What are you reading?

[furie]

Another book I'm about to read after the above is Dave Gorman's "America Unchained".

Ah dave gorman.. the funniest man ever to have come out of stafford (after furie of course)

I don't come from Stafford though Smelly :lol:

I'm currently reading a load of "Fear" magazines I dug out of the cupboard the other day. It was a horror based magazine sold in the late 80's/early 90's. It's actually really odd to read - just read an article on the up and coming Terminator 2 film. Also news about Dustin Hoffman being the Penguin in Batman 2 :lol:

There are some great book, film and music reviews of stuff I still class as new, but which is actually seriously ancient nowadays! Cracking on 20 years some of it.

The magazine went under in mid 1991, but I've got a good 2 years or so's worth to look back on and giggle at. If I remember Peep, I'll bring some along for you to look at, I reckon you'd love them!

 

[mrclam]

I don't come from Stafford though Smelly :lol:

I said "come out of" not "come from"...

Honestly.. i thought you were more intelligent than that :lol:

 

[Queen.kt]

I'm currantly reading all the harry Potter book for about the 3rd time round, I've also been reading the "Edge Chronicles" which are quite interesting.

 

[Ollie]

The bumper book or useless information.

Not much to say about it really.

 

[furie]

Bored, so going back through my old books again.

This time it's 'Stinger' by Robert R McCammon. I think this must be the tenth time I've read it now :lol:

McCammon is a great, straight forward, horror writer. He's got a very easy, visual style - but the stories are well rounded (if a little blatant) and he can actually end a book well (unlike Mr King).

It's a pity his older books are all out of print, but I may lean on Father's day and try and get a second hand copy of The Wolf's Hour and Swan Song

 

[mrclam]

Just finished "porno" by irvine welsh.

For those not in the know it's the sequel to trainspotting. Its 9 years later.. Begbie is in prison still, renton is running a nightclub in amsterdam, Spud is still spud, and Sick boy is in london working in a strip joint and pimping out his girlfriends.

Plot follows sickboy MAINLY as he inherits a pub back in leith, which has a function room upstairs which he starts to use to make mucky movies.

But eventually all the main (not dead) characters from the original book make an appearence.

Each chapter is said from the pov of another character - so like the original you have to be good at reading broad scottish if you're going to understand the begbie/spud chapters. I found myself reading them outloud under my breath so i could hear what it's supposed to sound like and get it (hard to explain - if you read trainspotting you'd understand).

Overall its a bit more long winded than trainspotting - we already know most the characters so there's no real back story to tell or anything .. so in places it plods along.

Of course being irvine welsh it's very graphic.. there's chapter which describes two guys (one positive) raping a woman which is particularly gruesome.

I thought the ending was working up to predictability but it shocked and surprised me a fair bit at the end where i didnt quite know how it was going to end up.. And my pulse was actually racing as i played out the scenes in my head while reading the story.

Last few chapters are a definite "i'm not going to bed until i've finished and find out what happens" thing.

Unfortunately the rest of the book isnt.. and as i said is predestrian.

Worth it if you liked the first book.. Or if you liked the movie (and if you did and you havent read the first book.. do so! It's ace)... If only to see where the characters end up.

Not in the same league as the original though.

 

[Hixee]

I finished Life of Pi last night.

It was certainly odd, however I really liked it. It tells the story of a boy, who becomes stranded in a lifeboat after the ship he was on sinks. He and his family were travelling from India to Canada to set up a new zoo. He becomes trapped on the lifeboat with a collection of wildlife, including a 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger.

The book tells the story of how he survives.

I'm not really into books where the character is developed, however this book was really well written.

The ending seemed somewhat short, but it was very well done.

Overall 8/10

 

[Gavin]

^Life of Pi was a fantastic book, especially the animals in zoos discussions early on. Yeah, the ending was quite sudden, but really effective I thought.

I recently finished The Aquariums od Pyongyang, which is a memoir by a former prisoner of a North Korean prison camp. I really didn't enjoy it too much, basically because I felt no sympathy for the author.

It sounds mean, but he really had a pretty easy time of it compared to most in that situation. He spends a lot of time in the book bragging about how smart and rich he was compared to other prisoners.

Also, his "heroic" escape from North Korea would've meant death sentences for the friends and family he left behind, which he casually fails to mention.

Self-indulgent crap.

I started reading The Footprints of God by Greg Iles whiles I was on the plane, only to realise I'd read it before. Obvioulsy not that memorable then...

Just finshed Congo by Michael Crichton, basically because I needed something for train journeys and I had it at my parents' place from years ago.

Meh. Quite a decent, quick read, which is what I wanted, but nothing special really.

 

[Deano]

I'm reading "Cirque du Freak" by "Darran Shan". Its well good.

 

[Anonymous]

I will soon be reading "The Audacity of Hope" by Barack Obama, just have to wait until it gets here.

 

[Snoo]

I finished Life of Pi last night.

It was certainly odd, however I really liked it. It tells the story of a boy, who becomes stranded in a lifeboat after the ship he was on sinks. He and his family were travelling from India to Canada to set up a new zoo. He becomes trapped on the lifeboat with a collection of wildlife, including a 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger.

The book tells the story of how he survives.

I'm not really into books where the character is developed, however this book was really well written.

The ending seemed somewhat short, but it was very well done.

Overall 8/10

Read it during school.

Great book.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Well, as one of my other hidden gems from the sale, I got three Stephen King books; It, Skeleton Crew, and Tommyknockers. Since It is so well known compared to the other ones, and has gotten better reviews than the other ones, I decided to start that one.

I'm still really only at the beginning (it's a long book, almost too long for me, haha) but it seems pretty good so far. King's detail is always great in every book that I have read of his and the second I pick it up I feel like I'm in the book, unlike with some authors I just feel like I'm reading about something. I'm at the part where they are interrogating the people who killed the gay guy, so only about twenty or thirty pages in, but I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[furie]

You'll love It Taylor! It's a superb book. I'm only just getting bored of reading it yearly now... First read it back in 1991 I think - so 17 reads is pretty good going

Skeleton Crew is very hit and miss. The Tommy Knockers is VERY difficult to read, as it messes with your head a little bit (I read it under stress while doing my final exams at school though, so probably wasn't in the correct mental frame of mind for it). It's quite a good book though... Except for the ned... But Steven King could never end a book :lol:

 

[Ollie]

Slowly working my way through the Doctor Who books.
They're great and you can really visualise them as an actual episode.

I'm still on the books where the Doctor was played by Christopher Eccleson so you have to try and remember the way he reacted to certain situations differently to how David Tennant does.

They're worth a read though and also gives you more insight to the Doctors path.
And in one of the books (haven't got to that one yet) it reveals the Doctors real name. :shock:

 

[Ben]

Taylor, It is superb. It took me over a year to read it, ha, but it's superb.

The Tommyknockers is really good as well. Some parts are a bit "what the hell?", but overall, it's a fantastic book. Apart from, like Phil says, the ending sucks.

Out of interest, have you read a King book before? If not, and if you get on well with them, go and buy The Stand and The Shining. The Stand is a total behemoth of a book (just over 1400 pages I think the "uncut" version comes in at), but it's outstanding. And for being that long, it didn't take me that much time. Of course, in King style, when the ending finally comes, it's about a page long, and makes no sense and was obviously rushed, lol. And The Shining is just **** scary.

I'm reading To Kill A Mockingbird at the moment. It's good.

 

[trav]

^To Kill A Mockingbird is fantastic. One of my favourite books.


I'm reading Jane Eyre at the moment. It's pretty good. Worth a read if you're into gothic stories.

I've just finished reading Under The Blood Red Sun as well. Fantastic book. Easily my favourite book. I recommend it to anyone.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

You'll love It Taylor! It's a superb book. I'm only just getting bored of reading it yearly now... First read it back in 1991 I think - so 17 reads is pretty good going

Haha yeah it gets great reviews which is why I decided to pick that one up first. Skeleton Crew and Tommyknockers are pretty well known too, but I was most excited about It because I know it's meant to be very good.

The Tommy Knockers is VERY difficult to read, as it messes with your head a little bit

Is it just like, confusing? Because I absolutely can't stand being confused during a book, and the moment I'm lost, I go back and re-read the chapter, and if I still don't get it, I quit the book. I just hate being confused, lol.

Taylor, It is superb. It took me over a year to read it, ha, but it's superb.

Yeah, it's certainly a long one. Over a thousand pages or so, so yeah I'm expecting to be done hopefully before 2010 comes, but we'll see.

Jokes, jokes. If I actually sit down and read it, I can get through it fast.

Out of interest, have you read a King book before?

Yeah, Dolores Claiborne and Green Mile. Dolores Claiborne kind of took me a long time to read, but that wasn't too long. Green Mile I was done in no time. I really like his books, but they're kind of expensive at the store so I'm gonna start looking for them at garage sales.

 

[Ollie]

Sometimes when I read a book. My eyes still follow the words but my brain doesn't take it in. Then I'll get to a paragraph and I'll be like "hang on, what the hell is going on?" And I'll have to turn back a page or two to the last section I remembered. :lol:

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Sometimes when I read a book. My eyes still follow the words but my brain doesn't take it in. Then I'll get to a paragraph and I'll be like "hang on, what the hell is going on?" And I'll have to turn back a page or two to the last section I remembered.

I do the exact same thing, which is why I think it takes me so long to read sometimes. If there's any type of distraction, even like, distant voices, I usually end up subconsciously paying attention to those and not my book, even though I'll still be reading the words. In fact, I did it reading It at the park the other day.

Oh and as for To Kill a Mockingbird, it was okay; not as amazing as people make it out to be, but it was decent.

 

[furie]

The Tommy Knockers is VERY difficult to read, as it messes with your head a little bit

Is it just like, confusing? Because I absolutely can't stand being confused during a book, and the moment I'm lost, I go back and re-read the chapter, and if I still don't get it, I quit the book. I just hate being confused, lol.

Nah, it's not the story is confusing. It's the way it's written is designed to make you think like the characters. You have to read it to understand, but it's very clever and makes you really think.

Yeah, it's certainly a long one. Over a thousand pages or so, so yeah I'm expecting to be done hopefully before 2010 comes, but we'll see.

Jokes, jokes. If I actually sit down and read it, I can get through it fast.

1000 pages? That's a three dayer!

Out of interest, have you read a King book before?

Yeah, Dolores Claiborne and Green Mile. Dolores Claiborne kind of took me a long time to read, but that wasn't too long. Green Mile I was done in no time. I really like his books, but they're kind of expensive at the store so I'm gonna start looking for them at garage sales.

Dolores Claiborne is a good book, but it's pretty dry. Green Mile I re-read the other day, and it's a really good, easy read

I'm currently Reading Brain Lumley's Vampire World: Blood Brothers (the first in the Vampire World Trilogy. I've read these again four or five times already, and I love them. Lumley has such a great, easy, story telling style. The plot is quite deep and complex, but it's just a great story. Strong, blatant characters; eroticism; horror; science fiction - the works. All set in a superb world of vampires and gypsies battling it out - with a man who can talk to the dead leading the plot