What are you reading?

[Fred]

Just finished 'Stealing Light' by Gary Gibson. Felt very similar in style and tone to Alastair Reynolds and Ken MacLeod. Quite an entertaining read about people squabbling over an interstellar derelict that might have a functioning FTL drive. The catch is the only race in the Galaxy with FTL isn't keen on anyone else getting it and they may have committed genocide to secure their technological stranglehold...

I'll be keeping an eye out to see what else he does as I really enjoyed this one.

[rubberchicken]

Darwin Awards Omnibus. Damn people do some stupid shit.

[Ajax]

I was given 'The Mammoth Book of Best New Sci Fi #20' for Xmas. It's a short fiction anthology with some absolute crackers - in particular a story called 'Nightingale' by Alastair Reynolds. I can highly recommend this collection to fans of the short stuff.

[dylan]

Originally Posted by dylan

pfft, slacker

incidentally, I believe Philip Pullman is the only author that's ever won an 'adult' prize for literature (Whitbread) based on a 'children's' book (quotes used because who the hell knows what is what nowadays)

Goodness me, I must have been tired. What I meant to say is that he's the only author that's won the Whitbread (an 'adult' fiction prize) with work that most consider to be approximately children's fiction.

Anyways, can't wait to see the movie.

[wugambino]

done quite a bit of reading in the last couple of weeks while sitting on the beach doing absolutely nothing!

The Camel Club - David Baldacci

Good read although it sort of fell to bits at the end , like he was told to wrap it up or they would start killing kittens.

Die Trying - Lee Child

An interesting leading man in Jack Reacher , who knew military police were so rambo esc

Thomas Mann - Death in Venice and im currently reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which is fraptastic thus far

[TB]

On The Edge, My Story:Richard Hammond. Not what I expected at all.

[Rince]

Originally Posted by wugambino

Die Trying - Lee Child

An interesting leading man in Jack Reacher , who knew military police were so rambo esc

read 'em all!!!
He's even done one, The Enemy, set when Reacher was still an MP (just after Operation Just (Be)Cause in Panama)

[darkness]

currently re-reading Peter F Hamilton's NightsDawn trilogy. One of my favourites ever.

Books:
The Reality Dysfunction
The Neutronium Alchemist
The Naked God

Truely great series. They are thick books, but progress quite rapidly.

[Gentl e]

Wing Leader, by 'Johnnie' Johnson (D.S.O., D.F.C.)

First person and sometimes hilarious account of Spitfire pilots in WWII.

He mentions and praises every NZ Spitfire pilot (legends like Alan Deere) he flies with, so I'm going to see if can find any books on them - any suggestions welcome.

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by darkness

currently re-reading Peter F Hamilton's NightsDawn trilogy. One of my favourites ever.

Books:
The Reality Dysfunction
The Neutronium Alchemist
The Naked God

Truely great series. They are thick books, but progress quite rapidly.

agreed. good content combined with an easy writing style turns your eyes into paper chewing machines.

[Cyberbob]

Originally Posted by TB

On The Edge, My Story:Richard Hammond. Not what I expected at all.

in a good or bad way?

[reac]

Originally Posted by darkness

The Naked God

Am about 1/2 way through at the moment. I've enjoyed all of his stuff so far.

Also reading Turning Back the Clock by Umberto Eco which I got for Christmas.

[dead goon]

Lolita by Vladamir Nobokov

[LordP]

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson

[StN]

^^ The dolphin did it...

[chiquelet]

The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy. Clancy can be a bit hit and miss with his writing style (Patriot Games anyone?) but so far I'm not finding this one to be too cringe-worthy.

[[BT]MikeMan]

Originally Posted by Ajax

Inspired by World in Conflict, I'm currently reading Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising.
Pretty fucking solid so far.

If you liked Red Storm Rising you can also try Team Yankee by Harold Coyle.

I liked this book a great deal, it is a VERY intresting look at company level armour engagements.

[[Malks] Pixie]

Interesting combo there LordP :-)

Pixie

[Rom]

Originally Posted by wugambino

The Camel Club - David Baldacci

Good read although it sort of fell to bits at the end , like he was told to wrap it up or they would start killing kittens.

That's a shame. I started with The Collectors having never read any of his books. It was an enjoyable read though was taken aback by the fact that it had two story lines that crossed and only one was concluded. Fortunately for me I just read it last week and the conclusion is in his latest Stone Cold which I've just finished reading. It tied up the loose ends and again had two story lines that crossed and this time he ended both.

[chiQ]

I'm reading The Bourne Identity for the first time. It's a bloody good book; very different from and better than the movie, be that ever so great. The differences are more a matter of minor detail and period-related stuff than plot changes, though there are some biggies in that area. Just this first book would be a couple of films if they hadn't changed it though. It's bloody epic.

[[Malks] Pixie]

Actually there's a TV mini-series which is pretty faithful to the first book - it's staring Richard Chamberlain if I remember correctly. The films are a good retelling of the idea, but don't come anywhere near to the books in my opinion. All three of them are great (and I don't usually read that sort of stuff) with the last actually being the best myself.

Pixie

[LordP]

I hadn't actually considered the significance of the two until you mentioned it...

Saw the God Delusion in the Best Sellers section at the library, and the Illuminatis Trilogy in the Recently Returned section, and picked up both.

Coincedence? Or Conspiracy? Hmmmmm.....

[fidgit]

I've recently tried reading both Lolita and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

However, I've found I have a real mental block when it comes to reading books when I've already seen the movie.

I'm certain Fear and Loathing is a good book, every says so, but so far all I can recall is 'drugs drugs drugs, drugs, drugdrugdrugs, drugs.'
And Lolita's a slow-going story about a self-confesed, unashamed paedophile.

So, to make sure I don't ruin any more books, I'm re-reading His Dark Material before seeing the movie. I'd forgotten (or didn't pick up on it the first time perhaps) how much hatred there is for The Church in The Subtle Knife. It's gonna be a ball of laffs when that movie gets made!

[Ritalin]

My two most recent reads were 'Lolita' and 'On the Edge: My Story' by Richard Hammond.

Lolita is an excellent, excellent piece of literature. It's beautifully written, even though the pacing is quite slow and deliberate. I think the slow pace is quite intentional though, and important to the feel of the novel as you reach the climax. A very good read despite there really being no sympathetic characters.

On the Edge wasn't really what I was expecting either, but I did enjoy reading it. It's entirely about the crash, and Hammond's recovery from the serious brain injury he sustained. There are anecdotes from his childhood, and from when he started on Top Gear, but they're really there to help illustrate the backstory. A large chunk of the middle section is written by Mindy, his wife, who stayed with him in the hospital in the weeks after the accident.
I found the book really interesting and quite moving, but it's probably quite a bit different from Jeremy Clarkson's books, for example.

[Bent]

A history of New Zealand - Micheal King
The Hollow Men - Nicky Hager

Both are fascinating and are completely altering my view of the country I live in.

I also read God Is Dead by Ron Currie Jr just before the holidays, which is quite good but you could really tell it's an USA citizen writing about the rest of the world.

[Lykaios]

Originally Posted by fidgit

So, to make sure I don't ruin any more books, I'm re-reading His Dark Material before seeing the movie. I'd forgotten (or didn't pick up on it the first time perhaps) how much hatred there is for The Church in The Subtle Knife. It's gonna be a ball of laffs when that movie gets made!

If you've read the book, the movie is not worth watching. It's shit.

If you haven't read the book, the movie is not worth watching because you wouldn't have a fucking clue what's going on half the time. Also, did I mention it's shit?



Currently reading "The Butlerian Jihad". What a crappy piece of writing O_o

[Wally Simmonds]

I've nearly finished The Reality Dysfunction. Man, I can't believe I've snobbed this guy! Couldn't put the damn thing down.

[Mr Melon]

Just finished the Howard Marks Book of Dope Stories, and The Fourth Estate by Geoffrey Archer.

Enjoyed both, particularly the former!

[chiquelet]

Originally Posted by chiquelet

The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy. Clancy can be a bit hit and miss with his writing style (Patriot Games anyone?) but so far I'm not finding this one to be too cringe-worthy.

Ok so I take that last part back, the dialogue between Jack Ryan and his aides is just ick. Too much "POTUS thought" and "TresSec" mused and "BIRDSEYE hated". FFS just call them by their names and stop trying to be so damned pretentious. And oh my gosh there is some not so subtle pro-America propaganda in this one, if I can be bothered I might find a passage and quote it for you.

[chiquelet]

Originally Posted by Wally Simmonds

Man, I can't believe I've snobbed this guy!

Author?

[Wally Simmonds]

Peter F Hamilton

[StN]

Originally Posted by StN

So now I'm digging through "The Salmon of Doubt" - bits scavenged from the Macs of Douglas, and assembled in some kind of order that makes sense. There's some Zaphod, and some Dirk Gently - and I'm not sure yet if the two end up tying everything together. No word yet on the stuff this guy found being part of it.

BASTARD! I was just getting into that, and it stopped. Bloody inconvienient of him to die halfway through the book.

[cyc]

Originally Posted by chiquelet

Ok so I take that last part back, the dialogue between Jack Ryan and his aides is just ick. Too much "POTUS thought" and "TresSec" mused and "BIRDSEYE hated". FFS just call them by their names and stop trying to be so damned pretentious. And oh my gosh there is some not so subtle pro-America propaganda in this one, if I can be bothered I might find a passage and quote it for you.

Clancy started going nuts with his pro-US, ethnocentric BS around the time of his writing exactly what you're reading. IIRC, some of the descriptions of Chinese characters in that book were pretty borderline also.

[Ashley]

Originally Posted by Cyberbob

in a good or bad way?

I have about 20 pages to go....its hard to say. I liked it, it was a very, very, very different perspective of a severe brain injury victim.

[dead goon]

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

[xor]

Just finished: The forever war by Joe Haldeman
Now reading: A perfect spy by John LeCarre

[andre]

Just finished Decline of the English Murder and other essays by George Orwell (mixed bag of mostly harsh and pessimistic critiques on a variety of subjects, not always, but mostly, interesting).

Now reading Necessary Illusions by Noam Chomsky - great for anyone interested in reading some well researched and insightful essays on media control of public opinion in so-called democratic societies.

[Hooker]

Reading 1984. I don't read much and also a very slow reader (cause of the former), but I'm loving it so far - very throught provoking and each page I read I have to stop and have some deep thought

[dead goon]

^ good book.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by cyc

Clancy started going nuts with his pro-US, ethnocentric BS around the time of his writing exactly what you're reading. IIRC, some of the descriptions of Chinese characters in that book were pretty borderline also.

Clancy went off the deep end when his wife left him. I quite liked everything up to and including "Executive Orders", but "Rainbow Six" and everything since has been trash.