Adam Easy Wishes Posted September 13, 2010 Report Share Posted September 13, 2010 At the end he renounces his atheism, the final five chapters being Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the Lords' Prayer repeated thirty times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman Posted September 13, 2010 Report Share Posted September 13, 2010 Trying my hand at Stuart McBrides set in the future polis novel "Halfheads", first few chapters are not bad and the future Glasgow (where the book is set) doesn't seem that much different from the current one! 8-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Easy Wishes Posted September 13, 2010 Report Share Posted September 13, 2010 Trying my hand at Stuart McBrides set in the future polis novel "Halfheads", first few chapters are not bad and the future Glasgow (where the book is set) doesn't seem that much different from the current one! 8-)I couldn't get more than four or five chapters through that...just not my thing at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monster Zero Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Just finished The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman which was a cheap impulse buy in Asda. It was OK, a pretty easy read but a very curious mixture of styles. On first appearance it is either a historical setting or at least some fantasy world where things are a bit medieval but as the book progresses there are all sorts of use of modern slang and words that seem a bit out of place. It also ends on a completely anti-climactic set-up for a sequel. I am now reading The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson, have always meant to read some of his stuff and it was only 3 quid in HMV. Also bought a few Elmore Leonard books and The Maltese Falcon for the same price so it looks like a bit of a crime binge in months to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Also bought a few Elmore Leonard books and The Maltese Falcon for the same price so it looks like a bit of a crime binge in months to come.Have you read a lot of Elmore Leonard? I've only read "Valdez is Coming" and "The Hunted". I enjoyed them a lot but am aware neither are considered near his best. Any recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monster Zero Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Have you read a lot of Elmore Leonard? I've only read "Valdez is Coming" and "The Hunted". I enjoyed them a lot but am aware neither are considered near his best. Any recommendations?I haven't actually read any of his stuff despite meaning to at some point...the ones I got in HMV were 'Out of Sight', 'Get Shorty' and 'Freaky Deaky'...I was interested in the first 2 because I've seen the films and just grabbed the 3rd because it was so cheap and I'm fairly sure it's supposed to be not bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrr Posted September 24, 2010 Report Share Posted September 24, 2010 "Dry Season" by Dan Smith.On the banks of a sprawling Brazilian river lies Sao Tiago. A place poised between the old ways and the new, fought over by gangsters and big business. It's a town for people with nowhere else to run; a place where Sam, a former priest, has ended up. He left England to help people, but what he's seen has scarred him, and now he cares about nothing except drinking and fishing on the great river. But one night changes all that. When a man lies bleeding on a dirt floor, what starts as a fight to save a life becomes a battle with Sao Tiago's dark heart. Caught between friends and enemies, and entangled in the affections of an ex-prostitute and a predatory landowner's wife, Sam realises that in a place where life is cheap, love can be deadly. As the long dry season stretches out ahead, Sam must face his past if he is to forge the chance of a future and survive in a town without a soul. Drawing on influences as disparate as HEART OF DARKNESS and the tales of the American West, it's a novel of shocking strength, populated with vivid characters, wild settings and raw emotion. A dark and compelling story, steeped in violence and rich in atmosphere, DRY SEASON is one of the most powerful and memorable debuts of the year. I'm not sure why I picked this up, to be honest. It's not very good. Think an airport lounge version of Heart Of Darkness/The Beach with cardboard cutout characters, written by a man who writes a lot of words but says very little. The prose is infuriatingly bloated at times (whatever happened to "show, don't tell," eh?). The story is alright, but Smith spends so much time describing pointless, tiny details that it completely strangles the dramatic element. A very amateurish novel. Avoid.I'm either going to read McCarthy's Outer Dark or DeLillo's Cosmopolis next. Not sure which one I'm going to choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Localboylost Posted September 26, 2010 Report Share Posted September 26, 2010 Green Mile.. still need to finish the last chapter, most books are better than the movie, this is the exact same, so the movie i must admit gets it spot on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted September 27, 2010 Report Share Posted September 27, 2010 Just read Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. It was alright, I like some sections of it much more than others though. Enjoyable enough but I wont search out much more of his work.Reading one of Rankin's Rebus novels now, Let it Bleed. I don't normally read much crime fiction but when I do I do find myself getting hooked. A friend had finished with a couple of his novels and passed them on. He is pretty great at what he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Denim.. Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Reading a brilliant book by Markus Zusak 'The Book Thief'Narrated by Death it tells the rather comical story of a German girl growing up in nazi Germany. Absolutely brilliant. Death, Nazis and thievery! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Just read Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. It was alright, I like some sections of it much more than others though. Enjoyable enough but I wont search out much more of his work.Reading one of Rankin's Rebus novels now, Let it Bleed. I don't normally read much crime fiction but when I do I do find myself getting hooked. A friend had finished with a couple of his novels and passed them on. He is pretty great at what he does.Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks is definitely worth a read. The only one of his I've read so don't know how it compares. I love the Rebus series. Finished The God Delusion. Bar the occasional tangent I thoroughly enjoyed it all. Started On Chesil Beach, a 'novella' by Ian McEwan last night and have almost finished it. This guy can write! Excellent stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 I've heard that Engleby is very different from his other novels and Birdsong has been recommended to me by a few folk now so I probably will check it out sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monster Zero Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Finished The God Delusion. Bar the occasional tangent I thoroughly enjoyed it all. My missus got me that for Xmas last year on my request. I suppose I better get it read before it reaches it's 1st anniversary.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Started On Chesil Beach, a 'novella' by Ian McEwan last night and have almost finished it. This guy can write! Excellent stuff.Did you finish it? I'm still in awe that the whole book was leading up to, ahem... that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Bomber Boys by Patrick Bishop.Lancasters and bombs. Spot the History teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted September 30, 2010 Report Share Posted September 30, 2010 Did you finish it? I'm still in awe that the whole book was leading up to, ahem... that.Finished it tonight. I really enjoyed it but thought the end seemed a bit rushed, like he had planned an epic novel and then......shot his load way too early Which of his books do you recommend? That's the first of his I'd read.Plinth, you better get onto The God Delusion before it is rendered entirely irrelevant and silly by proof of the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient creator who hears our every thought and prayer and demands we live our lives in a certain way before ascending or descending to an eternal afterlife in a celestial abode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monster Zero Posted October 1, 2010 Report Share Posted October 1, 2010 Plinth, you better get onto The God Delusion before it is rendered entirely irrelevant and silly by proof of the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient creator who hears our every thought and prayer and demands we live our lives in a certain way before ascending or descending to an eternal afterlife in a celestial abode.I already have a wife.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted October 1, 2010 Report Share Posted October 1, 2010 I already have a wife....touche!(aka you must spread...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted October 2, 2010 Report Share Posted October 2, 2010 Finished it tonight. I really enjoyed it but thought the end seemed a bit rushed, like he had planned an epic novel and then......shot his load way too early Which of his books do you recommend? That's the first of his I'd read.It's the only one I've read too as I heard only good things about it, but... I dunno... I also have a copy his 'The Innocent', but haven't read it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaTsunami Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Reading the Guillermo del Toro/Chuck Hogan novels 'The Strain' and 'The Fall' which are part of a trilogy telling the story of a vampire virus which begins when a plane lands at JFK and suddenly goes quiet.* It's surprisingly well written but it does jump around a lot. I guess that's one of the pitfalls of two authors writing the same story. The vampires are not nice, they are genuine bastards and part of a 'hive' mind. Compelling. On the second book just now.*If this sounds like the start of Fringe it's because Guillermo del Toro pitched the novels as a series to Fox, including the airplane landing. They wanted to make it a comedy, del Toro took his script and left but reckons they at least paid attention to the plane landing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 I recently enjoyed something by Stuart McBride that I can't remember the name of, "Blind Eyes" or something. I also read "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk while on holiday, which was OK, I would rank it third of the three books of his I've read. About to get stuck into "The God Delusion", don't worry I won't be turning into a militant atheist by the time I've finished it. I've also got a good book about the history of Ancient Egypt that I've started that's quite good. I like to have two or three books on the go at once, then the one I read depends on my mood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Found my post on here from over two years ago now where I said "...am about to start Will Self's 'The Book of Dave'."So I did that. Got about halfway through, then clearly got distracted by another book and abandoned it.I went back to it recently, had no idea what was going on from the place I'd left at, so started again and have just finished it. Much better this time around. Mainly 'cos I knew the glossary was at the back so didn't throw the book at a wall in a fit of frustration. (...PARKLIFE!)Now to start Ben Goldacre's 'Bad Science', which has been sitting on my shelf for far too long... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 Ooooh, I've always been meaning to read Bad Science... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaki Posted October 4, 2010 Report Share Posted October 4, 2010 About to get stuck into "The God Delusion", don't worry I won't be turning into a militant atheist by the time I've finished it. You will join us Started The Prison House by John King. Not really enjoying it much but will give it some more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Von Mondragon Posted October 5, 2010 Report Share Posted October 5, 2010 Now to start Ben Goldacre's 'Bad Science', which has been sitting on my shelf for far too long...He is very good at demolishing modern myths about weed (that its 10-20x stronger, that it definitely makes you schizo), and his strikes at Gillian McKeith("or to give her full title, Gillian McKeith"), well it gives you some faith in modern humanity, which is ironic as Goldacre deals in PROOF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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