Books - What are you reading?

[towser]

Mark Benson said:

ATV said:

IanA2 said:

towser said:

Just finished "Never" by Ken Follet,..... Avoid if possible 1/5.

Agreed, it was grim.

That's a real shame as I've just finished my first Ken Follett novel, "Eye of the Needle" about a Germany spy who gets hold of the information for the D-Day deception plans.

Absolutely brilliant.

If "Never" isn't any good, are there any other shorter thrillers from him that are worth reading?

He made his name with The Pillars of the Earth which ended up being the first book of a trilogy 'The Kingsbridge novels', to which he then added a prequel.
So four books in all and not a short read but definitely worth looking at; his other novels I find hit and miss, some are a cracking read but then others leave me cold, Whiteout was one I remember enjoying.

His "Century Trilogy" was also an enjoyable read. "Never" was the first of his books that weren't part of Century or Kingsbridge set of books that I've read and it felt really ham fisted and contrived. Having said that even his main trilogy stuff has some pretty formulaic stuff....the upper class bad guy, forbidden love, salt of the earth hero etc...but he managed to tell a pretty engaging story in both.

[Mark Benson]

towser said:

Mark Benson said:

ATV said:

IanA2 said:

towser said:

Just finished "Never" by Ken Follet,..... Avoid if possible 1/5.

Agreed, it was grim.

That's a real shame as I've just finished my first Ken Follett novel, "Eye of the Needle" about a Germany spy who gets hold of the information for the D-Day deception plans.

Absolutely brilliant.

If "Never" isn't any good, are there any other shorter thrillers from him that are worth reading?

He made his name with The Pillars of the Earth which ended up being the first book of a trilogy 'The Kingsbridge novels', to which he then added a prequel.
So four books in all and not a short read but definitely worth looking at; his other novels I find hit and miss, some are a cracking read but then others leave me cold, Whiteout was one I remember enjoying.

His "Century Trilogy" was also an enjoyable read. "Never" was the first of his books that weren't part of Century or Kingsbridge set of books that I've read and it felt really ham fisted and contrived. Having said that even his main trilogy stuff has some pretty formulaic stuff....the upper class bad guy, forbidden love, salt of the earth hero etc...but he managed to tell a pretty engaging story in both.

I think he's quite a forulaic writer in general but he usually manages to tell a decent tale - however, a few clunkers aside, his books usually rattle along and keep you wanting to know what happens to the protagonists.

[droopsnoot]

I've just finished "Wrath of Poseidon" by Clive Cussler. Featuring his wealthy treasure-hunting couple the Fargos, it flashes back to when they first met and got involved with looking for an ancient hidden treasure and then comes back up to date. A decent read, I usually enjoy this series of his.

[Desiderata]

Visiting my Mum for the weekend, I picked this up for a quick read at bedtime.

I got half way through last night so hope to finish it tonight (or else I'll have to nick it).
It's a very different kind of cowboy/western story. Easy reading and very enjoyable.

Edited by Desiderata on Sunday 2nd January 19:20

[droopsnoot]

I've just finished "The Dead Tracks" by Tim Weaver. David Raker is hired to find a missing girl after the police have apparently run out of steam, but it turns out there are others missing that they haven't publicly confirmed. The baddie tries to frame Raker, who then tracks him down with the aid of another copper with a personal angle. A great read, I'd forgotten how good his books are.

[droopsnoot]

As it's been a quiet afternoon and I didn't feel like doing anything useful, I've just finished "The Woods" by Harlan Coben. Some teenagers get murdered at a summer camp and, 20 years later, it comes back to haunt the county prosecutor who was also at the camp. A good read, I thought I'd already read it when I first bought it, but I think I'm mixing it up with another of his that has a similar background story.

[garythesign]

Desiderata said:

Visiting my Mum for the weekend, I picked this up for a quick read at bedtime.

I got half way through last night so hope to finish it tonight (or else I'll have to nick it).
It's a very different kind of cowboy/western story. Easy reading and very enjoyable.

Edited by Desiderata on Sunday 2nd January 19:20

Read that a few years ago and thought it was excellent.

Hope you enjoy the second half

[OMITN]

Just finished The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. It’s a kids book and I first read it 30+ years ago when I was 9 or 10. But of the genre it is really very good. After listening to a discussion of it on the Blacklisted podcast a year or so ago, I wanted to re-read it over the period from Midwinter to Twelfth Night to track the timeline of the novel.

Next will be a book I was given for Christmas: Silverview by John Le Carré. I’m sure it will fit his usual style, but it’s a genre I return to now and again. After that it will be The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

[OMITN]

ATV said:

[snip]

… I'm still on the lookout for a cracking good thriller/action book as I haven't read anything decent for a while

How about some classic thrillers such as:

Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household or it’s sequel Rogue Justice. I’ve also read Watcher in the Shadows by him.

Or there are the three best known by the thriller writer’s thriller writer, Eric Ambler: Epitaph for a Spy, The Mask of Dimitrios, Journey Into Fear.

[jimmyjimjim]

OMITN said:

Just finished The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. It’s a kids book and I first read it 30+ years ago when I was 9 or 10. But of the genre it is really very good. After listening to a discussion of it on the Blacklisted podcast a year or so ago, I wanted to re-read it over the period from Midwinter to Twelfth Night to track the timeline of the novel.

Now there's something I'd forgotten about!

I'll have to dig the series out. Pretty sure I've got them electronically, somewhere.

[lowdrag]

OMITN said:

J

Next will be a book I was given for Christmas: Silverview by John Le Carré. I’m sure it will fit his usual style, but it’s a genre I return to now and again. After that it will be The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

I have always loved John Le Carré, and can remember watching the first running of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy back many years ago, then following the new version a few years back. His writing doesn't age at all. Next off my pile will be one of his later books, A Most Wanted Man, and I am looking forward to it.

[Prolex-UK]

Re reading edward rutherfords Sarum

Large book... 20 hours reading on the kindle

Well worth a read.

Has aged well

[LostM135idriver]

TheJimi said:

Digga said:

TheJimi said:

MC Bodge said:

TheJimi said:

I really, really wanted to like Wolf Hall. I got into it, then when I read a full conversation for the first time, it screwed with my my head - kept trying, but I simply couldn't get on with how she writes conversations.

Horrible, imo, and very off-putting.

I understand what you are saying. They do sometimes require a little re-reading. I'm not sure why authors sometimes make dialogue so awkward to read, as it seems so unnecessary.

-having recently read Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, though, the Wolf Hall conversations appear the epitome of clarity.

I was actually really pissed off by it. I was drawn into the book, then suddenly she jumps out and mugs me with that torturous pish!

I really enjoyed it, but now people mention, I do remember having to re-read passages and cursing myself for being a bit thick/inattentive.

On the subject of being drawn in, opened Bob Mortimer’s autobiography And Away, bought for me by my wife, only with the intention of stowing my new crocheted bookworm bookmark, made by my sister in law and accidentally ended up 20 pages in. He tells a wonderful story and it is extremely personal in detail.

She simply cannot write conversations for toffee. If an A level student wrote that ste, they'd get slated - and rightly so.

I love wolf hall, I think it is a work of genius.

I also had to occasionally re read passages of dialogue to work out for myself who said what.

But the idea that the author can’t write conversations is bonkers.

The book is written in the present tense and in third person (‘he’ is always Cromwell). It’s a bit idiosyncratic but it’s a deliberate choice. It keeps it all feeling immediate and energetic. It’s part of how such a sense of threat is generated at tricky points when he’s speaking to the king or other aristocracy.

After that style choice you couldn’t add a bunch of ‘said zebedee’ type narrative into the conversations, it would dampen the effect created by the third person present narrative. When you or I participate in a conversation we don’t narrate who is speaking to ourselves.

Mantel is trying to put us IN Cromwell. That’s why this choice was made. It does make it occasionally tricky but I felt the benefits were worth it.

[grumbledoak]

Depressing and frightening in equal measure. 900 pages with references. Starting in the present with a description of his COVID handling, it then goes back to the beginnings of Fauci, with HIV and AIDS and on through subsequent vaccines and trials, pandemics and simulations of pandemics. I would like to say it ends on a positive note, but that jury is out.

Still, it was a break from Don Quixote.

[OMITN]

For the last couple of years, in an effort to get back reading again (I was hopeless for many, many years) I have kept a note of what I read and when.

Just totted up the books I read in 2021:

Four non-fiction books
One poetry collection
Fourteen novels

I suspect that’s a record since my prep school days. Interestingly a lot of that was achieved before June. Then the summer seemed to kill off reading and I then came back to it at the year end.

Not sure if I’ll hit the same number this year - but that’s set a bit of a target..!

[Mallard126]

I've just finished this which is the second in a series written by my friend, Will Templeton:



It refers back to the first book (Births Marriages and Death) but it's not essential to read both. Births, Marriages and Death is a bit of a slow burn but comes good as you read on whereas Tie the Knot has a good pace from the start with a few nice twists in the plot. I'd certianly recommned it and be interested to hear reviews if anyone wants to give it a go.

[r1ch]

I'm currently reading "Carrying the fire" - Michael Collins.

Enjoyable read about his life story and of course Apollo 11.

[spikeyhead]

The Rifleman by Victor Gregg

Fascinating account of a bloke that fought through WW2 in the Royal Green Jackets, aka the Rifle Brigade, then spent time with the long range desert group and Popskis private army before ending up joining the Paras. Went on to have a fascinating life, doing all sorts of jobs, some of which also meant he was working for MI5 and MI6 as a side project.

[spikeyhead]

Laurel Green said:

This programme certainly does wonders for one's self esteem.

Does it do anything to help you post on the right thread?

[Laurel Green]

I was wondering where that post had gone.