mjmooney Posted October 17, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted October 17, 2016 2 minutes ago, leemond2008 said: crikey I wouldn't fancy reading it again, the first 1/2 of the book was really good but the problem with the 'story in a story in a story' style is that if one of the stories doesn't grab your attention it is quite easy to lose track of the main plot. The ultimate for that approach is Don Quixote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amsterdam_Neil_D Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Finished "Desperation" yesterday, Stephen King. Really enjoyed that one. 9/10. Goes from a normal type horror situation to something really deep and the way it ties things up at the end is amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 (edited) finished this today Quote THE CHICAGO KILLER: The Hunt For Serial Killer John Wayne Gacy is the story of the capture of John Wayne Gacy, as told from the perspective of the former Chief of Detectives of the Des Plaines, Illinois Police Department, Joseph Kozenczak. The conviction of Gacy on 33 counts of murder is a record in the archives of the criminal justice system in the United States. Two additional bonus chapters give the reader a comprehensive insight into the use of psychics and the lie-detector in a serial murder investigation Old Gacy wasn't the nicest of fellows, I certainly wouldn't invite him round for dinner anyway. Good book, the police were pretty much infallible during their investigations, when they started searching for Rob Peist everything just seemed to fall into place, they didn't even know they were looking for a serial killer at the time, let alone one of the magnitude of Gacy. It's quite interesting just how much they relied on psychics throughout the investigation. I'm going to be starting this next Quote "So the Wind Won't Blow it all Away" is a beautifully-written, brooding gem of a novel - set in the Pacific Northwest region of Oregon where Brautigan spent most of his childhood. Through the eyes, ears and voice of Brautigan's youthful protagonist the reader is gently led into a small-town tale where the narrator accidentally shoots dead his best friend with a gun. The novel deals with the repercussions of this tragedy and its recurring theme of 'What if...' fuels anguish, regret and self-blame as well as some darkly comic passages of bitter-sweet romance and despair. Taken with the recently discovered, "An Unfortunate Woman", these two late Brautigan novels are a fitting epitaph to a complex, contradictory and often misunderstood genius. It's only about 100 pages so shouldn't take more than a few hours to get it finished Edited October 22, 2016 by leemond2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 @leemond2008 do you buy the physical books or is it ebooks? If the former, you must have some collection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 8 minutes ago, Xela said: @leemond2008 do you buy the physical books or is it ebooks? If the former, you must have some collection! All physical books, the only time I buy something on my kindle is if the actual book is too expensive, plus you can just download them off torrent sites so they don't actually cost anything, I can't remember the last time I looked at my kindle though, I only have 2 book cases which are filled, I actually took 85 books down to a charity shop just a few weeks ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 On 06/09/2016 at 07:55, leemond2008 said: On that note if anyone see's a reasonably priced copy of Roland Topor's 'The Tenant' It's currently priced between £90.46 and £2179.82 on Amazon, now I wanna read it but I don't wanna read it that badly It's crazy how Amazon works, I've just got a brand new copy of this for 6 quid, I've been looking for a cheaper copy for the last 6 months and then boom there are shed loads available Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 I'm currently waiting on some cheery deliveries, Hunting the Devil (the Russian Ripper), talking with serial killers: the most evil people in the world tell their own stories, children who murder their families. add to that The Tennant that I have bought and that takes my list up to 7 or 8 books that I need to get through, I have promised myself that next year I am going make a point of re-reading books I already own, I've got that many that were brilliant that I want to take another look at but there is always something new that sidetracks me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 I recently finished Conclave by Robert Harris about the election of a new pope. I was a bit disappointed, I've always been a fan of his books but it just seemed very formulaic with a twist I pretty much guessed about a fifth of the way through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 I've just finished Martin Chuzzlewit .Out of all the Dickens I've read , this is my favourite . The characters are just so wonderful and when it comes to putting words into the mouths of his characters , it his Dickens at his finest . He was the literary stand up comedian of his day . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 6 hours ago, sheepyvillian said: I've just finished Martin Chuzzlewit .Out of all the Dickens I've read , this is my favourite . The characters are just so wonderful and when it comes to putting words into the mouths of his characters , it his Dickens at his finest . He was the literary stand up comedian of his day . It is definitely one of my favourites too. I particularly like the villain Montague Tigg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted October 24, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted October 24, 2016 Ugh, Dickens. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 24, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted October 24, 2016 Dickens, the writer that springs immediately to mind when the words 'paid by the word' come to mind. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 2 hours ago, Chindie said: Dickens, the writer that springs immediately to mind when the words 'paid by the word' come to mind. Ugh. First the Westwood haters ,now the Dickens haters . You gotta luv em . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 2 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said: It is definitely one of my favourites too. I particularly like the villain Montague Tigg. Can't beat an educated villain . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Quote Leyton examines true-life cases of ordinary children who turned into deadly assassins. He investigates case studies to reveal the all-too-common pressures on middle-class life that have led to the arlarming increase in this terrifying phenomenon. Starting this today, it only cost 1p on Amazon so if it aint much good I'm not too bothered if I don't finish it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 I read in the main biographies, one or two novels or other non fiction but on the whole biographies. For my birthday my wife has surpassed herself, Merle Haggard biography which was good, currently reading a great Willie Nelson one, stacked up is a Tom Jones biography (expect to hear about the time he met elvis), and yesterday she gave me a George Jones biography. All set for the next month or so. Oh and also the Seinfeldpedia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 (edited) Finished my It re-read. Disregarding the cocaine fueled, crazy, often stupid, final 100 pages, it's still good, and has some wonderful moments. The promise that the upcoming film adaptation of the child part of the story being updated to the 80s instead of 1958, and changing some of It's forms as a result, is encouraging. I believe they've confirmed there will be no Werewolf, for example, but there will instead be 'surprises'. The options for iconic 70s/80s horror characters are near endless...Xenomorph, Kruger, Chucky, Jason, Leatherface...the Cenobites? That would be awesome. No idea how any of that would work with regards to copyrights, though. The leper is definitely in there. "I'll do it for free!". Brr... I sincerely hope they change up the final confrontation. It's final form from the page might translate well to a big budget production...or they could go proper Lovecraftian with it. Which the 'deadlights' were, in a way. It's described as an unimaginably massive, dark, hairy thing, and to see it properly would render one either dead, or insane. How that would actually be put on the screen, I have no idea. A big **** off freaky vaguely familiar looking creature might just work better. Couldn't talk about It without bringing up that bit. I understand fully why it is there. The Loser's form an unbreakable bond, and that is the way Beverley cements it. I'm fine with the love & desire angle which is pushed heavily. The Loser's love each other, it's part of their bond, their friendship, and their powerful magic. Each of the boy's desire Beverley, to varying degrees, as part of childhood's end and them being on the cusp of puberty. It's also a very literal and terribly visceral way to demonstrate these kids aren't really kids anymore, given what they've just been through, and they'll never be the same again. When asked why he included that bit King has said that it was another 'moment like the breaking of the tunnel between the Adult and Child's section of the Library', which yes I understand, but why oh why do it in that way. He also said that at the time he wrote it people weren't as sensitive to such things as they are now. Utter rubbish. I can not fathom what was going through his brain that led him to decide it was a good idea and the best way to get across his point (although I do know, really. It was lots of alcohol and cocaine going through his brain) a point which didn't even really need to be made seeing as Stan cuts them all literally moments later, finalising the promise to return if It returns. So frustrating. It's like the deus ex machina moment in The Stand, except, you know...that is merely God's hand appearing in mid air, and this is, well, far worse... Next, Insomnia. Set 7 years after It in the same city, it is not a sequel, but could be called a 'spiritual successor'. Whereas It deals with childhood and adulthood, and the transition between the two, Insomia deals with old age in a similair fashion. Not only that, but it is a proper Dark Tower book. We can presume It was a monster from todash space, but in Insomnia, no such presumption is needed about the antagonist... Edited November 2, 2016 by hogso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Couple on the go: The Silk Roads - by Peter Frankopam - world history focusing more on the east. So far it's pretty good - but as with all world history books, with such a huge scope, it inevitably tantalises you with soupcons of detail, before moving on to other areas quite quickly. It's making me want to find lot's more specific histories though so it's doing it's job, be it on the Crusades, the late Byzantine Empire, and now just about to have a window into the Mongols I think. Ram packed with details - ciao comes from schiavo = I am your slave apparently, such was the massive trade in slaves across those routes back then, and all the other bits and bobs. Didn't know the Vikings had come so far east either, the Rus, unsurprisingly becoming the ancestors of the Russians I guess. Joyce - A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man - enjoying it so far. Been meaning to read it for a long time since finishing The Dubliners, and I like the style, mix of third person narrative with the consciousness of young Stephen. Again has made me look up so much more about the contemporary world of Irish politics which has gotten a few references so far. Also, think the word Cod as slang for joke or jape needs to come back into use again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 On 25/10/2016 at 10:16, leemond2008 said: Starting this today, it only cost 1p on Amazon so if it aint much good I'm not too bothered if I don't finish it Didn't finish, wasn't bad but didn't hold my interest, not exactly what I was expecting, I might return to it some day started this earlier on Quote Twelve years of unimaginable depravity. Ten days to obtain suspect Andrei Chikatilo's confession or he goes free. Certain to join the classic accounts of true crime, Hunting the Devil is the story of how a master detective, an expert in the psychology of serial killers, ensnares a cunning, seemingly bland, but terrifying psychopath. Fifty-three frenzied murders of women and children, involving mutilation and sexual cannibalism. Not a single witness. Not a shred of evidence. A terrified populace. An incompetent local investigation. This is the challenge facing Chief Inspector Issa Kostoev, head of Russia's Department of Crimes of Special Importance, when he is assigned to the case. Five years later, in 1990, after extraordinary efforts, his hunt comes to a taut climax when he locks eyes with his prisoner. Interrogation - the most intricate game of all - is about to begin, played by two, alone for ten days in a bare room, the stakes freedom or death. Richard Lourie has had the exclusive cooperation of Chief Inspector Kostoev in the writing of this book and unrivaled access to most of the other personalities involved in the case. His own deep knowledge of Russia and its people has informed his account, a relentlessly paced story of crime and punishment in a collapsing society. Hunting the Devil is a remarkable book: an absorbing story of the brilliant detective work that finally chained a ravenous, unspeakable evil. Pretty good so far, I'm on about page 70, it's written more like a story though, it kind of detracts from the realism of it, I might see if any of the actual investigators have ever done a book on old Chikatilo, it also bangs on about Stalin's Russia quite a bit for a while as well but I think I'm over that hump of the book now. the poor fella had a massive problem with erectile disfunction and couldn't get it up so he had to kill people then shove his goo up them afterwards, not the most charming of people by the sounds of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Finished hunting the devil, good book, Chikatilo was pretty damn messed up, I stand by what I said though the 'story' style takes away the realism, he seems like a fictional character at times. anyway I'm about to start this, been waiting absolutely ages for it so I'm hoping it has been worth the wait Quote This is the tale of Monsieur Trelkovsky, an ordinary man, against whom apparently ordinary circumstances conspire until he is enmeshed in an extraordinary and terrifying situation. It portrays a nightmare world which is only separated from everyday life by a sliver of sanity. I've got a few other books lined up once I have finished this one but I have kind of got it into my head now that I really wanna read Paradise Lost by John Milton so I might pop out tomorrow and buy that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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