects to be his father, the great Heironomo Silenus. Yet as he chases down his father's troupe, he begins to understand that their performances are strange even for vaudeville: for wherever they happen to tour, the very nature of the world seems to change.
Because there is a secret within Silenus's show so ancient and dangerous that it has won him many powerful enemies. And it's not until after he joins them that George realizes the troupe is not simply touring: they are running for their lives.

And soon...he is as well.

Celly Smunt

Wooow i better clear things ups.

Corkfeen wrote: »

It's not trash! While much of King has tended towards being trash, The Stand and IT are superb.

I meant "trash" in a entertaining kind of way.Not much to benefit your thinking but a good read.Kind of like watching an action movie,you don't learn much but you certainly enjoy it.

py2006 wrote: »

Seriously, Stephen King is trash??? You cannot be serious.

He's not trash,he's a great entertaining and fast paced writer.

Candie wrote: »

Some Stephen King is trash though. Lots of his work isn't, some of his work is brilliant, but there's some trash in there too. I read Dreamcatchers, I know.

The dreamcatchers along with cell are two of the worst books i've ever dragged my way through i think.

md23040

Just finished The Rising by Donegal crime writer Brian Mc Gilloway. Great easy read, all his novels have four plus stars according to his Amazon profile

Now reading Alex James bio "Bit of a Blur" very good too : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bit-Blur-Alex-James/dp/0349119937

Just starting A Feast for Crows in the Song of Ice and Fire series.. They're the most enjoyable books I've ever read. Read about half of Shutter Island last week (Only book I could get before a bus journey) and was sorely disappointed. Not gonna finish it.

santana75

The Great Gatsby

I had to read this for my leaving cert. I was 17 and hadnt a barneys what the feckin hell it was about. Blagged my way through the exam by regurgitating whole sections from cliff notes. Then last week was in the local library when I just saw it there on the shelf. Took out on loan and started to read even though I was getting nightmare flashbacks to leaving cert. What a book, loved it. Has made me realise how truly stupid and ignorant you can be when you're 17.

Jazzmaster

I've just finished reading Moondust: In search of the men who fell to Earth, by Andrew Smith. If you have any doubt that the Americans actually went to the moon then read this. Smith interviews all the surviving astronauts who took part in the Apollo missions and finds out how it affected them. They're all fascinating characters and it's such an interesting read. Highly recommended!

TheLastMohican

Just getting stuck into Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis) metaphorically speaking, of course

santana75

Jazzmaster wrote: »

I've just finished reading Moondust: In search of the men who fell to Earth, by Andrew Smith. If you have any doubt that the Americans actually went to the moon then read this. Smith interviews all the surviving astronauts who took part in the Apollo missions and finds out how it affected them. They're all fascinating characters and it's such an interesting read. Highly recommended!

Just watched a documentary on the moonlandings called In the shadow of the moon. What a film. In an age where people are elevated to celebrity status even though they posses no discenible talents or skills, these men are awe inspiring. Gonna have a read of that book, sounds good.

GalwayGuy2

He's not trash,he's a great entertaining and fast paced writer.

Hmm, never really got into Stephen King. Wasn't a fan of his plotting.

I always get a little happy when I hear how popular George rr Martin has become:P

Andrewf20

Heavier than Heaven - biography of Kurt Cobain. Great read. The guy had mega head and stomach problems.

Custardpi

Finished Anna Karenina a few days ago, challenging at over 800 pages but worth it overall I reckon. Really interesting seeing things from the perspective of the Russian aristocratic elite in the late 19th Century, never realised that it was common among members of the upper class to speak French to each other for instance. It also helped having a guide to how everyone was related to each other at the start of the book as the many characters & their patronymics got confusing at times.

The central story of Anna & her adultrous affair with Vronsky occasionally got a bit melodramatic, though Tolstoy does convey well the sense of claustrophobia which she suffers from in the prison of high society/Church values from which she can never really escape. Both she & Vronsky are certainly far more sympathetic characters than that self-centred salope Emma Bovary & the scoundrel Rodolphe Boulanger, to whom they have inevitably been compared.

One aspect of the book that did really irk me was the religious element of the character Levin's (apparently a self-portrait by Tolstoy himself) search for inner peace & enlightenment, where the tired (though possibly it was not as much at the time of writing) old argument that a belief in God & attachment to a Church are prerequisites for moral behaviour - without these Tolstoy asserts you would be unable to resist the urge to "throttle your neighbour". This belief must have been a popular one among religious Russians in the 19th Century as Dostoevsky advances much the same argument in The Brothers Karamasov. Reading a bit about Tolstoy's life he seems to have become fanatically religious & conservative in his later years so this aspect of the book is a good indication of where he was going in that regard.

On a final note if you're thinking of tackling this book I read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation, which going by various reviews I've seen is apparently far superior to other versions available. I'm no expert on these things but I found it to be elegantly written & reasonably readable, very important when it comes to novels of this length.

Custardpi

double-post

ladysarastro

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. Finished the first book in this lighthearted and funny series in a day. Read his the Fourth Bear last year and am still giggling at his imagery of bears cooking up porridge á la heroin style.

honeybear

In a lovely chilled bookclub. It's really the social aspect that I am enjoying. Any suggestions for a book that we might enjoy? Historical fiction has been a hit so far. Any ideas?

crockholm

I'm working through " the diary of Samuel Pepys"

Beats the boy-servant, eye's up the maids and other females, gets sloshed.

Custardpi

honeybear wrote: »

In a lovely chilled bookclub. It's really the social aspect that I am enjoying. Any suggestions for a book that we might enjoy? Historical fiction has been a hit so far. Any ideas?

How about Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose? Or maybe you've done that already. One of the best things I've read in the past few years.

The Princess Bride

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Downloaded it on kindle,for free-which was a bonus.
On page 174 of 959 -a very descriptive and detailed read.
It clarifies the parts that both the film and the stage production didn't cover.

Can't imagine I'd have ever read it-had I not seen it beforehand.
I think I'd have found the volume and the historical content too daunting.
Would recommend it.

newportlad

Just finished reading ;

Sir Bobby Charlton: The Autobiography: My Manchester United Years

Defo would recommend this especially for Man U fans. Very easy to read and Gives a very good insight into life as a trainee and professional for a big club in the 1950's 60's and 70's

Has some good stories of Bobby's early days, when players used to cycle to training, and get the bus to the game.Worth reading if only to get an insight into the tragedy of Munich.

Also lot's of stories about his big bro Jack, George Best, John Giles among others.

Hootanany

Exposure
About the President of Olympus uncovering a massive deficit at the company.
Self righteous Pap dont bother.

ArphaRima

God is not Great -Christopher Hitchins

I am only on the first chapter, but its a good read so far.

Azure_sky

A really sh!te thread on boards.:pac:

newmug

The Three Musketeers. I watched enough Dogtanian as a child, so I decided it was time to get the book. Maybe it's the translation, but the commas are all over the place.

Risteard

Just finished 1984 last night.

Waiting on two more to arrive from bookdepository.

Perdido Street Station and The Blade itself

FreeFallin94

Just finished The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp by Eva Rice last night. It was great. If anyone has ever read her other novel The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (One of my all-time favourite books) and liked/loved it, then read this book. It isn't quite as good as The Lost Art (the characters in that are just unbeatable, in my opinion anyway!), but it is still a great read and has the same feel to it as The Lost Art.

I am now a third of the way through Life of Pi. There is a lot of religious talk in it, but that doesn't bother me. Interesting so far, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

steddyeddy

Custardpi wrote: »

Finished Anna Karenina a few days ago, challenging at over 800 pages but worth it overall I reckon. Really interesting seeing things from the perspective of the Russian aristocratic elite in the late 19th Century, never realised that it was common among members of the upper class to speak French to each other for instance. It also helped having a guide to how everyone was related to each other at the start of the book as the many characters & their patronymics got confusing at times.

The central story of Anna & her adultrous affair with Vronsky occasionally got a bit melodramatic, though Tolstoy does convey well the sense of claustrophobia which she suffers from in the prison of high society/Church values from which she can never really escape. Both she & Vronsky are certainly far more sympathetic characters than that self-centred salope Emma Bovary & the scoundrel Rodolphe Boulanger, to whom they have inevitably been compared.

One aspect of the book that did really irk me was the religious element of the character Levin's (apparently a self-portrait by Tolstoy himself) search for inner peace & enlightenment, where the tired (though possibly it was not as much at the time of writing) old argument that a belief in God & attachment to a Church are prerequisites for moral behaviour - without these Tolstoy asserts you would be unable to resist the urge to "throttle your neighbour". This belief must have been a popular one among religious Russians in the 19th Century as Dostoevsky advances much the same argument in The Brothers Karamasov. Reading a bit about Tolstoy's life he seems to have become fanatically religious & conservative in his later years so this aspect of the book is a good indication of where he was going in that regard.

On a final note if you're thinking of tackling this book I read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation, which going by various reviews I've seen is apparently far superior to other versions available. I'm no expert on these things but I found it to be elegantly written & reasonably readable, very important when it comes to novels of this length.

Sorry to be off topic but it was common for the royal households across Europe to speak in French. English then took over as the mostly spoken langauge which in part brought abouta resentment of the English by the French.

GLaDOS

Just started "The Black Wings of Chtulhu" a collection of Lovecraftian style horrors form various artists. Only finished the first short story ("Pickman's Other Model") but it was a enjoyable adaption of the style.

monkeynuts111

The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler, very good read if you're a History nerd like me

Paddy Samurai

A real page turner.About 50% read ,and enjoying it big time.

Bernard Cornwell, the "master of martial fiction" (Booklist), brings Thomas of Hookton from the popular Grail Quest series into a new adventure in 1356, a thrilling stand-alone novel. On September 19, 1356, a heavily outnumbered English army faced off against the French in the historic Battle of Poitiers. In 1356, Cornwell resurrects this dramatic and bloody struggle—one that would turn out to be the most decisive and improbable victory of the Hundred Years’ War, a clash where the underdog English not only the captured the strategic site of Poitiers, but the French King John II as well. In the vein of Cornwell’s bestselling Agincourt, 1356 is an action-packed story of danger and conquest, rich with military strategy and remarkable characters—both villainous and heroic—transporting readers to the front lines of war while painting a vivid picture of courage, treachery, and combat.

Fiery mutant

I just finished A Hell for Heroes, by Theodore Knell.

A good insight into soldiers and how their profession affects them, not only through their service, but when they get back into civvie street too.

Next one on the list is Seal Team 6.

Wibbs

Spike Milligan's book Adolf Hitler, My part in his downfall. Volume one. Funny. I remember reading it as a kid. One bit stands I recall was where Spike and a few mates were standing outside a Psychiatric Hospital in Germany around Christmas time, singing carols including one that went "god rest ye Jerry Mentalmen" Spike milligan had an odd and brilliant mind, the Goons and his 1970's TV show made Monty Python look like Terry and June at times.