Avid readers in the house?

CaptainPenguin said:
Had a clear out of the loft the other day and found some old Sci Fi by EE (Doc) Smith that I have started to read again for the first time in 10 years
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The lensman series? Bought them on ebay about a year back to relive my childhood!
 
Read Eric Sykes Biog If I don't write it no one will. Good light read full of dry humour.;)

PS
just got one of those Kindle books (electric) from Amazom. Only draw back is you cannot get all the books you would like.
They have around a million books to go at.
 
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I love books :D

I do find it strange that talking to my work colleagues and friends, some of them have never read a book since school...

Thats weird!

Anyway, I am currently on Peter F Hamilton's "The Evolutionary Void". I have to say his books have brought me back to SF after a 20 year break. Stunning books, all of them.
 
towershot said:
PS
just got one of those Kindle books (electric) from Amazom. Only draw back is you cannot get all the books you would like.
They have around a million books to go at.
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Turned a nice shade of green here .. envy is not nice lol roll on Xmas.
 
I read total crap usually.
Just finished 'Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith and ordered 'Kolyma' and 'The Secret Speech' by the same author as soon as I finished it...
Also just ordered Philip Kerr's 'Berlin Noir' trilogy to follow it up with...
 
"Secret Speech" was top, not quite as gripping and revolutionary as the real "Secret Speech", but quite fun anyway :D
 
desantnik said:
"Secret Speech" was top, not quite as gripping and revolutionary as the real "Secret Speech", but quite fun anyway :D
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Cool...German Amazon delivery times are bloody shocking by the way.
I use Amazon Prime in the UK and I get stuff the next day (to a UK address) for free... and I was getting it for free in 5-7 days to my BFPO address in Afghanistan as well.

Here my goods are dispatched from the Amazon depot in Germany (invoiced and dispatched, emails to that effect) on Monday and here I am on Thursday still waiting...:suspect:

And I get to pay for the privilege...

German efficiency?
My Arse...:razz:
 
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I use Amazon all the time for my books, I do the free delivery normally 2/3 days.
 
Another vote for Stephen Donaldson, also Michael Marshall (Smith), Ian Rankin Ian Patterson but not the collaborations. The Book Depository is a good Amazon alternative - price includes delivery worldwide.
 
inaneredstripe said:
Recently read the original "Bram Stokers Dracula"
only a quid from , unbelievably
takes a while to get into the olde English , but worth the effort, even if youve seen the film.
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I read that last year. Very enjoyable.

I'm currently struggling to get through Moby Dick.
 
KayJay said:
One of the things I love most other than photography and the more obvious things is reading. Who's reading what and who's got some recommendations?

I just finished Salman Rushdie's latest effort; 'Luka and the Fire of Life'. It's a marvelous read, beautifully written.

Currently reading Orhan Pamuk's 'The Museum of Innocence'. It's a hefty novel but really easy to get caught up in. 700 pages are flying past. Orhan won the Novel prize for literature in 2006.
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As you seem to enjoy "literary" fiction I would suggest:

1. Anything by Graham Greene - he is a bloody good storyteller and his novels are fairly short. He packs a lot into a short page-count.

2. Anything by Amitav Ghosh - Indian author. He's not a writer of the extravagantly fantastic in the way that Rushdie is, but his work is imaginative and beautifully written.

3. A plug for one of my favourite books of all time - David Madsen's "Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf". The first chapter is available to read on the publisher's website. If you like this enough to read the rest of the book, and you like the book as a whole, you will probably find enough in their catalogue to keep you amused for a couple of years.

Try this - http://www.dedalusbooks.com/samples.php?id=00000023&s=3 (:naughty:)

4. In a more crime genre vein - a major plug for Mo Hayder whose novels are at the dark and seriously kinky and weird end of the scale.
 
Oh and if you haven't read it, definitely check out "Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Its a bit of required student reading in the Motherland, but don't let that put you off - its a superb story.
 
The latest Iain M Banks, Surface Details is out. All his sci fi is excellent, but the Culture novels are must haves.
 
Currently reading Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds. Strange mix of noir and sci-fi but weirdly gripping :shrug:

Arkady said:
Just finished 'Child 44' by Tom Rob Smith and ordered 'Kolyma' and 'The Secret Speech' by the same author as soon as I finished it...
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desantnik said:
"Secret Speech" was top, not quite as gripping and revolutionary as the real "Secret Speech", but quite fun anyway :D
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I read Child 44 a little while ago and I'm looking out for "The Secret Speech" - so no spoilers please :)

For anyone wanting to get away from the commercialism of Dan Brown, but who enjoys books in a similar vein I'd highly recommend Sam Bourne's "The Righteous Men" and "The Romanov Prophecy" by Steve Berry.

For Sci-fi / fantasy I'm a really big fan of Brian Lumley's Necroscope series. Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula" is another favourite of mine - a fascinating twist on Bram Stoker's original. Very dark and graphic though, so not to everyone's taste.
 
halfway through the latest Peter James one............ cracking read, but am having trouble working out where it's going......... :lol: its 1997 then now then 97, then now, then 79, then now.............:shrug:

I have a whole box of books to read..........

One bought the other week and a real favourite at the moment is "Conversations with myself" by a Mr N. R. Mandela. Awesome reading.

Well, it's not reading as such - more a collection of his letters, speeches and thoughts. An ideal "loo book"........ :shake::lol::lol:
 
Harmless` said:
The latest Iain M Banks, Surface Details is out. All his sci fi is excellent, but the Culture novels are must haves.
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Best to start with Consider Phlebas, or maybe The Player of Games.. although I think Excession is still my favourite.
 
Have wasted far too much of my life reading fiction. Trying to work my way through the VAST stock of works of interest I've acquired over the years. Railways, aircraft, country crafts, you name it I've probably got at least one book covering that subject some where. (Buy them when you see them cheep, you might develop the interest later when there not so cheep)! Such an eclectic selection and SO many over the years, I've forgotten getting most of them!

Currently by the bedside, I managed to find "Vol.2 of Aneurin Bevan's biography" by Michael Foot. Turgid reading but very very detailed, and after reading vol.1, I just had to have a go at Vol.2 covering the formation of the NHS.

For light relief I'm currently grabbing "The world according to Clarkson". A collection of his newspaper story's from the early 2000s so perfect for reading on the throne!

Last book was probably "Hannah" by Hannah Hauxwell and Barry Cookcroft. It tells the story of that delightful woman found living alone up on the moors with her "Beasts". No running water, no gas or electric yet with an outlook on life, and a set of morals and personal qualities which many of us could do well emulating today! A true LADY!:love:

(Is it just me or do other people find they tend to read in the voice of the writer if they've heard them before? Clarkson comes from "Oop Nurrth", so tends to talk "Wie clogs on like tha nows", whilst Hannah had a wonderful light and lyrical voice. Very clear precise diction yet always the hint of a laugh or smile).
 
Lynton said:
halfway through the latest Peter James one............ cracking read, but am having trouble working out where it's going......... :lol: its 1997 then now then 97, then now, then 79, then now.............:shrug:
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I have just finished that, was my first book of his, went onto Amazon and got another five of his, should keep me going for a few weeks :)
 
SarahLee said:
For anyone wanting to get away from the commercialism of Dan Brown, but who enjoys books in a similar vein I'd highly recommend Sam Bourne's "The Righteous Men" and "The Romanov Prophecy" by Steve Berry.
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Steve Berry was a good read, I enjoy him more than Dan Brown.
 
Alastair said:
Best to start with Consider Phlebas, or maybe The Player of Games.. although I think Excession is still my favourite.
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Excession is my favourite too. I just love the vastness and power of the Minds.

There are some other great reads in this thread too. I LOVED Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie but haven't read any others of his, although I have several on the shelves.

In my 20's I read lots of underground classics and post-modernist works. My favourite author from then is still Robert Anton Wilson. His stuff is hilarious, makes you think deeply and is always optimistic. Sadly missed.

I'm a big fan of Pratchett, but even better is Robert Rankin. He's kinda like Pratchett on acid.

My favourite books of the last couple of decades though are The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas and Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith. Both very hip, coll and a little bit weird.

For me all I want from a work of fiction is to have my belief that the world is a truly magical place confirmed. Nothing else will do. :)
 
Oh and I also just finished 'Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follett (forget the TV series: it's UTTER shi'ite by comparison, though Ian McShane makes a good mental template for his character)... 'Pillars' is a much better all-round historical novel in the Bernard Cornwell vein that doesn't stray too far from historical fact...

Now on 'Blood's a Rover' - part three in the crime series by James Ellroy (American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand being pts 1 & 2...)
 
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