CWF Readers Club

Here you can talk about anything (that isn't related to the other forums).

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Zyx
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Zyx »

Chroelle wrote:Neil Gaiman made my list of to-read writers when he co-wrote "Good Omens" with Terry Pratchett.
Good Omens was my gateway to Gaiman as well, but Good Omens is mostly a Pratchett book in tone. American Gods is way much more darker and quite deep book, but with similarly quirky characters. Where Pratchett's books are usually about a character's journey (actual or metaphorical) in a rather static backdrop of Discworld, American Gods is not really that much about the main character but more about what's generally going on. It's not really a book about two guys going across the States. It's quite ambitious book (you better brush up with your knowledge of world's mythologies) and due to that it does fall flat for many (and they come out of the book feeling "WTF?").

...the book's also just a bit haunting. I think I read it at least 5 years ago and even just looking at its cover makes me queasy.

I would probably be reading Gaiman's other works if I wasn't sucked in the world of Stephenson's techno-crypto-epics.
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Pager wrote:Now I am reading Children of Men by PD James. I'm about halfway through.
I am still reading this book...2 years later...how awful is that??
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Chroelle »

Well... I am still reading Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. Have been doing so since summer I think... And it is actually pretty good. Just can't seem to find reading time.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Pater Alf »

I'm reading "Rabbit, Run" by John Updike at the moment and I think I will finish it this weekend. There isn't much that happens in this novel, but it is very well written and gives you some ideas about moral conceptions of the U.S. society in the 50s. Feels a little bit like "The Catcher in the Rhye" with an adult protagonist. I think I'm gonna read some more of John Updike after this.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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I finished Children of Men!!!

Now onto something a little more magical...I am reading two books at the moment:

1. Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire
2. A Shite History of Nearly Everything

Both I picked up at a book discount store, I' was looking for somehing a bit more entertaining than the last one, hopefully it won't take 3 years to read. :lol:
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Chroelle »

Second book sounds like something you would read in the privy. :)

I actually finished Unseen Academicals, and now I ahve a lot of litterature I ahve to read regarding my upcoming firm, which has put American Gods on hold until the summer-vacation I am guessing. Have refrained from starting it, as I knew I would be reading it with weeks between openings...
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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Ive just borrowed from my bookstore Conclave of Shadows saga by Raymond Feist, which has just arrived. I dont know if this trilogy is particularly good in comparison with his other series, but Ive never read anything by Feist, so I decided to check it at some point. It was funny to see the map looking exactly like the one in Betrayal at Krondor with places like La Mut and Yabon... :D
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Scythe »

Just don't ever read the "first" (or first half or whatever, depends on where you live) Krondor book, Magician: Apprentice, it's so generically boring you'll wish you never had. Happily, things pick up by the second novel/half.

I'm reading some weird shit called "Kraken", by China Miéville. It's not what I expected, turned out to be very Clive Barker-ish where I was expecting something Lovecraftian. Since I'm not yet halfway through, I haven't really decided if it's too strange for its own good, but it's a close call so far.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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We have one Mieville's book, but it's for youngsters, it's called Un-Lon-Don or sth like that. Neighbours Phillip Reeve's Starcross and they both together make up for the steampunk section of youth literature.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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I am going to start reading Bat Man by Jo Nesbo tonight (switching between it's the middle of the night and readers club threads I chose this one to announce it). Weve received this book only recently and it's one of the biggest hits so far with several dozen of copies sold every month. I decided to check it and get to know why people love it that much.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Chroelle »

I decided to go read about it, and I found this paragraph:
"Harry’s stay in Sydney leads him to seamy King’s Cross and the company of pimps, strippers, transvestites, pushers and backpackers."

Wasn't Baldy and Prideth from Kings Cross?

Otherwise the story sounds a little familiar - but only to good things so it cant be all bad - and it has won a handful of awards, so that might be a pointer that you are in for a reading treat. :)
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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I just wonder how can a Norwegian be named Harry Hole. :D
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Chroelle »

I think Harry goes fine with Norway IIRC. Hole might be pronounced as two sylables Ho-le and that might work then. So its not that far off. It had been worse had he been named Smith - they cant really pronounce that right in Norway - due to how they sing their vocals.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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Well, Ive always considered Harry to be a deeply American name, reminding me rather about moustached cowboys, not Norwegian policemen. :D
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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Apparently Harald is a Norwegian originating name.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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Hm, I didnt think in the first place that Harry can be in fact Harald. Maybe you're right.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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Changing subject a bit. I wonder if anybody here ever READ Silence of the Lambs. I did, about half a year ago. Movie is usually shoved into the horror/thriller drawer and so the book should be. I am big fan of mystery novels, but old-fashioned ones - Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Simenon, Beck/Wallander novels and such. I like when story slowly unfolds, detective in a worn-out coat, fighting rainy weather adds piece to piece clarifying the whole picture. Most people love this. I am a bit sceptical though when it comes to so-called horror genre, let's say Stephen King is the chief representant. Ive read some horror novels (also by King), but I never got assured that writer can FRIGHTEN a reader with words. Actually, Harris did so with Silence. And I dont think it's the matter of translation only. The novel is not only precisely constructed, it's also dry, cold and emotionless in language and this is the hardest part - to not put your emotions into what you write. Result? Thrilling book, which keeps occupied, even if you know the movie scene by scene, especially that book is a bit different in storyline and much deeper than movie. Even if faces of Foster and Hopkins came to me while reading I was all the time aware that Im reading a different story and, surprisingly, much more mysterious. It's really a mustread.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Chroelle »

If you read Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho you would propably experience the same thing. Scared the bejezuz out of me.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

Post by Zyx »

Chroelle wrote:If you read Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho you would propably experience the same thing. Scared the bejezuz out of me.
A book that was the scariest ever for me? The Descent by Jeff Long. :twisted:

I've not read American Psycho, but I've read other Ellis's work and a lot of Palahniuk's, and I think they're scary in a non-horror way. The Descent, on the other hand, was straight from hell.
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Re: CWF Readers Club

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"American Psycho" had that weird effect on you that you actually start thinking "I wonder what would happen if I just rammed my fist hard into this obnoxious womans head, breaking her nose, and then just stood there watching her afterwards..." That was pretty scary, and it took me months to get my head on straight again - oh and I never actually planted a fist in someones head..!

I dont read that much horror, as my favourite genre is still funny books that look at society in a different angle - like Terry Pratchetts Discworld-series, and I found recently that his book Nation was an amazing read when you wanted reflections on human behaviour.

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