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EUFA EURO 2024 - Group Stage ⚽ EPL 24/25 starts Aug 17
My favorite;
Tolkien - Hobbit/LOTR.
Picked up the Hobbit when i was 11 and was lost in the world he created loved it ever since and have to read it at least once a year.
What am I reading now?
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials. Was recommended to me and enjoying the 1st book so far.
Whats your favourite book or book series?
Tough one, can't pick between three Katherine Kerr's Deverry series, Asimov's Foundation series and Anne Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.
What are you reading right now?
Bill Bryson's Down Under for the third time
Any recommendations?
Magician - Fiest
The Last Stand - King
Stranger in a Strange Land - Heinlein
I Robot - Asimov
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
Whats your favorite book or book series?
LotR and The Dark Tower
What are you reading right now?
SPQR - Mary Beard (bit old Rome history)
Beard has an engaging style of writing and really like listening to her docos (these are often on SBS). She doesn't just recount history, its sources and throw in anecdotal stories to fill in gaps. As a renowned academic in the area she offers realistic analysis of what is known and brings in the political intrigue on a personality level where she can. Just the most compressive single book On the topic that I can think of.LotR is the book I always come back to for a re-read. I don't often re-read books but I'm always willing to sit down with LotR. At one point I was averaging a re-read a year, though that's dropped off in the last decade or so.
The first one was good but I struggled and failed to get through the second one. Just ended up in the "who cares" pile.
Other than King I'm 100% on this list. The Deverry series is tough - 23 years of books, and all the rebirthing, etc, made it such a struggle to keep straight but was still very enjoyable.
I've just gotten recommending SPQR through a Goodreads group and a general interest in Roman history so I'm interested in your opinion of it.
I've been going a bit crazy this year with reading - I've downgraded some stuff and started picking up books again, and the combination of that and using a couple of local library systems has seen me rack up 109 books so far this year after not reading much for several years.
The big hits/discoveries have been N. K. Jemisin's two series, Pratchett's Wee Free Men series and Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns (plus a fair handful of interesting non-fiction books).
using a couple of local library systems
Good to see. More people need to use libraries. The books are free, all you have to do is give them back when you're finished.
I might also recommend that people recommend to aged parents and grandparents the huge variety of both Large Print books and Audiobooks (on CD or MP3) available at local libraries (or through an interlibrary loan from the State Library).
Help keep me employed people!
I'm not driving out to f@#$ing Penrith to use the library.
Also, $17.50 for a interlibrary loan from the State Library is crazy. Might as well buy a book.
Hornsby Library charging $2 for any reservation is also a bit on the crazy side.
Don't work at Penrith Library. I catalogue for a library supply company that supplies audiovisual and large print material to libraries from Innisfail to Busselton (though I think Hornsby buy from those evil - and excessively expensive - bastards at Bolinda)
Oh well...
Also, $17.50 for a interlibrary loan from the State Library is crazy. Might as well buy a book.
- Library materials are loaned to NSW public libraries free of charge and it is expected that no charges will be passed on to the public for access to these items.
Booko.com.au searches most of the top Aussie and overseas sites and gives the best price including postage for each.Anyone looking to buy books should use bookdepository.com as it has bargain prices
Bought a collectors edition LOTR, Hobbit, Silmarillion and newest edition of atlas of middle earth.
Also my DC comics collection will shame most people's attempts at a collection
Have digested a bit of S Donaldson over the years. Can be brutal. The Gap series was exhausting.Thank you to
Ichabod Noodle, Gigantic and _GT_
I'm always looking for new corners in reading and tend to lack the patience in online groups to figure out whose opinions to listen to. Bit of a shortcut here because I already have some idea from post history.
I have read SPQR and good read
I have started reading Tigana and am far enough in to know I will be working my way through his books for a while.
A new author is very valuable to me.
I've read the comments on Tolkien and I've always felt I should like his books but I just dont.
I do like Fantasy and Raymond Feist, David Eddings, Stephen Donaldson and William Horwood are favourites.
I am waiting for delivery of "Reclaiming Patriotism" but looking forward to reading it from the research.
Lastly I'm conservative and use Booktopia and have done for many years. I chose them as local company and subject to NSW consumer law. I have to say the service is excellent and I've never been motivated to look around. Generally it's two days for common books and they use Aust Post which works for me because I live alone and can collect from a nearby shopfront when necessary. Once when I ordered a hard to find Biography of Sun Yat Sen and it took 2 months. Obtained from some obscure bookshop in New Orleans. It arrived with minor scuffs on the cover and they offerred return and refund or a 50% discount. I kept it but appreciated the trust.
Thats the strange thing I lose myself in his writing and teack of time. With Tolkien I have to consciously concentrate on every sentence.Have digested a bit of S Donaldson over the years. Can be brutal. The Gap series was exhausting.
I agree. Donaldson is very engaging and pulls you along the the storyline, often at speed. It is his harrowing themes of perversion in some series that I find exhausting. Tolkien tells a great tale, but often gets lost painting out the scene, the set piece battle or contextual history. Ok if you like the detail.Thats the strange thing I lose myself in his writing and teack of time. With Tolkien I have to consciously concentrate on every sentence.