Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 843093 times)

her_welshness · « **Reply #975 on:** 02 December, 2009, 09:05:30 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 02 December, 2009, 03:28:08 pm

The Business ~ Iain Banks

Enjoyed that one immensely

Bledlow · « **Reply #976 on:** 02 December, 2009, 09:36:01 pm »

London - A Biography
Peter Ackroyd

redshift · « **Reply #977 on:** 02 December, 2009, 09:44:17 pm »

Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin - the New York Times' Mergers and Acquisitions man on the subject of last year's bank crash. I caught an hour-long interview with him on CNBC, and thought it might be worth reading, so bought it on spec. It's a hefty tome, even in paperback, but so far it's good reading.

scott · « **Reply #978 on:** 03 December, 2009, 02:39:09 am »

The bonehunters' revenge : dinosaurs, greed, and the greatest scientific feud of the gilded age / David Rains Wallace

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #979 on:** 03 December, 2009, 03:18:56 pm »

I am reading I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. Considering he wrote the brilliant Goedel, Escher, Bach, this is a pretty pedestrian book with little in the way of new insight and his folksy style starts to grate rather than illuminate...

Instead I would recommend The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger, for anyone who wants a really good work on the new philosophy and science of self.

Moondog · « **Reply #980 on:** 03 December, 2009, 07:40:04 pm »

Flashfire. The Violent World of Parker

Heroic.

n

IanDG · « **Reply #981 on:** 04 December, 2009, 12:41:59 am »

The Bodies Left Behind - Jeffrey Deaver

Rig of Jarkness · « **Reply #982 on:** 04 December, 2009, 06:34:54 pm »

Just finished Guernica by Dave Boling. Not bad, but not as good as Captain Correlli.

Bledlow · « **Reply #983 on:** 04 December, 2009, 08:42:01 pm »

Lustrum - Robert Harris

clarion · « **Reply #984 on:** 09 December, 2009, 05:06:37 pm »

Quote from: clarion on 04 November, 2009, 01:16:53 pm

I'm really excited by a book I've found on the shelves at work.

Our Street by Jan Petersen (7Seas). No cover, which is how I'd missed it before, and it's quite fragile, as it's published in 1960, and not awfully well bound. But that's aside.

It's the true story of a single street in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and their resistance to the coming of the Nazis. I'm afraid I'd never heard of the book or the author before, but it promises to be a gripping read.

That took me rather longer than expected to complete!

But I'm there now. What a harrowing read. I think some of it has been 'recreated', but the basis of the book is a chronicle made by the author of how the Nazis consolidated their power, closed down opposition, and put an entire population in fear of speaking out. Almost.

The last scene, of a funeral, is still uplifting and terrifying at the same time.

A brilliant portrayal of the human spirit. And, since it was published before the second world war, it is another reason why we had no excuse to say we didn't know what was happening. Concentration camps for communist prisoners are mentioned almost in passing, though the details are frighteningly real.

RJ · « **Reply #985 on:** 09 December, 2009, 09:19:03 pm »

clarion - do you know if that book's in print? Ta, RJ.

clarion · « **Reply #986 on:** 09 December, 2009, 09:30:48 pm »

No idea. I know it was published in German & English in about 1937, and the edition I found was Seven Seas Press (an E. German English Language imprint) from the late 70s.

I have never seen it before in my life.

EDIT: Here's a link to Amazon

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #987 on:** 09 December, 2009, 09:32:50 pm »

The new Stephen King - Under The Dome. Quite enjoying it. I haven't liked his more recent works, but he's getting back on form with this one.

nightrider · « **Reply #988 on:** 10 December, 2009, 08:24:42 am »

New York.The history of one of the worlds greatest cities.From the day of Dutch control to the present day.Written by Edward Rutherford.

her_welshness · « **Reply #989 on:** 10 December, 2009, 09:34:43 am »

Just started 'The Girls' by Tori Lansens (another on the Richard and Judy's bookclub).

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #990 on:** 10 December, 2009, 08:17:26 pm »

Oh, I read that last summer and really enjoyed it.

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #991 on:** 11 December, 2009, 04:21:41 pm »

Re-reading Ursula Le Guin's gentle anthropological utopian novel, Always Coming Home. It's calm, beautiful, comfortable... and just a little bit boring - the big problem with all utopias. Still, I would love to live in her world.

clarion · « **Reply #992 on:** 11 December, 2009, 04:47:57 pm »

Currently reading

The Toymaker by Jeremy de Quidt (David Fickling Books)

It's another one I found on the shelves at work, and is a Galley Proof. But I checked, and it was actually published.

It's pitched quite interestingly somewhere between teen & adult novel, and written in a storytelling style, all intimacies & teasing, intractable situations and impending menace.

The setting is a bit arch, being a sort of central European gothic, with travelling shows, wolf-ridden forests, deep snows, inns filled with shady characters etc.

It gets a bit implausible, but it is quite a page turner, and a well-told story. I'm a wee bit over half way through - I'll report back when I'm done.

andygates · « **Reply #993 on:** 11 December, 2009, 07:29:21 pm »

Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain. If there's an epiphany in a hot tub, I'm going to get shirty.

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #994 on:** 12 December, 2009, 03:30:48 am »

Quote from: andygates on 11 December, 2009, 07:29:21 pm

Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain. If there's an epiphany in a hot tub, I'm going to get shirty.

heh heh -not that I can recall, but I can't say that it's either his strongest or most memorable book.

mike · « **Reply #995 on:** 12 December, 2009, 07:44:19 am »

slightly behind the curve, but I just finished "the road" by Cormac McCarthy. Great. Not sure if I want to see the film though.

mr endon · « **Reply #996 on:** 12 December, 2009, 01:28:58 pm »

Just finished A L Kennedy's "Paradise".
Utterly brilliant. Made me hoot and hoot again with laughter. Never read her before, took a chance for a journey read. Gotta read me some more.

her_welshness · « **Reply #997 on:** 12 December, 2009, 06:00:59 pm »

Quote from: her_welshness on 10 December, 2009, 09:34:43 am

Just started 'The Girls' by Tori Lansens (another on the Richard and Judy's bookclub).

God that was BRILLIANT! Onto 'The Lovely Bones' by Alice Sebold.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #998 on:** 13 December, 2009, 03:00:26 pm »

"Last Light" by Alex Scarrow.

I'm more of a dabbler than a proper reader but I've been glued to this. I started it last night and I'm already over 150 pages in.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #999 on:** 13 December, 2009, 09:22:44 pm »

Quote from: wowbagger on 13 December, 2009, 03:00:26 pm

"Last Light" by Alex Scarrow.

I'm more of a dabbler than a proper reader but I've been glued to this. I started it last night and I'm already over 150 pages in.

Well, just finished it. Absolutely riveting book. Over the past 24 hours I've averaged 20 pages an hour.

Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 843093 times)

Flying_Monkey

Flying_Monkey

Flying_Monkey

mr endon