claretnbluejersey Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 In no particular order; Perfume - patrick suskind any Iain (M) banks The Beach - alex garland fall of Hyperion, Ilium, Olympos - Dan Simmons /sf Idoru - william gibson /sf any terry pratchet any ian McEwan Kitchen Confidential - allain bourdain other good authors include, jon courtney-grimwood /sf, howard marks /biog, neal asher /sf, mary doria-russel, annie proulx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 11, 2009 Moderator Share Posted August 11, 2009 Just finished 'Big Boy Did It And Ran Away' by Christopher Brookmyre - very funny and typical of his work... I'm a huge fan of CB and his latest Pandemonium just hit the doorstep, cant wait to read it (unfortunately I won't start it for a couple of weeks) but yes Christopher Brookmyre, is both amusing an intelligent in a very dark way, he should get a much wider audience than he has (For our American readers, the closest your side of the pond is probably Carl Hiaassen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 11, 2009 Moderator Share Posted August 11, 2009 any Iain (M) banks Take the M away and he's brilliant put it in and he's abysmal imo Again for those that don't know, the M is put in his name for his Sci-Fi which personally I find impossible to read. His "normal" fiction probably makes him Britains most talented author (again imho) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 11, 2009 Moderator Share Posted August 11, 2009 My current read is called Inverting the Pyramid, a History of Football Tactics by Johnathon Wilson Good read so far, learning a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sureshot Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Reading JG's book right now which is good stuff so far, and have quite a few others to get through such as Cantona's new biography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted August 14, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted August 14, 2009 any Iain (M) banks Take the M away and he's brilliant put it in and he's abysmal imo Again for those that don't know, the M is put in his name for his Sci-Fi which personally I find impossible to read. His "normal" fiction probably makes him Britains most talented author (again imho) I started reading Excession about 2 months ago, one of his sci fi works and the first I'd read in his Culture series. It's a slog and a half. It's not even long. There's just something about it that makes it very hard going, I'm quite disappointed. I get the ideas in it, I can follow the story easily, I just can't quite get into it. I hit 300 pages in a week of casually reading it and since then it's been a couple of pages at a time before it gets the best of me again. I really do agree that he's absolutely brilliant in his straight fiction though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsonp Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Kitchen Confidential - allain bourdain Wasn't that Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsonp Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 For my holiday I have just purchased Coming back to me by Marcus Trescothick Provided you dont kiss me 20 years with Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton Homicide by David Simon So will let you know what I think of these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Just won a hard back copy of "Evil Spirits", Oliver Reed's biography, off eBay for £1.27 (under £4 with postage). Can't wait :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted August 18, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted August 18, 2009 any Iain (M) banks Take the M away and he's brilliant put it in and he's abysmal imo Again for those that don't know, the M is put in his name for his Sci-Fi which personally I find impossible to read. His "normal" fiction probably makes him Britains most talented author (again imho) I started reading Excession about 2 months ago, one of his sci fi works and the first I'd read in his Culture series. It's a slog and a half. It's not even long. There's just something about it that makes it very hard going, I'm quite disappointed. I get the ideas in it, I can follow the story easily, I just can't quite get into it. I hit 300 pages in a week of casually reading it and since then it's been a couple of pages at a time before it gets the best of me again. I really do agree that he's absolutely brilliant in his straight fiction though. I did warn you... I think it's one of his least succesful ones; the ships' characters don't really come across at all, so even if you can follow the story, its quite hard to care about the protagonists. Try the Use of Weapons or The Player of Games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiganvillain Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I'm the reverse of Bicks. I get every M as soon as I can, I've read 2 of the straight fiction, they're OK but no more than that Than again I've been reading science fiction for 40 years so I'm probably biased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 18, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted August 18, 2009 I'm the reverse of Bicks. I get every M as soon as I can, I've read 2 of the straight fiction, they're OK but no more than that Than again I've been reading science fiction for 40 years so I'm probably biasedWell I'm a total Banks slut - I love both the "M"s and the "non-M"s. Funnily enough I've recently come back to reading some of the Golden Age SF that I loved 40 years ago. Currently on Poul Anderson's 1971 Hugo nominee "Tau Zero". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 Anyone read any Andy McNab stuff? I just got his first one, Remote Control, off eBay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 Remote Control's quite good. His autobiography was a very interesting read too. Immediate Action I believe or something like that. Thoroughly absorbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCLaura Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 Tonight I will be reading a book loaned to me by my boss called 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 Just finished 'Porno' by Irvine Welsh. Sequel to Trainspotting and looks like the film is pretty much nailed on to be made (minus Mr Mcgregor). Can't wait, will be awesome if the books anything to go by, although it will have to be heavily toned down to make it onto the screen. Next book I'm going to get stuck into is Mick Foley's autobiography 'Have a Nice Day'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 Tonight I will be reading a book loaned to me by my boss called 'The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne. I have that, its shit Its 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' by Steig Larsson pour moi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted September 29, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted September 29, 2009 Just finished 'Porno' by Irvine Welsh. Sequel to Trainspotting and looks like the film is pretty much nailed on to be made (minus Mr Mcgregor). Great book, although I still think 'Filth' is his best. What a word removed that Bruce Robertson is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa_Rosa Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Thought I'd give this a bump. Just finishing House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe after loving A Touch Of Love and The Rotters Club. This one not so good though - too many convenient coincidences to make it credible. Recently enjoyed The Black Echo by Michael Connolly and Hemingway's Farewell To Arms. The Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman was alright, but nowt special. Got Iain Banks Transition lined up next. Can't wait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted November 5, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted November 5, 2009 Just finishing House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe after loving A Touch Of Love and The Rotters Club. This one not so good though - too many convenient coincidences to make it credible.Agreed on all counts. I've just finished Geoffrey Household's "Rogue Male" - 1939 man-on-the-run thriller, very good indeed. And just started Susanna Clark's "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell", as suggested by my missus. Not at all sure about it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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