Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 845117 times)

Kathy · « **Reply #575 on:** 17 May, 2009, 09:31:50 pm »

Quote from: RJMcB on 30 April, 2009, 09:22:04 pm

Just wanted to say:

I read another recommended book on this thread, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Absolutely fantastic stuff. Thanks. I can't wait to read the second in the trilogy, "The Girl who Played with Fire" which the reviews say is even better.

Just wanted to say +1 in every way (finished reading Dragon Tattoo yesterday, and just after the library shut, so I'll have to wait a whole week to go and get the next in the series.

citoyen · « **Reply #576 on:** 18 May, 2009, 01:01:20 pm »

Bought both …Dragon Tattoo and …Played With Fire for my sister-in-law for her birthday, based on "they looked good". I've been meaning to ask her how she got on with them, so thanks RJMcB for the positive endorsement - will have to get myself a copy.

d.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #577 on:** 18 May, 2009, 01:02:32 pm »

I've just re-read The Time Traveller's Wife and it made me cry again.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #578 on:** 18 May, 2009, 01:54:15 pm »

First volume of Ian Kershaw's biography of Hitler. And yes, Clarion, I know what happens at the end of part II

Kathy · « **Reply #579 on:** 18 May, 2009, 02:02:03 pm »

Quote from: Kathy on 17 May, 2009, 09:31:50 pm

Quote from: RJMcB on 30 April, 2009, 09:22:04 pm
Just wanted to say:

I read another recommended book on this thread, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Absolutely fantastic stuff. Thanks. I can't wait to read the second in the trilogy, "The Girl who Played with Fire" which the reviews say is even better.

Just wanted to say +1 in every way (finished reading Dragon Tattoo yesterday, and just after the library shut, so I'll have to wait a whole week to go and get the next in the series.

Dammit! All the copies have about seventeen reservations on them with Surrey Libraries!

(Coincidentally, there was an interesting story on this in the Times yesterday: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/47647,news,stieg-larsson-and-the-girl-who-inherited-nothing)

ChrisO · « **Reply #580 on:** 18 May, 2009, 06:17:50 pm »

I'm reading Christopher Brookmyre for the first time, having had him recommended by several people.

A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil.

I'm only a few chapters in and if anyone has read it can you tell me if Robbie turns out to be behind the murders - if he does then please let me know so I can stop reading now. Even if he isn't I'm not sure I want to go on because if he isn't then the set up will be nearly as obvious.

Can you tell I'm not convinced.

Captain Zep · « **Reply #581 on:** 18 May, 2009, 08:29:16 pm »

Quote from: ChrisO on 18 May, 2009, 06:17:50 pm

I'm reading Christopher Brookmyre for the first time, having had him recommended by several people.

A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil.

I'm only a few chapters in and if anyone has read it can you tell me if Robbie turns out to be behind the murders - if he does then please let me know so I can stop reading now. Even if he isn't I'm not sure I want to go on because if he isn't then the set up will be nearly as obvious.

Can you tell I'm not convinced.

Stick with it. Not Brookmyre's best IMHO, but still very funny. The description of the headteacher Momo was great, we had a maths teacher just like him.

Captain Zep · « **Reply #582 on:** 18 May, 2009, 08:32:46 pm »

Quote from: Kathy on 18 May, 2009, 02:02:03 pm

Dammit! All the copies have about seventeen reservations on them with Surrey Libraries!

Same with Falkirk libraries, I had to hand it back within two weeks (library policy when there's a big waiting list - and I'm a very slow reader), so I bought by own copy from Amazon - it was only £3.89 with free postage - very cheap high quality entertainment I think.

simonp · « **Reply #583 on:** 18 May, 2009, 09:13:14 pm »

Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear, by Dan Gardner

Interesting reading so far.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #584 on:** 18 May, 2009, 09:30:12 pm »

Quote from: ChrisO on 18 May, 2009, 06:17:50 pm

I'm reading Christopher Brookmyre for the first time, having had him recommended by several people.

A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil.

I'm only a few chapters in and if anyone has read it can you tell me if Robbie turns out to be behind the murders - if he does then please let me know so I can stop reading now. Even if he isn't I'm not sure I want to go on because if he isn't then the set up will be nearly as obvious.

Can you tell I'm not convinced.

Brookmyre's books tend to be quite hard to get into, then they pick up suddenly around halfway in.

Quisling · « **Reply #585 on:** 18 May, 2009, 10:27:25 pm »

The seeds of time - a collection of short stories by John Wyndham (of the Triffids fame).

Some of them are basic troubles with the Martians fayre, but most are jolly good - taking about as long to read as a good soak in the bath

mike · « **Reply #586 on:** 18 May, 2009, 10:34:21 pm »

death of grass, by John Christopher (real name Samuel Youd, apparently).

A brutal story of global apocolypse, murder, rape, civil breakdown, nukes and potatoes, written in 1956 and probably more striking because of it.

It'd been on the shelf for ages then the swine flu scare reminded me it was there and I couldnt put it down.

toekneep · « **Reply #587 on:** 18 May, 2009, 10:37:31 pm »

Ooh I really want to read that since hearing it serialised on radio 4. Let us know what you think.

Captain Zep · « **Reply #588 on:** 18 May, 2009, 10:44:57 pm »

Yes, the Radio 4 version was good (but very violent & brutal, for Radio 4), but I thought that it felt very abridged.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #589 on:** 18 May, 2009, 11:23:01 pm »

Thanks guys last time I tried to buy a copy it was out of print buy now it is a Penguin Classic. Yay !

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #590 on:** 19 May, 2009, 04:41:52 pm »

The Death of Grass was one of my favourites as a kid... I need to read it again too.

I'm reading What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn at the moment - in terms of both theme (basically, the UK's surveillance society) and atmosphere, it has a lot in common with Andrea Arnold's film, Red Road.

αdαmsκι · « **Reply #591 on:** 19 May, 2009, 06:50:05 pm »

I'm currently reading The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway. I got the book for my birthday and didn't have any idea what it was about until I started reading, but it's brilliant. It follows the story of three people during the siege of the city in the '90s, giving their thoughts about surviving and the affects it has had on their lives. Due to the very minimal amount of dialog used throughout the text, the style remains me of Ian McEwan.

On a different matter, I hadn't heard of Samuel Youd until reading this thread and I'll now have to hunt down a copy of The Death of Grass, so thanks for that recommendation

.

Quote from: her_welshness on 17 May, 2009, 07:59:09 pm

Quote from: adamski on 29 April, 2009, 09:12:18 am
I am currently reading From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium by William Dalrymple ...
That is a brilliant book - there are some books which stay with you for the rest of your life and this is one

Yip, I imagine I'll remember that book for a long time. The only other book by Dalrymple that I've read is In Xanadu, which I also thought was fantastic but more in the travel literature sense, whereas From the Holy Mountain was far more thought provoking. I'm now looking forward to reading some of his other works.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #592 on:** 20 May, 2009, 11:48:48 am »

Put Hitler on hold last night while I ripped through Bloodthirsty by Marshall Karp - 'tis the sequel to The Rabbit Factory and jolly good it is too. As I didn't start reading it until shortly after midnight, I am currently having to use matchsticks to keep my eyes open.

citoyen · « **Reply #593 on:** 21 May, 2009, 09:31:57 am »

Electricity by Victoria Glendinning.

It's been on my must-read pile for something like ten years, and I've finally got round to picking it up... and I'm completely and utterly hooked. Only about a third of the way through so far, but if the rest of it is only half as good as what I've read so far, that's still pretty damn brilliant. I was expecting something more along the Peter Ackroyd lines, but this is much "warmer" than his stuff, and unlike Ackroyd where the historical setting is the driving force behind the novel, here it seems to be used mainly to provide a metaphor for the emotional development of its heorine. It's also a lot funnier than I was expecting. Not to mention erotic, albeit in a very cerebral way.

d.

onb · « **Reply #594 on:** 21 May, 2009, 04:15:43 pm »

White Tiger .

PaulF · « **Reply #595 on:** 21 May, 2009, 06:16:48 pm »

Quote from: adamski on 19 May, 2009, 06:50:05 pm

I'm currently reading The Cellist of Sarajevo, by Steven Galloway. I got the book for my birthday and didn't have any idea what it was about until I started reading, but it's brilliant. It follows the story of three people during the siege of the city in the '90s, giving their thoughts about surviving and the affects it has had on their lives. Due to the very minimal amount of dialog used throughout the text, the style remains me of Ian McEwan.

I've just started that too!

mark · « **Reply #596 on:** 22 May, 2009, 03:09:29 am »

Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell. This thread inspired me to read more Orwell.

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #597 on:** 22 May, 2009, 10:38:19 am »

Quote from: mark on 22 May, 2009, 03:09:29 am

Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell. This thread inspired me to read more Orwell.

One of my favourites... I was just up in Jura last week, at a little seminar to remember and think about Nineteen Eighty-Four. He write it up there whilst dying of TB.

citoyen · « **Reply #598 on:** 22 May, 2009, 11:01:50 am »

Coincidentally, D&OIP&L is next-but-one on my must-read pile. Should I be looking forward to it?

d.

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #599 on:** 22 May, 2009, 11:30:56 am »

Quote from: smutchin on 22 May, 2009, 11:01:50 am

Coincidentally, D&OIP&L is next-but-one on my must-read pile. Should I be looking forward to it?

I think so, yes. I recommend that you read Hemingway's A Moveable Feast immediately afterwards too.

Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 845117 times)

ChrisO

simonp

Flying_Monkey

Flying_Monkey

Flying_Monkey