So what Books are forumites currently reading?

sheepsteeth

just began reading 'catch 22'

it is pretty heavy going but fairly amusing, i think im ging mad as i read along.

im planning to read a few modern classic/cliche books, i forgot how much i enjoy reading.

stubs

Just finished Alistair Reynolds Terminal World, took a bit of getting used to as its not like any other Reynolds book but glad I persevered it was well worth it and so much better than a lot of the reviews led me to believe.

Halfway through Isaac Asimovs The Naked Sun its classic old style science fiction and some of the tech is laughable but the plot is the thing and it is all good so far. I really like going back to older sci fi books it is easy to forget just how good some of the writing was.

Stevo_666

stubs wrote:

I really like going back to older sci fi books it is easy to forget just how good some of the writing was.

A lot of the old sci-fi stuff by authors like Asimov and Bradbury are really good reads. You can forgive some of the tech stuff given some of their books were written over half a century ago.

Northwind

stubs wrote:

Just finished Alistair Reynolds Terminal World, took a bit of getting used to as its not like any other Reynolds book but glad I persevered it was well worth it and so much better than a lot of the reviews led me to believe.

It felt quite sort of golden-age to me... Really enjoyed it but you had to be happy to suspend your disbelief as you went because quite a lot of it just makes no sense. Sort of reminded me of Michael Marshall Smith rather than Reynolds, for some reason.

stubs

Stevo 666 wrote:

stubs wrote:

I really like going back to older sci fi books it is easy to forget just how good some of the writing was.

A lot of the old sci-fi stuff by authors like Asimov and Bradbury are really good reads. You can forgive some of the tech stuff given some of their books were written over half a century ago.

I read a collection of 1930s short stories and one of them was about a guy who signs up on a space ship to work in the engine room his job involved shovelling uranium into the engines like a stoker on a steamship. Mind you in 50 years time someone will be reading a novel from 2011 and giggling over the use of keyboards and the internet.

sheepsteeth

stubs wrote:

in 50 years time someone will be reading a novel from 2011 and giggling over the use of keyboards and the internet.

especially if they see what i was using them for.

CustomReign

Where Did The Towers Go
Dr Judy Wood
www.drjudywood.com
www.wheredidthetowersgo.com

Slave Species of God
Michael Tellinger

Gazlar

Life and fate by Vassily Grossman

thegiantbiker

Re-reading Lord of the Rings. Just started book two of Fellowship of the Ring.

Fatamorgana

Two on the go.

"The worst journey in the World", (Apsley Cherry-Garrard) described by Paul Theroux as the best travel book ever written.

"Terra Incognita" an award winning travelogue by Sara Wheeler of her trip to Antarctica - beautifully written and packed with interest and interesting quotes and facts from the history of exploration in what Shackleton referred to as his South.

Similar but different.

Interspersed with Bill Bryson's "Home" epic.

allen.coulson

Totally agree about the Worst Journey in the World - esp the eponymous tale of the trip to see the penguins - total hardship!

I'm on Ali Smith - The Whole Story and Le Carre - Our Kind of Traitor - which is a new book.

toby_winkler

thegiantbiker wrote:

Re-reading Lord of the Rings. Just started book two of Fellowship of the Ring.

I'm currently re-reading The Hobbit, pretty excited about the film coming out next year!

Surprisingly I haven't read the LOTR's books, so I reckon I will have to get myself a set and read them next.

tenfoot

stubs wrote:

t0pc4t wrote:

@stubs, dreaming void is pretty fine but I think my fave works by PFH are still the Nights Dawn trilogy.

Agreed Nights Dawn is proper space opera I need to reread all the books again pretty soon. Struggling to get going with Dreaming Void but will persist.

I've tried twice and keep giving up. Night's Dawn was fantastic though as were the two books in the Commonwealth Saga.

If you like sci-fi, the Hyperion series of books by Dan Simmons is worth a look.

I'm currently reading Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg, which is interesting, rather than enjoyable.

Next up is Merde Actually, which is Stephen Clarke's follow up to A Year in the Merde (a book I found highly entertaining)

t0pc4t

I got annoyed with the poetry in hyperion but did the first 3 and have the last one to read (rise of endymion maybe?)

PaulC7

Im not really a big book reader more of a magazine reader.. how stuff works, photography magazines and crime sometimes also.

But one book i heard about sounded really interesting so went out and got it...

Lost In Shangri La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Its a true story about a crash that happened towards the end of WW2 the amazing story of the survivors and the amazing story of how they were rescued.

I really enjoyed it and im now looking for other books along similar lines.

Fatamorgana

"Hennessey has now quit his disputed wars. He may shed a uniform but – surely - he cannot abandon the rare gift revealed in this extraordinary book."

The Junior Officers' Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey
Review: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 19368.html

GhostBoy

I've got two books on the go at the moment. One of them is called "48 laws of power" and the other is "Bulletproof" really good reads if you are into that type of stuff

specialeyes

Love me some space opera, banks and Reynolds, the hyperion books blew me away though!

After watching blade runner for the umpteenth time I decided to get do androids dream of electric sheep and enjoyed it immensely! Currently reading ubik by phillip k Dick but have left it at work, not in till 3rd so will start on surface detail by iain m banks.

stubs

specialeyes wrote:

Love me some space opera, banks and Reynolds, the hyperion books blew me away though!

After watching blade runner for the umpteenth time I decided to get do androids dream of electric sheep and enjoyed it immensely! Currently reading ubik by phillip k Dick but have left it at work, not in till 3rd so will start on surface detail by iain m banks.

I have just finished Seeds of Earth book one of Humanitys Fire by Michael Cobley and Father Christmas has just bought the next 2 books in the series. Proper space opera looking forward to books 2 and 3 not quite up to Banks or Reynolds at there best but still plenty of aliens and space ship battles.

specialeyes

stubs wrote:

specialeyes wrote:

Love me some space opera, banks and Reynolds, the hyperion books blew me away though!

After watching blade runner for the umpteenth time I decided to get do androids dream of electric sheep and enjoyed it immensely! Currently reading ubik by phillip k Dick but have left it at work, not in till 3rd so will start on surface detail by iain m banks.

I have just finished Seeds of Earth book one of Humanitys Fire by Michael Cobley and Father Christmas has just bought the next 2 books in the series. Proper space opera looking forward to books 2 and 3 not quite up to Banks or Reynolds at there best but still plenty of aliens and space ship battles.

That's one I've been looking at getting. Vernor vinge - zones of thought (2 books in 1) is a cracker too!

allen.coulson

Beano Annual at the moment and was goig to buy IQ84 but it sems to be the biggest book in the world. Murukami is a delightful author - I liked Norwegian Wood.

Mark909

Ready player one by ernest cline.

I got it for Christmas and only a few chapters left as being reading it to the early hours everyday.

Basically if you grew up during the 80s and geek out on scifi and fantasy this is the book for you!

specialeyes

Mark909 wrote:

Ready player one by ernest cline.

I got it for Christmas and only a few chapters left as being reading it to the early hours everyday.

Basically if you grew up during the 80s and geek out on scifi and fantasy this is the book for you!

Nice, just ordered this last night!

t0pc4t

stubs wrote:

specialeyes wrote:

Love me some space opera, banks and Reynolds, the hyperion books blew me away though!

After watching blade runner for the umpteenth time I decided to get do androids dream of electric sheep and enjoyed it immensely! Currently reading ubik by phillip k Dick but have left it at work, not in till 3rd so will start on surface detail by iain m banks.

I have just finished Seeds of Earth book one of Humanitys Fire by Michael Cobley and Father Christmas has just bought the next 2 books in the series. Proper space opera looking forward to books 2 and 3 not quite up to Banks or Reynolds at there best but still plenty of aliens and space ship battles.

read the first and have the second two to read but I am not sure I can be bothered, just wasn't gripped, the first all seemed a touch formulaic but I may be being too harsh

'Do Androids Dream...' I thought was great but I have yet to read any other PKD that was anything other than really annoying

I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson again, really enjoying it, I do like a bit of cyberpunk and while it's not Richard Morgan it's far from bad.

stubs

t0pc4t wrote:

I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson again, really enjoying it, I do like a bit of cyberpunk and while it's not Richard Morgan it's far from bad.

Stephenson is on my list of authors to try but have a small mountain of books to read at the mo went a bit mad on abebooks.co.uk one night and bought enough books to keep me happy till next xmas

CraigXXL

I'm just going through the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo. Wasn't sure to begin with after going off someone else's recommendation but he really builds the characters up nicely and you can't but get involved.

t0pc4t

stubs wrote:

t0pc4t wrote:

I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson again, really enjoying it, I do like a bit of cyberpunk and while it's not Richard Morgan it's far from bad.

Stephenson is on my list of authors to try but have a small mountain of books to read at the mo went a bit mad on abebooks.co.uk one night and bought enough books to keep me happy till next xmas

I really like snow crash and diamond age but Cryptonomicon and his Baroque cycle bored the pants off me.

castlelad

Quite into Simon Kernick, but currently reading Mad dog by Johnny Adair,

bobpzero

Mike Mahler's Live Life Aggressively! What Self-help Gurus Should Be Telling You

welshkev

dave grohl - this is a call