recommend some modern fiction for someone who's lost her way...

[foo]

It is! It is!

i just texted my ma telling her to hurry up and finish it. she texted back to say, she has, and it's 'bloody marvellous', and i can pick it up after work.

hurray for good books and fab mums!

 

[jodal]

"Hello? Who is this? Chris's mum? Stop calling me here." <click>

 

[Biddlybee]

I've amazingly finished Remarkable Things in time for book group, so have time to start another book... I've never read any Coupland , anyone got one I could borrow?

 

[ChrisFilter]

"Hello? Who is this? Chris's mum? Stop calling me here." <click>

Implying that you're happy to take her calls outside of work?

 

[foo]

I've amazingly finished Remarkable Things in time for book group, so have time to start another book... I've never read any Coupland , anyone got one I could borrow?

(off the top of my head)

Life After God
Generation x
Elenor Rigby

are all fanatastic

edit: sorry Biddlybee - you asked to borrow. i'm sure people closer (in london) will have copies.

 

[Biddlybee]

cheers for the recommendations though

 

[Pieface]

Bee - me and Dub have the lot between us - I'll bring one to BG.

I want to bring you Hey Nostradamus.

 

[bmd]

I'm bored of books at the moment.

I normally read general fiction > fantasy > general fiction > fantasy > non-fiction > fantasy etc, etc

I've just finished a fiction, and there are a couple of sequel fantasy books I want to read, but I want something new. Preferably of an escapist, fantastical nature. I don't want to read about real life, I can live that.

I don't want anything too up it's own arse, hate Terry Pratchett, and historical novels often get too bogged down in dates and names.

I've read the majority of the books mentioned above.

I'm stuck.

Have you read any Tad Williams?

I'm reading Max Brooks' 'World War Z' atm, which is ok so far.

The last one in the Briar King trilogy (why do they always have to be trilogies?) by J. Gregory Keyes has just come out.

Or anything by Robin Hobb.

 

[Biddlybee]

Bee - me and Dub have the lot between us - I'll bring one to BG.

I want to bring you Hey Nostradamus.

Cheers PieEye... are you at Offline on Thursday?

I still need to give Dub his DVDs back too... I've only watch series 1 so far

 

[Pieface]

I am coming to wiskey's goodbye drinks on thurs so can bring it then.

 

[Dubversion]

Cheers PieEye... are you at Offline on Thursday?

I still need to give Dub his DVDs back too... I've only watch series 1 so far

No rush. we've just bagged the complete Six Feet Under off Ebay for 40 quid

 

[Biddlybee]

I was going to see if I could work out how to copy dvds, but I think it's too much for my little brain... so I'll just watch them and then get them back to you

 

[jodal]

Implying that you're happy to take her calls outside of work?

Yes, can't exactly get away with having phone sex with your mum during work hours. Mind you, doesn't stop her trying, sweet really.

 

[bmd]

I was going to see if I could work out how to copy dvds, but I think it's too much for my little brain... so I'll just watch them and then get them back to you

Try DVDShrink

'How to' guide here.
Download here.

 

[Biddlybee]

Cheers BMD I'll have a look at that this week... might be back with a few questions though

edit: ta for the guide link too

 

[Lea]

Life of Pi by Yann Martell

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

 

[bmd]

Cheers BMD I'll have a look at that this week... might be back with a few questions though

Just edited my post to stick up the 'how to' page but feel free to contact me if you get stuck.

 

[onemonkey]

well Cloud Atlas got on my tits as well - Remarkable Things isn't trying to be clever but it takes you apart. And I had never heard of it until onemonkey suggested it - he has annoyingly good taste and is good at suggesting books he thinks are apt for me

fuck there goes my chance of contributing to this thread


actually my main secret is i get my sister to recommend me stuff

 

[onemonkey]

The books I read a couple of pages of before I fall asleep are painfully embarassing*, and I know it. I can tell they're crap, but I don't know where to start.

with National Novel Writing Month coming up you could follow Benjamin Disraeli's advice and write your own!

 

[Orang Utan]

Another vote for Homes & McGregor here - just given The Safety Of Objects to a friend for her birthday and am hoping to borrow it as soon as she's finished with it
McGregor is ace!

 

[alexG]

I've just burned through two Michel Houellebecq books in record time becasue they were fab - page turners, intellectually stimulating but not pretentious wank and very well written stories.

Go for Platform (1st) and then Atomised.

 

[Pieface]

actually my main secret is i get my sister to recommend me stuff

that too

When will you be recommending her book?

 

[Dubversion]

I've just burned through two Michel Houellebecq books in record time becasue they were fab - page turners, intellectually stimulating but not pretentious wank and very well written stories.

Go for Platform (1st) and then Atomised.

I thought Platform was a very entertaining read, and liked a lot of Atomised until it degenerated into the really poorly realised sci-fi nonsense at the end

 

[ChrisFilter]

Have you read any Tad Williams?

I'm reading Max Brooks' 'World War Z' atm, which is ok so far.

The last one in the Briar King trilogy (why do they always have to be trilogies?) by J. Gregory Keyes has just come out.

Or anything by Robin Hobb.

If only there was another that even came close to Robin Hobb!

Hmm, will look at Briar King.

 

[baldrick]

*Nick Hornby may figure in the pile by my bedside

nowt wrong with nick hornby have you read his new-ish one - long way down? read it yesterday, cried with laughter for about 50 pages and then it got really sad

 

[Orang Utan]

A Long Way Down is one of the worst books I've read in a long time. A shitty, smug glib book that makes me want to throw Hornby off a tower block.

 

[bmd]

If only there was another that even came close to Robin Hobb!

Hmm, will look at Briar King.

Yeah, she also writes under Megan Lindholm, which are worth a read.

At the risk of 'going on' I can thoroughly recommend Tad Williams' 'Memory, Sorrow & Thorn' or the 'River of Blue Fire' quadrilogy (I made that word up).

I'll chuck Stephen Donaldson in, just in case you haven't got around to his books yet.

And China Miéville, his books are very good, even though he sounds like a Mills & Boon author. 'Iron Council' is excellent.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Didn't like Donaldson... he took the monsters and trolls shit too far for my taste.

Started reading Tad Williams once I think, does the Dragonbone Chair ring a bell? Not sure why I didn't get much further than 2nd chapter, will have another look.

 

[Dubversion]

Donaldson was the last 'fantasy' i read and enjoyed. At least he was dealing with fairly weighty human themes.

That was 25 years ago, mind

 

[spanglechick]

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

utterly reccomended. really brilliant writing. monkeygrinders and i both loved it, and we usually have quite different tastes.