Books - What are you reading?

[mat205125]

Been hunting for a copy for a long time, and finally found a good condition (not mint, but intact and presentable) copy on eBay before Xmas.

I won't say that I'm engrossed in it like a novel, however I have started to dip into bits here and there. Genuinely fascinating stuff, if you're into this kind of thing.

[BertieWooster]

PushedDover said:

Bought that ^^^ for my Dad after seeing a write up on GCaptain. ----> Dead In The Water – The Best Maritime Book Of The Year

he's enjoying it too.

That's where I first saw about it as well. It's definitely a book I'll read again at some point.

[grumbledoak]

Klara is an Artificial Friend, purchased ostensibly as company for an unwell teenage girl. But all is not quite as it seems, and Klara develops ideas of her own. It's very good. Observations of humanity from the point of view of an innocent but clever artificial mind.

[CardinalBlue]

Having read the excellent ‘Prisoners of Geography’ and ‘The Power of Geography’ - by Tim Marshall, both of which are well worth a read and in my top five reads for 2022, I’m continuing along the non-fiction theme and currently reading ‘Savage Continent’ by Keith Lowe.



The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across Europe. Prisoners murdered jailers. Soldiers visited atrocities on civilians. Resistance fighters killed and pilloried collaborators. Ethnic cleansing, civil war, rape and murder were rife in the days, months and years after hostilities ended. Exploring a Europe consumed by vengeance, Savage Continent is a shocking portrait of an until-now unacknowledged time of lawlessness and terror.

[Nimby]

I'm enjoying the DS Cross series by Tim Sullivan. Set in Bristol, the twist here is that Detective Sergeant Cross has Asperger Syndrome.

[Levin]

CardinalBlue said:

Having read the excellent ‘Prisoners of Geography’ and ‘The Power of Geography’ - by Tim Marshall, both of which are well worth a read and in my top five reads for 2022, I’m continuing along the non-fiction theme and currently reading ‘Savage Continent’ by Keith Lowe.

This sounds of interest to me as well. I'll keep an eye out for a copy. You may also like Florian Huber's Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself, which studies the wave of civilian suicides which took place in Germany in 1945.

[droopsnoot]

I've just read "The Razor Gate" by Sean Cregan. In a dystopian America, random people are being given "The Curse" which condemns them to die exactly twelve months from the time they are notified. We're with a policeman who is desperately trying to track down the people behind the curse so that he can get a cure for his girlfriend who is in her last month. There's also a journalist trying to publicise the curse while the authorities are trying to keep it secret, and a criminal who wants it for his own purposes. A decent enough read, though I'm not a big fan of dark stuff like this usually.

[Prolex-UK]

Used to live in Hong Kong so this is of interest.

Lived in Repulse Bay. Next to the Repulse Bay hotel.

The hotels garage was said to have been a first aid post.

The japanese were said to have bayibeted the prisoners who could not move and thrown walkung wounded of a nearby cliff.

Wonder if that will be mentioned.

On the hills behind our flat you could find spent cartridges from Japanese rifles....

[miniman]

I may be late to the party on this one. Good read, weird and dystopian in a very gentle and understated way.

[RoadToad84]

miniman said:

I may be late to the party on this one. Good read, weird and dystopian in a very gentle and understated way.

The film is a pretty good adaptation too

[Skyedriver]

Skyedriver said:

Just started Eye of the Needle - Ken Follett

First book of his for me, all a bit average.
Wife has read a few KF books including the Towers Trilogy and raves about him but TBH she didn't rate this book either.
Average plot, some glaring mistakes both geographically and typos and the names of the characters - Fred Bloggs? No.

Just started "Toymaker" the autobiography of Tom Karen

[Derek Smith]

Non-fiction:

Posters, by Gill Anderson https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Poster-Visual-History-V...

For anyone interested in graphic display art, this is the book for you. Us in fact. I have a fascinating with visual advertising, particularly its history, so the book is perfect. It's designed as a coffee-table book, and it is great to look at in itself. The illustrations are lovely.

[Derek Smith]

CardinalBlue said:

Having read the excellent ‘Prisoners of Geography’ and ‘The Power of Geography’ - by Tim Marshall, both of which are well worth a read and in my top five reads for 2022, I’m continuing along the non-fiction theme and currently reading ‘Savage Continent’ by Keith Lowe.



The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across Europe. Prisoners murdered jailers. Soldiers visited atrocities on civilians. Resistance fighters killed and pilloried collaborators. Ethnic cleansing, civil war, rape and murder were rife in the days, months and years after hostilities ended. Exploring a Europe consumed by vengeance, Savage Continent is a shocking portrait of an until-now unacknowledged time of lawlessness and terror.

I've read that book. It was, as the reviews say, searing. It's horrific. I was born just after the war, am fascinated by history, but some of the content came as a surprise to me. It is appalling what happened, and it's a subject that should be known about.

I've got another book of his, Inferno. It's about the bombing of Hamburg. It is one of the few non-fiction books that I've read where I had to stop reading for a while a number of times. My father was against the carpet bombing of German towns, after his and my mother's experiences of the Blitz. He felt ashamed, particularly of Dresden. I'm glad he never read this book.

[Prolex-UK]

Derek Smith said:

CardinalBlue said:

Having read the excellent ‘Prisoners of Geography’ and ‘The Power of Geography’ - by Tim Marshall, both of which are well worth a read and in my top five reads for 2022, I’m continuing along the non-fiction theme and currently reading ‘Savage Continent’ by Keith Lowe.



The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across Europe. Prisoners murdered jailers. Soldiers visited atrocities on civilians. Resistance fighters killed and pilloried collaborators. Ethnic cleansing, civil war, rape and murder were rife in the days, months and years after hostilities ended. Exploring a Europe consumed by vengeance, Savage Continent is a shocking portrait of an until-now unacknowledged time of lawlessness and terror.

I've read that book. It was, as the reviews say, searing. It's horrific. I was born just after the war, am fascinated by history, but some of the content came as a surprise to me. It is appalling what happened, and it's a subject that should be known about.

I've got another book of his, Inferno. It's about the bombing of Hamburg. It is one of the few non-fiction books that I've read where I had to stop reading for a while a number of times. My father was against the carpet bombing of German towns, after his and my mother's experiences of the Blitz. He felt ashamed, particularly of Dresden. I'm glad he never read this book.

I too have partially read the book.

Found it a difficult read and have paused it.

Think I will revisit soon

[Tango13]

Mercdriver said:

Secret war by RV Jones, fascinating book, history of radar etc during WW2. had to leave it as my wrists are sore holding the book up, it is a weighty tomb especially if you have been using a kindle for the last ten years! If I place it on my knees I cannot read it with my specs on, doh.

These are also worth a read...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-That-Changed-Wo...


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Target-Hiroshima-Parsons-...

[SistersofPercy]

After falling utterly in love with the character of Jackson Lamb in Apple's Slow Horses I've started to read the Mick Herron books, and what a treat they are.
So so so late to this party but glad I got there in the end!

[Desiderata]

Having recently taken up beekeeping, I was given this for Christmas.


Easy , light reading, and a little bit humourous, I read it this morning in a couple of hours. No great literary masterpiece, but pleasing enough.

[Mallard126]

Many years late to the party I'm working my way through the Discworld series. I started about a month ago and am 20% of the way into book six now. In a way I'm glad I hadn't started till now as I have the pleasure of reading them all for the first time and plenty still to look forward to. They're brilliant and very easy to read in small chunks which is perfect for me as I've got a ten month old so I'm snatching half an hour here and there at the moment.

[havoc]

Mallard126 said:

Many years late to the party I'm working my way through the Discworld series. I started about a month ago and am 20% of the way into book six now. In a way I'm glad I hadn't started till now as I have the pleasure of reading them all for the first time and plenty still to look forward to. They're brilliant and very easy to read in small chunks which is perfect for me as I've got a ten month old so I'm snatching half an hour here and there at the moment.

They get better as the series goes on, too. And they merit re-reads as there are always puns and references you miss first time around.

[ribiero]

Mallard126 said:

Many years late to the party I'm working my way through the Discworld series. I started about a month ago and am 20% of the way into book six now. In a way I'm glad I hadn't started till now as I have the pleasure of reading them all for the first time and plenty still to look forward to. They're brilliant and very easy to read in small chunks which is perfect for me as I've got a ten month old so I'm snatching half an hour here and there at the moment.

you legend!

I did all of em in a year a few years back as a challenge to myself.. so glad I did, there's not a bad discworld novel, the flow in the first couple are a bit difficult but they're genius, just so much in them. Good luck on the rest of your journey