Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ?  (Read 835470 times)

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #25 on: 01 April, 2008, 02:38:33 pm »
Quote
I wouldn't worry about "Forever Free" which is indeed a sequel (same characters set 20 years in their future).

+1, unless you've a taste for the contrived and the surreal

To answer the Q:
The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth (2/3 of way thru and already looking forward to re-reading  :) )
Six Degrees by Mark Lynas
Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes

agagisgroovy

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #26 on: 02 April, 2008, 08:42:32 pm »
The Pure Dead Magic / Deep Trouble series by Debi Gliori. They're a bit childish but really funny.  ;D

Gus

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #27 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:06:15 pm »

"Angels of death" by William Marsden & julian sher ~ About Hells Angels.

"Tatooed torso" by Helene Tursten

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #28 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:24:03 pm »
Putins Russia by Anna Politkovskaya.

She was shot dead in october 2006. After her death, Alexander Litvinenko suggested that Putin was responsible.

CathH

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #29 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:28:53 pm »
Joanna Trollope "The Choir".  Just finished Susan Hill's "The Woman In Black".  What a fantastically eerie read.

Charlotte

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #30 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:42:57 pm »
Infidel: Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

Quote
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of today's most admired and controversial political figures. She burst into international headlines following the murder of Theo van Gogh by an Islamist who threatened she would be next. An international bestseller, her life story INFIDEL shows the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright, curious, dutiful little girl evolves into a pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no other book could be more timely, or more significant.
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rogerzilla

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #31 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:45:50 pm »
Infidel: Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

Quote
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of today's most admired and controversial political figures. She burst into international headlines following the murder of Theo van Gogh by an Islamist who threatened she would be next. An international bestseller, her life story INFIDEL shows the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright, curious, dutiful little girl evolves into a pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no other book could be more timely, or more significant.

You see, I'd have expected something from the Black Lace canon  ;)

http://www.blacklace-books.co.uk/
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #32 on: 02 April, 2008, 09:52:28 pm »
I;ll bring down the tone with World War Z, Glass Books of the Dream Eaters and The Revenge of Gaia;)
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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bikenerd

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #33 on: 03 April, 2008, 02:34:55 pm »
I'm rereading bits of "Delta of Venus" by Anais Nin.
It's a very strange book.

FatBloke

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #34 on: 03 April, 2008, 07:24:11 pm »
Oliver Twist
This isn't just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional blood sport. It can happen to you. And it can happen again.

Dave

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #35 on: 03 April, 2008, 07:34:17 pm »
I;ll bring down the tone with World War Z

That's in my (depressingly large) pile of unread books. Should I move it up the pile?

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #36 on: 03 April, 2008, 09:52:43 pm »
I;ll bring down the tone with World War Z

That's in my (depressingly large) pile of unread books. Should I move it up the pile?

Probably the most enertaining book I read last year.  I love good sci-fi and this is good sci-fi - it has also made me a big fan of zombies.  I urge you to read it.

Mr Gates, Ms Barnes:  please recommend me more zombie-based literature (if there is such a thing).  I'm already working my way through every zombie movie I can find.

RJMcB

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #37 on: 03 April, 2008, 09:57:09 pm »
The General's Last Love - Andrey Kurkov.  Both Death And The Penguin and Penguin Lost were brillsticks, but this keeps jumping from 1985 to 2015 to 2003 to 2013 and is generally confusing
We like the Kurkov books too.
I thought the President got less confusing the further through the book I got, if it's any help.

I was disappointed with The Steep Approach to Garbadale though.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #38 on: 03 April, 2008, 09:57:54 pm »
...please recommend me more zombie-based literature (if there is such a thing).  I'm already working my way through every zombie movie I can find.

Oh dear God!!!  ;D

Shall I just nod and go "mmmm, yes very interesting" next time we ride together then  :evil: :thumbsup:

Pingu

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #39 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:47:09 pm »
...and The Revenge of Gaia;)

A colleague of mine is reading that at the moment. She reckons Lovelock has gone bonkers because a windfarm is being built near his house & he's turned into a NIMBY. Hence his sudden pro-nuclear pronouncements recently.

(I just googled 'Revege of Gaia' - top of the list is amazon.com under Spirituality books  :o ::-) )

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #40 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:48:43 pm »
Redmond O'Hanlon: Congo Journey.

I like the way that man travels.

Pingu

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #41 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:53:46 pm »
Pushing Ice - Alastair Reynolds

A nice bit of space opera for relaxing reading.

Alastair Reynolds - the best SF I've read for years.

Pingu

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #42 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:55:48 pm »
I've just started The President's Last Love by Kurkov.

I've just finished re-reading Louis de Bernieres' South American trilogy which I think I enjoyed even more second time around.

Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #43 on: 04 April, 2008, 02:27:12 pm »
I'm rereading bits of "Delta of Venus" by Anais Nin.
It's a very strange book.

I have a well-thumbed copy along with Little Birds, her other collection in this area. They are wierd largely because she wrote them to order, so they are a mixture of the expectations of the collector and her own sexual subversiveness. For the real deal, read her diaries - they are fascinating.

I just reread A Moveable Feast by Hemingway - great little vignettes of expat artistic life in Paris in the Twenties. I am contemplating the huge slab of 'How the Mind Works' by Steven Pinker, but my mind is not enoying the prospect...

andygates

  • Peroxide Viking
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #44 on: 04 April, 2008, 02:50:28 pm »
I;ll bring down the tone with World War Z

That's in my (depressingly large) pile of unread books. Should I move it up the pile?

I'd say so: it's in the form of interviews, so very vignetty and suited to reading on the throne.

I'll follow it up with Cormac McCarthy's The Road for maximum post-apocalyptic woe.
It takes blood and guts to be this cool but I'm still just a cliché.
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Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #45 on: 04 April, 2008, 08:59:53 pm »
I'll follow it up with Cormac McCarthy's The Road for maximum post-apocalyptic woe.

The Road is unremittingly bleak. Strangely old fashioned too. Reminded me of Dhalgren in parts.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #46 on: 04 April, 2008, 10:15:00 pm »
I;ll bring down the tone with World War Z

That's in my (depressingly large) pile of unread books. Should I move it up the pile?

I'd say so: it's in the form of interviews, so very vignetty and suited to reading on the throne.

I'll follow it up with Cormac McCarthy's The Road for maximum post-apocalyptic woe.

Coincidentally, I read "The Road" immediately after "World War Z".  It truly is bleak, but a fantastic, emotional read.  I really enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction.  "The Day of the Triffids" is one of my favourite books of any genre.

Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #47 on: 05 April, 2008, 03:20:28 pm »
I'm rereading bits of "Delta of Venus" by Anais Nin.
It's a very strange book.

I have a well-thumbed copy along with Little Birds, her other collection in this area. They are wierd largely because she wrote them to order, so they are a mixture of the expectations of the collector and her own sexual subversiveness. For the real deal, read her diaries - they are fascinating.

Just to follow this up - in a nice piece of synchronicity, I found a biography of Anais Nin on a stall at our local market today. Model, author, sexual adventuress, compulsive liar... I find myself liking her more and more all the time!  :evil: :P

(added) but having read 250 pages last night, I am finding her really rather egotistical and the parade of shabby and desperate sexual encounters, just rather pathetic and dull. Even the affair with her own father didn't really shock.

alchemy

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #48 on: 07 April, 2008, 07:01:57 am »
I'm most of the way through Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry. Very entertaining and enlightening, and the bit where he discusses his homosexuality should be required reading for all homophobes (but I expect their position is set in stone so it's unlikely to make any difference  :()

I like the way he writes, although there a few times where he uses 20 words when 2 would do, but overall it's been a good read.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #49 on: 09 April, 2008, 09:32:54 pm »
Rereading 'The Last Englishman' by Byron Rogers.  JL Carr was a very odd man indeed....