TSF Book Club

NTA

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1355354417' post='332388']I have a bit of an addiction to reading books on my iPhone. So much so, that I have been [u]killing[/u] books recently. 
 
I have a soft spot for pap, so I've been through the whole Jack Reacher series from beginning to end. Yes, they're kinda shit, but it's entertainingly readable shit. [/quote] 
 
I read the first four back-to-back and found this to be the general thread of the author's thinking:

figure out a way to ditch the last burd - chicks hate to love vagabonds, but love to shag them.
drop a crime in his lap and make him the centre of attention even though that shit would never fly in the real world
create "mystery" by having jack hold back perfectly obvious facts
shag a new burd
kill 3 or more people badass style while solving the crime

BartMan

[quote]Topo Rodriguez got a bit frustrated with the current state of the scrum and decided to do something about it. 
 
Includes contributions from Sir Wilson Whineray, Cobus Visagie, Philip Orr, [i][b]Al Baxter[/b][/i], Pieter de Villiers, Ray Williams, Philip Keith-Roach and Sir Brian Lochore. 
 
Looks good.[/quote] 
 
Hmmm, the 'how to bluff your way to 100 Super games" chapter... <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/eusa_think.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':think:' />

Paekakboyz

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1355354417' post='332388'] 
I was never a fan of fantasy until BSG turned me onto Game of Thrones. Sadly, all the other "Books with maps at the beginning" have failed to match up ever since - but I keep reading in the hope that one day one of them might. 
[/quote] 
 
Give the Malazan book of the Fallen (Steven Erickson) a go Luigi. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen[/url] 
 
Detailed plots and characters and pretty brutal like the GOT's series - good dose of gallows humour too...

NTA

[quote name='BartMan' timestamp='1355359373' post='332404'] 
 
Hmmm, the 'how to bluff your way to 100 Super games" chapter... <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/eusa_think.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':think:' />[/quote] 
 
No I think it was the self-help chapter: "So you finally smashed Woodcock and the ref STILL penalised you; strategies for coping with shit decisions"

BartMan

ahhh, the Myth Busters Chapter.

Cactus Jack

Just finished Claudius by Douglas Jackson . Not quite up to Conn Igguldens level of writing but still a very good read and well worth a look .

taniwharugby

I have just started Emperor - Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden.

Cactus Jack

[quote name='taniwharugby' timestamp='1355969325' post='333291'] 
I have just started Emperor - Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden. 
[/quote]Great series that . I have just started re reading the Conqueror series

taniwharugby

I really enjoyed the Conqueror series although I stillhave the last one to go...

Cactus Jack

I doubt you will be disappointed when you do read it , I enjoyed it as much as I did the first three .

mariner4life

Just about to finish Beevor's "The Second World War". I really like the way the guy writes, his books are always good factually, with enough personal stuff in there to get a good feel, and he's obviously a pretty good researcher. 
 
It's not really providing much in the way of new info (but then i have read a LOT of WWII history books, (my father-in-law is Polish, and a history nut, his library on WWII is extensive), but its a very nice commentary of the whole period, and how things in different theatres linked together. He's not overly kind to the main protagonists on either side, especially the Generals (Montgomery, MacArthur and Mark Clarke take a battering). 
 
For the casually interested, or the "beginner" i reckon it's a pretty good starting point.

Dodge

Luigi if you like the Reacher novels (which I've just started given your comment, I like a bit of silly pap from time to time), try the Richard Stark novels, I think they're excellent, tight, well written books about an anti hero called Parker - a career criminal. They're all quite old so a bit dated but prices and amounts aside, they've aged well.

Catogrande

For those that are or about to become Cornwell fans may I suggest that you read each series in chronological order and don't bother with the later editions as they all follow a similar line;

Tall, misunderstood, battiling adversity, hero.
Irish sidekick who is initially at odds with 1) (above)
Eventual triumph in bloody encounter
Rinse & repeat. 
 
This said by something of a Cornwell fan. In general I read and like his novels, it's just that the earlier editions of any of the various series offer a lot more than the later ones. 
 
If you like noir(ish) thrillers then there are two series to consider in distinctly different settings. Denis Lehane writing his series of Kenzie/Gennaro books. One of which - Gone Baby Gone has been filmed. All set in 1990s/2000s Boston. 
 
Secondly Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series about sometime cop, sometime PI in pre and post war Berlin and then onward to Argentina and so on. Start off with the Omnibus edition named Berlin Noir.

Luigi

[quote name='Dodge' timestamp='1357737486' post='336372'] 
Luigi if you like the Reacher novels (which I've just started given your comment, I like a bit of silly pap from time to time), try the Richard Stark novels, I think they're excellent, tight, well written books about an anti hero called Parker - a career criminal. They're all quite old so a bit dated but prices and amounts aside, they've aged well. 
[/quote] 
 
Yes, I've read some Parker. Similar style to Reacher and good fun. I think there's a film coming too. Not sure how either character would fare in the modern world though. I can't see modern law enforcement tolerating a 6.5 250lb throwback like Reacher killing and maiming his way round the US, no matter how righteous his shit is.

jegga

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1357749455' post='336388'] 
Yes, I've read some Parker. Similar style to Reacher and good fun. I think there's a film coming too. Not sure how either character would fare in the modern world though. I can't see modern law enforcement tolerating a 6.5 250lb throwback like Reacher killing and maiming his way round the US, no matter how righteous his shit is. 
[/quote] 
 
I know what you mean about faring in the modern world, I just read the first Bourne novel and all the way through I was thinking this book would be a third as long if they had smart phones. Still entertaining though.

Dodge

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1357749455' post='336388'] 
Yes, I've read some Parker. Similar style to Reacher and good fun. I think there's a film coming too. Not sure how either character would fare in the modern world though. I can't see modern law enforcement tolerating a 6.5 250lb throwback like Reacher killing and maiming his way round the US, no matter how righteous his shit is. 
[/quote]the Mel Gibson film, Payback was based on Point Blank which was one of the earliest Parker books, I thought it was pretty good actually.

Luigi

[quote name='Dodge' timestamp='1357765150' post='336417'] 
the Mel Gibson film, Payback was based on Point Blank which was one of the earliest Parker books, I thought it was pretty good actually. 
[/quote] 
 
That makes sense. Enjoyed it too.

Tim

Don't forget that film directed by your countryman, John Boorman.

booboo

Have just finished reading [i]Watership Down [/i]to my daughter. 
 
A little way in and I realise it's a fairly grown up book - lots of violence, death and (later on) unmarried sex. (Quote from Ms boo jr when one of the rabbits mated with the new does pretty much straightaway "but they're not even married" ... my reply was along the lines that rabbits get married very quickly ... and often ... but I may not have added the last bit out loud ...). 
 
Also lots of really "literary" decriptions of wind in the autumnal sunsets and leaves in hedgerows etc etc which got a little waffly and didn't impress her. So much more of an adult book than I recall. 
 
So probably just a wee bit beyond a nine year old ... but I recall reading it myself when I was only a little older. 
 
Otherwise she was hooked. Loved it. And frankly so did I. A great story, and at the end she said, half smiling, "I'm not crying! I'm not crying!" 
 
And is still bringing it up in conversation ("what was your favourite part?", "which was your favourite rabbit?", "Kehaar was funny: '[i]all da leetle Peegveeg's runaway' [/i]".) 
 
Fully recommend it to parents reading to kids (given appropriate "parental guidance") or just to read (or re-read) for it's own sake.

BartMan

Unbroken by Laura Hildebrandt (sp), who also wrote seabiscuit. Cracker read. and another book along the same lines, can't remember the title exactly, but something like "The Man who broke INTO Auschwitz". Both prisoner of war books from WW2, one a Tommy who gets captured in the dessert and ends up in Germany, the other a Yankl Pilot who ends up in Japan. The parallels in the book are amazing once they are both repatriated. 
 
Both read within days once started, really good hooked into books.

The Silver Fern

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