What are you reading?

[ka$h]

Cheers Casio

I really need to read more, but work and tv get in the way (as well as the internet but you have to have some vices!) I want to read lots of different things and just don't seem to have time.

I do enjoy it, which as you say is the main thing so I will just keep plodding through them until I can either stop working (another 25 years) or learn to make more time to read.

[casio]

im lucky that in any given 10 hour work day I only do about 3-4 hours of actual work, most of the time I only have to work if somethings gone wrong

I had a list of the books I wanted to read and I read all of Shakespeare and Mark Twain but I gave up after Crime and Punishment and read an Alex Cross book and it was amazing, I started enjoying reading more than before and I slipped through books in a day or two (crime and punishment took me a month and by the end I wouldn't even look at it) I still have the list but all the books have changed lol at the moment i'm working my way through the top 100 free books on amazon minus the romance and sexy vampire ones obviously even when I've been unlucky and ive had to work all or most of the day I try to read for an hour or so on a night when I get to bed its not for everyone (it drives my gf mad with the reading light- although I have to work off my punishment with hard physical labour lol)

[mysterym]

Can anyone recommend any sci fi or fantasy books worth reading? I've never really devoted much time to books and so I'd be interested in hearing what your favourites are.

The last sci fi book I read was 2061, and although I enjoyed it (i had read the previous two as well plus some of clarkes other stuff like ghost from the great banks etc.) i'd prefer something a little less technical.

I used to read a lot of fantasy as a kid but the last fantasy books I had read were the lord of the rings trilogy (just before the fims) so would be interested in something similar.

I was going to read the bound books (I've read ludlams the Henson directive) and enjoyed that too. I have a kindle gathering dust so thought I'd better get some use out of it

[casio]

its more like steam-punk csi than scifi but I'm really enjoying The Technologists by Matthew Pearl

[casio]

Well its been about a fortnight since I last updated and I'm a little embarrassed about how many I've read so I would remind you this is a couple of weeks worth... and yes I'm starting to think I may have a bit of a problem lol.

Agent 21 - Chris Ryan
Merciless - Mary Burton
The Technologists - Matthew Pearl
Winter at death's hotel - Kenneth Cameron
The opposite of mercy - Tom Winship
A discovery of witches - Deborah Harkness
The man who broke into Auschwitz - Denis Avey
Villain- Shuichi Yoshida
Beauty Queens - Libba Bray
20 years later - E J Newman

and I'm currently reading The Fury by Jason Pinter and its a great read I'm only half way through but going by the recalls in the story there must be at least 1 maybe 2 books that come before this one in the series -I've not checked but will be buying them as soon as I'm done with this one if I were to compare it, I'd say it sort of feels like Karin Slaughters Grant county series (pre the merge with the Will Trent Atlanta series) only with a male lead

[Mr Slippyfist]

Can anyone recommend any sci fi or fantasy books worth reading? I've never really devoted much time to books and so I'd be interested in hearing what your favourites are.

The last sci fi book I read was 2061, and although I enjoyed it (i had read the previous two as well plus some of clarkes other stuff like ghost from the great banks etc.) i'd prefer something a little less technical.

I'm reading the Assassin series of books by Robin Hobb. Excellent story and this is the second time through

[JonEp]

Here's a belated update from me.


Gang of One - Gary Mulgrew one of the Nat West bankers sent to a Texas jail for the Enron failure.

Topical even now the yanks pull UK citizens of the streets and try them overseas. Interesting book but rushed by the author from the half way point.

Eating Smoke - Chris Thrall - This was a wild card but a good story about a bloke who does drugs and worked as a doorman in Hong Kong before the hand over.

The Terminal Spy - Alan Cowell - The life and death of Alexander Litvinenko. An interesting inside look into Russian exiles in the UK .

The Sins of the Father - Jeffrey Archer - Good yarn and follow on.

And finally a new discovery that's filling my Jack Reacher craving. David Stone - The Skorpion Directive - Which I'm loving and have another few of his books in the same series queued up.

[casio]

I think I will also be trying one of David Stone's books, Hopefully that should help until the next Jack Reacher hits the shelves lol

as for me its took me 4-5 days but I've got through Game of Thrones and Clash of kings (both in paper form and I swear I've sprained my elbow holding them lol) as well as Storm of Swords (thankfully on the kindle lol) all by George R. R. Martin. I chose these after the recommendations on here, I have to say although I don't like the fantasy genre I was giving them a fair go, and even after all three books I still dont like them, I didnt have time to identify with the characters before they were killed off neither did I enjoy the constant description of the minutia, give me a car chase and a serial killer any day lol seriously reading them made me feel like I was being punished for reading some of the Chick lit books (which embarrassingly I seem to keep reading lol)

If I'm 100% honest, I really struggled to finish them which is why its took me so long to read 3 books lol still I just bought the new Stephen Leather -Nightmareand its downloading to my kindle as I write this so at least I can see how Jack Nightingale gets on in the first few chapters before I nod off rather than the Starks

[chesser]

Hopefully getting today the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which is gettting rave reviews, the only downside is I'm having to buy it!!!

[supraman54]

I am right into the two books by Daniel Suarez and they seem eminently suited to the likes of us DF'ers. the first is "Daemon" and the follow up is called "Freedom".

Great thread this guys.. keep it going!

[cyprus]

Can anyone recommend any sci fi or fantasy books worth reading? I've never really devoted much time to books and so I'd be interested in hearing what your favourites are.

The last sci fi book I read was 2061, and although I enjoyed it (i had read the previous two as well plus some of clarkes other stuff like ghost from the great banks etc.) i'd prefer something a little less technical.

I used to read a lot of fantasy as a kid but the last fantasy books I had read were the lord of the rings trilogy (just before the fims) so would be interested in something similar.

I was going to read the bound books (I've read ludlams the Henson directive) and enjoyed that too. I have a kindle gathering dust so thought I'd better get some use out of it

Isaac Asimov's sci-fi Foundation series is a brilliant epic spanning 1,000 years during which the galactic empire disintegrates and most of the knowledge of technology is lost apart from one small planet...it's about 5-6 books and I highly recommend it to sci-fi buffs.

On the fantasy front I'm currently on book 7 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. True epic fantasy, revolving around how a group of friends from a small village discover that they hold the fate of the entire world in their hands and must grow to accept what they are and rise to the challenge of the coming of the Dark Lord. Each book is around 1,000 pages and there are 14 in total...I started book 1 a couple of years ago and as I usually just read in bed so I reckon it will take another 2 to finish the rest of the books!

[casio]

I started book 1 a couple of years ago and as I usually just read in bed so I reckon it will take another 2 to finish the rest of the books!

I was the same when I was reading Anna Karenina I started it during a power cut and ended up reading a few pages when I went to the loo, it literally took me about 12months to read it start to finish, it would have been quicker but my bathroom is freezing even with the radiator on in summer lol

[JonEp]

Just finished Charles Cumming's new one A Foreign Country which came out last week.

He really is top of his game at the moment as a writer of British espionage!

[Brydo666]

Books I've read since my last post;

The Commandant by Iain Baxter - It's about Rudolf Hoss and his upbringing, career and about the development of Auschwitz concentration camp. (Something I have a big interest in) A very good book that picked up on some points that the TV shows don't - I feel from reading this I know more about the day-to-day operational issues the camp faced. Also touches on his capture, messages written to his family, etc.

The Book That's More Than Just a Book by Peter Kay - I'm a very slow reader but I like to think I don't miss much, I finished this book in a few nights. Most regular readers would likely get through this in one sitting (Casio in less than an hour I'd guess!). It was a good read, though much of the stuff covered in his live shows, one of which we'd seen in November. I keep meaning to give the book to some friends.

I Partridge by Alan Partridge - A big fan of the show, wish they'd do some more. This book was a great read and a must for any Partridge fan.

Black Watch by Tom Renouf - I'm still working my way through this. It's about a chaps upbringing and entry to the Highland Black Watch Regiment at the start of WW2, his experiences of war and leads to being involved in the capture of Himmler.

Then last week I got a Kindle, my Dad picked up a Kindle Fire in the states and gave me his Kindle 3 Keyboard he picked up not long before Christmas - a great little device! I'm travelling once a month with work and look forward to taking it with me next week.

Spitting Devil by Brian Freeman - It was one of the free Kindle bestsellers so I thought I'd give it a shot. Very short book I got through very quickly, a nice story and straight to the point. I'd recommend it if you have an hour to kill.

By the Sword by Iain Paton (IS Paton) - Again it was a free Kindle bestseller but is now back to £1.53 purchase. I'm still reading this, nearly halfway through. It's like a long episode of Dexter so far if I'm honest! Set in Glasgow and the book explores a lot of local areas which I know of. I'm enjoying reading this one.

Books I've got sitting that I've not started yet and I'm considering getting the Kindle versions for...

The Life of Lee by Lee Evans. (Already got on my Kindle, from TPB used Calibre)
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson (Look forward to reading it, but not taking it with me!)

[greens117]

Just finished reading Hells prisoner, Chris parnell, cracking read
Amazing true story, gotta say he is one tough cookie!

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[casio]

@Brydo666 I check the amazon top 100 best sellers a couple of times a week and grab any of the new free books that take my eye because even if you don't download them to their kindle straight away they stay free even if they up the price, I've found that there's loads of decent free books some are shite but there's a fair few that I've enjoyed and ended up buying others by the same author (Stephen Leathers Jack Nightingale series being the most recent)

As for me in the past week-ish I've read

Nightmare by Stephen Leather
The sense of an ending by Julian Barnes
The Shepperd by Ethan Cross
Dead until dark by Charlaine Harris
Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
Dead to the world also by Charlaine Harris
and I started Dead as a doornail which is another of Mrs Harris' when Britains got feck all talent came on

[x_Mr_C_x]

I've recently finished reading World War Z by Max Brooks and Robopocolypse by Daniel H. Wilson.

[casio]

its been a couple of slow-ish weeks which have been caused by a combination of having to do some actual work and bit of daydreaming lol seriously though I really got into the Sookie Stackhouse series.

I will say having watched trueblood the stories are pretty close in the main although there are some differences. As for the books the characters in the show fit perfectly with the characters in the books, to me the tv version of Sookie and the book version of Sookie are one and the same, which isnt something I've always found when I read the book of the film/tv show

Charlaine Harris - Dead as a doornail (trueblood book 5)
Charlaine Harris - Definitely dead (trueblood book 6)
Charlaine Harris - all dead together (trueblood book 7)
Charlaine Harris - from dead to worse (trueblood book 8)
Charlaine Harris - dead and gone (trueblood book 9)
Charlaine Harris - dead in the family (trueblood book 10)
Charlaine Harris - dead reckoning (trueblood book 11)
Charlaine Harris - the Sookie Stackhouse companion (I only read the small town wedding short story)
Charlaine Harris - Many bloody returns short story
Anthony E zuiker - Dark prophecy -this was the 2nd in the Steve Dark series and was absolute shit start to finish. it looks like CSI has sucked all his creative juices out and sprayed them with luminol before tipping them down Doc Robins sink
Paul Levine - fool me twice I've included this but I only started it about an hour ago

Im waiting now for 2 books -the new Jack Reacher and the new Sookie Stackhouse and I can't wait for either

[casio]

I finished Paul Levine's Fool me twice and I've grabbed Micro by Michael Crichton off the bookcase it seems like a decent read from the bumpf on the dustcover.

Even though I've enjoyed reading my last 11 books on the kindle its nice to feel a proper book in your hand, I honestly couldn't imagine giving up on paperbooks but the same way I cant imagine of not having a kindle/ereader anymore

[DJ OD]

Reading the 6th Hitch Hiker book, And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer.

I say reading, I've read the cover and it's next to my bed.


DJ OD