The GF book thread

[Remmie]

The stuff where he shows you how psychics do their thing is pretty revealing. If you haven't got to the list of objects he asks you to remember yet then you are in for a treat. I was amazed how long I could remember them for...in fact, I can still remember them now, from one read, a month ago: awesome skills.

Well I already knew most of that from his TV shows, I was hoping for a bit more in depth stuff. I suppose I just wanted to cheat and be as good as him without the trial and error which is never going to happen.

[mattyq]

That Dan Brown book is the 2nd worst book i've ever read.

He can concoct a good plot but his dialogue and characterization are woefully bad and funny until you remember just how muchn cash he's raked in

[theghost]

Currently reading The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs for a class at Uni, and surprisingly it's fantastic.

[Christian]

Dune

[Harry Squatter]

Notes from a small island by Bill Bryson. There are a few pages about Liverpool in it.

[Paul]

A Dan Brown novel recipe: take a load of research you've paid other people to do, throw in one main two-dimensional character and a plethora of minor one-dimensional ones and mix with three million cliff-hangers. Then lay it all out in 36 million two-paragraph chapters, whilst phoning your agent to get the latest bidding on the film rights.

 

If the cunt spent even half the time on his writing that he does on his plotting, he could actually turn out a half decent novel. Why doesn't he just admit he wants to be a film director?

[sir roger]

Since that Derren Brown book, which was most impressive and features plenty of laughs, I have worked my way through Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, which I found to be a cracking read, and have just started Bill Bryson's Adventures of the Thunderbolt Kid.

 

Just finished the Bryson one last night , thought it was very good with some laugh out loud sections.

[Section_31]

Notes from a small island by Bill Bryson. There are a few pages about Liverpool in it.

 

Yeah they made a show about it a while back, he slags the place off something wicked (especially the plastic palm tree in Lime Street) and back in the 80s described the place as having a 'festival of litter' although he also says its his favourite English city (!)

 

Some of his observations are spot on though, like tha fact that the English are the only people in the world who'd find enjoyment in eating chips on a seaside prom while taking cover from the rain - so true, spent many a childhood year doing just that!

 

Notes from Down under is a good read too!

[RedKnight]

Reading The Amber Spyglass.

[Uncle_Meat]

120 Days of Sodom - Marquis de Sade, also re-reading (yet again) The Stand by Stephen King, and finishing off by re-reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L Shirer.

[El Rojo]

Tokyo Year Zero, the first of David Peace's Japanese trilogy.

Bar the timeline and change in environment, no great departure from his Leeds crime fiction.

[Harry Squatter]

Anyone ever read any Dean Koontz novels? - I read Mr Murder the other week, my bird raved off it but it was quite boring and had tons of background detail for such a basic straightforward story.

[Harry Squatter]

Yeah they made a show about it a while back, he slags the place off something wicked (especially the plastic palm tree in Lime Street) and back in the 80s described the place as having a 'festival of litter' although he also says its his favourite English city (!)

 

Some of his observations are spot on though, like tha fact that the English are the only people in the world who'd find enjoyment in eating chips on a seaside prom while taking cover from the rain - so true, spent many a childhood year doing just that!

 

Notes from Down under is a good read too!

 

 

When was that on?

 

Reading about his experience in Dover was funny, some crappy old B & B he stayed in ran by some battleaxe. Been to Dover a few times for work and it's grim!.

 

He wasn't complimentary about Liverpool but knows that the place at least has character!

[Elmyn Noos]

Yeah they made a show about it a while back, he slags the place off something wicked (especially the plastic palm tree in Lime Street) and back in the 80s described the place as having a 'festival of litter' although he also says its his favourite English city (!)

 

Some of his observations are spot on though, like tha fact that the English are the only people in the world who'd find enjoyment in eating chips on a seaside prom while taking cover from the rain - so true, spent many a childhood year doing just that!

 

Notes from Down under is a good read too!

 

Bryson rules. Read all his books to date, with Down Under being the one that had the most laugh out loud moments for me (although I did hear somewhere there is another book out?)

 

Currently reading the only John O'Farrell book I've not yet read - May Contain Nuts. Can highly recommend it.

[madstock]

I was going to post on here to ask if anyone has read Pies and Prejudice, but you pre-empted well, Madstock. I just bought it on the recommendation on the woman who runs my local little bookshop after I described to her the sort of thing I like. Sounds like she has picked me out a winner.

 

Did you enjoy it Mr Noos?

[Hazel Motes]

A Dan Brown novel recipe: take a load of research you've paid other people to do, throw in one main two-dimensional character and a plethora of minor one-dimensional ones and mix with three million cliff-hangers. Then lay it all out in 36 million two-paragraph chapters, whilst phoning your agent to get the latest bidding on the film rights.

 

If the cunt spent even half the time on his writing that he does on his plotting, he could actually turn out a half decent novel. Why doesn't he just admit he wants to be a film director?

 

He didn't even pay his researchers. In 2005 Baigent and Leigh (authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail) unsuccessfully sued Brown’s publisher, Random House, for plagiarism, on the grounds that Brown's book makes extensive use of their research and that one of the characters is named Leigh, has a surname (Teabing) which is an anagram of Baigent, and has a physical description strongly resembling Henry Lincoln. In his novel, Brown also mentions Holy Blood, Holy Grail as an acclaimed international bestseller (chapter 60) and claims it as the major contributor to his hypothesis. Perhaps as a result of this mention, the authors (minus Henry Lincoln) of Holy Blood sued Dan Brown for copyright infringement. They claimed that the central framework of their plot had been stolen for the writing of The Da Vinci Code. The claim was overturned by High Court Judge Peter Smith on 6 April 2006, who ruled that “their argument was vague and shifted course during the trial and was always based on a weak foundation.” In fact, it was found that the publicity of the trial had significantly boosted sales of Holy Blood. The court ruled that, in effect, because it was published as a work of (alleged) history, its premises legally could be freely interpreted in any subsequent fictional work without any copyright infringement.

[Elmyn Noos]

Did you enjoy it Mr Noos?

 

I did, very much. I wasn't overly familiar with Maconie so I had no expectations. It was a book full of very astute observations. He got the peoples republic of Liverpool and the swaggery of Manchester absolutely spot on for me. In fact, of the places he visited which I know, he was right about them all. I liked how he described the misplaced snobbery of Harrogate as having ideas above it station in that it fancies itself as a cut above, but is actually quite run down and outdated in the centre. Despite spending only a short time in each place, he seems to have ably and accurately grasped the essence of the place and its inhabitants, which he conveys with a candour laced with a very northern humour.

 

It's a book I would recommend.

[stringvest]

Bryson rules. Read all his books to date, with Down Under being the one that had the most laugh out loud moments for me (although I did hear somewhere there is another book out?)

 

Currently reading the only John O'Farrell book I've not yet read - May Contain Nuts. Can highly recommend it.

 

He's got a new one out this week. I love his stuff.

[Elmyn Noos]

He's got a new one out this week. I love his stuff.

 

Bryson or O'Farrell?

[stringvest]

I like Bryson, but I laugh more at O'Farrell - I dragged 'I Blame The Scapegoats' back down from the bookshelf after your post reminded me about him. I've been meaning to read the Stuart Maconie book as well - I've read Cider With Roadies - excellent stuff.

[Anubis]

A Dan Brown novel recipe: take a load of research you've paid other people to do, throw in one main two-dimensional character and a plethora of minor one-dimensional ones and mix with three million cliff-hangers. Then lay it all out in 36 million two-paragraph chapters, whilst phoning your agent to get the latest bidding on the film rights.

 

If the cunt spent even half the time on his writing that he does on his plotting, he could actually turn out a half decent novel. Why doesn't he just admit he wants to be a film director?

I've been saying that for ages. Except I don't think he's capable of good writing. Oh, and his characters are all one dimensional.

[Stu Monty]

I like Bryson, but I laugh more at O'Farrell - I dragged 'I Blame The Scapegoats' back down from the bookshelf after your post reminded me about him. I've been meaning to read the Stuart Maconie book as well - I've read Cider With Roadies - excellent stuff.

 

Didn't O'Farrell write "The best a man can get"? That was one seriously funny read.

[Elmyn Noos]

Didn't O'Farrell write "The best a man can get"? That was one seriously funny read.

 

Yes he did, and it was indeed. if you liked that Stu you should read his other stuff - all good.

[Stu Monty]

Yes he did, and it was indeed. if you liked that Stu you should read his other stuff - all good.

 

Yeah, I really should. In fact; I can't think why I haven't already. I read "Things can only get better", which was brilliant but that is about it.

[Elmyn Noos]

Yeah, I really should. In fact; I can't think why I haven't already. I read "Things can only get better", which was brilliant but that is about it.

 

Things can only get better is a laugh out loud read I reckon for anyone that lived through and remembers that period.

 

Actually, it is a must-read for SD if he hasn't read it already.