What have you read recently?

[jo25]

I just read:

Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The gift of Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
The little friend - Donna Tart
The bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstadt
Brick Lane - Monica Ali.

All good books, although I especially liked life of Pi.

 

[Martin]

All good books, although I especially liked life of Pi.

Cool, I have that one on my shelf! I'll be picking it up pretty soon (well, after I finish the 900-page Cryptonomicon, which is fantastic, by the way).

Cheers, Martin

 

[jo25]

Life of Pi is definitely worthwile reading. I'm still amazed how someone manages to fill 450 pages just talking about a guy (plus some animals) in a lifeboat.

I finished the book last week and I just bought Vernon God Little, which I'll probably start reading this weekend.

 

[Martin]

Yeah, Vernon God Little, I've been seeing that title all over the place. I hear it's kinda Catcher in the Rye-ish.

Let me know what you think!

Oh, and a silly question Jo, but to what bookstore do you usually go?

Cheers, Martin

 

[Hannibal]

Just finished Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle last night. I had been in the mood for espionage (a rare thing) and this was just what the doctor ordered...very good read.

Next: Necroscope V: Deadspawn
Wickedly good vampire series and I can't WAIT to get into the fifth installment!!

 

[Ell]

Just finished Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Very good book - but one that makes you feel bruised and battered by the time you get through it.

Ell

 

[jo25]

Yeah, Vernon God Little, I've been seeing that title all over the place. I hear it's kinda Catcher in the Rye-ish.

Let me know what you think!

Oh, and a silly question Jo, but to what bookstore do you usually go?

Cheers, Martin

I mostly visit Donner in Rotterdam, because that one is the nearest bookstore with a decent collection of English books. And when I'm in Amsterdam I always visit Waterstone's and the American Book Center.
Where do you usually go?

 

[Martin]

Exactly the same stores!

I can't go to Rotterdam without going to Donner, it's just bloody huge! And the same goes for Amsterdam and Waterstones & The American Book Center.

I spend a lot of time in Utrecht, as I go to University there, so I spend a lot of time at Broese (the Utrecht-branch of Donner). Not as good as Donner, but a hell of a lot of fun!

By the way, nice avatar.

Cheers, Martin

 

[Ell]

. . .Cryptonomicon, which is fantastic, by the way

Martin, so glad to hear you're enjoying Cryptonomicon! Haven't had much luck finding many others who've read it. Tell me what you think after you're done.

Ell

 

[Electra]

read not long ago.

Dead to the world by Charlaine Harris

Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix

Like a Charm by Karin Slaughter and others

Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Just bought homecoming by Christine Golden on reading that now, then on to ‘the woven path’ by Robin Jarvis.

 

[Martin]

Martin, so glad to hear you're enjoying Cryptonomicon! Haven't had much luck finding many others who've read it. Tell me what you think after you're done.

I will, Ell. You'll just have to wait a while - I'm a slow reader.

I read your review, by the way - great review!! And a great site you have going on too!!

Cheers, Martin

 

[Ell]

Thanks, Martin. Haven't had much time to work on it lately - doubles as my book journal.

Ell

 

[Artemis]

Well, I just finished Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Next I'm reading Pride and Prejudice (as well as the Harry Potter series again).

 

[adity]

the book i have read recently

recently i have read godfather!
one of the classics
wanted to see movie based on it first as heard a lot abt it
but didnt coz it wud have killed the fun of reading the novel!
well it was good, prety short n well written!
gr8 job by mario puzzo!
P.S. can anybdy tell me howsthe "FAMILY" written by mario puzzo ?

 

[novella]

recently i have read godfather!
one of the classics
wanted to see movie based on it first as heard a lot abt it
but didnt coz it wud have killed the fun of reading the novel!
well it was good, prety short n well written!
gr8 job by mario puzzo!
P.S. can anybdy tell me howsthe "FAMILY" written by mario puzzo ?

I'm guessing that English is not your first language. The Godfather by Mario Puzo was undoubtedly his best book and it's great that you enjoyed it. Mythologically (a theory that I support fully) is that Martin Scorscese created a masterpiece screenplay from an okay book. There are much better books that Puzo's.

For instance, you might enjoy White Tiger, The Honourable Schoolboy, The Paperboy, even a John Grisham novel. All of these can be lots of fun.

 

[Pigeon]

Well, I just finished Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Next I'm reading Pride and Prejudice (as well as the Harry Potter series again).

All great picks, Artemis! Pride and Prejudice is a personal favorite mine. I have a bit of an attachment to Mr. Darcy, I must admit Certainly my fave Austen novel, though Emma and Sense and Sensibility are also great. And I will be rereading Harry in the neat future, too.

 

[Patchwork Girl]

Books I've read so far this year (that's just how recent I'll get):

1. Scar Tissue ~ Anthony Kiedis
2. Chocolat ~ Joanne Harris
3. Wolves Of The Calla ~ Stephen King
4. Abarat ~ Clive Barker
5. Last Chance Saloon ~ Marian Keyes
6. Only Human ~ Tom Holt
7. The Catcher In The Rye ~ J. D. Salinger
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four ~ George Orwell
9. Refugee Boy ~ Benjamin Zephaniah
10. Song Of Susannah ~ Stephen King
11. Second Prize ~ Chris Manby
12. Lord of the Flies ~ William Golding
13. Flatmates ~ Chris Manby
14. The Portable Door ~ Tom Holt
15. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ~ C. S. Lewis [PR]
16. Insomnia ~ Stephen King
17. Onwards and Upwards ~ Arabella Weir
18. Memoirs Of A Geisha ~ Arthur Golden
19. Animal Farm ~ George Orwell [PR]
20. Eagles and Angels ~ Juli Zeh
21. Burning Worm ~ Carl Tighe
22. Good Omens ~ Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
23. The Stand ~ Stephen King
24. Escape ~ Kate Cann
25. American Psycho ~ Bret Easton Ellis
26. Fight Club ~ Chuck Palahniuk
27. Pastoralia (Stories) ~ George Saunders
28. Smell ~ Radhika Jha
29. Outcast ~ José Latour
30. Unchained Melanie ~ Judy Astley
31. The Fellowship of the Ring ~ JRR Tolkien [PR]
32. The Well of Lost Plots ~ Jasper Fforde
33. The Two Towers ~ JRR Tolkien
34. Finding Myself ~ Toby Litt
35. The Noodle Maker ~ Ma Jian
36. The Hitman Diaries ~ Danny King
37. Cloud Of Sparrows ~ Takashi Matsuoka

 

[jaycee]

Lately I've been reading the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton. I got through 4 books so far I think. I bought the next 2 books in that series I will get to them sometime soon. And of course I've been reading the new Star Trek books. I get those from the library cause now new books are $11.99...that is freaking ridiculous. But every second Tuesday of the month the new Star Trek's are in the library so it's all working out so far! OK I've rambled enough.

 

[MStateU4Ever]

I just read a great book called wind in the night. It was by some author named aaron arkens. He's only thirteen! Besides the price the books great. I bought it cheap online though.

 

[Sybarite]

After not doing very much reading for most of the year because of studying, I've got back into the swing recently.

I read Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park for the first time – an excellent thriller. So much athmosphere that you can almost taste the vodka. So good, I've already bought the next two Arkady Renko books.

Then John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey. It was the first Rumpole I'd read and I didn't really see any of the TV series – although it's impossible to read the stories without hearing Leo McKern in your mind.

Really excellent. Very funny in a quite dark and quietly understated English way. Our eponymous hero is a wonderful and complex creation – a romatic lover of poetry who is most at ease with the 'criminal classes'; an anti-Establishment member of said Establishment. Vain but yet completely uninterested in personal appearance.

Then I read Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's – very good, but with a vast number of similarities to Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin (Sally Bowles and Holly Golightly could be twins).

And now I've returned to the second half of Émile Zola's Nana.