The Book thread

Put the world to rights here (off-topic discussion)
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RedTeamWins
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Re: The Book thread

Postby RedTeamWins » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:00 pm

I bought Under The Dome because it was cheap (£3.99 at WHS), but from the blurb it seems spectacularly unoriginal. Still going to read it like, it's bloody huge.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby MetalBeast » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:39 pm

callumascott wrote:Read Ozzy's autobiography in 3 or 4 days, it's very warm and funny, in an occasionally depressing sort of way.


I would have bought the Audio Book of that if it was Ozzy reading it rather than Frank Skinner.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby TheAgelessStranger » Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:30 am

Well, I didn't bring this back, but now it's here I may aswell post.

I'll be starting The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell. Though I have pleny lined up..
"Are you there, beloved one?
I clench our whisper to the fading...
Will you help me carry on,
And lead me through the sunrise?
Lead me through the sunrise..."

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Re: The Book thread

Postby Littlemissmetal » Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:48 am

TheAgelessStranger wrote:
The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell. .


Good book. Unless of course you have a particular problem with lots of Christians dying rather gruesomely :P
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Re: The Book thread

Postby TheAgelessStranger » Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:48 pm

Littlemissmetal wrote:
TheAgelessStranger wrote:
The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell. .


Good book. Unless of course you have a particular problem with lots of Christians dying rather gruesomely :P


Lol. It's been on my to-read list along with the other books from that series for quite a long time, I've just had too much to be reading aswell. I've heard it get alot of praise, glad you enjoyed it too :yes:
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Re: The Book thread

Postby callumascott » Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:35 pm

I think everyone should read How Not To Grow Up by Richard Herring. (You may be able to tell I don't read a huge amount of fiction). It's very good, especially if you're a fan of his.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby jackcake » Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:47 pm

I was given a free copy of The Colour Of Law by Mark Gimenez. I'll get around to reading it at some point.
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Re: The Book thread

Postby callumascott » Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:45 am

ish42 wrote:
callumascott wrote:I think everyone should read How Not To Grow Up by Richard Herring. (You may be able to tell I don't read a huge amount of fiction). It's very good, especially if you're a fan of his.


He was great on My Teenage Diary too. If you didn't catch it, I'd recommend giving it a go.


Not managed to get hold of that actually. Huge fan of his podcasts though, I'm sponsoring the next Collings and Herrin! :D

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Re: The Book thread

Postby Littlemissmetal » Thu Jul 29, 2010 9:15 am

ish42 wrote:Recently finished The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. It's the second of the Wheel of Time series and I don't think I'm going to bother with any more. I only read the second after pressure from friends. His writing's pretty darn dull not to mention derivative. I just don'y understand the fascination with him so many fantasy fans seem to have.



I lasted to book 5 with any sort of interest, and have read the rest purely so I can read book 12, find out the end, then ritually burn the lot for being so god damn terrible :rolleyes:

Also, I'll be very upset if the ending doesn't involve at least half the cast dying gruesomely. They're all annoying enough to deserve it :P
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Big D » Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:15 pm

Littlemissmetal wrote:
ish42 wrote:Recently finished The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. It's the second of the Wheel of Time series and I don't think I'm going to bother with any more. I only read the second after pressure from friends. His writing's pretty darn dull not to mention derivative. I just don'y understand the fascination with him so many fantasy fans seem to have.



I lasted to book 5 with any sort of interest, and have read the rest purely so I can read book 12, find out the end, then ritually burn the lot for being so god damn terrible :rolleyes:

Also, I'll be very upset if the ending doesn't involve at least half the cast dying gruesomely. They're all annoying enough to deserve it :P


There's a decent trilogy in there somewhere if you cut out all the padding, rewrite Rand so he doesn't go around making dumbass decisions at every possible opportunity, rewrite every single female character so they're not horrible human beings, drop at least three plot threads that just make life confusing and have Rand give the evil Big Bad a right good slap at the end of Book 3.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby NightEyes » Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:47 pm

Finished Robin Hobb's The Rain Wild Chronicles series. Yet again she writes tales that grip you from the start and leave you wanting more. Alot more as its only two books long. :(
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Littlemissmetal » Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:51 pm

Big D wrote:
Littlemissmetal wrote:
ish42 wrote:Recently finished The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. It's the second of the Wheel of Time series and I don't think I'm going to bother with any more. I only read the second after pressure from friends. His writing's pretty darn dull not to mention derivative. I just don'y understand the fascination with him so many fantasy fans seem to have.



I lasted to book 5 with any sort of interest, and have read the rest purely so I can read book 12, find out the end, then ritually burn the lot for being so god damn terrible :rolleyes:

Also, I'll be very upset if the ending doesn't involve at least half the cast dying gruesomely. They're all annoying enough to deserve it :P


There's a decent trilogy in there somewhere if you cut out all the padding, rewrite Rand so he doesn't go around making dumbass decisions at every possible opportunity, rewrite every single female character so they're not horrible human beings, drop at least three plot threads that just make life confusing and have Rand give the evil Big Bad a right good slap at the end of Book 3.


Would you like to kill off Brandon whatsit and set yourself up as the viable alternative? I like your version of Wheel of Time! :D Totally agreed on all your points, I can't think of a single redeeming female character post book 5 (thought Nynaeve was OK until she was re-united with the Aragorn rip off)

I think there will be a third Rain Wild book, NightEyes, just don't know when.

And I'm in the middle of the Ellenium at the minute, reading Ruby Knight
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Re: The Book thread

Postby MotorAmarth » Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:43 am

Reading "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest" at the minute :D
And before that read "Cherries in the Snow" by Emma Forrest
It didn't sound like my type of book but I loved it
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Re: The Book thread

Postby metalblev » Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:43 am

Just finished reading Victoria's Wars by Saul David - quite a nice (although slightly nostalgic) introduction to the wars the British empire fought during the first 30 or so years or Victoria's reign. Now I'm reading a collection of Thomas Mann's short stories - interesting, but very bleak.
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Re: The Book thread

Postby metalblev » Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:51 am

deeno wrote:After reading the fantastic Wasp Factory by Iain Banks , I thought I woul read his second book Walking on Glass . Don't bother - utter wank :x


I haven't read 'Walking on Glass' but apparently its generally regarded as his worst work - if you liked 'The Wasp Factory' try 'The Crow Road' - you can tell a book is going to be good when the opening sentence is, "It was the day my grandmother exploded." :lol:
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