Topic: Reader's Nook

[tarascon]

Don't confuse what a critic writes with the novel itself.
...
Here's the plot:  a fifth grader buying penny stocks builds up an enormous financial empire using his substitute teacher as a front man.  It's wickedly funny and sad at the same time.

Well said. Critics are paid to talk shite. 

Another great novel with a young protagonists is Ratner's Star by Don DeLillo which features a math prodigy.

[6pairsofshoes]

I liked Enders Game.  OSC has some questionable politics.  There was a heated thread about this on the Noid fora at one point.

Pratchett is a complete unknown.  I'll check him out.

The Hobbit is a wonderful book.  I'm not sure how old you have to be to appreciate it.  I read it when I was about 12.  Loved it.

[goldshirt*9]

Pratchett is a complete unknown.  I'll check him out.

A total genius, the more you read the discworld series, the cleverer it gets.
The Rincewind books are my favourite followed by Sam Vimes, Read in order though  Awsome.

[Autumn]

I always enjoyed "The Stinky Cheese Man".

Oh yeah! I remember that one!

autumn, as for Beatrix Potter, children like repetition, even though it often makes for dull reading.  (And to be fair, Peter Rabbit is hardly what I'd call "plotless."  There's quite the drama there.)  My bird loves the afternoon children's programming on pbs so I put on the tv for him.  He loves the Cat in the Hat even though the same damned songs play over and over every day.  The little boy across the street used to come and watch tv with the bird.  His mother said the kids really like the repetition and structure.  Maybe it has something to do with the maturation of the brain at that age.

It's not the repetition that bothers me, it's the language and grammar. It's just weird, I don't know anyone that talks like that. It feels unnatural.

[tarascon]

Just wrapping up Black Wings of Cthulhu, S. T. Joshi (ed.).

An anthology of contemporary writers who'd caught the Lovecraft bug.
Some of the stories are well... crafted. Some are not. All are interesting to some degree.
http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/03/20/book-review-black-wings-of-cthulhu-21-tales-of-lovecraftian-horror

[smokester]

At tarascon's request I have merged Autumn's thread with his older "parchments" one.  I have modified the title throughout to reflect both threads.

It seemed sensible and keeps us tidy, which I need to compensate for my real life.

[mishca09]

I am reading a book by Victoria alexander. She is a HR writer , I mostly read those days because it relaxes me.

[tarascon]

Please check out my addition to the OP. This is as much Autumn's thread as it is mine. 

Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien, (edited by Christopher Tolkien)

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7329.Unfinished_Tales_of_N_menor_and_Middle_Earth

[Autumn]

[goldshirt*9]

have just finished Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Thoroughly enjoyed although i suffer from lazy reader syndrome ( I skip along the pages and words ) have to concentrate like mad.
Lost the story line a few times until I realised  Redrick was the man binding the book together.
Loved the fact not once did the authors describe what was in the zone to be afraid of, a subtle hint and a few words left it all to the reader to use their imagination ( would this work today ?? ).
Monkey was a shock and the "Zombie".
The ending was unusual, still cannot get my head around it, i am sure someone of more intellect can advise me.
Will look into the other books i have of his / them.

[tarascon]

^

[goldshirt*9]

I keep getting a "Milton" moment when i think of the ending again.
All the sacrifices / challenges he had to make to find his "god".
His wish kind of stands out as well
 "HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY, FREE, AND LET NO ONE GO AWAY UNSATISFIED".
Any way on to the next book

[tarascon]

You should see how the Stalker games ends.

Spoiler (hover to show)

The number of wishes the "hero" gets at the end will depend on how the game was played; he gets one of two (or is it three?). Anyhow, any wish he makes will get twisted and end badly.

[goldshirt*9]

ATM I am reading A Good Year by Peter Mayle .
Nothing like the movie, not too bad but not too demanding a read either.
Have a few James Jones books in the pipeline to follow
I forgot that i read Neuromancer by  William Gibson last saturday whilst waiting for the wife and daughter
to come out of the O2 arena. still good

[smokester]

How is it that everybody else's days are far longer than mine?