Books you are reading

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Fred Poster
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Books you are reading

Post by Fred Poster »

Can we discuss books in here? I know the title is Music, Film and TV but I am a bit of a maverick and don't follow internet forum laws...

I am trying to read a George RR Martin series but the old b*stard is refusing to finish the next book, it has been about 6 years!
While I wait, amongst other books I am currently reading Bill Hicks - Love All The People.

I don't know why I feel the need to announce this.
Last edited by Fred Poster on Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by ooh look who it is »

I think books should be in here too. We need a decent book thread.

Just finished (well a while back now) Waiting For The Man which was good. All about history of drugs and music.

Currently on Keith Allen's autobiography.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by White Goodman »

Alain de Botton - Status Anxiety
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Norridge »

I think I am reading the same book as you Mr. Poster. A Feast For Crows? Bloody hard going compared to the previous 4. And yeah, I wish the old b*stard would finish the series or there's a danger he'll pop his clogs and leave it unfinished like Robert Jordan did with the Wheel of Time.

I've also read Love all the People. Great book. Great bloke. Sadly missed.
Recently gave up on Frankie Boyle's 'My **** Life So Far' the more I read the more I disliked the bloke.
Although the bit about him getting Miles Jupp pissed out of his tree on nights before he was due to record Balamory did crack me up. :D
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Fred Poster »

Norridge, I too am worried about George's age. The sod is doing loads of other stuff and not really touching the new book - A Dance of Dragons (or something??) The rumour is that he has got a bit stuck with it.

A Feast for Crows was all over the place and took me about 2 months to read, I could'nt get stuck in, unlike with the previous books which I raced through.

Robert Jordan is a good example, he wrote about 11 books in a series and then snuffed it, I think his son wrote the last one but it could not replace the orginal author and I would have probably not read it.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Hambrosia Stu »

Fred Poster wrote:While I wait, amongst other books I am currently reading Bill Hicks - Love All The People.
Good shout for a thread :thup:

My missus turned up with that Hicks book the other day. Any good?
I had a quick flick whilst sat on the bog the other day. Seemed a bit all over the place and a bit hard to follow, if I'm honest
ooh look who it is wrote:Currently on Keith Allen's autobiography.
Any good?
I didn't know he had an autobiography out. I imagine it would be a book I would enjoy reading

Currently I am picking my way through Mirrors in the Cliffs - a selection of the best climbing essays & articles from the last few years. Kind of a stop gap, as I am "between books" at the moment (ie, have nothing lined up, which is unusual, but am hoping for a few books for xmas)

I have just finished Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer.
A very good read, about some young lad who shunned his wealthy family and the luxuries of priviledged western living, in favour of exploring America on a shoe-string. He ended up in dying of starvation, injured and stranded in the wilds of Alaska.
Throughout the book the author, who is a top mountaineer, questions why we are drawn to the wilderness. All the way through, I couldn't quite decide if the kid in question was spot on, in how he viewed the world and it's material excesses, or if he was a selfish spolit little ****!
I never really came to a conclusion, so a bit of both I guess
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by SoulCircus »

Hambrosia Stu wrote: My missus turned up with that Hicks book the other day. Any good?
I had a quick flick whilst sat on the bog the other day. Seemed a bit all over the place and a bit hard to follow, if I'm honest
The book transcribes a lot of Hicks's early stand-up shows and there is a lot of overlap so many of the jokes are repeated, especially in the early chapters, which gets a bit monotonous. The best bits are towards the end after his cancer diagnosis, his thoughts and jokes about his illness are very funny and quite moving. Worth reading just for that.

I'm currently reading 'Still Life for Woodpecker' which my girlfriend bought me for my birthday, which is all about ginger-haired people taking over the world. Be warned!
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Hambrosia Stu »

SoulCircus wrote:The book transcribes a lot of Hicks's early stand-up shows and there is a lot of overlap so many of the jokes are repeated, especially in the early chapters, which gets a bit monotonous.
:thup:
Much what I thought. Might give it a go, all the same
SoulCircus wrote:I'm currently reading 'Still Life for Woodpecker' which my girlfriend bought me for my birthday, which is all about ginger-haired people taking over the world.
I do quite like the odd horror, but that sounds like it could be a tad too scary for me! ; )
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Fred Poster »

Stu,

Pretty much what SoulCircus said. There are a lot of his stand-up routines, I think the repetition is that he took a lot of gags into different shows, but the author does go over the same ground a little with it. He was'nt around for long and was only really making it big when he died.

I worship the bloke so the book could have just been a transcript of all his stand-ups and I would have bought it. I was absolutely gutted when he died.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by warp »

mirrorshades (1986)

a short story collection, edited by bruce sterling, that 'defines' the cyberpunk genre.

:thup:
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by damiant »

other peoples money by neil forsyth
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Norridge »

Fred Poster wrote:Norridge, I too am worried about George's age. The sod is doing loads of other stuff and not really touching the new book - A Dance of Dragons (or something??) The rumour is that he has got a bit stuck with it.
Yeah that's what I'm hearing too. The release date is constantly being set back. He needs to sort it out as HBO have started work on A Game of Thrones.
Fred Poster wrote: Robert Jordan is a good example, he wrote about 11 books in a series and then snuffed it, I think his son wrote the last one but it could not replace the orginal author and I would have probably not read it.
It's not his son. It's a bloke called Brandon Peterson (I think). He's using a lot of Jordan's notes to finish the last three :shock: volumes. The first of which came out last year and was surprisingly good. The second has just been published. I'm waiting until after Xmas to buy it. Peterson's sole aim is to finish up the series so his books are driving forward a bit more. Jordan was a sod for repeating scenarios!
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Gator_Hammer »

I don't get to read a lot of fiction, but I've been running through William Gibson's later stuff...all post-2001. Not exactly sci-fi, but very good reads on the intersection of tech into our lives.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by ajarn col »

This one

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Re: Books you are reading

Post by fjthegrey »

Hambrosia Stu wrote:I have just finished Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer.
Was made into an exceptionally good film a few years ago by Sean Penn. I would strongly advise.

Currently, The Dice Man (again) by Luke Rhinehart and The Book Of Laughter And Forgetting by Milan Kundera.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by ooh look who it is »

[quote="Hambrosia Stu
Any good?
I didn't know he had an autobiography out. I imagine it would be a book I would enjoy reading

Currently I am picking my way through Mirrors in the Cliffs - a selection of the best climbing essays & articles from the last few years. Kind of a stop gap, as I am "between books" at the moment (ie, have nothing lined up, which is unusual, but am hoping for a few books for xmas)
[/quote]

It's ok. Had it sitting round for ages and thought may as well as read that before 'hopefully' receiving a nice bundle of literature at Christmas to indulge in other than the radio times.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by wayneo1974 »

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe


reading it to my daughter, last week we finished Matilda
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Fred Poster »

wayneo1974 wrote:The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe


reading it to my daughter, last week we finished Matilda
Is she explaining the long words for you? :D
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by Philosophical Dan »

Alex James out of Blur's autobiog. Nothing special.
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Re: Books you are reading

Post by ooh look who it is »

Philosophical Dan wrote:Alex James out of Blur's autobiog. Nothing special.
I have had that for about 2 years I reckon. Got as an xmas present and for some reason just never bothered or fancied reading it.

Got a pile of books I need to get round to reading. Oh well, i'm in no rush.

For some strange reason I have an urge to read Malcolm X's autobiography. Anyone on here read it?
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