Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
I've recently completed two more books. The first was "Stolen" by Paul Finch. An elderly man goes missing, then shortly afterwards a young woman goes out jogging and never comes back, and while DC Lucy Clayburn is investigating she discovers that several homeless people have also disappeared and is convinced that there's a link between the cases. A decent book, I've enjoyed the books that this author wrote about another detective "Heck", and it looks like this will be a separate series.
After that I read "The Store" by James Patterson and Robert DiLallo. An author has his book rejected, so has to find work and gets a job with The Store, a large retailer that started out selling discounted books and expanded to sell virtually everything. He moves his family to a town near the fulfilment centre he's working at, and starts to discover surveillance, all sorts of strange behaviour and that laws are being changed to make it easier for The Store to beat competitors and decides to write a tell-all book about it, while working there. A pretty good book, I often enjoy his stuff though it does depend on the co-writer to an extent.
After that I read "The Store" by James Patterson and Robert DiLallo. An author has his book rejected, so has to find work and gets a job with The Store, a large retailer that started out selling discounted books and expanded to sell virtually everything. He moves his family to a town near the fulfilment centre he's working at, and starts to discover surveillance, all sorts of strange behaviour and that laws are being changed to make it easier for The Store to beat competitors and decides to write a tell-all book about it, while working there. A pretty good book, I often enjoy his stuff though it does depend on the co-writer to an extent.
lornemalvo said:
CivicDuties said:
lornemalvo said:
Every so often you come across an absolute gem of a book. I just discovered " Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets" by David Simon ( who created The Wire and Homicide - Life on the Streets). Described by Norman Mailer as the best book about homicide detectives by an American writer, it's certainly the best I've read. It's incredibly articulate and intelligently written. It reads like a cross between a thriller and a documentary. It includes cases in which a single piece of inspiration or clue solved a case. It describes what it must be like to be a homicide detective and the way different detectives have different approaches within set procedures and what they must think about at crime scenes. It could probably serve as a training manual for new detectives. It references real cases. It also gives a sharp insight into life in Baltimore and how policing changed over the years. I've never felt more compelled to recommend a book because it's truly brilliant.
User name checks out.Unless, somehow, you came upon that user name without having ever heard of the character Lorne Malvo, which would be quite the thing.
CivicDuties said:
lornemalvo said:
CivicDuties said:
lornemalvo said:
Every so often you come across an absolute gem of a book. I just discovered " Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets" by David Simon ( who created The Wire and Homicide - Life on the Streets). Described by Norman Mailer as the best book about homicide detectives by an American writer, it's certainly the best I've read. It's incredibly articulate and intelligently written. It reads like a cross between a thriller and a documentary. It includes cases in which a single piece of inspiration or clue solved a case. It describes what it must be like to be a homicide detective and the way different detectives have different approaches within set procedures and what they must think about at crime scenes. It could probably serve as a training manual for new detectives. It references real cases. It also gives a sharp insight into life in Baltimore and how policing changed over the years. I've never felt more compelled to recommend a book because it's truly brilliant.
User name checks out.Unless, somehow, you came upon that user name without having ever heard of the character Lorne Malvo, which would be quite the thing.
coppice said:
It is a book that I found near unreadable , but I gloss over the fact that I gave up on it when talking about it. See also James Joyce's Ulysses .
I persevered through Ulysses on audiobook. It took months. It did help a little to read about the book while listening to it so I could appreciate that each chapter was supposed to be in a different writing style.
FWIW the last chapter was the best as it was from the perspective of his wife., plus I was also so glad to have made it to the end.
Enjoyed The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, not sure it merits some of the hype but a solid sci-fi tale and a story I'll be reading more of anyway.
Had a few days in Lisbon and a friend recommended this, The Book of Disquiet' by Fernando Pessoa - it's fragments of a lifetime of writing stitched together then re-edited [some better than others apparently] to form a whole. 'Fragmentary' could also be used to describe Pessoa himself as he wrote under guise of about 72 different and disparate characters throughout his life [see rear cover]. Great to dip in and out of, and although quite morose and pessimistic in nature, the skill of the writing is a joy and the concepts/ideas are thought provoking.
Finally, just starting The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsche , 'A provocative, imaginative exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge' - NYT, let's see.
Had a few days in Lisbon and a friend recommended this, The Book of Disquiet' by Fernando Pessoa - it's fragments of a lifetime of writing stitched together then re-edited [some better than others apparently] to form a whole. 'Fragmentary' could also be used to describe Pessoa himself as he wrote under guise of about 72 different and disparate characters throughout his life [see rear cover]. Great to dip in and out of, and although quite morose and pessimistic in nature, the skill of the writing is a joy and the concepts/ideas are thought provoking.
Finally, just starting The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsche , 'A provocative, imaginative exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge' - NYT, let's see.
Just finished 1984
Didn’t know what to expect other than I wanted to read it as it’s mentioned in all the great books lists, and recently read Animal Farm by the same author.
My word, what a grim read. It paints a dark and depressing future which just gets darker and more depressing as you go through.
But at the same time it is so well written, so different, so compelling to know what happens next it was a real page turner. Certainly something I’ll not read again, but I’m glad to have read it. Lots of food for thought in there.
Also recently finished Will Smith’s Autobiography
I've had this book on the shelf since it first came out. Was really looking forward to reading it, then the Oscar thing happened and I lost all interest in him. Finally decided to read it to tick the box.
It was ‘okay’. The beginning drags on a bit, the middle is really entertaining and interesting and the end is, well, it just sort of ended. Felt like he was crescendoing to a big point, telling us of all the massive successes over and over, that it was leading to a big moment of change and realisation, but no. It was just Will telling us how awesome he is. And then it sort of ended with a very brief section on spiritualism.
Next up for me is Prince Harry’s autobio for bedtime reading and I’ll grab another, as yet un-chosen, fiction book from the book shelf for my commute tomorrow.
Didn’t know what to expect other than I wanted to read it as it’s mentioned in all the great books lists, and recently read Animal Farm by the same author.
My word, what a grim read. It paints a dark and depressing future which just gets darker and more depressing as you go through.
But at the same time it is so well written, so different, so compelling to know what happens next it was a real page turner. Certainly something I’ll not read again, but I’m glad to have read it. Lots of food for thought in there.
Also recently finished Will Smith’s Autobiography
I've had this book on the shelf since it first came out. Was really looking forward to reading it, then the Oscar thing happened and I lost all interest in him. Finally decided to read it to tick the box.
It was ‘okay’. The beginning drags on a bit, the middle is really entertaining and interesting and the end is, well, it just sort of ended. Felt like he was crescendoing to a big point, telling us of all the massive successes over and over, that it was leading to a big moment of change and realisation, but no. It was just Will telling us how awesome he is. And then it sort of ended with a very brief section on spiritualism.
Next up for me is Prince Harry’s autobio for bedtime reading and I’ll grab another, as yet un-chosen, fiction book from the book shelf for my commute tomorrow.
After finishing Guts and Gunships (crap name, decent biography from a Vietnam Huey pilot) the other day, I noticed Chickenhawk was on Kindle's 99p deal, so I'm now rereading that and kindle keeps advertising me more Vietnam helicopter books, I had no idea there were so many 
Garrison went out mid way through the war, starting as a slick (transport) pilot then converting to gunships. Mason went out with 1st Air Cav when they first started air mobile operations
Garrison went out mid way through the war, starting as a slick (transport) pilot then converting to gunships. Mason went out with 1st Air Cav when they first started air mobile operations
slopes said:
Went through Exodus Blue by Elliot Kincaid and had high hopes but it was difficult to follow until almost the end, then started the follow up which was just as bad to follow so gave up.
No trying to work my way through the first book of The Expanse series, Leviathan Wakes.
Easy to follow the plot but it seems to get going, then slows down, then gets going again, then slows down again. Never watched the tv series so no preconceptions.
Holy moly that was one l-o-o-o-n-g book to read and set the whole series up nicely i thinkNo trying to work my way through the first book of The Expanse series, Leviathan Wakes.
Easy to follow the plot but it seems to get going, then slows down, then gets going again, then slows down again. Never watched the tv series so no preconceptions.
RizzoTheRat said:
After finishing Guts and Gunships (crap name, decent biography from a Vietnam Huey pilot) the other day, I noticed Chickenhawk was on Kindle's 99p deal, so I'm now rereading that and kindle keeps advertising me more Vietnam helicopter books, I had no idea there were so many
Garrison went out mid way through the war, starting as a slick (transport) pilot then converting to gunships. Mason went out with 1st Air Cav when they first started air mobile operations
just by chance im listening to the audiobook of chickenhawk just now and enjoying it, I think i slightly preferred To The Limit though at least if you enjoy a bit more of aviation focus over mission stories etc.Garrison went out mid way through the war, starting as a slick (transport) pilot then converting to gunships. Mason went out with 1st Air Cav when they first started air mobile operations
regardless im going to watch hamburger hill after i finish any vietnam book
I've just finished "Shadow of Power" by Steve Martini. A sensationalist author is promoting his book when he is murdered, and the police charge a suspect, a hotel porter, with a hate crime. But his lawyer isn't convinced he did it despite the evidence, and sets out to show that a third party killed him for a historical letter that he's discovered. A good story, I've an idea I've read something else by this author.
Slowboathome said:
'Following On' by Emma John
Memoir of a cricket journalist who as a teenager was obsessed with the 1990s England cricket team. As a journalist she interviews several of the team about their memories of that time. So far I've read the chapters on Stewart, Thorpe and Tufnell.
Enjoying it a lot and would recommend if you were into cricket in the 90s.
2nd'd, finished today.Memoir of a cricket journalist who as a teenager was obsessed with the 1990s England cricket team. As a journalist she interviews several of the team about their memories of that time. So far I've read the chapters on Stewart, Thorpe and Tufnell.
Enjoying it a lot and would recommend if you were into cricket in the 90s.
Easy, entertaining reading. Good insights into Emma's growth and personal responses from those England players interviewed.
RizzoTheRat said:
Appropriate username 
Yeah, I read it years ago too. No idea where my paperback copy ended up for for the sake of 99p I figured it was worth another read.
19 minutes to live gets some good reviews too.
If you like Chickenhawk, you'll love Low Level Hell.Yeah, I read it years ago too. No idea where my paperback copy ended up for for the sake of 99p I figured it was worth another read.
19 minutes to live gets some good reviews too.
andy_s said:
Enjoyed The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, not sure it merits some of the hype but a solid sci-fi tale and a story I'll be reading more of anyway.
Had a few days in Lisbon and a friend recommended this, The Book of Disquiet' by Fernando Pessoa - it's fragments of a lifetime of writing stitched together then re-edited [some better than others apparently] to form a whole. 'Fragmentary' could also be used to describe Pessoa himself as he wrote under guise of about 72 different and disparate characters throughout his life [see rear cover]. Great to dip in and out of, and although quite morose and pessimistic in nature, the skill of the writing is a joy and the concepts/ideas are thought provoking.
Finally, just starting The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsche , 'A provocative, imaginative exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge' - NYT, let's see.
supposedly netflix just made tv series of three body problem i really enjoyed the books but feel would be hard to make into seriesHad a few days in Lisbon and a friend recommended this, The Book of Disquiet' by Fernando Pessoa - it's fragments of a lifetime of writing stitched together then re-edited [some better than others apparently] to form a whole. 'Fragmentary' could also be used to describe Pessoa himself as he wrote under guise of about 72 different and disparate characters throughout his life [see rear cover]. Great to dip in and out of, and although quite morose and pessimistic in nature, the skill of the writing is a joy and the concepts/ideas are thought provoking.
Finally, just starting The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsche , 'A provocative, imaginative exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge' - NYT, let's see.
just finished empire of the damed sequel to empire of the vampire vgood
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