Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ?  (Read 836147 times)

Mrs Pingu

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1150 on: 07 February, 2010, 12:15:11 am »
Now, I loved the Wasp Factory.  It was the first of his novels I read, and I was carried away by the narrator's world and obsessions and isolation.  It did seem to be a punk novel.

I've read most of Iain Banks' "normal" fiction novels, and I know what you mean by feeling a bit confused at the end.  I enjoyed the ending of Walking on Glass and how the three stories complemented one another, but it was immensely frustrating at the same time.   I'll have to re-read Canal Dreams to try to work out what was going on there.

The Crow Road is his most satisfying novel.  The TV adaptation was excellent, as well.  I've got the DVD of that somewhere at my sister's house :)

Complicity is my fave non SF Banks novel. The Crow Road is very good, but I think Complicity beats it hands down for 'can't put it down-ness'. Steep approach pales in comparison, and I thought The Business was frankly a bit wet.

Anyway, I am nearing the final few chapters of Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire and it's pretty gripping. I don't tend to read crime/thriller novels but I've been enjoying these, even if they're not the most amazingly well written books in the world....
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

nicknack

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1151 on: 07 February, 2010, 12:27:14 am »
Just started "Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic" by John "Drumbo" French. Might take a while - 860 pages of dense print.
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1152 on: 11 February, 2010, 08:58:17 pm »
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Stieg Larsson.  Just started.

αdαmsκι

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1153 on: 11 February, 2010, 09:05:16 pm »
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Stieg Larsson.  Just started.
+1
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her_welshness

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1154 on: 11 February, 2010, 11:53:44 pm »
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Stieg Larsson.  Just started.
+1
+ 2. God, they (the trilogy) are good.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1155 on: 12 February, 2010, 08:10:53 am »
Early days yet, but I have a feeling I may be buying the other two.

Mr Larrington

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1156 on: 15 February, 2010, 10:59:25 am »
Skin And Bones ~ Tom Bale

Surprisingly non-crap conspiracy thriller mostly set in El Supremo / West Kent CTC territory.
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mattc

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1157 on: 15 February, 2010, 06:41:48 pm »
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Stieg Larsson.  Just started.
+1
+ 2. God, they (the trilogy) are good.
You know, the Search Wizard says I'm mistaken, but I thought Stieg Larsson was the 2nd most raved about author on YACF (after Iaiain M.Banks). I also thought 90% of the posts were by La Rringtone.

Anyway, 1st book pretty good, but wordy, 2nd one excellent. 3rd review TBD
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1158 on: 15 February, 2010, 08:16:30 pm »
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  Stieg Larsson.  Just started.
+1
+ 2. God, they (the trilogy) are good.
You know, the Search Wizard says I'm mistaken, but I thought Stieg Larsson was the 2nd most raved about author on YACF (after Iaiain M.Banks). I also thought 90% of the posts were by La Rringtone.

Anyway, 1st book pretty good, but wordy, 2nd one excellent. 3rd review TBD

The following may be of interest:

Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth was a suicide mission - Times Online

Quote
It is Salander, the unlikeliest of literary heroines, with whom Rapace has become inextricably entwined. As the character’s screen embodiment, she has starred in all three film adaptations of the books, the third of which has just opened in Scandinavia. Belatedly, the first one, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is about to launch in the UK; the other two follow later in the year. It has been worth the wait. The story of the wealthy Vanger family and the unresolved disappearance of the patriarch’s niece in 1966 is far from a trashy screen translation. A superior thriller, it has been nominated for gongs across Europe, not least for its female lead.

"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1159 on: 15 February, 2010, 08:19:10 pm »
Cider With Roadies  - Stuart Maconie.  A great read, as he ricochets through the music of his youth.  Much to recognise, and actually quite astute cultural observations.
Getting there...

Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1160 on: 16 February, 2010, 01:40:46 am »
Just finished a book called Quintet of the Year, which traces the history of teh participants in a 1953 Massey Hall gig that brought together Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and Mingus. The book wasn't in itself that great, but was a nice reminder of just what a period of musical genius the be-bop era was and how racism and prejudice in many ways still prevent us from understanding the brilliance of these black musicians, who were every bit the equal of the great white classical composers..

Mr Larrington

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1161 on: 16 February, 2010, 12:42:23 pm »
The White Spider ~ Heinrich Harrer.  Tells the tale of attempts on the Eiger Nordwand up to the late fifties.  Harrer was one of the party who made the first successful ascent, so has some claim to know what he's talking about.
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1162 on: 16 February, 2010, 01:29:23 pm »
The White Spider ~ Heinrich Harrer.  Tells the tale of attempts on the Eiger Nordwand up to the late fifties.  Harrer was one of the party who made the first successful ascent, so has some claim to know what he's talking about.

"The White Spider" is an excellent read, but every other account I've read suggests that Harrer was a bit of a bumbly climber. Neglecting to bring crampons and getting the party lost on the way down are not exactly confidence inspiring moves.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1163 on: 17 February, 2010, 09:11:15 pm »
The Medical Detective: John Snow and the Mystery of Cholera by Sandra Hempel
Stop analysing Strava and cut your hedge...

jogler

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1164 on: 17 February, 2010, 09:27:55 pm »
Specsavers Guide to Wearing Soft Contact lenses

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1165 on: 17 February, 2010, 09:50:33 pm »
Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden

(Another of FM's tips - cheers :thumbsup:)

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1166 on: 17 February, 2010, 10:32:18 pm »
"Fear Of the Dark" by Walter Mosley.   Not Easy Rawlins, this time it's Fearless Jones, but a similar milieu the black LA neighbourhoods in the mid 50's.

Not fast & rarely furious

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Mr Larrington

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1167 on: 18 February, 2010, 09:58:04 am »
White Line Fever ~ Lemmy.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
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clarion

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1168 on: 18 February, 2010, 09:59:24 am »
Let us know what he says about Pete Gill.
Getting there...

Mr Larrington

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1169 on: 18 February, 2010, 10:12:16 am »
Let us know what he says about Pete Gill.

It said something along the lines of "I later heard that he'd come out, which man go some way towards explaining [$ODD_BEHAVIOUR]".

I'm fairly sure I read it somewhere else before Mr. O'Luftwaffe's book was published.
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tiermat

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1170 on: 18 February, 2010, 10:23:07 am »
The Generals by Simon Skarrow, an interesting historical novel about Napoleon and Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington)
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Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1171 on: 18 February, 2010, 01:29:30 pm »
Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden

(Another of FM's tips - cheers :thumbsup:)

Did you read Three Day Road first? If not, make sure you do afterwards, it's even better...

Flying_Monkey

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1172 on: 18 February, 2010, 01:30:47 pm »
"Fear Of the Dark" by Walter Mosley.   Not Easy Rawlins, this time it's Fearless Jones, but a similar milieu the black LA neighbourhoods in the mid 50's.

Aah, one of my favourite contemporary writers. He can do anything (literary novels, crime, sf etc.), always has something important to say, but he still manages to make it readable.

I've just finished reading Banana Yoshimoto's Hardboiled & Hard Luck - two deceptively simple stories of love and loss. She was a breath of fresh air on the Japanese scene some twenty years ago, and she's still writing the kind of beautiful novellas where not a word is wasted. Anyone interested should read her first novel Kitchen and her last one Goodbye, Tsugumi in particular...

In complete contrast, I am now reading Joe Haldeman's All My Sins Remembered, which has a great premise (ethical guy who wants to be a diplomatic is, unknown to him, trained through hypnosis to be an assassin) but doesn't really seem to make enough of this, instead being a series of rather standard and naively-written alien contact stories...

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1173 on: 18 February, 2010, 02:49:54 pm »
Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1 - John Birmingham

This is an above average page turner of an alternative history novel. In 2021 a UN task force of ships from several nations including Japan, UK, Australia and the USA is preparing to depose a revolutionary Islamic group who have taken over the most of the Indonesian islands  declared a Caliphate and begun to slaughter Chinese and Christians. This against a backdrop of a world where London and other cities have seen terrorist attacks worse than 9/11 and the war on terror has been ratchet up several notches.
Just as they are about to start the operation an experiment on a research vessel that is being protected by this fleet goes wrong and the fleet is thrown back through time to 1942 right into the middle of the US Fleet just before the battle of Midway. Most of the 21 century personnel are unconscious and the 1940s ships open fire upon seeing the Japanese flag on one of the ships. Automatic systems on the modern ships reply and carnage ensues.
From their history begins to diverge from that we know. It's a fun if bleak and dark story and the first in a trilogy. I am going to order the other two.
One classic bit has Prince Harry as an officer in the SAS !
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

David Martin

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1174 on: 18 February, 2010, 03:37:52 pm »
Just finished Andre Marr's History of Modern Britain. A good but lengthy read, and a chance to view part of my history through a different pair of eyes.

..d
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