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casa

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#25 Books...
April 05, 2005, 01:26:10 pm
proper laugh out loud stuff dense i promise you

saltbeef

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#26 Books...
April 05, 2005, 02:25:23 pm
maurikami, dream like japanese stuff, well good.
as for brett easton ellis i preferred less than zero, there was a south bank show special about him about 6 years ago where he basically admitted it was an autobiography, it gives you a really sinister glimpse into the world of the children of the american glitteratti, and how scary and mindless they are, really worth reading.
martin amis is also very good, sometimes self indulgent, but dead babies and times arrow are brilliant.

Bubba

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#27 Books...
April 05, 2005, 02:35:58 pm
I like Brett EE though he can be hard reading sometimes with his almost bland, disconnected style.

American Psycho is a classic, though I know a few people who haven't been able to finish it because of the gnarl, and I really enjoyed Glamorama too.

Fingers of a Martyr

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#28 Books...
April 05, 2005, 03:54:38 pm
D J Taylors biography of Orwell is pretty amazing, just finished it last night, quite moving in parts :cry: lol

Jonboy

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#29 Books...
April 08, 2005, 10:16:34 pm
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
True story.
About a young man who decides to run away from the bouring routine that society creates for us.  He ends up in Alaska Yukon but sadly dies alone which through better planning he could of lived read and find out (its ok I did not spoil the ending you are aware he dies from the start).
Despite his death he was a resourseful young bloke and brave to actualy go out and try and live of the land.
Defiantly worth reading, its not along book 205 pages and the pages go qucikly.

From the bcak of the Book:
what emerges from this mesmerizing, heartbreaking story is a version of the wilderness that is hard and seductive, a place where one can quite possibly find ones self, but also opening the dark possibility that we might find our own nature strange and disturbing.

the_dom

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#30 Books...
April 12, 2005, 07:10:36 am
Moose: I'd say you need to read 100yrs twice to appreciate it. Or read Love in a Time of Cholera. It's exceptional.

I also second Requiem for a Dream and anything by Murakami (esp Sputnik Sweetheart and Norweigian Wood)

AndyR

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#31 Books...
April 12, 2005, 10:01:32 am
Quote from: "the_dom"
Moose: I'd say you need to read 100yrs twice to appreciate it. Or read Love in a Time of Cholera. It's exceptional.

I also second Requiem for a Dream and anything by Murakami (esp Sputnik Sweetheart and Norweigian Wood)


I'll third anything by Haruki Murukami - a revelation to find an author whose work is simply mesmerising (for me obviously - some people may find it repetitive). Sheer class.

chappers

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#32 Books...
April 12, 2005, 11:30:13 pm
i just got american psycho. goin to take it away with me. got a 10 hr flight to dispatch it on. going to pick up another tomoz to read after.

can also recomend "man in the high castle" by P. Dick. if the nazis won the war kind of messed up portrait of america. i enjoyed it.
read something in the same vein by Don DeLillo called cosmopolis or summat which was good. bit twisted.

favorite book of all time tho has to go to "the wasp factory" by iain banks.

chappers

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#33 Books...
April 12, 2005, 11:50:48 pm
right, after reading reviews on here and amazon, have decided to pick up a copy of spares by michael marshall smith tomoz.
cheers guys

a dense loner

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#34 Books...
April 13, 2005, 11:40:42 am
oh yeah, iain banks is good as well

fatneck

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#35 Books...
April 13, 2005, 11:44:20 am
Yeah, when I first read the wasp factory about ten years ago I thought it was the best book ever! Re-read it recently and wasn't as impressed, (are you ever on a second read?) but some of his other stuff is pretty cool.

moose

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#36 Books...
April 13, 2005, 12:13:35 pm
Quote from: "fatneck"
Yeah, when I first read the wasp factory about ten years ago I thought it was the best book ever! Re-read it recently and wasn't as impressed, (are you ever on a second read?) but some of his other stuff is pretty cool.


agree... Complicity is my favourite of his fiction - as nasty in its way but with a better story.  Coming to the conclusion with Banks that whilst he's a pretty good fiction writer he's a great sci-fi writer - probably to be honest because of the lack of competition (not to say sci-fi is by definition badly written... it just attracts a lot of people who, whilst they might have a few good ideas, lack any ability to express them).

a dense loner

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#37 Books...
April 13, 2005, 12:36:38 pm
sci-fi writer? r u on about iain m. banks? who is a different person

Bonjoy

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#38 Books...
April 13, 2005, 01:27:26 pm
I hope you are being sarcastic Dense.

chappers

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#39 Books...
April 13, 2005, 11:07:34 pm
Quote from: "a dense loner"
sci-fi writer? r u on about iain m. banks? who is a different person


 :roll: iain banks, writer of crow road, a song of stone, wasp factory etc. thats who im on about.

fatneck

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#40 Books...
April 13, 2005, 11:58:47 pm
Thats the guy! Totally down with what MooseBoy's saying about him  :clap:
I like most of Ste Kings stuff and really enjoyed "American Psycho", glad I read it before I saw it!

As an aside I saw a bus today that said

"Don't judge a book by its film.."

Quality!! :D

Fingers of a Martyr

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#41 Books...
April 14, 2005, 01:38:24 am
Yeah i love Ste King for a good fun, well written, trashy read. By far the best thing he's ever written is a short story called The Long Walk under his brief pseudoname Bachman. Dreamcatcher, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and Desperation are also pretty amazing too.

Could never get into his Dark Tower series tho.

fatneck

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#42 Books...
April 14, 2005, 03:55:35 am
r.e. "The Long Walk" Have not read it FOAM, but am quite prepared to believe it's good!

Did he not write a number of books under the Bachman pseudoname(sp)?

First to name them all gets £20 off Fingers??!!

Fingers of a Martyr

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#43 Books...
June 08, 2005, 07:14:52 pm
Shit only just got back to reading this thread. His other Bachman stuff is so-so in my opinion, The Long Walk is really worth getting though, so unlike his other stuff you'd never have guessed it was him.

Thinner, The Regulators, Rage, Running Man and Roadwork were all written as Bachman I think. 20 pound please... bollox, lol

I talk a load of shite, lol, i started reading the Dark Tower series and it's fuckin ace!

Just finished Naked Lunch by Burroughs and it's quite possibly the most powerful thing I've ever read, superb and thought provoking.

Fiend

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#44 Books...
June 09, 2005, 10:07:04 am
OMG someone started a book thread.

Well, I have no shame in reading pretty much only sci-fi and fantasy, but I am a discerning reader and intolerant of cliches, poor writing, inconsistencies, purposelessness etc, most of which plague a fair bit of the genre. Hence I seem to spend a LOT of time Waterstones flicking through books before not buying anything. But here we go...

Read a little while ago:

Anselm Audley - Aquasilva Trilogy - (Fantasy) interesting idea, good setting, and an interesting political background, but too tedious overall, too much wittering on about politics and stuff, too much purposeless dialogue, and too little revelling in the curious world it's set it.

Iain Banks - Dead Air - (Real world) very down to earth, none of his earlier weirdness, a straight up semi-thriller sort of thing, but worth a read. Very well written as usual, plenty of sharpness, and actually captures the vibe of some aspects of modern Britain really well without descending into parody. Recommended

Stephen King - The Gunslinger - (Fantasy-ish) a good example of how horror writers can't write for shit. Starts of well with a strong alternate Wild West atmosphere, and descents into an incomprehensible journey full of lots of things that are named as if you should know about them and give no reason for you to care less about them. A pity as initially there seemed to be a chance I'd continue the series - not any more.

Tricia Sullivan - Maul - (Cyberpunk) might be good if you like this sort of thing, all annoyingly trendy exaggerations of what the world might be like in the future. Compared to her previous, more gripping (and more sci-fi themed) works, this is too much fashion and too little substance.

Robert Charles Wilson - The Chronoliths - (Sci-fi) another gem from this author, based on a premise that sounds quite brash and fantastical, it's actually executed quite subtly, with understated (rather than Hollywood-esque) writing and a nice twist. Recommended

Read recently:

Ian Irvine - The Well Of Echoes series (Geomancer, Alchymist, Tetrarch, and awaiting Chimaera) - (Fantasy) one of the best fantasy series I've read for a long time. Despite a few non-sequitors, this is gripping stuff, with a strong background, plenty of depth and various threads, and quite a dark and bleak feel to it. Good characters too, who are never the typical shining heroes of some fantasy. Well recommended

Ian Graham - Monument - (Fantasy) simple, brutal fantasy, that similarly to Irvine's work has a bleak feel to it. The back cover introduction is very enticing, but the book doesn't quite live up to the promise of it's anti-hero - a bit heavy on the violence and a bit light on the moral depths it sometimes explores. Still pretty good though.

Adam Roberts - Stone
Adam Roberts - Polystom
- (Sci-fi / Unreal fiction) Roberts is getting better and better, these books share the bleak, surreal vibes and originality of his earlier books but are notably more purposeful and intriguing. Atypical sci-fi that lacks the standard spaceships and computers and technology focus, and should go down well with fans of the subtleties of Iain M Banks and Christopher Priest. Recommended


Liz Williams - The Poison Master - (Fantasy) fantasy with a different flava and somewhat of a sci-fi background. Interesting settings and some fresh ideas going on, but not as captivating as it could be. Shows promise though.

Currently waiting for the softback versions of:

Iain M Banks - Alchemist

Adam Roberts - The Snow

China Meiville - Iron Council

Alastair Reynolds - ???


 :8)

Fingers of a Martyr

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#45 Books...
June 09, 2005, 10:54:06 am
Hey Fiend, regarding the Gunslinger, did you read the 1982 original of the revised 2002 (rew written actually with a proper explanatory intro) because they are quite different. Bearing in mind the original was written over the space of 5 years and was originally a set of seperate short stories it probably isn't the best version of the two. I promise you the series really does get better, it is soooo worth reading on.

Fiend

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#46 Books...
June 09, 2005, 03:44:32 pm
Revised.

It would have to get a hell of a lot better, if that's what he's capable of (re)writing after X decades worth of practise, I doubt I'd like the rest of the series...

Fingers of a Martyr

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#47 Books...
June 09, 2005, 04:51:40 pm
Fair do's.

SA Chris

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#48 Books...
June 10, 2005, 09:00:54 am
Dark Tower series goes all over the place, and gets pretty surreal at certain stages. However, if you read the whole series hoping for more "alternate Wild West" you may  well be disappointed.

The whole Dark Tower idea of a parallel universe called the Territories is also part of other books like the Black House and Talisman.

Fingers of a Martyr

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#49 Books...
June 10, 2005, 12:42:04 pm
Nearly half of everything he's ever wrote links in with the DT series someway or another.

 

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