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The Last Book You Read

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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby barnaclelapse » Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:58 am

I need to go through "The Dark Tower" again. I read the first two, but then I got hung up on other things.

For what it's worth, the first two were quite good.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Forever Jung » Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:14 pm

:twisted: Hi Barnie.
Long time no see dude.

I'll check them out. 8-)
Hearts In Atlantis, one of his short stories (I forget the title right now, but it was about a hospital run by vampire nurse nuns :? ) and Insomnia have all taken me close to the world of The Dark Tower, but not all the way in.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Patrick » Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:20 pm

I've gone through the Dune saga again. It must be the tenth time in about as many years.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby woggle » Sun Dec 02, 2012 8:21 pm

Miranda - is it just me?

Loved it , made me laff constantly which proberbly made me look a loon but then again if you read the book ud realise she is to!! :D
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby tgirl » Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:35 pm

Dracula for uni

Now half way through a compilation of Frasier scripts with 15 of the best Frasier scripts, a very interesting and easy to read book with many laughs along the way :)
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby ouroboros » Wed Jan 02, 2013 5:28 pm

'How Big is Your God?' Paul Coutinho
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth". Oscar Wilde
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby woggle » Thu Jan 03, 2013 1:57 pm

Warm bodies 4.5/5

Very different , very good . It'll be interesting to see how the film turns out when released in feb .
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Patrick » Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:53 pm

woggle wrote:Warm bodies 4.5/5

Very different , very good . It'll be interesting to see how the film turns out when released in feb .

As Frasier did say: "You know, in the case of Maris, that's just an expression." :lol:
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Forever Jung » Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:39 pm

:twisted: I finished re-reading It last week, and i've started reading Two Brothers by Ben Elton.
Fitting enough, I was given it for xmas by my brother :lol:

I'm about half way through at the moment, but just for japes I thought i'd look up a couple of reviews.

One review said that "Ben Elton fails as a history teacher" while the next review says that there was too much history included which slowed the story and obscured the characters :lol: :lol: :lol:

So there's either too much history, or not enough.
I suppose when you've got people saying both at the same time you must be somewhere near the middle, which is pretty much the ballpark you want to be in.

I'm not finding it a bad read so far.
It's not the best book i've ever read, but the premise of the book is interesting enough.

In Berlin in 1920 a young woman gives birth to twins, but one in stillborn.
The doctor tells her of a child who has been born the same day, but whose mother died in delivery. The doctor asks if she would consider taking the other baby as one of her twins had died.
You mind find that a little shocking, but you've got to remember the state of Germany at the time. With the war, the flu epidemic, and the constant political fighting (we're talking gunfire in the streets here) practical solutions were much more sought after than what could be classed as sentimentality.

So the baby is born, and the boys are brought up as twins.
But one is Jewish, and one is a Gentile.
With the growth of the nazi party, and as Europe is once more plunged into war, the two brothers find themselves fighting on opposite sides.

But i'm halfway through, and they are not on opposite sides, they're still in Berlin, still brothers, and there's still no indication of anything changing in the near future.

Oh, they're both in love with the same girl.
That's caused a few fisticuffs, but no big split.

The story bounces a lot between the 20s/30s and 1956, where one of the brothers in embroilled in a cold war storyline, in which he receives a letter from the girl who both he and his brother were in love with, and who is now apparntly a member of the East German Secret Police.
It's also been revelaled that the other brother served with the Waffen SS and was killed in action in 1943 (or was it 41?)

So we've yet to get to the point where the brothers are forced apart, and there's still going to be a lot of things to be resolved in 1956.

The brothers being on opposite sides of the war "premise" is losing pages here, and i'm not sure there is going to be much room to tell this part the tale which is supposed to be the hook :?

I'm enjoying the book well enough, don't get me wrong, but there is some baggage that could have been lost without losing anything in the book.
For instance, there is a story at one point about how their musician father, Wolfgang, finds himself becoming attracted to a woman who used to date his boss. There is a lot of talk about Jazz in general that really could have been thrown overboard with no great loss.
He likes Jazz, we get it.

There is supposed to be a great friendship between the boys, Dagmar (She's the one they're both in love. She's the jewish daughter of a wealthy shop owner, and has been taking music lessons from Wolfgang), and Silke (her mother worked as the maid for Wolfgang and his wife, until her mum's new nazi boyfriend made her leave her employment because he didn't want her working for Jews).

But the common Silke is constantly jealous of upper class and aloof Dagmar because the boys like her better.
She doesn't seem to like Dagmar at all, and now she's gone off into the BDM (Bund der Deutcher Madel - Nazi orginization for girls) it seems that the friendship isn't going to get much closer in the forseeable future :?
As a group of faithful and devoted friends, it seems terribly flawed and conflicted (but perhaps that's the point?)

Some of the language seems a little flawed. The way that Ben writes the diolouge of the West Indies lover of one of the brothers is particularly out of place. Never would I have thought i'd read the words "reefer" and "mon" in a story of Jewish persecution :shock: It seems very forced.
But the language of the Germans also sounds wrong to my mind. It sounds too American in it's form and use of slang. I've read enough books set during the war, and I can't say i've ever felt that way about how German characters speak.

It sounds like I don't like this book at all doesn't it? :lol:

I'm sticking with it though.
The tale in itself is interesting enough to hold attention, and even the unneccersary sub stories (like Wolfgg's infatuation with the Jazz babe) are not too offensive (as long as you don't expect them to add anything to the plot, or perhaps it will later).

I just hope the pay off is worth it.


Prediction................

Spoiler: show
Paulus, the brother in England, suspects that Dagmar really is dead, and that the letter was sent by the Stasi to get him to go back to Berlin. But the letter has been composed by someone who knows him well.
I think that's a good indicator that Otto was not killed in action, but instead either deserted to the Russians, or was captured.
How Otto found himself in the Waffen SS is something i've yet to see.

He's gone to work for the Russians, and his superiors have informed him that his brother is with the English foreighn office, and have ordered him to lure him back to Berlin for some devilish plot.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby barnaclelapse » Thu Jan 31, 2013 5:28 am

Reading a few things, but I'm pretty honored to write a review of "Back to Frank Black", which is a collection of scholarly essays deconstructing the show "Millennium."
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Moon-Crane » Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:11 am

barnaclelapse wrote:Reading a few things, but I'm pretty honored to write a review of "Back to Frank Black", which is a collection of scholarly essays deconstructing the show "Millennium."


Sounds good. Was just looking at some Millennium stuff the other night. Can't believe it's that many years since the show first aired.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby jazzboy1003 » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:00 pm

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Excellent book. A
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Moon-Crane » Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:43 pm

Going To Sea In A Sieve - Danny Baker
Fantastic autobiography from one of the greatest radio presenters/tv writers.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby CatNamedRudy » Wed Feb 20, 2013 2:04 am

Finally finished Book 2 of Game of Thrones (A Clash of Kings)

Took me a long time to get through it but I did enjoy it. I have really found that reading the books after their seasons air is the best way to do it. That way I'm not spoiled and I get to see what wasn't shown on the show.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Forever Jung » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:52 am

:twisted: Just re-read Moonraker, and have followed it up with To Hell And Back, Meat's autobiography.

I've just orderd The Green Mile, which i've never read, so looking forward to that one.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby woggle » Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:34 pm

Wasn't actually a book but i read Kats Miranda fanfic yesterday and she's preddy good!
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Patrick » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:40 pm

Forever Jung wrote::twisted: Just re-read Moonraker, and have followed it up with To Hell And Back, Meat's autobiography.

I've just orderd The Green Mile, which i've never read, so looking forward to that one.

Isn't Moonraker a James Bond story?
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Hawkspur » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:17 pm

I read too much. I am addicted. :oops: In the last fortnight I read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, The Absolutist by John Boyne, Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, and currently reading Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber.
Oh, and I am also in the middle of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Patrick » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:44 pm

Hawkspur wrote:I read too much. I am addicted. :oops: In the last fortnight I read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, The Absolutist by John Boyne, Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, and currently reading Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber.
Oh, and I am also in the middle of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin.

You can never read too much. I know a guy who's an editor, he reads like half a dozen books every day and skim over two dozens of them during that same period. The funny thing is that he could write a book report even on the ones he just speedreads. It's amazing what years of training will do.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Moon-Crane » Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:03 am

Hawkspur wrote:I read too much. I am addicted. :oops: In the last fortnight I read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, The Absolutist by John Boyne, Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, and currently reading Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber.
Oh, and I am also in the middle of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin.


That was a good one. Will you/have you read his Bad Pharma book?
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Hawkspur » Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:47 am

No, not yet....

Unfortunately a lot of people I know would really benefit from reading Bad Science, but they wouldn't do so. I can't help but wonder how they (some with Science degrees) can swallow some of the tripe they gobble.
They'd much rather talk about healing energy than evidence and robust methods.

I can't remember the quote, but there is one about the difference between being open-minded and being gullible.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby woggle » Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:14 pm

I need a good book as im not into anything right now , last 3 ive read [ & enjoyed ] warm bodies , The Host & 11.22.63 by Stephen King . Any suggestions?
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Patrick » Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:31 pm

Hawkspur wrote:No, not yet....

Unfortunately a lot of people I know would really benefit from reading Bad Science, but they wouldn't do so. I can't help but wonder how they (some with Science degrees) can swallow some of the tripe they gobble.
They'd much rather talk about healing energy than evidence and robust methods.

I can't remember the quote, but there is one about the difference between being open-minded and being gullible.

I wish I could answer intelligently to that but I have no idea of what you call gullible. I've met people who thought it was gullible to believe in fossil evidence... I just hope you're not one of them.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Forever Jung » Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:58 pm

Patrick wrote:Isn't Moonraker a James Bond story?


:twisted: It is.
It's a LOT different from the film.
The only things the book and film have in common is that the good guy is called Bond and the bad guy is called Drax.
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Re: The Last Book You Read

Postby Moon-Crane » Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:59 pm

Patrick wrote:
Hawkspur wrote:No, not yet....

Unfortunately a lot of people I know would really benefit from reading Bad Science, but they wouldn't do so. I can't help but wonder how they (some with Science degrees) can swallow some of the tripe they gobble.
They'd much rather talk about healing energy than evidence and robust methods.

I can't remember the quote, but there is one about the difference between being open-minded and being gullible.

I wish I could answer intelligently to that but I have no idea of what you call gullible. I've met people who thought it was gullible to believe in fossil evidence... I just hope you're not one of them.


Not really looking to speak on behalf of Hawkspur, but fossil evidence is pretty much nailed down and peer reveiwed to death as a method of observable, testable science on the history and evolution of our Earth. I don't believe that's at all what's being considered here.

One area could be homeopathy, and other such pseudoscience, that wraps itself in nonsense terms and science-y sounding mumbo-jumbo. Enough people, even with science backgrounds, accept such things as plausible in spite of all observed evidence pointing to the contrary. We have 'homeopathic products' sold in mainstream chemists in this country for gods sake. Absolute quackery.

Another area can include the arguments presented in debates against nuclear fuel, genetically modified food, vaccinations, etc, where the 'anti' brigade get their voices heard in the media without needing to provide any evidence whatsoever to back up the claims, or showing selective data from their opponents out of context of the overall data picture (ie the MMR jab hysteria in the UK a few years ago).

I can only think the people who believe it's gullible to believe in fossil evidence would be goddidit creationists.
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