The Book thread

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

Postby Darkweasel » Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:40 pm

Under the Dome was nothing short of spectacular. :o
Reading The Road now.
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Re: The Book thread

Postby NightEyes » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:40 pm

http://www.gestalten.com/books/detail?i ... d22a1c0075

More a Picture book but I want it none the less. Christophe Szpajdel is the man!

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:love:
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Re: The Book thread

Postby lars_ulrichs_blister » Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:20 pm

Got Tolkiens Unfinished Tales for 25p in the charity shop :yes:
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Strapping Young Kate » Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:36 pm

Darkweasel wrote:Reading The Road now.


I loved The Road! It is pretty grim though, especially as I read it whilst lying round shivering with flu.

Gonna make a start on The Beach tonight methinks.
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Re: The Book thread

Postby NightEyes » Sat Jan 23, 2010 1:14 pm

James Herbert - The Rats
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Big D » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:08 pm

Ended up with two on the go:

Clive Cussler - Arctic Drift. Usual Dirk Pitt stuff.


John Ringo - A Hymn Before Battle.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby herzeleid » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:15 pm

NightEyes wrote:http://www.gestalten.com/books/detail?id=ceafb21a24b0f7bc01250bd22a1c0075

More a Picture book but I want it none the less. Christophe Szpajdel is the man!

Image

:love:


He is awesome. I've had a fair few in depth conversations with him over the years. He lives in Exeter, and he works in the co-op right near where one of my friends lives. Very chatty bloke, and he literally lives for music and his art.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby Strapping Young Kate » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:28 pm

Fiiinally started reading The Beach Thursday night and now only have a few pages left. I've not been so impressed by a book (or at least one I've been forced to read) in ages. :yes: Had to watch about 10 minutes of the film in my seminar yesterday though and it was actually unbearable (thank you Leonardo DiCaprio), so please don't let that put you off.
Moonburp wrote:Now everyone has Daniel Radcliffe's todger burned into their retinas and I feel like it's my fault.

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Re: The Book thread

Postby Manadh » Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:14 pm

Just started reading Martyr by Rory Clements

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Re: The Book thread

Postby Darkweasel » Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:43 pm

The Road.

Harsh stuff but I do feel some of the praise heaped on it is a bit much. The film was slow moving and heavy going but even less happens in the book to make it quite the challenge to finish it.
Having only watched the film a couple of weeks ago it's been difficult not to compare the two but both came out with plus points to them. The film did a very good job of adding some welcome drama to certain moments but also made Viggo go a little bit mad (or at least completely paranoid) towards the end of the film while in the book it was more subtle and not quite so glaring.
McCarthy's overuse of certain words (you could make a drinking game around how many times he used the words "gray", "ash", "cold", "blackened", "dark" and "rain") could get annoying but every now and again he'd write a paragraph using such vivid flourishes of colour from out of nowhere, that it brilliantly accentuated the bleakness of the present, The Man's memories of the past and the slim, but possible hope for The Boy's future.
Overall, very depressing and hard-going but worth it in the end.
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Calibur » Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:57 pm

Been reading Charlie Brooker's "Dawn of the Dumb" and for a more historical slant, Michael Burleigh's "The Third Reich."

Any got any good fantasy/sci-fi that's worth a read?

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Re: The Book thread

Postby jackcake » Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:25 pm

Deli Kate wrote:
jackcake wrote:I've just started The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Only 60-odd pages in so far but it seems like a good account of Nazi Germany through the eyes of Death and a ten-year-old girl.


It made me cry.
Fantastic writing.


Fantastic writing indeed. I finished it this morning - it's an excellent book!
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Tet » Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:09 pm

I was part way through Elizabeth Moon's "Engaging the enemy" when I found out a printing error meant it was missing 20 pages or so. Arse :-(

So I moved on to Timothy Zahn's "Night train to Rigel" and am now reading "Jerusalem fire" by RM Meluch.
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Re: The Book thread

Postby black_rose » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:11 pm

Calibur wrote:Been reading Charlie Brooker's "Dawn of the Dumb" and for a more historical slant, Michael Burleigh's "The Third Reich."

Any got any good fantasy/sci-fi that's worth a read?


Mostly on the Fantasy side of things:

Robin Hobb - literally any and all of her books. I'd recommend starting with The Farseer Trilogy, though. One of my favourite authors of all time.
George RR Martin - I'm currently re-reading the Song of Ice and Fire series, but a lot of his other stuff is really good as well. He also write Sci-Fi stuff as well as fantasy - Tuf Voyaging is good on the front, also Dream Songs (two part collection of assorted short stories) is probably a good place to start with his stuff.
Kristin Cashore - Graceling and Fire are an excellent pair of books...

Oh, and on a random extra Sci-Fi note, Blindsight by Peter Watts was a very interesting read.

Hope that helps!
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Re: The Book thread

Postby Big D » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:34 pm

Tet wrote:..." and am now reading "Jerusalem fire" by RM Meluch.



Is that the one where an ex-general ends up living with a bunch of fire-walking aliens? Quite a good book if it is.