Mac

Cheers, Chrissy. Most appreciated..xx

More recommendations, guys! Check it out. I am going to ask the mods to shift post number 76 so it's post number 2, so hold on a minute...

I still maintain that Under the Dome was a good read, with nothing particularly wrong with the ending. Because I felt that King returned to form with this novel, I'm going to get this one n'all. That and, of course, this recommendation!

Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release - when it comes - is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture. Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of its most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far-reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store the souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality. It started in the realm of the Real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilisations, but at the centre of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether. This was a brilliant novel. Brilliant. I am not a fan of Sci-Fi, it has to be said, but I make a rare exception with Banks' work. He writes intelligently, with wit, black humour and an extraordinary imagination. The plot seamlessly moves between multiple characters and environments without confusing the reader (me) and makes you care about the characters. I eagerly await Banks' novels, both contemporary and space opera and was so unbelievably excited when I spotted this in Waterstone's in Kendal. I particularly love the AI Minds he creates - the ship personalities, the hubs of the orbitals - because he clearly has so much fun in creating the caricatures involved. But, more than this, I love the ethical questions that so many of his books raise. For example, the creation of thousands of different 'Hells' in the virtual realm, where those judged as having lived a bad life have their personalities and souls transferred upon their death. Is this a good thing? This will, I am quite sure, sound ridiculous to many but I loved this book and actually experienced goosepimples reading - once again - the very last line of the book. Iain Banks rocks! This book gets, without a doubt... 10/10 Abso-bloomin'-lutely Brilliant.

I am not at all religious in any organised sense (although I definitely believe in love and goodness and our own non-corporeal essence) and so any interest I might have in reading the Bible would be to see what all the furore is about. I have a strong interest in art and its history and studied this at A-level, so have researched influences on my own initiative. So. Erm...maybe I'll have a look at it one day? How does that sound?

Crikey. What a brilliant thread! I hated Harry Potter - it's almost like Rowling thinks we're children, for Pete's sake! I also hate everything (and I was forced to read the job lot by Mrs. Bloomin' Phillips at school) by Jane "agreeable" Austen. Wuthering Heights? Big pile of sh**e. Catcher in the Rye? Poke me in the eye - it's preferable. Erm...I'm sure there's more, but I'm getting hungry, so need to cook summat. x

Same here. But isn't it funny that some of the books I'm embarrassed about having read are some others favourite do-dah's! I've never read the Bible. Should I be embarrassed by this? I fully intend to never read it, anyway. Does this make me closed-minded? Is that even an expression? When will these questions ever end? ...apparently now...

This is because he is nothing like Larsson. Whoever comes up with these tag lines wants strafing with a Gatling gun... Both brilliant authors, both completely different. Flippin' moronic marketing jack-a-napes!

I am about to gather myself and wander up to the pub with my book Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks and have two leisurely pints of Timothy Taylor's Landlord. It's a day off, it's been a hard week and I've earned it.

You must be tired!