What are you reading tonight?

[Puskas]

about to go on my jolls with James Delingpoles' Coward on the Bridge - a sequel to the excellent Coward on the Beach, a WW2 comedy/drama-type book.

Also The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis and am toying whether to take another Red Riding book, cos they're a bit grim for a hol

Been meaning to read more BEE books after American Psycho, but don't know which to go for? - you will have to let us know what it's like.

I don't read books, seeing as how I spend all my time chasing skirt and getting rat-arsed, but if I did, I'd have to say Lunar Park is Very Good Indeed.

Also Glamorama. And The Informers (short stories, but connected, getting progressively more peculiar...)

[hisroyalgingerness]

I really enjoyed the Informers. It's like Glamorama and American Psycho but with less gratuitous violence

Can't recommend Delingpole's "Coward" adventures highly enough for light-hearted (well, as light as it gets) WW2 material

[TANGODANCER]

Brazillian aouthor, Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.

[TANGODANCER]

Just finished Nelson's Trafalgar- The Battle that changed the World, by Brian Adkins. Brilliant book. No novel this, but an account from letters and documents from archives of people who were actually there. Maps, diagrams and a horrific relating of just what life aboard fighting ships was actually like at the time of Trafalgar. Not for the squeamish.

" Adkins has produced the book against which all Trafalgar books will be measured" -Library Journal.

[General Mannerheim]

Finally got round to reading the Chris Morris book, first few pages really didnt inspire me and i kindda avoided picking it up again, but once i did i sailed through it! Really interesting and funny, provided you know his work! one review i read said folk who havnt even heard of him would enjoy this book, thats nads.

[TANGODANCER]

Quote of the week. Made me chuckle:

"If people refuse to believe that marriage is a kind of doom-by-certificate," Shanghvi says "all they have to do is speak to Mrs. Berlusconi."

Taken from:

http://news.uk.msn.com/world/articles.a ... =153917125

[boltonboris]

TV Guide

[clapton is god]

I blitz read through Girl with a Dragon Tattoo/Played With Fire/Kicked a Hornets Nest whilst on holiday. I was absolutely blown away by the three of them. I thought them fresh and original. The story line was audacious and like nothing I've ever read before. I actually gasped out loud several times during the read. The characters were all complete and well rounded including probably the best female character I've ever read.

I recommended the trilogy to Mrs Clapton and after a slow start she is now totally hooked and ploughing through them as I did

The films (Swedish version, Hollywood following) are released on DVD starting next month.

If you've not read them yet do yourself a favour.

[thebish]

I blitz read through Girl with a Dragon Tattoo/Played With Fire/Kicked a Hornets Nest whilst on holiday. I was absolutely blown away by the three of them. I thought them fresh and original. The story line was audacious and like nothing I've ever read before. I actually gasped out loud several times during the read. The characters were all complete and well rounded including probably the best female character I've ever read.

I recommended the trilogy to Mrs Clapton and after a slow start she is now totally hooked and ploughing through them as I did

The films (Swedish version, Hollywood following) are released on DVD starting next month.

If you've not read them yet do yourself a favour.

seconded - as long as you can get your head around 12 yards of unpronouncable street names every page - and a cast of several hundred very similar sounding swedish police and secret service!

[Prufrock]

My Holiday bookies:

Frankie Boyle- My Shit Life So Far: Read for the journey there as something to lightly read through. Pretty enjoyable, not amazing as those sort of books go, but as ever with him capable of a savage one liner to bring your drink down your nose. Quite interesting as well since I knew absolutely nothing of his life, or his career before Mock the Week.

Martin Amis- Money: Picked this up on impulse in the airport WHSmith. I enjoyed it, unsure on the ending, but I thought it well written, with a few cracking aphorisms, and an account of America and the Dream both savage and human.

The QI book of Animals: Really good, I really like the QI books, and this is one of the better ones. New favourite animal, the Zonkey!

The QI book of the dead: A lot more thorough, and a few entries I didn't care about or find interesting, but that will always be the case with that sort of thing, some really interesting bits however, and it's organised well.

Douglas Adams- Hitchhikers and Restaurant: Not read these two since I was a kid, but blasted through them both in about 6 hours altogether, absolutely wonderful. These should be in all schools. Fun reading at it's best.

One of the newer Jeremy Clarkson books: Typical fare, a chuckle here and there, and he is a brilliant motoring writer, judging the line between technical information and everyman speak very well.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez- One Hundred Years of Solitude: It's taken me a long time to read it, I'd started it twice previously, but I sat down to read it this time and I loved it. I needed the family tree at the beginning, but I couldn't put it down. I must admit to knowing next to nothing about the history of the region, but even without that it's a brilliantly told story, and the manipulation of emotions, and the contrast between happiness and sadness, and tragedy and comedy is brilliant.

Dan Brown- Deception Point: He gets a lot of stick, which I think unfair. I wouldn't call it literature, nor is it historically accurate, but he writes decent thrillers. That said, I thought this was poor. The ending was guessable about halfway through, and his insistence since the Da Vinci Code business that it's all built on some sort of fact is tiresome. Poor.

Have just started Alan Bennet- The Uncommon Reader. Hope it's good.

[boltonboris]

Pru, is 'Deception Point' the one with him running around Seville? Or is that Digital Fortress?

[Prufrock]

Pru, is 'Deception Point' the one with him running around Seville? Or is that Digital Fortress?

Nope, it's the one with someone running around the Arctic. My dad got Digital Fortress for his birthday, is it any good? I enjoyed Da Vinci and Angels and Demons but wouldn't bother with Deception point, so I'm not sure whether to start it?

[boltonboris]

Pru, is 'Deception Point' the one with him running around Seville? Or is that Digital Fortress?

Nope, it's the one with someone running around the Arctic. My dad got Digital Fortress for his birthday, is it any good? I enjoyed Da Vinci and Angels and Demons but wouldn't bother with Deception point, so I'm not sure whether to start it?

Ah yeah, I know the one now.. Can't really remember the plot, but don't remember it being 'all that and a bag of chips, mmhmmm'

As for Digital Fortress, I don't like recommending things, whether they be books, films, bars, restaurants.. But anyhow, It's worth a read to make up your own mind, it's oka. I remember it being better than Deception Point and Angels and Demons.

[TANGODANCER]

Pru, is 'Deception Point' the one with him running around Seville? Or is that Digital Fortress?

Nope, it's the one with someone running around the Arctic. My dad got Digital Fortress for his birthday, is it any good? I enjoyed Da Vinci and Angels and Demons but wouldn't bother with Deception point, so I'm not sure whether to start it?

The Da Vinci Code was something a bit new but a lot of rubbish has followed it from other authors intent on secret quests, lost gospels, documents and testaments etc, the race to find them and the threat to mankind. Amazing how the heroes (unlike Brown's mild, non-macho codex and insignia specialist) are all filthy-rich ex SAS soldiers turned archeologists and the villains are always lurking two steps behind them wherever they travel in the world. All got a bit boring now.

[Bruce Rioja]

Just got round to finishing Robert Goddards' Found Wanting. Definitely worth a punt, but it's one that really wants reading over the course of a weekend / whilst on holiday etc. rather than trying to read it in ocassional chunks like I did; simply because there are a lot of twists in a fairly fast-moving story that has many (probably one or two too many, imo) characters in it. As I mentioned before, it's a novel based around the Anastasia / Ana Anderson story, and is very cleverly written.

[Il Pirate]

Just read The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenbegger. I've not seen the film tho. Contains some beautiful passages of prose, and is brilliantly observed. Without wanting to be sexist, it's a bit of a womans book though. A love story, with hapiness and tragedy in equal measure; but I found the first couple of chapters a little tiring, she goes over the same territory but from differing perspectives. But if anyone is stuck and wondering what book to buy for your other half whilst on hols, this is a winner. Also it's quite long, so has the added value of keeping her quiet for hours so you can nip into town and find a local bookies...................................

[TANGODANCER]

There are some really good women writers around. ( Some really bad ones, but that applies equally to men) I found Kate Moss's Labyrinth excellent. Catherine Cookson wrote good stuff for years and Jean Plaidy's historical novels are usually based on fact and well researched. If I like the look of a book, male or female authors matter little.

[clapton is god]

Just coming to the end of The Reluctant Tommy by Ronald Skirth. This is the book that was being pushed by Ian Hislop a few weeks ago and is the first hand account of life in the trenches during the Great War. Its an easy read and no doubt something of an historic account if you are interested in that period of our history (which I very much am) but a memoir rather than a flowing book and, I have to say, not particularly interesting or readable despite the extensive re-writing from its editor.

[Raven]

My Holiday bookies:

Douglas Adams- Hitchhikers and Restaurant: Not read these two since I was a kid, but blasted through them both in about 6 hours altogether, absolutely wonderful. These should be in all schools. Fun reading at it's best.

Am I the only person who does not get these books, tried Hitchhikers and one of the rare books I just gave up on, found it boring and uninteresting, tried the TV series and the film and hated them too.

Currently reading Dunkirk book (bit heavy going and quite hard to follow) and Thirteen by Jasper Kent the follow up to Twelve which was good but Thirteen I think is better.

[Gary the Enfield]

My Holiday bookies:

Douglas Adams- Hitchhikers and Restaurant: Not read these two since I was a kid, but blasted through them both in about 6 hours altogether, absolutely wonderful. These should be in all schools. Fun reading at it's best.

Am I the only person who does not get these books, tried Hitchhikers and one of the rare books I just gave up on, found it boring and uninteresting, tried the TV series and the film and hated them too.

Currently reading Dunkirk book (bit heavy going and quite hard to follow) and Thirteen by Jasper Kent the follow up to Twelve which was good but Thirteen I think is better.

Like the Spinal Tap speakers?