Question What are you reading?

[Tangled up in Blue]

Reading Morrissey's autobiography at the moment by the way. Heavy going at times but written like a Smiths song - there's some great stuff in there amongst the flannel.....

Snap.Agree with your comments too.He really hated secondary modern school,didn't he?

 

[Blueronron]

I have read Pillars of the Earth - mammoth read but is a real cracker --Is World Without End a sequel?

Yes it is and really good to read though not as good as Pillars of the Earth,would recommend Stonehenge an epic novel but as good is if not better than Pillars of the Earth,

 

[Smudger]

Snap.Agree with your comments too.He really hated secondary modern school,didn't he?

Mike Joyce, Julie Burchill and Tony Wilson also get the wrong end of his poisonous wit.

I don't see a Smiths reuinion ever happening or even a Morrissey and Marr reuinion. Shame.

 

[prawntobewild]

"Stolen" By Tess Gerritsen - haven't read one of hers for a while.

 

[Uncle Leo]

more than a interesting read this - hope you enjoy it.

It is a good read. As I'm sure I've mentioned elsewhere on this thread, cycling seems to produce lots of great books. I'm not sure if this is one of the very best - Walsh comes across as a bit of a prick, albeit not as much of one as Lance - but I am rattling through it.

 

[prawntobewild]

"And now you can go" by Vendela Vida who at the time of writing in2004 was apparently "the hottest young voice in US fiction".

 

[Mad Cyril]

Just finished The Dirt by Motley Crue.

Well worth a read even if like me you are not a fan of their music.

 

[prawntobewild]

Field of 13 by Dick Francis - A collection of short stories.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Field of 13 by Dick Francis - A collection of short stories.

Jeezus you get through them quick. I'm still stuck on Cloud Atlas, mainly because it's a right old curate's egg of a book.

 

[prawntobewild]

Jeezus you get through them quick. I'm still stuck on Cloud Atlas, mainly because it's a right old curate's egg of a book.

Ha! -I had a run of really long books just before xmas all about 700-900 pages - now I have a group of 300-400 pagers - mere pamphlets! plus they are standard novels with nothing too complex which also helps.

Don't know about Cloud Atlas but I will investigate.

 

[Bluesmanager]

I'll be honest, the only books I read that I have real issues with getting through are the GoT books (yes, it's A Song of Ice and Fire, but let's face it, more people know it as Game of Thrones). Mostly because of the amount of characters and the fact that every book in that series pushes a thousand pages. Working my way through A Feast of Crows having just watched season 3. Better hurry up about it mind, got the next Dresden File coming in May, want to re-read that lot, and there's 14 of those...

 

[Jam_Man]

I'll be honest, the only books I read that I have real issues with getting through are the GoT books (yes, it's A Song of Ice and Fire, but let's face it, more people know it as Game of Thrones). Mostly because of the amount of characters and the fact that every book in that series pushes a thousand pages. Working my way through A Feast of Crows having just watched season 3. Better hurry up about it mind, got the next Dresden File coming in May, want to re-read that lot, and there's 14 of those...

What are they like ?

Sound a bit like Harry Potter once he becomes a detective?

 

[Bluesmanager]

Insofar as he's a wizard named Harry, yes.

Harry Potter never faced people who could tear hearts out with one curse. Or vampires (succubi, Stoker and Anne Rice varieties). Or werewolves (not crummy pansy ones like Lupin at least. This one tears a police station apart). Or ghosts, faeries, and... oh yeah, literal fallen angels. And zombies.

It's one of the best series I've ever read, mostly because it's equal parts epic, awesome, crazy and hilarious once the series really hits its stride in books 3-5 but if that's a bit much for you, I can recommend the author's (Jim Butcher) other series, Codex Alera, in which Pokemon and the lost Roman legion meet for more awesome and crazy and ever so slightly pants-****tingly terrifying hijnks.

He wrote the Codex on a bet. He was given Pokemon and the Roman legion as two of the worst ideas to prove that it's not the idea that makes a book, it's the writer. He got 6 books out of it, and they're brilliant.

 

[prawntobewild]

The Dogs of War by Freddie Forsyth.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Reading Morrissey's autobiography at the moment by the way. Heavy going at times but written like a Smiths song - there's some great stuff in there amongst the flannel.....

Just started this. Curious writing style and at times it's like wading through treacle yet, as you say, enough golden bits in there to keep you going.

Interesting to read where some of the inspiration for his lyrics has come from too - e.g. his comments about school add flesh to the bones of 'The Headmaster Ritual'

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

What are they like ?

Sound a bit like Harry Potter once he becomes a detective?

I have read the first four G of T books and they have many twists and turns; some are too obviously whimsical by the author and detract from the general tale. I would rate them as 7/10 mostly with some good bits and some tedium.

 

[Bluesmanager]

He was talking about the Dresden Files series I mentioned. As for GoT, "whimsical" is not the word that comes to mind. Slow-burners that are setting up enough dominoes to build a city with that can be seen as boring, yes, but not whimsical.

(To be honest, it's why I prefer the TV show. Same story over ten hours, instead of 1000 pages that takes me ages to read because I'm busy).

 

[Mad Cyril]

Escape from Camp 14.

Harrowing story poorly told by the author.

 

[Beefy]

I'm not a great reader. I get through maybe a dozen pages a week (I don't have a commute, there's no quiet area to read at lunch and I watch DVDs in bed so I don't get much dedicated reading time). Currently making my way slowly through Andrew Marr's 'A History of the World' though. It's a very good read!

I buy loads of books for the Kindle app on my iPad and they'll never get read.

 

[Jam_Man]

I have read the first four G of T books and they have many twists and turns; some are too obviously whimsical by the author and detract from the general tale. I would rate them as 7/10 mostly with some good bits and some tedium.

Yeah as said I was asking about the Dresden books.where he should be starting to bring the whole story together.

IVe read all of the GOT books and loved them, more so than the TV shows which leave too much out, but the last couple it kind of feels like he is rambling away adding new characters and plotlines

Lots of plots seem to have taken ages to get anywhere and havent done much at all with only a couple of books left.

I do wonder if he had a real story arc or just made it up as he went along.

EDIT: Just found this in an interview, two more books, which will no doubt be split into 4 paperbacks, sounds like he does make up some of it as he goes along but the end is planned :

"I hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal characters, and I know the major turning points and events from the books, the climaxes for each book, but I don't necessarily know each twist and turn along the way. That's something I discover in the course of writing and that's what makes writing enjoyable. I think if I outlined comprehensively and stuck to the outline the actual writing would be boring."