angerball

Hiya Sedge! Welcome to the forum!

Hiya Supergran! Welcome to the forum!

Stephen King refers to alot of his books in each other, and I love it when he does that. I get so excited when I recognise a reference! I believe he mentions The Stand in the Dark Tower series too!

I don't really read much horror, largely for the same reason I don't read much fantasy. There's too much unrealism involved. I don't mind some elements of horror, and long as there's a somewhat intelligent and interesting story wrapped around it. I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but I don't consider him to be a strict horror writer. Some of his stories have "horror" elements in them, but they aren't what drive the story - the plot and characters do that. I don't think I could read much of an author who write hack-and-slash novels just for the sake of gore and spooky factor. Who would be considered a strict horror author then? Richard Laymon (randy teenagers being chased by psycho killers ), James Herbert, and Clive Barker? These are the only authors that I know of that have been branded as horror, though I'm sure there are dozens more out there. Maybe I'll give one a go, to see how gory they get.

I agree. When I first heard about The Kite Runner, and the rave reviews it got, I was expecting an epic of at least 600 pages long. I was surprised to see how short it was! Short it may be, but it's one helluva great story in there.

I am.... The Stand! Yay!

Oh, you have to read it! The size of it is intimidating, but it's such a gripping and relatively easy read, that you will probably fly through it. Just great storytelling, and utterly compelling.

I've read Cell. Wasn't all that impressed with it really, though I am a Stephen King fan. The premise was interesting, and it started off great, but then it just dwindled into your average "zombie horror story" IMO. For a great introduction to Stephen King, I'd have to suggest The Stand.

Hiya Nirvana! Welcome to the board.

Hiya Chris, welcome to the forum! I'm another Stephen King fan, too!

Still getting through The Swarm. I got to a really exciting bit last night - lots of action - so I got through a good chunk of it, but I'm still only about half way through it. Oh dear!

I'm the same way too - I have problems with fantasy. There are a few fantasy books that I have read and enjoyed (The Talisman, for example), but there are more that I have given up on, because I can't quite suspend my disbelief either. That's why I disliked books like The Chronicles of Narnia series, or Lord of The Rings or the Harry Potter series. I just found myself rolling my eyes with scorn. That's not to say that a book has to be 100% believable for me to enjoy it, but something about fantasy rubs me the wrong way. There are some fantasy books that I'd love to read, because they have gotten such good reviews, but I keep putting it off because I just feel like I won't enjoy them.

I'm waiting for my library to get this one in. It's got great reviews on Amazon! I quite enjoyed The Kite Runner, so this one is definitely on my TBR soon list. I'll be posting back here once I read it. B)

B) Welcome Etheline!

Ahhhh, The Harp In the South. B) I read that for school as well. Also, we read Poor Man's Orange, which I think is the sequel? Another Aussie book we had to read was The Delinquents. We had to also read Lord of the Flies, Slake's Limbo, and I think To Kill A Mockingbird. I'm sure there were many others, but I really can't recall them! I wish they would choose more contemporary authors, and books that encourage kids to read more. I know Shakespeare did squat-all for me when I was that age. Edit: I've just found the HSC Syllabus, and remembered some other books we had to study: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain Away - Michael Gow Empire Of The Sun - JG Ballard

I never write in books. I'd love to make little notations in the margin for memorable quotes or passages, but I just can't bring myself to do it. B) Even when I was at uni, I never wrote in textbooks. I really don't like to deface them; I'd rather make any notes on a post-it, or a separate bit of paper.

Hiya Fiona! Welcome to the forum!!! B)

It depends on the book and the mood I'm in. Also it depends on how many other things I have to get done. I usually read for about 20-30 minutes at a time, but if it's a really good book I can literally read for hours (that's a rare thing). B)

Ok, I'm about to start reading The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. It comes in at 881 pages so I'm feelin' a bit intimidated. I do love reading big hefty books rather than shorter novels, but they have to be that bit more interesting to keep me going. While I can persevere with a bad short novel, I just can't stick with a bad long one. So here goes nothing....!

I just finished this one....and I'm a wee bit confused. Though the story was quite confusing if you didn't read it in large chunks, or have a good memory, I still found it very enjoyable. I loved the author's writing style, and I thought he captured the feeling of 1909 very well (not that I was alive then, but it's how I imagined it would be ) through the way the characters spoke, and how the story was told. I liked the switching between first and third person perspective as well - there were a number of times it caught me off guard, and I had to stop and think who I was reading about. As for Freud and Jung...well, I know next to another about them, so I can't really comment. I did find the snippets of psychoanalysis quite interesting, though some of them were also very amusing (the whole Oedipal thing is something that I just don't get ). Anyway, all in all, a good read. I hope Rubenfeld writes more novels. I'd definately give them a go.

I have said 'one at a time', though at the moment I am reading 2, but it's not working out. I'm trying to read one fiction and one non-fiction, but I haven't picked up the non-fiction book in weeks because the fiction ones are keeping me hooked. Plus, I'm finding it hard to remember what I've read in the non-fiction book if I'm not dedicating myself 100% to it. I'll keep trying though, because often while the non-fiction (usually science/nature) books keep me interested, they usually take me so long to finish them, that I need to read a novel in between to get my 'fiction fix'.

Just finished it - so glad it had a happy ending, and Black Beauty was reunited with Joe Green. Sad about Ginger though - that horse suffered pretty much her whole life.

I usually read library books first, so I don't have to keep renewing them. Unfortunately, I always end up borrowing more, so I've been neglecting the books I own and have yet to read. Oh, the travesty....

Hiya Sally! Welcome to the forum! I'm a fellow Aussie (living in the UK now though) - not been to Darwin though.

Hiya, and welcome to the forum.