What are you reading and book reviews

[Fayshun]

Originally Posted by Pumpkinstew

I'm about 150 pages into The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

I really like this book. Mind you I did read it years ago.

[Tak]

Randomly decided to read The Green Mile a few weeks back - I'd seen the film (and cried) and had got the book both as the single novel and as the parts it got published as. Finished it in about 3 days (ended up crying in the bath )

I'm now on book 4 of The Dark Tower series. I found the first 1/4 of book 1 (The Gunslinger) hard to get into but soon I was drawn in and am now addicted - I don't have any more of the series after this though

[volospian]

Originally Posted by Pumpkinstew

I'm about 150 pages into The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Allegedly this is the first ever steam punk novel - a version of Victorian Britain where the information age started immediately after the industrial revolution.
It's a bit heavy on detail and short on plot progression at the moment but a spook from MI5 has just been introduced so maybe it will pick up. Or perhaps it needs to be read with abottle of laudanum to hand.

I remember reading this. After Neuromancer et al, I was expecting good things, but I found it sadly lacking. I can't remember why now, but I can certainly remember thinking that it never met expectations. I leant it to someone, never got it back and never missed it...

The Neuromancer trilogy, however, is excellent.

[volospian]

Originally Posted by Takhisis

I'm now on book 4 of The Dark Tower series. I found the first 1/4 of book 1 (The Gunslinger) hard to get into but soon I was drawn in and am now addicted - I don't have any more of the series after this though

I quite liked these when I started reading them, but I felt the latter books lost their way a bit... I know I never finished the series anyway...

[volospian]

Originally Posted by semi-pro waster

Now I'm reading Fatherland by Robert Harris, more on this when I'm done it.

I thought it was very good. If you like it, try SSGB by Len Deighton

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SS-GB-Len-De.../dp/0586050027 (other retailers are available)

[Tak]

Jhadur bought me the other books as my easter gift - I'm about half way through book 5 now (I had a brief interlude with Tales of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong which I had on preorder and forgot about until it dropped through the letterbox).

I am still enjoy the series but I will say this book seems a bit more ... normal that the previous 4.
I wonder if the latter books were written in a more forced way than the earlier ones; From reading the intros by King, it seems to start with, these books were an indulgence; writing in a way that wasn't his "norm" but which he was enjoying. As the books became popular, the pressure to complete the series must have grow and maybe affected the style.

I will complete the series - maybe I'll make more sense when I've read them all.

[semi-pro waster]

Originally Posted by volospian

I thought it was very good. If you like it, try SSGB by Len Deighton

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SS-GB-Len-De.../dp/0586050027 (other retailers are available)

Thanks for the recommendation, I may just have to try that as well.

I've just finished Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner which is a semi-autobiographical story of a young boy/man growing up in Alaska. It's well written and a fascinating insight into a life that most of us will never experience, from what little I do know about life in Alaska/the Arctic it is very true to life and full of convincing little details. I've actually ended up reading lots of books over the past week or so due to being stuck with little enough else to do, of them the only real one of note is Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson - I enjoyed it and yet I'm still none the wiser really as to whether it is based on real events or not, somehow I don't feel it matters either way, it's an entertaining book which while weird retains just about enough credibility to make you question whether it could be true or not.

[volospian]

Originally Posted by Takhisis

I wonder if the latter books were written in a more forced way than the earlier ones; From reading the intros by King, it seems to start with, these books were an indulgence; writing in a way that wasn't his "norm" but which he was enjoying. As the books became popular, the pressure to complete the series must have grow and maybe affected the style.

I will complete the series - maybe I'll make more sense when I've read them all.

That's pretty much what I thought about them. maybe "lost their way" isn't the right phrase, mayb e "changed direction" would be better... I dunno, I forget the exact feelings now, but I know I lost interest. I think I got as far as book 3. I don't think the other books were out at the time and I never liked them enough to buy the next installment when it was released.

Mind you, it was the same with the wheel of time series... I got fed up of waiting for each release. I may eventually buy the last few books and re-read the whole series again when it's complete...

[Kitten]

Just finished Wolf Hall. Loved it, but it's my thing, history and the Tudor period. Awesome.

Also recently read a cracking book - Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Association. Fabulous little whimsy of a book, tells the story of the war through the eyes of fictional Guernsey characters. Very charming, very funny and very sad. Wonderful.

[volospian]

Originally Posted by Kitten

Just finished Wolf Hall. Loved it, but it's my thing, history and the Tudor period. Awesome.

Read any Sharon Penman?

A bit earlier than tudor, but if you like that period "The Sunne in Splendour" is set during the wars of the roses, from the rise of Edward IV to the death of Richard III. Some of the other books cover the earlier period from Empress Maude to around Edward Longshanks.