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I've got Bob Mortimer's autobiography lined up next. Just finishing Pat Nevin's. Before that, Thursday Murder Club which I expected to hate but found to be excellent and addictive
I’m about three stories in on Murakami’s – First Person Singular collection. Short stories are a bit strange aren’t they!?!? Its enjoyable so far though.
A well written short story is a thing of beauty, a work of art even. Thomas Hardy was a master at it - there was one very short tale where, without writing much about the characters, he managed to make you feel the hopelessness of their relationship in a few pages. And Ursula Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas should be on everyone's must-read list. I've normally got a book of short stories on the go alongside whatever else I'm reading, just to dip into.
But, to go back to your comment - short stories are a bit strange - anything by Murakami is a bit strange. I've pretty much given up on him after reading many of his books, because I rarely know what the hell happened when I get to the end despite enjoying the journey! 😀
A well written short story is a thing of beauty, a work of art even.
Definitely. A well-curated anthology of fantasy or SF short stories is something I love - a nice antidote to the 1000 page door stoppers or endless series that the genres so often put out.
a nice antidote to the 1000 page door stoppers or endless series that the genres so often put out.
That seems to be a thing with Sci-fi / fantasy!
https://www.bookeditingservices.co.uk/average-word-count-in-a-book.html
That seems to be a thing with Sci-fi / fantasy!
I hate it. The classic SF authors managed to do a good job in 200ish pages, without needing never-ending sequels. I blame Tolkien, myself. Although Frank Herbert may be the culprit 😀
Re-listening to the Breaker series by Edward G Robertson.. end of the world plague
I wasn't aware of the spoiler when I first listened, so was a tad when it turn left sharply, but it on the books 'about' page so not a major spoiler. Maybe just the narrator that makes it, but I like the series
Wood as an industrial arts material by Wayne Murphy.
Pretty much does what is says on the tin cover.
Pretty much does what is says on the
tincover.
Surely "bark"...
Yeah, it can also be **** amazing. Hey! like most things really.
Yeah I know, that's why I tried to qualify it..
it can be really shite at times
Some fiction I like (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, 1984, Catch 22 and Grapes of Wrath stand out to me) but some fiction can feel really contrived at times (that Faulks book I mentioned, likewise a Le Carre book I read last summer). Funnily enough, it was Faulks 'Birdsong' that actually got me reading non-fiction about the wars in the first place.
Just finished reading, With The Jocks by Peter White.
Now that IS a very good read – I have read it a couple of times now.
I am currently reading Hew Strachan 'The First World War' which is a good read and covers the detail of HOW we ended up at war in better detail than I have read before (it's usually 'Franz Ferdinand got shot, war started') but it goes into a bit more detail of how the various powers ended up at war, who wanted what etc.
Yeah, sorry Johndoh. Was a pretty pointless response. Hoped you wouldn't notice 🙂
Just finished Ann Leckies trilogy ancilliary Justice, etc. great stories
I devour novels. Can easly read one in a couple of hours! ( if its something light) It means I need a lot of reading material
Just finished Ann Leckies trilogy ancilliary Justice, etc. great stories
You could have taken mine when you stopped here on your epic ride. I thought the first one was ok but didn't develop, but the second was awful, and I took all three to the charity shop having not struggled through the third. I kept thinking that I was missing something really important about the books, but in reality they are poorly written, with terrible plot structure and no pacing. Let's get the tea service out for a long cuppa just to break up the flow of this post! YMMV, very obviously. 😀
Still on Game of Thrones (Feast for Crows)
Finding this a bit of a slog 🙁 Feels ghost written.
Hopefully Dance with Dragons will be better 🙂
I have just watched The Last Mountain, which I found deeply tragic, worrying and uncomfortable for many reasons. I now need to read Regions of the Heart for balance and some idea of completeness I hope.
Just finishing a period murder mystery novel (also listening to it on Audible). A bit of a slow burn, detailed scene setting novel with a list of references as well - not something most novels have.....
Have bought the next one in the series to read / listen to.
Still on Game of Thrones (Feast for Crows)
Finding this a bit of a slog 🙁 Feels ghost written.Hopefully Dance with Dragons will be better 🙂
Set low expectations so you won't be disappointed redthunder.
I'm a big fan of GRRM on the basic writing level - think he's really good. So while Feast for Crows goes off the rails big picture, I still more or less liked it page by page. But Dance with Dragons is really a low point, it's legit boring. if you read voraciously then it's no big deal, but if you're more selective I'd park it up after FfC. It was great while it lasted.
The Wim Hof method. It was a Christmas gift so thought I'd have a look.
Currently on day 9 of enduring cold showers 😆 Can now manage about 1 minute whilst remaining 'relatively' relaxed! Day 1 was jumping about whilst sounding like a monkey for about 15 seconds!
50 Things About Us - Mark Thomas
Slow Horses - Mick Herron
not usually a book reader but was bought a couple for christmas. finished mortimer and whitehouse go fishing (decent but probably a bit toooo much fishing info in it for the layman) and now on bob mortimers 'the satsuma complex', a novel that hes written.
Chased by Pandas - 'My life in the mysterious world of cycling' by Dan Martin.
Very enjoyable so far.
Almost final book..
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I'm about to start The Remains of the Day. Never seen the film so no idea what to expect
Pies and Prejudice
In search of the North .. Stuart Maconie.
Cheers Binners.
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Reliving the 70s 🙂 After seeing their stuff on Twitter, I thought I'd order the book, its great. Not quite what I expected, lotta words, but really enjoying it.
Just finished East of the Mountains by David Guterson. Read it decades ago, but I could relate more to it now I'm older. If you enjoy Cormac McCarthy/Hemingway etc, it's a good shout (along with Snow Falling on Cedars)
Just read the sci fi "Red rising" series by Pierce Brown. Nothing new but fast paced and I enjoyed it.
Reading "Girl A" now which I'm enjoying.
Still reading the behemoth that is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. At 1,200 pages and managing around 80 pages a week (almost blind point text and some heavy going needing re-reads) it’s going to take me most of the year to complete. It is very, very good though - some historical books can be hard going at times but this is so well written.
Just finished Joe Parkins, A Dog In A Hat, his account of racing as an American in Belgium in the late 80's / early 90's. Not as glam as you'd imagine, a harsh profession. Drugs and race winners decided before the finish line. I found it insightful.
Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances, I'm a big fan of the author, but his latest book is the one I've gelled with least, found it a bit of a grind to get through.
I've just started Stephen Baxter's The thousand Earths and, enjoying it so far.
In Patagonia.
Not long finished Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown
In Patagonia is a superb book @ratherbeintobago
@Johndoh I know how you feel that's about my reading pace these days.I also read poetry which has the tremendous advantage of being shorter than a novel, 😂
@ratherbeintobago Aw nice one,just had a wee flashback there to when I was reading all Chatwin's stuff.
Might have to go and dig out The Songlines. 👍 😃
Honour by Elif Shafik.
She's a great writer, her and William Boyd have been my go to recently.
Just finished Slade House by David Mitchell (not the funny one) Total rubbish but would make a good 'by the pool read' as can be done in a few days
Literally just had a delivery by the dreaded A (Sunday night?????) William Gibson The Sprawl Trilogy plus a book of short stories........time to dive headfirst into the Matrix!
I'm on a bit of a roll over the last few months; just finished Bobby Womack's autobiography which is excellent. Lots I didn't know about particular musical artists, including his close friendship with Ronnie Wood; but ultimately it's quite a sad life story in many ways.
The one before that was Devolution by Max Brooks (author of World War Z). It's nothing like as good as WWZ, and quite unsurprising in its strokes, but still not a bad read.
Next is... I'm not sure, I've got a couple of Robert Jackson Bennett's, The Fifth Season, a Cormac McCarthy and various others to look at
Currently reading The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich.
It's a compendium of first hand accounts by Russian women who fought on the Eastern front in WW2. Huge range of roles: partisan fighters, pilots, nurses, medics, sappers and snipers. Many of them little more than half-starved kids when the war started. Imagine getting your period for the first time (with absolutely no understanding of what's happening to you) in the middle of a forced 20 mile march, in a man's uniform with boots 6 sizes too big. Forget about sanitary products, they didn't even get women's underwear until '43/'44.
It's fantastic and should be read by everyone, but obviously it's almost unbearably sad. I feel like I'm pausing every 5 pages to say "That's the worst thing I've ever read", only to have it topped 5 pages later.
Dostoyevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
It's meant to be about how 3 dysfunctional brothers deal with the murder of their father. But I'm over 400 pages in, and he's not dead yet while the characters are being built. "Unnecessarily verbose" doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm doing lots of skip-reading... The philosophical discourses are genuinely engrossing (and at times hugely funny), but there's so much waffle between those episodes. Despite that, it's still encouraging me to pick it up and continue reading.
Recently,
Flann O'Brien: The Third Policeman
A murder and its consequences; very Irish, very hilarious, very surreal, and by the end it's properly harrowing. Amazing book, possibly in my top 10.
Still dipping into The Republic of Pirates from time to time. Love a bit of pirate action, and this focuses on the roots of piracy from the early 18th century, looking at the likes of Blackbeard, Hornigold, Vane and the chap who set out to hunt them down, Woodes Rogers.
Tried a bit of Relics by Tim Lebdon. A good idea but I didn't care for any of the characters.
On a side note, I've been listening to some podcasts on Lord Nelson and it appears he was not a particularly nice chap. Comes across as someone who does what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants, regardless of the consequences.
Brain Energy by Dr Christopher M. Palmer. I'm probably about halfway through and finding it to be a fascinating read.
J'irai tuer pour vous.
True story about an ex soldier who becomes an assassin for the DGSE (French MI6) and gets sent to kill terrorists in Lebanon in the 80s. Not very well written, but fascinating story....
The art of trampig.
Very good.4 star.
Rereading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. An interesting reread since it's over a decade since I last read it, and also, last time i read it I was in hospital with a broken hip and high as balls on morphone. So, I remember it quite different to how it is! Doubly interesting looking at all the speculative "in the future nobody will go to a bank, we'll all use imaginary internet currency. Also we'll store our information online, in a big internet vault in a cave"
Picked this up on a whim from the library
Ben Short - Burn
Gotta love your local library