jprboy wrote: » Yep, well based on one book only. I was on my first sun holiday back in 1990 (Torremollinos) and, not having brought any books with me, set off to buy one. I was lucky enough to happen upon a fairly meaty looking tome named "Foucault's Pendulum". I have to admit I had never heard of Eco but... Wow! It was brilliant and I'd highly recommend it. Years later I read my wife's copy of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and after a while I began to think "Hey, this is all a bit too familiar.... it's like that great book I read years ago called .... what was it? Oh, yes, "Foucault's Pendulum" And it's a pretty poor imitation" I never mentioned this to anyone else but tonight I did a quick search online and found this which says it all really:While interviewing Umberto Eco in a 2008 issue of The Paris Review, Lila Azam Zanganeh characterized The Da Vinci Code as "a bizarre little offshoot" of Eco's novel, Foucault’s Pendulum. In response, Eco remarked, "Dan Brown is a character from Foucault’s Pendulum! I invented him. He shares my characters’ fascinations—the world conspiracy of Rosicrucians, Masons, and Jesuits. The role of the Knights Templar. The hermetic secret. The principle that everything is connected. I suspect Dan Brown might not even exist."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code
ibarelycare wrote: » Treasure Island. It's the first book in months that I think I'll actually finish. Since I finished the ASOIAF books, the only ones I've finished are the Hunger Games books (and they were really bad). I've started at least 7 or 8 other books and just haven't finished them cos I got bored or they were crap. My Kindle is full of partly-read books, it's getting confusing!
the_monkey wrote: » 11.22.63 by Stephen King. Very good so far and nice Easter Eggs for fans of It
ibarelycare wrote: » My kindle is full of partly-read books, it's getting confusing!
manyoung wrote: » The Stand - needless to say, this going to take me ages.
Auldloon wrote: » I started reading this on a flight to oz nearly 20 years ago, and finished it in record time! It still remains one of my favourite books but I think I would have preferred the edited version!
--Kaiser-- wrote: » My sentiments exactly, good book, could have done with about 400 less words
Lucena wrote: » So you wanted it to have 499,600 words?
Kilgore__Trout wrote: » Reading a Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Gives a nice overview of the universe, earth, and scientific discoveries, and better still does it in a light, humourous way. Thing I enjoy most is how he shows the ridiculous sides to some of the major figures that have advanced our understanding of the world.
salacious crumb wrote: » Bryson is fantastic.
--Kaiser-- wrote: » Only read A Short History of Nearly Everything and didn't like it at all; he only gives cursory info on the various topics, mostly stuff I already knew, and the rest is fluffed out with largely boring and irrelevant biographical pieces about the discoverers
iwantmydinner wrote: » Just finished Gone Girl last night; picked out The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood as my next read this morning. I found Gone Girl to be a quick, easy read and a page-turner, though you couldn't call it compelling, or well-written. At all. I needed something bubblegummy after a tough slog through On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks immediately prior. I've never read anything by Atwood before, I'm really excited to get home and start in on it!
sinead88 wrote: » Atwood is amazing. I would absolutely recommend The Handmaid's Tale and the Oryx and Crake series. All dystopian fiction and excellent reads.
