*What book are you reading ?

[Shippou-Sensei]

Brakto, I (1986) PROLOG Programming for Artificial Intelligence Third edition Harlow: Addison-Wesley Publishers Limited

References listed using the Harvard system

can you tell i've been working a bit hard on the ol report ....
and after the degree i'm considering ceramonially burning this book

 

[J77]

Just finished Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor.

I don't know too much about Irish history but I hope the book gives a fairly accurate view.

The English landlord/Irish tenant parts reminded me of The Story of Lucy Gault which, imo, was slightly better written (and still my book of 2003).

SotS is worth reading though - 7 out of 10ish...

 

[Clintons Cat]

Facing Ali by Stephen Brunt,

Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

 

[Hellsbells]

Just read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Pretty good. Saw the film version on telly the other night - AWFUL! It really really bugs me when movies ruin books.
Currently reading The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell & am very impressed so far.
BTW, this is my 1st post & I'm Helen. I couldn't find anywhere on the boards where I could introduce myself properly. Any suggestions?

 

[Orang Utan]

Welcome Helen - introduce yourself in the Community forum, but be prepared to skin up or provide hobnobs (you'll see )

BTW I thought the film High Fidelity wasn't too bad an attempt at adapting the book cos it is not slavishly faithfull to it - hate all Hornby's other stuff though

 

[Hellsbells]

Well I did only see bits of the film & the bits I saw really annoyed me. It didn't come across as funny to me atall and the characters just seemed completely wrong and not how I'd pictured them.

I haven't read any of his other books.

Will be off to community forum in a bit.

 

[Roadkill]

Hi Helen. Welcome to u75.

Having finished Birdsong at the weekend - and rated it as one of the best books I've read for ages - I've started on a Robert Goddard novel called Set in Stone. IMO Robert Goddard's novels are often a bit samey in terms of structure - they all start with someone having a mystery posed to them by something that happens in their life, in this case the sudden death of the main character's wife, and then being sucked into some deep plot that forces them to confront their own past and some shadowy enemy - but they're always a good read. Even though you know there's going to be some epic plot twist ('cos every one of his books does) that's going to destroy all the theories you've built up so far about who's doing what, it's always just subtle enough to be unexpected. Goddard's novels are basically just escapism and they're all much of a muchness, but they're always intelligent and well-written enough to keep them interesting.

 

[Mab]

"The Righteous" by Martin Gilbert...

its basically the stories of the people who saved jews from the Nazi's, very interesting though incredibly depressing when it lists the numbers and ways people died... More a list than anything else, but worth the effort

I have just come across another Sir Martin Gilbert book " Continue to Pester Nag and Bit". Focusing on Winston Churchill.

My being Canadian I would appreciate any insight.

 

[Dubversion]

i'm jumping between
Francis Ween's How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the Earth, which is enjoyable but flawed.

Paolo Hewitt's The Looked After Kid which is about growing up in care and is very moving and insightful but makes me a bit twitchy because unless he was a preternaturally precocious kid, there's no way he had that much insight at such young ages


and Bass Culture by Lloyd Bradley, which i always seem to be dipping in and out of.

 

[thoughtfulcraig]

You have very good taste Dubversion! Francis Wheen and Bass culture are two titles sat on my shelf, they remain unread at the mo but...

Am currently reading Emergence by Steven Johnson.
Its about collective intelligence and power and change coming from the bottom up. Things like why a brain is conscious when no single neuron is. But its also about how people can change goverments and power structures and how cities evolve and communities start. I'm only a couple of chapters in, could be a really heavy book, but it seems to be well written and clear, I'll tell more when Ive finished.

I've just finished 'Duende' by Jason Webster. Its an autobiography stroke travelouge (compared to Chatwin in reviews). Hes a bored young Englishman who heards to Spain in search of Duende, the heart of flamenco. Duende is passion, that close your eyes get goosebumps on your skin type of feeling you get from good music!! Its a great book, well written, interesting (he spends some time in Madrid, living with Gypsies, stealing cars and doing coke.) and a little inspiring, although some parts, some stories seem maybe a bit embellished, a bit too unbelieveable, but it doesn't detract at all. Well recommended.

Sorry if thats a bit long for a first post! They wont all be that long..

 

[Pingu]

just started "hatful of sky" by mister pratchett


i like the diskworld stuff as it helps me escape from reality for a few hours.

ok so its a bit mainstream but hey I like em.

 

[Dubversion]

I've just finished 'Duende' by Jason Webster. Its an autobiography stroke travelouge (compared to Chatwin in reviews). Hes a bored young Englishman who heards to Spain in search of Duende, the heart of flamenco. Duende is passion, that close your eyes get goosebumps on your skin type of feeling you get from good music!! Its a great book, well written, interesting (he spends some time in Madrid, living with Gypsies, stealing cars and doing coke.) and a little inspiring, although some parts, some stories seem maybe a bit embellished, a bit too unbelieveable, but it doesn't detract at all. Well recommended.

Sorry if thats a bit long for a first post! They wont all be that long..

i heard him on Robert Elms talking about this, and it sounded amazing. he's just written one about Moorish culture in spain too, i might check that one too...

 

[Blagsta]

Peter Ackroyd - London: The Biography

 

[golightly]

'A Wild Sheep Chase' by Haruki Murakami.

 

[Shelly P]

Flipping between Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake - good, but not as immediately gripping as The Handmaid's Tale (in my opinion), and Lorna Sage Moments of Truth: Twelve Twentieth-Century Women Writers -- highly recommended.

 

[Mab]

You have very good taste Dubversion! Francis Wheen and Bass culture are two titles sat on my shelf, they remain unread at the mo but...

Am currently reading Emergence by Steven Johnson.
Its about collective intelligence and power and change coming from the bottom up. Things like why a brain is conscious when no single neuron is. But its also about how people can change goverments and power structures and how cities evolve and communities start. I'm only a couple of chapters in, could be a really heavy book, but it seems to be well written and clear, I'll tell more when Ive finished.

I've just finished 'Duende' by Jason Webster. Its an autobiography stroke travelouge (compared to Chatwin in reviews). Hes a bored young Englishman who heards to Spain in search of Duende, the heart of flamenco. Duende is passion, that close your eyes get goosebumps on your skin type of feeling you get from good music!! Its a great book, well written, interesting (he spends some time in Madrid, living with Gypsies, stealing cars and doing coke.) and a little inspiring, although some parts, some stories seem maybe a bit embellished, a bit too unbelieveable, but it doesn't detract at all. Well recommended.

Sorry if thats a bit long for a first post! They wont all be that long..

What a beautiful commentary. You have my attention and I will look into these books. Thankyou

 

[jayeola]

neal stephenson's snow crash. At p76 at the mo and very funny Read his `crypticomnicon` - fantastic book!

 

[oddjob]

chasing the dime

 

[superdodgy]

Reading Bridget Jones's Diary because all my friends are going on and on and on and on about it. Like it.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Currently absorbing "In Search of the Immortals: Discovering the World's Mummy Cultures" by Howard Reid. Creepily interesting.
also pottering through "Understanding Social Policy" by Michael Hill.

 

[chegrimandi]

Tin Drum - Gunter Grass

 

[Pol]

Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove

classic book, loving it

 

[oddjob]

thats weird. was given 'bridget jones diary' on video today.

 

[Orang Utan]

How is it weird? Nearly everyone has read it.

 

[red rose]

I just finished hitch hikers guide to the galaxy again and should be starting the rest of the 'trilogy' as soon as possible, because I absolutely love the lot.

 

[Elpenor]

The Iliad (on the bus in the morning). Last read it on a selection of Cretan buses 5 years ago, so a nice contrast.

In The Footsteps of Alexander The Great by Michael Wood after catching the last two episodes on BBC4 over the past two nights.

 

[Pickman's model]

finishing off "web of deceit: britain's real role in the world", then onto "god of small things" so have read it for the book group.

 

[Cambazola]

Struggling my way through T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as I have been on and off for the past year.

 

[jayeola]

"The Highway Code"

I've started my driving lessons so I've got to do the honours and read this classic !

An absoloute classic. I'll be joining you soon!

 

[jayeola]

I've broken one of my golden rules and am now in the middle of several books:

I also have many more books and tapes in the pipeline.

How do you aquire these audio books? Do you listen to them in the car whist you drive to work or on headphones?