Books you've read or are reading

Got it but haven't started it yet.

Does it live up to the hype?

 

Just finished, 'The Fix' by David Baldacci.

Third in the Amos Decker series. All three books are superb.

 

Too early to say as im only four chapters deep but so far, so good! It's more like reading it for the eater eggs etc just now.

It's def quite a fun read though.

 

I've read it and I really enjoyed it.

 

Cheers. Just finished Helter Skelter so need a new book to start.

Either that, The Sisters Brothers or No Country For Old Men.

 

"The George and the Dragon"...it is 1 of 2 books that influenced an animated movie called "flight of dragons", that in itself is well worth a watch, even at my old age I still enjoy that movie.

Also somewhere into a book called "the first 50" about Scottish mountains.

Have also purchased (but not started) a book written by someone that worked for RAF search and rescue, again due to my interest in the Scottish mountains.

 

This looks like a cracking read mate about the jail in Scotland tim old man was Irish and had a concutive box at Parkhead .I read the intro looks like some read going to buy soon .
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Darkne...qid=1500526069&sr=1-1&keywords=anthony+gielty

 

The Theology of Samuel Beckett

 

Finished 1984 ... What a great read! Not exactly how I imagined it, but I think that's down to the constant references towards it these days, so perceived a certain plot/picture in my head. This book really did play with my emotions and kept me gripped after each chapter, something that very rarely happens with me.

Question regarding the end of the book, if anyone else has read:

Spoiler

Was Winston shot in the end?
I thought he was, with what O'Brien said earlier, but now i'm thinking two things...
1. The bullet is purely metaphorical - As long as he hated BB & the Party, he would die a martyr, and still be an individual, with an anti-party ideology. With his closing line, is this the admission of defeat, that he has indeed been reconditioned? So rather than a physical bullet, he is -in the metaphysical sense- dead? He is a mindless drone. All individuality has vanished. O'Brien and his "You did not exist, you will not exist, this is forever" etc.

OR

2. All through his reconditioning, and mostly throughout the book, Newspeak & doublethink are prominant feature's of Ingsoc. I like to think that he has been broken, and fully understands that nothing will change, the Party will never lose. Accepting this, and adopting the Parties method of doublethink ( which O'Brien clearly is trying to drill into him ) he accepts defeat. However, I find the last chapter is very ambigous. While he is addressing the chess problem, there is definitely hope in Winston that Eastasia will defeat Oceania in Africa. It further displays how he has adopted the Parties practice of doublethink, as he seems to have this internal dilemma, and even suspicion towards the telescreen announcements. I feel his tears point towards his internal struggle with doublethink. Which then leads me to the last paragraph. Is this all a big statement of doublethink irony? He loves BB, but he also does not love BB.

I like that it is open to interpretation. I done a bit of looking online regarding the appendix ( I skimmed through it at the end, as opposed to reading near the start) and I don't feel as if it gives us the 'happy ending' which many people claim it does.
I wanted another interaction between Winston and Julia, how did she betray him, was it a similar situation to Winston?
O'Brien - What a complex character. I truely thought this novel was going in a different direction once he and Winston had their first few encounters.
The rocketbombs are definitely dropped by the Party.
Mr Charrington surely must be a member of the thought police.
I keep trying to find some sort of link between the social structure of Oceania ( Inner Party, Outer Party, Proles ) and the three parts of the book. It may be purely coincidental, and me wanting to see something that isn't there, but the three parts are just too different and anologous to the class system.

Thoughts, anyone?

 

Finished Ready Player One and can confirm that it's worth the read if you're big on 70/80s pop culture. If you're not then there's nothing new here. I personally loved it in the end.

 

Few chapters into this. Interesting, to say the least. Enjoying it so far.

 

Fly off to Tenerife for the week and was looking for a new book to blitz by the pool. Opted for Casino Royale.

 

Just ordered this.

 

Finished Steig Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest the final book in the Lisabeth Salander trilogy and as brilliant a thriller and page turner as the first 2 were.

 

Just finished this. A * of a lot better than I expected. A must for Jurassic Park fans .
Full audiobook on YouTube too.

 

Re-reading this. A family relation no less.