Bookclub - what are you reading?

[ariesta]

bear, muahahah, nvr read tis book b4 but u've gotten the Rincewind series...personally tats one series i always hav a pbm, coz maybe b'coz of the magic, the characters tend to be zooming everywhere... but i just went to the terry's website, this appears to be his first discworld book so maybe still abit messy bah... muahahaha... i nvr knw...

angeline, now reading on the forum abt the hse on the rock...omg...he can take tis and fix it into a story...unbelievable! tink tats his power...to take someting mandane and twist it ard to gif another meaning...

 

[man_tou_bear]

Wah u guys still around.. no celebration plans?

Alhana and Angeline, ok seems like Neil Gaiman has some pretty gd books. what is the first book i shd get my hands on?

Ariesta, yes yes Rincewind series.. it is damn confusing.. I can't even visualise Discworld and there is no map! i need to be able to know where they are gg.. bad habit of mine.

 

[andain]

Hey Alhana,

gosh! i want to meet him in person too! sigh, i wonder when will he come down to Singapore again!

Hey ariesta,

thats the magic of neil gaiman! unbelievable! i am in the neil gaiman forum as well, my nick is cira.

Hey bear,

for starters, i would recommend his book of short stories - Smoke and Mirrors

 

[andain]

Neil Gaiman's children books are fab read as well. I read Coraline, and its gonna be made into a movie with Dakota Fanning being the voice of Coraline.

I have been trying to get my hands on his other book, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. I think I probably need to get it off Amazon!

 

[man_tou_bear]

Hello guys, happy new year.

Angeline, i m not much of a short story person.. I think they can be too rush and leave u wanting for more. hahaha... unless it is a ghost story!

 

[andain]

hey bear,

Then you can try Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

That was also the first book I read from Gaiman!

 

[man_tou_bear]

Angeline, u mean there isn't a series from Neil Gaiman? Each of his book is a stand alone?

 

[andain]

The only series that I know off so far is Sandman. It's a comics series

 

[necrosis]

soo many books sooo little time!!!

happy new year one and all...

 

[ariesta]

Happy Belated New Year too!

hi alhana, GRRM sounds abit serious...must try must try... after david gemmel and david enddings, been trying to find a fantasy writer to fill in the gap...btw for horror books...hmmm only horror writer i knw is stephen king....was super into his books in sec, but after reading "desperado", i totally swore off horror books... i freaked out reading tat book, could not even finish it...

 

[man_tou_bear]

Ariesta, GRRM is totally not the same as Eddings! Eddings is like beginner intro text into fantasy.. GRRM is the full blown soap opera man! Think there are hundred plus characters with multiple subplots. and it is extremely brutual. i.e. killing of heros etc...

So far the bad guys seem to be winning.. at one point the whole story was very bleak...

 

[alhana]

ariesta

I've nvr read Eddings, but my hb hates his stuff. But my hb loves David Gemmel. He died oredi..did u know? So sad. His last book was completed by his wife I think.

Like Bear said, GRRM is quite complex. His cast of characters is very wide, with some supporting characters even becoming main characters later in the stories. It is quite hard to keep track sometimes. If he weren't writing so slowly, I'd rather wait for him to complete the entire series and read all at one shot. Hehehe. HBO has bought the rights to turn the books into a mini series, but I'm not sure if it'd ever see the light of day. Such a complex but gripping story.

If you want another good fantasy writer, you can read Robin Hobb's books. Her stories are quite slow paced, but she makes up for it with great character development. You really feel and care for her characters, which to me, is a mark of good writing. Her latest series was quite a letdown to me (quite boring, and longwinded), but her Assassin, Liveship and Tawny Man trilogies are all very good.

Mm..am quite done with Stephen King. Read most of his older works (like The Shining, The Stand etc) already. I'm not scared easily, which means it's hard for me to find a good horror book..hehe.

You can also try Richard Matheson's 'I Am Legend' (yeah, the one which got turned into a Will Smith movie). The book is miles better than the movie, altho the story is quite short.

 

[ariesta]

bear: Stress....yup...i've heard tats its full of politics...will hav to try try first..muahahaha...sweat sweat.....
btw hav u read this book "Daughter of the Empire", part of trilogy fantasy too, by raymond reist, not bad too...

 

[man_tou_bear]

Ariesta,

Yeah I read all of Raymond E Fiest's books. The first book was the Daughter of the Empire series.. abt Mara, the daughter from the Acoma clan.. Also read his Riftwar saga (first book is the Magician which comes in either one thick book or split into 2). Has some connection to this but not much. i love the Riftwar saga.. but it became long drawn..

 

[necrosis]

try jenny wurts..
she also co-wrote with raymond E fiest some books, but she has a few series of her own...

gemmel is dead. shucks. i loved his books.
eddings was my first fantasy author!! made a good intro into fantasy i must say.
oh, terry brooks is pretty good too...

for a light hearted read, like terry prachett, there's peirs anthony, his xanth series is a bit kiddy , but i still like it.
i really enjoyed his apprentice adept series also.

 

[ariesta]

alhana, y do i keep missing ur posts? keekee...if stephen king can't scare u, dun knw who can liao...muahhahaa...
btw i knw David Gemmel's dead..sob sob...tats y need to find new fanatasy writers... his books r really one of a kind...didnt read the last trilogy of the trojan war. super sad..

Robin hobbs = her? omg...i nvr know!!! i keep tinkin its a guy! tink ive been readin the newer series, coz some of her books i read are super sianz. will try to look at the older books...

nec, hahaha, i read peirs anthony books too... he's abit like terry pratchet, outrageous ideas. yup, his xanth series was not bad..but tink the last few books of tis series is starting to become CMI liao, startin to hav alot of corny word puns...... and yup his apprentice is veri good... abit reminds me of real life, where we all try to get out of the rat race by playing the GAME... his immortal series also not bad...

all, just borrowed one GMRR book worlorn i tink...will be readin soon....

 

[man_tou_bear]

I read Piers Anthony before.. the first Xanth book.. can't find the subsequent ones though...heh...

I finished the first 2 books or Discworld.. i find Terry Prachett's writing style kinds jerky and it moves very very fast! miss one word and it will leave u puzzled... hahaha... But his humor is wicked!

Horror books ah, I recommend this guy named Graham Masterton. Very low profile guy but his book Black Angel gave me nightmares for wks! Otherwise, John Connolly's books are quite ok too.. supernatural plus thriller... scary...

 

[ariesta]

bear: haha, the xanth book was chameloean? nice book.. can look in the lib for his books, the next book shld be the source of magic... not bad writer, abit like prachett. but he's more of a word pun guy. hahaha~~~ prachett's books are fast..there are some slower ones, normally the mysteries kind or the witches of lance ones.

 

[alhana]

ariesta

Yah, Robin Hobb is a chabor. Actually, I think most of her books start off really REALLY slow. You really need to have patience when reading her stuff, but it usually pays off in the end. Not so for her latest series (the Soldier Son trilogy) though...it was still readable, but I didn't really feel much for the main character, and the story was so draggy with alot of irrelevant details. I still remember reading her LiveShip series (after having finished the ASsassin and Tawny man trilogies, which I enjoyed). I had borrowed all 3 books at one shot, and 3/4 thru the first book I was so bored and irritated at all her characters! Wanted to give up but thought it a waste since I had paid money to rent all 3 Luckily the story moved quickly twds the end of the first book, and the characters become less annoying (and some even likeable)..so in the end, I actually enjoyed the series. Hehe.

I just finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl. It's not bad. It centres around Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, and how she first became the favourite of Henry VIII before she was cast aside for Anne. Now trying to look for the sequel, The Boleyn Inheritence. Hee...I'm a sucker for Tudor history.

 

[remarry]

Hi, any Tess Gerritsen fan here? I have read her entire series.

I am also a fan of James Patterson but can't catch up with him now, he has a new book every 2 months or so.

I am also a fan of Jeffrey Deaver (the Lincoln Rhymes--The Bon Collector Writer). I have read more than half of his books. Avaliable at Natonal Library.

 

[man_tou_bear]

Yes yes! I am a fan of Tess Gerritsen. Just finished her older books cos it is so hard to get. Looove her.. Memphisto CLub gave me nightmares!!

U sound exactly like me, all the authors u read are my fav! If u have the time, I did take abt all these books in the old posts.

I would recommend u this fella, John Connolly (not Peter Connolly). He writes abt this character Charlie Parker, a tortured detective who is haunted by murder victims. Quite gd and scary!

 

[joyous097]

Hi All

Need to get some help as me not into reading eng story book but my girl is....

She loves to read horror story and can I know do you have good author to recommend?She is in p4 this year...thanks

 

[fatcat]

I brought an extra copy of LEE CHILD's new release Bad luck and trouble(brand new never read), willing to let go at S$12 including postage, PM me if interested, thanks.

 

[alhana]

Joyous

Dunno if this comes too late. For horror for older kids, I would recommend the works of John Bellairs (can find his books in the libraries, Borders and even some San bookshops) He wrote a series of Gothic horror stories set in '60s USA. Very creepy stuff. I started reading his books in primary school and I still enjoy re-reading them now. You can google him to find out more. Start with the earlier books as the later books were written by another author (John Bellairs died a few yrs ago and left behind some unfinished works).

 

[joyous097]

Hi alhana

Thanks for info.

Hey,can check with you gals on this...

My gal loves to read and she has no problem in doing her creative writing in school.The only problem is that she tends to write on and on and lost her focus...For example, pic compo on fire, usually there is a flow like who ring the fire engine etc...but she just overlook it...Anyone has this problem?

I send her to writing class and they give her a structure to follow, it gives her the flow but am worry it limits her creativity...anyone has advice?thanks

 

[joyous097]

Hi Alhana

Thanks for recommending John Bellairs.My gal loves it.Not easy to get from the library though.
We only managed to get hold of two books.

 

[joyous97]

Hi ALL

Is this thread still active?

Just wanna check, is there any enid blyton fan here when you were young.

I have never read her book, but I just curious anyone read her naughty girl series.

My gal tried reading the famous five series and asked me why is there no interesting phrases like modern book...can anyone enlighten me?

Also, at p4-p6,with a good language grasp, which series is more suitable.thanks

 

[alhana]

Hi Joyous

Dunno if you still check out this thread...I've not been in these forums (SG Brides & SG Motherhood) in ages.

I'm glad your daughter enjoys John Bellairs. You can try borrowing from San Bookshop. They have quite a good collection. I usually buy his books rather than borrow, because I actually enjoy re-reading them. Am definitely passing them on to my daughter when she's old enough to read them.

As for Enid Blyton, I loved her books growing up, but I think her stories might seem old fashioned to today's kids, esp since they were written between the 1920s to 60s. She has many different story types...fantastic (like The Far Away Tree), school setting (St Clare's and Malory Towers), sleuthing (Famous Five and Secret Seven) etc etc.

I'm out of touch with what's popular with kids today. You can try browsing through Amazon for ideas (they have books categorized by age range) and reading through reader reviews.

 

[joyous097]

Alhana

Thanks for replying.

My girl is now reading stephanie mayer, eclipse, breaking dawn...till too scared to sleep at night...

good day.

 

[alhana]

Hi Joyous

LOL, the Twilight series huh Thought that's more for teenagers (theme wise anyway)? Has she tried the Harry Potter books? I love the books, and I've heard that they are much better written than the Twilight series (which I've not and probably will not read).

 

[joyous097]

Hi Alhana

I think my girl is not into harry potter..in her school,most of the p4 girls are reading twilight series...maybe this is the trend...I dont know

 

[alhana]

Yeah, Twilight is definitely targeted at the tween market. Romance mah..naturally, the girls will love it

 

[lettingo]

anyone read Sophie Kinsella?

I just finished her "Can You Keep A Secret?"

The story is so Captivating !! if u like Romance Comedy type of novel...

Definitely Recommended !!!