What are you reading now?

[smouty]

There are some awesome parts in books... but as a whole package I've yet to find a book that grabs me by the bollocks from start to finish, probably the closest to do so would be The Rats trilogy by James Herbert, the first book I caned in a single sitting from midnight to 6am.

I read a lot of James Herbert as a teenager and they weren't that cerebral then but enjoyable for what they are much like Steven King.
The last book I read that was gripping from cover to cover was The glass books of the dream eaters by GW Dahlquist.
I would recommend this to anyone who like to read.

[Number45]

There are some awesome parts in books... but as a whole package I've yet to find a book that grabs me by the bollocks from start to finish, probably the closest to do so would be The Rats trilogy by James Herbert, the first book I caned in a single sitting from midnight to 6am.

I love James Herbert. He seems to have found himself in a niche (rut?) recently with his many books based around a cynical investigator finding out that ghosts do actually exist etc. but his earlier stuff is fantastic.

My favourite of his is, and probably always will be, '48. It's a properly adrenaline pumping action flick of a book.

Also, thanks NemesiS for recommending those Robert R McCammon books. They sound like my kind of books.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Likewise I read all of Herbert's stuff when I was a teenager, his work did seem to tail off when he moved into the ghost area rather than pure down and dirty horror.

[NemesiS]

Dbl posted

[Number45]

Yeah that's the one.

->Open Spoiler<-

Takes a bit of a twist on the end of the Second World War, Germany firing a devastating parting shot and it all going tits up from there.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

Just finished my first Iain M. Banks book, "Consider Phlebas". I enjoyed it and will definitely read more of his sci-fi Culture series, but it didn't blow me away. I need to expand my sci-fi reading as I've tended to stick with Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter, Ben Bova and the Star Wars / Star Trek series'.

[dataDave]

Herberts okay, but i just find his stories, much like Koontz's kind of wither out towards the end. The stories are nearly all the same in that respect, I know whats going to happen and I start getting bored as it always seems that i've read it before.

Indeed. I've only fully finished about six of his books and they've mostly been anti-climatic to say the least.

I started '48 btw, but couldn't shrug the mental imagery I had of Leonardo DiCaprio playing the lead.

[Malc]

After everyone's suggestions on what great horror books there are, i'm very interested in both Stephen King's The Stand and Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Both of them sound like decent horror novels to me, but because they're so epic in size and sound fairly similar; I may just buy one of them for now to see if I like this kind of genre as a book.

[NemesiS]

Was 48 the post apocalyptic one he did? I seem to remember he wrote one a bit like I am Legend/The Stand/Swan Song where almost everyone is dead and the guy it follows bunks in Buckingham palace with his mortorbike, if i remember rightly. Long time ago i read that though.

Also for the horror aficiando's. Graham Masterton is pretty good, as is Shaun Hutson. Both very pulpish tho but quite decent stories nevertheless.

Also i've banged on about this series before but Brian Lumleys Necroscope series is one of the greatest series of books about Vampires or any series for that matter, i have ever read. Think Heroes crossed with Vampires and about 70 billion times better and your getting close.

Plot summary loosely (without spoiling its hard):

Starts by following Harry Keough as a kid who learns he can speak to dead people. His lifeforce becomes a beacon of warmth and light to masses of the dead. He befriends Mobius the dead Mathematician who then teaches him how create mobius doors which allow him to teleport to any point in the universe. As he gets older he comes to the attention of a secret Government agency called E-Branch whose agents all have esotoric talents ranging from telepaths, human lie detectors, people who can't be killed, people who can raise the dead etc etc. They specialise in investigating the exceptionally weird which leads them and Harry into the battles with the Vampires on earth and beyond?

I can't stress how astonishing this series is. The first 5 books and the second series of the Vampire Wars are just utterly brilliant

Yeah that's the one.

->Open Spoiler<-

Takes a bit of a twist on the end of the Second World War, Germany firing a devastating parting shot and it all going tits up from there.

Ahh, yes, i remember that one now. I'm thinking of another novel. Can't remember the name of it. I'll look it up.

.....after checking.......lol

It was 48 i was thinking of. I just don't seem to remember it being in the second world war

[dataDave]

That's why it's called '48, because it's set in 1948.

[abigsmurf]

After everyone's suggestions on what great horror books there are, i'm very interested in both Stephen King's The Stand and Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Both of them sound like decent horror novels to me, but because they're so epic in size and sound fairly similar; I may just buy one of them for now to see if I like this kind of genre as a book.

I'd recommend one of King's short story collection if you're unsure on whether you'll like his style or not. A lot of the best Stephen King movie adaptations are based on his shorts.

[dataDave]

Yeah, his short stories are awesome. There's one (that admittedly isn't that short considering it takes up around the first half of the 'short stories' book) about this dude that plots a revenge against a crime boss by digging a hole and making a road leading to it, then diverting the road towards it all by himself. Not supernatural in the slightest.

Sounds cack, but it isn't.

[randombs]

Someone else did something very similar to that once, diverting a road to the edge of a cliff. Problem was, every time the victim headed for the fake road, he actually managed to go through it, so when this guy decided to try it himself, he fell off the cliff

[NemesiS]

Yeah, his short stories are awesome. There's one (that admittedly isn't that short considering it takes up around the first half of the 'short stories' book) about this dude that plots a revenge against a crime boss by digging a hole and making a road leading to it, then diverting the road towards it all by himself. Not supernatural in the slightest.

Sounds cack, but it isn't.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Brilliant stories. The one with the bands and rock stars in the country village is a good one as well.

[The Glider]

Only 100 or so pages left to read of Wings of Wrath by Celia Friedman & it's been a cracking read. Wonderful stuff.