What Books Are You Reading?-#3

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Jacquie, Jun 5, 2009.

  1. DocRobbinsLacky

    DocRobbinsLacky Victim

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    I just got done reading Twelfth Night. I loved it. It was really funny and witty. This summer I'm planning on reading Republic by Plato ( I know, how nerdy of me. lol)
     
  2. blackflag

    blackflag Chocoholic for Life Moderator

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    A new Jack Higgins book - The Wolf at the Door. It's another with General Ferguson, Sean Dillon, Blake Johnson, Roper and the rest of the gang. They've got someone after them. So far there's only 4 bodies (with Dillon around that's pretty good! :lol:) and the only things they got in common is that they're from the same Irish part of London and they all got a prayer card on them which, coincidentally, Dillon has one of himself.


    Susan
     
  3. Jacquie

    Jacquie Ward Girl Moderator

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    but the important part in a Higgins book is it raining yet :guffaw:I've read all of Higgins books that feature Dillon and company. They are good :)

    I'm currently reading Lost River by Stephen Booth. Ben Cooper finds an eight-year old girl in a river in the Peak District. As he gets close to the family of the girl all does not seem as it should. Meanwhile Diane Fry is off to Birmingham to deal with her own investigation.
     
  4. blackflag

    blackflag Chocoholic for Life Moderator

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    Nope. Not raining yet. :lol:

    You know, the most amazing thing in this book so far is that while there's 4 bodies - Dillon isn't personally responsible for any of them! :wtf:

    Susan
     
  5. Jacquie

    Jacquie Ward Girl Moderator

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    in true Higgins fashion that won't last long :D
     
  6. Grissom rules

    Grissom rules CSI Level Two

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    Historiography in the Twentieth century written by Georg G. Iggers.Exams are only two weeks away.:alienblush:
     
  7. talkingtocactus

    talkingtocactus Coroner

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    ^ oh, gotta love a bit of historiography! which aspects are you covering? good luck with exams!
     
  8. Shytownmofo

    Shytownmofo Lab Technician

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  9. MacsLady

    MacsLady CSI Level Two

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    I just finished 'Mr Shivers' by Robert Jackson Bennett. I really enjoyed it. It's set in Depression era America and is about a man named Connelly. Connelly's daughter was murdered by a mysterious man known only as Mr. Shivers and so Connelly has set out across the barren, ruined landscape of America to track this man down. He meets three other men, Pike, Roosevelt, and Hammond, who are also pursuing Mr Shivers as he has killed their loved ones too. They join together and continue the hunt for Mr Shivers, who always seems just out of their reach. As they travel, they encounter other hobos and travellers who recount increasingly disturbing tales about Mr Shivers, and soon begin to wonder precisely who, or what 'Mr Shivers' is.

    The book is a mix of Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' (travellers in a decimated American landscape), Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' (the Depression era setting) and horror novel, and I really enjoyed it.

    On audiobook, I just listened to the first half of Joe Hill's Twentieth Century Ghosts. Hill's stories are great. While some of them are straight-up horror/sci fi/ghost story, there are others that contain certain elements of that kind of story, but transcend the horror genre entirely. One such story is 'Pop Art'. It's about a boy called Arthur. Arthur is inflatable. Literally. It sounds absurd, but the story is so moving and sad that pretty soon that doesn't matter any more. 'Abraham's Boys' is also a great story, about two boys who are the sons of Abraham Van Helsing and who essentially have to deal with the consequences of having a famous vampire hunter for a father, and with learning their father is an altogether too human and flawed man. Great stuff and I can't wait to download the next part of the audiobook later this month.
     
  10. Vickyyy

    Vickyyy Rookie

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    I'm still reading 'On Green Dolphin Street' by Faulks and I honestly cannot recommend the book and the author highly enough. They are simply superb. My favourite book of his is still the phenomenal 'Birdsong' which if you haven't read, you must. It's one of my favourite books of all time. Absolutely amazing.
     
  11. talkingtocactus

    talkingtocactus Coroner

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    hmm that sounds intriguing - i loooove the grapes of wrath; but then again i'm not that big on horror and i think i'm the only person in the world that didn't like "the road" - i thought it was boring! if it's on the kindle shop i might take it to the states with me :)

    i'm reading a book called "blacklands" - it's kind of a trashy airport novel in a way but it's quite dark as well. it's about a boy of 12 whose uncle was killed by a serial child rapist/murderer, but the body was never found. the boy's home life is miserable because no one's got over this yet, so he writes to the killer in jail to try to find out where his uncle is buried, in his childlike naivety he thinks that will make his family alright again. it didn't start so well but now i'm half way through it's definitely got going and it's better and better as it goes along.

    it's weird tho, it's written in parallel so you get a bit on what the boy's doing and thinking followed by a bit about the serial child rapist/murderer and the latter parts are really quite disturbing - it makes you wonder about the author that they could write such detailed things about what a child rapist might feel when reminded of the children he killed. obviously i'm not for a second suggesting that the author has some kind of personal insight, but it does make you shudder a little inside.
     
  12. MacsLady

    MacsLady CSI Level Two

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    Aww, I loved The Road! But Mr Shivers seemed to me to have more in common with The Grapes of Wrath, most of the novel is about this group of men travelling across America chasing Mr. Shivers, riding illeagally on trains, living in Hoovervilles and hobo camps, encountering other travellers on the road, fixing jalopies and such. The horror-y elements only come in really strongly towards the end. For the most part it's more a thriller as you're kept wondering who/what Mr Shivers is and will they ever catch him.

    I read Blacklands a while back and enjoyed it.
     
  13. talkingtocactus

    talkingtocactus Coroner

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    ^ that does sound pretty good, i might try to download it if it's available for kindle.

    yeah it's weird about the road - given my usual tastes i really should've loved it, on paper (so to speak) it was everything i normally like, but i just didn't connect with it at all. i tried it, and by half way through i was so bored i picked up an airport novel instead. ouch.

    i'm quite enjoying it too now, it took a little while to get going but it's getting better. without wishing to spoiler, avery's just "left" so to speak, so i think it's all about to kick off!
     
  14. Grissom rules

    Grissom rules CSI Level Two

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    Thank you very much lisasimpson!!:)
    We have talked about: French historians and the Annales school,Karl Marx and the ideology of Marxism etc.
     
  15. talkingtocactus

    talkingtocactus Coroner

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    Re: What Are You Reading?-#3

    oh, i did the latter a few times, but it was a while ago so if i wanted to say anything constructive i'd have to dig out my old notes! i seem to remember quite liking the annales stuff though. i definitely preferred the later historiography stuff, the marxist historians particularly, EP Thompson is still one of my favourite historians. "the making of the english working class" = <3
     

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