Over the upcoming holidays I’ll be sitting somewhere around here with nothing much to do other than drink San Miguel and read. Can’t wait.

Any recommendations for some books to stick on the Kindle?

For an idea of my taste, I’ve recently really enjoyed ‘A Little Life’ and ‘Grief is the Thing With Feathers’. Before those it was ‘In The Heart of the Sea’ after a recommendation off ‘ere, but I wasn’t blown away by it.

I’m currently reading a Murukami (‘Colourless…’ ) but I’m not as impressed with it as some others of his

Whatcha got?

Have you read any books by Sebastian Faulks? If not Birsdong is a good place to start.

Another good read is “the miracle life of Edgar Mint”. Brilliantly written.

the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is the best book I’ve read in the last few years, in any genre, and would be a good holiday read.

I wouldn’t be that keen on a holiday in Reading myself.

APF

If you fancy something a bit odd, the watchmaker of filigree street is ace… I read it on holiday and just ended up pretty much lost in it. It’s just a pleasure to read basically.

Look up Justin Kronin’s trilogy, starting with The Passage.
Simply brilliant. I don’t read a lot of fiction but that really caught my imagination.

Look up Justin Kronin‘s trilogy, starting with The Passage.

Cronin

I’d agree, mostly. The first and third books are superb. The second is a little dull, though.

Is Birdsong the one made in to a TV show with lots of Eddie Redmayne staring in to the middle distance? I think I’ll give that a miss.

Edgar Mint looks right up my street though, nice one

Watchmaker looks good too, cheers

The Passage.. hmm, fantasy trilogy… are we talking Lord of the Rings or Twilight?

APF – I’m going to somewhere called Bantayan Island – thankfully it’s about as far from Reading as you can get!

The Passage.. hmm, fantasy trilogy… are we talking Lord of the Rings or Twilight?

It’s apocalyptic horror, of the vampire variety, but the vamps are certainly not the Twilight-type: They’re nasty, hulking things who tend to rip their prey apart, rather than bite necks.

Sold!

John – Goldfinch sounds much like ‘A Little Life’. On the list

A Little Life’

hmmm. might give it a go. Has New York which is always a plus, but doesn’t sound as though it has as many Russian gangsters…

Also, have you read David Mitchell’s stuff? This one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mitchell_(author)

It’s all good.

Oh! No, no Russian gangsters. Maybe a bit different then. I was going on this from Goodreads:

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch combines vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher’s calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

New York, orphan boy, money, torment, making it as an adult, art, mystery, love, survival, fate… all in there. Although it’s certainly not a gangster story

Goldfinch is a good read, which I’m pleased I finished, but it could have done with a decent editor. Its supposed to be one of the most started books around.

I thought, An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears was pretty good although you might have to ignore the last few chapters which make sure you realise how clever he’d been

Yup there was a TV mini series of Birdsong but it was horrendous and boring! The book is definitely worth reading.

New York, orphan boy, money, torment, making it as an adult, art, mystery, love, survival, fate… all in there. Although it’s certainly not a gangster story

…it’s all that. It’s a thick book (satisfyingly so) and there’s only one gun fight.

Another call for “The Passage”. “The Twelve” was OK and I’ve not got round to “City of Mirrors” yet although it’s on the shelf waiting.

Good holiday reading would be “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman, “King Rat” by China Mieville and I’ve just finished “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness. I would strongly recommend it, a fantastic book that left me very emotional.

Power of the Dog and Cartel by Don Winslow are good. Centred on Mexican Cartels and bringing them down.

James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books are good holiday reads.

Cheers all

@ coyote

City of Mirrors is a vast improvement over The Twelve. I’m about 100 pages from the end and enjoying it.

If you fancy a different style, then give Good Omens by Neil Gaiman a read.
It’s just about my favourite book. Also read all the Brentford Trilogy by Robert Rankin. Cracking read and very funny.

I’m reading* All The Light That We Cannot See, which is a WWII story told from the alternate perspectives of a blind French girl and a German child soldier. It’s excellent.

* downloaded onto kindle for holiday, read 2/3s of it whilst I was away, won’t have time to pick it up again until next holiday, by which time I’ll have forgotten what happened