What are you reading?
Ok, in the hope of something slightly more cerebral than "what are you using to destroy your braincells", here's a thread for discussing what you're using to *inspire* them instead! ;)
So what are you reading at the moment? And what's good/ bad/ worth recommending/ worth avoiding about it? For me it's currently "The Truth" by Terry Pratchett. A story from the Discworld, Pratchett takes another of his hilarious satirical side-swipes at the lunacies of this world (helped, no doubt, by his experiences of working as a journalist before he started writing fiction). As usual his plots and characterisations are spot on, the writing is excellent, humorous without being forced, touching without being sentimental and his observations are sharp and witty without being laboured. If you've ever read Discworld and enjoyed it, you'll love this one, if you haven't, it's a good place to start because you don't really need to have read the earlier stories to understand the background. Definitely recommended! |
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A bit belated, but i'm reading "The Salmon Of Doubt" by the late, great, Douglas Adams. It is a collection of articles he published before his death, and includes some chapters he was working on just before he died. He was the guy that wrote "The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy". Extremely funny. i'm about 1/4 the way throught it atm. Definitely recommended so far, so is HHGTTG. If you really have an aversion to books it was converted to radio, TV and DVD.
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Erm, while the book you're currently reading is technically different, is this thread supposed to be different from what's the last book that you read?
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I am currently reading this
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I'm currently reading a book called Masters Of Death by Richard Rhodes.
Basically its about the SS Einsatzgruppen ( Special Action Squads ) and how they shot hundreds of thousands of Jews and 'Communists' in Poland and Russia. Not a nice subject, but interesting in a slightly disturbing way. :erm: |
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My psychiatric report :rofl: I'm officially suffering from PTSD, quite a weird feeling reading about yourself :erm:
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"The Amber Spyglass", the third in a trilogy.
Before I got that & partially read "The Famous Five - five go to mystery moor". While at the same time reading website design & dreamweaver use books, but these are harder to read on the bus. |
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Clifford the dog : The Runaway Rabbit....
It's wicked - I wonder if they are going to find the rabbit again. Clifford is trying to entice it back by hanging a carrot from his tail - I DO hope it works. |
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A Short History of everything - Bill Bryson
Separation Purification and Identification - Open University SXR205 - Exploring the Molecular World Study Guide - Open University Nutrition and health - Our Chemical environment - Open University Maskerade -Terry Pratchett. Do you think that counteracts the couple of pints I had last night? ;) |
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Well, we might be reading something else now. I, for instance, am reading this week's Private Eye.
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It's ok everyone - They found the rabbit and it's safe back in its cage.
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im reading what u lot just wrote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well ok then - as it happens I'm reading Starship Troopers (The original Heinlein one) (bedside reading)
Also - Do androids dream of electric sheep (downstairs loo :)) And - Airship 9 (upstairs loo :)) And - The Dark Half (work :)) |
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I'll read just about anything (hence the F5 book) as long as it takes away the boredom of 80 minutes of bus journeys every day.
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Starship troopers - Very good book - but a bit on the old side, I've always had a thing about Heinlein (Ever since reading Space Cadet) - I'm reading it (again) Because I wanted to compare it with the films. Do Androids dream of electric sheep? - Again reading it to compare to the film - it's ok I guess so far - but I've only just started it - so I'm going to reserve judgement until I get more into it Airship 9 - A classic 'end of the world' book - one of my fave genre's, I do like it I must admit. But I think the airship in question is going to be toasted soon :) The Dark Half - More Stephen King - possibly my fave author - It's an interesting story and not as long as most of his books, Not as good and involving as something like The Stand - but a good read non the less. I always try to read the book before I see the film if I can (is there is an original) Normally I find the book a lot better (with the exception of The Tommyknockers - where I found the TV Film a LOT better than the book) |
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Now reading: The Skylark of Space by EE Doc Smith. (To be followed by the rest of the Skylark series)
Ok, so I've read it before and it's a wonderfully ridiculous piece of Space Opera, but it's also so much fun!! There's acts of derring do, a mighty thewed hero, a hissable villain, damsels in distress, noble extra-terrestrials and evil aliens and some *totally* incredible weaponry! If you want stuff that makes you think (apart from thinking "what the...?!" :D ) then this probably isn't for you, but if you're looking for something that will let you take your mind off the hook and just lay back and enjoy the ride then this series of books is the equivalent of a "Summer Blockbuster" movie! |
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Airship 9 is by Thomas H Block - HHHmmm - a quick intro... Lots of nukes go off - everyone dead apart from the airship and a russian warship (it's worth remembernig this was written well before the cold war ended) and some scientists in the antartic. It's not a brilliant book - but I like the 'end of the world' type book.... Amongst my best types of this book are 'Z for Zacharia' and 'Children of the Dust' There is a review here - but it MAY give too much away I guess. http://www.sfreviews.com/docs/Thomas...hip%20Nine.htm |
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With ST, however, there are relationships, but they're practically all for the bad, apart from they managed to get the "moral philosophy" right. Quote:
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"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction", by Jon Stewart
V funny :rofl: |
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Completely forgot about this thread :)
I'm now reading Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption again :) |
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I've literally just got my hands on The Iron Council by China Mieville.
I'm going to savour it.Good fantasy is so hard to find these days. :) Edit: Forgot to say I finished Going Postal By Terry Pratchett last week.So wonderful and a nice sideways swipe at the internet. :D Incog. |
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have just finished "the lake house" by james patterson. very strange book. it's a bit of a sci fi thriller... but good book
now reading "the reading club" by elizabeth nobel |
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Ellis Peters cadfael chronicles
just finished tad williams "the war of the flowers" |
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I'm reading 'The Scatterlings' by Isobelle Carmody.
its just a SF book I picked up in an Oxfam shop, for taking on holiday, that I never got round to reading. Its about a girl who wakes up in a wrecked police flyer, with no memory of who she is, on a planet with a two tier society, i.e. an underclass, whom she meets after finding it was their sabotage that crashed the flyer..... she also keeps hearing 'voices' in her head - thats the first 50 pages, its been quite good, so far. :) |
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Re-reading the same copy of Pratchett's 'Moving Pictures' I bought at Reading station on the way to my Oxford interview in 1991 (I failed).
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the sunday times
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Just finished 'Teach Yourself Art History' by Grant Pooke & Graham Witham - and I've been trying to read Tom Jones by Henry Fielding for the last year :erm:
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Thought I'd ressurrect this one..
I'm presently reading a book I found in the depths of my daughter's room. The World's Greatest Rock'n'Roll Scandals by David Cavanagh. A fascinating read(even if slightly out of date) and as you can guess not a lot of laughs.Until that is I reached the section on Keith Moon.Quite a few laugh out loud moments here. Like this one at a gig in San Francisco. Quote:
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At the moment, an illustrated World Atlas. Its got loads of facts and photos too so I am dreaming of places I want to travel off too some day.
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I'm working my way through a box of old Sci-Fi books, that I rescued from the attic. The current one is 'Cycle of Fire' by Hal Clement, next will be 'Hothouse' by Brian Aldiss.
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War and Peace.
...not Doctor Who - The Monsters Inside And Visual Basic .NET in 21 Days |
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Sci-Fi kevin j andersons "a forest of stars" number 2 in series
aliens, earthlings, space gypsys etc :) fits in with my sig I suppose:D |
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Best of luck to you. Programming used to drive me mad that I never want to ever go near it again. |
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I've just finished Dan 'The Da Vinci Code' Brown's Angel and Demons - a fantastic thriller on how Christianity and science can co-exist and even inter-mingle.
I thoroughly recommend it! |
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"Darwin's Children" by Greg Bear
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after reading 'touching the void', i've just been recommended about a dozen more mountaineering books... fascinating stuff!
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A thread located online a forum on my 17inch tft screen about what are you reading.
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Only a 17" TFT? Never mind.
I'm reading "The Supernaturalist" by Eoin Colfer. Very different to the Artemis Fowl books. An orphan from a future orphanage which specialise in medical testing escapes death and the orphanage only to find he can see blue creatures who are feeding on the life force of the injured and dying is told he is a "spotter" by a group (called the supernaturalists) who go round killing the blue creatures avoiding lawyers and the police who generally turn up (in that order) about 30 seconds after the group who so far have managed to escape the dreaded cellophane wrap!!!! Just read "The Asti Spumanti Code" very silly parody. |
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Last three books I've read:
'Are you Dave Gorman?' - bit of a silly book, basically two mates going round meeting + photographing people called dave gorman because of a 'drunken bet' (seems more likely that it was an idea for making some money) 'The Da Vinci Code' - was ok, seems to be a lot of untruths, but enjoyable all the same. currently reading 'The ragged trousered philanthropists' Seems very relevent to society today - would thouroughly reccomend! |
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Now reading the second of The Catchestist books by Alan Dean Foster,'Into the Thinking Kingdom'.
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At the moment Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey :)
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just started reading Last Man Standing by David Badacci.... hard to get into but good once you have started :tu:
not one that i can't put down though.... but handy for hot summer nights when you can't sleep :p: |
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At the moment I need something I can pick up quickly as I :Sprint: to the loo for what seems the 10th time.... :D
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Currently on the second to last chapter of a 1000+ page book on the CompTIA A+ certification. All about complex PC details that you'll never need to know except to pass the exam.
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Can't read recently, just lose concentration after a few sentences :(
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"A Hat Full of Sky" by Terry Pratchett which has just come out in paperback.
Actually I'm re-reading it (again!) because I read it three times when it came out in Hardback (twice to enjoy and once for annotations) and I've already read the paperback once and I'm reading it again because it's such a damn good book!! :) |
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Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
I've read a whole succession of Bryson books lately, each one better than the last. Not sure about this one yet though, he seems to have strayed from a tried and tested formula and I'm not sure it's working. |
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I sat outside at work today and read The Golden Apples of The Sun by Ray Bradbury today.
I also finished my copy of Star Wars III |
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'I sing the body electric' - apparenty (I Just called my dad :)) |
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Ah what happy hours I spent as teenager reading Bradbury.Some of his stories were as creepy or creepier than Roahl Dahl was later. ;)
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I leave my book of the moment in the loo;) |
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The one I enjoyed within the book I read today was about some women who were doing some embroidery but got wiped out :(
And the one about the chinese emperor who finds a man who has built a flying machine - but kills him. MMMmmm - It was a good book anyway. I'm looking forward to the other one tomorrow. And I've seen the film farenheit 451 - didn't know it was one of his - I'll have to look out for that now. |
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i'm reading the da vinci code at the moment, only two chapters through so far.....
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"Homicide - A Year on the Killing Streets", by David Simon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...880788-8264625 Excellent "true-crime" book, which was the inspiration for the brilliant "Homicide: Life on the Street" US TV cop show. The book is based on reporter David Simon's experience of following the detectives in Baltimore PD's Homicide Unit for a year. Well worth reading :tu: |
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Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett.:LOL:
About a country which lives by the word of the prophet Nuggan who seems to call almost everything an abomination. The ruler is a Duchess who no one has seen for years. The latest recruits into the army all share the same secret but you will have to read the book to find out more. (or watch my sig for a quote).:D |
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__________________ Recently read: "The Laptop of the Gods" - Peter Chippendale. The critic quotes say things like "This will appeal to Pratchett and Monty Python fans alike" and "[it] is Terry Pratchett before he became unreadable". Well it's rather ironic because I don't consider Pratchett to *ever* have become "unreadable" (in fact he's become even *more* readable), whereas this book, for me, definitely *was* unreadable! I got about 30 pages into it and just gave up which is something pretty rare for me (about the only other book that ever caused that effect was the first Gormenghast book). The problem is that Peter Chippendale doesn't seem to know when to leave a joke well enough alone and instead labours it on and on, taking what should be a quick one liner and dragging it out into half a page or more of tedious re-workings that's sadly reminiscent of "pun cascade" thread. There just wasn't anything sufficiently redeeming to make me want to continue reading. The Excalibur Alternative - David Weber An English nobleman and his men are on their way to the Battle of Crecy when they are kidnapped by Aliens and taken off to fight for them. At this point anyone who has read "The High Crusade" by Poul Anderson will be thinking "hold on, haven't I heard this somewhere before", well, yes you have. Whether it was deliberate or not, there are certainly some very noticable similarities between the stories and whilst the plot ends differently (although not particularly surprisingly), there's a strong sense of deja-vu all the way through. Still, even if you have read The High Crusade, it's a fairly entertaining and well written book and whiles away a few hours. |
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Has anyone read any of the "Ronan The Barbarian" books by James Bibby?:rofl::rofl::rofl:
As funny as TP IMHO but such a shame he only wrote 3 Ronan books and one other (same world though). You can only get the first book second hand now.:mis::cry: |
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I weakened and bought the da vinci code today (seeing as everyone seems to be going on about it a lot)
I hope it's good. |
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Just finished Simon Greens latest Nightside offering called Hex and the City.Very laconic humour as usual.. :D
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Strata by Terry Pratchett, but to be honest I'm finding it rather difficult to get into. not a slick as his newer material. There seems to be a lot of chopping and changing. Good book though
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A Short History of everything - Bill Bryson
Just an amazing book that covers all the things that I never really got hold of at school and subsequently have wondered about, but never been able to easily find out about. I will give you examples: How did the universe begin and what is "out there"? How did the earth come to be like it is? What is above and below us Geology - what's that all about? What was Einstein on about? Particle physics. Huh? How did life and then humans evolve? Is there life on Mars? Ziggy plays guitar. Isn't it? Wasn't it? Bryson writes in a way that enables really complicated subjects to be conveyed in just enough detail for you to get a basic handle on the. How he does it is genius. If you fancy know a little bit about loans of things. Read this book. |
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Just read: The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin Hmm, I'd heard good things about RR, but this one was pretty disappointing. Ok, he had some nice ideas, but I felt they were rather shoved together without much regard for the whole Spoiler:
Some of the jokes felt very laboured and occasionally he drops into "unnecessarily crude" mode for a bit for no good reason that I could see apart from to use a rude word or make a dirty joke. Not very impressive overall. |
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The magic cottage, it is a horror story and not bad so far
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I'm reading the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, I expected it to be a bit more challenging but so far it's a bit obvious, hope it improves.
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I'm just about to start the Da Vinci Code - so I hope it lives up to my expectations.
I'm sure it will be much better than The Night of the Triffids - which I'm reading at the moment. Don't get me wrong, it's a good sequel (I've read it before this is a re-read). But it is a tad predictable and not a patch on the original :) |
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Nursing, hopsital and home as I have to scrub up on some of my techniques.
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The Bourne Identity....and then will carry on to the next two Bourne novels. Thats what I'm going to read on hols.............
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I'm reading "The Burning Girl" can''t remember who its by and some daft psychology book about how SKinners box was actually a good thing to happen !!
YES ok I am strange ! |
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Bourne Supremacy Bourne Ultimatum Bourne Legacy ;) |
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Andy MacNab Bravo 2 Zero. If you have not read it get it as its amazing.
Chris Ryan The one that got away. Please read both books. |
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Most recently I've read "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell" by Susanna Clarke and "Rats and Gargoyles" by Mary Gentle.
The first one was an excellent book. It's her first novel and a weighty tome (possibly a bit too weighty, I think there could have been a little more editing done) but none the less it's a fascinating read. It's set in a parallel 19th Century Britain, one where magic had existed, but had fallen out of use (there are still people who call themselves "magicians", but most are simply gentlemen who read about the subject and write articles without actually *doing* any magic! :) ). Then along comes Mr Norell of the title who *does* do magic, but seems intent on keeping all the books of magic in his own hands and not sharing them with anyone and, indeed, stopping anyone else from even attempting magic. There's a lot of background to it, where the north of England used to be ruled by John Uskglass, The Raven King and who also ruled The Faerie Lands and it's detailed and well constructed. Apart from, as mentioned, it being a little over-written, the writing is very good, there are no major anachronisms that drop you back into the 21st Century and there's some good humorous bits that aren't forced or laboured. Overall it's a very good fantasy story and well worth a read. The second book, Rats and Gargoyles, however, is another one of those rare books that I just gave up on because I just *couldn't* keep reading it, which is a shame because I'd previously enjoyed another Mary Gentle story called "Grunts". But R&G is annoying. It's written in short sentences. The book doesn't flow. It's broken up and jerky. Every time something starts, it stops. What's even more annoying is that when someone starts talking or doing a bit of plot exposition, it's suddenly interrupted by a description of their aching feet or the clothes they're wearing or them scratching their bum that starts to drive you nuts after a while. It's got a nice Fantasy background and there are some interesting ideas in there, but they're buried under the weight of a rather bad writing style. Not one I'd recommend. |
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I've noticed Jonathan Strange in Borders a few times, but never decided to actually pick it up.
I think I might now, after your review :) |
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Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. Didn't think I'd like his books but I've not put it down!!!!
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Well, currently reading "One Shot" by Lee Child.
It's a whodunnit/thriller about an ex US military sniper who goes into a small US city and kills 5 random people in cold blood. Characters: All of the Lee Child novels I have read have been about the adventures of an ex us military policeman called "Jack Reacher". This book is no exception, so obviously, the Reacher character is well defined. However, the author has the ability to create a believable (IMO) character in a few words, and he does this in this book. Plot & Writing: Obviously, I can't give away too much here. Partly because I haven't been reading it long, so don't know a lot. Partly because I don't want to put people off. There are quite a few twists in the plot, but it is well written and quite easy to follow. Lee Child also has the honour (in an earlier book: The Visitor) of being the only whodunnit auther to have totally led me to the wrong conclusion about a character. I won't say too much about that book, apart from the fact that the murderer is in the book, pretty much from the start, and has motive (again pretty much from the start) yet it is not obvious who it is. If you want to find out more about the Reacher character (why he is like he is), I would also recommend you read another book by Lee Child called "The Enemy". As a side note, I did read somewhere that, although he is now based in the US, Lee Child is English and actually started out as a scriptwriter for "London's Burning". Can't verify this though. |
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Blenheim by Charles "Guess who I've got buried at the bottom of the garden" Spencer. The battle, not the house. Actually, he hasn't made too bad a job of it; quite an interesting style. Obviously, him not being a professional historian, there's probably nothing particularly new in it, so he's tried to inject a bit of originality by quoting from the diaries of various of the participants.
__________________ And if I may put a plug in for the one I read before this. Dark Star by Alan Furst. Too be honest, I got it out of the library on spec; I'd never heard of the author before, but he is first rate. It is a spy novel, but that is like saying that Romeo and Juliet is a Mills & Boon romance. It concerns AndrÃÃâ€*’© Szara, a Pravda journalist between the wars who becomes entangled in Soviet intelligence infighting and ends up as part of a Russian spy ring. It has enough plot twists to satisfy the most discerning of readers of spy novels and a protagonist who totally engages your sympathies. Oh, and you get a load of information on how Russian spy rings operated thrown in free of charge. Highly recommended. |
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The Demon in the Freezer: The Terrifying Truth About the Threat from Bioterrorism - Richard Preston
Basically it talks about Anthrax (the events after the scares in America) - and smallpox - and how sooner or later, someone, somewhere is going to use smallpox as a biological weapon, and depending on what they've done with it, it may or may not just tear through the vaccine. I don't think he's got a great style of writing, but it's an interesting read.. |
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I've got a couple of Richard Preston books I'd recommend :) 1) "The Hot Zone" - true story of an Ebola outbreak in a monkeyhouse in the US. Very good, & scary as it's true. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...589911-8934238 2) "The Cobra Event" - fictional story about a bioterror incident in the US. Excellent read. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...589911-8934238 And, in a similar vein to "Demon in the Freezer": "Biohazard", by Ken Alibek. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...589911-8934238 "Germs, the Ultimate Weapon", by Judith Miller et al. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...589911-8934238 "Plague Wars - A True Story of Biological Warfare", by Tom Mangold & Jeff Goldberg. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...589911-8934238 All very interesting. |
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*shuffles away from Matt slowly*
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OMG :Sprint: |
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:LOL: I'm a molecular biologist, & I find this stuff interesting... :shrug: |
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