Book Fiend

Without a doubt I'd say Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord by Louis de Bernieres. Unfortunately I can't say much without giving the plot away. Also, I agree about Richard Layman. I used to read a lot of his books but in the end I stopped because they are quite disturbing. I blame one of his books (Endless Night I think) for the fact that I sometimes have to put the light on when I get up in the night just to make sure there isn't somebody hiding in my bedroom waiting to murder me!

I've just had a quick count up of all the books on my shelves that I haven't read yet and it's about 115:lurker: (and thats only the shelves, I'm sure I have some stashed under the bed. And thats also only fiction books. Im ignoring the 20 or so non-fiction). Considering that I can only read about 15 books a year, thats over 7 and a half years worth!! And thats if I don't borrow or buy any more books (thats never going to happen! My friend just lent me 3 last week!) I think I need to start reading quicker!

Because of my slightly obsessive nature I have kept a handwritten list of every book I've read since I was about 14 (I'm nearly 26 now!). Don't worry though, I'm not going to reproduce the whole thing here, I'll just stick to what I've read this year. Before I start, two points to make: 1) Firstly, I don't read anywhere near as much as most of the people on here! I don't know where you all find the time! (or maybe I'm just a really slow reader). I aim for at least 12 books a year (pitiful next to some peoples targets of 52 books a year I know....) and I normally end up reading between 15 and 20. 2) This has been a slightly strange year for reading as I temporarily joined a reading group earlier this year, so a few of the books on this list aren't things I would normally have read. However, I only went to the group about 3 times before I realised they just didn't read my sort of thing (and they ALL hated The Time Traveller's Wife so I just knew it wasn't for me!) So here's my list: 1. The Post-Birthday World - Lionel Shriver OK I actually started this in December 08 but I didn't finish it until January so I'm counting it! This is a 'Sliding Doors' type of book and follows the two different paths a womans life follows depending on whether or not she cheats on her husband. A brilliant, clever, thought provoking book. 2. The Godfather - Mario Puzo I've never seen the film so this was my intoduction to the world of Don Corleone. I really liked this book, but it did go on a bit in the middle. I think I need to see the film now. 3. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak A beautiful, strange and heartbreaking book. I loved this but it made me cry so much!! 4. Liars and Saints - Maile Meloy The first of my reading group books. I didn't like this at all, the only good thing I can say about it is it is quite short. 5. The Girls - Lori Lansens Another reading group book, also a Richard & Judy book I think. This was actually quite good, a story about siamese twins written in the first person, with contributions by both twins. 6.The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt The final reading group book. I quite enjoyed this and thought it was interesting, especially the parts based on the life of Nikola Tesla (real life scientist) 7. The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory I loved this! At the beginning I was worried it might be a bit...erm 'fluffy' (if you know what I mean!) but it really gets quite dark as the book goes on. 8. The Farseer Trilogy, Assassin's Quest - Robin Hobb The final book in the fantastically wonderful Farseer Triology. Had me crying by page 42 (I think that must be a record!) 9. A Partisan's Daughter - Louis De Bernieres I did enjoy this, but I'm still stuggling to find a De Bernieres book that lives up to Captain Corelli's Mandolin. 10. Love and Other Near Death Experiences - Mil Millington I'm not a big reader of comedy books but this is hilarious! It's about a man who cheats death because of a series of random choices, but this leaves him unable to make any decisions because he fears any decision he makes (e.g which socks to where) could ultimately lead to his death. 11. 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth - Xiaolu Guo This book follows the life of a young film extra living in modern day Beijing. I just found this book really dull and depressing, I was so glad when it was over! 12. Gerald's Game - Stephen King Not, I think, one of Stephen Kings more popular books, but I loved it. It also really scared me!! 13. Let The Right One In - John Ajvide Lindqvist Wow, I loved this book! Brilliantly written with wonderful characters and some very scary moments! 14. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman This book is fantastic! A wonderful fairy story for grown ups! 15. Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood I loved this book so much that I have actually written a review of it in the fiction section! 16. The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory I really enjoyed this book, it is just as good as The Other Boleyn Girl. I will definately be investing in all of the Tudor Court novels now. That's it so far!

You should read it...it's fantastic!

I do this too! I also have to know what page I'm on, and how many pages are left! The only exception is occasionally when I absolutely love a book, then I forget to check what page I'm on. I can't stand any noise when I read so I have a chair in my bedroom where I sit under my blanket all nice and cosy I only really read in the aftenoon or evening, even at weekends. Not sure why.... Can I ask you all a question....how many books do people tend to read at one time? I'm a one book at a time person and my reading friends think I'm very odd! I just don't understand the point of more than one book at once, you don't get any more read! All that would happen with me is that I would prefer one book and neglect the other!

I only get rid of books if a) they're rubbish (luckily there are very few of these) or I have absolutley no space left so have to go through the very painful experience of sorting through my bookcase for the books I can bear to part with. I'm very bad at buying and keeping books, to the point where if I get a book out of the library or somebody lends me one and I really enjoy it, I will go out and buy it (I therefore have books that I have read, I just haven't read the copy that I own!) I also have books that I bought years ago and now my tastes have changed slightly and I don't really like the sound of them that much anymore, but I haven't read them yet and I can't get rid of a book I haven't read so they just sit on my shelf gathering dust!

I refuse to watch films based on books that I love as I find that I can never read the book in the same way again afterwards. The people from the film start to creep into my head and replace my idea of what the characters look like etc (does that make sense or does it make me sound crazy?) Before I made this rule I watched Interview With A Vampire. Don't get me wrong, it's not a terrible film, but it's a FANTASTIC book. I just find that a film will never compare to a book that you love, and you spend the whole time thinking "well I wouldn't have cast them in that role...." so I just don't bother! However, what really annoys me is when they turn a book into a film, and then start putting pictures from the film on the cover of the book! Drives me crazy!!! Or, as in the case of Northern Lights, they changed the name of the film to The Golden Compass (why oh why?) and then on the cover of the book afterwards they started writing 'The Golden Compass' in really big letters across the middle, and 'Northern Lights' in tiny letters at the top. Makes me so mad!

I do that all the time! I think "right I've definately got enough books now, i'm not buying any more until I've read some of the ones I already have!" That generally lasts about a week, and then I'll be browsing on Amazon on my break and come across something that looks interesting! Thats another way I pick books, I look for something on Amazon, and then it suggests other things you might like and I just get drawn in! Either that or I'll come across something second hand that I fancy, and with second hand you HAVE to buy them when you see them because you never know if you'll find it again! Back to the original subject of this thread....I also buy books based on films, i.e I'll see a trailer for a film based on a book and think "that looks good" so go and buy the book, which is how I ended up with my current read based on a BBC review of the film!

Thanks for all the lovely welcomes! I'm still finding my feet but I think I'll like it here.....

I've just finished Gerald's Game, which doesn't appear to be one of Stephen Kings more popular books, but I really enjoyed it. Basically it's about a woman and her husband who go to their lakeside cabin for a bit of, shall we say 'adult fun', but unfortunatley whilst she is handcuffed to the bed her husband has a heart attack and dies leaving her stranded miles from anywhere (I don't think I'm giving anything away there...it's all on the back of the book). I won't say anymore but it really is quite scary!! Other books I've enjoyed by Stephen King are: IT - absolutely fantastic book, however Pet Semetary - I think this is probably the best horror book I've ever read, super scary with a perfect ending! Misery - love this book, apparently the film is very good too although I've never seen it The Shining - another scary, scary book! I've read The Stand and I did enjoy it, but I felt like it had the potential to be a much better book than it is. Also, I read the extended addition and

I'm just about to start this book and I'm quite excited about it! I read the fiirst page whilst standing in the shop and it really grabbed me. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done....

I've only ever read two (auto)biographies. The first was Moab is My Washpot by Stephen Fry. Absolutely fantastic book, probably the funniest thing I've ever read. Also quite sad and strangely beautiful! The second was Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson. I decided to read this because like most people I'd heard of Che Guevara and seen him on numerous posters, but I knew absolutely nothing about him. Firstly, this is a really big book! It took me a year to read it (I was reading other things at the time) but it was soooo worth it! Jon Lee Anderson spent several years in Cuba whilst writing this book, and had the cooperation of the Cuba government and Che Guevaras widow. He also had access to several previously unpublished writings by Che Guevara. The result is in incredibly detailed book! As well as covering the whole of Che Guevaras life, the book also gives a good insight into South American history and the cold war. Anderson also manages to be very unbiased, which I think is very important when dealing with such an emotive figure. The book is quite easy to read, but because of the sheer amount of information I could only read about 10 pages at a time before I had to stop and digest what I had read! However, please don't let this put you off. Whatever you think about Che Guevara, he lived a fascinating life and I doubt you will find a better book about him than this one!

I play no sports at all (if you knew me you'd understand why...I'm the most uncoordinated person in the world!) but I'm a HUGE tennis fan! I also absolutley LOVE MotoGP (there's been no racing for 2 week and I'm starting to get withdrawal symptons!). Any other bike racing fans out there??

Sorry yes you're right about the spoiler! I guess when you read a book a long time ago you forgot all the things you don't know at the beginning! Sorry about that! I will definately continue with the series, and thanks for the info about the next book!

Hello I'm partway through the Sword of Truth series (last book I read was Faith of the Fallen...think the next one is The Pillars of Creation) I agree with lots of the things people have said on here, I've really enjoyed most of the books but sometimes the way he writes does drive me crazy! My main complaints are #1 he seems to assume that all of his readers suffer from amnesia and have to be constantly reminded (in a very heavy handed way!) of what happened in all of the previous books (now don't get me wrong, I like a quick refresher especially if it's been a while since I read the last book, but he goes a bit overboard sometimes!) #2 not sure if this is a spoiler so I'll use the thingy just in case #3 sometimes there are just a few too many fantasy cliches, and I also find that he can get a bit moralistic and sickly sentimental! Having said that....I've now read 6 of these not inconsiderable volumes so he must be doing something right! At the end of the day, minor niggles aside, Terry Goodking writes exciting, easy to read fantasy! I find that with his books things never pan out exactly how I expect them to and there have been several moments in his books when I have been genuinely SHOCKED by what has happened....don't you love it when that happens?

Hi there! My name's Kelly and this is my first ever forurm so not really sure what to write! I am absolute book fiend (hence the name!). I love reading books but I probably love buying them even more! It's a bit of an addiction actually and does cause some storage problems! I don't really have a favourite author or even genre, I read everthing from horror to fantasy to historial fiction & modern literature. Some of my favourite books are Captain Corelli's Mandelin, The Time Travellers Wife, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials (especially The Amber Spyglass), 1984, Pet Semetary.......I could go on but I'm probably boring you now! Anyway, now you have an idea of the sorts of things I like, looking forward to chatting to you all!