What's new

What are you reading?

^ For Neil Gaiman, I also wasn't taken with Good Omens, but liked other stuff I've read, including Stardust.

Neverwhere and, especially, American Gods are his best I think. Coraline and The Graveyard Book (a different take on The Jungle Book where the main, human, character is raised by ghosts) are excellent children's books as well and are obviously a fast read.

I enjoyed Northern Lights years ago, but never got around to reading the other two. I'd have to at least watch the film to remind me what happened as I can't remember it now.
 
I've only ever read Neverwhere and some of Gaiman's graphic novels. I really didn't enjoy Neverwhere, I felt it was a bit immature, like I wanted more meat to the story. It kind of put me off reading any of his other books.
 
I actually just finished reading Good Omens and found it quite brilliant.

Been working on Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" for now and I have some more challenging works on the horizon, Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest (which I failed to finish once already)!
 
I finished the Divergent series(when you have to read one, you're pretty much obligated to reading the series). It was alright. Another teen dystopian future novel series.

I'm going to read Fahrenheit 451 for the Summer Reading assignment. It won't be as good because I have to annotate in the actual book. :cry:

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk
 
^ It's a great book. Read it once first to enjoy it and then go back and analyse it. It's not a big book and at least you'll get to enjoy it first.
 
The Martian by Andy Weir.

I'll let XKCD do the talking:
the_martian.png

Title text: I have never seen a work of fiction so perfectly capture the out-of-nowhere shock of discovering that you've just bricked something important because you didn't pay enough attention to a loose wire.

The trailer they're talking about:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI[/youtube]

And yes, the book IS that good. It's about the escapades of a young astronaut who gets stranded on Mars because of a runaway domino reaction of Murphy's Law. Then follows 450 pages of hardcore MacGyvering for him to survive and get off the planet. Think Apollo 13 meets Robinson Crusoe meets the actual emergency procedures for the moon landing. Recommended for any science nerds. Some technical insight might be required to enjoy it fully, though.
 
Just finished 'A Walk in the Woods' by Bill Bryson, it's not my favourite book of his, but once again he had me in absolute stitches and compelled me to read more about his fascinating adventures on the Appalachian Trail. I particularly enjoy reading travel writing especially when it makes me laugh. My favourite is Notes from a Small Island and I'm just starting his sequel, The Road to Little Dribbling, exciting times!
 
Got a slew of books I'm about to start, kicking off with Operations Long jump which is about Nazi failed attempt to kill Churchill and FDR.

Footnotes <3

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
The Road to Little Dribbling

Finished this last night. I can't tell if I'm disappointed or not to be honest. Like the book was great, informative, packed of exciting anecdotes, but it just wasn't as funny as his first. With Notes from a Small Island, pretty much every other page had something that made me giggle, and a few that gave me a proper belly laugh, but this one wasn't as funny, and that matters to me because I find his books SHOULD do that, they should make me laugh. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy it and there were times I could put it down.

I did like how he just went from place to place as he wanted rather than only using public transport as per the first, I also found it peculiar how he went to every place I went to last year, clearly he was following me...Ullapool, Margate, Lulworth Cove, Eastleigh (I love what he said about Eastleigh), Durness, Great Yarmouth, Blackpool, I mean obviously he was seeing my check ins on Facebook rather than just going to popular places ;)
 
Bump time.

Just about to tuck into John Wardley's autobiography (£4 on Amazon with free delivery, thank you). Anyone read it?
 
^ Yeah, I read it earlier this year. Didn't buy it though, borrowed it from a CFer. It wasn't the goony bible I expected. I found he went on a bit too much about his childhood and early career. Ok so that type of stuff is important to understand his mind but I only wanted to read about his theme park projects, notably Dragon Khan, Chessington and Nemesis. And those bits seemed too brief and lacking goony detail.
 
Ian said:
^ Yeah, I read it earlier this year. Didn't buy it though, borrowed it from a CFer. It wasn't the goony bible I expected. I found he went on a bit too much about his childhood and early career. Ok so that type of stuff is important to understand his mind but I only wanted to read about his theme park projects, notably Dragon Khan, Chessington and Nemesis. And those bits seemed too brief and lacking goony detail.

I think us enthusiasts naturally expect page to page breakdowns of the creative process behind the big rides we admire. I'd like that, but, I've sort of gone into this without any expectation. Not too bad so far, but you're right when you say it's probably underwhelming if you expect an exclusive coaster book. A good insight into the mindset of an entertainer/creative, though!
 
Just noticed the bump of the topic and have to kill a bit of time at work, so:

The Giver - Lois Lowry

More dystopian teen s**te. Well,to be fair it is one of the earlier examples of the genre and was actually pretty good;I'm just tired of the type. It was on a list of possible books that we were going to teach, so I had to read it. I don't think I'll be finshing the series though.


The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

Entertaining, easy read. Worth a go, but not much more to say about it.


A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

I haven't read any of his stuff for a few years, but really enjoyed this one. It's basically an account of the history of the universe from the big bang until now, but written in an accessible way. Interesting stuff


Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

I was intrigued by the old Victorian pictures. The idea to use them as a basis for a book was excellent. Unfortunately, the result is a load of old s**t.


The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino

A Japanese thriller which was excellent. Apparently there's a film which was very popular, so I'll probably give that a go.


Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

I really enjoyed Gone Girl, so gave this a go. I really liked this as well. The characters are all so completely unlikeable, but she writes a good story.


I'll Never Write My Memoirs - Grace Jones

LOVE HER, so was really excited to read her autobiography. It didn't disappoint. Great stuff.


Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk

One of his very early books which I'd missed before. Like his other early stuff, I really liked it. He hasn't written anything decent for almost 10 years though. Well, not that I've read anyway. There are a few new ones I haven't bothered with. I'll probably give one a go soon; they're always short.


The Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick

I wanted to read it before I watched the TV show. There was basically no need since they bear very little resemblance to each other at all other than the general concept of a world where the Nazis win WWII. I found it quite tedious to be honest.


John Dies at the End - David Wong

Popped up on some recommendation and had excellent reviews. It's utter s**te. The worst thing I've read in a very, very long time. Juvenile, puerile, pointless and repetitive. A monster comes, then a monster comes, then a monster comes and a monster comes. It's f**king s**t.


Hunger - Jeremiah Knight

The concept sounded interesting - GM crops have become so successful that they've taken over the planet. Too bad that it's another piece of f**king s**t then. Apparently, eating some genetically modified corn causes animals and people to evolve into giant monsters within the space of a couple of years. S**te.


Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Finished off the remaining book of hers that I hadn't read since I'd liked the last two. Liked this one as well. Looking forward to more. F**k me, she's bleak though.


The Ice Twins - S.K.Tremayne

A thriller in which an identical twin dies, but then the living twin claims that she's actually the dead one. It was all going very well until the end really, which wasn't great.


The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Started really well, but then just meandered for the rest of the almost 800 pages. I was close to just giving up on it a few times, but didn't since I hate leaving things unfinished. It's had rave reviews, but I really don't see what the fuss was about. The whole thing could've been done just as well in half the length. So much pointless waffling.
 
Top