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What are you reading?


2226 replies to this topic

#1 Loomis

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Posted 28 March 2004 - 10:40 PM

Bond, non-Bond, fiction, non-fiction - what are you currently reading, or (assuming you haven't got a book on the go) what was your last really good read?

#2 Roebuck

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Posted 28 March 2004 - 10:56 PM

Currently it's Yukio Mishima's ''The Temple of the Dawn'' and ''The Death of Vishnu'' by Manil Suri.

I'm also dipping in and out of Eddie Fiegel's biography of John Barry.

#3 Qwerty

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Posted 28 March 2004 - 11:25 PM

I'm currently reading "Farewell, My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler. Quite good.

#4 Loomis

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Posted 28 March 2004 - 11:28 PM

I'm currently reading "The Case For Israel" by Alan Dershowitz, and re-reading "Stars and Bars" by William Boyd. Thinking about tucking into John Updike's "Rabbit" saga, which I picked up the other day. Have never read it, but have read only good things about it - would love to read CBners' opinions on it.

#5 Atticus17F

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Posted 28 March 2004 - 11:37 PM

Almost finished The Third Policeman by Flann O' Brien. Possibly the most bizarre and oddly compelling book I've ever read.

#6 007luvchild2

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 12:18 AM

Last book I've read Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field by Melissa Nathan

#7 jwheels

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 12:24 AM

Finished The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown a couple of months ago, since then finished Christopher Woods novelizations of The Spy Who Loved Me & Moonraker.

#8 Athena007

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 12:29 AM

I'm currently reading 2 books...


#9 [dark]

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 12:54 AM

I've kind of stalled on Colonel Sun. Been a while since I've read any of it.

#10 JackChase007

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 01:21 AM

Currently in the middle of The Medusa Stone by Jack Du Brul. This is the third novel featuring the adventurous geologist Philip Mercer (but the first that I've read), and I just got the rest of the series, so after I finish a couple of David Morrell novels, I'll go back to the beginning of the Mercer series.

#11 SPECTRE ASSASSIN

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 02:55 AM

Currently I'm reading American Psycho by Britt Easton Ellis

#12 mccartney007

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 03:13 AM

The last book I read was "The Pleasure of My Company" by Steve Martin. I read it when it first came out -- which was a while ago -- and really enjoyed it. I've been really busy since then and have't had a chance to read any of the other books I recently bought.

I have been skimming through several Ian Fleming biographies for an article I'm writing for CBn's mainpage. I suppose that counts for something.

#13 Tarl_Cabot

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 05:23 AM

I'm currently reading "The Case For Israel" by Alan Dershowitz, and re-reading "Stars and Bars" by William Boyd. Thinking about tucking into John Updike's "Rabbit" saga, which I picked up the other day. Have never read it, but have read only good things about it - would love to read CBners' opinions on it.

So what does Allen D think about Israel? I'd love to know...I think Israel has made some terrible mistakes but the American media establishment won't tolerate any critiscism of Israel....just curious...

#14 taxman2001

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 07:27 AM

I finished last week Bendan DuBois' excellent what if ... thriller Resurrection Day which had the great tag line of "Eveyone knows where they where the day Kennedy tried to kill them".

My next book will be Golden Buddha by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo.

#15 brendan007

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 07:31 AM

I've kind of stalled on Colonel Sun. Been a while since I've read any of it.

Wherebouts did you track down a copy of that dark? Ive been searching on the coast for years, but have had no luck whatsoever (not even the local libraries have it)

#16 Jim

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 11:31 AM

"Why does everyone hate America?" (of merit, if strident) and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time " (exquisite). Have just finished reading a volume of Fu Manchu stories - hilarious in their shocking racism.

#17 Johnboy007

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 11:40 AM

The Saint and Mr. Teal by Leslie Charteris.

#18 Loomis

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 11:44 AM

So what does Allen D think about Israel? I'd love to know...I think Israel has made some terrible mistakes but the American media establishment won't tolerate any critiscism of Israel....just curious...

I've not read too much of the book, but it appears to be - no, there's no "appears" about it, it is - a passionate defence of Israel, attempting to rebuff some of the more common (and, some say, anti-semitic) charges against the Jewish state.

Jim, who's "Why Does Everyone Hate America?" by, then? I've just done a search on the title, but can't seem to find any info.

#19 Jim

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 11:47 AM

Might be misquoting the title (it fell off the yacht into the bay of Naples...sounds flash, huh?). Might be an "everybody" instead of "everyone". Might, on reflection, be "why do people hate America"? Picked it up last week at a second-hand English language bookshop in Rome.

And now I'll stop showing off

#20 Loomis

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 11:48 AM

Hmmm.... don't do a Maxwell on us, Jim. :)

#21 Jim

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 11:55 AM

Or, for that matter, an "Elliot Carver".

Oh, I get it now....

#22 IndyB007

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 02:53 PM

Just finished Playback by Raymond Chandler last night and then I started Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love.......

#23 Lancaster

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 03:48 PM

Have just finished A History Of Britain book 1 by Simon Schama.

#24 ChandlerBing

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Posted 29 March 2004 - 03:51 PM

Mozzelball, by Ian Fleming.

#25 Double-Oh-Zero

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Posted 30 March 2004 - 02:48 AM

Just finished Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, by Charles R. Cross, over the March Break. Very detailed book. Disturbingly so, in fact.

Although I already knew how it ended. Curses.

#26 Atticus17F

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Posted 30 March 2004 - 03:22 AM

Might be misquoting the title (it fell off the yacht into the bay of Naples...sounds flash, huh?). Might be an "everybody" instead of "everyone". Might, on reflection, be "why do people hate America"? Picked it up last week at a second-hand English language bookshop in Rome.

Yep, the title is indeed "Why Do People Hate America?" (can't remember the author, though).

Coincidentally, I acquired my copy last year in Ancona, passing the time while waiting for the Athens boat. Obviously a prominent book in Italy. :)

#27 Tanger

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Posted 30 March 2004 - 10:57 AM

Just finished Moonraker and am slowly moving through James Bond The Authorised Biography by John Pearson. To be honest, it's not as entertaining as I thought it would be but I'm only reading it as I consider it part of the novel series.

#28 Loomis

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Posted 30 March 2004 - 11:52 AM

Just finished Moonraker and am slowly moving through James Bond The Authorised Biography by John Pearson. To be honest, it's not as entertaining as I thought it would be but I'm only reading it as I consider it part of the novel series.

I'm a bit vague on this, but didn't Kingsley Amis also write a "biography" of Bond? Might it also be considered part of the literary series?

And what do people think of the chances of Amis' and Pearson's books coming back into print?

#29 Qwerty

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Posted 30 March 2004 - 12:04 PM

Amis wrote The James Bond Dossier, which is slightly like Pearson's book, but not on the same level.

I'd love to see both of them come back into print since they were some of the first of their kind, books about the Bond novels. Always interesting.

#30 trs007

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Posted 30 March 2004 - 08:07 PM

JUst finished John Grisham's The Last Juror.