The Book Shelf

[Mary]

I'm a great reader with pushing 8000 books in the house ranging from classics to SF and fantasy to thrillers and cookery. Despite it being done to death my all time favourite is Lord of The Rings - first read when I was 16 and I still feel the chill of the Black Riders and the taste of the white bread and honey in Bombadil's house.

Currently reading several US thriller writers. I find John Lescroart brilliant and also James Lee Burke.

 

[Horsa]

I'm a bookworm too. I read mainly classics, history, poetry & books on horses though I have been known to read other books too. Out of the more modern fiction I like Catherine Cookson & Lyn Andrews best. I am reading "All I ever wrote" by Ronnie Barker at the moment. I don't get to read as much as I'd like at the moment as I keep getting ideas for pieces, stories, songs & poems & have to get them down before I forget them or I end up racking my brain trying to come up with them again & they're not as good.

 

[Mary]

I'm a bookworm too. I read mainly classics, history, poetry & books on horses though I have been known to read other books too. Out of the more modern fiction I like Catherine Cookson & Lyn Andrews best. I am reading "All I ever wrote" by Ronnie Barker at the moment. I don't get to read as much as I'd like at the moment as I keep getting ideas for pieces, stories, songs & poems & have to get them down before I forget them or I end up racking my brain trying to come up with them again & they're not as good.

My home county is Catherine Cookson country although I haven't lived there for many years. Her writing is very true to the life style of my grand parents - times were hard then.

I read quite a lot of history especially biography. If you read historical fiction have you tried Dorothy Dunnett? Her Lymond series of six novels is one of my all time favourites.

I admire you for writing. I have always meant to and never made the effort. Perhaps I'll get down to it and write a dark and terrifying vampire story one day!

 

[Federberg]

I'm a great reader with pushing 8000 books in the house ranging from classics to SF and fantasy to thrillers and cookery. Despite it being done to death my all time favourite is Lord of The Rings - first read when I was 16 and I still feel the chill of the Black Riders and the taste of the white bread and honey in Bombadil's house.

Currently reading several US thriller writers. I find John Lescroart brilliant and also James Lee Burke.

I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings as well Have you read any of the precursors. Unfinished Tales or more specifically the Silmarillion? Great books.

There are other epic fantasy series that are quite engaging. I would recommend Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series for fantasy, and for scifi the LoTR equivalent surely has to be Frank Herbert's Dune saga. Absolutely epic! I also think Stephen Donaldson's Gap series is spectacular as well.

I don't read as much scifi as I used to but I've been following Richard Phillips Rho Agenda series

For the last few years I've been gorging myself on special ops/ spy thrillers. Some great stuff there too. But I've gone through phases reading classics as well. I had a particular obsession with Russian greats like Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy etc. It's a wonder I get anything done! Lucky I'm a fast reader

 

[Horsa]

My home county is Catherine Cookson country although I haven't lived there for many years. Her writing is very true to the life style of my grand parents - times were hard then.

I read quite a lot of history especially biography. If you read historical fiction have you tried Dorothy Dunnett? Her Lymond series of six novels is one of my all time favourites.

I admire you for writing. I have always meant to and never made the effort. Perhaps I'll get down to it and write a dark and terrifying vampire story one day!

I love Durham. I've been many times. Beamish is my favourite museum. I haven't. I'll put her name on my recommendations list. Thank you very much.

My favourite biography is Elizabeth Gaskell's life of Charlotte Bronte. Charlotte Bronte is my favourite author.

1 of my followers on twitter advised me to start writing again. Dad had been trying to get me to write for ages. I read Anton Chekhov's stories of Russian life which gave me a few ideas & I find myself thinking in rhyme sometimes so I thought I'd have a go. Now I can't stop coming up with ideas.

I hope you get a chance to write 1 day.

 

[Horsa]

I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings as well Have you read any of the precursors. Unfinished Tales or more specifically the Silmarillion? Great books.

There are other epic fantasy series that are quite engaging. I would recommend Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series for fantasy, and for scifi the LoTR equivalent surely has to be Frank Herbert's Dune saga. Absolutely epic! I also think Stephen Donaldson's Gap series is spectacular as well.

I don't read as much scifi as I used to but I've been following Richard Phillips Rho Agenda series

For the last few years I've been gorging myself on special ops/ spy thrillers. Some great stuff there too. But I've gone through phases reading classics as well. I had a particular obsession with Russian greats like Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy etc. It's a wonder I get anything done! Lucky I'm a fast reader

I like Dr. Zhivago.

 

[Mary]

I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings as well Have you read any of the precursors. Unfinished Tales or more specifically the Silmarillion? Great books.

There are other epic fantasy series that are quite engaging. I would recommend Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series for fantasy, and for scifi the LoTR equivalent surely has to be Frank Herbert's Dune saga. Absolutely epic! I also think Stephen Donaldson's Gap series is spectacular as well.

I don't read as much scifi as I used to but I've been following Richard Phillips Rho Agenda series

For the last few years I've been gorging myself on special ops/ spy thrillers. Some great stuff there too. But I've gone through phases reading classics as well. I had a particular obsession with Russian greats like Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy etc. It's a wonder I get anything done! Lucky I'm a fast reader

I love Thomas Covenant and must reread them. Also the Julian May series including The Golden Torc. I liked the start of The Wheel of time but gave up after about volume 8! Martha Wells Ile-Rien series is excellent especially The Death of the Necromancer. Robin John and Charles de Lint are great too and Jim Butcher's Dresden series.

I also love Tolstoy and Turgenev but Dostoyevsky was too depressing for me. I often reread Dickens and John Buchan - great reads for cold nights.

Mainly I read physical books. I love the feel of paper and good binding. But I have some eBooks but find I tend to rush through them. And life would not be real without a couple of audio books on the go!

 

[Federberg]

I like Dr. Zhivago.

Great book. Never been able to last through the whole film though

 

[Federberg]

I love Thomas Covenant and must reread them. Also the Julian May series including The Golden Torc. I liked the start of The Wheel of time but gave up after about volume 8! Martha Wells Ile-Rien series is excellent especially The Death of the Necromancer. Robin John and Charles de Lint are great too and Jim Butcher's Dresden series.

I also love Tolstoy and Turgenev but Dostoyevsky was too depressing for me. I often reread Dickens and John Buchan - great reads for cold nights.

Mainly I read physical books. I love the feel of paper and good binding. But I have some eBooks but find I tend to rush through them. And life would not be real without a couple of audio books on the go!

Really? I love Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment may well be my favourite book of all time. The deliberation, the tortured thinking about taking another life. Wow! I'm not sure any contemporary authors have come close to that sort of depth.

I loved the Julian May series. I always hoped she would do a follow up series going through what Marc was able to do in the Duat galaxy and the history of the Llylmiks and it would have been interesting to see how Aiken Drum did in the Many Coloured Land.

I used to feel that way about books until I realised that going on holiday didn't need to be a weight lifting exercise anymore. When you're capable of reading more than 10 books on a 2 week holiday it's a real drag lugging them around! Now I'm so used to reading eBooks I wouldn't know how to go back to the old stuff. Now if I want to keep on reading at night I don't get grumbles about the light being on. It's perfect

 

[Horsa]

Great book. Never been able to last through the whole film though

I've never seen the film. I've listened to the theme tune many times though. I know the words & sing along now.

 

[Federberg]

I've never seen the film. I've listened to the theme tune many times though. I know the words & sing along now.

If you're like me, films are a poor facsimile of books. They can never match up. I will say that LoTR was a good effort even if they missed out the bits with Tom Bombadil, but our imaginations are always superior to what we see in film. Movies are such a limited medium comparatively

 

[Horsa]

If you're like me, films are a poor facsimile of books. They can never match up. I will say that LoTR was a good effort even if they missed out the bits with Tom Bombadil, but our imaginations are always superior to what we see in film. Movies are such a limited medium comparatively

With the exceptions of "The horse whisperer" & Danielle Steele's "Palomino" I agree. The books go into way too much detail when it comes to fornication in these & I'm like carry on with the story. I don't want or need to know this. Please move onto the horsey & cute parts.

 

[Mary]

Really? I love Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment may well be my favourite book of all time. The deliberation, the tortured thinking about taking another life. Wow! I'm not sure any contemporary authors have come close to that sort of depth.

I loved the Julian May series. I always hoped she would do a follow up series going through what Marc was able to do in the Duat galaxy and the history of the Llylmiks and it would have been interesting to see how Aiken Drum did in the Many Coloured Land.

I used to feel that way about books until I realised that going on holiday didn't need to be a weight lifting exercise anymore. When you're capable of reading more than 10 books on a 2 week holiday it's a real drag lugging them around! Now I'm so used to reading eBooks I wouldn't know how to go back to the old stuff. Now if I want to keep on reading at night I don't get grumbles about the light being on. It's perfect

I think Crime and Punishment is Brilliant but I found it so harrowing I could never read it again. The horror of it stayed with me for ages.
I keep trying with the eBooks!

 

[britbox]

If you're like me, films are a poor facsimile of books. They can never match up. I will say that LoTR was a good effort even if they missed out the bits with Tom Bombadil, but our imaginations are always superior to what we see in film. Movies are such a limited medium comparatively

I thought LoTR was one of the better adaptations... but they would probably have been better making 5 films instead of 3 as like you say, big chunks were chopped out. Really enjoyed the movies though - they captured a lot of it exactly as I had imagined.

I've read the books about 3 or 4 times over the years and each time I felt I was starting a journey of sorts... just reading.

The Hobbit movies and book were pretty ordinary... they could have done that book in one movie and doing three of them just seemed like a money grab with loads of non-descript scenes padded out to fill time.

Has anyone read The Shining by Stephen King? I thought the original movie was terrific but then I hadn't read the book, which is also supposed to great. King didn't like Stanley Kubrick's adaptation and was later much more involved with a TV adaptation which was supposed to follow the books more closely... I only watched part of that and felt it didn't hold a torch to the original movie.

 

[Federberg]

^Funnily enough I've only read a couple of Stephen King books over the years and the Shining isn't one of them. It would have been impossible to match that film though. Unless they got someone like Pacino or De Niro to try to match Nicholson's performance. One for the ages

 

[Mary]

I thought LoTR was one of the better adaptations... but they would probably have been better making 5 films instead of 3 as like you say, big chunks were chopped out. Really enjoyed the movies though - they captured a lot of it exactly as I had imagined.

I've read the books about 3 or 4 times over the years and each time I felt I was starting a journey of sorts... just reading.

The Hobbit movies and book were pretty ordinary... they could have done that book in one movie and doing three of them just seemed like a money grab with loads of non-descript scenes padded out to fill time.

Has anyone read The Shining by Stephen King? I thought the original movie was terrific but then I hadn't read the book, which is also supposed to great. King didn't like Stanley Kubrick's adaptation and was later much more involved with a TV adaptation which was supposed to follow the books more closely... I only watched part of that and felt it didn't hold a torch to the original movie.

I read it years ago - I wasn't feeling too well at the time and passed out in a particularly scary bit near the end!!

 

[britbox]

So what's the reading bucket list for the remainder of the year?

I've got the Game of Thrones books to read... and may check out some James Herbert... usually read Grisham books when they come out, although I find them a bit hit and miss... the hits are good though. @Federberg - did you ever read Michael Ridpath?

I usually read a lot more non-fiction than fiction these days though.

 

[Horsa]

I'm sorting my books out at the moment so have to read them to find out whether I like them or not. Then I'm going to go through my recommendations list. I haven't been getting much reading done recently as I keep getting ideas for stories, songs, poems & other pieces so have to write them down. I've got a few books & 3 long pieces of writing on the go at the moment including 1 longer poem & 2 historical pieces.

 

[Mary]

So what's the reading bucket list for the remainder of the year?

I've got the Game of Thrones books to read... and may check out some James Herbert... usually read Grisham books when they come out, although I find them a bit hit and miss... the hits are good though. @Federberg - did you ever read Michael Ridpath?

I usually read a lot more non-fiction than fiction these days though.

I liked the first two Game of Thrones - long before the TV series. Not so keen on the later ones. His Fevre Dream is superb, one of the best vampire books ever.

In my to read pile now is Monfredo's Seneca Falls Series, a biog of Lloyd George and rereading World Class mentioned early on in this thread. It is set at the time when the pro tennis tour was starting and I remember enjoying it when it first came out.

Thinking of films and TV series I think Outlander worked really well. I loved the book - called Cross Stitch in the UK and the T V adaptation was very well done.

Pause for bad language - tablet has changed what I wrote and dog has licked all the froth off my cappuccino!

 

[Federberg]

I'm sorting my books out at the moment so have to read them to find out whether I like them or not. Then I'm going to go through my recommendations list. I haven't been getting much reading done recently as I keep getting ideas for stories, songs, poems & other pieces so have to write them down. I've got a few books & 3 long pieces of writing on the go at the moment including 1 longer poem & 2 historical pieces.

Actually I haven't. I've got a selection of authors whose books hit my kindle as soon as they come out. Lee Childs, Mark Dawson, Scott Mathews, Tom Wood, Richard Sanders, Scott Mariani, Richard Phillips, Steven Erikson to name. A few