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What are you reading?

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Joined 2004-01-18

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Killing Floor (Jack Reacher #1) - Lee Child

Didn’t know much about this series, other than my mum is a big fan. Was rewatching the Tom Cruise movie about the Reacher character and decided to give it a shot.

So this is the first book in the Jack Reatcher series and first impressions are not phenomenal.

It seems on the outset to be a cliche ridden pulp novel, First Blood meets the Incredible Hulk TV show.

Jack Reacher is an ex Army cop who has decided to become a hobo (not the littlest but there is a resemblance)by wandering the USA on foot.

He walks into a small town in Georgia and is virtually immedietly arrested for murder. Of course by the end of the book (through some amazing coincidences) he has been drawn into uncovering a conspiracy of corruption and crime, killed a bunch of people, slept with the best looking woman in the area, solved a 20 year old murder and headed on his way to the next town.

It must be an American thing, but the roving vigilante storyline was a staple of 80’s US TV (A-Team, Kung Fu, Littlest Hobo, Hulk, Knight Rider, Pretender, etc) Consider this the book version.

It wasn’t all bad the book is a quick read, a reasonable exciting rollercoaster of a ride and occassionaly hints at better.

Just switch off brain and ignore the many coincidences and cliches.

2.5/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Joined 2004-01-18

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Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2) - Lee Child

This time Reacher is accidently kidnapped along with a beautiful FBI agent, presumed to be involved by the FBI, Reacher is now their most wanted fugitive. Trapped in the back of a truck as it travels cross country to it’s final destination deep in the Montana mountains. Jack has to use all his restraint and training to keep both of them alive and escape the growing political and criminal fall out.

I was thrown by the change in viewpoint in this book which inexplicably switches from 1st to 3rd person. However the story moves at a decent pace, it’s action packed and there was enough there to keep reading.

Still too many coincidences and cliches from my liking and I kept wondering why none of these idiots wouldn’t see a 6’5 guy as a threat to their plan and kill him when they had the chance. It’s the old Bond problem of why Blofeld puts him in death devices instead of just putting a bullet in his head. The bad guys in this book are a bunch of morons.

It’s undeniably a page turner, but the series is still not knocking my socks off. Maybe it will become a guilty pleasure like watch a Segal movie.

2/5

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Total Posts: 49

Joined 2004-11-26

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I’m currently listening to the audio book version of The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (which won the 2013 Man Booker prize):

It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields.  On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes.  A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk.  Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.

Terrific atmosphere, interesting mystery and characters (many of whom are often infuriating but still fascinating). I’m about 3/4 of the way through.

     

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Resident science freak

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Total Posts: 514

Joined 2010-08-03

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Just finished Magician’s End by R.E.Feist the other day and finished the whole Riftwar Cycle series(yey GrinGrin). Really liked it. The way he explained magic happening was very interesting(Especially at the end,he used string theory to do so which was VERY interesting). There were various great characters along the way. Overall a great experience for a fantasy reader.

Started GRR Martin’s A Storm of Swords Part 2 in preperation for the new season of the TV series.

After that,I’m conflicted…I have some books from the Drizzt chronicles,half-read Hitchhiker’s Guide To Galaxy and the Foundation saga by Asimov.But that’s for after I’m finished with Storm of Swords P2.

     
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Joined 2011-10-21

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Banned Spammer - 07 April 2014 03:37 AM

I am reading Fifty Shades Of Grey

That alone deserves a ban, not to mention the spam signature… Tongue

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Total Posts: 419

Joined 2003-09-12

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Galvanic_Spiral - 24 August 2013 11:49 PM

I’m reading “Carrie” right now. I’m late to the Stephen King party (horror isn’t my favorite, for the most part), and I started with the Dark Tower books (up through #4, ATM), but I see now why he made his mark with “Carrie.” It’s awesome.

I also just started with the Dark Tower books. Don’t have much time to read these days unfortunately. The last book I read was Horns by Joe Hill which I can really recommend.

I got a bunch of graphic novels coming my way soon too, Dylan Dog and Hellblazer.

     

NP: A Link Between Worlds, Beneath a Steel Sky and Vampyr

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Total Posts: 2648

Joined 2004-01-18

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The Martian

Saw a lot of buzz around this novel and it’s just been announced as a Ridley Scott movie starring Matt Damon.

Mark Watney is an Engineer and Botanist who is part of a six person mission to Mars. They are the third mission so are not set to hit headlines etc. However a major dust storm hits their site and NASA orders the mission to be scrubbed. In the desperate scramble to evacuate the planet. Mark is speared by a flying antenna and the crew assume he is dead and launch their MAV into orbit and head back to Earth.

Mark is quickly famous as the first human to die on another planet. Fortunatly for him or not he isn’t dead and is now stranded on Mars. It’s 4 years before the next mission is due to land, nobody knows he is alive and he doesn’t have enough food or air to survive that lenght of stay.

He now has to survive with his engineering skills and his wits.

The story is told in a diary like fashion and is pretty techy at times as he discussed how to farm in a martian environment, how to convert water into air and fuel etc etc. However there is enough humour in his postings and even the techy stuff is fascinating I got caught up in his struggle for survival.

The book set out a very solitary feel to it for quite a while, which is appropriate to the events, before slowly introducing other characters that get involved in his rescue attempt.

I enjoyed the book and look forward to the movie, but i’m not sure what would be more scary…being trapped alone on Mars or the only entertainment left behind was the mission commanders insane love for 70’s disco music.

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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Total Posts: 360

Joined 2006-01-12

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^Sounds interesting!

     

Lazy Bee
Temporary guest in your life.

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Total Posts: 932

Joined 2004-03-23

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I just loaned Umberto Eco’s The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. It’s about a man who has a memory loss after which he can only remember things he has read.

I think it’s the last novel from Eco that I haven’t read, though I could be wrong.

     
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Joined 2005-10-23

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The Prize - The Epic Quest for Oil, about the history of the oil industry. This history is told with much attention to detail from the beginnings in the 1950s up to 2012 when the book came out. Very interesting read!

     

Total Posts: 8

Joined 2014-07-02

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Just finsihed up No Logo from Naomi Klein - insteresting read

     
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Total Posts: 8471

Joined 2011-10-21

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therealindiana - 29 September 2014 04:49 AM

It’s a little old, but just got round to finishing The Road! Loved it. Now to watch the movie version…

You might end up underwhelmed or slightly disappointed. Just sayin’.

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Total Posts: 81

Joined 2014-08-05

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Reading Bukowski, Post Office, for the third time. I don’t know, just really really like it. Reading the book you love is like visiting places you love. It calms you down in a way and your heart starts singing.

     
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Total Posts: 187

Joined 2013-11-12

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Finished the latest winner of the Mephisto Award, Marumarumarumarumarumarumarumaru Satsujin Jiken (The ???????? Murder Case) by Hayasaka Yabusaka (the Mephisto Award is a mystery/science fiction newcomer prize of major publisher Kodansha). Like so many Mephisto Award winners before it, an interesting, if flawed mystery novel. The set-up (a group of people on an isolated island. Murder) is fairly orthodox, but the solution to the mystery was okay and I doubt I will forget this one soon (even if the hints leading to the solution weren’t strong enough) and the concept of a whatsthetitle (you have to guess the title before the last line in the book) is original, but the execution is a bit weak. The narration tries a bit too hard at being funny and meta though. But it definitely fits the idea I have of Mephisto Award winners…

     

“Rationality, that was it. No esoteric mumbo jumbo could fool that fellow. Lord, no! His two feet were planted solidly on God’s good earth” - Ellery Queen, The Lamp of God

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Total Posts: 81

Joined 2014-08-05

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I, Claudius by Robert Graves. I thought it would be a boring read, but surprisingly it’s quite the opposite. You have to be familiar with Roman history though (which is not the problem for me Smile.

They even made a TV show in the 70s. HBO is considering to remake it. That would be awesome. 2 seasons of Rome just were not enough for me Meh.

     

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