Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
Eddie Strohacker said:
Ooh. I think I'll get a copy of this. I know Seven eves is a big hit here, but I couldn't get on with it at all, I need to take on another SF to get me back in the groove.
Mr Stephenson has a new one out, Rise and Fall of Dodo. Co-authored with Nicole Galland. You can spot his bits... It's in the style of mongoliad and System of the World rather than Seveneves or Snow Crash. Very good and highly recommended if you like: those books; quantum mechanics timey-wimey stuff; swords.
Goaty Bill 2 said:
otherman has the right of it in my humble opinion.
I really believe Solzhenitsyn is up there with the best of the Russians, though I have others to explore of course.
You will have noted my comments regarding 'March 1917' and 'April 1917' currently not having been translated to English?
I see a wonderful opportunity for you to make your mark on the literary world here sir!
plasticpig said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
otherman has the right of it in my humble opinion.
I really believe Solzhenitsyn is up there with the best of the Russians, though I have others to explore of course.
You will have noted my comments regarding 'March 1917' and 'April 1917' currently not having been translated to English?
I see a wonderful opportunity for you to make your mark on the literary world here sir!
Patch1875 said:
Not long started this very good so far.
Light reading but amusing and enjoyed it - is the sequel worth it?Read this - superior bum fluff thriller, recommended if you like Bourne/assassin stuff
now reading and thoroughly enjoying this - a westerner / wheeler dealer / philanderer in pre-WW2 Tokyo
FiF said:
Cast Iron, the 6th and final book in the Enzo Files series by Peter May.
I've read that, it was very good. Much prefer those and the Scottish novels to his Chinese ones.I've just finished "Need you dead" by Peter James, very good as usual though some of the writing seemed a little formal, a bit "too much", in places. For example (but made up) "Grace asked him to request forensics and he said that he would" - to me the last bit isn't required and it spoils the flow a little. But only a little.
Now I'm reading "Home" by Harlan Coben, had it for months but only just got around to starting it.
droopsnoot said:
FiF said:
Cast Iron, the 6th and final book in the Enzo Files series by Peter May.
I've read that, it was very good. Much prefer those and the Scottish novels to his Chinese ones.I've just finished "Need you dead" by Peter James, very good as usual though some of the writing seemed a little formal, a bit "too much", in places. For example (but made up) "Grace asked him to request forensics and he said that he would" - to me the last bit isn't required and it spoils the flow a little. But only a little.
Now I'm reading "Home" by Harlan Coben, had it for months but only just got around to starting it.
Agree about the China series, just got the first one out to have another go. But the Scottish Lewis series, Enzo and the stand alone books are excellent.
I'm currently reading Alan Sugar's autobiography. It's surprisingly good and you can tell he wrote it, it's full of references to "those French b
ds", "nutters", "mugs" etc.. 
Being a bit of a barrow boy myself I'm intrigued by his story which is genuine rags to (huge) riches. He went from flogging car aerials from the back of a mini van at 16 to paying cash for what would now be a million pound house at 24 in 1971 and was a full blown multi millionaire at 33 when he floated Amstrad. Like him or loath him, he's the real deal.
ds", "nutters", "mugs" etc.. Being a bit of a barrow boy myself I'm intrigued by his story which is genuine rags to (huge) riches. He went from flogging car aerials from the back of a mini van at 16 to paying cash for what would now be a million pound house at 24 in 1971 and was a full blown multi millionaire at 33 when he floated Amstrad. Like him or loath him, he's the real deal.A few recent reads for this thread:
'Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914' - Max Hastings. A very readable account of the build-up to and outbreak of the First World War. Reviews are a little bit mixed as much of Hastings' career was spent in journalism as opposed to the study of history, and some of the viewpoints he puts forth clash with Christopher Clark's 'The Sleepwalkers'.
'Under Fire' - Henri Barbusse (translated by Robin Buss). Originally published in French as Un Feu, there have been two English translations since 1916. The Buss translation is a more modern rendering of the book but, I suspect, more accurate: the original translator omitted some of the more gritty language of the trenches in favour of a result palatable to Georgian tastes. The actual writing is rarely beautiful, but there are some very memorable passages, and the almost callous approach to death probably does justice to the reality of the war.
'The Trigger: The Hunt for Gavrilo Princip' - Tim Butcher. A hybrid of a book, Butcher mixes travel writing and history with surprising results. There's quite a bit of exposition on the Balkan War as the author made the same trek through to Sarajevo that Princip himself made as a young man, meeting some of the remaining members of the Princip family and reuniting with old faces from his time covering the Balkan War. Perhaps not 'serious' history, but Butcher sheds some light on the academically adept Princip and his development towards extremism.
Next up, 'The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler' - Laurence Rees.
'Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914' - Max Hastings. A very readable account of the build-up to and outbreak of the First World War. Reviews are a little bit mixed as much of Hastings' career was spent in journalism as opposed to the study of history, and some of the viewpoints he puts forth clash with Christopher Clark's 'The Sleepwalkers'.
'Under Fire' - Henri Barbusse (translated by Robin Buss). Originally published in French as Un Feu, there have been two English translations since 1916. The Buss translation is a more modern rendering of the book but, I suspect, more accurate: the original translator omitted some of the more gritty language of the trenches in favour of a result palatable to Georgian tastes. The actual writing is rarely beautiful, but there are some very memorable passages, and the almost callous approach to death probably does justice to the reality of the war.
'The Trigger: The Hunt for Gavrilo Princip' - Tim Butcher. A hybrid of a book, Butcher mixes travel writing and history with surprising results. There's quite a bit of exposition on the Balkan War as the author made the same trek through to Sarajevo that Princip himself made as a young man, meeting some of the remaining members of the Princip family and reuniting with old faces from his time covering the Balkan War. Perhaps not 'serious' history, but Butcher sheds some light on the academically adept Princip and his development towards extremism.
Next up, 'The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler' - Laurence Rees.
Just back from a week somewhere sunny and read 8 books in 7 days. The best by a mile was Louis Debernieres' 'Notwithstanding'. Probably the best book I've read this year. Nothing like his more famous Captain Correli's Mandolin' or any of his other novels. I hadn't even realised he was English before reading this. It's in the form of a series of short stories set in and around a rural Surrey village in the sixties, a vague echo of his own childhood, all the different characters' stories linked together in the same way as real villagers' stories would be. The book was simple but beautiful and had me laughing out loud one minute and hiding a tear or two the next. Great holiday reading.
coopedup said:
TheJimi said:
I'm currently re-reading The Shadow Of The Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's been 13 years since I first read it, and it's proving to be every bit as good as I remembered it
Still in my top 2-3 books ever.Gassing Station | Books and Literature | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff