tzone

**Becky** · Advisor Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 341 Location: Lancaster

For the umpteenth time I've just reread the "Age of Misrule" series by Mark Chadbourn, the ancient legends come back and so on, utterly brilliant. Also Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide, as well as New Statesman and "Who Runs this Place" by Anthony Sampson.
So many books so little time............................... Smile

_________________
It's not what you're born with
It's what you choose to bear
It's not how big your share is
It's how much you can share
It's not the fights you dreamed of
It's those you really fought
It's not what you're given
It's what you do with what you've got

**Reenie** · Reporter Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 3721 Location: Glasgow

I've had Oliver Twist by my beside for well over a year now. I'm about half way through it.

Every time I go to bed, I'm too tired to pick it up and read a few pages. I must make an effort. Dickens is the finest writer I've ever read.

_________________
The Daily Turnout - King of the Throne Room

**Becky** · Advisor Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 341 Location: Lancaster

I do keep trying to read the classics but I think I had a lot of the passion knocked out of me at "O" level ( remember them Reenie ) by doing "The Mayor of Casterbridge" till my eyes hurt, I don't think it was a great book for 15-16 year olds to cover anyway. Smile

_________________
It's not what you're born with
It's what you choose to bear
It's not how big your share is
It's how much you can share
It's not the fights you dreamed of
It's those you really fought
It's not what you're given
It's what you do with what you've got

**Reenie** · Reporter Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 3721 Location: Glasgow

I can't remember my O-levels, actually. Got too many of them... Very Happy

Hardy is hardly the stuff - there's so much misery in the works that I've read. He wasn't exactly kind to his Mayor, nor to Tess of the d'Urbervilles, though I did enjoy Far from the Madding Crowd.

We did Henry V for our O-level, and, if I remember, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and To Kill A Mocking Bird.

_________________
The Daily Turnout - King of the Throne Room

**Alan314159** · Advisor Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 392

Reenie wrote:

We did Henry V for our O-level, and, if I remember, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and To Kill A Mocking Bird.

Not much has changed then! Very Happy

My class did To Kill A Mockingbird for GCSE 5 years ago. I'm quite glad of that, as it's not the thing I'd normally choose to read, and I enjoyed it.

**Flameboy** · Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:08 am Post subject:

Alan314159 wrote:

Reenie wrote:

We did Henry V for our O-level, and, if I remember, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and To Kill A Mocking Bird.

Not much has changed then! Very Happy

My class did To Kill A Mockingbird for GCSE 5 years ago. I'm quite glad of that, as it's not the thing I'd normally choose to read, and I enjoyed it.

Yep, I did To Kill A Mockingbird for my O Grades (over 20 years ago now - jeez, that makes me feel old!) and loved it - it's still one of my all-time favourite books. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that instead of writing about one of the books we'd actually studied in my Highers (both of which I absolutely hated), I re-revised TKAM and wrote on that instead! Very Happy

Dave

**Reenie** · Reporter Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 3721 Location: Glasgow

Let us note the passing of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich we also enjoyed at school. Our teacher read it to us in instalments.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4454809.ece

_________________
The Daily Turnout - King of the Throne Room

snowdoggy · Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 236 Location: East Yorkshire

The last three books I've read are "Becoming A Visible Man" by Jamison Green which took 3 months to come from Amazon and is mainly the political side of being TG. Then I started reading Gordon Ramsay's "Playing With Fire" which was hard work as it's mainly about setting up restaurant businesses, finances and lots of swearing so I got bored with that about halfway through. I'm currently reading "My Booky Wook" by Russell Brand for something a bit lighter which is erm... interesting to say the least.

ke'menios · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 68

I'm reading 'Wraeththu' by Storm Constantine.

And 'Filthy: Outrageous Gay Erotica' by M. Christian. Because I am a pervert... no, actually I want to get into writing gay erotica and I am just reading up on the stuff that is out there.

And, away from my love of fiction, I am reading 'Almost Home', Damien Echols' life story vol 1. He is one of the kids (not a kid anymore) involved in the West Memphis 3 murders. Three young guys who got setenced for life inprisonment for murdering three children because they lived in a small country town, dressed in black and listened to metal music... very sad. They've been in prison, Damien on Death Row for over 15 years, since they were about 15yrs old. And they have no evidence whatsoever that they did it - just the fact they were different...

_________________
why so serious?

**Joel E.** · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 5:21 pm Post subject:

snowdoggy wrote:

I'm currently reading "My Booky Wook" by Russell Brand for something a bit lighter which is erm... interesting to say the least.

Would you recommend "My Booky Wook"? I wouldn't have given it a second thought until I saw Brand on Have I got News for You, and he was saying that he got the Title from Anthony Burgess's novel "A Clockwork Orange." Burgess. Of course, Burgess is a genius and I don't expect Russell to be that good. But the explanation certainly redeemed the title.

_________________
"Squint your eyes
and look closer
I'm not between you
and your ambition" - ani difranco

**Flameboy** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject:

My Booky Wook is in my "to read" pile currently - once I've read it, I'll let you know what I think of it!

I've just started reading Julian Clary's Murder Most Fab this morning - not got very far yet, but I'm enjoying it Very Happy

Dave

**Reenie** · Reporter Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 3721 Location: Glasgow

You'll give us a review of Julian Clary's book, I hope, Dave. I've heard him on Radio 4's just a minute. There's a considerable wit at work there.

_________________
The Daily Turnout - King of the Throne Room

**Flameboy** · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject:

I'll try to remember to, but I'm not very good at book reviews really - I'm very out of practice at that sort of critical analysis! I've enjoyed Julian Clary's comedy for a long time now - I remember him in the 80s as The Joan Collins' Fan Club on Friday Night Live Very Happy

Dave

BlackandPurple · Tzoner Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 870 Location: Australia

Some of the books I've read in highschool was "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" as I got older I got into the Vampire novels mostly the Anne Rice Books.

But I still love the story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carol
and "Through the Looking Glass" they were just really good stories and alot of fun.

I haven't read any books lately but those were some of the books I've enjoyed.

_________________
Misery is my company, why do I stand out from the rest of the people around me.

**Becky** · Advisor Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 341 Location: Lancaster

And now I've finished "Unjust Rewards" by Polly Toynbee , the UKs best mainstream campaigner against poverty, we are all doomed even David ( I'm just an ordinary man in the street, as long as the street happens to be Eaton Square ) Cameron has expressed admiration for her ideas.

_________________
It's not what you're born with
It's what you choose to bear
It's not how big your share is
It's how much you can share
It's not the fights you dreamed of
It's those you really fought
It's not what you're given
It's what you do with what you've got