What books are we reading at the moment ?

[rogerzilla]

Dominion - Tom Holland

Not about Christianity per say as a religion though there is a lot in there about the history of Christianity, but more about the impact of Christianity on Western thinking. Excellent so far.

One hilarious one star review on Amazon complains that it focuses too much on religion - well yes its a book about how a religion affected society wtf did they expect it to contain?

Sisters of Mercy fan, probably.

[fd3]

^ chortle

I read the Earthsea trilogy (as was) ages ago.  Not read the later stuff and the Birmingham online library appears to have never heard of Le Guin (the physical library is shut, obvs).

[woollypigs]

struggling to find something to read - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54594933-kissing-the-coronavirus

[Paul]

The Curious Case of Leonardo's Bicycle (as reviewed in the latest edition of Cycle).

I'd never heard of Brick, despite his proximity, working medium and apparent pro-bikeness. I'm really enjoying his style. If you like bikes and comic books, it's definitely worth a look. And if you're quick you might get a signed one.

[woollypigs]

Boy is this book depressing - The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization by Vince Beiser - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36950075-the-world-in-a-grain -

After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other--even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble telescope, from the world's tallest skyscraper to the sidewalk below it, from Chartres' stained-glass windows to your iPhone, sand shelters us, empowers us, engages us, and inspires us. It's the ingredient that makes possible our cities, our science, our lives--and our future.

And, incredibly, we're running out of it.

The way we are digging up because we are using so much, we have find a way to reuse it and another thing to use in its place and also we gotta clean up the way we get it out of the ground and manufacture it and use it.

I think you gotta read it, but if you don't have the time here is a short film to watch on the tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pry3aRPzuE8 (2:22) or read this https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2017/kenya-sand-wars/index.html or this https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/27/sand-mining-global-environmental-crisis-never-heard

[rafletcher]

Finally got my hands on Stuart Macbrides latest. Hmmm, whilst a fan of his works, I'm at page 279, with (checks) over 200 more to go. His prose style really doesn't carry such a tome.I'll prbably finish it, but only because our lbrary loand are defaulted to 1st April with no renewals required.

[Legs]

struggling to find something to read - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54594933-kissing-the-coronavirus

new keyboard, pls!

[MikeFromLFE]

I've just finished Mamista by Len Deighton, which on the face of it was a straightforward cold War, south America, jungle yarn.
The more I digested it the more depressing it became. The moral of story seems to be that no matter who you are, or what your philosophy is, you we get shafted by someone. (and end up dead in a way that is both unpleasant and unpredictable)
Cheery.

[fd3]

Moar Le Guin.  Roccanon's World, not on a par with LHoD or the Dispossessed, but immensely well written nonetheless and better than the last few books I've read.
Also, Moar Sherlock Holmes, which is good.

[Mrs Pingu]

Recently I've been reading Stuart Macbride's A Song for the Dying. I've been finding it difficult to get to sleep while reading it.
Last night I finished it and made a start on Piranesi by Susannah Clarke. That was more like it.

[rafletcher]

Some light relief in Carl Hiaasen’s “Razor Girl”. I was going to read James Lee Burke’s “A Private Cathedral”, but the OTT gratuitous violence seemed more than usually pointless, and a supernatural assassin put the tin lid on it (although curiously I’ll still read John Connelly’s Charlie Parker’s next outing.

[ian]

I'm reading a book with a sticker (pretend because it's on my Kindle) on the cover that reads 'For fans of Dan Brown.'

[L CC]

I've started The Earthsea cycle by Ursula K Le Guin. It's a series I've heard of and seen referenced for years.

I can't say I'm enthralled. It's fine, nothing outright wrong with it, it's just not grabbing me.

I expect I'll continue and see where it goes though.

You're far too old for Earthsea.
Try Gifts, Powers, Voices.

[Canardly]

(Again) Her Privates We. Frederic Manning.

[Mr Larrington]

Recently I've been reading Stuart Macbride's A Song for the Dying. I've been finding it difficult to get to sleep while reading it.

His 4th Oldcastle/3rd Ash Henderson bok came out last month.  Keeps up the good work in the number and nastiness of killin's.

[tiermat]

Working my way through "Cold Case: A Bob Skinner Mystery" which is as far from Tartan Noir as you can get and still a) be in Scotland and b) be about polis.

Just ordered "What Will Burn" plus have "The Coffinmaker's Garden" to read.  Taken a punt on "Coffin Road" by Pater May, too.  A new one to me but I guess others have a view.

[fd3]

Planet of Exile.

[Mrs Pingu]

Can't remember if I mentioned the JD Kirk books already?
Fairly easy to read well paced Tartan Noir with lots of sweary words, though generally good natured.

[rafletcher]

Working my way through "Cold Case: A Bob Skinner Mystery" which is as far from Tartan Noir as you can get and still a) be in Scotland and b) be about polis.

Just ordered "What Will Burn" plus have "The Coffinmaker's Garden" to read.  Taken a punt on "Coffin Road" by Pater May, too.  A new one to me but I guess others have a view.

Peter May’s books I find to be variable in the extreme. Loved the Lewis trilogy. His Enzo ones, meh. Coffin Road fell in between for me.

[tiermat]

Can't remember if I mentioned the JD Kirk books already?
Fairly easy to read well paced Tartan Noir with lots of sweary words, though generally good natured.

I don't remember them being recommended but I have them lined up now (Mr SouthAmericanRover agrees with your recommendation)

[ian]

I'm reading a book with a sticker (pretend because it's on my Kindle) on the cover that reads 'For fans of Dan Brown.'

Was very good – The Anomaly by Michael Rutger, it's actually Michael Marshall (Smith) in another guise (why, don't know), but I stumbled across it after reading Hannah Green and her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence. Reminds me that I should venture up to the summer house and see if I can dig out the early scifi stuff he wrote (I have a feeling I leant to someone who didn't give them back). Anyway, it's a stab at a Crichton-esque airport-rack potboiler, which wouldn't be my usual cup-of-tea, but it's very well written and paced, and kept me reading till late to finish it. I'm sure he wants someone to make it into a film (if so, good) more so after they stole the brilliant Spares and made it into the execrable The Island.

[Steph]

I have always found Crichton to be an unbearably dull writer. Years ago, I wrote that good prose should either stand out for its beauty, or be so skilful that it carries the reader seamlessly with it. A good story teller draws you with them, and you don't notice the writing. That is artistry. Crichton, like Dan (ugh) Browne seems to write at the sort of telegraphic utterance level not seen much above 'Janet and John'.

I want, as said, to see beautiful prose that I can enjoy for itself, or to ride on the wings of the writer's imagination. In the second case, I want to see what happens next, but not simply be told "This then happened, then this".

Crichton does that to me. I can't read him, or rather I can, but whatever great plot he has allegedly devised is buried under a steady drizzle of turgid dross.

Could be worse. Could be Stephen R 'Thesaurus' Donaldson.

[ian]

I can't remember reading a Crichton book, to be honest, it was just that the subject of that was, erm, Crichtonic. It wasn't Dan Brown, for the fans thereof, as the cover claimed.

Anyway, Michael Marshall (Smith) in his various guises has always been one of my favourite authors. The plot was utterly preposterous but in a good way and it rollicked along at quite a pace. I imagine he enjoyed writing it with an eye on the script (I believe he's mostly a screenwriter these days). I was quite prepared to be disappointed as it didn't much sound like my cup of tea, but it was good fun, and certainly lifted by the characterization, which was an order of magnitude above the usual.

It has encouraged me to binge read some of his older stuff again. His short stories are amongst the best.

[woollypigs]

Just finished: Last Stop Auschwitz: My Story of Survival from within the Camp by Eddy de Wind https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45732516-last-stop-auschwitz

This should be read by everyone. Never again.

Now reading: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49247043-this-is-how-they-tell-me-the-world-ends

You really don't trust anyone with any electronic ...

[tiermat]

Working through "What Will Burn", the new DI McLean book (sorry for the spoiler there)

(click to show/hide)

The Alfa buys the farm, so he's reduced to driving Emma's Zoe

People die, in odd circumstances

A certain kind of social justice is meeted out.

There's a new cat in his life

It's good, though maybe not as good as previous ones