Apparition

Q.Which book are you currently reading/Have just read?
A. The Broker - John Grisham. Comment~ Back to his best standard at last.

Q. Which book couldn't you finish and why?
A. John Grisham's - Painted House ~ Got bored with it, it wasn't going anywhere.

Q. Which book did you enjoy so much, you might just read it again one day ?
A. Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd. Comment ~ It covers the Fictional/part factual history of Salisbury from the ice age to the '70's....quite a saga.

Brendan Hughes

1. Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

2. A few recently but can't remember their names - dry and boring.

3. What, you only read books once?

Apparition

Well Brendan, that's two of us who read books...........

SJ_Skyline

1a. Just Read: James Patterson, Along Came a Spider
1b. Currentley Reading: Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity

2. JRR Tolkein, The Lays Of Beleriand (Far too heavy going)

3. Terry Pratchett, Mort

boxst

1/ Best Man by Matthew Dunn (http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...&highlight=man Brilliant book.

2/ Lord of the Rings. I really couldn't cope half way through the second book.

3/ Most of Terry Pratchett's books I could (and do) read again (Good Omens being a particular favourite)

Steve.

davegtt

1/ who needs to read a book when the telly gives you the same information in half the time?

2/ LOTRs, got past the first chapter and thought nar I'l be reading this for years.

3/ JRR Tolkein's Hobbit, Quality, not too long, not too short, kept u engrosed all the way thought, will read this book again sometime (unless the film is released )

OllyK

1) Just read Grisham's "Christmas" or whatever that was made in to the film with Tim Allen. Not seen the film, book was OK, expect the film would be better.

Reading another Grisham one now, can't remember the title.

2) Got bored of TLOR books. Hobbit and TFOTR were OK, but the other 2 were just more of the same - yawn

Wasn't mad on Danse Macrbre by S King either, maybe becuase it wasn't a "normal" book that I had expected.

Given up on most of the Tom Clancey books I have tried, just gets too detailed in the equipement specs for me.

3) I'd re-read most of my Dean R Koontz collection, a few Grisham, some of the King books like Christine and Firestarter.

I ought to read Running Man again and maybe The Shawshank Redemtmption - still think that is one of the best conversions to film of any of King's books.

May be tempted to go back over the bible again some time, it's good for a laugh or two.

OllyK

Looks like JRR's work is generally considered boring!

minor_threat

Q.Which book are you currently reading/Have just read?
A. Have just finished reading 'Dude, where's my country?' by Micheal Moore. Now the hype has settle down I've started on Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci code'.

Q. Which book couldn't you finish and why?
A. Basically anything by Jane Austen. To give her credit I think she's perhaps one of the best satirical writers ever, when she doesn't like a character you really know about it. However, that droning tone of writing which shaped the realist movement in literature is too much for me. Now Jane, listen, you don't need to spend five pages of size 8 text describing one fireplace to me. Just one paragraph will suffice, leaving you another 4 and a half pages to describe the mantlepiece, ornaments, wallpaper and Catherine Morland's trip to the abbey.

Q. Which book did you enjoy so much, you might just read it again one day ?
Anything by F Scott Fitgerald, Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye', 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: The Discovery of America' by Jonathan Raban.

carl

1) "One Step Behind" by Henning Mankell
2) "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller -- it seemed so ridiculous I couldn't suspend my disbelief. And the plot was decidedly non-linear.
3) anything by Raymond Chandler

TonyG

1) Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. Third part of the Ender saga.
Warlock by Wilbur Smith. Started reading it while visiting Dad in hospital (it's his book), and now just have to finish it.

2) Downbelow Station by CJ CHerryh. Can't remember why, was a long time ago.

3)There's quite a few that I'd read again - pretty much every book I've ever bought and still have.

hail-hail

Q.Which book are you currently reading/Have just read?
A. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Q. Which book couldn't you finish and why?
A. - Don Quixote - read the first 30 pages and the story hadn't actually started yet! Pish!
-
Q. Which book did you enjoy so much, you might just read it again one day ?
A. Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
A book I would not normally pick up never mind read, but fantastic story, still get a lump in my throat thinking of the end.

minor_threat

Yawn! I just can't be arsed with interminable trips through some cobwebbed, pompous, humourless netherworld inhabited by troll-like creatures.

Lord of the Rings fans are a dangerous breed of fanatics uninterested in the real world. The real world is troublesome, hard to understand, fraught with inequalities and demands interaction with real, live human problems. But no, it's far easier to focus on hobbits, pixies, elves and tooth fairies.

Oh, but Lord of the Rings is about a fundamental struggle between good and evil, they'll tell you. But the real world is quite a bit more complex than that. You won't find many fantasists working to make the real world a better place. They're too concerned with "destroying the One Ring by casting it into the fiery fissures of Mount Doom, in the very heart of the land of Mordor, Sauron's bleak and wasted realm of pure evil."

hail-hail

Tis the differece between fact and fiction. No one is trying to say that LOTR is real life. It is used by readers to escape from the ****ty world they live in.

Is this not the actual point of Fiction books ?

minor_threat

I was being satirical. Sorry for the confusion.

hail-hail

Satire at 10am, my wee head just can't get it

Brendan Hughes

You're joking? It's a parody, that's the whole point of it. I know the plot confuses people (I recently read Slaughterhouse 5, that's another that you have to read twice), though you could say the same about Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. But the parody aspect - isn't that like saying you can't watch Tom and Jerry coz he'd never survive that rock dropping on him?

unclebuck

Check out The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry it's wonderfully crafted book and a superb story.

Also, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. This is quite a tough read, but well worth it.

UB

carl

Look, I gave it a fair chance. I just didn't like it.

ProperCharlie

My current favourite is James Ellroy. The guy is a genius. IMO The Cold Six Thousand is a masterpeice. I've read it three times, and also read most of his other books.
I agree with Carl about Raymond Chandler - I got to James Ellroy via Chandler.

Brendan Hughes

Read it about six times in the last 20 years. Oddly, I can never remember what happens in the second half of the book

ProperCharlie

Other great authors/books:

Steinbeck, particularly Cannery Row
Hemingway, the novels can be a bit dodgy but the short stories are superb
Raymond Carver Call If You Need Me (short stories as well)
Thomas Phynchon V and Slow Learner

carl

I also tried James Ellroy -- read about 3 or 4 of them but I don't really get on with them.

I've read all of Raymond Chandlers stuff, all of Dashiell Hammett's, most of Ross MacDonald's and most of Robert B. Parker's. Currently on Ian Rankin and Henning Mankell.

Brendan Hughes

Some goodies recently included Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the original version (it proudly boasts), not the 1830 second edition which (apparently) cut lots of stuff out and made it a boring monster story rather than the excellent study of human failings that it started as. Also Aburish, Saddam Hussein - the politics of revenge, complicated for a non-Arabophobe (?) like me but pretty damn good anyway. And The Tartar Khan's Englishman, forgotten the author, about to give up a third of the way through as it was just so dry and academic, but then it started to pick up and I'm glad I finished it. True story of an English spy used during the Mongolian invasion of Europe.

Oh, and an Ikea catalogue on bedroom shelving, for those who might think I'm highbrow or summat

unclebuck

Amazing to think that she wrote that when she was on ly 18.

The only writing that most 18 year olds do these days is to text "Aaron is minging" to the Big Brother house.

UB

the moose

Just finished - The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell) - a bit ropey at the end, but overall a highly thought-provoking read. And I had What's The Matter With America (Thomas Frank) on the go as well, which is funnier but sadder.

Couldn't finish - some god-awful Dan Brown thing my wife left lying around the house. Shockingly awful, and what's worse, utterly boring. I mean, a rubbish book is fine if it zips along, but when it has all the verve of a lead-footed elephant, I cab't be bothered.

Would read again - Just picked up The Crow Road from a the bookshelf a few weeks back and demolished that in a couple of days.

Milamber

iTrader: (2)

Q.Which book are you currently reading/Have just read?
A. The Lake House by James Patterson. Just biding my time until Frankenstein By Dean Koontz is released.

Q. Which book couldn't you finish and why?
A. I know I will get slated for this but have never really got into the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Can't undertsand why it is so popular. Still have every edition in a 1st edition hardback though. I'm a bit of a collector.

Q. Which book did you enjoy so much, you might just read it again one day ?
A. I often re-read my books. I would definitely read "Magician" by Raymond Feist again, "Replay" by Ken Grimwood is just fantastic and makes me cry EVERY time. The last time was at an airport with my wife, the plane was delayed and i was sniffling in a corner like a baby.

Apparition

Seems we have a few ardent readers amongst us.
And its so pleasing to see even the lads are brought to tears by the written word. I am saddened that reading is something the younger generation are losing out on as a past time. Yes they do read the likes of H Potter etc. But there's a huge number who don't know the wonder of losing oneself in a book,IMHO far, far better than instantaneous film / TV gratification.
Can't count the number of times in my younger years when members of the family would be calling me and I'd be oblivious , lost in whatever I was reading.
Someone up there in the list mentioned Wilbur Smith. He's a hero of mine, read every single one of his. Like Neville Shute too. Not into the very heavy stuff, I read to be entertained and whisked away on an adventure. Don't like to have to work too hard to read a book.
Thanks for all the feedback peoples, its nice to know the book has an army of Scoobynet readers!

the moose

Oh, and I should have mentioned Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson - his best book, I think, and one I love to dip into, a chapter at a time.

Brendan Hughes

My son isn't - I banned him from every screen in the house :****: