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Martin said:
I finished Ben Elton's High Society, which I enjoyed a heck of a lot more than I initially thought I would.

Moving on to Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. I've read ten pages sofar, and I already know this is gonna be ... (wait for it) ... splendid.

Cheers
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SPLENDID! :D
 
Martin said:
Moving on to Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
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Personally I thought it was a heap of crap. I understand that, as it's very simple, it will be extremely easy for you to read.
 
Personally I thought it was a heap of crap. I understand that, as it's very simple, it will be extremely easy for you to read.
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Please get over yourself, and please don't insult me.

Cheers
 
Ah, ok, in that case, my apologies.

I prefer reading books in their original language. I'm studying to be a translator myself, and I can tell you that something is always lost in translation.

Plus, it's a good exercise for my English.

Cheers
 
Mike: re The Ship Who Sang - it was an interesting (though possibly kinda sick) concept, but I wasn't a fan of McCaffrey's writing style. In fact sometimes I couldn't even work out what she was saying! I don't think I'll be in a rush to read more of her work. :)
 
Martin said:
Plus, it's a good exercise for my English.
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Believe me, your English is better than most native speakers. The majority of mainstream living in an English speaking world has forced a terrible decline in language standards.
 
Last night I started "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. It looks like it will be a short but nifty read.


RaVeN
 
RaVeN said:
Last night I started "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. It looks like it will be a short but nifty read.
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Am I gonna be up there? I bet I am. Standing there with my shiniest of sporks and my number three halo.

I'm reading Maul by Trisha Sullivan. It's currently doing the rounds among my little sci fi buddies and I think the general consensus is mostly good. It's a strange little book, sort of two stories, told in alternating chapters but quite obviously linked. There's some girls in a shopping centre (the maul) with an unhealthy obsession with guns who get into an almighty shoot out, and there's a little chap infected with all sorts of nasty viruses in a future where most men have been wiped out by Y-plagues.

Nearly finished, and so far there hasn't been much in the way of surprises, though I'm in hope of a shock ending. Anyhoo, it's in the sci fi section, but I'd recommend it to anyone. There's no real science and there's certainly nothing to confuse or bewilder the scifiphobes. It's got an excellent sense of humour, the maul story is fun, the Y-plague bit gives your brain just enough exercise to keep it distracted from the all the shootings in the other chapters and it's just a good little book for when you don't want to think too hard and you just want to be entertained.
 
'The Martian Chronicles' by Ray Bradbury. Started it today and am only 45 pages in, so can't make much of a judgement, but I loved the 'second expedition' story, mixing black humour with quite a dark ending that actually raises questions most unexpectedly considering the tone up until that point.
 
Already finished Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, which I started less than 24 hours ago. Good read, very simplistic but that was expected. I liked it.

Moving on to a reread - Michael Marshal Smith's Spares. This is gonna be good!

Cheers
 
Just finished Temple by Matthew Reilly. It wasn't as good as Contest. About two thirds of the way through, I was about ready to give up, but it picked up again shortly after that point. Some of the situations were really unbelievable, and I found myself saying aloud, "You've got to be kidding me!"

Now I'm reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. I thought it was time for a little non-fiction, and it's pretty good so far. Looks like it'll be really interesting.
 
ive just finished terry prachett discworld - theif of time. really really enjoyed it. Im now reading eats, shoots and leaves - not getting on with it though as i dont get the cliquey punctuation jokes/gang similies. i am learning though!

catch22 next after that.
 
cherryvenom said:
ive just finished terry prachett discworld - theif of time. really really enjoyed it. Im now reading eats, shoots and leaves - not getting on with it though as i dont get the cliquey punctuation jokes/gang similies. i am learning though!

catch22 next after that.
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I loved 'Eats, shoots and leaves,' especially for the punctuation jokes. This was probably because I'm a real pedant too, forever correcting signs and the like. Especially apostrophes. They are never correct.

Aside from that, another Sheffielder! Which area are you from?
 
Abulafia said:
Personally I thought it was a heap of crap. I understand that, as it's very simple, it will be extremely easy for you to read.
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Oh thrill us with your literary acumen - what can you recommend??
 
Eats, Shoots & Leaves

I see that at least two people have read/are reading this book.

Strangely, it was published in the US without taking into account the many differences in standard, correct grammar and punctuation between UK English and US English.

As a long-time editor who worked for three UK publishers, I'm very aware of the distinctions--the gold standard in the US is typically Chicago Manual of Style (with prominent journalistic exceptions)--but somehow the editors and author of the book thought to publish all the UK rules in the US as though they are the international norm, a pretty serious mistake that makes a bad, expensive joke of the US edition.

I understand it also has many errors of fact and grammatical errors (by UK standards) in the text, which were enumerated in several US reviews.

It was terribly panned in a recent New Yorker review, a magazine that takes its own language usage to heart. Have a look-see:

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?040628crbo_books1


Novella
 
Mort said:
Just finished Temple by Matthew Reilly. It wasn't as good as Contest. About two thirds of the way through, I was about ready to give up, but it picked up again shortly after that point. Some of the situations were really unbelievable, and I found myself saying aloud, "You've got to be kidding me!"
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I loved "Ice Station"! Especially the killer whales were adoring! :D
Area 7 is nice but not that good and Temple is featuring a quite strange character. He does everything to avoid being a hero and nevertheless he ends up saving the world.???
Has anyone read "Scarecrow"? by Matthew Reilly???

I just read The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Harthrone? and it was a bit dull but not that bad.
my next book will be The curious incident of the dog in the night time
 
realy enjoyed The curious incident of the dog in the night time as an SEN teacher I found the narrator quite convincing.
just finished Vonnegut's Player Piano couldn't put it down so have quicky moved onto The Sirens of Titen to fill the Vonnegut void in my life. It's a bit more Sci-Fi than I usually like but, hey ho gonna give it a go
 
*gasps*

The Sirens Of Titan is one of my favourite books, ever!

Let me know what you think!

I quite enjoyd Player Piano, too, yes. I've read almost everything he has written, marvellous author!

Cheers
 
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