Bookworms: What are you reading at the moment?

[MargaretR]

One of my 'birthday books' was -
Magnetic Reversals and Evolutionary Leaps/ The true Origin of Species - Robert W Felix.

I read half last night and it is like a crash course in paleontology.

The next half is an explanation of electromagnetic interaction between suns, moons and planets.

The basic theory is that Darwin was wrong,
'creationists' are wrong,
'ET interventionists' are wrong,
and evolution occurs rapidly linked to pole reversals (not just shifts).

[DaveinGermany]

Just finished Robin Hobbs "Farseer trilogy", intrigue, double dealings, invading barbarians, swords & sorcery & all with a dollop of romance & loss lobbed in.

[walkinman221]

61 hours - Lee Child

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by walkinman221

61 hours - Lee Child

Childs is very good Dave I take it, its a Jack Reacher story

[jaysay]

I'm halfway through You've been Warned by James Patterson, a bit different from his Alex Cross novels but quite entertaining

[mobertol]

Have 2 on the go at the moment -Edwardian Accrington Observed by Richard Crossley which Katex recommended and is a lovely read full detail about life in the town 100 years ago. The second book was a Xmas present and is a completely different genre. Derek J Ripley's "Tripe" book Forgotten Lancashire and parts of Cheshire and the Wirral, very tongue in cheek, high groan factor and some genuine laughs!

[Tesco Rambler]

Originally Posted by Gayle

Reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Second time I've read it and I'm just working myself through the whole set again. The first time I read them all I read them in the wrong order (4, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7) with a huge gap in between 5, 6 and 7. So thought I'd read them so that they made sense as a set.

My daughter is reading the second Harry Potter book for the fifth time! She gets to the end of the seventh and then starts all over again.

I've just taken part in a book ring. Quite a good idea - my friend sent me the instructions and I had to send them on to six more people along with a list with just two addresses on, my friends and mine. I had to send one book to the person who sent the instructions to my friend. The people who I sent it to had to send one book to my friend and then they had to send the instructions on with my name and just their names on the list. In theory, for the price of one book I should get 36 in return. I'll let you know how it works out.

I used to do something similar but we sent pound notes instead.

[Tesco Rambler]

For the third time "August 1914" by Solzhenitsyn. The tale of the incompetence and backwardness of the Russian military in the First World War. The author clearly loves his country and his people and gives a moving portrayal of the common soldier. On the officers and generals he is very hard and few can be said to have been either competent or honorable.

[Mick]

Just started reading The Diary of Anne Frank on my IPad

[Less]

Well, at the moment I'm re-reading the foundation Isaac Asimov.

The thing is, never mind the twists and turns of the plot, it's the extra detail Authors put into each sentence that keeps us turning the pages, we all wish we could write a best seller, but how much imagination do we need to deserve to have it published?

[westendlass]

Originally Posted by Mick

Just started reading The Diary of Anne Frank on my IPad

I've read The Diary of Anne Frank a couple of times and couldn't put it down. She was a really interesting girl and a very gifted diarist. Such a shame her story ended really sadly. Her father went on to marry again and also had her diaries published.

[westendlass]

Also, Wild Swans by Jung Chang is a really good read. It follows three generations of Chinese women through all the trials and tribulations of each. From concubine through to the cultural revolution to today. Quite a thick book but worth the effort.

[Mick]

Nearly finished a book about the Enigma m/c and Bletchley park and code breaking
very interesting book

the next book I have planed to read is a history of the Vulcan bomber

[susie123]

Originally Posted by westendlass

Also, Wild Swans by Jung Chang is a really good read. It follows three generations of Chinese women through all the trials and tribulations of each. From concubine through to the cultural revolution to today. Quite a thick book but worth the effort.

I remember reading this quite a while ago. Glad it is still giving pleasure to people.

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Less

Well, at the moment I'm re-reading the foundation Isaac Asimov.

The thing is, never mind the twists and turns of the plot, it's the extra detail Authors put into each sentence that keeps us turning the pages, we all wish we could write a best seller, but how much imagination do we need to deserve to have it published?

Have never read any of Asimov's books -not really a fan of Sci-Fi apart from John Wyndham which I read as a young teen. The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos and The Kraken Wakes come to mind as well as The Chrysallids...

More than imagination for getting published you need a lot of luck (as well as the inevitable "talent"). I have just finished a re-working of the first draft of my attempt at a novel.( Bear in mind the last piece of creative writing I did was in 1982 for my Gen. Studies A-level!) I started it in Jan 2012 and completed the first draft in Nov 2012. Left it to stew for a while and then went back over some bits and struggled to write a synopsis. I have had 7 refusals in the meantime -all very nice refusals though which is why I have done a bit of re-working before trying to send it out to another round of agents.

The imagination comes before the publishing stage in creating believable characters, describing their lives and actions and making everything fit together and tie up at the end in a satisfactory way. All the factual details have to be researched and checked -which takes as much time as the actual writing, and when you are making characters take part in real events, like two wars for example, you have to get it right!

My own story is set over 100 years from 1912-2012 and for 90% is set in the North of England -it starts off with a love story in Italy and also ends up back in Italy 100 years later. Probably not your genre Less as it is quite romantic! Accyweb actually features in the last chapter so if it ever does get published I hope it will sell well and give the forum some publicity!

Probably all "pie in the sky" - I'm not thinking that I have written a best-seller but it would be nice just to get it published. I would love to see it in print and not just on my computer screen anymore! (All 380 pages of it!)

It seems it is much easier to write a novel than to get it published.

Oh, to tie in with the thread properly what have I been reading recently? A manuscript by an "as yet" un-published author called "The Passion Flower" !