Stickied What are you reading right now?

[Pagnell]

You forgot to disclaim that that was a joke.

 

[mowgli]

Just finished Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code".

Read the first 95% of it and thought it was dreadful, but the last 5% of the book was absolutely mind-blowing and explained the poor grammar and terrible pacing of the novel up that point. Dan Brown is a genius. So glad I persevered with it, I'd have felt like such a fool to put this book down so close to the end.

Recommended.

If you liked that try Deception Point as it's his best book in my opinion i couldn't put it down. Digital Fortress was crap but Angels And Demons was a gripping read.

 

[SaddlerJonny]

Got 3 new Halo books in Last Light, Hunters in the Dark and Broken Circle which are all meant to be excellent to read before Halo 5 comes out in late October... wish me luck.

 

[mowgli]

Quest For Lost Heroes by David Gemmell. Another quality fantasy novel by one of the best authors of the genre.

 

[mowgli]

sword Storm by James Aitcheson. The first of a trilogy of novels set in the aftermath of The Battle OfHastings. It starts in 1069 with a rebellion against Norman rule in Northumbria as seen througfh the eyes of a Norman knight Tancred. Fast paced and brutal battles just my type of prefered read.

 

[Aber gas]

sword Storm by James Aitcheson. The first of a trilogy of novels set in the aftermath of The Battle OfHastings. It starts in 1069 with a rebellion against Norman rule in Northumbria as seen througfh the eyes of a Norman knight Tancred. Fast paced and brutal battles just my type of prefered read.

Have you read the "song of ice and fire " books? I think you would like them.

 

[mowgli]

Have you read the "song of ice and fire " books? I think you would like them.

Not heard of the mate who is the author and i'll check them out?

 

[Aber gas]

Not heard of the mate who is the author and i'll check them out?

George rr Martin. Game of thrones is based on them.

 

[mistermagic]

Finished Missing You by Harlan Coben. Not great. Lots of soap opera dialogue and quite a bit of smart ass vocabulary by the author which just doesn't cut it for me.

Went back to Cornwell with The Pale Horseman. I like it.

 

[SALTIRE]

The Ionian Mission, another historic naval novel.

 

[Techno Natch]

Finished Joe Abercrombie - Heroes the other day. I thought I would find it boring because it's set over a 3 day battle and I sometimes find battle scenes a bit boring but I enjoyed it quite a bit mainly due to the way he writes his battles.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Craw was a really good character, I suppose his dour and fed up attitude is a bit similar to Nine-fingers but I enjoyed any chapter when him and his crew were involved. It's shame he couldn't find peace but that's the times they are living in.

Calder certainly went through a big character arc from the first book, I could never really figure out if I wanted him to live or die to be honest, I was actually sad to see Black Dow go because even though he's a dick I love the character.

Gorst was probably the character I found least interesting but his chapters were more about observing the Union side of things. His thoughts inner thoughts were a bit annoying.

Side characters were okay, can't remember all their names now but the young lad "Red Brack" and the Corporal guy were decent to read.

Overall the book was a solid 4/5 for me. I liked that it showed the futility of war for the people involved and Byaz is still a massive dickhead, I would love to see him get caught out properly one day.

I was going to get Red Country next as it's in the library and I am feeling stingy this month but I decided to go for two other books:

T.C. Boyle - A friend of the earth: A book about a 75 year old ex-environmentalist set in 2025 when the large majority of the world is suffering from Climate change and many of the worlds animals have died out. Currently about 30 pages in and it's okay so far.

Toby Clements - Kingmaker Winter Pilgrims: This one is set in the War of the Roses and follows the story of a man and woman that have escaped from a Priory. Seems interesting.

 

[mowgli]

The Splintered Kingdom by James Aitcheson, Book 2 of the trilogy 1066:The Aftermath. This one has moved Tancred to the Welsh border fighting the rebels. If this is half as good as the first one i'm in for a rip roaring read.

 

[blade1889]

I'm reading Postmortem by someone I cant remember its fairly average tbh.

Has anyone ever written a book?

 

[Veggie Legs]

Has anyone ever written a book?

Loads of people have.

 

[blade1889]

Loads of people have.

Cheers VL, now that's cleared up.

Has anyone on this forum ever written a book?

 

[mistermagic]

I'm reading Postmortem by someone I cant remember its fairly average tbh.

Has anyone ever written a book?

I'll write a book about the history of French football in English when I retire (so never). I'll send you next gen twitter message so you can download it on the next gen tool in 2050.
Should be a good one though.

 

[SaddlerJonny]

Halo: Last Light, great book. Had 2 hours of sleep for Uni on Friday just because I couldn't put the book down, I said " just one more chapter" to myself 4 times.

 

[Aber gas]

The hermit by Eugene Ionesco, I read this when I was young and thought it was a self indulgent, petit bourgeois load of nonsense. I was wrong. Intelligent, clever and ultimately depressing.

 

[Veggie Legs]

I read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold recently, I think that's another one that came out of the top 100 thread. First Le Carre I've read and I thought it was brilliant. Any recommendations for his other work?

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

I read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold recently, I think that's another one that came out of the top 100 thread. First Le Carre I've read and I thought it was brilliant. Any recommendations for his other work?

The Karla Trilogy (Tinker Tailor, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People) are the obvious choices. The first and third being the better of the three.

The Constant Gardener is also a book a rate highly.

A Perfect Spy is also superb but a lot different to his other works. It's far more autobiographical, albeit in novel format.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is also quite different to his later stuff in that it's short and snappy. Some of his other books can be a tough read at times but stick with them and you'll be rewarded.

 

[Veggie Legs]

Cheers, I'll check some of those out.

 

[mowgli]

Crusade by Stewart Binns. 2nd of 5 books of the aftermath of 1066. The first 2 are about life in Britain then they move on to the crusades. A superb read that never lets up.

 

[mistermagic]

I read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold recently, I think that's another one that came out of the top 100 thread. First Le Carre I've read and I thought it was brilliant. Any recommendations for his other work?

NOT The Honourable Schoolboy.

The Karla Trilogy (Tinker Tailor, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People) are the obvious choices. The first and third being the better of the three.

The Constant Gardener is also a book a rate highly.

A Perfect Spy is also superb but a lot different to his other works. It's far more autobiographical, albeit in novel format.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is also quite different to his later stuff in that it's short and snappy. Some of his other books can be a tough read at times but stick with them and you'll be rewarded.

 

[Megaclyde]

Finished a book called 'Ready player one' recently,was pretty good.
Apparently going to be a movie too.

 

[mistermagic]

Finished the 3rd instalment of Cornwell's Saxon stories, Lords of the North and I must say I don't think I'll be reading any more of those. There's a huge filler in the middle of the story, the end is predictable and the characters are becoming less interesting by the book.
Started reading The Dictator by Robert Harris. Also a 3rd instalment of a series which is the Cicero series, his slave telling the tales of a Roman orator. It takes place in an even more ancient time than Cornwell's series but it just looks more modern. I thought the first two books where superb and this one is a good start.

 

[Pagnell]

Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

 

[Techno Natch]

Finished the 3rd instalment of Cornwell's Saxon stories, Lords of the North and I must say I don't think I'll be reading any more of those. There's a huge filler in the middle of the story, the end is predictable and the characters are becoming less interesting by the book.
Started reading The Dictator by Robert Harris. Also a 3rd instalment of a series which is the Cicero series, his slave telling the tales of a Roman orator. It takes place in an even more ancient time than Cornwell's series but it just looks more modern. I thought the first two books where superb and this one is a good start.

What are the first two?

 

[Veggie Legs]

The first is Imperium, think the second one is Lustrum. I've read Imperium, it's a bit different from most of Harris's other books and probably better for it.

 

[Techno Natch]

Cheers VL! I probably could have looked on google but I've accidently spoiled plots doing that before.

I gave up after about 150 pages of the eco book I read. Can't even remember who wrote it but it was crap. I read the finishing on wiki and it seems like nothing happened.

Really enjoying Winter Pilgrims though. The war of the roses is a good setting, interesting bits of history being thrown in and its flowing nicely.

Just ordered: And the Band Played on: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic

Which was recommended to me by Blade the other day.

 

[mowgli]

What are the first two?

The third book in Cornwell's Warlord Chronicle was by far the worst in the series. Luckily i stuck with it and i'm about to start book 9, they do get better honest.