what are you reading?

[Testin da Cable]

myself, I've just finished The Sigma Protocol by Ludlum. pros=Spies, plots, conspiracies, evil corporations. Very fast-paced and action packed.
cons=primary char is a tad too 'invincible'. turns out to be a bit, well, overdone, futuristic imo. reminds me of a book by Allan Folsom.

tdc gives it 6 out of 10.

 

[Munkey-]

just finished reading "the bear and the dragon" and "the sum of all fears". bloody good books filled with political intigue, espionage, nuclear crisis. the works


amazing how clancy builds up to an event. little nonconcnequential things have a large effect


9/10 for both

 

[(Shovel)]

In the midde of Captive State by George Monbiot.

Pros: Insightful and well researched book about how we've all been sold out and our childrens freedom is screwed.

Cons: A lot of statements are, irritatingly, unjustified. As someone who gets ordered to put more examples into my Politics essays, it's annoying when this book doesn't.

 

[Summo]

Well, my ex-gf bought be a couple of film-based books, so I've just finished Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson, and am debating whether to carry on with A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. It creates its own language and I'm not sure I can be arsed to mentally translate every other word.

 

[throdgrain]

A Clockwork Orange is easy m8 give it a go.
Im currently reading The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell. Yes, the bloke who wrote the Sharpe books, but this is real top stuff

 

[Skyler]

I cant think of any books worthy of reading after reading LOTR, its just too damn good :/

 

[Munkey-]

bernard connell does some VERY good books.

his king arthur series is amazing.

if you want a good BUT VERY LONG read of his books. buy 'stonehenge'

 

[ShockingAlberto]

"Teach Yourself C programming for Linux" :/

I've been meaning to start reading some Pratchet for a while, but i think my library card expired earlier this year :/

 

[old.Fweddy]

Originally posted by Munkey
amazing how clancy builds up to an event. little nonconcnequential things have a large effect

I like Clancy's books too! my favourite's 'Red Storm Rising'.

but at the moment I'm re-reading LOTR. Gandalfs about to meet the Balrog

 

[Munkey-]

Tolkein doesnt suit my fantasy style. far too long winded. probably why i thought the film was a flop.

 

[Trebz]

Currently reading Guardians of the West by David Eddings, its the first book of the mallorean (which comes after the belgariad) not bad, but not a patch on Robert Jordan or Feist

On the technical side of things I'm reading "Code Complete" which is all about programming correctly (i do already, honest!) and how to plan your projects etc.

I'm also halfway through Holy Land, Unholy War which is a moderately unbiased look on the Israel - Palestine conflict from both sides of the line. I say moderately unbiased as the author does indeed claim it to be a fair view from both sides, but i take it with a pinch of salt, you cannot be involved with something so long and remain neutral to both sides.

Theres not enough time in the day to read though, arggghghg!

 

[Cod]

Just started reading

'Bill Bryson, Notes from a small island'

Pretty good so far

 

[Wilier]

Just finished "Its not about the bike" by Lance Armstrong. Fecking flowery Americans, pfffttttt.

 

[old.Explosive23]

Archangel by Robert Harris.. in French .

 

[Testin da Cable]

Originally posted by Trebz
not a patch on Robert Jordan or Feist

I got through Silverthorn by Feist a week or so ago, and frankly I thought it sucked. Couldn't hold a candle to Magician imo. Have you read 'A darkness at Sethanon'? How does it hold up? tia.

 

[MYstIC G]

Originally posted by testin_da_cable
myself, I've just finished The Sigma Protocol by Ludlum. pros=Spies, plots, conspiracies, evil corporations. Very fast-paced and action packed.
cons=primary char is a tad too 'invincible'. turns out to be a bit, well, overdone, futuristic imo. reminds me of a book by Allan Folsom.

tdc gives it 6 out of 10.

this thread...... oh, wait you mean books..... ...... ...... /me is still trying to get through "Foley is Good", cos it rocks.

 

[Perplex]

About to start this:

The Holocaust Industry
Norman G. Finkelstein
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859843239/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-2475912-1195033

 

[Recoil101]

A biography of Depeche Mode by Steve Malins...


move on, nothing more to see here....

 

[PR.]

I'm still waiting for the next Harry Potter book


I did read 2001 Space Oddyssy, 2010, and started 2060 but I haven't finished that one

 

[doh_boy]

I've read the belgariad and the mallorean on the bequest of a friend, she refuses to read anything other than fantasy so when I tried to convince her that there are other books worth reading she lent me the whole series! (me, I'm SOO beldin )

I think the strength of the eddings books is the characters, books like the jordan's wheel of time are great stories with good characters, eddings books are good stories with great characters.

ATM I'm read the two towers again, then I have a list of books that I somehow managed to aquire!

1) How to lose friends and alienate people - Toby Young

2) Catcher in the rye - J D Salinger

3) How to be good - Nick Hornby

4) For Whom the bell tolls - Ernest Hemmingway

5) Antrax - Terry Brooks

6) Consider Phlebas - Iain M Banks

7) Look to windward - Iain M Banks

when I've finished them the new pratchett book and/or h.potter should be out!

 

[mr.Blacky]

ohhh books, want all the books in the world hehe.
Just finished The Axis trilogy from Sara Douglas, want to get my hands on the second trilogy.
In the mean time starting to reread Jordan, Wheel of time.

Feist is good, serious it is . Darknes is better then Sethanon.
The serie he did with Wurts is more politic then the standard fantasy imo.

 

[old.charliealpha]

Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD, the CIA, the Sixties and beyond by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain

 

[~Lazarus~]

Originally posted by doh_boy
I've read the belgariad and the mallorean on the bequest of a friend, she refuses to read anything other than fantasy so when I tried to convince her that there are other books worth reading she lent me the whole series! (me, I'm SOO beldin )

I think the strength of the eddings books is the characters, books like the jordan's wheel of time are great stories with good characters, eddings books are good stories with great characters.

Yup. David Eddings has done some decent books (read them all!!)
Did you get "Redemption of Althalus"?

Over the last week I've been reading :

Zero Option - Chris Ryan

Firewall - Andy McNab

Guild of Thieves - Jeff Crook

Currently working through

Warlock - Wilbur Smith.

soon be finished it - need to see what the library has

 

[throdgrain]

Originally posted by Munkey
bernard connell does some VERY good books.

his king arthur series is amazing.

if you want a good BUT VERY LONG read of his books. buy 'stonehenge'

N1 m8 yes Ive read stonehenge. Not nearly as good as the arthur ones though imo

 

[Nighty-]

This Forum
by Various Artists
http://forums.barrysworld.com

 

[Munkey-]

andy mcnab has no writing talents

want SAS reads go find Chris Ryan. 10th man down is class

 

[~Lazarus~]

Must admit - I preferred the Chris Ryan book to the Any McNab one.

 

[*Exor*]

C# Web Services: Building Web Services with .NET Remoting and ASP.NET.

Riveting

 

[Trebz]

Originally posted by testin_da_cable

I got through Silverthorn by Feist a week or so ago, and frankly I thought it sucked. Couldn't hold a candle to Magician imo. Have you read 'A darkness at Sethanon'? How does it hold up? tia.

It's a long time since I read them and my view of it is the whole series of books, the riftwar, the serpentwar and the empire trilogy (and most recently the new riftwar tales). There a a few books that dont quite keep up with the quality but as a whole the series is awesome. My favourite part hasto be the empire trilogy I think (It's the riftwar from the other side of the rift), I appreciated it more for the fact I'd already read the riftwar stories themselves though.

I think the strength of the eddings books is the characters, books like the jordan's wheel of time are great stories with good characters, eddings books are good stories with great characters.

I must admit the eddings books are enjoyable, I just think the overall story is somewhat too predictable and run of the mill. There are a lot of holes in it and theres nothing much original to the whole thing, I do however enjoy the characters as you say and the books as a whole are certainaly worth the read.

Jordan on the other hand creates a massive history and depth to his story, the plot intricacies and sub plots running throughout the whole series are pure genius. I must admit I do also like Jordans characters, he doesnt make them instantly likeable or detestable as soon as you meet them, their true colours show through as the book continues on, Eddings characters on the other hand are either good or bad.

The Wheel of Time is a much more believable world because of the time taken by Jordan to build up the histories and detail surrounding everything and I think I enjoy it more because of that, its more believable therefore im drawn more into it. Eddings on the other hand has a basic premise to the whole thing and things seem to happen solely to suit the story, the only true history you get of the whole story is in the prefaces. I'm not slating Eddings, merely stating that he's nowhere near the quality of Jordan ;-)

 

[Recoil101]

I personally love the Eddings books, the Belgariad and the Malloerean are superb.. I particularly like em due to the fact they are so easy to read and get on with, almost "trash" fantasy in a way....

Im also a big fan of Pratchett, tho he seems to have gone off the boil a bit lately, also Terry Brooks, but again I really cant get on with his latest books at all....