What book (s) are you reading now ?

Started re-reading the Slough House series, as I definitely missed bits / can’t remember who did what the first time around.

Taking a break from science fiction until some paperbacks are released.

Just finished ‘Trespass, crossing the lines that divide us’. Thought provoking and anger inducing. I am proper radicalised now!

Before that I raced through Dune so I could finish it before seeing the film. Loved them both.

Currently reading World War Z. I never saw the film but I hear it’s nothing like the book. The oral history interview format was a bit weird to start with, but I’m really getting into it now.  It’s well written and nothing like the slightly trashy horror I part imagined it to be.

Currently reading Jimmy the Hand one of the Rift War spin offs by Raymond E Feist then having a break from that series as it has 23 books

Looking forward to reading With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge

Vietnam Perkasie by W D Ehrhart

Pilgrim Days by Alastair Mackenzie

Then back to the Rift War Saga

The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi
Been on my Kindle for 3 years, so thought I’d better give it a go. Seems good

The “old mans war” series by John Scalzi some fine military SF with a lot of of humour. Some of the best I have read for a long time. aliens are weak tho – they just behave like people

Yeah, agreed. The first one was entertaining and a quick read – just the thing to slip in between more heavyweight books. Like an amuse bouche. 😀

I’m currently reading Elvis Priestley’s book about being an F1 pit crew. Entertaining and written well enough for what it is. I have a huge stack of books – paper and electronic – to read next, but I’m not sure what it will be.

I’ve been reading this on and off for a very long time. I really like it.

Currently coming to the end of “The Moth and the Mountain”.

A book written about a chap injured in, but survives the first world war. Post war in the 30’s when there is a lot of hype around being the first to conquer Everest, he comes up with a plan to be the first to reach the summit.

His method of doing so is to buy a tiger moth aeroplane, fly it there (despite not knowing how to fly, nor having permission from any authorities to use their air space). Then land on the Lower slopes of Everest before climbing in his hobnail boots (despite never claiming any hills, let alone mountains before).

You’d think this fiction, but no – true story. Not reached the end yet, but somehow I think he’s about to perish on the mountain.

Quite a good read as it happens. As you’d expect, he’s quite the eccentric chap!

I feel like I’m vaguely familiar with that story @scruff9252 might give it a whirl at some point.

Year Of The King, by Anthony Sher – his account of playing Richard III at Stratford in (I think) ’84. Cracking read. 🙂

More Joseph Stiglitz, this time “People Power and Profits” -he speaks so much sense!

Also more Herman Melville, this time “Bartleby” – quite a mysterious and charming short story.

If audiobooks count, The Beastie Boys book. Written by the surviving members and read by all sorts of celebs from LL Cool J to Ben Stiller and Jarvis Cocker.

The descriptions of NYC around 81 for music obsessed teens are superb. Lots of punk, then discovering Hiphop. Also stories of crazy antics, studio innovations and maturing from obnoxious ****.
Really enjoying it.

Recently finished Anxious People by Frederik Backman. Really enjoyed it, found his style of writing quite refreshing. A comedy based on odd personality traits. Some proper laugh out loud moments in a really rather bizarre setting.

Currently half way through Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. First science fiction novel in ages and it’s a great read so far. Didn’t know what to expect, but some really interesting theories based on evolution of our, and other, species.

Diddly Squat by Clarkson. Not really a book, just a collection of his column stories but it is quite amusing.

tjagain sed> aliens are weak tho – they just behave like people

Aliens are peoples too.

I’m currently reading Tom McCarthy’s Making of Incarnation. It’s possible he’s trying too hard to appear clever again but I’ll reserve judgement ’till I finish.

wordnumb.  The best SF IMO has aliens that do not behave like people.  See the Dwellers in Iain M Banks for an example. Its a really difficult thing to write but opens up loads of possibilities. Or Nivens Puppeteers

They’re still people, just not your sort of people. Best not objectify them or they might abduct and probe you, like in that documentary Fire In The Sky.

Year Of The King, by Anthony Sher – his account of playing Richard III at Stratford in (I think) ’84. Cracking read. 🙂

Really really enjoyed this, thoroughly recommended if you have any interest in actors and acting. 🙂

Next up – Pirates, Punks And Politics, about the radical left-wing German football club FC St Pauli. 🙂

Full Tilt….from Ireland to India by bike.
Dervla Murphy.
A journey undertaken in the early sixties, entertaining and unbiased by recent events of history.

While searching for a copy of 1984 that’s somewhere in the house (I think…) I came across “Dark Alchemy”, a fantasy short story collection which I apparently bought in 2007 but have no memory of… So that. It’s fairly lightweight, must be said – another amuse bouche as @IdleJon so aptly puts it 🙂

These days I tend to go to the BT phone booth library in a neighbouring village. Slim pickings on last visit, so it’s ‘Origins’ by Dan Brown.

Romesh Ranganathan’s latest one

Finished Charles Stross’ ‘Quantum Of Nightmares’ his latest in his new series based in the world of ‘The Laundry’, and I really enjoyed it, but then I like everything of his I’ve read.
Just started re-reading for the umpteenth time William Gibson’s ’Pattern Recognition’, just love Gibson’s books,  (who’d a thunk it!) and never really get tired of reading them, particularly the ‘Blue Ant’ series.

Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion – Michelle Janikian

Secret Santa gift. Bit of a stretch to say I’m reading it, the intention is there, sort of.

Finished No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood….very witty, it’d probably do everyone posting on here good to read the first part of it. It was fairly abstract though, I just didn’t get certain parts of it at all. Should be plenty of room for discussion of it at book club this Thursday though.

Just picked up Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo and she doesn’t use full stops ffs 😭 I might try something easier to read!

Tour de Force – Mark Cavendish.
Very easy to read.
The usual insight into his mind and how the races (plus Le Tour itself) lead him up to Last years Green jersey win.

I have ovecome the lack of full stops, brilliant start so far. Very fast paced.

@roger_mellie trying to get into Slow Horses, having seen a recommendation on another thread on STW that it’s the best thing since Le Carre – but I’m finding it heavy going- page 100 and almost nothing has happened. Is it worth pursuing? Does it get somewhere?

and never really get tired of reading them

I had a go at Virtual Light a while back, and it’s really bad. Pretty incoherent, clunky, and the “tech” has aged really quite badly.

Just finished River of Time by John Swain.

I’ve read a lot about Vietnam over the years but not a lot about the end of the war and the disaster that befell Cambodia in the late seventies. South east Asia also seems to draw all sorts of romanticism out of writers.

Half way through Life After Dark by Dave Haslam. Billed as a ‘history of British nightclubs and venues’. It’s well researched but more a collection of facts rather than telling any sort of history or story at all. Needs a damn good edit tbh!

Waterlog by Roger Deakin
A wonderful book to dip into, so relaxing. I am trying to savour a chapter every few days, which is a difficult for me to do as I usually binge-read if I’m enjoying a book!

@susepic Yes, it is worth pursuing in my opinion – there is a climax/ showdown to the central crime (not sure if its been introduced to you yet in the first 100 pages) so there is a conclusion. With a bit of a twist IIRC.  Mick Herron does introduce a lot of characters in the first book, setting the scene subsequent books, so I did find myself back-tracking a bit, but I found it worth it.

Currently trying to read this:

But my wife keeps stealing it to read her self because it’s excellent (not my usual sifi)

One from the pile of Xmas books.

Interesting read,although at times he can ‘go on a bit’.

monkeyboyjc
Full Member

Currently trying to read this:

But my wife keeps stealing it to read her self because it’s excellent (not my usual sifi)

That looks good, I do like a good non-fiction social history book.

Excellent thread. I’ve read a few that were recommended on here recently.

The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong (thanks @stevenmenmuir) Very much in the vein of Irvine Welsh (who he credits) for a new generation. Lacking some of the tension of Welsh in my opinion but still an interesting read and I’ll be interested to see how he develops as an author. This one is clearly quite autobiographical, which lends authenticity, but will he be able to step outside his own experiences?

Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx (thanks @BillMC) Very much the essence of Proulx; a book where the “plot” is just a device on which to hang lots of sketches about life in difficult circumstances. In this case we follow the journey of an accordion as is passes from person to person and on the way meet a vast cast of interesting characters. Beautifully written and with lots of trademark Proulx moments as characters suddenly die in strange ways or have their whole lives summed up in a paragraph.

I’ve just ordered Disgrace and This way to the gas ladies and gentlemen after recommendations on here too and have quite a few more on the list to consider.

Thanks @roger_mellie I’ll keep persevering

If you like a bit of espionage, The Spy and The Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a great true story of an 80s mole in Russia

Ooh I’ll add that to my list @roverpig. You’ll love Disgrace!

Try Shuggie Bain…sounds like it could be up your street. Won the booker prize in 2020.

Couple of hundred pages into A house for mr Biswas by V S Naipual and have just finished re-reading Babylon’s Ashes to see how it compared to the last series of the Expanse (lots of things in the tv final series that would have made no sense unless read the last few books)

@mogrim it really is a great book, author is Babita Sharma (BBC journalist) – I missed that from the photo.