Stafford Forum Book Club

Lisa

Well-Known Forumite
I cant reccommend highly enough Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' series.... kind of Star Wars meets Monty Python genre. I'm not normally a sci-fi/fantasy fan, but these books are fanbloodytastic :D
Also going old-school, I'm slowly working my way through Anthony Burgess' 'A Clockwork Orange'. I say slowly because with all the slanguage, I have to keep flipping to the glossary at the back of the book for translations all the time. Reccommended nonetheless. :)
 

cookie_monster

Well-Known Forumite
Lisa said:
I cant reccommend highly enough Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' series.... kind of Star Wars meets Monty Python genre. I'm not normally a sci-fi/fantasy fan, but these books are fanbloodytastic :D
gotta agree with you there lisa- the man is a genius and i always and up giggling to myself when im reading them. i have to avoid them for train travel unfortunately, although it does help to keep the seat next to me clear ;)


at the mo im about to read my lastest purchase, blue shoes and happiness- i think its the 6th in the Mwa Ramotswe series. im looking forward to curling up in bed tonight and getting started- theyre such fab books.


x
 

MISS T

Forum user & abuser
A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. A painful, funny, humane novel, beautifully written.
He also wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
 

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
Currently reading Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
It's a bit... yeah...
 

lolly

lorraine
I have just read 'The life and times of the thunderbolt kid' by Bill Bryson, it is so funny, I was on the 101 bus going to stafford and i kept laughing really loadly and snorting, and at one point i was crying as i was laughing so much.
Im sure all of the other passengers thought i was 'care in the community'
 

TENSHON

4000th post? Whatever, I'm nonchalant..
Just finished AA Gill's An Angry Island. A humourous take on why the English are the way they are. Well researched and loaded with history if you're into that sort of stuff.
 

Lisa

Well-Known Forumite
Wookie said:
Currently reading Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
It's a bit... yeah...
What do you think so far? Im a huuuuge fan of the Discworld series as a whole, but I gotta admit, some books are better than others. :)

Im currently reading My Story by Dave Pelzer. Very interesting read, well worth a gander.
 

Toble

Well-Known Forumite
MISS T said:
Received Born to be Riled, the collected writings of Jeremy Clarkson, for my birthday. Titles include, 'shopping for a car? Just ask Rod Stewart', 'Styled by Morphy Richards', 'Bedtime stories with Hans Christian Prescott' and 'It's Mika Hakkinen in a Marks and Spencer suit'. Not for the easily offended.
The stuff is a bit old now, but still funny. Is that the book where he slags off Abbots Bromley, or is that one of his others?
 

jimbob23

Official 1000th poster
Wookie said:
Currently reading Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
It's a bit... yeah...
Have read this about 4 times. Gets better every time you read it.
 

jimbob23

Official 1000th poster
Just read 'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly. Like a kids' book, but really gory. Quite enjoyable.

Before that was 'The Great Train Robbery' by Michael Crichton, which I was reading for the second time as I'd run out of books to read as I now get through about one a week on the train to work. Is a great book for those interested in the seedy side of Victorian life, like me.

Now on 'Life Expentancy' by Dean Koontz which, like most of my books these days, I bought from Tesco because they're dead cheap. His recent thrillers are quite good - read 'By the Light of the Moon' not long ago and was good, if ridiculous.

The problem with 'Life Expentancy', which I discovered this morning, is that the bit I'm on is set in '94, yet one of the characters is referring to Pokemon and emails - come on, Dean, think about it.
 

MISS T

Forum user & abuser
coobeastie said:
MISS T said:
Received Born to be Riled, the collected writings of Jeremy Clarkson, for my birthday. Titles include, 'shopping for a car? Just ask Rod Stewart', 'Styled by Morphy Richards', 'Bedtime stories with Hans Christian Prescott' and 'It's Mika Hakkinen in a Marks and Spencer suit'. Not for the easily offended.
The stuff is a bit old now, but still funny. Is that the book where he slags off Abbots Bromley, or is that one of his others?
Seems to be more Norfolk bashing in this collection.

On the Nissan Sunny he writes "It is he worst car I've ever driven and that is why I shed no tears at the news that the Sunny is no more. Nissan have done the decent thing and pulled the plug. No flowers please.

STOP PRESS I've just seen the new Almera. Can we have the Sunny back please?"

As a previous owner of the Sunny and currently driving an Almera, these words just hurt.
 

Alan B'Stard

Well-Known Forumite
Augustus Gloop said:
Pretty much anything and everything by Philip K Dick at the moment. Erm, he's a bit of an interesting chap. Had a few out there ideas.
I've just finished his first novel, The World that Jones built, very good indeed.
 

jimbob23

Official 1000th poster
There's a large spread about Blade Runner in this month's Empire, and there's a bit about Dick novels which have been filmicized.
 

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
Lisa said:
Wookie said:
Currently reading Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
It's a bit... yeah...
What do you think so far? Im a huuuuge fan of the Discworld series as a whole, but I gotta admit, some books are better than others. :)
To be honest, I'm reading it cos I'm a Neil Gaiman completist, the presence of Pratchett is just an added bonus :) My eyes are open for Discworld omnibuses, though.
 

jimbob23

Official 1000th poster
Just finished '24 Hours' by greg Iles. Pretty compelling, but a bit of an abrupt ending considering all the hard work done to get you there.

Worth a read though.
 

designermike

Active Member
I'd recommend any of the following:-

Tescopoly by Andrew Simms, if you want to find out how bad Tescos really are

The Game by Neil Strauss, fasinating real life tale of the guy that becomes the world's best pick-up artist

Fast Food Nation by Eric Sclosser. Does for McDonalds what Tescopoly does for Tesco.

From a Buick 8 by Stephen King. Not really horror. Occupied almost all of a 12 hour flight from Beijing for me.

Air Babylon by Imogen Edwards Jones. Find out what really goes on when you fly.

Whit by Ian Banks. Defies description.

The Beach by Alex Garland, in case you're one of the few people left that have not already read it.

Michael.
 

TENSHON

4000th post? Whatever, I'm nonchalant..
i'm halfway through adrian chiles' 'we don't know what we're doing'. an amusing insight into the life of an obsessive footie fan. if you follow a team that never wins anything you might find some comfort.

you can read extracts here to get a taster...

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2134042,00.html
 

jimbob23

Official 1000th poster
designermike said:
The Game by Neil Strauss, fasinating real life tale of the guy that becomes the world's best pick-up artist
Just read this. A bit inane but still worth a read.

Also just read 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'. Disappointing.
 

Augustus Gloop

Well-Known Forumite
jimbob23 said:
There's a large spread about Blade Runner in this month's Empire, and there's a bit about Dick novels which have been filmicized.
Nevermind the large spread in Empire the Scott's final cut is out in December on DVD and from what I've seen of the whole package it looks bloody ace!!

Dear Santa.....
 

jimbob23

Official 1000th poster
Augustus Gloop said:
jimbob23 said:
There's a large spread about Blade Runner in this month's Empire, and there's a bit about Dick novels which have been filmicized.
Nevermind the large spread in Empire the Scott's final cut is out in December on DVD and from what I've seen of the whole package it looks bloody ace!!

Dear Santa.....
They're doing a 5 disc edition with all cuts of the film, ever.

Feel a bit guilty though, as me old dear went to great lengths to get hold of Blade Runner on DVD for me for crimbo a couple of years back. She had all sorts of problems getting hold of it from one of Amazon's affiliate vendors and when she finally gave it to me she was gutted to find I couldn't actually watch it because she'd bought me the Region 1 disc. I felt so bad I went out and bought a multi-region DVD player to watch it on. If I buy this now, she'll be well miffed.

Maybe if I buy it for her...
 
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