Rate the Last Book You Read

[Ricky]

Just what the title says.

We have a topic like this for movies in the Gem Theater, so why not for books too?

And...go!

[fernandito]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 6.5/10

A decent enough thriller, not the masterpiece that same make it out to be. I strongly believe that the fascination with this book (and probably the series) comes more from being intrigued by the enigmatic protagonist, the girl with the dragon tattoo, then the actual plot which is very sub-par IMO.

[fernandito]

Sorry Ricky, beat you to it

I'll merge the two.

[Jean]

Sorry Ricky, beat you to it

I'll merge the two.

No, Ricky beat you to it, and I'll merge the two.

[fernandito]

Ahhh ! So he did. Good form sir

[Ricky]

Thank you Jean. I knew I could count on you.

You review of TGWTDT, feev, just confirms my suspicions that it is very over-hyped. I think I'll pass on reading it for now.

[fernandito]

Like I said, it's a decent enough read .... but yes, it was way too over hyped.

[LadyHitchhiker]

Blonde Bombshell by Tom Holt
10 million stars.

[fernandito]

The Gunslinger (45,205th reread) 10/10

Still my favorite of the DT series.

[alkanto]

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher - 10/10

I absolutely love this series! Nothing about it made me wish it was changed, or even slightly altered. It's my favorite book from the series as well...so Dead Beat is probably in my top 10 books I've read

[Ricky]

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane - 7/10

Really interesting character study paired with the overarching theme of the loss of innocence. I enjoyed the story, but wish there would have been more of a "plot" to it. The writing seemed to drag in places, but overall was more good than bad.

Good read, but I wasn't blown away or as involved with the story as I was with Shutter Island.

[fernandito]

Have you seen the film, Ricardo ?

[Ricky]

I just got it from Netflix yesterday and plan on watching it Friday.

[Brice]

The Gunslinger (45,205th reread) 10/10

You are catching up with me.

[Darkthoughts]

A Wild Sheep Chase ~ Haruki Murakami 9/10

I was introduced to this author last year, and he is seriously one of the best writers I have ever encountered. This book follows on with Dance Dance Dance and I would highly recommend reading both. If, like me, you're into Japanese culture you will love getting immersed in his writing, because you actually feel like you're in Japan experiencing everything with your narrator. He has a real talent for making the mundane seem extraordinary.

[candy]

Gone - Michael Grant 8.5/10

I loved this book - this was Under the Dome as Stephen King should have written it, mixed in with Lord of the Flies

To give you the mere basics as i dont want to spoil it for anyone, the book is set in a small town where one day everyone over the age of 15 disappears. The children then discover they are inside a dome which has been placed around the town. The book follows a young group of friend who have to deal with looking after themselves and the younger children. While worrying what will happen when they reach 15years old and what happened to the outside world
This book doesn't pull any pushes to say its aimed at a teen audience,

Spoiler:

certain people have powers that they can project from their hands, when the bullies and the power tripping youngsters discover this they enclose the weaker children's hands in blocks of cement. These children are unable to feed themselves or look after themselves. They slowly starve to death while struggling to lift these blocks, all the whiile suffering in their own fecal matter. Not pleasant reading, but all too easy to imagine thats how a child would deal with the situation,

we also have the local bullies laughing as a child burns in a building, again this seemed harsh but true to life as to what certian people/children would do

Apparantley there are 3 more books in this series, and i would love to get my little mitts on them as i thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recomend it

[Jean]

bears liked the premises very, very much

[candy]

it was a surprise find too, i got two books the same as gifts over christmas so had to change one. I have had a cold over the weekend and its been really good to sit on the sofa with my blanket and read it with my Hot Toddy

[Erin]

That does sound very interesting, candy. I'll have to check it out soon!

[Hannah]

Hmmm me too. I just looked it up on Amazon and it looks like the fourth book should be coming out this April.

[Ricky]

Sounds interesting, Candy. I'll have to take a look.

[DoctorDodge]

The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz

Trying to write a Sherlock Holmes novel must be a huge challenge. After all, Conan Doyle's stories have such memorable characters and such a unique style, that trying to write a bold new story that gives a new light on those characters and pushes them in a new direction while still fitting Doyle's original vision must be an incredibly difficult task to follow.

Nevertheless, having just finished reading the novel, Horowitz does this absolutely perfectly. He gets the voice of Watson as narrator spot on, and gets everything right about Holmes too. The spirit of the story, while certainly being darker and more horrifying in some aspects than what I read of the original stories, still matches that of the original stories quite closely. What may have helped in this is the fact that we have not one case to read but two very closely interconnected ones, as very few of the original Holmes stories were novel length. An amazingly excellent read that superbly follows the spirit of the original stories while also acting as an incredibly appealing read for the more modern taste of darker, more disturbing detective stories. 10/10

[Merlin1958]

I'm just about done with the first installment of "The Strain" trilogy and I gotta say, great recommendation folks!! So far, so good. I'm intrigued and very interested in the characters. It's a little "pulpy", but that's OK. I keep wanting to turn the page and isn't that the "Tell-Tale" in the end?

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Black House 8/10.

I am surprised that I enjoyed this book so much. I didn't care so much for The Talisman. I didn't hate it, I just didn't really enjoy it as much as others seem to. I expected the same from Black House, but knew by page 50 or so that this was a very different novel. This book is much darker than Talisman. In fact, I might even say that the violence in this book is more brutal than almost any other SK novel. It's substance is as sinister as its name. I really liked several of the characters, Henry Leyden in particular. The villain was indeed and evil bastard. I enjoyed the DT references and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of crossover there was. I expected a few little references, but did not expect it to be a major plot line. Had to deduct a couple of points for the last hundred or so pages, as it got a little cheesy

Spoiler:

with the bees and the honey and the magic baseball bat and the light sabre ring etc. Also, the death of Mr. Munshun was pretty lame.

But, overall I was very pleasantly surprised by this book.

[Jean]

well, what did I say?