Warning: serious topic ahead!

Okay, I thought that seeing as some of us (i.e. King) seem to get through swathes of novels each year, we ought to have a forum in which we could say which ones we had read recently and whether they were any good or not.
Of course, we could also set up similar topics on film and music, but I'll leave that to someone else to do.

So, I guess I'll start us off then.

The best novel I have read recently is Spies by Michael Frayn (best known as a playwright: Noises Off, Copenhagen). It is about two boys during World War 2 who play at spying on their neighbours, but get into trouble when they uncover a secret that involves one boy's family.
Although it is a modern novel, there is nothing gimmicky about this book. Frayn doesn't muck about with the language or the grammar (as happens in The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey), it's simply a great story well told. As a result, it sometimes feels like you're reading a classic; something that would be a set book at school. Parts of it remind me of The Go-Between, but better.
Read it boys and girls!

Other books I've read recently include the Jason Bourne trilogy and the Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum - all completely ridiculous, but fun all the same.

Okay fools, I've done all the hard work to start, now it's your turn. I expect great things of this topic and at the risk of sounding like a schoolteacher, I don't expect it to all come from Kingol and myself.

Aufwiedersehen, pets.

I would just like to underline the virtues of the novelist Carl Hiaasen. Now most of you will only know him for writing the book that the film Striptease with Demi Moore was based on (not a good start you might think) but his books are genius. I have read two now, Lucky You and Basket Case, both quality. I am about to start reading Stormy Weather. They are very funny and loosely based on crime stories. Go forth and multiply!

PS Half a pound of tupenny rice will nowadays cost you

Well I have to say I was thrown a litttle by seriousness but it is a subject close to my heart (yes I know I haven't mentioned this before but...) so here goes:

Sam if you like Carl Hiaasen you should definately try Christopher Brookmyre esp. 'A big boy did it and ran away'. He's Scottish so it reads like a mix of Hiaasen and Iain Banks and his name is a hell of a lot easier to spell. (I read 'Sick Puppy'...quite good will try more)

In classic corner I think I should mention 'Perfume' by Patrick Suskind, a bit screwed but excellently written. It's the story of a guy who has no odour, but becomes a master perfumier and tries to make the perfect scent, which takes a bit of murder among other things...I told you it was screwed. Sort of magic realism like Marquez but not as 'outthere'.

As for (almost) new 'The Eyre Affair' by Jasper Fforde. Pratchett likes it, so will you. It's that one with the interactive Richard III performance..very funny.

Oh and new TP is out...must read.

I'll stop now.

A second for all things Christopher Brookmeyer and "The Eyre Affair" (to which there is a fairly decent sequel.) For the brave, I think "Underworld" by Don Delillo is very good but very, very long (think Harry Potter #5). Sam, Carl H. does his stuff incredibly well in "SickPuppy"--

An errrr, if you wanted something really obtuse and yet funny try "Pale Fire" by Nabokov. Have faith. he didn't always write about older men lusting after 11 year olds.

Firstly, I'd like to state my pride at starting the topic that managed to finally tempt Jennie into submitting a post. Woohoo!

Secondly, talk of sequels reminded me that I read Be Cool by Elmore Leonard which is the sequel to Get Shorty. Not as good, but still a good laugh.

Why thank you, I am thrilled to rate a "woohoo". 'Sides, this way better than Amazon.com's recommendations...no matter how many times I tell them...they won't believe that someone who ever bought Dracula will never, never, never buy anything about Buffy. Never. Ever.

So recommend away....the Bourne sequels are fairly silly, but still adventurous. For very well written adventure, try The Day of the Jackal by Forsyth. It rules.

I would like to assert, however, that no matter what it may say next to my name: I am not "dave." I can spell. And punctuate.

today..i read the London Underground Tube Map (August 2003 Edition).

not only does it instruct you how to get from David Blane to Trafalger Square..but also informs you of the 24 hour helpline for london travel information..

Amazon were not too impressed with my review either..maybe its because they only use buses...

Bayda

i read the cooking instructions for super noodles...

does that count?

or what about the delights of priority assignment in real-time databases?

_____________________

Woz

Books??

Bloody Philistine. You're a disgrace to this forum topic. Go to your room and think about what you have done.

you talking to me? no wait..u said philistine not palistine..wait even further..i'm not palistine either..what the hell is going on..

so yeah..books...i read the goonies once.

bayda...truffle shuffle

OK finished 'Monstrous Regiment' by Terry Pratchett (TP) yesterday...took two days (yes I know it's a long time but I have a job and I was savouring it).

Basically War Discworld stylee including: walking with Death (and having a chat), contagious hallucinations of 'Nam and women pretending to be men pretending to be women pretending to be men.

It continues the trend shown in Night Watch in that it is a lot darker than his earlier books, I smiled once or twice but it's not really funny, Death only has a couple of lines. Nevertheless it certainly kept me entertained, it's a good read and you really want to know what happens, a sign of a good book in my opinion. Written with all TP's flair and wit I think he really is turning into Swift...let's hope he doesn't get exiled to Ireland eh?

Are you sure it was cooking instructions? Are you sure it wasn't nothing?

today i read the back of the beechams sachet as i have flu..

bugger..

bayda

I have just read "Sixteen Pleasures" by Hellega. It's about a book conservator who goes to Florence in 1966 to help out after the Arno flooded and the entire Bilbliteque Nationale had to be drained and all the books had to be restored. While there, she finds the last copy of a famous erotic pamphlet sewn into another book. The vatican wants it, the nuns want her to sell it so they can save their convent, and it's actually a good book. Especially if you're interested in book conservation. Plus, I think if you like Hiassen and Brookmyer you would also like Tom Robbins. Very funny man. No relation to actor of similar name.

So try it.

P.S. Bayda I hope you get better.


I'm sure that the diarrhea of the fingers must have gotten better by now? Or are you still having to rush to post at odd and frequent intervals?

Thank you for your concern kind american J

I need to post..its like a disease..i fear that too long without madness is just ludacris!!!..Luda...Luda....

Bayda...In need of duck

As i almost never look at this site, and should possibly be flogged for this i think i have successful evaded any meaning that might have infiltrated this sentence

so... books eh. Everyone should read 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card, then possibly everything else he has ever written especially the Shadow series. I have been trying to do this but as i almost refuse point blank to pay more than 50p for a book i have trouble. I have all of them as eBooks, but they're much more inconvenient to read at work... Once again i start to loose the plot...

Also, Dead Famous (Ben Elton) was a great whodunnit which by the end you are almost convince that either nobody or everybody has commited the murder. genius.

Thats enough for now, my finger are starting to ache and i had a more important reason to look at the site today, but you have probably worked that out by now... My God i just ramble and ramble don't i...

I just read High Society by the aforementioned Mr. Elton. It was good.

i read a book called "graceland" - the story of elvis presley...well..i didnt read it..but i looked at the pictures..he has a jungle room.

bayda

For those of you who like things along the lines of the Lord of the Rings:
Ted the builder recommended Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series to me. I've read the first one, The Eye of the World and it was pretty damn good.

Blah blah, blahblahblah, blah...blah.

Be warned about the Wheel of time that it has now turned into a 13 book series that will. not. end.

But the first four/five are certainly excellent.

Yes I would certainly recommend not starting the series until it HAS finished being written. I read the first 8 and then had to wait a year for the 9th. I read it but didn't have the foggiest what was going on having forgotten everything. I'll probably go back and read them all again when I can be sure that there exists an ending.

Oh and as for what I'm reading it's this thrilling book called "Linux Administration handbook" which, with it's intricate emotional character building and rollercoastering plotline I would not recommend to anyone. The only people who would possibly be interested (ie pete and matt) already know everything that's inside it anyway.

If any of you haven't read Raymond E. Fiest (Riftwar series) I would reccomend that highly. Loads of books in the series all based in the same world. Enjoyed it far far more than even the decent of the Jordan books. Starts with the Magician dual-book. Read it.

Why can't I just think of everything i want say and write one post i hear you cry!

Bite me.


Tart - can you tell me where you get your ebooks from? All I can find is shit that has been out of copyright for 3400 years. I can't read hiroglyhpics (nor spell it).

Would be good to get Scott Card stuff on ebook. Also if you still have Gods Debries in ebook for that would be superb.

God's Debris is here.

God's Debris is an occasionally ridiculous book. No matter what Ahhhhnold says. But, the chapter on the idea of *God's Debris* is pretty cool. I second the rec. of the Feist books--much better than Jordan. Also good are 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell if y'all haven't already been forced to read those in school. Also, The Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon might blow your mind...as might Gravity's Rainbow.

Cheers pete.

Am currently reading 1984 off of my PDA whenever I have a spare bored moment. It's weird reading it after watching equilibrium.

Great idea this thread - i'll not be short of reading ideas!

Forget 1984 and Animal Farm. Orwell is obviously a wanker or else he wouldn't have come up with a book so mind-numbingly dull as Down and Out in Paris and London. Utter shite.
Animal Farm isn't half as clever as it thinks it is. I'll accept that 1984 is good, but for a truly visionary book about the future, written before 1984, try Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Dannyboy - the funny feeling that you're getting while reading 1984 is the realisation that Equilibrium tea-leafed all its ideas from the book.

ha. Brave New World can bite my ass. Please, I'll give you that Animal Farm is mostly useful as a satire on the Russian Revolution--but don't tell me that Huxley's despairing world is all that insightful. It's just your standard--man not brought up in society reveals its limitations and then kills himself to prove the point. blech. predictable. and boring.

unlike Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which I'm currently re-reading and which is brilliant.

Look shut it both of you, we all know Noddy rules the book world and nothing you say will change that.

By the way if you go to Jasperfforde.com and look around you'll realise just how many strangely obbsessive people there are who completely immerse themselves in some books and know EVERYTHING...it's kinda scary...though I notice most of the in jokes etc. go over my head completely...check it out though.

Read Brave New World earlier this year - must say it wasn't one of those books that I really regretted finishing. So far I'm much preferring 1984.

One point i cannot argue with is Jonnyploys comment on Down and Out. What utter drivel. Where you with me in English class with Goff? Remember "And One Day I Went for a Walk" or some title like that? I hated that book too.

Captain Corellie's the second last book I read which I really really enjoyed (last being Enders Game).

King - i'm suprised there are people more into books than you. That IS quite scary.

Yes! I think it was As I Walked Out One Summer Morning by Laurie (Cider With Rosie) Lee. And what an utter pile of arse it was too. One other book which is on my list of the most overrated of all time is Tarka the Otter. Oh dear, oh dear.

As it is my subject, I suppose I should say something about popular science books. Have just re-read The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins in order to write an essay about it, and was reminded what a fantastic book it is. Dawkins has got to be the best popular science writer ever. In fact, I think that he is one of the best writers of the last fifty years in any genre. Stephen Jay Gould's stuff is good, but Dawkins is in a class of his own.

A bold statement but nonetheless true.

Desmond Morris does a pretty good job with The Human Zoo. His writing style is not a personal as Dawkins' but there is the same extreme level of clarity.

Simon Singh does a very good job with Fermat's Last Theorem; it's definitely worth a look.

Also while waiting foe Loren in Starbucks (shudder) I picked a book out of the book-drop box called 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation .' by Lynn Truss. It is a loving tribute to the beauty of the comma and apostrophe, and a jocular reminder of the basic rules of punctuation and really rather funny. I was chuckling like a loon, but then I feel quite strongly about the correct use of apostrophes anyway.

I'll have to remember to get that one for my Granny - she'd love it.

I'll want a finder's fee!

Yes; that's right...well done.

Oh and here are A Few Notes on the Culture my Iain M Banks for anyone interested...more interesting than GD in my humble.

This post was brought to you by:

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Just finished: Stormy Weather (another Carl Hiaasen novel). Very good. Based around a hurricane which hits Florida and results in looting, pillaging and general anarchy. Excellent characters such as Skink, the one time governor, now a rabid looney. Snapper, a violent thug with a hideously deformed jaw and a penchant for daytime jerry springer type shows. And Max Lamb, the newly-married advertising exec who spends more time filming the wreckage of the hurricane than with his new wife Bonnie.

Just starting: 31 Songs (Nick Hornby). I'll let you know how it goes. So far he has chosen Ben Folds Five (good), Badly Drawn Boy (good) and Nelly Furtado (Bad!).

Quite right. 1984 rocks. Don't you forget it. Brave New World is toss. Its a good job I got a degree in debating from Cambridge really isn't it.

Also, anyone who hasn't read Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis deserves to be shot. Preferably sooner rather than later. There was a TV series of it with that bloke who used to be in Ballykissangel. It was apparently wank. Read the book. There's a good lad.

Look people, it's quite simple really: I'm right and you are all wrong. Brave New World est le nuts. How's that for an argument? Next stop, the House of Commons.

Oh and Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg. Fantastic, even if it does turn into an episode of the X-files at the end.

In the process of reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. Pretty fecjing good so far - lots of sex. Have a feeling that there'll be less once we get to the trenches, but I could be wrong.

Yes you kinda get the feeling that Peter Hoeg got near the end of his book and didn't know how to end it (like George Elliot). Fortunately he just happened to see an episode of the X-files and thought:
'I should put something like this in the book...that'll make it really good...honest!'
I suggest you read until she gets on the ship to go wherever and then make up your own ending that doesn't involve weird shenanigans (yes, that's how you spell it).

As for Birdsong that could be its tagline: 'Birdsong; lots of sex to start with, less in the trenches.'

Oh and the Big Read top five:5. Harry Potter & Goblet... 4. Hitchhiker's Guide 3. His Dark Materials 2. Pride and Prejudice 1. LOTR

Well done to Phillip Pullman I think.

OK, done the film bit, now books.

Got to agree with King on the Well done Phil Pullman. Proper Books, Selecta.

I'm with the jonny ploy on the brave new world front.

It's seems standard cos it's been ripped off twenty billion times by authers incapable of independant thought; churning out re-workings and repetitions of old stories. It's a shame it taints people's views of the original.

haven't read 1984 maybe I should.

High society Blatantly good just wish what the guy believes was REALLY true then We'd all have a higher life. Weee Heee mother fuckers!!! you get me?

Read a bunch of book by David Eddings "The Tamuli". About some bunch of Knights and some gods and things. With Trolls and the odd wizard, but actually very good. If you can't deal with more than 400 pages though don't bother, it's a LOTR style three booker. Written with tons more wit than most Fantasy books. Check It.

And Captain Corelli's Mandolin was a pile of steaming Horse-shit. absolute toss. Read the others By De Bernieres - The troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts;
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord

They piss all over it from Way Way up there! although they're also Way Way Out there too. Still read them! Now.

Drew

oh dear - you read the Tamuli first?
Read David Eddings' the Elenium. Those are the 3 books before the Tamuli and probably explain what the fejk is going on with a lot of it. Was the first fantasy book that I ever read and got me into the genre. Since read Raymond E. Fiest which eats up David Eddings' style for breakfast.

You could also go on to read the Belgariad and Mallorean - probably about 15-20 books between them but smaller sized. Again - enjoyable but the characters do feel a bit stupid at times. Read Fiest after Eddings.

Brother has bought me Pullmans latest: "Lyra's Oxford" for Christmas so I'll crack that open soon and let ye all know.

On the fantasy front have I mentioned 'The Dragonbone Chair' Series by Tad (snigger) Williams? If not consider them mentioned.

Not particularly well written but good story and I zipped through them...some bastard gave me the first (of 4) large book just as i was gonna revise for my finals...not a hard choice to make really.

I'm feeling quite small compared to Dan's vast knowledge of fantasy by the way.

Where do I start with Feist. WHats the best beginning?

Well HE started with Magician...you might like to try that...but I'd ask Dan.

Fiest: Start at Magician Apprentice then Magician Master (i think that's the name). You can buy both books in one more often than not.

They're all part of the riftwar saga - just go through them in order listed in the front of the books.

After that there's the Empire Series, the Serpentwar Saga and the Krondor Series. The latest line is the Shadow something or rather. All set in the same world and all really enjoyable.

You'll enjoy the next year reading them =)

also - a completely separate book called Farie Tale is one he wrote before the others i think. I enjoyed it - very strange and scary. Nothing like the other books at all. Save it for after perhaps when you get FWS 'Fiest Widthdrawal Symptom'.

Would just like to second the Feist and Eddings suggestions (or third I suppose). Eddings is pretty funny--although his characters all tend to blend together after awhile (which of the thieves is in which book?)--but always good for a snigger I think. Also, he's an incredibly fast read. Feist is excellent.

For those who are not afraid of length, I just read The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber. Really well written story about a prostitute in 19th century England. It's a quick read even if it is pretty long. (plus, if it's one of the cheap 3 for 2 books at the airport, I imagine it's a cheap buy other places as well)