[*Peachy*]

I love to read, I love reading all sorts of books, from Autobiographies to horror (Nothing Stephen King mind!)

What do you like to read?

What are you reading now?

I'm reading Jo Brand - Don't look back in Hunger, its fab so far

[wiseguy]

i used to read alot when i was younger i seem to spend most of my time on the internet these days as i like the interaction between me and other posters

[4Leaf Clover]

I'm part-way through an Open University degree in English Literature and language, and spent most of last year and this year reading 19th C novels. But no need to feel sorry for me, they were mostly very good.
Am having a break from Victorian stuff now, and reading The Da Vinci Code - about 5 years after everyone else! The other most recent book I read was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, which I loved.

[halliclone]

Try The Alchemist (I forget the authors name). Quite easy going and can be rattled off in a couple of sittings. Opens your mind though.

[halliclone]

Originally Posted by *Peachy*

I love to read, I love reading all sorts of books, from Autobiographies to horror (Nothing Stephen King mind!)

What do you like to read?

What are you reading now?

I'm reading Jo Brand - Don't look back in Hunger, its fab so far

You can't knock the talent of Stepen King, or what ever he calls himself now!! .

For me though, he tends to go too far into the discription of his characters ( sometimes a chapter long!) and you struggle to pick up the plot again without back tracking!.

Billy (William) Boyd, a home grown tallent, is always worth a read. His novel 'Armadillo' is a classic and will have you guesing, second guesing, from start to finish.

[drunkendwarfe]

I used to read a lot myself when I was younger and was force fed a lot of classical stuff at school at the moment though I seem to be having some sort of second childhood, or as senior management would have it "midlife crisis" as my kids were growing up I started reading a lot of their books an I find anything by Terry Pratchet unputdownable

[dervish99]

Just finished the Death Of Grass by John Christopher, very good book.

[4Leaf Clover]

I will look out for The Death of Grass and the Alchemist, thanks dervish and halliclone. Finished Da Vinci Code now, was very disappointed.

[4Leaf Clover]

Originally Posted by 4Leaf Clover

I will look out for The Death of Grass and the Alchemist, thanks dervish and halliclone. Finished Da Vinci Code now, was very disappointed.

I mean, disappointed in the book itself, not disappointed that I'd finished it.

[swampdeer]

I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, great book.

I've just finished reading a great but bizarre book called "Kafka on the Shore" by a guy called Haruki Murakami, great story, a bit of a modern day quest, its a bit like reading a really strange dream.

Oh and also just finished "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" (Philip Pullman) another strange one which re-writes the Jesus story, Mary has two children (twins) in this one, one called Jesus and one called Christ, I won't spoil the ending!

[*Peachy*]

I bought the davinci code years ago and still haven't read it yet!

[4Leaf Clover]

Originally Posted by *Peachy*

I bought the davinci code years ago and still haven't read it yet!

Save yourself the trouble, Peachy, you're not missing much.

[halliclone]

Originally Posted by *Peachy*

I bought the davinci code years ago and still haven't read it yet!

May as well watch the movie, better than the book, and the movie was duff!

[halliclone]

Originally Posted by dervish99

Just finished the Death Of Grass by John Christopher, very good book.

I remember my uncle giving me a copy of the original publication when I was a lad. Great read, but I found it quite disturbing at the time. I would put it on a par with 'The Exorcist' (the novel by W.P.B, not the film) as one of my childhood fears.

DoG, the end of the world was like all the nuclear threats we used to believe came from behind the red curtain at the time. The Exorcist was just a damn scary story.

[4Leaf Clover]

Originally Posted by halliclone

I remember my uncle giving me a copy of the original publication when I was a lad. Great read, but I found it quite disturbing at the time. I would put it on a par with 'The Exorcist' (the novel by W.P.B, not the film) as one of my childhood fears.

DoG, the end of the world was like all the nuclear threats we used to believe came from behind the red curtain at the time. The Exorcist was just a damn scary story.

That reminds me of another great book - Z for Zachariah by Robert O'Brien. I think it was written around the time of the cold war, and it's about the aftermath of a nuclear war in rural America, with a teenage girl left to fend for herself in a valley which has escaped the radiation, but her parents and brother went to seek help and never came back.

Think it's classed as "teen fiction" but it is really haunting and moving.

[halliclone]

Originally Posted by 4Leaf Clover

That reminds me of another great book - Z for Zachariah by Robert O'Brien. I think it was written around the time of the cold war, and it's about the aftermath of a nuclear war in rural America, with a teenage girl left to fend for herself in a valley which has escaped the radiation, but her parents and brother went to seek help and never came back.

Think it's classed as "teen fiction" but it is really haunting and moving.

Wow!! That's a blast from the past 4Leaf!

The stranger in the green suit!! I read it in the late seventies, early eighties I think. I remember going through a bit of a phase of reading 'End of the World' novels. Think I was on a mission to freek myself out!!

I was the same with the horror movies of the late seventies. I wasn't old enough to go and see them, so I would get hold of a copy of the novel instead. The ones that stood out were the Exorcist, the Shining, and the Omen. I hardly used to get a wink of sleep at night!

When I was old enough to see the movie's, They were a bit of a letdown. The book is always better than the film don't you think?

[*Peachy*]

All the books I've read then seen the films have all been a let down, so I do one or the other now not both.

[halliclone]

Originally Posted by *Peachy*

All the books I've read then seen the films have all been a let down, so I do one or the other now not both.

I would like to say I do the same as you Peachy, but most of the films I see these days are based of novels that I have read in the past. Perhaps we have exhausted every avenue in our search for new material! Or. Perhaps I have just read too much!

[4Leaf Clover]

Originally Posted by halliclone

Wow!! That's a blast from the past 4Leaf!

The stranger in the green suit!! I read it in the late seventies, early eighties I think. I remember going through a bit of a phase of reading 'End of the World' novels. Think I was on a mission to freek myself out!!

I was the same with the horror movies of the late seventies. I wasn't old enough to go and see them, so I would get hold of a copy of the novel instead. The ones that stood out were the Exorcist, the Shining, and the Omen. I hardly used to get a wink of sleep at night!

When I was old enough to see the movie's, They were a bit of a letdown. The book is always better than the film don't you think?

In my (somewhat limited) experience, yes the book is always better than the film, with the exception of Jane Austen, where I hate both.

I have to admit I was utterly freaked out by the film of The Shining, so there is no way I would ever read the book, as I think books are even scarier.
Once, when I was about 12, I read a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, OMG what a mistake - it was about a boy who, when he looked at a picture in his bedroom at night, the characters in it started moving. Trouble is, it was knights on horseback in a battle, and whatever the boy imagined might happen - happened! He heard a knight in his wardobe, and the more he imagined, the worse it got. I didn't get much sleep that night! I might try and google and see what the story was..

[4Leaf Clover]

Forgot to say, I think Stephen King's early ones were really inspired, but I went off him roundabout when "Green Mile" came out. I did like the scene in "Needful Things" - I think it was - where the boy is doing a magic trick for his family, and makes his brother disappear from a box, the trouble being, his brother really did disappear - eek!