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whats on your to read pile?

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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Dragonpol2 wrote:
    Thunderfinger wrote:
    I got hold of a book by Czech-Austrian writer Pavel Kohout. Never read him before, so looking forward to that.

    Sounds very nteresting. Care to give us the title, dear @Thunderfinger?

    Original title is "Hvezdna hodina vrahu". Do not know the English title, but the Norwegian title translates as "Star Hour of the Killers". Crime thriller from 1995, set in Prague at the end of the war. Looks interesting judging from the blurb, have not commenced reading it yet.
  • Dragonpol2Dragonpol2 The Crazy World of Daniel Dragonpol
    Posts: 145
    Thunderfinger wrote:
    Dragonpol2 wrote:
    Thunderfinger wrote:
    I got hold of a book by Czech-Austrian writer Pavel Kohout. Never read him before, so looking forward to that.

    Sounds very nteresting. Care to give us the title, dear @Thunderfinger?

    Original title is "Hvezdna hodina vrahu". Do not know the English title, but the Norwegian title translates as "Star Hour of the Killers". Crime thriller from 1995, set in Prague at the end of the war. Looks interesting judging from the blurb, have not commenced reading it yet.

    I wonder can one purchase it in English. I assume so?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    I have finally gotten around to reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. Now I have the entire Hitchhiker's Guide series lined up. I read the first two in the past, looking forward to the rest.
  • Dragonpol2Dragonpol2 The Crazy World of Daniel Dragonpol
    edited January 2014 Posts: 145
    DarthDimi wrote:
    I have finally gotten around to reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. Now I have the entire Hitchhiker's Guide series lined up. I read the first two in the past, looking forward to the rest.

    We read Frankenstein at university. Very good novel and much more textured than the horror films that came off the back of it.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    DarthDimi wrote:
    I have finally gotten around to reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. Now I have the entire Hitchhiker's Guide series lined up. I read the first two in the past, looking forward to the rest.

    A trilogy in five parts! ;-)

    The Hitchhikers books are brilliant. I'll have to re-read them again soon. After I've completed my Wilbur Smith kick.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Both Shelley and Adams are very good indeed. Thank you for designing the Norwegian fjords,Slartibartfast!
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    @royale65 and @Thunderfinger, has any of you also read Eoin Colfer's part 6 of Hitchhiker's?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    No, only the original Adams stuff. Have not even heard of that. If Marvin the depressed robot is in it, I may have to find it.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    I have heard good things about it, @Thunderfinger, which is why I ordered it too. ;-)

    Marvin is great! Have you seen the film with Alan Rickman voicing Marvin? :)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Sadly, no. Is it animated or live-action? I know there was a live adaptation some years ago.
  • MrcogginsMrcoggins Following in the footsteps of Quentin Quigley.
    Posts: 3,144
    DarthDimi wrote:
    I have heard good things about it, @Thunderfinger, which is why I ordered it too. ;-)

    Marvin is great! Have you seen the film with Alan Rickman voicing Marvin? :)

    Life don't talk to me about life loath it or ignore it you can't like it !
    I really do miss Douglas Addams .
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    @DarthDimi - no I have not. You'll have to tell me about when you get it. ;-). All though I'm reluctant to read another authors take on a pre-established world.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    Thunderfinger wrote:
    Sadly, no. Is it animated or live-action? I know there was a live adaptation some years ago.

    It's live-action. I think it's quite good and Martin Freeman certainly shines in it.
    royale65 wrote:
    @DarthDimi - no I have not. You'll have to tell me about when you get it. ;-). All though I'm reluctant to read another authors take on a pre-established world.

    I'm usually too but I'm also a completist and, well, since it's only one more book we're talking about... ;-)
  • valentinzukovskyvalentinzukovsky
    edited January 2014 Posts: 503
    Just Bought Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Today my mother bought me Carte Blanche for $5. I can't wait to read it. It's been a few years since I've read a book. Hopefully I'll get some enjoyment out of it.
  • MrBrownMrBrown
    Posts: 202
    Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed


    Half-way through. Very entertaining.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited February 2014 Posts: 12,480
    valentinzukovsky wrote:
    Just Bought Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child
    My very favorite Reacher story! Hope you enjoy it; let us know. :)

    AND I posted this on another reading thread (we must have like 3 of these threads ...)
    Great news for fans of the book, I Am Pilgrim! This has been my favorite book to recommend in the past year. So well written and exciting.
    The author, Terry Hayes, has confirmed that 2 sequels with that main character are in the works, as well as his next book (not with Pilgrim). I liked his writing so much, I will definitely be buying these.
    Here is an excerpt from an online interview:

    Terry Hayes said: "Next is a book called “The Year of the Locust” – a REALLY intense thriller. Then I have the outlines for the next two Pilgrim books already done – I did them long before I finished this one so that I knew where I was going. That will complete his epic journey – a sort of Lord of the Rings of the espionage/ thriller genre! At least in its scope, if not in my abilities!"

    I found the interview online here, on an Australian reviewer's blog: http://readingwritingandriesling.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/in-conversation-with-terry-hayes-2/
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    I'm deep into Graham Greene(land) right now.

    I highly recommend 'The Human Factor' for route 1 espionage.

    Also, about to start 'A Foreign Country' by Charles Cumming after being bowled over by 'Trinity Six'.

    I do want to read 'Restless' by William Boyd although I have already seen the TV adaptation.

    Finally, Jo Nesbo has to be one of the smartest detective fiction writers out there. Much better than Stieg Larsson in terms of pace.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Has anyone read the November Man series of spy thrillers by Bill Granger? I am just learning of them and will buy one or two. But I'd like to hear from someone who has read any of them. Pierce's film comes out this year, November Man; but there are a whole series (about 13 books) starring his character.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    The upcoming film is based on the seventh novel @4EverBonded, There Are No Spies. Maybe try and buy that one first to see how it differs, if at all, to the film.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Yes, I read that somewhere, and I am ordering that one first. I don't expect a film to really follow a book completely. I'm rather excited about the film, of course, but also that there is a series with this character. I love to read.
  • valentinzukovskyvalentinzukovsky
    edited March 2014 Posts: 503
    Just finished Gone Tomorrow. one of the best books I've ever read.

    in terms of the reacher series I've only got
    killing floor
    die trying
    one shot
    the affair
    without fail
    tripwire
    persuader
    bad luck and trouble
    all of which i'm going to try and read before Personal comes out.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    Having at this point read about 350 pages in the Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, a book that orders all of Lovecraft's writings chronologically, I'm finally ready to absorb one of the man's seminal masterpieces, The Call Of The Cthulhu. Can't wait to build from there onwards a knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos, as complete a knowledge as I am able to gather anyway. I find the mythical Cthulhu awe-inspiring in drawings and in description. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the master's own words concerning this half dragon half octopus creature.

    Cthulhu.jpg
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    I've been reading A Short History of the World when I make a pile.

    I'm up to Genghis Khan.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited April 2014 Posts: 12,480
    Is that the one by Bill Bryson, @Kerim? I enjoy his writing.
    I have not read that one, but his more recent one, At Home, is endlessly interesting. I have given it as a gift and do recommend it. I'll write more about it on here when I have a bit more time.

    As for Gone Tomorrow, @valentinzukovsky, that is my very favorite Jack Reacher book so far! Just his best writing, gripping, so well done.
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Alex Woolf actually. A good two page read on everything that happened from pre-historic times to the present.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Ah, all right. Bryson had one with a similar name, but was a very thick paperback; I have not read it yet.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    DarthDimi wrote:
    Having at this point read about 350 pages in the Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, a book that orders all of Lovecraft's writings chronologically, I'm finally ready to absorb one of the man's seminal masterpieces, The Call Of The Cthulhu. Can't wait to build from there onwards a knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos, as complete a knowledge as I am able to gather anyway. I find the mythical Cthulhu awe-inspiring in drawings and in description. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the master's own words concerning this half dragon half octopus creature.

    Cthulhu.jpg

    I have only read three of his short stories:The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror and The Whisperer in Darkness. Pretty good read and properly macabre.

    Next up for me is The Dark Age of Greece by Velikovsky, covering the five centuries after the Mycenaean civilization.
  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    DarthDimi wrote:
    Thunderfinger wrote:
    Sadly, no. Is it animated or live-action? I know there was a live adaptation some years ago.

    It's live-action. I think it's quite good and Martin Freeman certainly shines in it.

    I'm also a fan of the Hitchhiker's series by Adams, I think they are brilliant. That adaptation with Freeman is hugely underrated, I loved it! So many people complainted about the things that weren't in the book (like the Point of View gun) when they were in fact introduced by Adams himself when he was still alive and working on the script. Little bit of trivia here, the actor who played Arthur Dent in the original BBC series, Simon Jones, is Daniel Craig's cousin.

    I have a huge pile right now consisting of several of Laurie R. King's Mary Russel series and I want to find more about her other works (like the Martinelli series) later because I think she writes thrillers brilliantly. Also on the pile is Gone Girl.
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    If anyone is interested in the use of Hong Kong as a setting, I'd highly recommend Charles Cumming's Typhoon, Jo Nesbo's The Leopard and John Le Carre's An Honorable Schoolboy - all excellent.
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