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Recently finished Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

About half-way through Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

Ell
 
Thanks for the mini-review beard bandit :D

I agree with you on Space Machine. The first half of the book is the best but the second half is pretty much H.G Wells book so if you have read that, ( lucky I had not ), then you would feel a bit cheated. I can't make my mind up about this author. I read The Prestige by him and LOVED it. I have read a work of short stories by him but was not so keen. The writing was wonderful but the stories were too samey. I will probably buy something else by him as he seems very talented.

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
Ell said:
Recently finished Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

About half-way through Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

Ell

What did you think of Pattern Recognition Ell? I always consider getting it but have been unsure for a very long time indeed!!!

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
I finally managed to drag myself through The Earthsea Quartet, and I'm sorry Wabbit, but I didn't like it. The second story was ok, but I found the rest really dull. You could see what the ending would be as soon as you were told the problem, and it seemed to drag on forever.

So yesterday I started Natural History by Justina Robson. It's sci fi set in a future of genetic engineering gone bonkers. I've only read three chapters, but the alien artefact that's mentioned in the blurb has already been discovered and the story is chugging along quite well.
 
What did you think of Pattern Recognition Ell? I always consider getting it but have been unsure for a very long time indeed!!!
I loved it, was on the way to giving it 4 out of 5 stars, . . . until the ending! It was a quite a letdown. :mad:

Gibson started a number of very intriguing threads, then ended everything very abruptly. In addition, the many loose ends were tied up too tidily and didn't ring true to the story I had been reading.

Would I recommend it? Like I said, the first 3/4s of the book was fascinating, so I'd say, buy a cheap used copy or borrow it from the library and if you have my reaction, you won't be so annoyed. :cool:

Ell
 
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I am currently reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure for school. Anyone who has read it before can also say that they feel terribly sorry for what Jude, the protagonist, goes through.
 
Ell said:
Gibson started a number of very intriguing threads, then ended everything very abruptly. In addition, the many loose ends were tied up too tidily and didn't ring true to the story I had been reading.

Don't you hat when that happens? I can't tell you how many times I've read a book and felt completely let down in the last 25 to 30 pages. As if all the things that take 300+ pages to build up can be resolved in a few paragraphs. It's like you can spend a whole chapter talking about making camp for the night by a river, but finally defeating evil, saving the world, and living happily ever after can get done in a page or two. :rolleyes:
 
{Tigress} said:
Don't you hat when that happens? I can't tell you how many times I've read a book and felt completely let down in the last 25 to 30 pages. As if all the things that take 300+ pages to build up can be resolved in a few paragraphs. It's like you can spend a whole chapter talking about making camp for the night by a river, but finally defeating evil, saving the world, and living happily ever after can get done in a page or two. :rolleyes:
Exactly! I'd rather have an open-ended story like Oryx and Crake than one where I feel the author is writing an ending just for the sake of writing an ending.

Ell
 
Ell said:
Exactly! I'd rather have an open-ended story like Oryx and Crake than one where I feel the author is writing an ending just for the sake of writing an ending.

Ell
Yep, me too. And it's doubly bad for me because I don't like books to end at all. Since I read for the characters, I wanna know what happens in the "happily ever after" part, and it's bad enough that books can't go on forever, but then to go ahead and turn that knife you just stabbed me with by cutting the ending SHORT... well that's the quickest way to completely lose my interest in anything you write.

This is probably why I enjoy Fantasy so much. Not that Fantasy authors are any better than any other writers at coming up with good endings, but at least I can usually read three or more books before I'm forced to say goodbye to those lovely people I've just met. :)
 
I just started Abhorsen, the final part of Garth Nix's trilogy, last night. If it's as good as Sabriel and Lirael, then I'd definitely recommend it! :)
 
{Tigress} said:
This is probably why I enjoy Fantasy so much. Not that Fantasy authors are any better than any other writers at coming up with good endings, but at least I can usually read three or more books before I'm forced to say goodbye to those lovely people I've just met. :)
You're a series writer's dream! ;)

Ell
 
Sazón said:
I am currently reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure for school. Anyone who has read it before can also say that they feel terribly sorry for what Jude, the protagonist, goes through.

I did at the beginning, but toward the end I felt like his own decisions brought about the tragedies in his life. I hate it when I spend an entire book screaming at the main character, "Why did you do that! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Not a big Hardy fan here. Just too depressing. :(
 
Litany said:
I finally managed to drag myself through The Earthsea Quartet, and I'm sorry Wabbit, but I didn't like it. The second story was ok, but I found the rest really dull. You could see what the ending would be as soon as you were told the problem, and it seemed to drag on forever.

So yesterday I started Natural History by Justina Robson. It's sci fi set in a future of genetic engineering gone bonkers. I've only read three chapters, but the alien artefact that's mentioned in the blurb has already been discovered and the story is chugging along quite well.

Well... it was a very long time since I read that lol Maybe I would find it crappy now days since im not that into fantasy anymore! New one sounds cool tho. :)

Ell said:
I loved it, was on the way to giving it 4 out of 5 stars, . . . until the ending! It was a quite a letdown.

Gibson started a number of very intriguing threads, then ended everything very abruptly. In addition, the many loose ends were tied up too tidily and didn't ring true to the story I had been reading.

Would I recommend it? Like I said, the first 3/4s of the book was fascinating, so I'd say, buy a cheap used copy or borrow it from the library and if you have my reaction, you won't be so annoyed.

OK, thanks for the lowdown! Not sure I wanna buy it now lol I am not really a Gibson fan but this one sounded interesting to me. Mmmm, if it's in a second hand store, will buy :)

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
Just finished "Toll for the Brave" - Jack Higgins. Never read any of his stuff before. Loved it - plenty of twists, mind games and Martial Arts. :cool:
 
Just finished Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents -> it was quite cute. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit.

Now onto Crossed Bones by Carolyn Haines, but I probably won't get to start that until after this weekend (we're officially moving tomorrow, so I must thoroughly clean everything today).
 
BTW, good luck with the move :)

At the moment I am reading A painted house By John Grisham. This is my first encounter with him. I'm not sure what to make of it :) It's ok so far. I want to write more about it when I have finished it :)

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
SillyWabbit said:
BTW, good luck with the move :)

At the moment I am reading A painted house By John Grisham. This is my first encounter with him. I'm not sure what to make of it :) It's ok so far. I want to write more about it when I have finished it :)

Regards
SillyWabbit

Thanks.


I'm interested in what you have to say about A Painted House - since most of his books are legal "thrillers" and it is not, I wonder how it compares. I've only read a few of his books, but they've all been of the legal thriller-type.
 
Alice McDermott - Child of my Heart.

About 7/8 thru, another charming book about a sensitive teenage girl completely WITHOUT A PLOT. Not sure how I keep finding these, this one was a random loan from my brother, but am getting annoyed. sigh.
 
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