Re: What are you reading?
 

A Short History of everything - Bill Bryson

Just an amazing book that covers all the things that I never really got hold of at school and subsequently have wondered about, but never been able to easily find out about.

I will give you examples:

How did the universe begin and what is "out there"?
How did the earth come to be like it is?
What is above and below us
Geology - what's that all about?
What was Einstein on about?
Particle physics. Huh?
How did life and then humans evolve?
Is there life on Mars? Ziggy plays guitar. Isn't it? Wasn't it?

Bryson writes in a way that enables really complicated subjects to be conveyed in just enough detail for you to get a basic handle on the.
How he does it is genius.

If you fancy know a little bit about loans of things. Read this book.

Re: What are you reading?
 

The thing about Strata and Dark Side of the Sun is that, like with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, Pterry was very much "finding his feet" with his writing style and developing the concepts that would later appear in the Discworld stories of today. It's interesting spotting precursors of what was to come.

Just read:

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin

Hmm, I'd heard good things about RR, but this one was pretty disappointing.

Ok, he had some nice ideas, but I felt they were rather shoved together without much regard for the whole

Some of the jokes felt very laboured and occasionally he drops into "unnecessarily crude" mode for a bit for no good reason that I could see apart from to use a rude word or make a dirty joke.

Not very impressive overall.

Re: What are you reading?
 

The magic cottage, it is a horror story and not bad so far

Re: What are you reading?
 

I'm reading the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, I expected it to be a bit more challenging but so far it's a bit obvious, hope it improves.

Re: What are you reading?
 

"Dead Run" PJ Tracy

http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Search/Q...059850,00.html

Re: What are you reading?
 

I'm just about to start the Da Vinci Code - so I hope it lives up to my expectations.

I'm sure it will be much better than The Night of the Triffids - which I'm reading at the moment.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good sequel (I've read it before this is a re-read). But it is a tad predictable and not a patch on the original :)

Re: What are you reading?
 

Nursing, hopsital and home as I have to scrub up on some of my techniques.

Re: What are you reading?
 

The Bourne Identity....and then will carry on to the next two Bourne novels. Thats what I'm going to read on hols.............

Re: What are you reading?
 

I'm reading "The Burning Girl" can''t remember who its by and some daft psychology book about how SKinners box was actually a good thing to happen !!


YES ok I am strange !

Re: What are you reading?
 

Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Bourne Ultimatum
Bourne Legacy

;)

Re: What are you reading?
 

Tnx for that. I would like to add that it's a good thing they didn't put the 4th novel in with the other 3 in my edition 'cos it's heavy and thick enough as it is. Amazon really ought to indicate if a book you are about to buy from them is 2 inches thick and weight a few kilos! :disturbd:

Re: What are you reading?
 

Andy MacNab Bravo 2 Zero. If you have not read it get it as its amazing.
Chris Ryan The one that got away. Please read both books.

Re: What are you reading?
 

Most recently I've read "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell" by Susanna Clarke and "Rats and Gargoyles" by Mary Gentle.

The first one was an excellent book. It's her first novel and a weighty tome (possibly a bit too weighty, I think there could have been a little more editing done) but none the less it's a fascinating read.

It's set in a parallel 19th Century Britain, one where magic had existed, but had fallen out of use (there are still people who call themselves "magicians", but most are simply gentlemen who read about the subject and write articles without actually *doing* any magic! :) ). Then along comes Mr Norell of the title who *does* do magic, but seems intent on keeping all the books of magic in his own hands and not sharing them with anyone and, indeed, stopping anyone else from even attempting magic.

There's a lot of background to it, where the north of England used to be ruled by John Uskglass, The Raven King and who also ruled The Faerie Lands and it's detailed and well constructed.

Apart from, as mentioned, it being a little over-written, the writing is very good, there are no major anachronisms that drop you back into the 21st Century and there's some good humorous bits that aren't forced or laboured.

Overall it's a very good fantasy story and well worth a read.

The second book, Rats and Gargoyles, however, is another one of those rare books that I just gave up on because I just *couldn't* keep reading it, which is a shame because I'd previously enjoyed another Mary Gentle story called "Grunts".

But R&G is annoying. It's written in short sentences. The book doesn't flow. It's broken up and jerky. Every time something starts, it stops. What's even more annoying is that when someone starts talking or doing a bit of plot exposition, it's suddenly interrupted by a description of their aching feet or the clothes they're wearing or them scratching their bum that starts to drive you nuts after a while.

It's got a nice Fantasy background and there are some interesting ideas in there, but they're buried under the weight of a rather bad writing style.

Not one I'd recommend.

Re: What are you reading?
 

I've noticed Jonathan Strange in Borders a few times, but never decided to actually pick it up.

I think I might now, after your review :)

Re: What are you reading?
 

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. Didn't think I'd like his books but I've not put it down!!!!