Last Book You Read....

[stimpy]

I am currently reading 'The Secret Agent' by Joseph Conrad.

How is it going? I've read "Heart of Darkness" which was a good read when it finally got going, but was pretty slow stuff till then.

Have not long finished "The Drought" by J.G Ballard Which is fantastic end of the world stuff.

Just now i'm in the middle of a collection of short stories by Asimov called "The Rest Of The Robots". The stories are, Like in "I Robot", puzzles of things that go wrong with robots that all have the 3 laws of robotics hard wired in their brain. So there's none of this predictable, overused, robots turning on their creator stuff of 50's B-movies.

Got a couple of Alistair Maclean books waiting for me when i'm done with Asimov, "The Satan Bug" and "The Guns Of Navarone" I've read two of his books already so i'm looking forward to getting these started.

[HeartsparkDollarsign]

Just finished "The Never Ending Days of Being Dead" by Marcus Chown. I'm hoping my cerebral cortex can have the knots untied some time over the next few days.

Fascinating stuff on cosmology. Some very heavy going about mass, the vacuum and inflation pertaining to the early moments after the Big Bang, but on the plus side, it's the first thing I've read that gave me an inkling of understanding General Relativity, and even why it's called that.

Loses it a bit towards the end, as it explores the theories of Frank Tippler, who is a highly esteemed physicist but unfortunately also completely bonkers. In Michael Shermer's book "Why People Believe Weird Things", there's a whole chapter on Tippler entitled "Why Smart People Believe Weird Things".

A head-melting read, but nowhere near as good as his previous book, "The Universe Next Door".

On to "Conjuring" by James Randi now.

[MarreZ]

Just finished "The Never Ending Days of Being Dead" by Marcus Chown. I'm hoping my cerebral cortex can have the knots untied some time over the next few days.

Fascinating stuff on cosmology. Some very heavy going about mass, the vacuum and inflation pertaining to the early moments after the Big Bang, but on the plus side, it's the first thing I've read that gave me an inkling of understanding General Relativity, and even why it's called that.

Loses it a bit towards the end, as it explores the theories of Frank Tippler, who is a highly esteemed physicist but unfortunately also completely bonkers. In Michael Shermer's book "Why People Believe Weird Things", there's a whole chapter on Tippler entitled "Why Smart People Believe Weird Things".

A head-melting read, but nowhere near as good as his previous book, "The Universe Next Door".

On to "Conjuring" by James Randi now.

Is that the same James Randi who debunks supernatural phenomenon?

[supermac]

Just finished reading Lee Sharpe's autobiography. It was dead good

[HeartsparkDollarsign]

Is that the same James Randi who debunks supernatural phenomenon?

That's the chap. He was a leading conjuror before increasingly turning his mind and efforts to sceptical investigation of the paranormal.

It was his expert knowledge of conjuring techniques that allowed him to spot the ruses being employed by the likes of Uri Geller, and faith healers such as Peter Popoff.

[Guest stennyhibee]

Just finished Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion.

I've gone from thinking I believe in God to being agnostic leaning towards not believing. Amazing book.

[uberman]

Stephen King - The Stand 8/10

a man made disease wipes out most of the population leaving the goodies and the baddies fighting it out for survival

Borrowed the dvd of a mate at work so I'll be spending the weekend watching it, it's on for 6 hour

[ShakehandsTom - DFC]

I got your PM Uberman.

Cheers very much.

I shll be getting some of those (or all of them - they all sound great) from the library or from e-bay soon.

Cheers man!

B)

[McMuffin]

I read The Twits. Some bits are pure poetry, and the final paragraph where the Roly-Poly bird offers to fly the Muggle-Wump family to Africa one by one is probably the most beautiful i've ever read.

[Estragon]

I don't post on this thread very often, but felt moved to today after finishing "Mao - The Unseen Story". In the early 90s a woman named Jung Chang wrote Wild Swans, chronicling the lives of her grandmother as a concubine to one of China's pre-unification regional warlords; her mother, as a wife of a medium level official in the Chinese Communist Party; and herself as a woman who lived through the cultural revolution and defected in the the 1970s. It was fucking storming, and ever since she and a Harvard professor have been meticulously researching the life, work, and conspiratorial machinations of Chairman Mao - this is the result.

To say this book is amazing is to do it a disservice, it is fucking life-changing. This is from the perspective of someone who rarely reads books of military history, it transcends that genre to become a history of a people's plight told through a biography of the man who orchestrated it.

Don't be intimidated by the magnitude of this book, its a hefty old tome as one would expect - but if you only ever read one more book, it has to be this one. Astonishing, heart-breaking, upsetting, dramatic - this book will sear images on your brain for the rest of your life.

[Mel Hutchwright]

I don't post on this thread very often, but felt moved to today after finishing "Mao - The Unseen Story". In the early 90s a woman named Jung Chang wrote Wild Swans, chronicling the lives of her grandmother as a concubine to one of China's pre-unification regional warlords; her mother, as a wife of a medium level official in the Chinese Communist Party; and herself as a woman who lived through the cultural revolution and defected in the the 1970s. It was fucking storming, and ever since she and a Harvard professor have been meticulously researching the life, work, and conspiratorial machinations of Chairman Mao - this is the result.

To say this book is amazing is to do it a disservice, it is fucking life-changing. This is from the perspective of someone who rarely reads books of military history, it transcends that genre to become a history of a people's plight told through a biography of the man who orchestrated it.

Don't be intimidated by the magnitude of this book, its a hefty old tome as one would expect - but if you only ever read one more book, it has to be this one. Astonishing, heart-breaking, upsetting, dramatic - this book will sear images on your brain for the rest of your life.

This is one of the many books I have in my ever growing pile that I've yet to get round to reading but you've certainly sold me on the fact that I should do so in the not too distant future. I read Wild Swans many years ago and and this period of Chinese history is just unbeliveably tragic and horrific, albeit incredibly fascinating.

I actually went to see Jung Chang and her husband (the co-author) talk about Mao at the Edinburgh Book Festival a couple of years ago and it was extremely interesting as you could probably imagine.

[H_B]

Stephen King - The Stand 8/10

a man made disease wipes out most of the population leaving the goodies and the baddies fighting it out for survival

Borrowed the dvd of a mate at work so I'll be spending the weekend watching it, it's on for 6 hour

Don't do it - the DVD is shit.

I don't generally like King books, but quite enjoyed The Stand.

[uberman]

Don't do it - the DVD is shit.

I don't generally like King books, but quite enjoyed The Stand.

too late, I thought it was ok, certainly better than having to talk to my wife which is what I would have done instead of watching this

[North Stand Bairn]

Last book I read was Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson.

I've now moved on to Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter which was her first novel, despite the fact I've already read books 3 and 2 in that order!

[Buttocks Brown]

Have also worked my way through David Mitchell's first two books (Ghostwritten & #9 Dream). I can recommend them. He lived in Japan for many years and you can see the similarities to Haruki Murakami. Slightly surreal and of a similar style. Ghostwritten is 9 interlinked stories set in different parts of the world (London, Mongolia, Japan, Ireland......). #9 Dream is set in Tokyo and is about a young man who is trying to find his father. Sounds pretty straightforward but there's a lot more to it than that. Next up for me to read Cloud Atlas, which succeeded in winning Richard and Judy's book of the year and has sold a shedload since. If you want some credibility win the Booker but if you want to make a load of cash win R&J's book of the year! Mitchell will no doubt do both. He's still in his 30s so it's heartening to think that he'll be coming up with great books for decades. Hopefully.

Have since read Cloud Atlas and most recently Black Swan Green.

BSG is probably his most straightforward book. It's essentially a childhood memoir based on Mitchell growing up in middle England in the early 80s. He touches on the Falklands, divorce, bullying (he suffered himself due to a stammer) but, generally, it was fairly light hearted. Enjoyable but I got more out of his other books, particularly Ghostwritten. As far as books on childhood go, I still think it's hard to see past Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

[morrison]

I've just finished Ian Rankin's 'The Hanging Garden', and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like all the other Rebus books, it was enjoyable from the off, and all too easy to lose track of time reading it. Good story as in the others to date, also. Will be trying to finish the series in the coming months.

I'm 3/4 through Starter For 10 by David Nicholls. Entertaining so far, all the reading done on the journey home from Wales yesterday.

[Lisa Cuddy]

I've just finished Ian Rankin's 'The Hanging Garden', and thoroughly enjoyed it. Like all the other Rebus books, it was enjoyable from the off, and all too easy to lose track of time reading it. Good story as in the others to date, also. Will be trying to finish the series in the coming months.

I'm 3/4 through Starter For 10 by David Nicholls. Entertaining so far, all the reading done on the journey home from Wales yesterday.

I tried reading Rankin's Beggar's Banquet recently, but I couldn't get into it at all. I don't know if maybe it was because it was all short stories and there wasn't enough chance to get actually 'hooked' on anything. I'll try one of the Rebus ones when I get around to it and see if that makes any difference.

I've not long finished A Spot Of Bother by Mark Haddon. Same kind of opinion on it as The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightime. It was good, certainly not a bad book at all, but I find the sentences really fragmented and it doesn't really flow. In the same way as his first, you get to the end and think 'There was no real 'high' point in that book. It kind of plodded along at the same level'. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing, because, as I say, I quite enjoyed it, but it leaves me feeling a bit confused as to WHY I actually liked it.

[Latino Lover]

I'm half way through Rankin's Fleshmarket Close and really enjoying it, best part is there is loads of others to read after this and also some TV shows which I havn't seen.

[McMuffin]

I've not long finished A Spot Of Bother by Mark Haddon. Same kind of opinion on it as The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nightime. It was good, certainly not a bad book at all, but I find the sentences really fragmented and it doesn't really flow. In the same way as his first, you get to the end and think 'There was no real 'high' point in that book. It kind of plodded along at the same level'. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing, because, as I say, I quite enjoyed it, but it leaves me feeling a bit confused as to WHY I actually liked it.

Guess what book i'm about half way through?

I loved The Curious Dog but this one, i'm not enjoying so much and yet I can't stop reading. Maybe it's because i'm waiting for something nice to happen.

There are a lot of times when I've chuckled, and I like the structure of it and the way it's written. But it's so fucking glum.

[Lisa Cuddy]

Guess what book i'm about half way through?

I loved The Curious Dog but this one, i'm not enjoying so much and yet I can't stop reading. Maybe it's because i'm waiting for something nice to happen.

There are a lot of times when I've chuckled, and I like the structure of it and the way it's written. But it's so fucking glum.

Stick at it, it gets better.