So what Books are forumites currently reading?

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  • sheepsteeth
    sheepsteeth Posts: 17,418
    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.
    Harry von Big Sticks
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    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.
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,452
    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 spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    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.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    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. :lol: Mind you in 50 years time someone will be reading a novel from 2011 and giggling over the use of keyboards and the internet.
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • sheepsteeth
    sheepsteeth Posts: 17,418
    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.
    Harry von Big Sticks
  • CustomReign
    CustomReign Posts: 185
    Where Did The Towers Go
    Dr Judy Wood
    www.drjudywood.com
    www.wheredidthetowersgo.com

    Slave Species of God
    Michael Tellinger
  • Gazlar
    Gazlar Posts: 8,084
    Life and fate by Vassily Grossman
    Mountain biking is like sex.......more fun when someone else is getting hurt
    Amy
    Farnsworth
    Zapp
  • thegiantbiker
    thegiantbiker Posts: 212
    Re-reading Lord of the Rings. Just started book two of Fellowship of the Ring.
    Big guy; small air!
  • Fatamorgana
    Fatamorgana Posts: 257
    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
    allen.coulson Posts: 424
    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
    toby_winkler Posts: 1,298
    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.
    On-One 456 Summer Season

    Flickr
  • tenfoot
    tenfoot Posts: 226
    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
    t0pc4t Posts: 947
    I got annoyed with the poetry in hyperion but did the first 3 and have the last one to read (rise of endymion maybe?)
    Whether you're a king or a little street sweeper, sooner or later you'll dance with the reaper.

    Cube Curve 2009
    Giant Anthem X4

    FCN=6
  • PaulC7
    PaulC7 Posts: 112
    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
    Fatamorgana Posts: 257
    "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
    GhostBoy Posts: 15
    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
    Riding: Ghost SE 6000 (2011) DMR V8 pedals all other things standard
  • specialeyes
    specialeyes Posts: 542
    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.
    Hardrock Sport Disc

    Cotic bfe
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    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.
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • specialeyes
    specialeyes Posts: 542
    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!
    Hardrock Sport Disc

    Cotic bfe
  • allen.coulson
    allen.coulson Posts: 424
    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
    Mark909 Posts: 456
    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
    specialeyes Posts: 542
    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!
    Hardrock Sport Disc

    Cotic bfe
  • t0pc4t
    t0pc4t Posts: 947
    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.
    Whether you're a king or a little street sweeper, sooner or later you'll dance with the reaper.

    Cube Curve 2009
    Giant Anthem X4

    FCN=6
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    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 :lol:
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • CraigXXL
    CraigXXL Posts: 1,852
    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.
    GT Force 1.0

    Evil Sovereign
  • t0pc4t
    t0pc4t Posts: 947
    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 :lol:

    I really like snow crash and diamond age but Cryptonomicon and his Baroque cycle bored the pants off me.
    Whether you're a king or a little street sweeper, sooner or later you'll dance with the reaper.

    Cube Curve 2009
    Giant Anthem X4

    FCN=6
  • castlelad
    castlelad Posts: 414
    Quite into Simon Kernick, but currently reading Mad dog by Johnny Adair,
    http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii315/thevalefan/
  • bobpzero
    bobpzero Posts: 1,431
    Mike Mahler's Live Life Aggressively! What Self-help Gurus Should Be Telling You
  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    dave grohl - this is a call

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