leemond2008 Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 I half read the hobbit when I was about 12 or 13 I stole it from school...the cover had abig golden dragon on it or something like that got half way through and lost the book so never got to finish it. dont think I could be arsed to read it now though i'll just wait for the film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 The film is never a substitute for the book! Look at Lord of the Rings, there were whole chapters of the book left out of the film, it's not the same. I first read the Hobbit in my 20s and think it's an excellent book. Just glimpsing into the imagination of Tolkien makes it worthwhile, the stuff that guy invented in his head is immense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 yeah I know what you mean re lord of the rings ive read them about 3 times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I'd recommend Never Let Me Go to anyone. It's completely tragic, in many ways. And the end hits you like a hammer. But it's beautiful in Ishiguros own peculiar way aswell as haunting. Wonderful book. Now onto Amsterdamn by Ian McEwan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_eristic Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Finally getting around to the Vonnegut I've had in the queue for ages. Been reading substantially more dry stuff like Camus' The Rebel, which was surprisingly dense and difficult in places, not only topically, but because it felt as though some inferences were lost, or more correctly, buried in translation. Before that, I think I was reading something from AJ Ayer, so compared to those, Slaughterhouse-Five is flying by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 4, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted January 4, 2011 Libra by Don DeLillo. Very good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 In the depths of a sweltering summer, teacher Samuel Szajkowski walks into his school assembly and opens fire. He kills three pupils and a colleague before turning the gun on himself. Lucia May, the young policewoman who is assigned the case, is expected to wrap up things quickly and without fuss. The incident is a tragedy that could not have been predicted and Szajkowski, it seems clear, was a psychopath beyond help. Soon, however, Lucia becomes preoccupied with the question no one else seems to want to ask: what drove a mild-mannered, diffident school teacher to commit such a despicable crime? Piecing together the testimonies of the teachers and children at the school, Lucia discovers an uglier, more complex picture of the months leading up to the shooting. She realises too that she has more in common with Szajkowski than she could have imagined. As the pressure to bury the case builds, she becomes determined to tell the truth about what happened, whatever the consequences . . . quite a good book this was it is wrote from loads of peoples statements and is only wrote in 3rd person when it is the detectives own perspective if that makes sense? some of the characters were quite predictable and some of the pupils seemed like they came out of the bash street kids but it was still quite enjoyable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 flew through William Boyd's 'Ordinary Thunderstorms' which was an enjoyable and fast paced fugitive chase/thriller. Currently on some non fiction with Brian Cox' ( + other professor chap ) book ' Why does E=MC² and why should we care?' I've been really trying to get into as much of this type of stuff of late and the book is very accessible though I do need to brush up on my maths a bit to follow it all, but for someone who hasn't formally studied science in a decade it's very enjoyable, and the enthusiasm pours from the pages. also started 'Pandaemonium' by Christopher Brookmyre' for the fiction release. Only a couple of chapters in, but it's engaging enough to keep me reading which is nice. Some books it can take me almost a 1/3 or 1/2 of the book to really get into before it flows easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 I'm reading Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Great book so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 26, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26, 2011 James Ellroy's "American Tabloid". Spot the connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Not that highbrow compared to most of the reads in here, but at the age of 25 ive finally started the discworld books, loved colour of magic and am halfway through the light fantastic which is just as good. I love the sense of humour, its that sort of dry, sarcastic humour that red dwarf has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead at the moment. Crazy old bint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 26, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted January 26, 2011 Currently reading Operation Mincemeat at the moment. So so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 cant find a summary for it started reading this the other day jesus the start of the book is proper hard going, but its finally started to get going now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 27, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted January 27, 2011 "The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky." (Flannery O'Connor) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 31, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted January 31, 2011 I just got a copy of Freidel's autobiography ("Thinking Outside the Box") from Poundland, for... well, a pound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Not that highbrow compared to most of the reads in here, but at the age of 25 ive finally started the discworld books, loved colour of magic and am halfway through the light fantastic which is just as good. I love the sense of humour, its that sort of dry, sarcastic humour that red dwarf has. I thought Mort was very good. I'm reading Colour of Magic at the moment in between some other things and am a little disappointed so far in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hmm, alot of people said that to me and most people that have said that - I find - have normally started the series with another book like Mort or Guards! Guards!, i think because ive read them first its all i know of pratchetts 'style' so far if that makes sense. Ive got Equal Rites and Mort ready to go and ill probably find that they are better reads with better structure but because ive chose to read them all in publication order I dont know any better yet Also, I watched the CoM/LF TV movie last night and in the introduction Pratchett himself said that on reflection he found CoM to have absolutely no discernable plot compared to other stories and I can see that now, but I still love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Just starting reading Colin Bateman's The Horse With My Name - another Dan Starkey tale of journalism, drinking and sarcasm in Belfast!!! Just finished Michael Connelly's The Reversal - one of my guilty pleasures is reading his books!!! This is the third installment in the Mickey Haller lawyer stories, following The Lincoln Lawyer and The Brass Verdict (both v good too!) - very easy to read but gripping nonetheless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted February 21, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted February 21, 2011 As usual, too many books going at once: I'm not the hugest fan of his music, but the Zappa one is extremely funny and entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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