Magnum Posted September 4, 2011 Posted September 4, 2011 Just finished a book called 'Fools Rush In' by a bloke called Bill Carter, as part of my new found interest in the Balkan wars (cheers to Butch for getting me started with the 'Death of Yugoslavia' documentary). It's a story about a guy who ends up in Sarajevo with a bunch of oddballs delivering humanitarian aid, having been a bit traumatised and directionless after the death of his girlfriend. It tells the tale of all the people he meets over there, and gives a really good ground-level perspective on the war from someone who, having been an outsider, becomes embroiled in the situation. He also ends up making a documentary called 'Miss Sarajevo' with the help of U2. Overall, it was a really enjoyable and quick read. Carter writes beautifully, and at times poetically, about his experience. It's the sort of book that really gives you a different perspective on life, not in a preachy 'there's always someone worse off' sort of way, but rather a thoughtful, contemplative consideration of what we can do with our time here.
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted September 4, 2011 Paid Members Posted September 4, 2011 I'm 300+ pages into A Game Of Thrones and I've got the other three (technically four) books to read. Im part way through book two and loving it.
cobystag Posted November 7, 2011 Posted November 7, 2011 500 pages into A Storm Of Swords Part 1, only one hundred pages to go and I am loving it. I can't wait for a lot of this to make film. With the short chapters, everythings really easy to read and follow and it is a real page turner as you have to know what happens next to some characters as you really do get emotionally attached.
Paid Members Foale Posted November 7, 2011 Paid Members Posted November 7, 2011 Apologies if already discussed in this thread, but has anyone else here read Shantaram? I finished it a few months back, simply the best book I've ever read. In a nutshell, it's a man's account about breaking out of an Australian prison and hiding out in Bombay, based on his true past. There's a lot more to the book than that, it's hard to sum up in a couple of sentences but I thought it was an absolute masterpiece and I'd love to hear other's opinions if they've read it too.
Paid Members DCW Posted November 7, 2011 Paid Members Posted November 7, 2011 Rough Ride by Paul Kimmage. It's about his brief career as a pro cyclist,and the doping that he witnessed firsthand in the likes of Tour De France etc,very interesting read,definitely helped by the fact that the man has turned into one hell of a sports journalist since retiring.
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted November 7, 2011 Awards Moderator Posted November 7, 2011 About halfway through The Night Eternal, the third part of Guillermo del Toro's Strain trilogy. I love how they've achieved the objective of making vampires scary again ... but the events of the second book (and this one so far) are leading me to believe it might not end happily...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted November 7, 2011 Paid Members Posted November 7, 2011 500 pages into A Storm Of Swords Part 1, only one hundred pages to go and I am loving it. I can't wait for a lot of this to make film. With the short chapters, everythings really easy to read and follow and it is a real page turner as you have to know what happens next to some characters as you really do get emotionally attached. I finished A Feast For Crows last week (don't worry no spoilers) and am very much enjoying the series. My only problem is there are some parts where it's like "this person is travelling here...allow me to describe different types of plants and bushes and the colour of the sky for a paragraph or two..." gets kinda annoying. My local library has A Dance of Dragons in but it's got four reservations against it, no idea when I'll get it.
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted November 7, 2011 Paid Members Posted November 7, 2011 Im about half way through A Dance With Dragons, its pretty much the same stuff. Though the story is moving far to slowly now.
cobystag Posted November 7, 2011 Posted November 7, 2011 I tend to not mind that as much. But then again I read LOTR with all the walking, what food they ate, what songs they sang. I was so fucked off that George R R Martins style is a breeze in comparison.
cobystag Posted November 23, 2011 Posted November 23, 2011 Finished A Feast For Crows yesterday and ordered A Dance With Dragons. A Storm Of Swords Part 2: Blood & Gold is by far my favourite in the series. Lots of drama and suspense as you feel that legitimately *any* character could be killed off next as they start dropping like flies. Some really brutal and unmerciful deaths, it doesn't matter if you love or hate these characters, odds are they're going to lead a painful rest of their short lives. A Feast For Crows was good, it just feels *odd* to only get half the story as Feast and Dance split the stories between them (Feast gets Kings Landing and the stories of the south, Dance gets The Wall and across the seas) so I'm glad that I only have to wait a few days to get it. If I would have read Feast in 05 and had to wait the six years for Dance.....
John Galt Posted November 23, 2011 Posted November 23, 2011 Is there any real reason to read John Le Carr
Trevor Posted November 24, 2011 Posted November 24, 2011 I've started reading the Da Vinci code books, I can finally see how they're so popular now.
Paid Members SiMania Posted November 24, 2011 Paid Members Posted November 24, 2011 I'm hardly well read, but Dan Brown is terrible.
Paid Members gadge Posted November 24, 2011 Paid Members Posted November 24, 2011 I found out yesterday there's another volume in Stephen King's Dark Tower series coming out in the spring. My mind doesn't comprehend how this is possibly going to work...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted November 24, 2011 Moderators Posted November 24, 2011 Those Thrones books really don't sound like I could get on with them; I'll have to stick to the TV show. I've tried to read Lord of the Rings a couple times but it was just too boring. Recently read Douglas Coupland - Generation A. Any other Doug Coupland fans on here? My favourite book of his I've read for a while.
Recommended Posts