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Working my way through the Harry Potter books at the moment. About halfway through number 4.
They're all on Amazon Kindle Edition Unlimited, so I signed up for a 3 month trial for 99p. Bargain.
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. It's a trilogy (now of 4 books!) originally written in Chinese and translated into English, covering the whole 'alien life/first contact' scenario but without bending the laws of physics too much with hyperspace or whatnot. Well, they are bent a bit. Actually quite a lot thinking about it. Anyhow I'm half way through the third book and
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
I'm half way through the first book and if it doesn't pick up the pace soon I'll be dropping it.
In other news I picked up "Alanbrooke War Diaries" cheap on Kindle the other day. Riveting stuff so far!
I’m half way through the first book and if it doesn’t pick up the pace soon I’ll be dropping it.
Yeah it does take a while. Assume you're still in the whole weird video game/Red Coast base bit which does plod on. If you're looking for a cliff hanger on every page it's probably not the book for you 😀
Assume you’re still in the whole weird video game
Pretty much. Just when I thought things were moving on he's joined some sort of self help group for game enthusiasts. I was interested to see how the Cultural Revolution stuff was handled but other than that there's been little in it for me. Not my sort of thing I guess.
Holy sh** @redthunder. I got as far as ‘markers must be interpretable for 10,000 years’…!!!!
Very quick read, I mean over a long coffee. But still very moving.
https://www.sidingstudios.com/2022/02/16/the-world-of-anne-frank/
Also, I was watching a PBS war special the other day and the final moments of Berlin.
Had an old russian soldier telling a story (he was jewish) . Came across a woman who asked if her husband could come out of the basement, also jewish. Been in hiding for 5 years, in Berlin. Another story about to be forgotten :(.
Remarkable.
@timbog360
Worth reading, almost impossible subject/problem to solve by us humans at the moment.
Finished Normal People by Sally Rooney. Very good, a proper page turner, dare I say it felt a little bit lightweight after some of the things that I've read recently. Her prose is brilliant though.
I'm trying to motivate myself to read Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie next.....I've been meaning to read it for around 13 years! It seems very hefty.
The Late Richard Dadd: 1817-1886 by P. Alleridge.
Just read ‘Dead Men Don’t Tell tales’ by our favourite truck mechanic.
Just started ‘And Away’ by our favourite falley down rubbish angler.
H.P.Lovecraft ‘The complete fiction’.
Stephen King ‘The wind through the keyhole’.
Well I bottled Midnights Children again! Just finished Life of Pi by Yan Martel (picked up a copy in a charity shop in Fort William last week) Very good and thought provoking piece of writing. Can't say that I overly enjoyed it though. I certainly didn't find it much of a page turner.
Next up is The Song of Achilles, which is the book for book club this month. Not my usual type of book.
Excession by Iain M Banks, The Culture always gives me hope
Next up is The Song of Achilles, which is the book for book club this month. Not my usual type of book.
I hope you like it, I thought it was excellent. Her next book, "Circe" is even better.
Currently working my way through this, it's pretty much one gob-smackingly stupid mistake after another from Slotkin onwards.
Also re-reading Banks's "Surface Detail" for light relief!
Well, The Song of Achilles was very enjoyable, as I said before, something very different to what I'd usually read.
I made a start on Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie..... blimey it is hard! So much so that after a little bit of research I've decided that I need to read it in conjunction with a reading guide. I've still to source one, so that's parked for the short term.
I started on The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobsen instead. Only a short way in, but it's fantastic so far.
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn. Read her other books ages ago and loved em, but only just got around to Gone Girl after stealing it from my niece 🙂 It's pretty good considering "best sellers" aren't usually my type of thing. Not as good as Sharp Objects though.
Currently reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Attwood. Very enjoyable.
Also re-reading Banks’s “Surface Detail” for light relief!
Old man's war lined up next before back to the Culture for Surface Detail. Trying not to rip through Banks too quickly so I've been spacing them out.
Ooh Oryx and Crake is on my to read list. Only read Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments by her, but loved them both.
I finished The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobsen.....awful. 10% really funny and thought provoking 90% drivel/the use of the word 'Jew'. I really didn't like the last book of his that I read either.
I've just started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's a proper page turner so far (60 pages in). I've been wanting to read some of his stuff for ages. His latest book Klara and The Sun, is my next pick for book club in a few months time.
Re-reading my way through Naomi Novik's Temeraire series- basically Sharpe crossed with Aubrey-Maturin plus dragons. Quite daft, and definitely bends its own logic constantly in order to make the story work but a lovely read anyway. I realised I've only got one to go so decided to redo from start.
Just finished the Watchmaker of Filigree Street, again a re-read, one of my favourite books of all time. Not entirely sure that it's good, certainly not consistent, but I don't care, I love it. And I want a clockwork octopus
The War of the Worlds. HG Wells.
Seems apt the moment 🙁
"The Book of Trespass. Crossing the lines that divide us"
Incredibly well researched. As outdoor types it will depress us how the great outdoors and our birthright has been stolen.
“The Book of Trespass. Crossing the lines that divide us”
Gave up half way through. It's important without a doubt, but after a while I felt I was reading the same passage over and over again.
Rememberings by Sinéad O'Connor. Was a 99p Kindle job, is very good.
Next.... picked up at Lidl's NSPCC book bin yesterday.
Ulysses
This also caught my eye 😉
Dont know why ..!?
and
Its got zombies, so its got to be good 😉
Re reading Arthur & George by Julian Barnes. It's hard going at times, not because it's not well written, not because it's not a fascinating story but because what happened was ever allowed to happen. It falls into if it wasn't based on facts you'd never accept it as fiction.
Just finished The Horsemen by Joseph Kessel, extraordinary story set in Afghanistan in the inter-war years and trying to decide between Normandy 44 by James Holland and Iberia written by Julian Sayarer
Next…. picked up at Lidl’s NSPCC book bin yesterday.
Ulysses
Good luck with that....
@surfer
Very good book, quite depressing as well.
Have you gone on to Who Owns England?
Essential reading for us lot, especially for trying to get access back.
If you dont own land, you are nothing.
🙁
Next…. picked up at Lidl’s NSPCC book bin yesterday.
Resident Evil: Zero Hour
Good luck with that...! 😀
Just finished John Gywnne's the Faithful and the Fallen books. Twas a lot of reading and it was fantastic, recommend for David Gemmell and George RR Martin fans and sure enough it delivered, borrows heavily from other books but none the worse for it. I've a pile of books to look at next but I'm tempted to pick up his next series.
First time I've looked in on this thread and there's some good ones I'll put in a list for the future. Just finished Battle Ground which was the last one released in the Dresden Files and I love the series and now its onto book 4 of the dune series God Emperor of Dune. After that I don't know if ill finish the Dune series or hop over to the next two books in the Stormlight archive which are due to get delivered at the end of April.
Started on GoT.... looking good 🙂
PS The drawing in my copy, before the scribbling in books lecture comes 😉
Just finished 'Everything That Rises Must Converge' - Flannery O'Connor. The woman was a genius.
Picked up Patrick McCabe's Mondo Deperado off the shelf next, which annoyingly is also short, humorous stories (I prefer to switch genres in subsequent books.) The contrast in quality is quite noticeable. I've liked McCabe's novels in the past, but he ain't no Flannery 🙂
I’m reading How to Survive the Modern World by the School of Life (Alain De Botton).
It’s pretty good, if a bit White Middle Class in outlook.
Normandy 44 by James Holland
I enjoyed that and Big Week. Currently reading Sicily '43 and it's just as well research and written. Not sure I fully agree with his view of Alexander tho based on other stuff I've read.
Re-reading the harrowing 'The Somme' by Peter Hart.
I re-read Dune a while back as I'd read in back in high school, when the first movie came out, and remember being in awe of it. This time around my overriding thoughts were "Do less drugs while writing Frank".
I've got Dominic Sandbrook's "Who Dares Wins" on the go about Britain from 1979 - 1983. It's fascinating in so much as i was just going to high school at the time, and being only really slightly aware of politics, The echos from then to now are remarkable. It is voluminous though. So I'm cutting it with the Expanse (and on Book 4 now) as they're fun and lightweight
I re-read Dune a while back as I’d read in back in high school, when the first movie came out, and remember being in awe of it. This time around my overriding thoughts were “Do less drugs while writing Frank”
Same here, it's still good but a much thinner story than i remember it being. I suppose I was in my late teens when I read it and at the time thought it was so densely plotted. Only my overriding thought this time around was "yes, ok, it's the mind-killer, stop drivelling on about it every time Paul's in the slightest peril".
On loan from a friend > One Man and his Bike..Mike Carter
An amusing and easy read.
It's making me look forward (even more)to some big days later in the Summer.
it’s still good but a much thinner story than i remember it being
Yeah, strip away all the superfluous stuff and the plot line is pretty basic really.
I re-read Dune a while back as I’d read in back in high school, when the first movie came out, and remember being in awe of it.
Thanks for that. Was just about to do the same but won't bother. To many other good suggestions here
On loan from a friend > One Man and his Bike..Mike Carter
Ooo, loved that! 🙂
Read Anthony Beevor's Berlin: The Downfall whilst in Berlin. Gripping read - the grimness was tangible.