What are you currently reading?

[chevin]

"The Best of Zane Grey."

 

 

How he made a fortune by writing "exciting" Westerns is a mystery.

 

Me too, I would have thought that "Exciting westerns" would have been an oxymoron!

[chesters1]

i dont know when "celebratis" (must get a spell checker) at the fine old age of 20 can bring out a book then anything will be read

i like alexander kent and ofcourse his alter ego reeman,the historical nautical ones are very fine and the modern so so but still very good ,if you like hornblower try bolitho.

 

if you like landies try tim slessors "first overland" it inspired me far later to buy a couple unfortunately

Edited March 25, 2008 by chesters1

[Jeff S]

I know what you mean Chesters. I try to do most of my own work as well. Somthings are better left to those with the right 'tools'. Even though I used to work on cars I still have the odd bubble on the brain. My last MOT left me very pstt off! I found that my bright beams wouldn't stay on. I could have screamed. In fact I think I did.. Only to find out right before my retest that the bl@@dy switch was turned off! Anyone owning a volvo would know (you'd think!) that the brights don't work without the running lights on.. Had a great chuckle

 

On a lighter note, I've just received Angling Vagabond and it is very well written.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Jeff S

[Ian FG]

Jeff S,

 

I remember reading Ludlum a few years back, absolutely top class thrillers.

 

Stephen King is just superb, not exactlly literature but real page turners.

 

Ayjay,

 

loved those Dune books, a bit of sci-fi is good for you now and again.

 

Rob.imk2,

 

Orwell is great, not just for Animal Farm and 1984, the road to Wigan peir and Down and Out in London and Paris are both great social commentaries.

 

Chevin,

 

I loved Forsyth's Day of the Jackyl and Odessa File, but I went off him after those two.

 

Chesters,

 

Haynes manuals were essential reading for me once (as they were lots of us) now I just have a service schedule and an RAC card.

 

Lid,

 

Catcher in the Rye does seem dated now but it was novel in it's day, the first of it's type.

 

Vagabond,

 

Earnest Hemingway is a terrific writer about fish (and bullfighting, and other stuff) To Have and have Not has some great fishing passages and of course there is always his Old Man and the Sea.

 

Newt,

 

I liked Louis L'Amour's westerns but I never knew he wrote about Nazis. I thought his non-fiction account of the James/Younger gang was his best. Have you ever read Jack Schaefer? Dee Brown is my favourite writer about Western stuff.

 

I am currently reading:

 

Colossus by Nial Ferguson

 

The 5 Unanswered Questions About 9/11 by James Ridgeway

 

The End of Oil by Paul Roberts

 

The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh

 

So, a bit of doom and gloom to cheer me up then!

Edited March 26, 2008 by Ian FG

[Guest Jan V]

Just starting John Grisham's new book "The Appeal" and will read Patricia Cornwell's new book "Book of the Dead" after that.

[severus]

I've been going to used book sales much of the past year looking for hardcovers in good condition to collect, and have found many great titles in excellent condition for a fraction of what they cost new. Must be my thrifty Dutch ancestry that compels me to do this. I'm trying to rid my bookcase of paperbacks and build up a decent collection. A hobby, I suppose.

 

Anyone else do this?

[Norrie]

I'm trying to rid my bookcase of paperbacks and build up a decent collection. A hobby, I suppose.

 

Anyone else do this?

 

 

 

Yep, I do too,I've now got around 1000 angling books, with perhaps 80% on Sea Angling, but watch out, ..... as your Hobby soon becomes an obsession...

[Guest Jan V]

I've been going to used book sales much of the past year looking for hardcovers in good condition to collect, and have found many great titles in excellent condition for a fraction of what they cost new. Must be my thrifty Dutch ancestry that compels me to do this. I'm trying to rid my bookcase of paperbacks and build up a decent collection. A hobby, I suppose.

 

Anyone else do this?

Sure wish we lived closer, Ken. I just gave 4 huge boxes of books to charity since there's no room in the 5th wheel. Most of these were hardcovers.

[AnnaWerner]

Call me silly, but I usually gravitate to the children's section of the library. I've just finished the latest of the "Dinotopia" books by James Gurney, "Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara." All of these books are about an island on which shipwrecked people and intelligent dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals have created a civilisation. If you like fantasy and prehistoric critters, these are fun books, with absolutely gorgeous illustrations. (Picture a school bus carried by an Apatasaurus! )

 

I also just finished another work of fantasy, "Rakkety Tam," part of the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques (featuring all-animal casts of characters), and have begun another of his books, "Eulalia!" I'm about to start into a non-fiction work as well, "The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt."

 

I've also been spending some time weeding out my collection, packing boxes with books to donate to the local libary's book sale.

[John S]

I'm somewhat of a collector too, but don't just limit my books to hardbacks. Total number? Approaching 2,000 I reckon now

 

Happy to say, none of them are Mills & Boon or anything of that ilk....