Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
Just finished Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn.
Absolutely bloody excellent! Best book I've read in a very long time. If you can remember growing up in the late 70s and 80s and are obsessed with the music of the time (like me) it will stir a lot of memories even if you don't know much about EBTG. And that's before you get to the later chapters about Bens illness and re-birth of their career.
A terrific read and laugh out loud funny in places too. Recommended
Absolutely bloody excellent! Best book I've read in a very long time. If you can remember growing up in the late 70s and 80s and are obsessed with the music of the time (like me) it will stir a lot of memories even if you don't know much about EBTG. And that's before you get to the later chapters about Bens illness and re-birth of their career.
A terrific read and laugh out loud funny in places too. Recommended
blindswelledrat said:
Fiction I am afraid. It has never actually been 'revealed' as such, but a number of people have tried to research it and found nothing at all to support the story, concluding that it never happened.
Just finished The Long Walk. Seems believable, to a degree, but the tales of going 8 days without water in a desert, climbing snow covered mountains with nothing but a couple of animal skins, and then seeing to yetis.....well, it sort of lost the plot a bit. I read a book a few years ago about an American working in Moscow who was arrested, tortured, sleep deprivation the works, and ended up in a Gulag. He eventually escapes and gets back to the USA. Not sure if this could be, or could be based on, the same story.
At the Sign of Triumph, David Weber. Ninth in the Safehold series. As with all the others, interminable battles with a cast of minor characters seemingly only there to get killed in new and detailed ways.
Oh, just go back a bit and find what I said about Hell's Foundations Quiver in October 2015, same stuff holds true.
Decent read apart from that, though, and at the end of it the war with the Church is finally over so we can start to get into the interesting stuff. Assuming that there's a book 10. I hope they cover the return of the archangels, at least..
Oh, just go back a bit and find what I said about Hell's Foundations Quiver in October 2015, same stuff holds true.
Decent read apart from that, though, and at the end of it the war with the Church is finally over so we can start to get into the interesting stuff. Assuming that there's a book 10. I hope they cover the return of the archangels, at least..
jimmyjimjim said:
At the Sign of Triumph, David Weber. Ninth in the Safehold series. As with all the others, interminable battles with a cast of minor characters seemingly only there to get killed in new and detailed ways.
Oh, just go back a bit and find what I said about Hell's Foundations Quiver in October 2015, same stuff holds true.
Against my better judgement I have just finished reading this. The end of the war seemed somewhat contrived and rushed to me. I get the impression Weber either ran out of time or pages; or both. A complaint I have against many authors these days is they could tell and equally good story in half the pages without all the useless filler. I don't need to read a page and a half description of how a primitive version of a Claymore mine works.Oh, just go back a bit and find what I said about Hell's Foundations Quiver in October 2015, same stuff holds true.
Most recent :
Any Human Heart ( William Boyd ) : this book really got under my skin, started slowly and I struggled initially, but it was one of those books I was sad to finish. A great study of one man's life. 5/5
An Officer and a Spy ( Robert Harris ) : turn of the century French "thriller". Found it a bit of a trudge to be honest - the interest was really held by the fact that it's based on the true story of Alfred Dreyfus which I knew nothing about - so I was keen to find out what actually happened to him. 3/5
Black Widow ( Chris Brookmyre ) : stopped reading his stuff a while back as I felt he had lost some of the wit that made his earlier books so much fun. This was a pleasant surprise - the black humour seems to be back and the story shifted along at a good pace with some decent twists along the way. 4/5
Rather Be The Devil ( Ian Rankin ) : latest Rebus outing ( although he's now "retired" ). To be honest I think the whole Rebus series should be retired. I just find the stories and the re-hashing of the same old central characters to be a bit boring now. There's none of the sharpness of the early Rebus books - just a plodding, vaguely enjoyable storyline. I read these books out of fondness for the Rebus character and habit I suppose. 2/5.
Any Human Heart ( William Boyd ) : this book really got under my skin, started slowly and I struggled initially, but it was one of those books I was sad to finish. A great study of one man's life. 5/5
An Officer and a Spy ( Robert Harris ) : turn of the century French "thriller". Found it a bit of a trudge to be honest - the interest was really held by the fact that it's based on the true story of Alfred Dreyfus which I knew nothing about - so I was keen to find out what actually happened to him. 3/5
Black Widow ( Chris Brookmyre ) : stopped reading his stuff a while back as I felt he had lost some of the wit that made his earlier books so much fun. This was a pleasant surprise - the black humour seems to be back and the story shifted along at a good pace with some decent twists along the way. 4/5
Rather Be The Devil ( Ian Rankin ) : latest Rebus outing ( although he's now "retired" ). To be honest I think the whole Rebus series should be retired. I just find the stories and the re-hashing of the same old central characters to be a bit boring now. There's none of the sharpness of the early Rebus books - just a plodding, vaguely enjoyable storyline. I read these books out of fondness for the Rebus character and habit I suppose. 2/5.
Edited by towser on Tuesday 15th November 13:02
joshcowin said:
Just started a Grisham book, old one, the associate!
100 pages in seems good for some easy reading, can anyone recommend any of his best?
I've enjoyed all of them, except the "based on a true story" one (which I don't think I've read, so might be really good, just that tag line always put me off) and "The Painted House", which was OK but not brilliant.100 pages in seems good for some easy reading, can anyone recommend any of his best?
Gassing Station | Books and Literature | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff