The GF book thread

[Sut]

COnfession time. I picked up 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.' My wife bought it and read it and then passed it to me. I read the first chapter then didn't read any more. She asked me whether or not it gripped me and I had to be honest and say 'no'. I found it to be formulaic claptrap and not especially well written. This, of course, made me sound a bit snobbish, so we exchanged words. The irony is that she is much better read than I and is well able to appreciate good writing. Still, I've made my stand. I'm not reading it.

 

I suppose I've just answered the question "What are you currently not reading?"

 

Not a bad review, though. Well, it is a bad review, like, but you know what I mean.

[Sut]

Just started the second Morse, Last Seen Wearing.

[stringvest]

Confession time.

 

Have you changed codes, G? ;-)

[7dalglish]

just finished kite runner

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey.

 

Fuckin great book.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

You had another go at Catch 22 yet? Should stick with it - it's ace. Having said that, I did exactly the same with the sequel, Closing Time.

 

Closing Time is the most disappointing book ever. If Catch 22 is a great meal, the sequel is a smelly shit.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

1983 - David Peace. The final book in the Red Riding Hood quartet, it's like James Ellroy writing about Yorkshire when the Ripper was on the rampage.

That said, he's not a patch on James Ellroy, and he seems overreliant on gratuitous nastiness in a lot of places.

 

Heading on holidays next week, and looking forward to reading

A Prayer for Owen Meany and a few more.

 

Any ideas on some telephone book sized tomes worth ploughing through?

 

Sometimes a Great Notion! Just don't expect Waterstones to have it in stock, because of their policy that most authors get their best-selling titles only.

[RJ Fan club]

Just finished re-reading Ed Smith's On and off the field.

 

I enjoyed just as much second time as I did first time round, 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Now I have to finish Crossing the Boundary - Kevin Pietersen's Autobiography before the football season gets into full swing.

[stringvest]

Three on the go.

Peter "I'm joking of course" Kay's autobiography in the bog bookshelf - surprisingly unfunny

Failed States - Noam Chomsky on the kitchen table - nail on head as usual

Humphrey Littleton's autobiog on the bedside table - tres witty

[Sut]

Closing Time is the most disappointing book ever. If Catch 22 is a great meal, the sequel is a smelly shit.

 

Totally agree, mate. Luckily, I was only about 8 pages in when I decided to jib it.

[Paul]

Just used this and the other thread to put in a summer reading order to Amazon. I'm going for this little lot:

 

The Dark Tower: Gunslinger - Stephen King

The Long Firm - Jake Arnott

Hombre - Elmore Leonard

The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell

Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card

The Power of the Dog - Don Winslow

 

So, the verdict's in:

 

The Dark Tower: Gunslinger was a struggle. I fully accept aws' point about it being the weakest (and King says as much in his introduction), but I'm umming and ahhing over whether I can be arsed buying the second one.

 

The Long Firm is fucking brilliant. Very readable and pacey, with highly believable characters and plenty of grittiness in what seems to be a very realistic evocation of 60s London. I've ordered the sequel.

 

Hombre was a bit of a disappointment, really. I did enjoy it, but after reading so many positives opinions about it, both on here and on Amazon, I just felt it was a bit thin. Plot, character and pace were all fine, but none was genuinely gripping.

 

The Winter King was very good and I've since ordered the other two in the trilogy. It made the Arthur stories seem highly plausible and was a cracking read.

 

Speaker for the Dead was ace. The first one was really good, but this was brilliant - and such a different novel, too. I've never read a science fiction novel like it, to be honest. The SF was almost incidental to the story. I've ordered the next one now.

 

The Power of the Dog was a real find. Don Winslow was a name I'd not heard before, but I'll be rattling through his stuff now. Quite Ellroy-esque, but with a less terse prose style and characters who are more morally ambiguous as opposed to Ellroy's morally ambivalent ones. It deals with America's war on drugs from the 60s through to the 90s, following five or six very different characters. Great crime fiction.

 

Overall, I was very pleased with my order and finished them all quickly - which is a good sign. Can't wait for the next lot to arrive now.

[aws]

So, the verdict's in:

 

The Dark Tower: Gunslinger was a struggle. I fully accept aws' point about it being the weakest (and King says as much in his introduction), but I'm umming and ahhing over whether I can be arsed buying the second one.

 

The Long Firm is fucking brilliant. Very readable and pacey, with highly believable characters and plenty of grittiness in what seems to be a very realistic evocation of 60s London. I've ordered the sequel.

 

Hombre was a bit of a disappointment, really. I did enjoy it, but after reading so many positives opinions about it, both on here and on Amazon, I just felt it was a bit thin. Plot, character and pace were all fine, but none was genuinely gripping.

 

The Winter King was very good and I've since ordered the other two in the trilogy. It made the Arthur stories seem highly plausible and was a cracking read.

 

Speaker for the Dead was ace. The first one was really good, but this was brilliant - and such a different novel, too. I've never read a science fiction novel like it, to be honest. The SF was almost incidental to the story. I've ordered the next one now.

 

The Power of the Dog was a real find. Don Winslow was a name I'd not heard before, but I'll be rattling through his stuff now. Quite Ellroy-esque, but with a less terse prose style and characters who are more morally ambiguous as opposed to Ellroy's morally ambivalent ones. It deals with America's war on drugs from the 60s through to the 90s, following five or six very different characters. Great crime fiction.

 

Overall, I was very pleased with my order and finished them all quickly - which is a good sign. Can't wait for the next lot to arrive now.

 

 

Stick with the Dark Tower. If you're not hooked after the second one give it up then. Each book is better than the last one (except for 4 maybe) as King adds depth and characterisation. Gunslinger is just an early intro.

[Sut]

Hombre is a trashy novel - you don't really read westerns for the literary credentials (although Thomas Berger's Little Big Man is quite outstanding).

[Christian]

Paul - all the Harry Starks novels are fucking awesome. It actually gets even better after The Long Firm.

[Plewggs]

Just finished Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom.

 

The cover blurb compares it to Birdsong, which is why I bought it.

Suckered again!

 

It’s about 3 ex-public schoolboys in Spain shortly after the civil war.

One is a commie, one a spiv and the other a spy.

The characters are clichéd reflections of the id, ego and super-ego with disappointingly described active sex-lives.

 

It’s a decent page-turner but, in common with so many modern novels, the ending is poor.

In this case, bloody naff.

 

It’s an ok read but not one I would highly recommend.

[Tuppy Glossop]

Paul - there are some well written westerns around, but they aren't always easy to find. In fact, Bernard Cornwell has written a series based on the American Civil War. I think the first one is called 'Rebel' and there are three more. They're pretty good. Also Larry McMurtry has written some great westerns. Not so keen on Lonesome Dove, but Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon are very good. I absolutely loved St Agne's Stand and the Last Ride by Thomas Eidson. There's also quite a good series 'The Plainsman Series' by Terry C.Johnston. You've probably gathered, I read quite a few westerns....

[Paul]

Paul - all the Harry Starks novels are fucking awesome. It actually gets even better after The Long Firm.

 

It was your straight-to-the-point initial recommendation that sold me on The Long Firm, Christian.

[Paul]

Paul - there are some well written westerns around, but they aren't always easy to find. In fact, Bernard Cornwell has written a series based on the American Civil War. I think the first one is called 'Rebel' and there are three more. They're pretty good. Also Larry McMurtry has written some great westerns. Not so keen on Lonesome Dove, but Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon are very good. I absolutely loved St Agne's Stand and the Last Ride by Thomas Eidson. There's also quite a good series 'The Plainsman Series' by Terry C.Johnston. You've probably gathered, I read quite a few westerns....

 

Cheers. I've started to realise that I'm a bit of a genre fan. Mainly crime and the less nerdy SF, but also now getting into some historical stuff and westerns, too.

[Sut]

Paul - there are some well written westerns around, but they aren't always easy to find. In fact, Bernard Cornwell has written a series based on the American Civil War. I think the first one is called 'Rebel' and there are three more. They're pretty good. Also Larry McMurtry has written some great westerns. Not so keen on Lonesome Dove, but Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon are very good. I absolutely loved St Agne's Stand and the Last Ride by Thomas Eidson. There's also quite a good series 'The Plainsman Series' by Terry C.Johnston. You've probably gathered, I read quite a few westerns....

 

Ace. I really liked Streets of Laredo, as well. Have you read Fraser's Flashman and the Redskins? In fact, the whole Flashman series are well worth a look - a really good spin on the Victorian gentleman adventurer.

[Paul]

Hombre is a trashy novel - you don't really read westerns for the literary credentials (although Thomas Berger's Little Big Man is quite outstanding).

 

I don't read anything forits literary credentials, to be honest mate. I just want to be gripped. My critique of it was an attempt tro explain why I wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I did like it, but I just didn't see it as the five star read that nearly 50 Amazon reviewers did.

[Sut]

Cheers. I've started to realise that I'm a bit of a genre fan. Mainly crime and the less nerdy SF, but also now getting into some historical stuff and westerns, too.

 

Try Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. There's about thirteen of them and not a bad'un amongst the lot.

[Fink]

Im reading the Game by Neil Strauss - bought it as a tonic to splitting with the missus

 

Its very good - quite cheesy like but still a good laugh and one id recommend to the people who may well have split up with their better halves lately.

 

Dont be an AFC!

[gazelle]

Blood and Oil by Michael Klare - should be pretty good, only just getting into it.. How America's thirst for petrol is killing us all..

[Fink]

Does that tell you how to hit on chicks using hypnosis and Neuro Linguistic Programming?

 

No it doesnt - this is a mans thread. Theres nothing for girls here gazelle! (6) :whistle:

[ATXRED]

I'll have to give that a look.