What are you currently reading..

Talking of Kindles, what do you think of yours? Have been tempted recently to buy the £89 one.

That's the one I got.. the day before the Touch was announced, I was predicting the Fire 2 would be announced for the UK as soon as I bought the basic model. The basic touch model might be worth it over the basic non-touch, not sure.

It's surprisingly pleasant to read, all that needs adding is an old paper scent module and water/steamproofing so it can be read in the bath.

I can see how the Kindle could be useful for work, and I've started transferring PDF camera manuals, film datasheets, my own exposure/zone tables, etc to it as a portable reference library.
 
I think that's spot on. I like the tension that King creates but I feel like I know the characters so much better in Koontz's books.

Just dug out 'Watchers' by Koontz. Think that's next on my reading list after Rama.
 
Just dug out 'Watchers' by Koontz. Think that's next on my reading list after Rama.

Watchers is definitely one of his best but a good example of the film not being very good, mainly because they changed the main character completely.
 
funny thing about koontz is that some of his books are crime and some scifi/fantasy though both are equally good - if you read something like "the husband" or "the good guy" its a straight action adventure thriller (car chases, gun battles and such) a distinct step change from say "the taking" or "nightfall"
 
The Worst Journey in the World - Aspley Cherry-Garrard

Dave
 
funny thing about koontz is that some of his books are crime and some scifi/fantasy though both are equally good - if you read something like "the husband" or "the good guy" its a straight action adventure thriller (car chases, gun battles and such) a distinct step change from say "the taking" or "nightfall"

Very true. He's also quite prolific.
 
Watchers is definitely one of his best but a good example of the film not being very good, mainly because they changed the main character completely.

Didn't know they'd made a film. If it's a straight-to-video jobbie then I'm sure Channel 5 will be showing it at some point :LOL:
 
Didn't know they'd made a film. If it's a straight-to-video jobbie then I'm sure Channel 5 will be showing it at some point :LOL:

It was quite a few years ago (1988) and it may well have been straight to Video at the time. Must admit, I don't remember seeing it advertised as being on tv for quite a while as I'd still be tempted to watch it again.
 
I tend to read alot of knights templar related novels the paul christopher books are always agood read but while on holliday recently i ended up reading Dawn french's book a tiny bit marvellous that i had downloaded for my missus. I spent the next three days laughing out loud while sat by.the pool.
Anyone who as gone through the nightmare at times of teenage kids will find something to relate to. I can recomend a good easy read with plenty of laughs.
 
gogless said:
I tend to read alot of knights templar related novels the paul christopher books are always agood read but while on holliday recently i ended up reading Dawn french's book a tiny bit marvellous that i had downloaded for my missus. I spent the next three days laughing out loud while sat by.the pool.
Anyone who as gone through the nightmare at times of teenage kids will find something to relate to. I can recomend a good easy read with plenty of laughs.

Your post has just reminded me that I've still not yet read that. And I've just finished my last one

(y) thanks
 
One thing I've noticed is that Koontz books, when made into films are never, IMHO of course, as good as films based on Stephen King books but I much prefer reading Koontz to King.

I prefer reading Koontz to King too, although King is very good - not sure why they're different. Koontz just seems to create more character whereas King focusses on the tension I think...

I think that's spot on. I like the tension that King creates but I feel like I know the characters so much better in Koontz's books.


Horses for courses I suppose and each to their own but I must have read half a dozen Koontz books and cant remember the name of a single one, or the story line :shrug: Not saying I didnt enjoy them but they never left a lasting impression. Now compare that to King, especially the early ones and I can remember every one and all the main characters. Books like the Dead Zone, The Stand, Salem's lot etc I personal feel non of Koontz matches up to those.

Steve
 
Am currently reading Ian Rankin's 'The Impossible Dead' and am enjoying it.

I also enjoy Scandinavian fiction, translated of course. Henning Mankell's Wallander and other books are enjoyable. Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy and a few Jo Nesbo books.

I've found it hardest to start the Jo Nesbo book, although I note they changed translator as well, so maybe I'll prefer the subsequent books.
 
Just started on "The Walking Dead - Rise of The Governor" by R.Kirkman and J.Bonansinga....preparing me for season 3 of The Walking Dead on TV :)
 
The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen.
I love all of her Rizzoli & Isles novels :}
 
Finished The Leopard and since that Headhunters (also Jo Nesbø), now catching up on some back catalogue books from favourite authors, currently The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson (cracking author, although The Baroque Cycle can tale 3 months out of your life - so far I've managed to read it twice and it's worth the effort of rereading).

Anyone else on Good Reads?
 
Today I read 'Scream' by Nigel McCrery - would recommend to anyone who likes Mark Billingham/Mo Hayder.
Next up is The Gallows Curse by Karen Maitland

A
 
Working my way through Reg Hill's Dalziel And Pascoe series. I never much cared for the TV adaption.
I'm just finishing Bones And Silence.
We're not allowed any other forms of entertainment at work, except books or radio, so I only read at work but if it's a quiet night, I can get through a good book in two shifts. Or a Sue Grafton in one ;)
 
sounds like a cushy job - my boss expects that i'm actually working when at work :LOL:

Reading wise I've just finished "iron house" by john hart - next up i'm reading "barefoot soilder" (autobiography) by Johnson Beharry(VC)
 
I'm revisiting the Ian Fleming Bond books, not read since my teen years. Currently on Live and Let Die and enjoying it a lot.

Also like the CJ Sansom Shardlake books, Michael Connolly and the occasional sci-fi masterwork.
 
During half term read: The Hunger Games Trilogy

Last week Jeffrey Archer: The Sins of the Father

Just opened Killing Hour, Andrew Gross.
 
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"Hull Zero Three" by Greg Bear - no, not a 4th division saturday afternoon scoreline, but an intriguing sci-fi tale.

Better than the 3 previous books I read anyway.

PS Kindle rocks - had mine since Xmas and its great. The new Touch sounds glitzy but is heavier and will eat more batteries - two negatives over the basic 89 quid job. Get one and love it I say!
 
As much as I can understand how a Kindle could be great to have to hand {& not to mention much more cost efficient}, I do love the feel of a book in my hands ~ & the different smell between the pages of the ancient/brand new ones! Pld fashioned perhaps?

Currently thumbing thru my recently aquired 'Photographic Printing' by Gene Nocon thanks to Ed Bray on here! It's interesting.
 
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I prefer 'real' books - I have rather a lot of them - but quite fancy a Kindle for travelling. The idea of loading up several books to read on the train, at airports, on flights and when I'm stuck in hotels has a lot of appeal. My daughter uses an iPad for this, but they're too expensive for me, and I don't have any other use for one.
 
I have loads of books too ("far too many" I've been told by one person in my house!) but what I have realised is that the fiction novels do occupy an inordinate amount of space that I need for my non-fiction titles that I use for reference.

This compromise is good.

I can feed my fiction habbit and keep all my lovely books too :)
 
I have loads of books too ("far too many" I've been told by one person in my house!) but what I have realised is that the fiction novels do occupy an inordinate amount of space that I need for my non-fiction titles that I use for reference.

This compromise is good.

I can feed my fiction habbit and keep all my lovely books too :)

I understand where you're coming from! I got rid of all the novels that I knew I'd never read again before I left South Africa - probably about 1,000 - and hung on to the 'keepers' and all the non-fiction. I do like bookshelves, but I had a lot more space in SA than I have at the moment. Been meaning to ship my books over, but beginning to think I might just go back myself.
 
Now reading a series on Genghis Khan by Conn Iggulden, first of three was good, second is dragging a bit atmo.
 
As much as I can understand how a Kindle could be great to have to hand {& not to mention much more cost efficient}, I do love the feel of a book in my hands ~ & the different smell between the pages of the ancient/brand new ones! Pld fashioned perhaps?

You can't beat the feel of a book (and old books are the best).. but this is a house with at least a couple of thousand books already on the shelves (almost every bookshelf is already double rowed). The Kindle is a perfect way of preventing the proliferation of paperback novels. Reference books I still like to be a physical copy.

The one weakness of the Kindle.. reading in the bath. I'm not sure it could take the humidity, and I'm certain that it wouldn't cope with an accidental plunge!
 
I've never been one for reading in the bath, but I am sure eventually they will be waterproof!

The only BIG question with all ebook formats is the future - will I be able to maintain my DRM'ed collection 20 years from now or will it be obsoleted?

One of the reasons I am sticking to just fiction in ebook format, if those get "burnt" I won't cry too much.
 
I've just finished reading a Håkan Nesser... The Mind's Eye (on the Kindle).

Contrary to popular belief when you buy a Kindle, Amazon don't send a truck round to your house to remove all the books, so the next one up is Scotland: Mapping the Nation (in dead tree format) :)
 
I'm currently trying to understand Operating Systems, incorporating unix and windows by Colin Ritchie.
 
The only BIG question with all ebook formats is the future - will I be able to maintain my DRM'ed collection 20 years from now or will it be obsoleted?


Whatever format might be in vogue in twenty years there will be conversion software available. I've got an Android app just now that can convert just about any format to any other.
 
I wouldn't be so sure - I mean I could rattle off a pile of file formats I used the 80's that can't be converted today...
 
desantnik said:
I wouldn't be so sure - I mean I could rattle off a pile of file formats I used the 80's that can't be converted today...

It would be a very good way of increasing revenue by encouraging people to buy the same book more than once (in a similar way to movies, I.e video, dvd, blue ray... Etc etc).
 
Yes...exactly
 
Alastair said:
You can't beat the feel of a book (and old books are the best).. but this is a house with at least a couple of thousand books already on the shelves (almost every bookshelf is already double rowed). The Kindle is a perfect way of preventing the proliferation of paperback novels. Reference books I still like to be a physical copy.

The one weakness of the Kindle.. reading in the bath. I'm not sure it could take the humidity, and I'm certain that it wouldn't cope with an accidental plunge!

I've read my kindle in the bath without a problem. I've not dropped it though
 
Lord of the Rings, probably the 8th or 9th time I've read it but just always keep coming back to it.
 
I wouldn't be so sure - I mean I could rattle off a pile of file formats I used the 80's that can't be converted today...

Possibly, but in the 80s only 6 people in the world owned a computer whereas now,,, :)
 
I've read 3 of the assassins creed books and just purchased the secret crusade the untold story of altair the master assassin. I love the games too.

Also reading Jeffrey archers and hereby hangs a tale. Just loads of short story's.
 
Now reading a series on Genghis Khan by Conn Iggulden, first of three was good, second is dragging a bit atmo.

stick with them - the third and fourth get better again, Ive not read the fifth one yet (his julius caesar quadrology is well worth a read as well)
 
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