The Books Thread (Fiction)

Blue_V · 28th November 2011, 13:05

Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. You will like the characters, the details and simplicity of descriptions at many places, the conversations are tight. Authors tend to over load you with specifics, but GRRM tries to keep it simple. But then, he drags the story and after some chapters I started skipping certain chapters/characters. He has surprisingly not included one of the most important characters Robb as a first person narration. No details about his exploits, just third person narration. I still havent found myself wanting to finish the book with couple of chapetsr to go, thats very disappointing.

anilisanil · 28th November 2011, 13:16

All works by Wodehouse.

All works by Ludlum.

Among others are J Grisham, J Archer.

AND the Hitchhiker's guide :P

I also loved this book "God's Debris" by Scott Adams.

Currently reading nothing :P

mav2000 · 28th November 2011, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by anilisanil

All works by Wodehouse.

All works by Ludlum.

Among others are J Grisham, J Archer.

AND the Hitchhiker's guide :P

I also loved this book "God's Debris" by Scott Adams.

Currently reading nothing :P

I read the Hitchhikers guide and really didnt find it all that great. The rest of your list though is awesome/

Try Ken Follet and Mario Puzo, you may like their writing as well.

Abhay · 28th November 2011, 19:52

- currently The Planets by Dava Sobel..fairly simple book abt the solar system. very good for the lay-person.
Also just finished "Teesra Dhruva" (The Third Pole) by Ramesh Desai..good book about mountaineering expeditions in the Himalaya (especially about the pioneers)

akshayasok · 29th November 2011, 05:13

Top Five in no Particular Order

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Watchmen - Alan Moore
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
Almost all of P.G. Wodehouse Books
Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger

Currently reading 1984 - George Orwell

kalpeshc · 19th December 2011, 12:25

Need some help about the Malgudi Days series. There are quite a few books under that title
1. Malgudi Days
2. Malgudi Adventures
3. Malgudi Schooldays
4. Malgudi Landscapes
5. The Tiger of Malgudi

Are the first 3 books different from each other? Or are they the same short stories under different book titles? I am planning to buy from Flipkart

iceman7 · 19th December 2011, 12:30

Currently reading - Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

Eddy · 19th December 2011, 15:56

Has anyone read any of these books ? Reviews ?

Shinie Antony recommends: Must reads of 2011 « readiscover

Revolution 2020 has been lying with me for quite some time but have not read it yet.

ampere · 24th December 2011, 18:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddy

Has anyone read any of these books ? Reviews ?

Eddy,

Not read even one.

But here are three which I found amazing. All three in strangely similar sphere.
All of them attack the prowess of the brain!

Thinking Fast and Slow

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-...4731551&sr=8-1

Undercover Economist
http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Eco...4731510&sr=8-2

Predictably Irrational
http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Ir...4731537&sr=8-1

And here is a medical beauty. : Phantoms in the Brain

http://www.amazon.com/Phantoms-Brain...4731765&sr=1-1

VSR also has given some amazing TED talks.

PhX · 25th December 2011, 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddy

Revolution 2020 has been lying with me for quite some time but have not read it yet.

My flatmate's bought this and he says it's quite good. Personally, I like Chetan Bhagat. He'll never be a literary genius, but he captures Indian characters really well. I write short stories and I always struggle with 2 things -- narration and characterisation. Both of these things, Bhagat's got right.

Eddy · 25th December 2011, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhX

My flatmate's bought this and he says it's quite good. Personally, I like Chetan Bhagat. He'll never be a literary genius, but he captures Indian characters really well. I write short stories and I always struggle with 2 things -- narration and characterisation. Both of these things, Bhagat's got right.

I agree. One Night at the Call Center was slighly depressing and 3 mistakes was ok, but the other two books were extremely "entertaining".

motorpsycho · 26th December 2011, 01:33

Read the following last week.

Deception Point -Dan Brown :

It's a OK read , with the predictable Dan Brown characters intelligent male, intelligent and very good looking female. Loose plot.

Girl with dragon tattoo- Stieg Larrson

The plot got me hooked, but the pace is slow. Reviews say that movie is much better than Novel.

World War Z- Max Brooks

A novel on Zombie Apocalypse, it's a collection of stories of people experiences during the Apocalypse. A book only for ZPAW fans.

MP

PhX · 26th December 2011, 07:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by motorpsycho

Deception Point -Dan Brown :

It's a OK read , with the predictable Dan Brown characters intelligent male, intelligent and very good looking female. Loose plot.

Deception Point was still way better than The Lost Symbol. At least the characters were interesting in this one. The Lost Symbol was completely useless.

Quote:

World War Z- Max Brooks

A novel on Zombie Apocalypse, it's a collection of stories of people experiences during the Apocalypse. A book only for ZPAW fans.

This sounds interesting. Not a huge fan of zombie apocalypse scenarios, but I'd love to read a "The world's ending and this is how I dealt with it" kind of story.

I recently finished Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace. It's fairly slow, and he likes writing in a flowery, poetic yet verbose manner. The strongest feature of the book is the characters. It's the only thing that keeps you hooked because there's otherwise little to no storyline whatsoever.

Anyway, though it's impossible to list my Top 5 books, here are some of my favourites:

A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Bach
Kane and Abel - Archer
The Life of Pi - Martel
The Harry Potter series

I would actually have included another Dickens book in there (David Copperfield), but I wanted to list only one book by each author.

Abhay · 26th December 2011, 14:48

^ then you should have listed only one particular book from the Potter series too

I have plenty of unread books lying around as usual.
Currently reading an Ian Rankin book (Inspector Rebus series) , this one is a collection of short stories in the same vein as his usual novels. Next up is "About Time" which is literally about time (and with it of course about relativity too) by Paul Davies.

naveenroy · 26th December 2011, 15:06

Just finished "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. Have watched the movie many times but finally got down to reading the book. Not his usual horror writing but a touching story about a black convict with a "healing" touch waiting on death row.

Nice read.

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28th November 2011, 13:05	#526
Blue_V BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 173 Thanked: 67 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. You will like the characters, the details and simplicity of descriptions at many places, the conversations are tight. Authors tend to over load you with specifics, but GRRM tries to keep it simple. But then, he drags the story and after some chapters I started skipping certain chapters/characters. He has surprisingly not included one of the most important characters Robb as a first person narration. No details about his exploits, just third person narration. I still havent found myself wanting to finish the book with couple of chapetsr to go, thats very disappointing.
	() Thanks

28th November 2011, 13:16	#527
anilisanil Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Pune Posts: 1,420 Thanked: 291 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) All works by Wodehouse. All works by Ludlum. Among others are J Grisham, J Archer. AND the Hitchhiker's guide :P I also loved this book "God's Debris" by Scott Adams. Currently reading nothing :P
	() Thanks

28th November 2011, 19:52	#529
Abhay BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 727 Thanked: 11 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) - currently The Planets by Dava Sobel..fairly simple book abt the solar system. very good for the lay-person. Also just finished "Teesra Dhruva" (The Third Pole) by Ramesh Desai..good book about mountaineering expeditions in the Himalaya (especially about the pioneers)
	() Thanks

29th November 2011, 05:13	#530
akshayasok BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: MCR,GVA,TVM,BGR Posts: 44 Thanked: 10 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Top Five in no Particular Order In Cold Blood - Truman Capote Watchmen - Alan Moore And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie Almost all of P.G. Wodehouse Books Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger Currently reading 1984 - George Orwell
	() Thanks

19th December 2011, 12:25	#531
kalpeshc BHPian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mumbai Posts: 538 Thanked: 141 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Need some help about the Malgudi Days series. There are quite a few books under that title 1. Malgudi Days 2. Malgudi Adventures 3. Malgudi Schooldays 4. Malgudi Landscapes 5. The Tiger of Malgudi Are the first 3 books different from each other? Or are they the same short stories under different book titles? I am planning to buy from Flipkart
	() Thanks

19th December 2011, 12:30	#532
iceman7 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: BOM \| TLL Posts: 751 Thanked: 471 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Currently reading - Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
	() Thanks

19th December 2011, 15:56	#533
Eddy Team-BHP Support Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Singapore Posts: 9,458 Thanked: 13,799 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Has anyone read any of these books ? Reviews ? Shinie Antony recommends: Must reads of 2011 « readiscover Revolution 2020 has been lying with me for quite some time but have not read it yet.
	() Thanks

26th December 2011, 01:33	#537
motorpsycho BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hubli Posts: 483 Thanked: 450 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Read the following last week. Deception Point -Dan Brown : It's a OK read , with the predictable Dan Brown characters intelligent male, intelligent and very good looking female. Loose plot. Girl with dragon tattoo- Stieg Larrson The plot got me hooked, but the pace is slow. Reviews say that movie is much better than Novel. World War Z- Max Brooks A novel on Zombie Apocalypse, it's a collection of stories of people experiences during the Apocalypse. A book only for ZPAW fans. MP
	() Thanks

26th December 2011, 14:48	#539
Abhay BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 727 Thanked: 11 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) ^ then you should have listed only one particular book from the Potter series too I have plenty of unread books lying around as usual. Currently reading an Ian Rankin book (Inspector Rebus series) , this one is a collection of short stories in the same vein as his usual novels. Next up is "About Time" which is literally about time (and with it of course about relativity too) by Paul Davies.
	() Thanks

26th December 2011, 15:06	#540
naveenroy Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2009 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,511 Thanked: 1,254 Times	re: The Book Thread (Fiction) Just finished "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. Have watched the movie many times but finally got down to reading the book. Not his usual horror writing but a touching story about a black convict with a "healing" touch waiting on death row. Nice read.
	() Thanks