Rodders Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 "wonderful and imaginative", not surprising for a chap who went out for a paddle in the canoe and accidentally lived in panama for 5 years. The mans got talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amsterdam_Neil_D Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I am reading :- Stephen Hawking - A Life in Science Brilliant book, split between a biography and explaining the discoveries he made and what they mean as you go along. The science is described in quite a easy to follow fashion. A truly remarkable man and a really great book. Before his illness he was not that brilliant, he drank a lot and even got caught painting graffiti (vote Liberal) on a bridge in his Oxford days. It sounds bad but it could be that his illness was the catalyst for his mind to go into turbo mode. I actually feel guilty about moaning that I am tired or fed up currently because the disabilities he has are truly awful but he has achieved more in 6 months than I will do in my whole life and he can't even move ffs. I can only admire his wife also, she is a smart cookie also but put it aside to look after Hawking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Just finished Snowdrops by AD Miller, about an English lawyer living in Moscow getting entangled in a web of deceit. Pretty good, easy to read and a fairly satisfying conclusion. Worth picking up if you see it on the cheap for a holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Rendezvous with Rama. Terrific. I need more, preferably 'hard' sci-fi, any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 6, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6, 2012 Just finishing off the Hunger Games trilogy. Relatively simple reading, to be fair, and there's an element of cheesey teen crap to some of it. But I can't deny it's hugely entertaining. I've nailed the whole trilogy in about 2 weeks (which is very quick for me!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 6, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6, 2012 Rendezvous with Rama. Terrific. I need more, preferably 'hard' sci-fi, any ideas?That's a bit of a "How long's a piece of string?" question. But, randomly, the first thing that sprang to mind as being in a similar field to "Rama" was Greg Bear's "Eon". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 6, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6, 2012 Been burning through some shorter books lately: A Small Town in Germany (John le Carré) Lonesome Traveller (Jack Kerouac) Crome Yellow (Aldous Huxley) The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes) On Green Dolphin Street (Sebastian Faulks) Nova Swing (M. John Harrison) But Beautiful (Geoff Dyer) Double Indemnity (James M. Cain) Currently on ('main' read): Red Plenty (Francis Spufford) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Rendezvous with Rama. Terrific. I need more, preferably 'hard' sci-fi, any ideas?That's a bit of a "How long's a piece of string" question. But, randomly, the first thing that sprang to mind as being in a similar field to "Rama" was Greg Bear's "Eon". Yeah, I've not delved into Sci-Fi as of yet, too much of it borders on fantasy which I can't be arsed with. So I've no idea where do go. Part of the fun I suppose. I'll look that one up. If you are into short stories, then give www.eastoftheweb.com a whirl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 6, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6, 2012 Top Tip: The cognoscenti usually refer to it (in the written form, anyway) as "SF", rather than "sci-fi". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Just started to read The passage by Justin Cronin. Read about 200 pages out of 900+. So far very good. It's compared to The stand and The road. Really enjoyed that and looking forward the sequels. Ridley Scott's production company has bought the movie rights so it will be interesting to see how it translates to screen due to the length of the book. I was hoping for this to become a film, and Scott sounds promising enough. But I haven't come far enough in it to decide whether I want there to be a sequel or not. But still very good. It took some time but now I've finished it. Excellent. And of course there's a sequell as it was always intended to be a trilogy. :oops: Anyway, can't wait untill The Twelve comes out, which is in October. Hope it's the same date here in Sweden, which I doubt. In the mean time I started to read Diana Gabaldons Outlander. Only a few pages in and I already like it. Hope it keeps it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Just read a book called HHhH covering Operation Anthropoid in WWII. A fascinating story involving a lot of brave people (and a traitor!) although the French author is a little overbearing at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 11, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 11, 2012 Just read a book called HHhH covering Operation Anthropoid in WWII. A fascinating story involving a lot of brave people (and a traitor!) although the French author is a little overbearing at times.Supposed to have a bit of a 'postmodern' approach I believe. Writing a book about writing a book sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Just read a book called HHhH covering Operation Anthropoid in WWII. A fascinating story involving a lot of brave people (and a traitor!) although the French author is a little overbearing at times.Supposed to have a bit of a 'postmodern' approach I believe. Writing a book about writing a book sort of thing.Yes, he struggles with what to include when the finer details are missing. It works for the most part but I can see why some may dislike it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valhalla Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Just finished last light and after light by alex scarrow, really enjoyed those. Currently on the increment by david ignatius which is shaping up well so far. If anybody is looking for a good ww2 book try and get hold of maquis by george millar, might be hard to get as it was published in the 40s, but it is a brilliant book. He was an soe agent dropped into france to organise the french resistance, the book is his account of it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted June 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 14, 2012 Finished Inversions finally. Stumbles to a finish and never really does what you expect it to with the background of 2 sides in what amounts to a civil war telling 2 concurrent stories, but I kinda enjoyed it. If you hadn't read a Culture novel before or hadn't picked up that a least 1 character isn't what they claim to be, one scene at the end would have you scratching your head. Moved onto to some more Banks, his latest, Stonemouth. Starts well enough but feels like retreads of his previous work already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Moved onto Grossman's Life and Fate. Slow going but I'm getting into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 The Plague by Camus. Excellent. The whole section with the dying child and the sermon... Wow. It's a metaphor for the Nazi Occupation of France, but there are plenty of other themes to keep you busy over a glass of red. Recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted June 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted June 14, 2012 The Plague by Camus. Excellent. The whole section with the dying child and the sermon... Wow. It's a metaphor for the Nazi Occupation of France, but there are plenty of other themes to keep you busy over a glass of red. Recommended. Camus was once asked by his friend Charles Poncet which he preferred, football or the theatre. Camus is said to have replied, "Football, without hesitation." Camus played as goalkeeper for Racing Universitaire d'Alger (RUA won both the North African Champions Cup and the North African Cup twice each in the 1930s) junior team from 1928–30. The sense of team spirit, fraternity, and common purpose appealed to Camus enormously. In match reports Camus would often attract positive comment for playing with passion and courage. Wikipedia All this, and the Nobel Prize for Literature, too. Top man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Anyone read "skagboys"yet? It's the prequel to trainspotting and porno I though the first two books were brilliant (porno better than trainspotting) but I have tried 3 times now to read porno and each time I am struggling to get past 50 pages, that said I am a binge reader, I will do 3 books a week for 2 months then not read for 4 months so that could be why I'm struggling so much I have gave up on skagboys at the minute and have started (nearly finished) a book called "southern gods" all about a blues guitarist who's music sends people crazy, it started off well but Towards the middle/end it kind of forgot it's setting (the deep south) and it's time (the 50's) and turns into a generic book about good and evil with the token priest for good measure Not bad and it's an easy read cuz hopefully it will spark me into reading again cuz I have 4 books waiting at the minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I'm fed up of hearing about '50 shades' on Facebook now. Every bint on there is reading them and loving it. It's like Twilight all over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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