Scary Bear Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 (edited) Currently reading The Poor Had No Lawyers - Who Owns Scotland (And How They Got It), and it's good so far. Jojo would love it. http://www.andywightman.com/?page_id=1079 Edited August 18, 2012 by Scary Bear 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyarabnuts Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 just started on "the book thief" by Markus Zusak, so far its been excellent 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Cyril Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 I'm reading The Himmler Brothers written by the grand-niece of Heinrich. Not bad but too much about how the three Himmler brothers were in this or that obscure Nazi old school tie organisation for engineers, teachers, etc. Who'd have thunk you couldn't go places job-wise in Nazi Germany if you weren't "in the party". At the same time Heinrich was sending millions to their death he was getting cakes sent to him from his mummy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raidernation Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Micro by Michael Crighton. So far so good...... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 (edited) Just finished reading 11.22.63 by Stephen King. It's a what if/time travel bookset in the years leading up to the Kennedy Assasination. This is the best Stephen King book I have read in YEARS, and there's not a wise old negro or mystical retard in sight. 10/10. Edited August 24, 2012 by jester 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Not long finished "The Map and the Territory" by Michel Houellbecq. Rather bizarre rant on art and pop culture that sees him rip the piss out of himself before killing himself in fairly horrific circumstances. Was thoroughly enjoyable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. Brilliant read, stomach churning in parts when you read about the suffering endured by all the combatants but especially the numbers on both sides who died due to starvation and disease. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 (edited) The Fall Of Berlin: Anthony Read & David Fisher I just finished reading this for the second time last week. Told in part from the viewpoint of the ordinary people of Berlin, it charts the rise and fall of the nazis and their effect on the German capital. While the British and Americans are in the background a major part of the book is about the Russian advance on, and capture of, Berlin. It builds up the tension and brings the period Berlin to life. A truly outstanding book. 10/10 Edited August 24, 2012 by jester 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raidernation Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Just finished reading 11.22.63 by Stephen King. It's a what if/time travel bookset in the years leading up to the Kennedy Assasination. This is the best Stephen King book I have read in YEARS, and there's not a wise old negro or mystical retard in sight. 10/10. Agreed! Thought it was fantastic! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bold Rover Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Spoke with some other Mark Twain admirers on here about his short stories. I recently read The Death of Jean. Absolutely beautiful. Read this and don't greet, I challenge you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kujabi_Kujabyou Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Ben Kane- The Last Legion. Brilliant Roman novel for anyone whos interested in that stuff. Set in 80-60BC when ceaser is taking power for himself and conquers gaul, the charecters to follow in this have all been taken into Crasus doomed legion in Parthia. Following the lives of a Gaul, a Gladiator and a Soothsayer. Great twist halfway through, very enjoyable read looking forward to book 2- Silver Eagle. 9/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follow Follow Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Just finished reading The Hobbit for the fourth time, cracking wee book. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Finally finished Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer - a superb general interest writer and journalist. He gets to the heart of his subjects without beating you over the head with needless detail and quotes. You can tell he has a journalism background because there's an economy about his style... and his scene-setting paragraphs usually suck This was a solid read, about Fundamentalist Mormons (i.e. the usually insular and clannish ones in northern Arizona, southern Utah, and scattered about the north-west, who still practice plural marriage.) Recommended. I also recommend highly his book Into Thin Air, about the Everest disaster of 1996, at which he was present. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estragon Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Just finished reading 11.22.63 by Stephen King. It's a what if/time travel bookset in the years leading up to the Kennedy Assasination. This is the best Stephen King book I have read in YEARS, and there's not a wise old negro or mystical retard in sight. 10/10. I recently bought this at Waterstones (f**k knows why, I don't think I've ever actually been completely satisfied at the end of a Stephen King book) - anyway I haven't started it yet. IMO his novels, particularly the longer ones, are all the same inasmuch as there is a great amount of time taken in layering plot and character (which I enjoy) - but then the endings are abrupt set pieces, always seeming a bit too 'easy' to resolve the issues and obstacles created in the novel; a la The Stand, It, Under the Dome and I'm sure many others. I always come away feeling that the author simply ran out of ideas, and brought everything together as quickly as he could. I don't want to get into this book to find out that it's another one to add to the above list - without spoilers, your advice would be appreciated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MassiveFanDan Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 A bit of a weird one this, but I've just finished "At Home" by Bill Bryson. Really enjoyed it. It is subheaded: A History of Private Life - or "a six hundred page book about towels" as I described it to my brother. It is weirdly interesting, considering the book is all about boring things - toilets, hallways, staircases, ironing boards, salt, forks, etc. The history of these dull objects and bits of architecture is ... far stranger than I realised. Lots of interesting statistics and anecdotes about the kind of eccentrics and weirdoes who built the world we live in now. it's probably a bit longer than it needs to be, and most folk won't like it, but it's good anyway. Now and then I did feel it was getting dangerously close to Charlie Brooker's "A History of Corners" spoof though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MassiveFanDan Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. Brilliant read, stomach churning in parts when you read about the suffering endured by all the combatants but especially the numbers on both sides who died due to starvation and disease. That was a classic, loved it, though it's not appreciated by all: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bold Rover Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 A bit of a weird one this, but I've just finished "At Home" by Bill Bryson. Really enjoyed it. It is subheaded: A History of Private Life - or "a six hundred page book about towels" as I described it to my brother. It is weirdly interesting, considering the book is all about boring things - toilets, hallways, staircases, ironing boards, salt, forks, etc. The history of these dull objects and bits of architecture is ... far stranger than I realised. Lots of interesting statistics and anecdotes about the kind of eccentrics and weirdoes who built the world we live in now. it's probably a bit longer than it needs to be, and most folk won't like it, but it's good anyway. Now and then I did feel it was getting dangerously close to Charlie Brooker's "A History of Corners" spoof though. I enjoyed it thoroughly, as I have done most of his works. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blanco Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 (edited) Fifty shades of Grey, a real knicker tearer. Edited August 31, 2012 by blanco 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrison Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. This is a potentially good story that starts with a 10 year-old boy that discovers a novel in "The Cemetery of Lost Books" that shapes his life from that point. It's set in post civil war Barcelona. Without going into any great detail about the plot, this has promise but most of the twists are signposted so blind people could see them coming, a chunk of the explanation of events is handled in a pretty poor way and the book should have ended 6-8 pages before it did. The rubbish at the end was not needed and didn't add anything other than length. It doesn't help when I felt no empathy for the main protagonist, the only likeable character being his sidekick. It may just be me, one of my friends describes this as the best book she's ever read. It's just that I think she's wrong. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawfield shed boy Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Both Sides of the Fence As one of a handful of UK police officers trained in SAS deep-cover surveillance, David Corbett infiltrates the toughest communities living among junkies, prostitutes, murderers and firearm dealers Author: David Corbett 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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