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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!
Noooooooooooooo. Its awful. So awful you have to carry on reading it as you can't believe how awful it really is. Then read the rest of the series...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.