Books 2nd Edition, Foreword by m0r1arty Options

[mcraigclark]

Almost finished Crime and Punishment. It's taken me a month though.

That's the first book I read cover-to-cover without putting it down.

[sweetbutinsane]

The Prestige by Christopher Priest.

I got the original version, not the movie tie-in one. So very, very different to the film but I still absolutely loved it. I tried to read it very slowly; however, as I got closer to the end I found it harder and harder to put it down. A very good read indeed.

[widowspider]

I've almost finished my re-read of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It's a great book, but goes a little bit too much into complicated back-history sometimes.

Next up are three books I bought at Barnes & Noble yesterday. Two are from the Barker & Llewellyn mystery series, which I adore, and Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks. Some nice holiday reads that I'll probably have ploughed through before I even get on the plane.

[Outatime]

I've almost finished my re-read of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It's a great book, but goes a little bit too much into complicated back-history sometimes.

That's on my pile of books to read, did you re-read it because you enjoyed it or because it needs a second read to understand? I'm not trying to imply you're thick but I can't think of a better way to phrase it.

[widowspider]

That's on my pile of books to read, did you re-read it because you enjoyed it or because it needs a second read to understand? I'm not trying to imply you're thick but I can't think of a better way to phrase it.

Heh - no worries! I really enjoyed it the first time around, but it's a massive book and a lot of information to take in so it's definitely good for a second read. I also haven't read it in over a year so I'd forgotten a lot of it. I definitely recommend it though!

[Rebus]

Just finished Salmon of Doubt again after only reading it two months ago. Wonderful, hialrious, inspiring and just brilliant in every possible way. Aside from that, bloody frustrating as DNA talks so much about how he was full to the brim with ideas after such a long period of having nothing to write, and now it will never see the light of day.

[maian]

I read Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attacks and The Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami and Tell No One by Harlan Coben over the last few days.

The former was endlessly fascinating and quite terrifying as well. It's Murakami's attempt to get to grips with the attacks on the Tokyo subway system on March 20, 1995, in which members of the Aum cult released Sarin gas throughout the subway system, causing the deaths of 12 people and injuring thousands more. The first half of the book comprises interviews Murakami conducted with victims and relatives of victims of the attacks. Through these, Murakami creates a picture of an extraordinary event as told through a number of different perspectives, with each building on, and occasionally contradicting, those that went before until something resembling a complete account emerges, one that puts the reader underground with hundreds of people and a sickly sweet smell permeating the stations.

Murakami remains mostly hidden during these interviews, allowing the interviewees to speak for themselves and keeping any editorialising down to a bare minimum, apart from his afterword. He also uses them to present an interesting look into the Japanese psyche, and how the society as a whole had become so work obsessed that people with serious sarin poisoning would go to work, rather than go to a hospital for treatment, and how completely underprepared the emergency services were for a disaster of this magnitude.

The second half of the book, which was actually published separately in Japan as a response to criticisms that Underground itself was somewhat one-sided (which was the point, really) contains eight interviews with former and current members of Aum, in which Murakami takes a more active role in order to probe why people would become involved and whether or not they were aware of what was occuring in the cult at the time that it became so violent. These are just as fascinating as the others, if only because they seem to highlight Murakami's idea that the real danger is not so much Aum itself but the fact that so many people had become disenfranchised by Japanese society that they would be willing to surrender themselves to a group that seemed to offer them some sort of spiritual aid. Chilling stuff, especially when you get to accounts of bullying and torture within Aum that some of the interviewees had to endure.

Although I'd recommend it, I wouldn't recommend reading it on any form of public transport. It's just not good for the mind.


Even though I'd seen the film of Tell No One, I was interested to see what the book was like as I wanted to check out Harlan Coben's work in general and thought that approaching a story I already knew might offer an easy indicator of whether or not I'd like his stuff. The fact that I've already started another of his books says volumes about what I thought to his writing.

Crisp, sharp prose combined with a tense plot that blends mystery, suspense and a paranoiac fear of pursuit. It also differs from the film in a number of ways that I found quite interesting, particularly the messier and quite different ending, which even Coben has admitted was done better in the film. Still, it's a very good crime thriller and I was gripped throughout.

[Kirst008]

I've been reading the Philip Pullman Sally Lockhart mysteries. I'm on The Tiger in the Well at the moment. This third book is the best so far. I'm really anjoying it. I would highly recommend any book by Philip Pullman. I hope they do a t.v adaptation of the The Tiger in the Well and the next one The Tin Princess.

[Jubei]

My copy of The Temporal Void was posted yesterday. Hopefully should arrive tomorrow. Yay!

[rebelstar]

I really must pick up a copy of that.

Finished Stuart Maconie's Pies And Prejudice, which was pretty entertaining (although slightly marred by some poor editing), and started David Simon's Homicide : A Year On The Killing Streets - so far, it's been excellent.

[Jessopjessopjess...]

My copy of The Temporal Void was posted yesterday. Hopefully should arrive tomorrow. Yay!

I bought that today at Forbidden Planet. You could probably kill someone with it.

[Serafina_Pekkala]

I've almost finished my re-read of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It's a great book, but goes a little bit too much into complicated back-history sometimes.

I gave up on this one because the plot was too heavy and the characters too bland IMO - the narrator was always talking about how sheltered she was which is fair enough - but doesn't make a good read or a vivid story.

And then the stuff about the dragon in the book and the mystery death of the scholar was really atmospheric and inventive. There could have been a lot more pace and far less backstory - then the book would have excelled itself.

[maian]

David Simon's Homicide : A Year On The Killing Streets - so far, it's been excellent.

An absolutely terrific book. I was really impressed by his ability to respect the work of the police without putting them on a pedestal; they're all real, flawed people doing very tough work and he really understands that.

[mcraigclark]

I gave up on this one because the plot was too heavy and the characters too bland IMO - the narrator was always talking about how sheltered she was which is fair enough - but doesn't make a good read or a vivid story.

And then the stuff about the dragon in the book and the mystery death of the scholar was really atmospheric and inventive. There could have been a lot more pace and far less backstory - then the book would have excelled itself.

I agree with all of the above.

[widowspider]

I gave up on this one because the plot was too heavy and the characters too bland IMO - the narrator was always talking about how sheltered she was which is fair enough - but doesn't make a good read or a vivid story.

And then the stuff about the dragon in the book and the mystery death of the scholar was really atmospheric and inventive. There could have been a lot more pace and far less backstory - then the book would have excelled itself.

I agree with all of the above.

Me too - it could have been a much shorter and pacier book without losing anything, and in fact would have been better I think. It seemed like she was trying to mirror the narrative style of Dracula, with the letters and so on, but it dragged out too much and I kept forgetting the important details. However I still enjoyed it.

I raced through The Hellfire Conspiracy by Will Thomas this weekend - I was only going to start it in preparation for my flight tomorrow but, as with all mystery books, I couldn't put it down. Another enjoyable story in the Barker and Llewellyn series. Got one more left to read, but I'm stretching it out and interspersing with Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks. So far it's been great.