What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Mr Larrington]

o goody, sa mr larington, there is a new mark bilingham out

The Murder Book.  And it’s a a pukka Thorne too, not one where he pops up anonymously on p374.

Finally started this while waiting for an interminable search to finish hunting through a bazillion small text files for a string which, as it turned out, wasn’t there anyway

Starts with a nice DETHY killin' which is always a good sign.

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I was a bit worried when Thorne nicked the perp about a third of the way in but then we had MOAR killin’s and a couple of twisty-turny bits at the end.  Which was nice.

[andrewc]

Just started “Parable Of The Sower” by Octavia Butler.  Well written, but I’m getting the impression it’s not a feel good book.

Now finished.  I think I'll be ordering the sequel to depress myself further.


Climate change leading to food & water shortages in the USA. Almost complete social breakdown outside isolated, fortified communities & company towns where everyone is reduced to debt slavery. Drug crazed arsonists & cannibals.   Written in 1993, set in 2024.  Not an implausible future, the dates are probably out by 20-30 years.


https://kara.reviews/parable-of-the-sower/

[T42]

Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim opus, one end to the other. Currently on vol 7 or 8.  Hell, MrsT reads so much high-faluting stuff I have to keep things in balance.

Interesting mythology contrast with Good Omens.

[fd3]

Just finished reading "Only you can save mankind" (by PTerry) to #1 son.  I'm not a PTerry fan, but I thought it was brilliant, should be on the national curriculum as year 7-9 reading, it's a great discussion point about the alienation from violence and the whole "good guy shooting bad guys" thing, but it also has some decent writing tricks that are well telegraph and easily accessible to a young reader.

[rafletcher]

I have thus far enjoyed Martin Walkers jaunts through the Dordogne with a flic (the Bruno, Chief of Police series), and I appreciate that even a dozen books in the scene needs be set for new readers, but it really shouldn’t take the first quarter of the book! So, I’ve given, probably permanently, and move£ on to Tim Weavers latest David Raker, The Black Bird.

Prior to the Walker, I read a new-to-me author, Trevor Wood, and his first Jimmy Mullen outing The Man on the Street, a pleasant and undemanding amble through Newcastle with our homeless ex-serviceman-with-PTSD-as-detective protagonist. ‘Twas ok.

[pcolbeck]

I have just finished James Holland's latest opus "Brother in Arms" which follows the Sherman Rangers fro D-Day to VE-Day.
A gripping and detailed account of tank warfare and the way it affected the crews. All those idiot politicians who keep harking back to WWII as our glory days can f**k right off it was a completely horrific for those who took part.
Good book but I do have to take issue with his conclusion that they were extraordinary men, they weren't, I think the point is that they were ordinary men asked to and in the most part accomplishing extraordinary things at great personal cost.

My uncle was a tank driver in North Africa. Just an ordinary guy. You might like to watch “Lebanon”, a film from the POV of an Israeli tank crew during the 1972 Israeli-Lebanon conflict. Compared to Das Boot. And if you like books about the realism of warfare, try “Send Down a Dove” by Charles McHardy, about an British submarine at the end of WW2. My (submariner) father was impressed by its accuracy.

Thanks for the recommendations I'll look them up.

[rafletcher]

The library has finally coughed up Bellingham’s The Murder Book.  A lot better than his last couple IMO, back to vintage Thorne. But…. annoyingly (and the editor left it in) there is mention of a “signed credit card slip”. WTF? It has been perhaps a decade (or more) since we had to do that rather than enter a PIN. Grrrr.

[Auntie Helen]

The library has finally coughed up Bellingham’s The Murder Book.  A lot better than his last couple IMO, back to vintage Thorne. But…. annoyingly (and the editor left it in) there is mention of a “signed credit card slip”. WTF? It has been perhaps a decade (or more) since we had to do that rather than enter a PIN. Grrrr.

Here in Germany I have to sign credit card slips weekly.

[rafletcher]

The library has finally coughed up Bellingham’s The Murder Book.  A lot better than his last couple IMO, back to vintage Thorne. But…. annoyingly (and the editor left it in) there is mention of a “signed credit card slip”. WTF? It has been perhaps a decade (or more) since we had to do that rather than enter a PIN. Grrrr.

Here in Germany I have to sign credit card slips weekly.

Yeah, I know (at least Germany accepts credit cards now) but the book’s set in that there London.

[rafletcher]

Well, the Billingham was, IMHO, a cut above his last couple of offerings, even if the finale was somewhat contrived. Now onto Ajay Chowdbury’s second outing for Indian ex-detective Kamil Rahman, The Cook.

[ravenbait]

Just started Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home by Heather Anish Anderson. I have no experience of thru-hiking very long trails (I don't think the Ridgeway counts), but have often wondered what it's like to just drop out of the world and walk for a few months.

Sam

[andrewc]

Oooh!  I hadn’t noticed that Dave Hutchinson had a new “Fractured Europe” book out.   Edit - coming out , September apparently.  And a TV adaptation as well, when they finish it.


https://twitter.com/rebellionpub/status/1489279770084978688

[pcolbeck]

Oooh!  I hadn’t noticed that Dave Hutchinson had a new “Fractured Europe” book out.   Edit - coming out , September apparently.  And a TV adaptation as well, when they finish it.


https://twitter.com/rebellionpub/status/1489279770084978688

Excellent.

[Efrogwr]

Oooh!  I hadn’t noticed that Dave Hutchinson had a new “Fractured Europe” book out.   Edit - coming out , September apparently.  And a TV adaptation as well, when they finish it.


https://twitter.com/rebellionpub/status/1489279770084978688

Thanks. I read the series straight through, having found it via this thread.

[andrewc]

Not reading , but I've read most of these in the distant past when I was a small person.   https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/set-14-slightly-foxed-cubs-ronald-welch/


Ronald Welch's stories of the military Carey family. 



Superior "Boys Own" stuff as I recall.  Though however fond my memories are,  I doubt I'll be splashing out £££ for the re-issued set!

[Kim]

I just finished Andy Weir's latest.  It's basically a much sillier re-hash of The Martian, with a sarcastic alien and lots of scienceing the shit out of things.  As such, it's much better than Artemis, which was just plain bad.

It would probably have benefited from being written by Arthur C Clarke in the late 70s.  At least then the science montages could have been a bit more considered, and the random sexism wouldn't been so conspicuously out of place.

If you enjoyed the Bobiverse series, you'll probably like this.

[T42]

Re-reading Dan Simmons' The Terror, having watched the serial on Amazon.  The book is by far superior, of course.

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The representation of the Beast in the serial is crap and so is the ending.

[rafletcher]

In a change from my usual guff (just finished Cold Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs) I’m giving Chris Brookmyre’s latest The Cliff House  a spin. So far, so good.

[pcolbeck]

Re-reading Dan Simmons' The Terror, having watched the serial on Amazon.  The book is by far superior, of course.

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The representation of the Beast in the serial is crap and so is the ending.

His Hyperion Cantos series is rather good.

[T42]

Re-reading Dan Simmons' The Terror, having watched the serial on Amazon.  The book is by far superior, of course.

(click to show/hide)

The representation of the Beast in the serial is crap and so is the ending.

His Hyperion Cantos series is rather good.

Indeed. I read those as they came out and I've been back to them a few times since.  I've rather liked his later stuff too, Drood and The Abominable. Not so keen on the one about Sherlock Holmes and Henry James.

[fd3]

Like Hyperion I much much more than the second.

Reading The Laundry Files series (annoyingly not much coverage from the library).
On top of Computer Nerd + Maffs and Physics + Spies + Bureaucracy + Cthulhu (which is already possibly too many flavours for the dish) he decided to add the idea that each book would be written in the style of a articular spy novelist.  I found this was okay for "Atrocity Archive" but I found the James Bond theme of "Jennifer Morgue" detracted from the story and was far too dominant in the telling.
For a reasonably compact story I think he could have elaborated more on some ideas, some of the background theories referenced are just name-called and a bit of elaboration would have helped, even if it's just to make the storytelling more of a story and less of a "shout out".  I also feel that some of the explanation was misweighed - for example at the end of the second story in "Atrocity Archive" I had pretty much figured out what was going on (I feel it was telegraphed enough that most people would) but when he goes into the explanation he rushed it so that I didn't feel that he actually explained anything more than letting me know I had guessed right - I wanted more expose of why and how.  I also feel that at times too much explanation is given for things that are really obvious (e.g. the Newton's cradle at the end of the second story didn't need a paragraph of more explanation).
I'll see what book 4 offers as the library has it, then decide on whether to splash out (nearly the cost of a pint!) on the third.

[Mr Larrington]

He got bored with the pastiche after the 4th book, so that’s one thing fewer to worry about

[rafletcher]

So the cliff house was mostly ok, enough that I might try some of his back catalogue. Now onto another in the growing offering of “Outback noir” (Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, Peter Papathanasiou) this time the debut novel from Shelley Burr, WAKE ( an acronym for Wednesday Addams Killed Evie) about a PI who specialises in finding missing children, only this particular one is tied into his family story too.

[fd3]

He got bored with the pastiche after the 4th book, so that’s one thing fewer to worry about

Yebbut, does he not also abandon the main character at this point too?

[ian]

He got bored with the pastiche after the 4th book, so that’s one thing fewer to worry about

You got through four. I managed the first and called it a day, it was basically a ream of nerd jokes that had some superficial charm but rapidly got tired and tedious. I'm not sure how he got a series of novels out of it. Not my cup of tea. I'm thinking I don't actually like anything.