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Cos I've just finished 'Long Road from Jarrow' and 'Hope and Glory', both by Stuart Maconie, and enjoyed both of them.
Also just read 'Norse Mythology' by Neil Gaiman, but wasn't that taken by it.
Mick Herron's "Jackson Lamb series", beginning with Slow Horses. I randomly started with a later book in the series and it was so good I went back and read the lot. Admittedly starts slowly but just keeps getting better. And better still I learnt a few days ago that it's being made in to a series starring Gary Oldman. I wasn;t overly taken with Road To Jarrow, it was ok but not as good as Pies and Prejudice for example. Sure I've read Hope and Glory but can;t recall it TBH
I quite like Stuart Maconie, but he isn't quite as funny as I think he thinks he is. Mind you, I'm in no position to talk... 🙂
Recently finished Carrying The Fire by Michael Collins, lengthy, earnest but fascinating (and in places laugh-out-loud funny) account of his life as test pilot and astronaut up to and a bit after Apollo 11. Got Buzz's Magnificent Desolation and Chris Nixon's Rosemeyer! Lined up next. 🙂
The Greatest; the times and life of Beryl Burton by William Fotheringham. An amazing person, very well told story.
Been reading Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy after watching Anihilation last year.
I love a book thread. I recently enjoyed Philip Pullman's La Belle Sauvage, and have The Secret Commonwealth in my to read pile. I'm currently reading The Binding by Bridget Collins and am finding it compelling and beautifully written.
I've just started American Gods (the unabridged version) which is promising so far.
Prior to that I just finished Soul Music - one of the Discworld novels, I'm working my way through the series. It's about death, Death, and the invention of a rock'n'roll (the amount of music-based punnage is phenomenal). Highly recommended.
I'm reading The Expanse series, just started book 5 Nemesis Games. Fantastic long form, space opera. I've also started watching the series on Amazon, I find it interesting which elements of the story they highlight or drop.
Also read Annihilation by Jeff vandermeer, need to pick up the rest of trilogy.
I'm sure I'll start rereading the Culture series (again) before lockdown is over...
Wolf Hall. I was going to get stuck in to The Mirror And The Light but it's been so long since I read the first 2 I thought I'd start again at the beginning.
I've struggled to find something that really grabs me recently. The last book that really enjoyed me was "the terror" by Dan Simmons. Not seen the TV series yet but would like to.
I also got drawn into "on the beach" by Neville shute, but that is pretty bleak and perhaps not the best material under current circumstances!!
I also really enjoyed Derek Robinson's series, "a piece of cake" etc'
All oldies but goodies
Prisoners of Geography, which is about how geographical factors shape the way nations behave. It's fascinating if a little mono-causal.
I love a book thread. I recently enjoyed Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage, and have The Secret Commonwealth in my to read pile.
Listened to TBS on Audible over Xmas. Excellent IMO and really brought to life through Michael Sheen's range of voices and expression.
Started TSC last week and once again Sheen delivers.
Recently read Killing Commendatore by Murakami which I really enjoyed.
American Kingpin by Nick Bilton is a really good read as well, details how Silk Road started and ultimately fell.
Currently on with Straight White Male by John Niven which is an easy enjoyable read.
Just read Michelle Paver's latest gothic horror 'Wakenhyrst' and enjoyed it.
Just ear-read 'Colombia es Pasion!' by Matt Rendell (the raspy voice guy on ITV cycling coverage). It's about Colombian cycling. Absolutely love being able to see the level of story we'd only usually get for English speaking riders, and the background of Colombia's recent history frames the success of its cyclists brilliantly.
Probably my fave cycling book of recent years.
Days without end by Sebastian Barry and reservoir 13 by John McGregor, a place called winter by Patrick gale - they stand out in the last six months. Just finished waterlog by Roger Deakin, a foray into non fiction, it wasn't very good, took ages, nothing is grabbing me right now; I might need to reread something I enjoyed to get going again.
Wild, by cheryl Strayed. Was a 99p Kindle offer, took a punt and it was really good. There's a bit about the family horse which is one of the most moving, shocking, memorable things I've ever read!
You'll never look at a horse the same again.
Special Boat Squadron by Barrie Pitt; Savage Continent by Keith Lowe; I Chose to Climb by Chris Bonnington; Feet & Wheels to Chimborazo by Mark Horrell. All excellent.
Also just re-read One Fine Day In The Middle of The Night by Christopher Brookmyre. Pricelessly funny even second time around
Wild, by cheryl Strayed.
Have you seen the film, with Reese Witherspoon? Worth a watch, very good.
Dez the films not bad either.
I've been reading cheap tartan noir crap.
Devil in the white city was the last proper book I read.
Also just re-read One Fine Day In The Middle of The Night by Christopher Brookmyre. Pricelessly funny even second time around
I might do that! I raced through his first ten or so books, really enjoyed them and then kind of lost interest. I read Places in the Darkness a bit ago and thought that was good too.
Another vote for the Expanse series. I'm three books in, really enjoying the hard sci-fi side of it, works really well with the more traditional sci-fi elements.
Been reading the Viriconium books by M. John Harrison. From the 70s and one of the pioneers of that sort of post-history style in SF that I really like - set so far in the future that whole civilisations have waxed and waned and the world is littered with old technologies lying around that no one understands any more.
Bit of a mixed bag so far tbh - some of the shorter, later ones have been really good but the earlier stuff is less impressive. Suspect it was the bomb when it came out but the whole SF / fantasy genre has been so hammered in the intervening years, that it's hard to appreciate the early work.
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch. The latest in the Rivers of London series. The word on the street is Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have bought the rights to make a TV series. Hopefully it will be the ultimate in geekdom.
I’ve also been working through The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell and revisiting the Discworld by Pratchett.
Got the last Brookmyre and his scifi one turning up this week, hopefully. Agreed about him running out of steam a bit after his first ten - Be My Enemy was probably the last 'classic' Brookmyre, and it was basically a rewrite of One Fine Day.
Recently read Early Riser by Jasper Fforde and it was easily his best yet - a properly realised sort of murder mystery in a version of earth where people hibernate over winter. Properly, properly good.
Prisoners of Geography,
I enjoyed that, see also Timekeepers and Latitude. I’ll dig the authors out later. My kind of read; a different view of history and an invention that changed the world.
Hence reading Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy by Tim Harford.
I’ve given up on the expanse books. I do enjoy Craig Alanson's Expeditionary Force Space Opera tho. Even if the last seven books have been pretty much the same plot!
Have you seen the film, with Reese Witherspoon? Worth a watch, very good.
I bought the book on eBay for my mum and there were auctions with the book & DVD. Nearly went for it, but thought I know the story now! Is the horse scene in the film??
Rereading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Really a fantastic book.
Old Man and the Sea also reread recently.👌
And Call of the Wild by Jack London.👌
I'm trying to reread a lot of my favourite books at the moment as well as trying some classics. Got a bit of fantasy overload for a while there.
A Timetraveller's Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer. Well-researched, witty and well-written.
Coming to the end of Milkman by Anna Burns, enjoying it very much. I love a book written with an idiosyncratic voice, things like Everything Is Illuminated.
I live in perpetual hope of a new Annie Proulx coming out, but Barkskins was only 4 or 5 years ago so I fear there's a few more years to wait.
Mrs Tyred has unsubtly placed both Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies next to my side of the bed, as she's been urging me to read those for ever, so I've half an idea what she's on about half the time. She's just finished re-reading them in anticipation of starting the new one (she said she's waiting for the paperback but no way will she hold out) and is determinedly avoiding the R4 serialisation.
Load of things sitting around waiting to be started, not sure what I'll go for next. Still not started any of the Christmas books!
La Peste by Albert Camus.Current affairs and existential philosophy.Could be a good choice for Yokaiser.
Thanks mcmd I shall give it a peruse 👍.
Not wishing to derail the thread, here are the other books I was going to try to get through this year.
Death on the nile Agatha Christie
The picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
The count of Monte cristo Alexander Dumas
The name of the wind Patrick rothfuss
In cold blood Truman Capote
The master and margarita Mikhail bulgakov
The grapes of wrath John Steinbeck
The outsiders se Hinton
I robot Issac Asimov
At the loch of the Green Corrie by Andrew Greig.
Dead air by Iain Banks
I’ve been working my way through James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books and Joe R Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard series.
That’s a good list Yo, except
The name of the wind
Oh lord no. 100s of chapters where almost nothing happens. Honestly, even as an audiobook I was finding it hard work.
I re-read The Grapes of Wrath recently and it’s still as brilliant as the first time I read it more than 20 years ago.
The plague year by Daniel Defoe is also a good read,topical to.
Oh lord no. 100s of chapters where almost nothing happens. Honestly, even as an audiobook I was finding it hard work.
It's the second one where nothing happens, are you not thinking of that? The Name of the Wind was hugely successful and has a passionate fanbase and it ain't because almost nothing happens.
It's good and had huge promise for the series, but given subsequent developments of a bad sequel (IMHO) and the author getting blocked it's maybe not worth picking up.
Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy
Interested to have your thoughts on it.
The Rotherweird trilogy (just finished) it's Okay-ish, I guess...the level of suspension of willing disbelief you have to achieve to allow the world in which Rotherweird inhabits is a tall ask though, even for a fantasy novel. Another bugbear was that the author is very interested in 1. letting you know how clever he thinks he is, and 2. how much he (and thusly all his characters) love puzzles, they're mostly just chess pieces he moves about rather than self determining (as much as characters in a book can be) individuals. It's a very "teachable book" said a friend of mine who lectures in creative writing (it wasn't necessarily a compliment)
Also just finished False Value which i enjoyed like all the Rivers of London books, it is becoming a leetle bit "by the numbers" now though...
Also put down the Milkman by Anna Burns, starts off v well, but nothing really happens, and I'm loosing the will to carry on because waiting in the wings I've the Mirror and the Light which I know is just going to be wonderful.
At the loch of the Green Corrie by Andrew Greig.
I wanted to love that book, just didn't happen for me.
Just finished '16 Ways to defend a walled city' by K.J.Parker - really enjoyed it; very easy read and thoroughly entertaining. Written from a first person perspective of the anti-hero main character it's something a bit different (it's the same reason the Aaranovitch Rivers of London series is good, this is in a similar vein albeit a totally different setting...).
Just finishing 'Step by Step', Simon Reeve's account of his life and early travels. Fascinating story of his rise from young waster to TV presenter and adventurer. Funny and sad in equal parts.
Rereading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Really a fantastic book.
Amen, brother.
I’m currently reading The Binding by Bridget Collins and am finding it compelling and beautifully written.
That was the last book I really loved. There are a few criticisms (it's a bit of a tease and the possibilities of binding isn't explored enough), but I don't think a book has transported me as well as this one for ages. That first section was sublime.
There's something about the descriptive writing style (disclaimer: I'm not much of a reader or writer about books 🙂 ) that I found truly captivating and 'real'. After I'd finished it, the next few books I tried after, I didn't persevere with because they felt so uninvolving!
Listening to "Everything is ***" by Mark Manson at the moment... It follows on nicely from his last book, the Subtle Art of not giving a *, quite nicely. Both are absolutely brutally honest anti self help books. Well worth a read/listen if you're not of a nervous disposition!
Read Hannah Fry's "Hello World" not long ago too... A brilliant insight into the modern world and how and where and why artificial intelligence is being implemented usefully, and also where it is not...
I enjoyed that, see also Timekeepers and Latitude. I’ll dig the authors out later. My kind of read; a different view of history and an invention that changed the world.
I looked at that post and thought "ah ha, I know the one you mean - Latitude, by Dana Sobel?" Then I looked it up and it turns out I'm thinking of Longitude, by Dava Sobel. That's a great book, though, a short but committed and thorough retelling of John Harrison's quest to build a nautical timepiece (much more interesting than I made it sound:) ).
Just finished Vietnam by Max Hastings. Not a huge fan of all his previous work but really enjoyed this one. Well written and very balanced presentation of an utterly tragic episode.
In the spirit if these times I’ve just re-read, back to back....
On the Beach - Nevil Shute
The Day of the Triffids -John Wyndham
The Plague -Albert Camus
All a bit post-apocalyptic but were well worth re-read.
The Plague was also interesting because it was my wife’s A Level course work book from many years ago, and was covered in underling, doodles and notes!
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Proper Sci-fi classic.
I’m listening to the Expanse books on Audible while I run. Very good, well narrated and just different enough from the TV series.
At the loch of the Green Corrie by Andrew Greig.
Andrew Greig is amazing. His two mountaineering books are engaging in a way that most expedition books aren't, mostly because he's not a climber so he writes as an outsider and sees things climbers themselves take for granted. He has a lovely, instinctive feel for language, which I guess comes from him being a poet.
Electric Brae is the novel I give to people who haven't heard of it, a harrowing but beautiful book about people and love. And The Return of John McNab - a sort of homage to tThe 39 Steps is a sort of modern day Graham Greene entertainment. Quite light but endlessly readable. Electric Brae though is brilliant. I should read it again.
Oh, and I just bought Love In The Time of Cholera because it feels appropriate, but if you've not read 100 Years of Solitude, that's a little bit amazing too.
Just finished The Brentford Chainstore Masacre by Robert Rankin.
Love his books.
In the last 2 months:
Chicken hawk... As recommended on here which was great
The last 2 Ben aaranovich books which I've really enjoyed (the whole series is quality)
La Belle Sauvage , by Philip Pullman (really good)
Priestess of the White , Trudi Canada which I've really enjoyed so I bought the other two in the trilogy and am waiting to finish my current book to get stuck in.
Currently on the secret commonwealth by Pullman which has been decent so far (3/4 of the way through).
Just finished Semiosis by Sue Burke. Interesting sci fi...not sure I’ll look at plants the same way.
Book before that was Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock - collection of short stories based around the brutal town of the books title. Desperate Americana
Lanark by Alasdair Gray. I’ve avoided it for years but bought a second hand copy from a friends recommendation recently. Loved it although it’s hard going in places.
Just finished Ian M Banks 'Surface detail'and will probably drop into a few more of the culture novels, but just started the 'Blue Ant' trilogy by William Gibson (almost finished Pattern Recognition).Still working and can hardly keep my eyes open when I land home..........
Sapiens and 21 lessons for the 21st century by Yuval Noah Harari. Hoping someone will buy me Homo Deus, the third in the series for my imminent birthday. Powerful, thought provoking stuff.