Books - What are you reading?

[anonymous-user]

Patrick DeWitt's 'The Sisters Brothers'.

Two hired guns on the trail of a mysterious prospector in 1850's gold-rush California. I guess it's literary fiction as it was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, but it's just a good, compelling, dark read.

[anonymous-user]

BRISTOL86 said:

Hi Guys

Can you recommend authors similar in genre and style to Bill Bryson (the travel stuff rather than the sciencey stuff)

I really like the blend he gets of informative enough to be interesting from a learning point of view but humorous enough to keep it light and easy going...especially his earlier stuff on the Americas and Europe.

Cheers!

Try something by Tim Moore, or for slightly less humour, the unrelated Peter Moore. Or Pete McCarthy, or Tim Cahill (slightly dated maybe), or Redmond O'Hanlon, or Stuart Stevens?

[Legend83]

Spumfry said:

Patrick DeWitt's 'The Sisters Brothers'.

Two hired guns on the trail of a mysterious prospector in 1850's gold-rush California. I guess it's literary fiction as it was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, but it's just a good, compelling, dark read.

Opinions and all that, but I found this mind-numbingly dull.

[Lauryn]

I've just finished Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell and am about to start The Chimp Paradox after being given numerous recommendations.

[anonymous-user]

Legend83 said:

Opinions and all that, but I found this mind-numbingly dull.

Having finished it I may need to revise my opinion, starts out good/compelling/dark etc then gradually peters out, gets slightly odd, then finishes off with a 'is that it?' ending.

Now reading 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls' a history of 70's Hollywood. Second hand but unread and so far, I can see why...

[SilverSixer]

thelittleegg said:

Just started 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodr Dostoevsky.

You poor sod. Still, at least it isn't 'Crime and Punishment'.

[E24man]

I'm now also re-reading 'Jerusalem' by Simon Sebag Montefiore; the word epic is often misused but this near 5000 year detailed and very impartial history of perhaps the worlds most war ridden city is indeed an epic book.

[SilverSixer]

thelittleegg said:

SilverSixer said:

You poor sod. Still, at least it isn't 'Crime and Punishment'.

I've already read that and thought it was fantastic, albeit pretty epic.

As I heard a co-student say when asked to summarise C&P in a Russian Lit lecture at University: "It was a crime to have written it, and a fking punishment to have to read it".

Each to their own of course! ;-)

[thismonkeyhere]

cherie171 said:

John Wyndham's The Crysalids. Only a small way in so far.

Great book.

[Derek Smith]

Black Eyed Susans, by Julia Heaberlin. A crime thriller.

Recommended by a friend.

Excellent read. I'm only a third of the way through but it's great. Here is a typical excerpt. She is describing the plant Black Eyed Susans:

The Susans are a greedy plant, often the first to thrive in scorched, devastated earth. Pretty, but competitive, like cheerleaders. They live to crowd out others.

The description is pertinent to the plot in all probability and having it so memorably phrased means I won't forget it.

[madbadger]

Finished this recently.



Loved it. Tells the tale of a pioneering 1200 miles trip up the Himalayas in a prototype hovercraft. Bit like Bill Bryson with balls.

While I was looking for the book to take a picture I also found this:



It's a 1956 biography of Shepa Tenzing and I didn't actually know I had it. That's my next read sorted then.

[g3org3y]

g3org3y said:

Finished this, thought it ok, imo not his best. He does (almost) the entire journey using public transport citing his hate of cars and driving as the reason. Fair enough, however he then spends too much of the book complaining about infrequent trains and buses, waiting at stations, generally rubbish service etc. For me it detracted from what was otherwise a decent book. Even Bryson thought Bradford was a sthole.


Just started this, Begbie's back!

[lauda]

g3org3y said:

Just started this, Begbie's back!

Just finished this and not really sure what I thought to be honest. It seemed pretty farcical in places but I quite enjoyed it regardless. It's not Trainspotting, that's for sure, but if you enjoyed Trainspotting, it's probably worth reading.

[lowdrag]

"Jack Reacher, meet Carter Blake". If any of you have read Le Child you'll know of his taciturn loner with independent means who can outwit the FBI and CIA together when it comes to solving a crime. One of his happened to be the last off the pile and blow me down but "The Samaritan" by Mason Cross is a complete plagiarism, but curiously so acknowledged on the front cover where it is stamped "Perfect for fans of Lee Child". I am hurrying to the end since the death toll is reaching epidemic proportions across this nation of unsolved crimes, suddenly all pulled together by a - female - police detective and Carter Blake. I won't read another if one turns up in the next pile.

[g3org3y]

lauda said:

g3org3y said:

Just started this, Begbie's back!

Just finished this and not really sure what I thought to be honest. It seemed pretty farcical in places but I quite enjoyed it regardless. It's not Trainspotting, that's for sure, but if you enjoyed Trainspotting, it's probably worth reading.

I was really disappointed tbh. Didn't finding it interesting or engaging. First two thirds of it were boring, last third was just a bit rubbish. 2/5.

Now onto this. Much more enjoyable.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 24th April 12:57

[TorqueDirty]

Read this when I was a teenager and it was really special to me then. Just stared it again to see how it impacts me this time - some (Oh God) 30 yrs later!

[RizzoTheRat]

Jodi Taylors "Chronicles of St Marys" series. Not exactly literary classics but they're an enjoyable read about a bunch of time travelling historians. Think a slightly more grown up version of Doctor Who but without aliens.

[Alex]

I am reading:



Should be required reading for all Millennials.

[krallicious]

I'm going through the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell at quite a pace. Have two left to read and will then have to buy the final 5 books. Very engrossing but then I do like Cornwell's style.

I only have one other unread book on the shelf and it is Time and Time Agin by Ben Elton which I am looking forward to reading.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

krallicious said:

I'm going through the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell at quite a pace. Have two left to read and will then have to buy the final 5 books. Very engrossing but then I do like Cornwell's style.

I only have one other unread book on the shelf and it is Time and Time Agin by Ben Elton which I am looking forward to reading.

Have you read Cornwell's Warrior Chronicles (also known as The Last kingdom Series)? I really enjoyed them - Cornwell's battle descriptions are second to none.