What are you reading now?

[wicky]

I'm reading Ready Player One. It's good.

I read that a few weeks back, really enjoyed it too. Loved all the 80's culture references.

Edit: reading in the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss at the moment. Only 20 pages in , so no opinions yet.

[QualityChimp]

Ready Player One for me too (thanks for the suggestion, Wicky!).

There was a Ghostbusters quote in the first paragraph. Great start!

Replay was amazing, by the way. Nothing like Groundhog Day really. It was really interesting to see how the protagonist chose to relive his life. Recommended!

I've just finished Gray Justice and it was a bit poor, to be honest. Good premise of an ex-SAS soldier getting revenge for his son and wife's deaths at the hands of a joyrider, but it all felt a bit Daily Mail when it laboured the point about the law not being tough enough on repeat offenders. By the Muslim terrorists turned up, that sealed the deal. I don't think I'll read the other books.

On holiday, I finished Parasite, which was rrrrubbish. It was dragged out for the sole purpose of telling a simple story over several books. I'm out.

I also read a couple of Matthew Reilly books The Tournament and Troll Mountain. The former was a fictional account of Elizabeth I as a young girl travelling to Constantinople with her teacher, Roger Ascham, to watch a chess contest, however, there's a load of cheating going on and a murder before the contest even begins and Ascham is tasked with finding the murderer.

It's a different pace from his other books, but still packed with intrigue and excitement. It was nice to read it after listening to him talk in January about how he went about writing the novel.

Troll Mountain was a lot more teen-friendly (The Tournament wasn't for kids), but still a great adventure. I suppose it's a bit like and action version of The Hobbit! A young tribe member ventures up Troll Mountain to quest for an elixir to save his dying sister.

I can't wait for his next full novel, set in China, and he's hinted it's about a monster!

[Kit]

Reading At the Mountains of Madness.

1930, kind of the precursor to The Thing - so many scenes ripped straight from this book. Absolutely SUPERB.

This needs to be made into a film. Preferably by someone who isn't ****.

[QualityChimp]

I keep meaning to read that as it's supposed to be quite an accessible Lovecraft book. I also heard it's like The Thing, so that sold it to me too!

You can read it online here.

I enjoyed Public Enemy Zero, so I'm reading Andrew Mayne's most recent novel, Knight School, which I'm struggling to finish.

In the car to work, I'm listening to Dom Joly read his book The Dark Tourist where he visits the kind of places the British Embassy would probably advise against, such as Iran, North Korea and Lebanon.

In the chapter where he visits Chernobyl, he enters the zone of alienation - the empty area around the abandoned reactor.
Whilst looking at the abandoned theme park with its rusty dodgems and iconic ferris wheel, he started to feel a sense of de-ja-vu.

As we were wandering around the eerily quiet ghost town, I started to think I knew my way about.
"Is that the old swimming pool?" I asked Sergei, my guide.
He seemed very surprised and asked me if I'd been here before. Then I realised the town I was in - Pripyat - was the map I'd been playing online in Call of Duty, for over a year. I knew this town better than Sergei.


Now in the real Pripyat I kept spotting places that I'd used to snipe from. I love sniping and there's nowhere better to do this (apart from maybe Afghanistan,) than in Call Of Duty 4. I know it's wrong, but there is little more satisfying in life
than to be safely ensconced in your nest, spot an unfortunate opponent in the open, line up on his head, press the trigger and watch his head explode like a water-melon. I then wait for the guy I killed to try and find me, only to be blown up by a well-placed Claymore.


At times like these, the real world seems very, very dull indeed.

[charlesr]

Now reading 3 months worth of Mountain Bike UK magazines and a running mag. Playing catch up.

[QualityChimp]

Now reading 3 months worth of Mountain Bike UK magazines and a running mag. Playing catch up.

Wow, there's a real twist at the end, Chaz!

->Open Spoiler<-

You need to buy a newer bike, you need to go to these new routes and you need to get faster going downhill.

[wicky]

I have just finished The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, awesome books. There is something about his writing style that I really really like.

Just started on the Belgariad by David Eddings.

[wicky]

Ready Player One for me too (thanks for the suggestion, Wicky!).

There was a Ghostbusters quote in the first paragraph. Great start!

One of my favourite quotes was something like "I scanned the cafeteria like a T-1000"

[charlesr]

Wow, there's a real twist at the end, Chaz!

->Open Spoiler<-

You need to buy a newer bike, you need to go to these new routes and you need to get faster going downhill.

For real? Can't believe you are still allowed on this forum Why has no one complained to admin?

Also need to improve my "manuals". Yes. Really. They aren't very good.

[Kit]

I keep meaning to read that as it's supposed to be quite an accessible Lovecraft book. I also heard it's like The Thing, so that sold it to me too!

You can read it online here.

I enjoyed Public Enemy Zero, so I'm reading Andrew Mayne's most recent novel, Knight School, which I'm struggling to finish.

In the car to work, I'm listening to Dom Joly read his book The Dark Tourist where he visits the kind of places the British Embassy would probably advise against, such as Iran, North Korea and Lebanon.

In the chapter where he visits Chernobyl, he enters the zone of alienation - the empty area around the abandoned reactor.
Whilst looking at the abandoned theme park with its rusty dodgems and iconic ferris wheel, he started to feel a sense of de-ja-vu.

Timely post this, QC!

Looking into going to Chernobyl over the summer - no joke.

Will have a read.

Which CoD has the map btw? need to play it before I go so I know my way around.

This is going to be an awesome trip.

[wicky]

I just met Joe Abercrombie doing a book signing in Waterstones in Newcastle. Lovely chap, his favourite streetfighter 2 character is Guile.

EDIT: Here is a photo of me and Joe

http://imgur.com/Q23z7QK

[prinnysquad]

I liked his first book. Wish I'd known about his visit.

[fishbowlhead]

Timely post this, QC!

Looking into going to Chernobyl over the summer - no joke.

Will have a read.

Which CoD has the map btw? need to play it before I go so I know my way around.

This is going to be an awesome trip.

Just replay the single player, that way you can use the same route when the mutants attack, there are mutants there right??

I was guna go there last year and do the tour but my pal didn't fancy it, will deff do Chernobyl one day though, i find the whole thing fascinating.

[QualityChimp]

So I finished and loved Ready Player One. Thanks to Wicky for the suggestion!

A few people have dismissed it as "retro porn" because it's chock-full of references to 80's films, games and music, but I found the core story itself totally compelling too.


It's the story of a cyber-geek in the near future who embarks on the Easter egg hunt to find the fortune of a deceased game designer who invented the virtual world, The Oasis, in which most people spend their lives.


As the first clue gets solved after a long period of people thinking it was a hoax, it starts a race to get to the final challenge and win the prize, but not everbody taking part plays by the rules.


A random flick through has references to:
Jet Jaguar, Legend, She-Ra, Cyndi Lauper, Cowboy Bebop and Quake!


The audiobook is read admirably by Wil "Wes Crusher" Wheaton. I totally enjoyed this audiobook and listening to it in my car, even going the long way around to get a couple of extra minutes of story in!


I'm also listening to Robopocalypse, which is both an awesome and awful title at the same time!
It is the recollection of a black box recorder of the events leading up to and after a war with machines told from the perspective of people from around the world.


Basically it's like the original book version of World War Z, but swap zombies for robots. If you enjoyed the WWZ book, I think you'd enjoy the similar format.

[kryss]

I have Paal/Pelzl's Understanding Cryptography on loan from the library.