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In the Wet! Loved it! Alternative reality was not around much then when i first read it as a child. He really was a very imaginative person, and vastly underrated.
Still reading Queen Victoria Demon Hunter, had to stop for a while as reality got in the way of reading. Joe Hills Horns is also on the go.
I had to leave Let the Right one in, purely and simply because I was enjoying it so much but couldn't really give it the attention it deserved so have left it until I go on holiday and then I am going to settle down and give it my undivided attention.
Have to recommend Fevre Dream, Dorothy said it was one of the best vampire books she had read, so I gave it a whirl and it is awesome. Loved it.
Hey everyone, been a long time, Hope u r all well. I am currently reading Jodi Picoult's Mercy. A good read so far but its taking me ages as I'm more inclined to browse the web and watch tv lately as work gets so busy. However, I do still "journal" at least once a week.
Promise to try and get back into writing a bit more at some point as I want to keep my creative side going.
One of my other favourite books by Nevil Shute is the one I think called The Chequerboard, could be wrong but it's a man who goes to a specialist who tells him there is a piece of shrapnel in his brain which is moving and he has about six months to live. The man takes that six months, takes off round the world, tracks down those he was with when he got shot, goes back and the last paragraph of the book is the consultant saying "well, what have you been doing since I last saw you?" I tend to write 'circle' books and he did too.
My all time favourite alternative reality book is Freda Warrington's The Court Of The Midnight King - which is stunning. It really is and it is the way all Ricardians wish history had gone ...
I decided to have a total change of pace from all of the usual YA paranormal stuff (including my own), so I'm rereading Yes Man by Danny Wallace. I love this book, and was chuckling to myself in work and on the bus ride home while I was reading it. It's hilarious. I really should've started from the beginning and read Are You Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace, as the subsequent books by each of the authors feel like natural sequels to that book - Googlewhack Adventure, and America Unchained by Dave Gorman, and Join Me, Yes Man and Friends Like These by Danny Wallace. I decided to just read Yes Man, as it's my favourite Danny Wallace book and I don't want to get immersed in a whole series that is off-topic. I'm going to start rereading the Twilight Saga when I'm finished this, and somwhere in there I'm going to try and get my writing head on.
Not sure what's up with me, but I can't get into gear. I had this problem when I was at the same point in book #2 (35k), and dropped new writing on that book in favour of editing book #1 (I get so engrossed in the current project that I can't seem to focus on writing and editing a the same time. This is a problem, as any break in my writing momentum results in a stall). Now I'm editing book #1 again, I can hear book #2 screaming out for a whole load of TLC, and all I can think about is what I'm not doing. I reckon a minor detox might do my writing brain some good.
I didn't like Labyrinth at all, Mutley, found her writing stiff and stilted and the whole, as a book didn't seem to work. i gave it back to the friend who loaned it to me and said 'interesting read' which was fair enough, I thought ...
I've recently read 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' by Agatha Christie. I am now reading short stories by Anton Chekhov - the first time I've read this author. I am enjoying his stories. He is character-driven rather than plot-driven. I thought he might be boring - but he certianly isn't.
I finished reading Northern Lights yesterday. It's on my reading list for next year and i found it in a charity shop so thought I might as well read it in the holidays when I had time :D ... didn't really want to read it... ever... so here are my thoughts on it.
i was willing to try read Northern Lights without reading into the attack on Christianity but chapter 21 goes a bit too far for my liking... whenever he has characters explaining his story (exposition) you can see thru the story as just a story and see what he is really getting across... but chapter 21 just went too far... its blasphemy in the form of an "innocent" children's book... but gladly not everyone took to liking the book because it was too philosophical for even teenagers really... i mean the first two chapters went right over my head...I might try reading the first two chapters again now to see if they make more sense...
I won't be reading the other books and I don't think Philip Pullman really wrote them to entertain children... but the get his point across the a young audience who definitely didn't understand most of it. The fact that he didn't get as much hype as Harry Potter proves that...yes there was hype about the controversy and a failed movie but I really haven't seen anyone to be as into His Dark Materials stuff as people are with Harry Potter.
now onto something more fun... a kids book... by Dick King Smith...not sure which one...i have Martin's Mice and Treasure Trove.. :D
I loved the whole set of Philip Pullman's books and didn't read into them any attack on any religion, actually. Maybe I read too 'blindly', but for me they were first class entertainment and justified their fame. I am heavily into his writing, and have totally ignored |(deliberately) the whole Harry Potter thing, which is not for me in any way shape or form.
In the middle of the first Darren Shan book, his debut. I like reading debut novels, to see what it was that got this author taken on; their later work may not match up. This is Cirque du Freak, designed to frighten child readers. Fast pace and a very coherent story; easy to read, I would imagine, for 12-year-olds.
Still in the middle of Dawn of the Demontide. That's definitely very good. And of Raven's Gate. I can't find Twilight anywhere. Our school library hasn't got it (perhaps not the sort of thing parents would want their daughters reading?) and there are no copies left in the local library. And I'm not buying it.
I finished 'The Book of Tomorrow' by Cecelia Ahern. A little on the odd side of things - I kind of saw the end coming...but I thought it was something slightly different that had happened.
Anyway I have just started reading '61 Hours' by Lee Child - the latest adventures of Jack Reacher! :)
I'm reading an alegorical book by Wayne Thomas Batson (its a kiddies book)... Wayne is a teacher in america...he teaches reading and english...
so why is his book so badly written... it feels like i'm reading a first draft of a teenager's attempt at writing when they really can't write! I really do feel like taking a pencil to it all and then sending it back to the author! It's really bad...
word choices
too many unnecessary adverbs (including some that aren't really words)
too many exclamation marks when they're not needed!
of lot of ?!
italics when they're not needed
lots of capitalisation not needed
its in third person limited perspective so really shouldn't need the character's thoughts in italics... they're not needed coz the description stuff should say all that
oh yes and he hates pronouns... Aiden this. next sentence... Aiden that... it just doesn't flow at all
sometimes he uses a word that is too old fashioned or too "posh" for the sentence... sometimes he uses dad (for aiden's dad) and sometimes he uses father...
ST: just his word choice sometimes didn't fit in with the context of the sentence...i can't find the examples anymore... but i was reading it aloud after I wrote that and had a pencil in my hand... lots of editing
Nutmeg, this over-repetition of the protagonist's name instead of using pronouns seems to be growing. Robert Muchamore does it in his Cherub books and it irritates me too.
Just finished Thomas Keneally's: A River Town - it was wonderful.
This Australian author wrote Schindler's Ark (filmed as Schindler's List) and his writing is superb.
Today I finished "The Houses In Between" by Howard Spring, which I found deeply moving (still, been read several times already) and began Nevil Shute's The Rainbow And The Rose. Very much in the past still, me.
I've finished '61 Hours' by Lee Child - it ends on a cliffhanger!!! Can't wait for next one to be published.
I have also read 'Operation Sunshine' by Jenny Colgan, and 'Crazy in Love' by Chrissie Manby [who I'm sure used to go by the name Chris Manby]. I got them free with magazines - they didn't take long to read.
I am currently reading 'Revenge' by Sharon Osbourne [yes you heard me right - Sharon Osbourne]. It's not bad so far.
And I am planning on reading some more Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle at some point...oh and some Edgar Allan Poe.
I'm reading 'Heir to Sevenwaters', an historical fantasy by Juliet Marillier. She's a local (Perth, Western Australian) author and is coming to our little backwater in a couple of weeks to talk to the Writing Group. I've read a lot of her books and can't wait to meet her. Her books are based on Celtic mythology.
I loved the Sevenwaters trilogy when I read them a few years back but didn't realise she'd written "Heir To Sevenwaters" - is it a sequel/prequel or standalone?
Just finished Lindsey Davis' "Rebels and Traitors" - an epic tome.
Miracle Foods for Kids ... I made them carrot cake last week so they'd scoff carrots. Only one out of three ate it. :( the other two said, and I sigh, "there's too many carrots in it."
Halfway through 'The Other Hand' by Chris Cleave, can't put it down, whch is a good sign as everything else I've started recently I haven't finished. Not sure why but other stuff going on and reading has taken a bit of a back seat. This book though is compulsive.
went sideways from Nevil Shute to finish a book I was carrying around for lunch time reading, Gerald Seymour's Walking Dead. Stunning and brilliant and you could not see where any of the diverse characters and storylines were going - although you knew they had to come together somehow. So good.
I just have entered what I'm reading at the moment on another forum (writing4all.ie) and spotted the same thread in this one so I'll repeat it while it's in my head.
I am still dipping in and out of Wolf Hall, a book on how to write poetry the author of which I can't remember and I'm in work at the minute so can't look it up, a book that combines Irish art and poetry (excellent -I keep going back to this) and PD James' Children of Men.
Just finished Dead In The Family and Harlen Coben's 'Caught'. Can't decide what to read next - I'm half-way through Jane Green's 'Girl Friday', so might finish that. Although - after reading the favourite childhood titles thread, I'm tempted to re-read some of them!
[quote=Celtic C]I loved the Sevenwaters trilogy when I read them a few years back but didn't realise she'd written "Heir To Sevenwaters" - is it a sequel/prequel or standalone?[/quote] Sorry, CC, I only just saw your question. "Heir to Sevenwaters" has many of the same characters, but I'm pretty sure you could read it if you hadn't read the others.
I'm reading The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy in e-book form. It is funny at times but there are so many ironical messages, reading it today in the society we live in they are relevent in a way they wouldn't have been when it was written.
Last Call by Tim Powers, which I got for 40p from the library. Intriguing, most of it is beyond my comprehension, not being card player, (it's based around poker) but oh the writing and the involved storyline and the compelling characters! One very good buy, methinks.
I keep seeing references to The Waste Land by TS Eliot throughout this book so have ordered a copy from Amazon. Now that is online shopping I am very happy to do ...
Just finished Twilight. Again. Now, I'm going to start New Moon. Again. Just getting myself prepared for the Eclipse movie release. When is that? I can't remember. No, wait, I know... It's TWO WEEKS TODAY!!! Yaaaaay!! Hahahaha! :D
[quote=Carol]I'm reading The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy in e-book form. It is funny at times but there are so many ironical messages, reading it today in the society we live in they are relevent in a way they wouldn't have been when it was written. [/quote]
Douglas Adams was a visionary, so it's no surprise the themes and ideas are still relevant today. Hitchhikers was written a radio comedy before he turned it into a book but it has to be remembered he was a young man then with a very strong interest in science and technology so he just took his weird and wonderful ideas and took them to the extreme. They may seem ironic now but remember here was a man who saw what technology and advances in electronic communication would be able to do years ahead of his time. I read somewhere he was one of the first people in the UK to get an AppleMac and he was using email before it was common practice. Add to this his huge interest in green issues it's possible to see just how visionary his writing is.
Carol-he would have loved the fact you are reading 'Hitchhikers' on an e-book :)
Just finished Dawn of the Demontide. Very good and an inspiration. The taster at the end for the sequel, Gallows at Twilight, looks really good. No wonder William Hussey got snapped up as shown in Tracy's blogsite.
I might take a side turn away from conventional reading next, and dig back into a load of research I did on the French Revolution. I've had an idea.
I'm reading Jane Gardham Bilgewater for our book group and I must say as yet I am not loving it. I realised I really didn't care about the lead character.
Comments
I had to leave Let the Right one in, purely and simply because I was enjoying it so much but couldn't really give it the attention it deserved so have left it until I go on holiday and then I am going to settle down and give it my undivided attention.
Have to recommend Fevre Dream, Dorothy said it was one of the best vampire books she had read, so I gave it a whirl and it is awesome. Loved it.
Promise to try and get back into writing a bit more at some point as I want to keep my creative side going.
Jen : )
My all time favourite alternative reality book is Freda Warrington's The Court Of The Midnight King - which is stunning. It really is and it is the way all Ricardians wish history had gone ...
Not sure what's up with me, but I can't get into gear. I had this problem when I was at the same point in book #2 (35k), and dropped new writing on that book in favour of editing book #1 (I get so engrossed in the current project that I can't seem to focus on writing and editing a the same time. This is a problem, as any break in my writing momentum results in a stall). Now I'm editing book #1 again, I can hear book #2 screaming out for a whole load of TLC, and all I can think about is what I'm not doing. I reckon a minor detox might do my writing brain some good.
*SA*
Definitely a brain detox, SA!
i was willing to try read Northern Lights without reading into the attack on Christianity but chapter 21 goes a bit too far for my liking... whenever he has characters explaining his story (exposition) you can see thru the story as just a story and see what he is really getting across... but chapter 21 just went too far... its blasphemy in the form of an "innocent" children's book... but gladly not everyone took to liking the book because it was too philosophical for even teenagers really... i mean the first two chapters went right over my head...I might try reading the first two chapters again now to see if they make more sense...
I won't be reading the other books and I don't think Philip Pullman really wrote them to entertain children... but the get his point across the a young audience who definitely didn't understand most of it. The fact that he didn't get as much hype as Harry Potter proves that...yes there was hype about the controversy and a failed movie but I really haven't seen anyone to be as into His Dark Materials stuff as people are with Harry Potter.
now onto something more fun... a kids book... by Dick King Smith...not sure which one...i have Martin's Mice and Treasure Trove.. :D
Still in the middle of Dawn of the Demontide. That's definitely very good. And of Raven's Gate. I can't find Twilight anywhere. Our school library hasn't got it (perhaps not the sort of thing parents would want their daughters reading?) and there are no copies left in the local library. And I'm not buying it.
Anyway I have just started reading '61 Hours' by Lee Child - the latest adventures of Jack Reacher! :)
so why is his book so badly written... it feels like i'm reading a first draft of a teenager's attempt at writing when they really can't write! I really do feel like taking a pencil to it all and then sending it back to the author! It's really bad...
word choices
too many unnecessary adverbs (including some that aren't really words)
too many exclamation marks when they're not needed!
of lot of ?!
italics when they're not needed
lots of capitalisation not needed
its in third person limited perspective so really shouldn't need the character's thoughts in italics... they're not needed coz the description stuff should say all that
oh yes and he hates pronouns... Aiden this. next sentence... Aiden that... it just doesn't flow at all
sometimes he uses a word that is too old fashioned or too "posh" for the sentence... sometimes he uses dad (for aiden's dad) and sometimes he uses father...
its just really annoying...
This Australian author wrote Schindler's Ark (filmed as Schindler's List) and his writing is superb.
I have also read 'Operation Sunshine' by Jenny Colgan, and 'Crazy in Love' by Chrissie Manby [who I'm sure used to go by the name Chris Manby]. I got them free with magazines - they didn't take long to read.
I am currently reading 'Revenge' by Sharon Osbourne [yes you heard me right - Sharon Osbourne]. It's not bad so far.
And I am planning on reading some more Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle at some point...oh and some Edgar Allan Poe.
Just finished Lindsey Davis' "Rebels and Traitors" - an epic tome.
I am still dipping in and out of Wolf Hall, a book on how to write poetry the author of which I can't remember and I'm in work at the minute so can't look it up, a book that combines Irish art and poetry (excellent -I keep going back to this) and PD James' Children of Men.
I've also read 'The ABC Murders' by Agatha Christie and am currently reading 'Bullet' by Laurell K Hamilton. A curious mix of authors I know.
I keep seeing references to The Waste Land by TS Eliot throughout this book so have ordered a copy from Amazon. Now that is online shopping I am very happy to do ...
*SA*
Douglas Adams was a visionary, so it's no surprise the themes and ideas are still relevant today. Hitchhikers was written a radio comedy before he turned it into a book but it has to be remembered he was a young man then with a very strong interest in science and technology so he just took his weird and wonderful ideas and took them to the extreme. They may seem ironic now but remember here was a man who saw what technology and advances in electronic communication would be able to do years ahead of his time. I read somewhere he was one of the first people in the UK to get an AppleMac and he was using email before it was common practice. Add to this his huge interest in green issues it's possible to see just how visionary his writing is.
Carol-he would have loved the fact you are reading 'Hitchhikers' on an e-book :)
http://www.douglasadams.com/dna/19990901-00-a.html
I might take a side turn away from conventional reading next, and dig back into a load of research I did on the French Revolution. I've had an idea.