Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
“You” Caroline Kepnes
American Psycho via Sex and the City via Choke with a little bit of Patricia Highsmith thrown in.
One for the millennials.
“Mad, bad and dangerous to know”. Ranulph Fiennes
What a dick of a man. Not likely to be a popular view here, I realise
Hemingway’s boat
Good, well written, unsparing of EH but lots of detail about the boat
A better read than I expected.
American Psycho via Sex and the City via Choke with a little bit of Patricia Highsmith thrown in.
One for the millennials.
“Mad, bad and dangerous to know”. Ranulph Fiennes
What a dick of a man. Not likely to be a popular view here, I realise
Hemingway’s boat
Good, well written, unsparing of EH but lots of detail about the boat
A better read than I expected.
First Light,Geoffrey Wellum. An incredibly moving account of a very young Spitfire ace in WW2. From learning on Harvards when fresh out of school in a very competitive environment to cutting his teeth on Spits. Then the frenetic Battle of Britain months and losing most of his mates who he started off with.
Any suggestions for similar WW2 books ?
Any suggestions for similar WW2 books ?
BryanC said:
Hunting Hitler's Nukes
By Damien Lewis
A real page turner telling the story of the SOE attempting to prevent the Nazi scientists getting their hands on the heavy water needed to process uranium to make a bomb.
An appreciation of the agents hiding out in the wilderness in Norway is incredible. Reindeer lichen stew for example while the snow prevents you moving from a hunters hut for weeks. Starvation looming and all the while the enemy is searching for secret radio transmissions.
Only the last chapter out of 30 is the Telemark ferry mentioned as this was just the final part of the jigsaw.
Best book I've read this year.
slightly off topic but went on a course by Ray Mears - Hero's of Telemark where we x-skied for and followed the route in the Hardangervidda, taken in ww2, stayed in huts used and then a tour of the factory in Vemork. hard work - took 9 mths to train for it,.By Damien Lewis
A real page turner telling the story of the SOE attempting to prevent the Nazi scientists getting their hands on the heavy water needed to process uranium to make a bomb.
An appreciation of the agents hiding out in the wilderness in Norway is incredible. Reindeer lichen stew for example while the snow prevents you moving from a hunters hut for weeks. Starvation looming and all the while the enemy is searching for secret radio transmissions.
Only the last chapter out of 30 is the Telemark ferry mentioned as this was just the final part of the jigsaw.
Best book I've read this year.
I've just finished this. It's a new novel by Geoff Lindsay. It's about a top thief who is compelled to go for impossible targets. And it annoyed me. Because he writes in short staccato sentences just like I am doing.
Apart from that it is an intricate tale but one would think that there is no way such a plot could succeed in reality. Targeting a wife in a loveless marriage, killing the husband to marry the widow, who just happens to be part of a very wealthy family who own a museum, and what he wants is on show in the museum but guarded by intense security and armed guards.
If I was you I'd give it a miss.
Apart from that it is an intricate tale but one would think that there is no way such a plot could succeed in reality. Targeting a wife in a loveless marriage, killing the husband to marry the widow, who just happens to be part of a very wealthy family who own a museum, and what he wants is on show in the museum but guarded by intense security and armed guards.
If I was you I'd give it a miss.
Between Silk and Cyanide
A code breakers war by Leo Marks
I was slightly daunted by the 600 pages but once started read this in large chunks. A fascinating story about a 22 year old recruited to SOE to develop their secret codes used by agents dropped into Europe. Clearly he had a very brilliant mind.
You share the many disappointments including the frequent realisation that agents had been caught, only detected by a slight variation in their radio transmissions. Sometimes it led to playing a double bluff with the Nazi spymasters, pretending that agents were assumed still working and hoping that they would be kept alive.
Undecipherable messages, sometimes caused by freak airwaves affecting the morse or just misspelt words sometimes took well over 6000 attempts to read or, finding that translation errors by the female decoders were the result of the lack of concentration caused by their 'monthlies'. Eventually recognised by a young naïve Leo Marks. Naturally he was able to establish a numeric frequency ! . Inter-departmental rivalry was common-place.
With my own dental appointment looming, reading how agents were driven to the dentist - to make sure they didn't dodge, to have all their fillings replaced in the 'continental' style, or perhaps have a lethal 'L' pill inserted in a hollowed out tooth.
I think you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
A code breakers war by Leo Marks
I was slightly daunted by the 600 pages but once started read this in large chunks. A fascinating story about a 22 year old recruited to SOE to develop their secret codes used by agents dropped into Europe. Clearly he had a very brilliant mind.
You share the many disappointments including the frequent realisation that agents had been caught, only detected by a slight variation in their radio transmissions. Sometimes it led to playing a double bluff with the Nazi spymasters, pretending that agents were assumed still working and hoping that they would be kept alive.
Undecipherable messages, sometimes caused by freak airwaves affecting the morse or just misspelt words sometimes took well over 6000 attempts to read or, finding that translation errors by the female decoders were the result of the lack of concentration caused by their 'monthlies'. Eventually recognised by a young naïve Leo Marks. Naturally he was able to establish a numeric frequency ! . Inter-departmental rivalry was common-place.
With my own dental appointment looming, reading how agents were driven to the dentist - to make sure they didn't dodge, to have all their fillings replaced in the 'continental' style, or perhaps have a lethal 'L' pill inserted in a hollowed out tooth.
I think you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
droopsnoot said:
I've just finished "The Steel Kiss" by Jeffery Deaver. Another Lincoln Rhyme book, I think I've read it before but I still enjoyed it. Random killer is causing trouble by hacking into IoT devices and causing them to explode / set fire etc.
Reminds me of the blue nowhere After watching the author on a Triggernometry episode, decided it was worth buying the book.
It's a very interesting read. Some of the more complex (science) aspects she considers too simplistically but perhaps unrealistic expectations for a non scientist. The general premise of the book is decent. Do the ends justify the means? Time will tell.
It's a very interesting read. Some of the more complex (science) aspects she considers too simplistically but perhaps unrealistic expectations for a non scientist. The general premise of the book is decent. Do the ends justify the means? Time will tell.
Ayahuasca said:
It’s a children’s book, but one that only adults can really appreciate: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
That brings back memories, the first full foreign language book I read. It took me ages to read even though it's tiny but I got the subtleties eventually. 
About a third through this. I remember hearing the author on a Sean Carroll podcast ( which incidentally are fantastic) while back. Had it sitting on my shelf since the
Really enjoying it so far. Very well written.
Trophy Husband said:
Humankind.
Rutger Bregman.
A fascinating book about the goodness within us all.
Both individually and collectively.
I recommend it to all cynics.
It's there on my 'to read' pile. Rutger Bregman.
A fascinating book about the goodness within us all.
Both individually and collectively.
I recommend it to all cynics.
Have you read any Jonathan Haidt, Matt Ridley or Steven Pinker?
Too many books, not enough time.
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