what are you reading?

Inane baanter or words of wisdom - you decide...
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Deckard
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by Deckard »

zip accident wrote:
NorthWay wrote:Just read "Ringworld" (David Niven). Was not overly impressed.
In English or translated?

I think it's adequate SF, not worth the hype perhaps but nothing was ever going to be.
Massive influence on the Banks culture novels though I reckon....
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by NorthWay »

zip accident wrote:
NorthWay wrote:Just read "Ringworld" (David Niven). Was not overly impressed.
In English or translated?
If it is in English originally I don't read it translated if I can help it.
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by Jonesey »

For reasons of pure nostalgia I'm reading Warhammer Fantasy Role Play. It's the 1986 hardback edition - excellent condish. :wink: Crazy days..
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by merman »

Johnathan Strange & Mister Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Having enjoyed the TV adaptation, I thought I would go back and read the book. Thoroughly engrossed in it.

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Re: what are you reading?

Post by NorthWay »

"Daemon" by Daniel Suarez(?). Contemporary Science Faction. (CompSci)
Very well written. Just started on the follow-up.

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Re: what are you reading?

Post by NorthWay »

And "Freedom" by the same author - the follow up.
Necessarily not as fresh and different and a bit shorter, but concluding the story.
Also worth it.
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by offyoutoddle »

Reading all of the 'the long earth' books by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Into the first one halfway now, quite enjoying them.
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by everklear »

Healing up after a minor surgery and not allowed to lift anything.
I'm doing more reading than I have in years.

Finished the last book of the "Wheel of Time" (finally). Glad to have it done, and I did enjoy it.
"Quantum Night" by Robert Sawyer - wow.
"Fuzzy Nation" by John Scalzi- fun and quick read.
Next up is "Zoe's Tale" also by Scalzi. I'll probably work through the remainder of his books in the Old Man's War setting.
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by Mark »

merman wrote:Johnathan Strange & Mister Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Having enjoyed the TV adaptation, I thought I would go back and read the book. Thoroughly engrossed in it.
You've just reminded me I have this on my pile of shame. I loved the TV series too - will lift this to the top of the pile, I think.

I've recently raided Gutenberg on my Kindle, and my recent stash is mainly Edgar Rice Burroughs - I've not read any of his before. I started with The Lost Continent, which was kinda fun, but definitely a product of its time. (Being from Devon I did enjoy the early landing in "lost" England being up the Tamar river near Plymouth - now the domain of tigers). It's nice and short, and worth a read if you just fancy something light as a palate-cleanser between heftier reads.

I'm currently a short way into Tarzan Of The Apes, which I'm enjoying more, probably because I grew up watching it on telly - first in the B&W TV show, later in the cartoon.

I have the first 3 books of John Carter Of Mars lined up too - although I'll probably put Strange & Norrell up first.

Also, just looked up this because I couldn't really remember the cartoon at all. Fuck me - what a flood of memories!

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Re: what are you reading?

Post by Firefox »

NorthWay wrote:Just read "Ringworld" (David Niven).
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by rowan »

Found myself waiting in Donny station & surprisingly found an unusually good stand of books in WHSmith, all classics.
I'd read several of them but liked the sound of "Epitaph for a Spy" from the description on the back.

Loved it, real page turner.
Early thriller action from a tense time [late 1930s] and a hapless protagonist caught in an unsavoury position in which he's well out of his depth, despite believing the opposite.
I loved the feel of the hot location, I felt drenched in sun against a cooling coast just reading it.

Picked up a few more books by the author, Eric Ambler, looking forward to them.
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by Firefox »

gravy wrote:Haven't read much in the way of fiction for a long time so decided to have a go with some literary chewing gum, The Martian, about a astronaut stranded on Mars trying to do all they can to survive in the hope of being rescued.

And it's pretty good, the science is pretty hard and that's kind of helpful as a weening step from the technical and science stuff I've been gorging on of late :D

The books nice and cheap on Amazon right now, it's a rollicking page turner and worth picking up before Ridley Scott ruins it with the film adaptation next year :D

Image
Whizzed through this one, and found it really enjoyable and a real page-turner even though I've seen the film several times.

As I hoped, there's much more detail in it than the film, and some of the things that don't quite make sense in the film are revealed as artifacts of over-condensing parts of the book. I really enjoyed stuff like the messages Watney sends to the individual members of his crew, too.

My copy cost me three quid from Amazon, which is a bit worrying since the price on the back is eight - I hope Andy Weir actually gets a few coppers from the sale. On the minus side, now the entire cover is an extreme close-up of Matt Damon's space-helmeted fizog, though I acknowledge that that may be a selling point for some.
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by rowan »

Read another Eric Ambler since my last post, Cause for Alarm, which is of the same calibre :)

Now I'm gradually dipping in to The Fly Trap [short book and wanting to savour it], a reflection on all kinds of things by a Swedish entomologist devoted to hoverflies.
A translation but still very pleasing prose style.

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Re: what are you reading?

Post by NorthWay »

Had a delivery at my door today for my last 4 unread Jack Reacher books (and #22 is coming in November).
So far I'd rate one weaker than the others and one more "obvious". Feel free to ask if you want an opinion on a specific one.
(And the second film really rushed things compared to the book - the book made things make much more sense.)
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Re: what are you reading?

Post by Whiteball »

Some excellent Black Friday deals on the PDF copies from Retro Fusion Books.

As much as I would love the physical copies, I just don't have the space or money for more physical books at the moment.

https://fusionretrobooks.com/collection ... iday/black

Have ordered this along with all the other ones for Amiga and spectrum too.
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