What book (s) are you reading now ?

Oh and my guilty Space Opera pleasure has been Backyard Starship series by JN Chaney. Man that bloke writes fast. This one is a collaboration and you can kind of tell. So much stuff going on in each book, hard to keep track but a great humorous easy read when you’re not in the mood to concentrate.

I like popcorn books, Discworld are my go to if I want something I can just flap through quickly and brainlessly 😆

Kitchenly 434 by the writer of Morvern Callar. Lighter in tone, very funny in places.

Nick – yeah I read that Trespass one as well. I know what you mean tho, kind of beating you over the head with the same thing.

Nothing wrong with Discworld- I must have most of them a number of times. And listened to a few audiobooks. Still think Night Watch is my fav.

Still working my way through the Harry Potter series in French, reading the book whilst listening to the French Audio on Audiable…

Really enjoying them if I’m honest. Sadly the narrator, who is very good, died mid series so I think this is the last book before it switches to someone else..

@nickc

Trespass is a great book, bit repeaty in feeling. But, it does remind us plebs we dont have a look in on true land ownership and its ramifications.

I know my place now 🙁

How about a thread resurrection? I’ve missed hearing what you’re all reading.

I’m currently reading A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. The back cover says it is ‘a sunny, brilliantly witty comedy of manners.’ Too early to comment, but hoping it will be a tonic. I did enjoy the film back in the day.

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

Back to some sci-fi / cyberpunk.

Currently Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Just started it but it’s immediately very real and engrossing.

I need to finish it quickly, and then get onto Boys in Zinc* for the next book club meeting.

* Stories from the Soviet/Afghan conflict

Michael Palin’s Into Iraq. Birthday present from Mrs Fazzini. As much as I love the TV programmes, the books are usually way better. I have them all, and I’m hopeful this is too but only 2 pages in.

Oo, good thread ressurection! Currently switching between Diary Of An Apprentice Astronaut by Samantha Cristoforetti and the excellent Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein. I love the clash of westerners and Japanese culture. 🙂

How about a thread resurrection? I’ve missed hearing what you’re all reading.

I forgot how long the Harry Potter books got as the series progressed, plus add a 20% uplift as French is just more verbose than English. Two 1000 page books later and I’m currently on book #6! “Harry Potter et le Prince de sang mele”.

Not very exciting..

The first 3 HP books are quite good, the rest are under edited rubbish.

Just finished Rotherweird – not bad at all, bit gormenghast, bit Nancy Drew but ok.

Currently reading Yiddish Policemans Union by Michael Chabon and its very good so far (100 pages in)

I started reading the guns of August by Barbara tuchman, its a classic take on the build up to and early days of WW1. Unsurprisingly, it’s quite heavy going! I think it’s written in quite a snappy style, but it’s very heavy on the detail, I’ve just not taken to it.

Given the recent developments with pooti pants, I thought I’d go for something lighter, nuclear Armageddon related. So I found a free download of Alas, Babylon by pat Frank. Few pages into that.

The first 3 HP books are quite good, the rest are under edited rubbish.

When I read the English ones many years ago, I thought the 4th one was the best, and after that she just ran out of ideas but wrote very long books full of nothing….

They then took the last 3 books, containing very little actual plot, and made 4 films out of them!

I’ve sort of committed myself to reading the whole lot in French, so will see it out to the bitter end 😉

After reading all the Discworld novels I thought I would change rack and am currently reading Under the net by Iris Murdock. Not exactly whizzing through it though

Currently reading The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding. Pretty good so far, about half way through it. Traditional fantasy romp and all the better for it.

Bones of the Hill by Conn Iggulden.
3rd in the series about the rise of the Mongol empire.
Really good…..if you like this sort of thing.

I need to finish it quickly, and then get onto Boys in Zinc* for the next book club meeting.

You are Ken Barlow & ICMFP.

Lee Child here, Reacher.
Simple reading for a simpleton like me.

Started on Let My Children Go Surfing by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.

Very good so far and learning some climbing history etc.

Seemed relevant given their setting up of trust to run the business and continue the work.

Book 183 of the endless shadows of the apt/empire in blood and gold series by adrian tchaikovsky. It’s still really good but an awful long way from where it started, and I have to admit I haven’t a clue who half the characters are. Oh it’s that dude from then? No idea. He just threw in an injoke about all the towns having interchangable names that nobody can remember and, yes it’s funny but also, kind of an admission of defeat…

Still, it’s good. Excellently daft and pageturney.

The Sound Of Being Human (how music shapes our lives) – Jude Rogers
It’s lovely, but makes me cry a lot.

You are Ken Barlow & ICMFP

Trying but failing to make sense of this I’m afraid

Been on a bit of a Rowland White binge. Started with ‘Into the black’, then Vulcan 607 a couple of years ago. Just finished Harrier 809 and Phoenix Squadron. The Harrier/Falklands stuff was fascinating. The Belize/British Honduras stuff was a short story made into a large book, but fair play to the Bucc pilots with the absolutely on the limit air-to-air refuelling.

Recently finished

The Battle for Spain. Anthony Beevor. Realised there was a huge gap in my understanding about the Spanish Civil war, and a conversation with one of the guides on evening while on holiday with Basque MTB lead me to find out a bit more. Shocking stuff indeed. Especially the involvement of Stalin’s NKVD. No wonder Orwell was so anti-communist.

Read a couple of the Tim Moore epic cycle tours books, very much enjoyed The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold.

Bit more history, The Anglo Saxons by Marc Morris, is a good proper look at English history between the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain and the invasion of William 1, and Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones, a whistle stop tour of the early medieval period which has really just created a list of “stuff I need to read more about”

Also for the all the book worms out there;

Tsundoku, A Japanese word defined as; the habit of collecting stacks of books that you haven’t read and might never get around to…

Currently on with Alastair Reynolds’ Redemption Ark. I bought it along with Revelation Space in a bundle of books from eBay — I was certain I’d read Revelation Space years ago, but decided to re-read it. I got about 90% of the way through before it became clear the specific scene I’d had in mind wasn’t going to materialise and I had to accept that I hadn’t read it before after all. This is the opposite of what usually happens with big space opera novels 😀

Anyway, Redemption Ark is yet to grip, so a bit slow going at the moment.

Jut finished George Pelacanos The Way Home – was great. Now on something my mum gave me, seems ok, but about a third through and getting slightly bored (The Brave, Nicholas Evans (wrote the Horse Whisperer))

I see Cormac McCarthy has 2 new books coming later this year. Can’t wait (Although I will, cos I don’t really need a hardback 🙂 )

Forgive the digression but Orwell was more anti-Stalinist than anti-communist (supported the orthodox Trotskist Max Schachtman who took the view that state capitalism in the USSR was worse than western capitalism, hence passing names to the authorities).

The Sound Of Being Human (how music shapes our lives) – Jude Rogers
It’s lovely, but makes me cry a lot.

This sounds fascinating. I’ve added it to my to-get list.

#Tsundoku, A Japanese word defined as; the habit of collecting stacks of books that you haven’t read and might never get around to…

Sounds familiar and is something I’ve actively tried to manage in the last few years. I don’t need 40 books sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read. I think the oldest one in my pile was still bought about 10 years ago, though.

I see Cormac McCarthy has 2 new books coming later this year. Can’t wait

Good news, although I’ve had one in my tsundoku pile for a couple of years and haven’t braced myself to read it yet. Cormac McCarthy needs some preparation, for me. 😀

Reading Sebald’s The Emigrants atm – top drawer. Read Rings of Saturn earlier this year and thought it was breath-taking – it’s a shame there aren’t that many other books of his to read.

The last story of The Emigrants is based in Manchester, where Sebald taught in the late 60s –  I live in Manc so looking forward to reading the Sebaldian vision of the city.

Read quite a bit of Robin Hobb fantasy in the summer (Assassins and Liveships trilogies) – enjoyed them enough to finish (they are pagey) but wasn’t in love with them. She’s got a superb gift for character and inner voice but the trad fantasy structures she writes causes all sorts of pacing issues, and there are some severe plotting missteps. She’s still amongst the best at this style of book – will prob read the third trilogy at some point.

The Battle for Spain. Anthony Beevor. Realised there was a huge gap in my understanding about the Spanish Civil war, and a conversation with one of the guides on evening while on holiday with Basque MTB lead me to find out a bit more. Shocking stuff indeed. Especially the involvement of Stalin’s NKVD. No wonder Orwell was so anti-communist.

Might have to add that to my ever lengthening list. We were listening to Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia’ in the van coming back from Italy. Shameful gaps in my knowledge as well! I did get a bit confused with all the different splinter groups but I was a bit sleep deprived. Might just get the actual book.

Currently on with Alastair Reynolds’ Redemption Ark. I bought it along with Revelation Space in a bundle of books from eBay — I was certain I’d read Revelation Space years ago, but decided to re-read it. I got about 90% of the way through before it became clear the specific scene I’d had in mind wasn’t going to materialise and I had to accept that I hadn’t read it before after all. This is the opposite of what usually happens with big space opera novels 😀

Anyway, Redemption Ark is yet to grip, so a bit slow going at the moment.

I’m also reading Redemption Ark, having just got round to reading Revelation Space (which I also thought I might have read in the past, but soon realised I hadn’t…)

I quite enjoyed the Revelation Space books – IIRC there are a few that are kind of sidebar stories of characters who later turn up in Redemption Ark and others, too. But I’m not sure I’ll be racing out to find more Alastair Reynolds books: they’re great, but I feel like they were a bit hard work at times.

Currently I’m reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine; sci-fi political machinations etc, surprisingly gripping and enjoyable.

I wanna be yours. John cooper Clarke. Bought today on holiday, so far the forces of darkness are preventing me from getting past paragraph 1.

Couple of Jeffrey Archer’s – sorry about that.
Have you eaten Grandma by Gyles Brandraeth. A very good guide to English grammer.
Of mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Currently I’m reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine; sci-fi political machinations etc, surprisingly gripping and enjoyable.

I read that and the second book this summer, they were pretty good.

You are Ken Barlow & ICMFP

Trying but failing to make sense of this I’m afraid

If I have to explain, then you won’t understand.
Bit like owning a Harley & you have to explain why.

I’m not far into Leonard and Hungry Paul. Not much seems to be happening although a girl in Leonard’s office just spoke to him.

I like it so far.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, after reading Silverview in the summer. Really enjoyed Silverview as my first John Le Carre (I know, very late to the party!) and thought I’d jump in to TTSS as it’s very well rated out of all his books. However I’m struggling a bit with all the characters and the feeling that I’m supposed to know who everyone is. Will persevere though.

You can tell Mick Herron is a fan.

In a crossover of STW threads, I’m sure Paul Whitehouse was reading a Mick Herron in the last Gone Fishing episode 🙂

Mark Gatiss: Black Butterfly.

Fun, and it’s been serialised for Radio 4.

Read a couple that were recommended on here recently:

Disgrace – I found the original affair rather unbelievable and kept getting the feeling that the second half of the book was trying to say something clever that I just wasn’t smart enough to get.

This way to the gas ladies and gentlemen – A “survivor’s” tale from the camps, if you can call someone who takes their own life a few year later a survivor. Thought I’d read all there was to read about the holocaust but there are scenes in this one that will stay with me for a long while.

Brave New World – Agree with the earlier comment that it is an easier read than 1984, but I also prefer the latter

Recently read Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov – A satire on Stalinism but subtle enough to avoid getting the author killed, which means a lot of it is just plain strange.

The Handmaid’s Tale – I’d avoided this one as it is labelled young adult so didn’t think it would appeal. I’ve never read any Harry Potter for similar reasons. But I ran out of things to read and my daughter had a copy lying around so I picked it up. Glad I did as it’s quite wonderful. No idea why it is labelled young adult though. The protagonist and narrator is in her 30s and the themes are all decidedly adult.

Also currently reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (first Le Carre) but only a few chapters in. The first chapter is beautifully written, but no idea what it has to do with the rest of the book yet.