angerball

Hi David! Welcome to the forum!

Hi Victoria! Welcome to the forum.

Hiya, and welcome to the forum.

I have this book out from the library at the moment, and will start it after I finish Monday Mourning (Kathy Reichs). Your review has made me look forward to it even more; I was a big fan of The Curious Incident... so when I saw this one in the library I grabbed it straight away. The premise sounds very interesting too - the sentence on the back "George Hall doesn't understand the modern obsession with talking about everything." - really grabbed me, as I tend to feel a bit similar. I'll post back here once I have read it.

I tend to do this, which is why I use a bookmark to underline the line I'm reading, though sometimes something will catch my eye on the opposite page and I find myself reading a few lines. The only time I will skip to the end of a book, is when I've given up on it. It may be a lousy read, but I still want to know how it ends.

I definitely prefer his earlier books (Jurassic Park in particular). His latest two books (Next and State of Fear), seem to be pushing an agenda a bit too hard, as though that's his main inspiration for writing a book. Like I said earlier, I think he'd be better off sticking that in a non-fiction book; I'm sure there would be people interested in his view. But, I don't like to feel like I'm being preached at when I read a novel - I just want entertainment, and it's a bit off-putting when an author is so obvious about it. Having said that, I think I'll still continue reading his books, but I'll just borrow them instead of buying them.

Finally finished The Swarm. It took me about 3 weeks to finish! Oh, the shame... It was a great read - quite fast paced, with loads of action.

Hiya Moussecake, and welcome! I've been reading The Swarm by Frank Schatzing for the last three weeks. It's a thick book, and a great read, so I've been kinda taking my time with it.

For authors that I know I will enjoy, covers don't matter at all to me. Covers count more when trying to choose a book at random, or by an author whose work I'm not familiar with.

None taken. Going slightly OT, another book I'd love to read but feel self-conscious about borrowing (or reading in public), is Lolita. I know it's gotten rave reviews, but considering the subject matter, I'd feel odd borrowing it!

Oh awesome! I loved this one, and created a thread for it under Specific Authors/Books when I'd finished it. I'd be interested to see what you think of it, given that it has received quite mixed reviews.

I'd go with Alias Grace, but her books are all pretty much fantastic.

It's funny, but I feel a bit self-conscious borrowing books like that. I always think the librarian is wondering, "Why do you want to read this?"

I don't do it, and I don't think I could. Call me overly sentimental, but I hate the idea of just leaving one of my books somewhere. What if no-one picks it up, and it just sits there! Or worse - what if someone tosses it in the trash!

I'm not a huge fan of the classics; they are too wordy for me, and the writing style is quite different to modern language, so I can't read them as quick. I would like to try a few of the more popular ones though (Pride and Prejudice in particular) to see if they change my mind.

Hiya awriter!

Hi Lee!

That's why I took IT. It was a re-read, but I knew that I would enjoy it. I don't think I could take a random book; I'd have to have started reading it before setting off....just in case!

I'm not a huge holidayer, but when I do go somewhere there usually isn't much time spare for reading. However, both times I came over to the UK for a month holiday, I took one large book with me, mainly for the flight. The first time I took Peter Hamilton's Pandora's Star (which I'd started before leaving Australia, and was enjoying it, so I knew it would keep me busy); the second time I took Stephen King's IT, which was a re-read, but something I knew I'd enjoy. I think I'd prefer to take one massive book - maybe even a re-read - rather than several small ones.

I get more scared of horror movies, rather than books; probably because I'm not very good at visualising. Actually, one thing that really scares me is True Crime (to the point where I was put off the genre for several years after reading about the Black Dahlia murder). But going back to fiction books, I can't think of anything that has really scared me to the point where I have to put the book down. I'll think on it for a while; I'm sure something will come to me.

I've gone for Thriller, Historical, Sci-Fi, Adventure, and Other.

Me too! How do y'all stop the pages from flipping shut when holding it one hand? Don't you get hand-strain? Try reading it on your side on the sofa like I do. That's the most comfortable for me, because I'm lying down.

I think separating books by genre is useful for people who want to read a book by a particular genre, and just want to browse only that genre until they find what they want. Of course, like everyone else has said, how do you define a single genre for a particular book, as a lot of them have various. Some books have predominant themes, while others are a mixed bag. I think horror, sci-fi, fantasy, westerns, and bodice-ripper-romances are quite easily definable, as those books are set in a particular environment (maybe not so much horror, but definately with sci-fi, westerns and fantasy). My library separates fiction according to Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Western, Crime, Romance, and General Fiction. It's handy when looking for hard sci-fi, to be able to go straight to that section and have a browse, though there is some sci-fi in the general section. As a side note, why on earth is Jean M Auel's Earth's Children series so often classified as sci-fi?? I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a bookshop, and seen them in that section. It's always bugged me, and I feel like saying to the store owner (though I would never dare ), "This is not science fiction!!!!"

I usually prefer to lie on the sofa on my right side, with the book on the sofa. Lying on my left side isn't as comfy. Or sometimes I'll sit cross-legged on the bed and read. Another thing which I have to do - and I feel a tad self conscious about it (), is that I have to put my bookmark under the line (or a few lines below that) of text I'm reading, and slide it down the page as I go. If I don't do that, I find I get distracted by the other lines below - my eyes tend to flit down to see what happens next. I'm really trying to break myself of this habit, but it's very hard to do. Without the bookmark, I can't read it properly. Anyone else do this?

Hiya Karen! Welcome to the forum!