What book (s) are you reading now ?

Personally I gave up with it about halfway through

Likewise – too many non-sequiturs and a lot of reaching to draw a conclusion.

Just finished Beau Geste.

Brilliant, loved it. Slightly different from the films … Cough.

If you have not read it, grab a copy.

Who wants to know what happened to the sapphire….. 😉

Next up…

Secrets of Orford Ness.

1923 Ned Boulting. 

I really want to like this, the subject’s genuinely fascinating, I like Ned as a presenter and pod-caster…But, it really does feel like some-one who’s been asked to write in a way that he simply can’t. It feels like he’s been sent on a creative writing course, and now he can’t resist adding in descriptions (of the weather, his surroundings) that are just weird and unnecessary. Plus it’s a wee film about a bit of an old race…yeah; it’s of nerdy interest to folks who maybe follow the tour or are interested in it’s history, but trying to link it with world events just feels a bit forced. At one point he shoe horns in the fact that as one stage is starting, there’s a really bad storm happening in Novgorod then he muses for a good couple of pages about the ownership of a cafe in rural France at the turn of the last century…err, right, thanks Ned.

It’s really a curate’s egg, there’s bits where he gets in his stride about the subject (that he’s clearly knowledgeable about) that are really interesting, then he goes off on a tangent about post war occupation of Germany, or a capital punishment case and it’s clear that he doesn’t really care about it, just stuff he found out lurching down internet rabbit holes. It’s written by some-one who’s clearly done a large amount of back ground research, and has then written a book where all that background has become the subject.

As others have mentioned, I read Nineteen Eighty Four as a teen, probably because I had to which ruins a lot of books ….. BUT I found my son’s A Level copy the other day and started to read it. It’s massively relevant to today’s era of misinformation.

I also found a copy of Gerald Durrel’s “My family and other animals” as a foil to Orwell’s bleak dystopia . Re-reading it as an adult is worthwhile escapist entertainment.

While we’re on “authors ruined by unimaginative A Level reading lists” can anyone recommend some Dickens as light entertainment? We did Bleak House for A level and it put me off him for life, but surely he deserves another go?

If you enjoyed the Dark Knight Rises, then give A Tale of Two Cities a go.

Currently working my way through the Battle for Spain by Antony beevor. It’s a rollicking ride as you can imagine, but if you are interested in European history of the 20th century it’s a must read. Spoiler, it’s not a comedy.

It’s on the back of the same author’s Downfall, the battle for Berlin. An absolutely tremendous read although again nothing amusing or heartwarming within its pages.

Initially had a great month with a new Bobiverse book from Dennis E. Taylor, followed quickly by the latest Skippy one from Craig Alanson, both really good assuming you like the series. Yudhanjaya Wijeratne released his second book in the Salvage crew series, which was very unlike the first and definitely not as enjoyable. Mr. Scalzi release a short, and then went onto Neal Stephenson Polostan, which I was Meh! (much like Seveneves for me), no humor at all. I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall with Neal Asher’s World Walkers, as I really don’t particularly care about any of the characters or the story.. oh well.

Currently working my way through the Battle for Spain by Antony beevor

I really like his stuff, will add that to the list – I’m about a third of the way through his book on the Russian revolution and subsequent civil war, and Downfall, as you say, is a fantastic read, devoured it in days whilst in Berlin on holiday.

I don’t read a lot of fiction but picked up The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa on a whim – bit over halfway through and really enjoying it, such a delicate touch on a really quite dark tale!

Sadly, after a conversation with one of my students, I’m delving into all 922 pages of Project 25… published in April 2023. I don’t want to go all Tinfoil Hat but….

Preface page XIV
“Our goal is to assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives

to go to work on Day One to deconstruct the Administrative State.”

And recently its “Hello Elon”…

Currently working my way through the Battle for Spain by Antony beevor.

Just finished Beevor’s D-Day: The battle for Normandy.

Ooft. A brutal campaign  and well worth reading .

As a teenager in the 80s, I devoured all the gory horror novels I could get. They all pretty much had the same format. A chapter of killer rats, bees,  slugs (yes slugs), or guinea pigs horror. Then a chapter of shonky story before onto the next bit of gore with maybe some naughty bits chucked in to keep the teenagers hooked. I loved them and I think I read all of them.

This year was the 50th birthday of Rats by James Herbert. I just finished rereading it yesterday. It’s maybe not aged well in certain ways, but it’s still great fun to read.

I’m thinking Shaun Hutson might be next on my list. I seem to remember the killer Slugs were fabulously over the top and they even made a really bad movie out of it!

After listening to all seven Mistborn books by Brandon Sanderson I am now reading his The Stormlight Archive series. Currently on the third book Oathbringer. The pace of the story has dropped significantly from the first two books so it seems to be a bit more of a struggle to make time to read.

I will take a break from the Sanderson books after this, I have lined up Band of Brothers to read again after just finishing watching the tv series again.

This year was the 50th birthday of Rats by James Herbert. I just finished rereading it yesterday. It’s maybe not aged well in certain ways, but it’s still great fun to read.

Your description is correct. from memory – I remember reading them as a teen. I occasionally wonder if Sven Hassel books have aged any better?  😀

I re-read Court Martial not that long ago – I would say they haven’t aged well, but that might be that I’m a different person at fifty than the teenager who couldn’t get enough of them! 🙂

Tried Anna Burns’ “Milkman” – didn’t get on with the writing style, so now moved on to Bob Dylan Chronicles. Great writer that young fella. 🙂