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Literary crack


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Which books in your collection are the literary equivalent of crack? Which books are just so addictive that you honestly have a hard time NOT reading them when you are trying to focus on other material? Which books do you feel you could shred up and put on a mirror for the same effect as reading?

 

 

I nominate every book in the Harry Potter series. JK Rowling is a drug lord and book stores are pushers. Simple as that.

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QUOTE (Slime @ Jul 19 2006, 04:08 PM)



JK Rowling is a drug lord and book stores are pushers. Simple as that.

Yeah. Lets burn her books. The slag.

 

 

 

 

I f***ing hate Harry Pothead. I don't understand grownups reading that shit. 1287.gif

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I know I'm going to shock the crap out of people with this one: the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.

 

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QUOTE (Mrs. Huck Rogers @ Jul 19 2006, 12:26 PM)
QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jul 19 2006, 04:20 PM)
I know I'm going to shock the crap out of people with this one: the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.

Link me up Jacko

With pleasure! The Aubrey-Maturin books.

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QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jul 19 2006, 04:31 PM)
QUOTE (Mrs. Huck Rogers @ Jul 19 2006, 12:26 PM)
QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jul 19 2006, 04:20 PM)
I know I'm going to shock the crap out of people with this one: the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.

Link me up Jacko

With pleasure! The Aubrey-Maturin books.

Excellent!

 

Sounds much like the beginning series of some of Wilbur Smith's books of the Courtney's when they were privateers *(It is 1667 and Sir Francis Courteney and his son Henry "Hal" Courteney are on patrol in their fighting caravel off the Agulhas Cape of Southern Africa. They have a letter from Charles II sanctioning them to hunt down and capture enemy ships "beyond the line". ) for England. I shocked myself by liking those.

 

I'll have to give those a try yes.gif

 

thanks mang trink39.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

*from Birds of Prey

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QUOTE (Mrs. Huck Rogers @ Jul 19 2006, 12:38 PM)
QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jul 19 2006, 04:31 PM)
QUOTE (Mrs. Huck Rogers @ Jul 19 2006, 12:26 PM)
QUOTE (Jack Aubrey @ Jul 19 2006, 04:20 PM)
I know I'm going to shock the crap out of people with this one: the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.

Link me up Jacko

With pleasure! The Aubrey-Maturin books.

Excellent!

 

Sounds much like the beginning series of some of Wilbur Smith's books of the Courtney's when they were privateers *(It is 1667 and Sir Francis Courteney and his son Henry "Hal" Courteney are on patrol in their fighting caravel off the Agulhas Cape of Southern Africa. They have a letter from Charles II sanctioning them to hunt down and capture enemy ships "beyond the line". ) for England. I shocked myself by liking those.

 

I'll have to give those a try yes.gif

 

thanks mang trink39.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

*from Birds of Prey

You're very welcome! You can read the first few pages of Master And Commander here.

 

Thank you for telling me about Birds Of Prey. I shall check it out.

 

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The biggest addiction I had was when I first read Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, well before the movie was released. I couldn't stop reading, and any obligatory social engagements I had were total distractions from what I really wanted to be doing.

 

I know it's got a lot of detractors (and some lovers) on this board, but I also was addicted to The DaVinci Code. That was one of those "finish it in less than a week" books; I've read others.

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QUOTE (Mrs. Huck Rogers @ Jul 19 2006, 11:12 AM)
QUOTE (Slime @ Jul 19 2006, 04:08 PM)



JK Rowling is a drug lord and book stores are pushers. Simple as that.

Yeah. Lets burn her books. The slag.

 

 

 

 

I f***ing hate Harry Pothead. I don't understand grownups reading that shit. 1287.gif

goodpost.gif

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book equivilants of crack....well the da Vinci Code, I finished that one in one night I couldn't put it down. Tom Clancy's books would qualify for me. I mean the ones he wrote, not the "created by" crap series. Sum of All fears, Debt of Honor and Executive Orders are especially engrossing. But the most adictive literarty crack right now has to be Harry Potter. It's entertaining, draws you in to it's world and has lots and lots of people jonsing for more......
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Frank Herberts Dune. I read the original trilogy at least one a year.

 

Stephen Kings Dark Tower series is equally good, it was kind of a letdown at the end, but the wait for each sequel was like withdrawl.

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QUOTE (Slaine mac Roth @ Jul 20 2006, 01:36 PM)
I thuink the main one with is Anne McCaffrey's 'Dragonriders of Pern' series which I've been repeatedly reading for 30 odd years

Slaine, you old dog! I've been wondering when you'd make an appearance in here! Welcome, it's good to see you again! My apologies if you've made an appearance in here before and I missed it.

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QUOTE (Slaine mac Roth @ Jul 20 2006, 09:36 AM)
I thuink the main one with is Anne McCaffrey's 'Dragonriders of Pern' series which I've been repeatedly reading for 30 odd years

How could I have forgotten Pern?!? Thanks for the reminder! *goes to the bookcase to hunt*

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Jul 19 2006, 08:33 PM)
The biggest addiction I had was when I first read Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, well before the movie was released...

I know it's got a lot of detractors (and some lovers) on this board, but I also was addicted to The DaVinci Code.

 

The Da Vinci Code really is the literary equivlent of crack. I know it does me no good, I know I'm going to feel bad for doing it the next morning, but, boy, when I'm reading it, it makes me feel good. And like our favourite street drugs, while it's not made particularly well, it certianly gives you a hit.

 

The Silence of the Lambs I got in a cheap pack of '10 films from which books were made' pack. It's not normally the type hit think of taking, but that was my mistake as snorting this was great. Much more nuanced than the film.

 

The last book that had me crawling down on my hands and knees late at night wondering if any small delicious crumbs had somehow spilt on the sofa earlier for me to snort now was Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife a beautiful, emotional, technically audacious novel with a little sci-fi twist.

 

While I was reading it I though men should not be allowed to write sci-fi. Women: How would time travel effect a life, a love, a family? Men: Dude, we can go and see the dinosaurs!

 

Love to all

 

Disco

 

 

 

 

 

 

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QUOTE (Disco @ Jul 26 2006, 04:24 PM)
The last book that had me crawling down on my hands and knees late at night wondering if any small delicious crumbs had somehow spilt on the sofa earlier for me to snort now was Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife a beautiful, emotional, technically audacious novel with a little sci-fi twist.

My wife read that. She loved it.

 

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I'm one of those goofy grown-ups who loves Harry Potter...I think because it's absolute and total escape, and I need that.

 

Many of Dean Koontz's books fit this bill for me, as well. I re-read Watchers once a year at least.

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QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Jul 26 2006, 05:07 PM)
I'm one of those goofy grown-ups who loves Harry Potter...I think because it's absolute and total escape, and I need that.

Many of Dean Koontz's books fit this bill for me, as well. I re-read Watchers once a year at least.

Koontz' stuff is definitely brain candy. I've read a couple of his books.

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rand. i think i tore through atlas shrugged in 5 days... 5 work days. when i was done i think i slept for 24 hours straight

 

it isn't the best written book in history, but there was something compelling about it that absolutely refused to let me put it down, even for a second.

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QUOTE (feelingwithyourskin @ Jul 20 2006, 12:45 AM)
QUOTE (Sodoff Baldrick @ Jul 19 2006, 11:50 AM)
Pretty much anything by Carl Hiaasen

oh sweet holy hell, yes! his books are addictive

Ladies, I'm with you 100%, but I must recommend two authors to you.

 

Christopher Brookmyre - I know, I know, change the record Madra, but this guy is a genius. His imagination is so twisted it's being used as the blueprint for an unsolvable maze game on PSP and his writing ability is top class.

 

A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away is probably his masterpiece (and is also my 'crack' book), but All Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye runs it close. The Scottish terminology takes a bit of getting used to at times, but well worth the investment.

 

Colin Bateman From Belfast, most of his books centre on a dysfunctional journalist called Dan Starkey. There tends to be a fair bit of story crossover, so I'd advise you to start with Divorcing Jack (which was also made into a cracking film starring David Thewliss). The latest, Belfast Confidential is also one of his best.

 

(True story - The day I was diagnosed in March, I started Belfast Confidential. After the diagnosis when the counsellor came up to talk to me on the ward, I had the ipod headphones on and was reading BC, cracking up with laughter. She came over, gently asked how I was......I'm still pissing myself. That's a recommendation!!!!!!!!!).

 

Both of them tend to be compared with Hiaasen, and it's a fair comparison to a large extent. However, Brookmyre and Bateman tend to be a bit darker, but no less comedic for that.

 

Brookmyre has also based a few of his books around a journalist, Jack Parlabane, and says he based Jack on Ford Prefect from THHGTTG. He told BBC's 'Hitchhiker Memories' - "I always adored the idea of a character who cheerfully wanders into enormously dangerous situations and effortlessly makes them much worse."

 

The fact that both share the initials CB is also, as far as I'm aware, a total coincidence, but I'm sure Dan Brown can make something of it....

Edited by madra sneachta
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