Paging the book club - holiday reading

I have a week in Alicante coming up and need to equip myself with a
couple of good novels. Nothing too heavy going or hard to get into,
but then again I don't do pulp fiction - just need some good escapist
holiday fiction.

Something that's intelligent, thought provoking and well written would
be ideal. Anyone read something good lately?

 

The Beach by Alex Garland.
Contact by Carl Sagan?

What about Long Way Round?

 

Abso scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Hmm, depends if you like slightly weird stuff but I really liked Neal
Stephenson's "Quicksilver" and "The Confusion" - both kind of
historical novels. Not sure if the third one is out yet but then again
I would have a problem reading both in a week, and I'm a fast reader.

Also, if you like SF, Peter F Hamilton's "Pandoras Star" is good, as is
most of his other stuff - but then again you said you didn't like "pulp
fiction"...

Other good books recently. Hmm. Just read my first "Flashman" last week
which I found hysterically funny, but most of the other books were
either SF or Fantasy and I have an inkling that you may not be
interested in those.

 

Read it.

Good idea.

It's only out in hardback isn't it? I like to travel light.

 

Not quite in your description of requirements, but 'A Short History Of
Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson is a fascinating read.

 

I've read it multiple times. So many times that the pages are
starting to fall out.

I read it only last year and it's not showing its age yet. Sagan was
going on about things like (what we know now as) distributed
networking and things like the internet long before they were
realised.

I watched the film (and loved it) and read the book a few years later,
and it's great that they tell such different stories, as they stand up
in their own way, but still mean the same things.

Paperback out May 16th - may be a bit to late for your travels:

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...66671/sr=8-6/ref=pd_ka_5/026-3754542-6241222>

Hardback out now - great photo on the cover:

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...66671/sr=8-4/ref=pd_ka_3/026-3754542-6241222>

(Boths links are just pasted from my browser, so they're not affiate
links or anything like that, and they may have even timed out, dunno.)

--Nick.

 

The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger



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Dossier?

 

I enjoyed it but I'm not sure it's a keeper.

There are a couple of copies on eBay, might see if I can get one for a
good price.

Yeah, I'll be in Sunny Spain by then. I loved the TV series and I'm
sure I'll read the book but it's not the right choice for this trip.

 

I'll second that.

 

Looks a bit heavy going.

Looks interesting.

Don't fancy it from what I've read on Amazon.

You're correct but thanks for the above.

 

Read it (last holiday!). Ta.

 

Doesn't grab me. Looks like more of a love story than anything else.

 

nope it's not



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Abso scribbled on the back of a napkin:

Trouble is that you've got to read "Quicksilver" first as it's the
first part in the series.

I didn't find them heaving going (unless you refer to the numbers of
pages involved). He can certainly write, and both are rather
entertaining if you like historical-type novels with a twist[1].

It's SF so it may not be of interest to you. Then again, he's one of
the best newish authors on that scene (IMHO) and I very much liked all
his recent books - enough to buy the hardcover editions which I
normally don't do for SF. Same goes for the two books above BTW.

 

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

I read that recently and found it quite unusual.

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

Biography of Billie Piper?

--
John (jsp)

SV 650
Black it is
And Naked

 

Popskys Private Army

WW2 based but tells the tail of some interesting times and people.

Try and get the Pre 68 version as the HO had some of the content
removed as it was considered a bit to informative of tactics still
being used.



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I've just started "The Time Traveller's Wife" - £3.73 from Tesco.

I've just finished "Small Island", by Andrea Levy (again £3.73 from Tesco
[1]). A very good book about 4 people's lifes as they intertwine during
second world war and just after. Written from each perspective in turn -
works very well. It's won loads of awards so I thought I'd give it a go -
well worth it.

[1] are you spotting a trend.

 

If you've not read it, then the following are excellent:

Day Of The Triffids (John Wyndham)
Cruel Sea (Nicholas Monsarrat) - a fantastic book about the voyagers of a
ship during WW2.
The Hobbit.