What book are you reading atm??

Gary Sprake

mojesius wrote: »

Tim Pat Coogan - The IRA.

Very enjoyable so far.

SPOILER.....







.....They lost in the end.

sovereign121

Just finished Dan Brownes Inferno.... Good page turner

Oranage2

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

About 2/3 of the way through Storm of Swords Part 2. Haven't read books in ages so I'm slowly getting through it.

That's the 'Game of Thrones books' if you don't know. The book series is called A Song of Ice and Fire.

By far the best book in the series, the next 2 are painful to read.

Wattle

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. Very enjoyable shaggy dog story.

GerB40

Oranage2 wrote: »

By far the best book in the series, the next 2 are painful to read.

They're far better to read a second time, when you know where the story is goin. GRRM was kinda lost from AFFC onwards and you can really feel it from his writing.. I thought it all came nicely together in the end.

mel.b

For fans of Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, pick up 'The Rosie Project' by Graeme Simsion. Easy read, lots of fun (althoughni did think the ending was a bit rushed) and like an internal monologue from Sheldon

Oranage2

GerB40 wrote: »

They're far better to read a second time, when you know where the story is goin. GRRM was kinda lost from AFFC onwards and you can really feel it from his writing.. I thought it all came nicely together in the end.

Actually by the end I do want to read the 6th book but so many story lines were either pointless or boring. Brianna of tarth, most pointless character, don't know how she got a POV, you could easily skip to her last chapter and not have missed anything.

Same with Arya, all her chapters seem a repeat of the last chapter, I think the direction her character has gone is just stupid.

Some good moments alright, I didn't mind the slower pace as long as there was some story, but so many pointless chapters.

af_thefragile

The Great Gatsby.
Well I read half of it in a day. Didn't get to read the rest yet but will finish it in a day as well.
I like how there's so much more to the story that the film didn't capture although the film did do a pretty good job capturing the main story.

Merkin

af_thefragile wrote: »

The Great Gatsby.
Well I read half of it in a day. Didn't get to read the rest yet but will finish it in a day as well.
I like how there's so much more to the story that the film didn't capture although the film did do a pretty good job capturing the main story.

Probably one of my favourite books of all time. It's so complex. I will probably go and see the film at some stage but the books are invariably better!

IvyTheTerrible

Merkin wrote: »

Probably one of my favourite books of all time. It's so complex. I will probably go and see the film at some stage but the books are invariably better!

Not always! Godfather, anyone?

Mars Bar

I abandoned Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures. I don't know why but for some reason two or three pages of his books put me to sleep. I think it's the fact that there is so much going on that my brain goes into overdrive. It's great for catching some needed sleep though.

Last night I started the first book in A Game of Thrones to see what all of the fuss is about.

NothingMan

MOC88 wrote: »

I'm on Hero of the Ages myself its a good series but I really don't like what Sanderson done with the the Wheel of Time, mainly the battles became incomprehensible and a lot less cooler whereas with Jordan I always felt WOW WHAT A BATTLE! like the first time the ash'aman appeared, whereas Sanderson left me feeling with this is cool but not overwhelmed. Still great writing but it doesn't sweep you in the battles the same as Jordan did... SPOILER !!!!

---

except for that point where Rodel Ituralde was just about holding on before Grendael overwhelemd his mind, I felt that was something like what Jordan would have written - Rodel became one of my favourite characters out of the books right at that point.
SPOLIER!!!!

---

I honestly couldn't disagree more. Jordan created an amazing universe and intriguing characters but I think he got too involved. I tried re-reading the series twice over the years and both times got stuck on book 7. He drew every minute detail out over entire chapters and books. Describing a room took 2 pages sometimes and the books became hard to read. I still admire Jordan's style and his universe is epic but Sanderson gave it the kick in the arse it needed to get rolling again and push towards the last battle (which I finished last night) and it was simply the best battle I've read and a great way to end a series that got me reading 10 years ago.

Honey-ec

So, I finished Blood Meridien. Possibly one of the bleakest books I've ever read. In the meantime, I also read:

The Great Gatsby - wasn't mad on it, tbh. It all felt a bit, I dunno, inconsequential? It's so short that none of the characters are really developed properly and you're kind of left not really caring what happens to them.

This House is Haunted - John Boyne's latest offering. An old-fashioned ghost story in the style of Henry James. Not actually scary, but still an enjoyable bit of brain fluff.

Next up is Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim.

MOC88

NothingMan wrote: »

I honestly couldn't disagree more. Jordan created an amazing universe and intriguing characters but I think he got too involved. I tried re-reading the series twice over the years and both times got stuck on book 7. He drew every minute detail out over entire chapters and books. Describing a room took 2 pages sometimes and the books became hard to read. I still admire Jordan's style and his universe is epic but Sanderson gave it the kick in the arse it needed to get rolling again and push towards the last battle (which I finished last night) and it was simply the best battle I've read and a great way to end a series that got me reading 10 years ago.

I suppose we're just different readers and appreciate different things, I need a clear idea of what's going on and I think Sanderson doesn't depict it well enough. If a room takes two pages to describe then that's what it takes - I'd rather a story than summary, a book than a film. I like description because it lets me understand what the author is trying to communicate. I don't think Sanderson has any great liking for battles and he never really explains how points are reached, the formation, battle lines etc. it feels like you get a tiny bit of whatever a character is seeing or doing but then it could skip suddenly a day and I just got the feeling that all the characters were practically invincible whereas as with Jordan he built towards something. I would really love to see which parts Jordan wrote in the last few books. Plus Jordan's character development was pretty outstanding.


but I'm in the majority who think Jordan done a better job I think so I win the argument

NothingMan

MOC88 wrote: »

but I'm in the majority who think Jordan done a better job I think so I win the argument

I can agree on some points you make and not disagreeing that Jordan is a great writer. I think Sanderson did speed ahead a little but he hadn't much of a choice. It was suppose to wrap up in 13 books.

I disagree that you're in the majority though. Most people I know that started the WoT just gave up because it came to a crawl and there were still 7 books left. Those of us that have finished the series, anyone I know irl think Sanderson done a great job of picking up the pace and ending an epic saga.

DaveDaRave

Ready Player One on audiobook, pretty awesome.

Ilium on actual book, but i might drop it to finish the fall of hyperion, which ive been meaning to read for years, as hyperion being one of my fave sci-fi books.

K-9

Just rekindling my love of reading from 20 years ago, Le Carre is still going, 81 but I can't help but think A Delicate truth is just churning out the same stuff over the last decade. Absolute Friends from 10 years ago is just a far better novel, with a similar theme.

Just finished The World According to Garp from John Irving, and the Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full from Tom Wolfe, I think the latter book was much better, almost prescient for Irish bubble developers and bankers. I didn't know Irving doesn't particularly like Wolfe!

Read a few Ben Elton books, Stark, Dead famous and others, not a bad writer.

Ian McEwan, Sweet Tooth to read, Seymour was brilliant writing about N.I. and other stuff 20 years ago, Forsythe and Deighton all good at churning out the block busters. I'm expecting Le Carre stuff to justify McEwans reputation.

QuiteInterestin

Reading Grimms Fairytales at the moment, bit childish I know but it was mentioned on a thread somewhere on boards that many of the versions of fairytales we're familiar with e.g. Cinderella are alot different now to what they were written as due to time and Disney changing them so decided to read the originals. Alot darker then you'd expect for childrens stories, also no mention of a fairy godmother in Cinderella, feel so cheated!

af_thefragile

Romeo and Juliet.

Finally trying to make an attempt at reading and understanding Shakespeare's works...

MOC88

NothingMan wrote: »

I can agree on some points you make and not disagreeing that Jordan is a great writer. I think Sanderson did speed ahead a little but he hadn't much of a choice. It was suppose to wrap up in 13 books.

I disagree that you're in the majority though. Most people I know that started the WoT just gave up because it came to a crawl and there were still 7 books left. Those of us that have finished the series, anyone I know irl think Sanderson done a great job of picking up the pace and ending an epic saga.

You could argue that the books changed from the start of the series and some people didn't like that. It changed from a chase and a small group in to a political and directing armies - I'm sure some fans were lost. Some people don't have the patience for a long series either they just want hack slash and done.

Most people I know were horrfied by Sanderson's writing of the series - not my view.

I loved the way in which Jordan didn't just give Rand everyone in the book a super training seesion in which one day they would develop in to what they needed to, they were developed relatively slowly for books of this genre even Mat... I liked the length of the series and would have wanted more up until Sanderson took over - after reading his stuff I just wanted it to end and he did so promptly. I'll always argue that more exploration is nearly always better, like the whole series could have jsut been given from Rand's view or MAt's and it would still have been really sucsessful and told the same story.

I finished the Hero of The Ages and I think I'm gonna leave Sanderson alone he's good but he doesn't describe what is going on enough for me - it just feels like he presents a problem and then the solution of which hasn't mentioned up until this point.

Any reccomendations of what to move on to are welcome though!

StinkySocs

Just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn...the start of it was a bit crap, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.... really good!!! Some nice twists!

Pug160

I'm getting towards the end of 1984.

Aidric

Rereading Factotum by Bukowski. Never fails to put a smile on my face.

NothingMan

MOC88 wrote: »

Any reccomendations of what to move on to are welcome though!

If you want another in depth well describes universe to sink your teeth into then I'd recommend Raymond Feist. Great universe and character development. Although there are a few different enemies and story arcs across different sagas but an underlying enemy and theme throughout too.

Just finished the second Malazan book by Steven Erikson, I think you'd like him too.

This is all assuming you haven't read these obviously.

Ormus

StinkySocs wrote: »

Just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn...the start of it was a bit crap, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.... really good!!! Some nice twists!

One of the worst books I've ever read. Makes Dan Brown seem like James Joyce.

Peregrine

So I took out Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time. Anybody read it? Would you recommend any similar physics/maths books?

looking_around

Anyone here on Goodreads? would like to share book lists?


I'm currently reading Inside Out is a your standard dystopian read.
I have recently finished WoT series .. ended well, as one would expect, I think. Wish I knew if the Aiel future was truly changed or not :P.

looking_around

af_thefragile wrote: »

Romeo and Juliet.

Finally trying to make an attempt at reading and understanding Shakespeare's works...

Why would you do that to yourself?
R&J is a crap read. Impulsive, melodramatic(yes, I know it's supposed to be), unrealistic imo.

If you're gonna read anything by Shakespeare, go for Hamlet.

NothingMan

looking_around wrote: »

I have recently finished WoT series .. ended well, as one would expect, I think. Wish I knew if the Aiel future was truly changed or not :P.

There are so many possible amazing spin offs. Would love if Sanderson did some side novels. I doubt it would be allowed, or that he would want to really. Sad seeing the end of a universe though.

IvyTheTerrible

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

So I took out Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time. Anybody read it? Would you recommend any similar physics/maths books?

Yep, it's hard work but I like it.
I just finished Cosmos by Carl Sagan a few weeks ago, it's fantastic.
Some other good "popular science" books in that area are Fermat's last theorem, and Longtitude. Both of those are great.