Maninblack4612
Tour Winner
Bought a second hand copy of Alex Hay's "Ripening Hay". It's autographed by him on the flyleaf.
Norrin Radd
Tour Winner
Billy Connolly biography. Written by Pamela Stephenson.
Some of it is quite shocking about his growing up years.
Some of it is quite shocking about his growing up years.
SaintHacker
Journeyman Pro
I got the set of the first 4 books for xmas, that'll keep me occupied until the film comes out!
pendodave
Tour Rookie
Maybe it's just me, but i found the first one a distance better than the subsequent ones. I thought it was brilliant.
I read them in my late teens, and had never really encountered sci fi lit before. Maybe that meant that the rest never had a chance.
I'm curious about the film, and will try to catch it in a proper cinema.
D
Deleted member 1147
Guest
Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy
pendodave
Tour Rookie
Funnily enough, there are a couple of philosophical themes that seem to have proved quite prescient (swidt;-). The rejection of computers to preserve the status of humanity, and (iirc) the idea that producing a human whose actions cannot be traced/predicted is AGoodThing. At the moment, we seem hell bent on the opposite, thanjs to the warm bath of big tech enveloping us...
I suspect these are common themes across the sci fi gender, but I've never explored any further.
pendodave
Tour Rookie
Also read this when it came out. I was in 6 form iirc. I guess the references to the hitch hikers guide to Europe are slightly lost on today's youth. I had a battered copy with me back in the day. Fortunately, it turned out that quite a lot of the continent was mostly harmless.
At the time, I had no idea that radio4 existed, let alone that it did comedy series.
Douglas Adams's untimely demise is/was a great loss.
** edit - for clarity, i had a battered copy of each of them
Blue in Munich
Crocked Professional Yeti Impersonator
Caddy for Life, John Feinstein. The story of Bruce Edwards, Tom Watson's long term caddy. Very good, but sadly there will be no happy ending.
fundy
Ryder Cup Winner
David Jason My Life
fundy
Ryder Cup Winner
The Sentinel, the latest Lee Childs / Jack Reacher book. Except........this time Lee's brother wrote it with Lee overlooking. You can tell, it doesn't run as smoothly, the words are wrong. The basics are there but it is not the same. Disappointing
I know these books have become samey and repetitive but they are easy to fall into and read.
I know these books have become samey and repetitive but they are easy to fall into and read.
larmen
Head Pro
I miss commuting. Just can’t get around reading at home, and I like Reacher and books like that ;-(
Foxholer
Blackballed
A Wilbur Smith and Bernard Cornwell fan here. Catching up/filling in the gaps in WS tales and continuing BC's tales of Uhtred. Also his sailing adventures for a bit of relief from 'fate is inexorable'!
AliMc
Well-known member
A song for the dark times, the latest Rebus story by Ian Rankin. When I worked in the City of Edinburgh Council our new office was built in the Waverley station car park, over a couple of days they were filming a scene for the tv at the side of the tracks, quite funny watching Ken Stott and the girl who played his colleague Siobhan going through the same scene 3 or 4 times then waving to the folk on the intercity 125 as they went back to the start again, interesting to eventually see it on screen
toyboy54
Challenge Tour Pro
AliMc:On a side note'have 5 episodes taped(?) thank the lord that it's Ken Stott and not John Hannah playing the part.K.S.is so much more in keeping with the book/character.-I think he has that certain grittiness/upyours attitude that make the books so riveting-think we have them all in both hard and paperback.Always seem to go back and start them again;all great reads!
I'm also halfway through DUNE but whilst the language is quite evocative,I'm finding it hard to really believe in both the premis and the characters--reminds me of ploughing through Asimov in school+ another sci-fi writer(who's name escapes me)for size and scale.
Jimbo
AliMc
Well-known member
Yeah I agree Ken Stott is great as Rebus, I just love the books, have them all I think, helps that it's mostly set in Edinburgh and I travelled there for most of my 42 years working life so can visualise most of the locations used, just picture KS when I'm reading them. Same as you I think I have read them all twice !
toyboy54
Challenge Tour Pro
Al...can beat you on the re-reading front--it's actually/easily 5or6 for each book and now about to re-start on Tom Sharpes mental/racist series of craziness across different fronts/characters!
Also,can anyone of all you cleverclogs scratch an annoying itch for me and tell me what are the series of books/author where it's a space fleet(future)based in BOISE/Idaho-U.S.A.where everything seemed to be on a huge scale,battling aliens etc;(escapism at college to blame for this-but am sure it was'nt ASIMOV??)---Really don't want to read-just want to remember how I wasted my time dreaming I was a star soldier.---------thanks folks=sorry KAZ but ploughing through DUNE and cannot decide if enjoyable or not!
May go and listen to Barack Obamas recollections on the BBC Sounds app on the pc-seems a thoroughly decent man-Tam and Stuart Off The Ball coming through the telly,love it,talking best goals scored in Scotland over the years--could mention a few?
Jimbo
Also,can anyone of all you cleverclogs scratch an annoying itch for me and tell me what are the series of books/author where it's a space fleet(future)based in BOISE/Idaho-U.S.A.where everything seemed to be on a huge scale,battling aliens etc;(escapism at college to blame for this-but am sure it was'nt ASIMOV??)---Really don't want to read-just want to remember how I wasted my time dreaming I was a star soldier.---------thanks folks=sorry KAZ but ploughing through DUNE and cannot decide if enjoyable or not!
May go and listen to Barack Obamas recollections on the BBC Sounds app on the pc-seems a thoroughly decent man-Tam and Stuart Off The Ball coming through the telly,love it,talking best goals scored in Scotland over the years--could mention a few?
Jimbo
spongebob59
Journeyman Pro
Got to the Mitch Rapp series where the ghost writer takes over, may just be me , but doesn't seem as good.
May start the Mark Dawson, John Milton books next.
May start the Mark Dawson, John Milton books next.
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Well. Finished Parade‘s End yesterday. Actually four books in one (If 3 books is a trilogy what’s 4...a quartet I believe?) Anyway - took me two months...
A very long and not that easy read as written in a modernist way with much being streams of consciousness of the characters. And just like us, their thinking jumps backwards and forwards in time from past to present and gets intertwined so you have to keep on top of things.
Nonetheless it is totally absorbing and you really get to feel you understand the characters as you get to know how they think. So if you are at all interested in the life of the aristocracy in the ten years from about 1910 to 1920 - through and in the Great War - it can’t be bettered. It’s basically a love triangle story. But Bridgerton it isn’t ?. Recommended if you have the time and inclination.
Something simpler and quicker now. The Wind in the Willows.
A very long and not that easy read as written in a modernist way with much being streams of consciousness of the characters. And just like us, their thinking jumps backwards and forwards in time from past to present and gets intertwined so you have to keep on top of things.
Nonetheless it is totally absorbing and you really get to feel you understand the characters as you get to know how they think. So if you are at all interested in the life of the aristocracy in the ten years from about 1910 to 1920 - through and in the Great War - it can’t be bettered. It’s basically a love triangle story. But Bridgerton it isn’t ?. Recommended if you have the time and inclination.
Something simpler and quicker now. The Wind in the Willows.
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D
Deleted member 1147
Guest
Le Carre’s The looking Glass War