Which is a good thing. Usually.

I'll definetly put The Cell on my must read list!
Incidently, my insider in the publishing world who gave me the heads up on Raven Dane's Blood Tears , has now told me about a new pirate adventure called Sea Witch, coming out in mid May. I loved Pirates of the Caribbean with the utterly divine Johnny Depp. Perhaps this book will give me a 'pirate fix' till the new film comes out in July!

I just read The Great Gatsby. It was ok, I don't really get all the fuss.

Oh, I like that one. The movie, too. It's the atmosphere that's really special, Nat. The sense of this sprawling, decadent world that existed then. People aspiring to a lifestyle that didn't really mean anything at all.

I guess I didnt really pick up on that. I just found none of the characters very likeable.

Maybe if you tried watching the film? It captures the atmosphere very effectively. Pops up on TV quite a lot, usually fairly late at night on BBC2.

I am reading a series of books called The Bridae Chronicles. The first book, The Dark Mirror was a teeny bit of a letdown to me ( my sister loved it! ) but the second is called The Blade Of Fortriu and is a much better book. It comtinues the story of Bridae the King Of Fortriu who has married a girl of the Good Folk. These books contain Mages, Fortresses, Warriors, and Princesses....Add in a touch of romance and the Scottish highlands and you are up and away!

I've been reading The Vampire Earth series buy E.E.Knight, the first one being called Way of the Wolf. A nice different slant of vampires in a post apocalyptic Earth. The lead character David Valantine is a great hero and the books are very easy to read.

I watched The Great Gastby years ago. I remember Mia Farrow getting on my nerves, but Robert Redford was looking rather tasty (before the wrinkles). That's about as much as I remember Think we read it at school and then watched the film one afternoon to go with it. That was many moons ago now though, and my memory is a bit rubbish.

My sister is a Da Vinci Code fan. She heard my (exceedingly low) opinion of it, and bought me a book called The Celestine Prophecy in an attempt to convert me. I feel I have to read it, since she's bought the thing. Anyone here read it?

Nope, sorry. Agree with you about the Da Vinci Code though. I thought the plot was clever but the actual writing appalling. He was so patronising and had to explain obvious things for pages when it should have taken a paragraph. And he was taken to court for apparently stealing the idea; that was the reason for the film being held up from release.

Could The Da Vinci Code film be any more pointless. How tedious. Urgh !

Hiya Abs

Although the soundtrack apparently may feature a song by a-ha, which is nice. Sort of.

Although Mags seems a bit unsure about the whole thing!

Hey Vern,

Hope you've been keeping people on their toes while I've been away.

Just moved to Montenegro for a few months. Lovely and sunny here, nice and warm so I can finally wear my flip-flops

Trouble is the conspiracy theory addicts thinks is all true. aaaaaaarggh Its a work of fiction!
I noticed Absolom, you like vampire books. Can I recommend new book Blood Tears by Raven Dane. I do go on about it a bit, but it blew me away. So different.

quote:

Hope you've been keeping people on their toes while I've been away.

She's been grumbling at us all.

Been reading The Day Of Creation by JG Ballard. I'm usually a fan of his books, but I'm finding this one hard to get through, which is a shame.

quote:

I noticed Absolom, you like vampire books. Can I recommend new book Blood Tears by Raven Dane. I do go on about it a bit, but it blew me away. So different.

Thanks Snow Will give that one a look when I get back home.

It's always odd when a writer you like suddenly writes one that's hard reading. I usually persevere and try not to get distracted by other books I want to read. They just take soooo much longer to read, it's so annoying.

Mmmm. You have far more patience then me, Absolom! If someone I like reading makes me work hard I give up. Luckily hasnt happened with any of my favourite authors so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Mickey:

quote:

Hope you've been keeping people on their toes while I've been away.

She's been grumbling at us all.

Clearly I should have said grumbling and flashing.

quote:

Could The Da Vinci Code film be any more pointless

Was that supposed to be so Chandler-esque?

I just finished reading Enigma. It was quite good. Has anyone seen the film? Is it worth watching?

Dougray Scott?

Yes, it's a good film. It got hammered by the critics for being too slow, but what do they expect?! It's not Mission: Impossible for Rassilon's sake.

Performances are good, the atmosphere is good. Usually if you've just read a book it's not a good idea to see the film based on it, though, as it rarely lives up to expectations.

Just finished a fabulous book - A Twist Of Lemmon, a tribute to Jack Lemmon written by his son Chris. Brilliant stuff, and really, really funny.

.

No One Thinks Of Greenland - John Griesemer.

1959. It's six years since the Korean War, and Corporal Rudy Spruance, thanks to a little legal trouble back home, has just joined the U.S Army.
Before Rudy knows it, he's being savaged by a lethal swarm of mosquitoes in a desolate landscape somewhere near the Arctic Circle. Welcome to Qangattarsa, Greenland and an American military hospital so secret that it doesn't officially exist.
'You'll want to scratch,' Rudy's told, but he wants to do more than that. He wants to know what this strange place is and why he's here. As he tries to find out, Rudy meets a wild array of characters - the menacing, the ridiculous and the rejected - as well as the base's zealous commanding officer, Colonel Lane Woolrap, and the colonel's alluring aide (and mistress) Sergeant Irene Teal.
Then, thanks to Irene, Rudy discovers the Wing - the terrible secret at the heart of this bizarre outpost.

And all the time the days are getting shorter. The Stark Raving Dark of the permanent, Arctic night will soon be upon them all. As the fate of Qangattarsa and the men who live their strange half-lives there becomes increasingly doubtful, Rudy realises he must risk all to save himself and the people he loves.

Decent read. Catch-22 is mentioned in the reviews I've read of this book but it comes no where near that level of satire. The tone of the book gets darker as the story goes on and the satirical element is lost.

quote:

Originally posted by Mickey:
My sister is a Da Vinci Code fan. She heard my (exceedingly low) opinion of it, and bought me a book called The Celestine Prophecy in an attempt to convert me. I feel I have to read it, since she's bought the thing. Anyone here read it?

The Celestine Prophecy is a great book (if not very well written). It's basically an allegory about how we can all live better lives if we question the 'facts' we are told to believe. The process involves getting your head out of your bum and opening your eyes to the actual facts of existence; that we are not separte from the universe but deeply connected to it.

I just makes a helluva lot of sense... apart from the OTT ending maybe. I'd recommend it to anyone. Especially if you're interested in the nature of coincidence or just want to confirm your suspicion that the meaning of life doesn't involve a double-garage and a BMW.

As yet I've had no particular curiousity about The Da Vinci Code. Is it really terrible?