last book you read and was it any good?

Question

i've just read The Devil In Amber by Mark Gatiss
excellent read i highly recommend it

Answer 1

Just read Empire of Dragons by Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

He is a professor of ancient history in Italy so his books are historically accurate. This was based around the idea that some Roman legionaries may have made it to China and he bases a good fictional story around how it might have happened. At the end he gives the facts about what he has written about and leaves the reader to make their own conclusions.

Answer 2

Last book I read was The Children of Men by P.D. James. It was surprisingly mediocre. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but the ending was cheesy, and the characters were all exagerated. I did see the movie, which was at least ten times better-- a rarity in movie adaptations of books. Now I'm reading The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas. I think it must be very new, because it mentions the 2005 London bombings. It's absolutely fantastic, and I'm only about a quarter way through. Don't you just love books that are wonderful throughout?

Answer 3

Last Refuge of Scoundrels by Paul Lussier. A historical revisionist novel that has a wonderfully irreverent view of the American Revolution. Excellent light reading.

Legacy of Conquest : The Unbroken Past of the American West by Patricia Limerick. It's about the settling of the West from an economic standpoint. Very insightful and a fresh perspective on the subject.

A Perfect Red : Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield. A tale of the mystical, mythical reverence for the color scarlet, as well as political and religious intrigue, piracy, science, the rise of industry and international economics. An excellent read. From the courts of kings to the peasents of Mexico, from the pallettes of Rembrandt and Turner to the secretive cloth dyer guilds of Middle Age Europe. This story of the color red is thoroughly researched and told with enthusiasm for the subject.

Answer 4

I have just read the first two books in the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman, Northern Light and The Subtle Knife. I am reading the third one now, The Amber Spyglass. I have to say they really are fantastic books and I would recommend you read them.

They are making the first one into a film with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The Americans have changed the name of course because they always have to change things. It will be called The Golden Compass.

I really hope you do read them and enjoy them. :o)

Answer 5

Just finished Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World - had mixed feelings about it, prefer his The Unconsoled and particularly Never Let Me Go which everyone should read.... Just started Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes... promising start, though probably not his strongest book which definitely is Tess of the D'Urbervilles...., but then again The Return of the Native...

Answer 6

My mum bought be a girly book as a stocking filler called 'Getting Rid of Matthew' and it was fab, I couldnt put it down- sorry cant remember the author but its fairy new out.
The books BabyBonce talks about above are my fave books in the world, its a fantastic triology so if you were asking the question in order to get some ideas on what to read next Id deffo go with the Philip Pullman triology.

Answer 7

I am on the last chapter of "Courtesans" by Kate Hickman and finding it fascinating. There is a review of the book below. It's a great read about the lives of several celebrated courtesans, and provides social history and surprising facts about sexual mores from an earlier period. The women's characters really come to life.

Not dry at all if you are worried about reading a history book.

Answer 8

I've just finished two books and they were both abysmal, utter drivel.

Then again I get paid to read and edit books -- so it probably doesn't count :-) this is me being a smart-*rse.

Published book I read last ... I think it was Roma Eterna by Robert Silverberg. Pretty good in some ways, but I didn't feel satisfied by the end of it.

Answer 9

I have just finished Street Kid by Judy Westwater which is autobiographical. It details the life of an abused child, abandoned by her father in South Africa. She ends up on the streets at the age of 12. This is the story of her fight to survive.
It's fairly harrowing; not quite the impact of A Boy Called It by Dave Pelzer, but definitely worth reading.

Answer 10

I just finished "Proteomics for Biological Discovery" by Veenstra and Yates. A good introduction to the subject, but not what I was looking for. I already knew about 70% of what was contained in the book. U'd say I'm a bit disappointed. Should have stuck to papers.