TSF Book Club
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Looks like SKY NZ is launching a new channel called Soho - and Game of Thrones is what they're going to use as the bait (31 October) - apparently free...at least for a start.<br />
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I've got the first book sitting on the shelf as a result of this thread - wondering if I should read it first - or wait for the mini-series and read it after. Doubtless the first! <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /><br />
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But, I'm still ploughing through a series of TP McLean books - interspersed with David Starkey's "Crown and country - a history of England through monarchy". Which, actually, might not be too dissimilar from "A Game of Thrones". It's written in a pretty interesting and entertaining manner - and doesn't skimp on the brutality and scandal. -
[quote name='NTA']I asked for one as I recently ran out of shelf space!<br />
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How do I zoom in?[/QUOTE]<br />
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You can use the 'D' pad and move the scroll over the map or image and then click. Only works if the image can be zoomed on. To increase font size there is a font size button. -
[quote name='Chris B.']Looks like SKY NZ is launching a new channel called Soho - and Game of Thrones is what they're going to use as the bait (31 October) - apparently free...at least for a start.<br />
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I've got the first book sitting on the shelf as a result of this thread - wondering if I should read it first - or wait for the mini-series and read it after. Doubtless the first! <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /><br />
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[/QUOTE]<br />
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Definitely read the books first. There are quite a few characters introduced in a short space of time so you'll enjoy the TV series more if you understand what's going on. -
I haven't read the books but have seen the series. I admit I had a bit of an internet search to get a full grip of the plot/scenario and put it al in place after the first episodes but from then on I enjoyed it and followed it no probs.<br />
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I will probably now read the books to get more depth from the story but the producers/writers did what looks to be a very good job of the characters without need for long background explanations. -
The third book in the current trilogy-Angels of vengeance comes out tomorrow.For those of you who havn't got into it yet the basic story is on the eve of the second Gulf War an energy wave wipes out pretty much every living thing in the US apart from part of Wshington state, Hawaii and the base at Guantanamo bay .It leads to all kinds of global chaos plenty of shooting etc for Crucial who was disappointed with the amount of gore in the last trilogy.The second book is a cross between the tv series After People and Stalingrad with Jihadis instead of germans.<br />
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[url]http://www.cheeseburgergothic.com/archives/2785[/url] -
am about to start on A Game of Thrones (book with audio given I drive a bit) have watched the series, so will get through this one and likely the next few before the 2nd tv series (as I see no reason why I wont like them...)
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[quote name='NTA']Just got my Kindle for father's day. Any advice, hints, tips, tricks?[/QUOTE]<br />
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There are quite a few places that spotlight the freebies and deals.<br />
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Kindle on the Cheap is one of my favourites - [url]http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kindle-on-the-Cheap/183663855030523[/url] or [url]http://kindleonthecheap.wordpress.com[/url] if you're not a FB user. <br />
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Another I use is Free Kindle Books and Tips - http://fkbt.wordpress.com<br />
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There are also plenty of places to download out-of-copyright books. Too many to list actually. Google's your friend on that score.<br />
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As for Dance With Dragons .... I personally wanted to start a fucking witch hunt when i finished it. Won't say any more though - as Melody Pond says ... "Spoilers". -
Crap, doesn't get released till April 2012 in the US.<br />
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Without Warning was excellent, but I thought the second book was kind of weak. Nothing really happened to advance the plot after the first 50 pages or so. Filler book. -
I am the world's lasiest reader of fiction. Non-Fiction and me, we're mates. Fiction bores me normally. This is shit hot though.<br />
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Here's the blurb <br />
"[I]Imagine a near future where a cure for aging is discovered and-after much political and moral debate-made available to people worldwide. Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors. "<br />
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[/I]I liked it, future stuff and science fiction is my most [I]Hatey [/I]genre of anything, but I just thought this came with such good dilemmas to figure when you read it. Maybe I've just got shit taste in books though -
I romped through Martin's works after it was recommended on here. They have been great. I read Dance as an ebook. Will definitely get a hard copy, but I couldn't wait for it. <br />
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At first I was disappointed with it because it left so many threads hanging, but on reflection, it was a good read. Can't wait for the next one. -
Along with the audio version of Game of Thrones, am reading The Negotiator by Ben Lopez (a psuedonymn) which is a true account of a guy at the heart of the hostage trade, some of the numbers are scary!<br />
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More than 20,000 kidnappings are reported each year, only 1 in 10 of these reported to authorities, there has been a 100% increase in kidnappings in the past 12 months. Over 50% happen in Latin America. <br />
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There are 10 kidnappings per day in Colombia, with 3% of the kidnappers prosecuted, in contrast, 95% of the US kidnappings result in prosecutions.<br />
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90% of the kidnappings are locals.<br />
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Insurance premiums for K & R (Kidnap and Ransom) bring in over $130,000,000 annually (assume in USD and this is with Lloyds as it says in London) <br />
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21% of the kidnappings in Latin America survive rescue attempts.<br />
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HAve also just finished the latest installment from Terry Brooks; Measure of Magic, which is set about 500 years or so post apocolypse and about 500 years before the first Druid Council is formed (The First King of Shannara) -
Nerds...<br />
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Bernard Cornwall - historical fiction, good easy 'shoot em ups' based on real events. He's pretty good I reckon.<br />
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John Birmingham - hes the world was 1.1 etc series - I have read the first two of that - love it, must get the third and read more of his.<br />
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Game of Thrones - just had a mate recommending that series.<br />
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Pretty much I read anything and everything I can lay my hands on. Love military history too - any era.<br />
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Hmmm, my name is Jason, and I too am a book reading nerd... -
I am probably going to read World War Z soon, heard good things about it.
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Just finished the latest S.M. Stirling emberverse book, The Tears of the Sun. I really liked the first few books in the series (and the Island in the Sea of Time one), but the last couple books have really dragged a bit. The initial concept of the series was awesome (the survival aspect and wars), but once he got more into the Wicca and mythology as the series progressed, I started to lose interest. I am still reading though, because 8 books in, I just wanna know how the bloody series ends. Two more books to go. <br />
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Also picked up Harry Turtledove's third book in the War that Came early series. Another of my favorite alternative history authors. -
[quote name='rustycruiser']Just finished the latest S.M. Stirling emberverse book, The Tears of the Sun. I really liked the first few books in the series (and the Island in the Sea of Time one), but the last couple books have really dragged a bit. The initial concept of the series was awesome (the survival aspect and wars), but once he got more into the Wicca and mythology as the series progressed, I started to lose interest. I am still reading though, because 8 books in, I just wanna know how the bloody series ends. Two more books to go. <br />
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Also picked up [B]Harry Turtledove's [/B]third book in the War that Came early series. Another of my favorite alternative history authors.[/QUOTE]<br />
I loved Guns of the South but have not been able to read any of his other stuff. I think I prefer the single focus story as opposed to his large alternative histories.<br />
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I haven't been able to read fiction for a while - but I read non fiction constantly. Although I think I might try the novel that Gibbit suggested.<br />
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I've just finished reading Freakanomics and Super Freakanomics which were both interesting. <br />
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Too Big To Fail is a really dry book about the Lehman Brothers collapse and sub-prime mortgage leading to financial crisis debacle. But if you watch the movie first then the book is actually pretty interesting.<br />
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I'm about to fully nerd out and read Machiavelli's The Prince. I try to force myself to read 'older' stuff and occasionally find a gem. -
It's taken me half a year, but I am halfway through Plutarch's Lives. (I was intrigued to learn that Shakespeare used Plutarch as his reference for Julius Caesar, and jumped on a Folio Society offer.) It's sometimes pretty tough sledding, and I fear I have forgotten way more of it than I can recall. Two more volumes...<br />
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Took a breather between the first two volumes to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night," which is on the one hand over-written, contrived and pithy, and then outta nowhere he'll dazzle with a mindblowing paragraph or sentence that I want to commit to memory. Recommended for guys who can't figure out the other sex and want to make an effort to learn, but sadly, too much psycho madness to find any solutions. Still doing a postmortem on it. -
[quote name='red terror']<br />
Took a breather between the first two volumes to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night," which is on the one hand over-written, contrived and pithy, and then outta nowhere he'll dazzle with a mindblowing paragraph or sentence that I want to commit to memory. Recommended for guys who can't figure out the other sex and want to make an effort to learn, but sadly, too much psycho madness to find any solutions. Still doing a postmortem on it.[/QUOTE]<br />
I tried reading The Great Gatsby and found it tedious and as such I haven't tried his other three (or is it four?) novels.