[Closed] What are we reading at the moment?

Charley Boorman and ewan mcgregor long way round 2nd book ive ever read after long way down

Why men don't listen and women can't read maps. Making me chuckle...

I have not read a book for years 😳

I know it is bad really, but with 3 young children, cycling and gardening as my main hobbies I just do not get the time.

Seriously? I've got at least a 2 book a week habit.

Singletrack forum. Dur. (-:

Current book is the novel version of The Princess Bride. Early days yet but the style is ... interesting.

So I'm guessing the STW book club isn't going to be giving Richard & Judy or Oprah any sleepless nights...

just read Vulcan 607 by Rowland White an insight into the bombing of the Port Stanley runway by a Vulcan bomber during the Falklands war.The longest bomb run ever 8000 miles and many refuellings during 16 hours of flight.It helped screw the Argies and won a DFC and an AFC for two crew members

SprocketJockey - Member
Seriously? I've got at least a 2 book a week habit.

Yes, it is very true mate.

I used to read a lot, but marriage and children really ended my habit. However, maybe in 15 years time when my youngest leaves the nest I can start to get back into it again 🙂

the rational optimist by matt ridley.
false dawn by john gray - again.
one an optimist and a bit of a ****, the other a pessimist yet still a bit of a ****.

Just finished A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver. Fascinating and brilliantly written. The first book on history I have really enjoyed

STW FORUM 🙂

Genesis unveiled - Ian Lawton

This thread could turn into that joke

Would you like a book for Christmas?
No thanks I already have one!

[i]Stories of the Wasteland[/i] - a collection of short, post-apocalyptic stories. Very, very good indeed, mostly.

Toilet / waiting for computer to compute / kettle to boil fodder is [i]The Magic Toyshop[/i] by Angela Carter. Also excellent in a very different way.

A Madness of Angels - Kate Griffin on a recommendation from here. Not bad so far.

just finished the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (Girl with a dragon tattoo) excellent and suspenseful

The Epistemics of Ayahuasca Visions, Benny Shanon, Journal of Phenomenological Cognitive Science, Vol 9, Issue 2, 2010.

got Mr Nice downstairs on the shelves, alongside The Diving Bell And The Butterfly both waiting to be read.

Just starting "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey

Hoping to have these done in the next few weeks then moving onto Cider House Rules and Catcher In The Rye (yep, Ill read pretty much anything 😆 )

Fernando Torres' autobiography (to my 9 year old son)
Dinkin Dings And The Frightening Things (to my 7 year old daughter, which is awesome !)

Girl with the dragon tattoo - Typical bestseller stuff, dull pulp (except for the part where the young girl buggers the bloke). I'm really struggling with it. I've started so I'll finish but it's really not that good at all.

Day of the locust. Now this is quite good, written before the second world war and has a claim to fame of being the book where the name 'Homer Simpson' was invented.

Re-reading clockwork Orange as a bog book. It's ok, but not brilliant. I should imagine the controversy around it back then is what made it popular.

Certified Information Systems Security Professional from Sybex - Very dull, very big but I have to renew my certification. Really looking forward to the 200 multi-choice questions. 🙁

Certified Information Systems Security Professional from Sybex

Are you a Terminator Samuri ? 😀

I'm a several books a week man - and repeated readings of the same book otherwise the habit gets expensive. Science fiction mainly these days. Matter by Iain M Banks at the moment.

I need more bookshelves. I may have to move house to one with more vertical walls( attic flat with combed ceilings ATM ) I have no room for more bookshelves

Does having 1000+ Science fiction novels on shelves in alphabetical order qualify one as a geek?

Edward Abbey - Desert Solitaire

http://www.ecobooks.com/books/solitair.htm

Just brilliantly written

TandemJeremy - Member

Does having 1000+ Science fiction novels on shelves in alphabetical order qualify one as a geek?

Yes. And that's from someone who has a whole bookshelf dedicated solely to post-apocalyptic novels.

Persian Fire by Tom Holland, which is a pop-history account of the rise of the Persian empire and the invasion of greece. The first world war, basically. Very good, bit wobbly in places but still fascinating.

Tandemjeremy's tale sounds a lot like mine. My name is Northwind, and I am a bookaholic.

Race car suspension design.

I've usually got several on the go. Bill Bryson's latest one, just finished [i]The Dream Thief[/i], by Catherine Webb, the actual name of Kate Griffin, writer of [i]A Madness Of Angels[/i] and [i]The Midnight Mayor[/i], which I'm very evangelical about; just love Kate/Catherine's work. Also finished a short ebook called [i]Firemaggot[/i], by Barbara Hambly, a fantasy writer who I got into back in the '90's, and yesterday I bought a hardback of Alfred Bester's brilliant [i]Tiger! Tiger![/i], also known as [i]The Stars My Destination[/i], an incredibly influential book for writers like William Gibson, around twenty years ahead of it's time. I also bought Neil Stephenson's [i]Anathem[/i], [i]Ghosts Of Manhattan[/i], by George Mann, a sort of Steampunk/Dieselpunk story set in 1926 in an America in the middle of a cold war with a British Empire that has only just buried Queen Victoria, artificially aged 107, and [i]Nothing To Envy[/i], by Barbary Demick, about North Korea, based on the actual lives of six individuals who were living there during the famine of the 90's when millions died. Should keep me ticking over for a while. Plus I've found a way to convert books in .PDF format on the Internet to ePub that I can easily read in Stanza on my iPhone, so I can look forward to expanding my phone's library quite considerably, even more than it already is.

Just finished [i]Ten Points[/i] by Bill Strickland. A harrowing tale of criterium racing and child abuse. Brilliant.

Now onto [i]Between a Rock and a Hard Place[/i] by Aron Ralston - the mountaineer who got his arm stuck under a boulder in a canyon and had to cut it off with a multitool to escape. Good so far.

And Diego Maradona's autobiography - never liked him but the book is good and gives me a lot more respect for him (although he was still a cheating ****).

Oh and I almost forgot the audiobooks. Sad and middle class I know. Right now it's [i]Under the Dome[/i] by Stephen King and [i]The Modern Scholar - Reconciling Christianity and Islaam[/i].

The King book is just a massive revenge tale which I suspect will end in a similar fashion to [i]The Stand[/i] by the same author; you spend the whole book thinking, "They'll get their just deaths" and then everyone dies 🙁

The religious audiobook is just confusing. I'm hoping it gets better on tomorrow's dog walk.

The whole concept of getting your arm stuck under a rock, setting up a pulley system to get it off and eventually drinking ones' own piss and cutting off a limb left me cold. Why didn't he tell anyone where he was going? Rule No 1 surely?!

[i]Edward Abbey - Desert Solitaire[/i]

Fantastic book.

On a similar tip, I am halfway thru [i]A Sand County Almanac[/i] by Aldo Leopold.

I have a couple on the go..
Louis de Bernieres - Birds Without Wings.. gripping yarn set in the time of the fall of the Ottoman Empire.. Read this for some history with a healthy bucketful of humour featuring some heartwarming heroes tempered by gritty realities.. A very underrated author.. the well known Captain Corellis Mandolin is the least of his works IMHO

Also reading 'the Gnole' Cute 80s fantasy where an anthropomorphic and shamanic molelike ecowarrior with a Westcountry accent fights evil from the Appalachians..

My reading habit has slowed considerably since I became a father last year..

Birds Without Wings is great. Try some of LdB's South American novels too. Weird, very violent in places but brilliant.

Currently reading Underworld by Don Delillo.
Recently finished re-reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson (probably my favourite author atm).
Also flicking through various scottish climbing porn books (just got Scottish Rock vol 2 north. oh porn you say).
I've read the Steig Larson books and although they keep you gripped and encourage reading chunks at a time the standard of the actual writing is pretty poor. Maybe something lost in translation?
Oh and TJ, 1000+ books in [i]alphabetical[/i] order... OCD or what?

The Power of One- Bryce Courtenay.

I've juts finished "The Girl with the dragon tattoo" and found it very good indeed. Last chapter was shite though.

I only got it because everyone else seemed to be reading it....

other 2 are waiting to be opened now as well.

Just finished In Pursuit of Glory - Brad Wiggins autobio. Interesting read but quite alot about just how big a downer he has about his dad.
Read Vulcan 607 before that. As Edric 64 above it's very good indeed.

Currently got a few on the go "Flicker" by Theodore Roszak - a strange book about cinema with an occult back story, "Hegemony or survival" by Noam Chomsky - a history of US foreign policy since 1945, "Eleven minutes late" by Matthew Engel - a potted history of the UK rail network and a few other on the loo books.
I am always astounded by people who say that they've never read a book.

A book about Jasper Johns and his use of the colour grey..
I often go for many months without reading a book (non-uni), which is a shame. Last novel I read was The Count of Monte Cristo, - soap-opera vengeance cloaked in Parisian riches - truly awesome 🙂

Girl with the Dragon tattoo - because it came highly recommended by people at work who read a lot more than me, I'd disagree with it being dull pulp, Dan Brown churns that shit out.

About to embark on the new Dexter book, because they are far darker than the TV show.

Then I have the next 2 Millenium books by Larssen, the Zombie survival guide, books 3 and 4 in the Gaiman 'Sandman' series (ok graphic novels not books). Then I might need to foind something new to read.

Might have a look at Anathem. I really liked Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, although I struggled with some of the others

Oh, I forgot [i]The Fuller Memorandum[/i], by Charles Stross, the latest in his ‘Laundry’ series, about a computer IT guy working for a secret Government organisation fighting occult incursions, H P Lovecraft meets James Bond. Love Stross's work, brilliant SF writer. Got that for my birthday, along with another hardback of Arthur C Clark's [i]The Lion Of Comarre/The City And The Stars[/i], to replace my very tatty decades old paperback.

Peacemakers by Margaret Macmillan. An very readable history of the Versailles peace conference and the unintended screw-up that came out of the Great Powers' pretensions of greatness. Good custard pie fight on page 151.

Oh, hey, Countzero... What would you recommend from Stross, I got Singularity Sky on recommendation (from Ken Macleod, damn these incestuous scifi writers, BUY MY MATE'S BOOK, and I've only read him because of Iain Banks telling me BUY MY MATE'S BOOK)... wasn't too impressed but I'd like to give him another try.

Just finished Michael Faber's "Crimson White and the Petal" very good but frustrating end (only personally)! About to start Jodi Picoult "The Tenth Circle" for a bit of easy reading. I read lots but use the library as if it's rubbish you don't feel obliged to read it as you've paid £7 for it! you can reserve books for a mere 85p too! it's awesome!!

Got two on the go just now, "The Third Policeman" by Flann O'Brien which is frankly just too surreal to be really enjoyable and "Dr Zhivago" which takes a bit of persistence to get to grips with. I find Russian novels quite taxing due to every character having multiple names.

Recently finished "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which I was a bit underwhelmed by (sorry!) - the ending was a bit too predictable.

Also "Troubles" by J.G. Farrell. Good read with some excellent characters but not as good as "The Seige of Krishnapur" by the same author.

+1 for OP's recommendation of "The Wild Places" - beautiful book.

And finally, for now, +1 for the South American novels of Louis de Bernieres. Brilliant, dark and hilarious.

Some of the lord of the rings background books. If your into those type of books they are really interesting. The good thing about them is that Tolkein didn't just create a story but a whole history and language and way of life. In the background books he goes to explain how all the different events that occur during the main trilogy and the hobbit come about and what significant events lead up to them by careful planning or purely by chance.

(I sound really nerdy now don't I) 🙄

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for S.A.S and Para books that focus on the training and selection side but not story's about how some guy escaped from Iraq or whatever?

Every character having multiple names

Every single place or persons name in lord of the rings has about 5 different names

Im about halfway through Fallen Angel - The passion of Fausto Coppi

I read the Fausto Coppi book and thought that it was really boring!

I've got The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin and The Road on the go just now.

I liked the 3rd Policeman.

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (he of Talking Heads fame) not bad,it's a bit random. I quite like his comments on society etc, but the and then we met so and so and so and so, is getting a bit tiresome.

Trip to the book shop at lunch time tomorrow is on the cards.

Haven't read a book in quite a while but recently picked up "the clan of the cave bear" which is pretty dam good. Havent been able to put it down today!

but recently picked up "the clan of the cave bear" which is pretty dam good

Have to admit its my 'literary' Guilty Secret!

But they are truly awful!

"The Making of Modern Britain" by Andrew Marr -Fascinating and easy to read (his "A History of Modern Britain" is also superb).
"Tschiffely's Ride" -An excellent account of a horse ride from Buenos Aires to Washington DC in the 1920s.
"Mind Driving" -Having previously done IAM, I've not really learnt much so far.

Got a couple on the go:

The Case for Working with Your Hands by Matthew Crawford - kind of addresses the imbalance in how white collar workers are regarded vs mechanics and plumbers. Rewarding, if not revelatory.

The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer - the best book about photography I've read. (nb. I've only read one, unless you count Magnum Magnum but that's mostly looking at pictures.)

Best book I've read in the last six months: The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes - simply stunning piece of research and writing about Australia's penal colonies.

Just finished The Lost Symbol (crap) and before that Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, about the 1996 Everest disaster.

I've started Mountains of the Mind as mentioned by the OP, picked it up from Oxfam a couple of weeks ago. It seems interesting enough so far.

Just finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Just about to go Through the Looking Glass.

I'm reading "The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5" by Christopher Andrew. It's been fascinating up 'til now (1st and 2nd wars and the period in between) but I'll be getting into the post-war Soviet era shortly and I'm sincerely hoping it doesn't get too dry.

"Our Man in Havana" by Graham Greene, and next on the pile are the 2nd Steig Larsson book (thought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was superb) and "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.

Oh, I forgot The Fuller Memorandum, by Charles Stross, the latest in his ‘Laundry’ series, about a computer IT guy working for a secret Government organisation fighting occult incursion

Ace, STW forum user made heroic literary flesh... You couldn't have made it up, or then again, someone obviously has. I have about five books on the go at the moment following a covert raid on the Oxfam book shop - massively cheap, surprisingly good. In no particular order, the Cloudspotters Guide, Cloud Atlas, West - Jim Perrin's new book about loss - The Book of Dave by Will Self, which is all but unreadable and for nostalgia's sake, Ted Simon's decades later thing, Dreaming of Jupiter. There also seems to be a copy of Living Wild by Bear Grylls lying on the floor, which is probably the best place for it. I've tried to read All The Pretty Horses about 20 times now, just can't get into it at all.