The Book thread

[CrappyMike]

sadly its unlikely this year. i always have time to talk about the drenai books

[Johnny Tightlips]

Have you read Times Without Number ? Great book with an alternative take on Time Travel.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Times-Without-N ... 35&sr=1-24

Thanks, I'll make a note of that.

And I'll just get one more recommendation out of my system:



It later became part of the Von Bek volume but the second story isn't as good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... &x=10&y=13

Both books added to my wishlist I've just finished Jeffery Deaver's latest offering so I'm onto The Traveller in Black tonight.

[MetalBeast]

Have you read Times Without Number ? Great book with an alternative take on Time Travel.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Times-Without-N ... 35&sr=1-24

Thanks, I'll make a note of that.

And I'll just get one more recommendation out of my system:



It later became part of the Von Bek volume but the second story isn't as good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... &x=10&y=13

I'm planninng to read "The Best of Michael Moorcock" as an introduction to his work after I've finished Atlas Shrugged.

Finished I, Partridge (awesome book) last night and I'm starting Atlas Shrugged tonight.

I think I should apologise in advance in case I bore you all with anti-randist rants over the coming weeks.

[Littlemissmetal]

Don't fret, it's something of a given that everyone winces in here once I get hooked on a new series - I post arguably a little too much

[Darkweasel]

Just finished Alan Dean Foster's 1979 film novelization of Alien and I must say, after watching Prometheus recently, it was a very interesting read indeed.

Bearing in mind the book was based on the original screenplay, there are a couple of big differences to the finished film. For example, there is no scene or description of the Space Jockey or the inhabitants of the derelict spaceship (until a passing mention by Ash towards the end of the book). However, in their absence we do get a description of one of the urns discovered in Prometheus.
So, after reading that, I get the impression that the Space Jockeys were only added at the last minute (probably all down to a Giger drawing) and the urns were left on the backburner, Prometheus being Scott's chance to resurrect his original idea.
Other than that, the other differences were slight. After Kane is brought back to the ship, scans reveal a small, unexplainable black blotch on his lungs; after the conversation with headless Ash, Lambert suggests suicide pills; Brett is pulled into the roof and kept as a late night Alien snack along with Dallas (the recently reinstated scene where Ripley finds the coccooned Captain is present in the adaptation), and The Company comes off very badly when Ash describes in more detail exactly what the overall plan actually involved.

Overall, it was decent, but it's a little slow to start. The Alien itself is barely described, and the ending feels seriously hurried with the last twenty minutes of the film written in around only ten pages.

6/10

[Flak 38]

The complete chronicles of Conan - R.E. Howard

[Johnny Tightlips]

Steve Berry - The Charlemagne Pursuit
Having seen his books in many, many charity shops I thought it was finally time to give this one a go. Cue the usual historical conspiracy drama, this time with added boredom, and you'll end up with this dreary novel. The characters seemed to jump from one state of mind to another with no explanation and trust in people you've just met is handed out like presents at Christmas. All of this would be bearable if the plot and locations were equally as ridiculous, but sadly they were as mundane as they come. Not impressed.
3/10

Jeffery Deaver - XO
Deaver's third novel in the Kathryn Dance series, and sadly not a worthy addition. The writing seemed lacklustre in style at times (highly unusual for Deaver) and the plot was uninspired. A few points in the book clawed it back to his more familiar style, but it just wasn't enough. A rare miss.
6/10

[keera_envenomed]

Steve Berry - The Charlemagne Pursuit
Having seen his books in many, many charity shops

There's usually a good reason for that

[Johnny Tightlips]

Steve Berry - The Charlemagne Pursuit
Having seen his books in many, many charity shops

There's usually a good reason for that

The thought did occur to me Then again, if he's selling a lot of books then I would assume more are going to turn up for sale 2nd hand. I always see Tolkien is some form, usually LOTR, in charity shops, but doesn't mean to say he's a bad author!

[keera_envenomed]

Steve Berry - The Charlemagne Pursuit
Having seen his books in many, many charity shops

There's usually a good reason for that

The thought did occur to me Then again, if he's selling a lot of books then I would assume more are going to turn up for sale 2nd hand. I always see Tolkien is some form, usually LOTR, in charity shops, but doesn't mean to say he's a bad author!

That is also true - lots of books that were popular for various reasons, good or not, you see pretty often. I must have seen about 50 copies each of Memoirs of a Geisha and The Time Travellers Wife. God knows how many copies of 50 Shades of Grey will be filling their shelves in about 6 months!

[Johnny Tightlips]

There's usually a good reason for that

The thought did occur to me Then again, if he's selling a lot of books then I would assume more are going to turn up for sale 2nd hand. I always see Tolkien is some form, usually LOTR, in charity shops, but doesn't mean to say he's a bad author!

That is also true - lots of books that were popular for various reasons, good or not, you see pretty often. I must have seen about 50 copies each of Memoirs of a Geisha and The Time Travellers Wife. God knows how many copies of 50 Shades of Grey will be filling their shelves in about 6 months!

If I see another copy of The Time Travellers Wife I think I will scream

I also can't believe 50 Shades of Grey is now the fastest selling paperback of all time

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Just started The Black Dahlia

[Johnny Tightlips]

Just started The Black Dahlia

Loved that book

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

Just started The Black Dahlia

Loved that book

Loving it already. Elroy is the last of the American Noir big names i've got to read and his style is so different from Chandler and Hammett, i'm going to get through this pretty quickly I reckon.

[AnnihiSlateR]

Finally finished Atlas Shrugged. Only took me a year an a half. Though to be fair I did read a third last week, so I'f I had put my mind to it, it would have been over a lot quicker.

I have to say chapter 27's 56 page monologue was one of the most difficult things I've ever read. Simply because it's unrelenting, paragraph after paragraph of speech. No directions, no movements, no reactions, no descriptions, just 56 pages in very small print of one man talking.

I won't give too much away as I think it was metalbeast said he wanted to read it.

My next book is going to be SE Hinton's The Outsiders. Hopefully this won't take quite as long.