What are you reading?

2456778

Comments

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    boldfinger wrote:
    Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer.
    My first Deaver novel. Lots of cool plot ideas. The writing itself I find very mediocre. The same goes for the character descriptions. I enjoyed how it went straight into some action (well, the ´some´ is an understatement). However, after a while I got a feeling of not enough juice and too much water.

    I don´t feel compelled to delve deeper into Deaver´s work, especially since I already once started to read The Stone Monkey and didn´t get too far.

    No problem though, still got a meter of Elmore Leonard novels ahead of me. Up next is Escape from Five Shadows.
    So you won't be reading Deaver's Carte Blanche Bond novel then?
  • edited January 2013 Posts: 1,817
    Now I'm reading The Lady Tasting Tea. How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century by David Salsburg. Great book on the history of the discipline, but I doubt would interest someone of the outside.

    About my previous book, Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash, there are two pieces of information that might seem important to us:
    1. In Jamaica, he went in a crocodile hunter with someone familiar to us: Ross Kananga.
    2. Also in Jamaica, in Cash's house in Cinnamon Hill, he says that not far from there was filmed a waterfall scene of James Bond in Live and Let Day. Now I don't remember any waterfall in that one, so I don't know if the story is confused with Dr No.
  • "The Drawing of the Three" by Stephen King. I have the rest of the books in the series lined up and ready to go after this one, and it's great so far.
  • edited January 2013 Posts: 5,767
    boldfinger wrote:
    Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer.
    My first Deaver novel. Lots of cool plot ideas. The writing itself I find very mediocre. The same goes for the character descriptions. I enjoyed how it went straight into some action (well, the ´some´ is an understatement). However, after a while I got a feeling of not enough juice and too much water.

    I don´t feel compelled to delve deeper into Deaver´s work, especially since I already once started to read The Stone Monkey and didn´t get too far.

    No problem though, still got a meter of Elmore Leonard novels ahead of me. Up next is Escape from Five Shadows.
    So you won't be reading Deaver's Carte Blanche Bond novel then?
    No, right now I wouldn't consider it. I don't imagine that what bothered me about Deaver's writing won't be in Carte Blanche.
    0013 wrote:
    Now I'm reading The Lady Tasting Tea. How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century by David Salsburg. Great book on the history of the discipline, but I doubt would interest someone of the outside.

    About my previous book, Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash, there are two pieces of information that might seem important to us:
    1. In Jamaica, he went in a crocodile hunter with someone familiar to us: Ross Kananga.
    2. Also in Jamaica, in Cash's house in Cinnamon Hill, he says that not for was filmed a waterfall scene of James Bond in Live and Let Day. Now I don't remember any waterfall in that one, so I don't know if the story is confuse with Dr No.
    Perhaps when Bond and the soon-to-be-shot-by-a-parrot girl have a picnic? There might have been a waterfall in that scene.
    Had good taste, that Cash feller.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    The new Sherlock Holmes novel by Anthony Horowitz, titled "House of Silk".
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    The new Sherlock Holmes novel by Anthony Horowitz, titled "House of Silk".

    Is it true to Conan Doyle? I have long had the intention of picking this up to give it a go, but have yet to spot it on my bookstore runs.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    The new Sherlock Holmes novel by Anthony Horowitz, titled "House of Silk".

    Is it true to Conan Doyle? I have long had the intention of picking this up to give it a go, but have yet to spot it on my bookstore runs.

    It's rather good myself, I'm not entirely fluent in Conan Doyle mannerisms as I've only read the The Hound of the Baskervilles but as far as I can tell, Horowitz has done a rather good job at recreating the style but keeping it very 'Horowitz like'. I've always wanted him to have a go at a Bond novel. He's quite similar to Fleming in his description to low key settings, and has an eye for a good plot too, as he showed in his Alex Rider novels.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    The new Sherlock Holmes novel by Anthony Horowitz, titled "House of Silk".

    Is it true to Conan Doyle? I have long had the intention of picking this up to give it a go, but have yet to spot it on my bookstore runs.

    It's rather good myself, I'm not entirely fluent in Conan Doyle mannerisms as I've only read the The Hound of the Baskervilles but as far as I can tell, Horowitz has done a rather good job at recreating the style but keeping it very 'Horowitz like'. I've always wanted him to have a go at a Bond novel. He's quite similar to Fleming in his description to low key settings, and has an eye for a good plot too, as he showed in his Alex Rider novels.
    How does Holmes act, and Watson as well as a sole character and also in response to Holmes? And also, is it from Watson's perspective?
  • Aren't the Alex Rider novels about what's more or less a teenage version of the film James Bond?
  • DrNoDrNo North Hollywood, California, USA
    Posts: 81
    The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian, eighth in the Jack Aubrey/ Steven Maturin (of Master and Commander fame) novels.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Books at the moment:

    - George R. R. Marting - A Game of Thrones - picked up a full box at a local book shop because at the moment: a) I had nothing to read, b) there were not many english books available, c) incredibly cheap. I'm reading it for way too long, I'm struggling at times with it but it's not bad. By the way, I never watched the TV series, are they any good?

    - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby - similarly to the previous one, there isn't much of a choice in english books where I live but they do have a good selection of Penguin classics. I buy books on the internet but there are times when a person needs to go inside a book shop and leave with a book to read.

    - Katherine Webb - The Legacy - random books I picked up in a supermarket back home because I didn't take any books with me. One of those cases of don't judge a book by it's cover, the only thing in common between the two is that there are two sisters in the book, it ends there. I'm near the end and loving it.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Currently the third Mickey Haller novel "the Reversal" by Michael Connelly.

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I am currently randomly flipping through a great History Buff's guide to Presidents by Thomas R. Flagel. He has written a few of these guides, and I have one of his on World War II I can't wait to read some of too. This President's guide is packed with tons of great information on the best commanders in chief, first ladies, biggest White House reconstructions, assassination attempts, most controversial elections and so much more. A fascinating look behind the history of my country that I can't wait to delve deeper into. I have read a great deal of it and will always come back to it, rereading past parts to engrain it in my head even further.

    Next up I will likely be reading a wonderful biography I got for Christmas: Stefan Kanfer's Tough Without A Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart. I can't wait to learn even more about my favorite actor from old Hollywood. If it is anything like the Marilyn Monroe biography I read a few months back, I will be very pleased. :)
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Aren't the Alex Rider novels about what's more or less a teenage version of the film James Bond?

    Yes, and I find them superior to the Young Bond novels. Alex Rider is a far more compelling character than young James Bond (the same is not true of the adult James Bond).
  • edited January 2013 Posts: 12,837
    Thanks to the weather my plans for today have been screwed up so I started reading A Big Hand For The Doctor on my kindle. And I finished it. They weren't kidding when they said it was a short story. Breezed right through it.

    They seem to have modernised it a bit. The Doctor makes references to Harry Potter, Blakes 7, girls who use gallons of fake tan, etc.

    They also seem to have changed the character a bit too. Now I could be wrong because I haven't seen any of the classic series but I'm not sure the first doctor would jump off a building or be able to defend himself in a fight.

    The aliens are pretty good though and I did like the story so overall it was probably worth the couple of quid I paid for it.
  • Posts: 14,799
    Blood Safari by Deon Meyer.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I recently finished the last Day by Day Armageddon book. Not the same as the first two, but still an enjoyable, yet sadly fast read.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    Sandy wrote:
    Books at the moment:

    - George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones - picked up a full box at a local book shop because at the moment: a) I had nothing to read, b) there were not many english books available, c) incredibly cheap. I'm reading it for way too long, I'm struggling at times with it but it's not bad. By the way, I never watched the TV series, are they any good?

    - F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby - similarly to the previous one, there isn't much of a choice in english books where I live but they do have a good selection of Penguin classics. I buy books on the internet but there are times when a person needs to go inside a book shop and leave with a book to read.

    - Katherine Webb - The Legacy - random books I picked up in a supermarket back home because I didn't take any books with me. One of those cases of don't judge a book by it's cover, the only thing in common between the two is that there are two sisters in the book, it ends there. I'm near the end and loving it.

    Still dragging on The Great Gatsby and A Game of Thrones, reading other books in the middle. The Legacy, by the way, was great.
    I ordered a few days ago The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming and downloaded a bunch of free ebooks to see if I can get used to the format or not.
  • Posts: 1,405
    I'm currently reading "Skeletons on the Sahara", which is the true story of American sailors shipwreched on the west African coast on 1815. Those sailors were taken by Arabs who treated them as slaves.

    So far, an excellent read, on par with any adventure book I've ever lay my eyes on.
  • Posts: 1,817
    The Myth of the Eternal Return by Mircea Eliade. An absolute classic in the comparative study of religions.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I am still reading that history book I mentioned previously, but also got a little into Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart by Stefan Kanfer.
  • Live and Let Die.

    A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin.
  • Posts: 1,817
    The Poverty of Historicism by Sir Karl R. Popper

    The cover reminded me of GoldenEye, specially the title sequence...
    416hjMQusgL._SL500_SS500_.jpg
  • Posts: 140
    Just finished Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea. First time since high school.

    About to start a thriller, Beneath the Dark Ice by Greig Beck.

    I'm also breezing through a bit of pseudo-history, The Sword and the Grail by Andrew Sinclair, in which the author claims that an ancestor of his discovered America a century before Columbus. For some strange reason, I get a kick out of reading pseudo-history, even though I know it's all nonsense. It's like a different form of science fiction.

    And in non-fiction, I'm about halfway through Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward.
  • Posts: 1,817
    00Ed wrote:
    And in non-fiction, I'm about halfway through Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward.

    When you finish, I would like to know your appraisal on this book, if it's possible!

    Now I'm reading last year's best-seller The signal and the noise by Nate Silver, the guy who predicted the outcome of US 2012 presidential election(s). It's a broad book that covers forecast on economics, politics, sports, ecc. As a statistician myself, it's a must read.
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    NicNac wrote:
    Jo Nesbo, Michael Connelly - both fantastic.
    John Locke who publishes his books via ereaders only. He is very good.
    Robert Goddard, Lee Child.

    Yup, I like a book with a nice high body count.

    Try Scott Mariani - great fast-paced action thrillers. My favourite read at the moment.
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Just started Anthony Beevor's D-Day: The Battle For Normandy.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    0013 wrote:
    00Ed wrote:
    And in non-fiction, I'm about halfway through Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward.

    When you finish, I would like to know your appraisal on this book, if it's possible!

    Now I'm reading last year's best-seller The signal and the noise by Nate Silver, the guy who predicted the outcome of US 2012 presidential election(s). It's a broad book that covers forecast on economics, politics, sports, ecc. As a statistician myself, it's a must read.

    Depends-upon-what-is-more-publishable.gif

    Thought you'd like this one :D
  • AliAli
    edited February 2013 Posts: 319
    Live & Let Die......but getting a little bored already! Sorry!

    Before that it was Michael Connolly's Black Ice and Tom Clancy's Locked On. Yes, both were airport purchases, how did you guess?! I like Connolly's Harry Bosch (who I imagine as James Garner for some reason). Just a down to earth police procedure novel, much like all the other ones but very readable. Clancy's Locked On? Bit shit really. In fact, more than just a bit. I'm not even convinced he has any input to these books bar his name nowadays.
  • Posts: 1,817
    Sandy wrote:
    0013 wrote:
    00Ed wrote:
    And in non-fiction, I'm about halfway through Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward.

    When you finish, I would like to know your appraisal on this book, if it's possible!

    Now I'm reading last year's best-seller The signal and the noise by Nate Silver, the guy who predicted the outcome of US 2012 presidential election(s). It's a broad book that covers forecast on economics, politics, sports, ecc. As a statistician myself, it's a must read.

    Depends-upon-what-is-more-publishable.gif

    Thought you'd like this one :D

    Haha very funny @Sandy, but regretfully it is true many times...
Sign In or Register to comment.