bono's stalker

i love the portrait of dorian gray - it really is a good book - i hope you enjoy it. Wilde was a true literary genius. i always read whatever year group i am teaching the selfish giant. Anyone that can entertain adults and children is truly multi-talented. Like our Bono - his illustrations for Peter and the Wolf were fab.!!

GibsonGirl

I think I'm the only one at Interference who likes Terry Pratchett.

LJT

Rockin book

You would be surprised to see how many times it comes up in pub quizzes as 'name the only novel written by Oscar Wilde?'

If anyone love's ancient History or even doesn't I highly reccomed Tom Holland's Persian Fire.

It follows the story of Athen's and Sparta against the Persian horde of Xerxes, it has a really great narrative making it read more like a great novel than a history book, it is quite exciting, plus some of the quotes from ancient Spartans are either very cool or funny, they seemingly invented action movie dialogue

As I said it centres on the Greco-Persian conflict but it shows its relevance to modern life with questions such as if the Persians had succeeded in subjugating the Greeks, would the West of today exist with its ideals of democracy and freedom? It is the first major instance of East vs West, and is very even handed throughout showing how civilised the Persians really were that Greek sources obviously did not want people to believe.

Yeah anyway it is a hugely entertaining read and now I need to get Holland's first book Rubicon.

Carmelu2fan

Yes it is very sad as well as thought provoking.The issues addressed in that book are still valid to this day.


I was forced to read the book when I was in high school and I am so glad I did. I don't recall another time when I was adamant on speaking out about a book.

BonosBaby12

After reading the book than watching the movie it had quite the impact on me. John Grishams' "A Time To Kill" is another favorite of mine. So horrible though that events like this actually happened.

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Vampire love is so sexy

No spoken words

You think wrong.

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Oh, don't sorrow, no don't weep
for tonight, at last, I am coming home.....I am coming home.

Babydoll

To Kill a Mockingbird is in my opinion, the best book ever. It deserved all the awards it got and more. I spent so much last year getting a first-edition for my ex-best-friend as a Christmas present, and I don't even celebrate Xmas. We fell out soon after and she sold my book on ebay and kept the money. I was telling Wayne, reading it sort of gives you a whole new perspective on life. I know it changed me for the better in so many ways!

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GibsonGirl

Well, people should speak up, then. Whenever a book thread comes around, I mention Terry Pratchett and get no responses. He really is one of the funniest authors around and I just can't wait until the next Discworld book.

No spoken words

"People" might be the wrong word here, might have to go with "person".

I like a ton of authors, actually, but do not want to use this thread to ram any of them down anyone's throat. Mentioned a few early on, and now have just been reading along. To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic, and I'd hope anyone that wanted to post in a thread about books would have already read and enjoyed that book. I'm hoping people come in here and name some books or authors I'm not already familiar with, so I can check him/her out.

My introduction to Pratchett was "Good Omens" which he wrote with another author I like a lot, Neil Gaiman.

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Oh, don't sorrow, no don't weep
for tonight, at last, I am coming home.....I am coming home.

meegannie

...though I think I like him better than his writing.

GibsonGirl

Perhaps. My introduction to Pratchett was J.K. Rowling, actually...when I was a lot younger, I often used to sift through Harry Potter reviews on Amazon, and the name Terry Pratchett came up a few times. So I picked up the first book of his I could find in the library (Carpe Jugulum, not exactly the best place to start!) and instantly fell in love. What a sense of humour!

Anyway, has anyone else here read anything by Bryce Courtenay? I first read The Power Of One (probably my favourite book) years and years ago, because it's somewhat of an obligatory thing to do when you're South African. I'm only just starting to get into his other work...currently reading Four Fires, which is about a "bush" family in Australia during the 1950s. Very good, so far.

annie_vox

I'm reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. A friend told me to read it... I like it so far

bonoishot

He did a reading of one of his books at my high school. I'm not a fan though so didn't take one bit of notice.

Theres quite alot of books in this thread i should try read. A trip to the library for me soon i think.

Books.

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corianderstem

I've heard loads of good things about Good Omens, but it's still sitting on my shelf gathering dust. I'll get around to reading it eventually.

I've read two of Neil Gaiman's books and really enjoyed those. That was a pleasant surprise - I didn't think he would be up my alley.

I'm still slogging through The World According to Garp, and finally, after about 200 pages, I'm getting into it.

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"I'm so mad right now, all I can do is dance!"

No spoken words

Garp's great. So is Gaiman. Which 2 Gaiman books did you read?

__________________
Oh, don't sorrow, no don't weep
for tonight, at last, I am coming home.....I am coming home.