What you reading today?

David Lee's Hair · Post by **David Lee's Hair** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:30 am

Papillon by Henri Charriere

David Lee's Hair · Post by **David Lee's Hair** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:54 am

Just finished Last King of Scotland - been slightly delayed due to exams - but a damn good read

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:59 am

Just finished the latest John Francombe; sort of a poor man's Dick Francis.

communistworkethic · Post by **communistworkethic** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:10 am

the selfish gene - richard dawkins

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:11 am

Independent People - Halldor Laxness

It's amazing!!!

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:12 am

A Problem From Hell: America And The Age Of Genocide

Very interesting stuff it is, too

communistworkethic · Post by **communistworkethic** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:17 am

Pete wrote:Independent People - Halldor Laxness

It's amazing!!!

Which one's the author??

boltonboris · Post by **boltonboris** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:02 pm

Just started reading 1984 by Orwell, enjoying it so far. Just finished The testament of Gideon Mack, pretty tosh but I got through it

enfieldwhite · Post by **enfieldwhite** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:11 pm

Angels and Demons and The Darwin Awards III

David Lee's Hair · Post by **David Lee's Hair** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:16 pm

enfieldwhite wrote:Angels and Demons and The Darwin Awards III

Angels and Demons is the best Dan Brown book

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:22 pm

enfieldwhite wrote:Angels and Demons and The Darwin Awards III

Dan Brown researches his woks well enough, has the basis of good stories, then ruins them with weak characters and too many "Dick Barton" situations. The villains are always hiding at the botom of the garden with a hi-tech hearing device and always manage to be on the scene. Spoils his credibility.

His success has come more from controversial topics than his storytelling skills. Same things occur in all his work. That said, he must be doing something right because of his bank balance. Just my view.

enfieldwhite · Post by **enfieldwhite** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:29 pm

TANGODANCER wrote:
enfieldwhite wrote:Angels and Demons and The Darwin Awards III
Dan Brown researches his woks well enough, has the basis of good stories, then ruins them with weak characters and too many "Dick Barton" situations. The villains are always hiding at the botom of the garden with a hi-tech hearing device and always manage to be on the scene. Spoils his credibility.

His success has come more from controversial topics than his storytelling skills. Same things occur in all his work. That said, he must be doing something right because of his bank balance. Just my view.

My problem is I can't get Tom Hanks out of my head. He doesn't fit the part.

He does have an amazing knowledge, but, having read the 'Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' which he was accused of plagiarising, I don't think he does all his own research.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:36 pm

enfieldwhite wrote:
TANGODANCER wrote:
enfieldwhite wrote:Angels and Demons and The Darwin Awards III
Dan Brown researches his woks well enough, has the basis of good stories, then ruins them with weak characters and too many "Dick Barton" situations. The villains are always hiding at the botom of the garden with a hi-tech hearing device and always manage to be on the scene. Spoils his credibility.

His success has come more from controversial topics than his storytelling skills. Same things occur in all his work. That said, he must be doing something right because of his bank balance. Just my view.
My problem is I can't get Tom Hanks out of my head. He doesn't fit the part.

He does have an amazing knowledge, but, having read the 'Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' which he was accused of plagiarising, I don't think he does all his own research.

I read that years ago. Brown was clever in using theories put forward by its authors (they were nothing more) as the basis for an intruiging story. His research for the rest was till impressive. The Jesus story is a bit like the pyramids; somebody comes up with a new theory about both every five minutes. Read "The Second Messiah" (Can't name the author off-hand as I'm at work, but I have the book).

americantrotter · Post by **americantrotter** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 4:06 pm

A Dirty Job-Christopher Moore

Hapless man becomes Death. Funny so far.

superjohnmcginlay · Post by **superjohnmcginlay** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 4:17 pm

I always end up in the middle of a few books at the mo:

Fear Nothing - Dean Koontz
Lisey's Story - Stephen King
The Right Nation - (?)

Dave Sutton's barnet · Post by **Dave Sutton's barnet** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:27 pm

Thought I'd resurrect this thread, took me eye-boggling ages to find the bugger

Just finished Ferguson and Shankly: If You're Second You Are Nothing by Oliver Holt. I find Holt one of the least objectionable hacks and I liked the premise of this book, which uses alternate chapters to compare the careers of the two Scotsmen. However, it quickly becomes aware that he comes to praise Shankly and bury Ferguson, to the extent that even those who hate the Rags will find it embarrassingly one-sided; foul-tempered tyrant he may be but Ferguson isn't evil incarnate any more than Shankly, who could be ruthless about dropping players and would habitually blank injured players, was the second coming. And partly because the chapters aren't arranged chronologically, he repeats himself. A lot. That's partly his fault, more so than the unintentionally amusing dramatic irony of his insistence that Ferguson is only going downhill (the hardback version was released before last season's title romp). Verdict: kind of interesting, kind of irksome.

Slightly singed by that experience, I wondered whether I should bother with the predictably-named The Italian Job, written by Gianluca Vialli in conjunction with Times scribe Gabriele Marcotti. but I'm glad I did. I'll reserve full judgement till I've finished, but the first two or three chapters have been excellent. It's not really a biography, more a fairly forensic examination of English and Italian football cultures, examining their differences and attempting to explain them through sociology and culture. It sets up questions and attempts to answer them through research and interviews with experts (and a host of top football names). Is English football so manically fast because we value energy over technical ability from a young age, or because the wind's much stronger here and that stops us standing listening to fine technical points from the coach? Why is the West African gene pool disproportionately overburdened with folks who are either extremely well physically developed or extremely unphysical? Interesting stuff...

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:04 pm

Just finished Steve Martin's "The Arraingement" and "Sharpe's Escape" by Cornwell.

Armchair · Post by **Armchair** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:08 pm

All 11 books in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.....going to take a while

jmjhb · Post by **jmjhb** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:57 pm

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins.

Worthy4England · Post by **Worthy4England** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:07 pm

Armchair wrote:All 11 books in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.....going to take a while

Prolly worth the effort, but not as good as Chronicles of Thomas Covenant IMO...

Just finished Deception Point (pretty good) by Dan Brown and The Codex - lightweight but entertaining in parts

Other than that spending too much time reading The-Wanderer.co.uk forums...

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