What book did you just read and how was it?

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#904248 28-Sep-2013 17:34

Just finished The Hydrogen Sonata by Ian M. Banks.

He died earlier this year from a short illness but managed to finish this before he went.

10/10. He took the opportunity to tie up a few loose Culture threads. Like Subliming.

I was really bummed to hear he was dead because he is such an awesome writer.

Alastair Reynolds is really good too if you like hard science fiction. He was an astronomer for the European Space Agency before he became a full-time author.

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#904270 28-Sep-2013 18:12

Zealot by reza aslan

Synopsis of synopsis: Very skeptical about the jesus story

Now to read the other side of the argument ...

Oops got the aauthor wrong

DarthKermit

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#906844 3-Oct-2013 06:43

Author Tom Clancy has died:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/9237550/Author-Tom-Clancy-dies-in-Baltimore-hospital

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Demeter

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#909982 8-Oct-2013 17:12

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I've been having the strangest feverdreams since I started reading it and they haven't let up. Not always completely unpleasant but weird nonetheless.

geronimo13

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#921285 25-Oct-2013 01:01

"Everything is illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer. Outstanding reading about an american jew who is looking for people who saved his family during WW2! If you don't want/can't read the book - watch the movie (starring Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz). It's also very good.

gjm

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#923781 29-Oct-2013 20:24

Recently read Nexus and the sequel, Crux by Ramaz Naam, while on holiday. Both great reads about a drug that people can take to link their minds and then some people figure out how to install an OS on top of it and do all sorts of cool stuff but the govt wants to stop them and control it etc. Better reviews then that on Amazon but I thought both were great. Good long holiday length books but they never seemed to drag. 4/5 for me.

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#927358 5-Nov-2013 07:47

Ready Player One by eric cline.
A sf story based around 1980's arcade and pc games.

Demeter

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#931537 12-Nov-2013 15:28

gjm: Recently read Nexus and the sequel, Crux by Ramaz Naam, while on holiday. Both great reads about a drug that people can take to link their minds and then some people figure out how to install an OS on top of it and do all sorts of cool stuff but the govt wants to stop them and control it etc. Better reviews then that on Amazon but I thought both were great. Good long holiday length books but they never seemed to drag. 4/5 for me.

Sounds trippy! I'm going to have to check it out because now I'm intrigued :)

'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card - it is surprisingly great and I'd recommend reading it before seeing the film which is currently in theatres. Seeing the trailer will most likely alter your imagined view of the characters though, as with all book-to-film adaptations.

trig42

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#931560 12-Nov-2013 15:45

Just read all of the Mitch Rapp books by Vince Flynn. Unfortunately, he died this year so no more. I like those kind of stories (you know, American hero and all).

Have to find some others now.

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#931655 12-Nov-2013 17:48

Just finished Glory of the Thunder recently, it's about a fantasy world where normal people end up being given different aspects of god hood, quite good.

http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Aspects-Divinity-Melissa-Elliott-ebook/dp/B00G1PCYKW

vexxxboy

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#931663 12-Nov-2013 18:06

trig42: Just read all of the Mitch Rapp books by Vince Flynn. Unfortunately, he died this year so no more. I like those kind of stories (you know, American hero and all).

Have to find some others now.

Brad Thor's Scot Harvath series is worth a look

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Demeter

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#949481 11-Dec-2013 16:13

'Ocean at the end of the lane' by Neil Gaiman. It felt like I had strayed into a dream or a half-remembered memory of a dream. The narrator goes back to his childhood home and wanders down the hardpacked earth and flint lane and ends up visiting a farmhouse occupied by three women he knew as a child, including 11 year old Lettie who convinces him the duckpond in their garden is actually an Ocean. He then recollects the frightening and supernatural events here from the POV of his 7 year old self.

At times I caught myself wondering if Neil conjured up this fantasy and nurtured it from when he was a child or if the story is linked to actual events, altered for the sake of fiction. A lot of the things he describes (especially the things he eats for example) seem more like actual memories than abstractions found in your average garden variety novel.

I'm on a bit of a Gaiman kick at the moment, and I'm simultaneously working my way through the (incredible) Sandman series as I commute. This was a short but wonderful interlude and I'm looking forward to his next book.

floydbloke

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#960098 1-Jan-2014 20:33

networkn:
gjm:
Handle9: Just finished the new Reacher - Never Go Back. Decent, not his best but better than some of his more recent stuff.

7/10

Just read it as well. got to the end and thought is that it? 5/10 for me.

Got a 7.5 from me, nearly an eight.

I'll also give it a 7. Quite a compelling read, the 'just one more chapter' feeling. Typical Reacheresque plot and action (which I do like) but agree that the climax could have been a bit more gripping.
Won't stop me buying the next installment but I do feel that Child is running out of ideas a little bit.

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#960167 2-Jan-2014 03:58

Well worth reading by anyone with at least a passing interest:

'Tragedy at Pike River Mine - How and why 29 men died'

From the NBR review: "In researching the book, Rebecca Macfie interviewed more than 100 people involved with the mine, from management to miners, geologists and contractors, Mines Rescue workers for whom
Pike remains an open wound, and families of men who died.

Business writer Rod Oram describes Ms Macfie’s book as “investigative journalism at its very best”. Readers will learn of an appalling string of mistakes, from consent being given for the mine in the first place, to lack of proper monitoring equipment, pressure to ignore safety requirements, and effectively only a single exit."

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#960346 2-Jan-2014 16:16

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Really gripping read right from the start. Genre is special agent, action thriller. Several mini-stories and flashbacks besides the main plot, yet really easy to read and follow. Although it is Terry Hayes' first novel, he is a seasoned screenwriter and producer. Can't wait for his next book.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

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