The occasional STW book club thread… what ya reading?

Just finished The Outsider by Camus.
About to begin Locus Solus by Roussel.

At the moment i’ve got a couple on the go, both cycling related i’m afraid :

For a quick dive into with an espresso i have “Just Ride by Grant Petersen of Rivendell Bicycle Works” , not really a book to get engrossed into but more of a book to dive into, grab an idea over an espresso and let it fester in your mind for a few hours – A good book, i’d like to meet Grant as he speaks sense.

For a longer, more involving session i am reading Golden Stages Of The Tour De France by Richard Allchin & Adrian Bell , The cover blurb states “Tales from the legendary stages of the worlds greatest bike race”, 19 different accounts of historic stage wins from 1903 to 2002, it’s out of print but you can find 2nd hand copies in some of the online booksellers.

I got a stack of golden-age scifi short stories in the kindle christmas sale. Some great stuff, some absolute drivel

I’m reading I, Partridge, based on opinions on here. LOL funny in places, but you do have to ‘get into character’ and read it in his voice to get best effect.

next up is The Secret River, about the deported convicts in Aus and their treatment and oppression of the Aborigines. Heard something about it on R4 and thought it worth a punt.

Just finished reading The Naked Trader by Robbie Burns.

Just finished two books

The Forgotten Highlander – Alistair Urquhart ( WWII Singapore Pow…amazing read!)

The Duchess – Geeky train book about William Staniers Pricess Coronation Class locomotives

Just starting ‘Spitfire’ the biography by Jonathan Glancey..

The Belgian Hammer…again. I’m finding I read some cycling books with a slightly different slant since Lance gate.

Trying to find my copy of ‘As I walked out one summer morning’.

Just finished At the Loch of the Green Corrie by Andrew Greig – a fantastic, thoughtful and evocative book. Hard to fit into any kind of genre really. Best thing I’ve read in ages.
I recently read Train Dreams and found it simple, stripped down, sad… and a bit lacking in anything else. Disappointing.
I enjoyed Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie – a series of essays on ‘nature’ or ‘travel’ but so much more than that, she shows you a different way of looking at the world around you.
Really liked the first 2 books of IQ84, and looking forward to the 3rd. I am a fan of Murakami though, and always get totally drawn in to his slightly off-kilter worlds.

In the end, Train Dreams wasn’t perhaps quite the book I thought it was – works well as a short story, though.

Really liked the first 2 books of IQ84, and looking forward to the 3rd

I enjoyed the 3rd part of IQ84 most of all. Not quite as good as some of his other stuff, imo, but still enough to leave you at a slight angle to reality.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. So, so wrong.

Brilliant.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. So, so wrong.

Woah… been meaning to read that for years.

Largely because it inspired one of my favourite ever records (and John Peel Festive Fifty winner in 1992!) – Bang Bang Machine’s Geek Love.

ZAMM http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zamm-may-contain-spoilers