what are you reading?

zip accident · Post by **zip accident** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:03 pm 0

Since last night, re-reading "Hunter of Worlds", by C J Cherryh

mutantcamel · Post by **mutantcamel** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:08 pm 0

Just finished "The Sum of All Fears" (Mr. Clancy writes cracking read as awlays and was somewhat odd given events in Isreali these days). I'm just about to dive into "Executive Orders", which might just kill me

There's so much unread on my shelf - Apollo 13, The Long Walk, I never finsihed LOTR, The Vampire Chronicles, The Fourth Protocol, the list goes on and on...

spinlizard · Post by **spinlizard** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:52 pm 0

Just started reading A Kestrel for a Knave.

Grabbed me instantly.

Good books are ace!

spinlizard · Post by **spinlizard** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:00 am 0

mutantcamel wrote: I never finsihed LOTR

I tried hard with LOTR. Really laboured at it and got 3/4 of the way through the last book before finally admitting to myself that it was boring me silly. Shame. Loved the epic nature of it. Just wish a better writer had written it.

Kon-Tiki · Post by **Kon-Tiki** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:18 am 0

Want to start on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but can't really find what it's called in Dutch

TDM · Post by **TDM** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:20 am 0

Bram Stoker's Dracula.

sty · Post by **sty** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:21 am 0

I've not read anything for fun for ages so at the weekend I started reading

Room Full Of Mirrors by Charles Cross

which is a recent Jimi Hendrix biography I've been meaning to read for ages.

He's still only 10 years old where I am in the book but it's looking good so far.

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:37 am 0

JG Ballard's 'High Rise' at the moment. Most excellent, goes well with the Burial LP. Got some of my wife's Cormac McCarthy next in line. Not been in a reading mood for a long time but now I'm going through quite a decent phase.

mutantcamel · Post by **mutantcamel** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:37 am 0

spinlizard wrote:
mutantcamel wrote: I never finsihed LOTR
I tried hard with LOTR. Really laboured at it and got 3/4 of the way through the last book before finally admitting to myself that it was boring me silly. Shame. Loved the epic nature of it. Just wish a better writer had written it.

I heard that JRR Tolkein just sat down and wrote it with no preparation, and it really does show, sadly. Love the films

Kon-Tiki · Post by **Kon-Tiki** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:44 am 0

Ehmm, what's the Silmarilion then?

grue · Post by **grue** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:57 pm 0

Kon-Tiki wrote:Ehmm, what's the Silmarilion then?

That came afterwards

Flabio · Post by **Flabio** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:07 pm 0

grue wrote:
Kon-Tiki wrote:Ehmm, what's the Silmarilion then?
That came afterwards

Tsk. Given that bits of it were written in 1914, I'd say it comes quite considerably before

It wasn't published until after he died, because it wasn't something he ever thought anyone would be interested in reading.

PhilSmith · Post by **PhilSmith** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:44 pm 0

Techie: Learning Perl. Yay for books with llamas on the cover.
Non-techie: The Dreams in the Witch-House and Other Weird Stories. Bit of H.P. Lovecraft there.

Quite like the new Penguin editions.

grue · Post by **grue** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:02 pm 0

PhilSmith wrote: Non-techie: The Dreams in the Witch-House and Other Weird Stories. Bit of H.P. Lovecraft there. Quite like the new Penguin editions.

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:23 pm 0

Flabio wrote:
grue wrote:
Kon-Tiki wrote:Ehmm, what's the Silmarilion then?
That came afterwards
Tsk. Given that bits of it were written in 1914, I'd say it comes quite considerably before

It wasn't published until after he died, because it wasn't something he ever thought anyone would be interested in reading.

The Silmarillion was an ongoing work - as you say, some of it (earlier drafts and ideas) were written during (and prior to) the first World War. Tolkien was intermittently revising and re-writing it up until his death. After his death one of his sons, Christopher Tolkien, got together with Guy Gavriel Kay (himself a fantasy author, writer of 'The Fionavar Tapestry' and other novels) and put together The Silmarillion based on what Christopher knew of his fathers' plans for it.