What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Dibdib]

The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

And no, I'm not twelve years old - although I think this could be one of the best YA novels (albeit a little long) ever.

[fuzzy]

I have commenced Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. George has been summonsed to a country pile near Ascot and is learning about 'Something that seems to be going on in Furrin parts and around the Circus'.

I had to go to bed

50 odd pages in and I'm hooked

[tiermat]

Just finished Pigeon English, read The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks before that.

Now reading "Riding Rockets" by Mike Mullane, his story of how he got to be an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle.

[lou boutin]

The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

And no, I'm not twelve years old - although I think this could be one of the best YA novels (albeit a little long) ever.

I'm currently reading Little Women & Good Wives. I've never manage to get past the chapter in which Beth dies before now.

[jogler]

Mary Queen of Scots by Anonia Fraser

[Peter]

Want me to tell you how it ends?

[jogler]

no thanks,I prefer to wait to the end of the book to find out.

 

[citoyen]

While looking for that, I stumbled across The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley.  I'd tried to read it as a kid, but found it a bit dull.  Coming back to it as an adult, I am impressed by the lightness of Kingsley's wit, and the way he manages to lampoon moralising, 'improving', tales while writing a clear Christian socialist morality into the novel itself.  He is unafraid to use pagan mythology and the emerging science of evolution and geology to develop the story, which I found surprising, given the date.  Stodgy in places, but I was laughing out loud in others.  It made me reassess my view of Kingsley.

Interesting. I've always mentally bracketed Kingsley with CS Lewis - ie worthy and dull - but I may have to reconsider (IIRC you feel similarly to me about CS Lewis).

My only familiarity with the Water Babies is the peculiar part-live action/part-animated 70s British film starring Billie Whitelaw, James Mason and Bernard Cribbins, which was a childhood family favourite (to the point where several lines from the film have become part of our family idiolect). I've always suspected the film has taken a few liberties with the original narrative though - I can't imagine Kingsley went in for singalong routines featuring a drowned chimney sweep, a gruff Scottish lobster and a camp seahorse.

Anyway, I've now downloaded it to my Kindle - yet another book on the never-diminishing to-read pile...

d.

[Quint]

Now on Brighton Rock (Graham Greene), it is very good, I vaguely remember the film as being excellent, hope they never re make it, nobody could be that good

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. I love it. Bobb's reading one of his books about a man who bites other people's faces off for a living.

While looking for that, I stumbled across The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley.  I'd tried to read it as a kid, but found it a bit dull.  Coming back to it as an adult, I am impressed by the lightness of Kingsley's wit, and the way he manages to lampoon moralising, 'improving', tales while writing a clear Christian socialist morality into the novel itself.  He is unafraid to use pagan mythology and the emerging science of evolution and geology to develop the story, which I found surprising, given the date.  Stodgy in places, but I was laughing out loud in others.  It made me reassess my view of Kingsley.

I liked it when I was  kid but I haven't read it as an adult. I should.

When I was a child my parents had a set of classic children's books, each one in a different coloured hard cover. I can't remember all of them, but there was The Water Babies, Tom Sawyer, Heidi, Robinson Crusoe, Alice, a collection of Hans Christian Anderson stories, Treasure Island (the only one of the set I never got more than a few pages into) and others I can't remember. My dad's coming up next week; I will ask him to bring them for me.

[Peter]

My god!  I wonder if the bloke who actually did that had read it?  Be afraid, or at least a little cautious!

[Nuncio]

Now on Brighton Rock (Graham Greene), it is very good, I vaguely remember the film as being excellent, hope they never re make it, nobody could be that good

They have.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_Rock_%282010_film%29 I didn't like it.

[Wowbagger]

I've just finished "Maggie - her fatal legacy" by John Sergeant. I started reading it when we were on holiday - it stood out like a beacon amongst the shelf full of mindless dross that one finds at B & Bs and self-catering establishments and I had finished only a couple of chapters when we had to come home. I was so gripped that I had to buy a second-hand copy from Amazon.

Irrespective of its historical accuracy (which I think is pretty good) it's a good exercise in Schadenfreude. It was just so jolly being able to relive those moments when the tories tore themselves limb from limb. The first two-thirds of the book were riveting, but, just like the subject matter, it seemed to decline into a rambling old age and towards the end you just kept on thinking that it would be more merciful just to kill it off rather than extend it by a few more chapters.

[Feline]

Holiday reading was 'The Garden of Evening Mists' by Tan Twan Eng. A second excellent read by this author IMO. This is the first of this years Booker prize long list I've read.

Next was 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn. I enjoyed this book, and ended up feeling like a normal person myself which is a bit of a novelty.

Yesterday finished 'The Hour' by Michael Hutchinson. A very amusing cycling book. It left me wanting to fit a powertap wheel to my audax bike, and try riding in Obree's 'superman' position. I think I should probably not attempt this without tri bars though!

[Juan Martín]

Well, I finished Cien Años de Soledad on the train this morning. I did enjoy reading it and didn’t get as confused as I thought I would with the myriad of Arcadios and Aurelianos through the generations of the Buendías, the main protagonists of the story, or perhaps I did get confused but it didn’t matter. The glossary helped a good deal as there were a good few words that weren’t in my electronic dictionary.  I certainly enjoyed this more than Love in the time of Cholera that I read in translation, but how much that had to do with the translation I can’t say. I need to think about the story for a while but I can imagine myself reading it again in a few years time and I’m not able to say that about many books. Perhaps I should read a translation to compare. So, tentatively recommended.

[jogler]

Mary Queen of Scots by Anonia Fraser

Want me to tell you how it ends?

no thanks,I prefer to wait to the end of the book to find out.

 

The butler didn't do it.

[Peter]

Nope, I think he'd have made a better job of it!

[jogler]

Mary Tudor:The First Queen by Linda Porter.

[bikepacker]

I have just finished reading Mud Sweat and Gears about an E2E tour. IMO it is a boring load of twaddle. It is just full of historical facts about places the author passed obviously researched post tour from the internet. If I wanted to read page after page about Robbie Burns I would have got his biography. Contrast that to an excellent book I am starting to read for the second time, One Man and His Bike in which the author relates his people experiences on a round the coast of Britain tour.

[mattc]

I've just read my first Jack Reacher novel! I guess this is the blokey bloke's equivalent of 50 Shades.

They're by Lee Child, this one was "Bad Luck and Trouble" or something equally macho 

Now, it's artistic ambitions may be limited, but it was a hell of a page-turner. Brilliant writing, if that's the sort of thing you're after. It's quite like Raymond Chandler writing for fans of Bravo Two Zero. Snappy dialogue; sparse prose that does the job; fast-moving plot with cliff-hangers and reveals at the end of every chapter 

(This also allows me to rubbish the comments about Tom Cruise playing Reacher in the forthcoming movie. Yeees, Cruise is about 60% of the size of Reacher - but this is 99% irrelevant to the story, and to Reacher's character. )

[fuzzy]

David Millar 'Racing through the dark'

[citoyen]

It's quite like Raymond Chandler writing for fans of Bravo Two Zero.

They should put that on the cover!

d.

[Feline]

I've just read my first Jack Reacher novel! I guess this is the blokey bloke's equivalent of 50 Shades.

They're by Lee Child, this one was "Bad Luck and Trouble" or something equally macho 

Now, it's artistic ambitions may be limited, but it was a hell of a page-turner. Brilliant writing, if that's the sort of thing you're after. It's quite like Raymond Chandler writing for fans of Bravo Two Zero. Snappy dialogue; sparse prose that does the job; fast-moving plot with cliff-hangers and reveals at the end of every chapter 

(This also allows me to rubbish the comments about Tom Cruise playing Reacher in the forthcoming movie. Yeees, Cruise is about 60% of the size of Reacher - but this is 99% irrelevant to the story, and to Reacher's character. )

This probably confirms I am a bit of a bloke because I like Lee Child's books too 

[alexb]

Reamde by Neil Stephenson

hmm. Possibly better than Cryptonomicon. A LOT better than Snow Crash, thankfully.

Interesting.
I've had Reamde on my Kindle for ages but haven't got round to reading it yet. Personally, I loved Snow Crash but thought that Cryptonomicon was absolute trash, with The Diamond Age being 'meh' at best.

Just finished it. Very good, but I did get the feeling I was reading a re-write of SnowCrash at times. There are very strong similarities in the plot and main characters.

However, if you liked it, check out "For the Win" by Cory Doctorow, it's available for nothing from his website.

[tonyh]

"Restless", William Boyd.  Admired it. Liked the Le Carre "tribute" near the end.