What books are we reading at the moment ?

[LindaG]

Delta of Venus by Anais Nin.

aka 50 Shades for people with a brain.

d.

See, I heard 'The Story of O' was the original 50 Shades.  'O' is a horrible book.  And I've no intention of reading '50 Shades'.  I can't bear that potboiler style of writing.  I'd rather read a cereal packet.  That way you at least get some cereal.

'Delta of Venus' is pure fantasy stuff, and really very funny if you choose to take it that way.

[citoyen]

'Delta of Venus' is pure fantasy stuff, and really very funny if you choose to take it that way.

Yes, hence the "with a brain" comment. It was meant to be a compliment on your superior choice of porn! 

d.

[LindaG]

'Delta of Venus' is pure fantasy stuff, and really very funny if you choose to take it that way.

Yes, hence the "with a brain" comment. It was meant to be a compliment on your superior choice of porn! 

d.

Why, thank you citoyen!   

If you don't mind, I prefer the term 'erotica'. 

I am a lady.

[citoyen]

 

[DrMekon]

Just finished Tyler Hamilton's book. Back to the Red Riding quartet - halfway through 1980, which I'm finding harder than the last two. Does feel pretty grueling doing them all in a row, hence the brief interlude with Hamilton.

[Gus]

Dan John's  "Never let go" about lifting weights and keeping focus in life.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I'm reading Sophie Hannah's novels at the moment. Started them in the wrong order, having picked a couple up at Tesco - A Room Swept White and Kind of Cruel - and now I have Little Face and The Other Half Lives. I'll probably get the rest at some point too.

[RJ]

I have re-read Buchan’s John Macnab which is a great autumn read, especially after a commute via Richmond Park when the deer rut is on.

Now following it up with the bittersweet The Return of John Macnab by Andrew Greig.

One of the very very few books (along with Touching the Void) I literally couldn't put down on my first reading.  I like Andrew Greig's novels and the memoirs/meditations on golf and fishing.

On a similarly mountaineering theme, I've started Wade Davis's Into The Silence:  the Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest.  Interesting, but I'm finding the National Geographic prose style and lack of hard editing slightly distracting at times.  It has the feel of a good book that's been produced too quickly - the plates are thrown together in what appears to be a completely random order, and some of the writing is sloppy and cliche'd, in ways that could easily have been tidied.  But so far it's an interesting take on the 1920s Everest expeditions.

[Peter]

I have re-read Buchan’s John Macnab which is a great autumn read, especially after a commute via Richmond Park when the deer rut is on.

Now following it up with the bittersweet The Return of John Macnab by Andrew Greig.

WW, I am agin huntin', shootin' and fishin' but I love Buchan's books.  Absolutely preposterous but full of colour and love of the outdoors.  Have you read about his life?  God knows how he foud time to write!

[pcolbeck]

Just finished Peter F Hamilton's "Great North Road".  A mixture of Science Fiction, police procedural, and horror all in one novel. Plus he throws in some humor about Newcastle which will make anyone who knows the town smile.

[Jacomus]

Twilight of the Gods by Erik Wallin, editor Thorolf Hillblad.

http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Twilight_of_the_Gods.html?id=OC_a6iLI_w8C&redir_esc=y

The book recounts the experience of Wallin, a Swedish Waffen-SS volunteer, serving as an officer in the Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, 11th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Nordland deployed on the Eastern Front.

The book is easy to read, technically, though emotionally it is hard work. It paints a heart rending picture of the despair felt by the troops as they were pushed back by Soviet forces and their increasing confusion at the Western Allies not stepping in to check the progress of the Red Army. The fight for Berlin was particularly tough to read, as I know the city quite well and it has a special place in my heart - I could easily recognise the places of battles along streets and I have even drunk in a large pub, which was converted to an aid station where Wallin was treated for a shrapnel injury, then back to a pub post-war.

[Jacomus]

Next up, I'm going fictional.

http://www.bernardcornwell.net/1356book/

[gibbo]

Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike and Every Second Counts. Interesting read given that he's just been banned for doping - he spends a lot of time in both books denying that drug taking took place.
Gibbo.

[DrMekon]

Finished 1980, and need a rest, so reading Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma for light relief.

I've got some data that's somewhat pertinent to the "harms of screening" debate (not mammography, but another programme, and we show that participants don't have a clue about the benefits and harms). I'm currently on my 4th attempt to get it peer-reviewed because the journal editors keep refusing to send it for review, despite it being just a short report, and the data arising from what was the main article in BMJ a while back. I doubt it'll come up, but I do think it's a bit weird refusing to send stuff for review.

[L CC]

I'm reading Sophie Hannah's novels at the moment. Started them in the wrong order, having picked a couple up at Tesco - A Room Swept White and Kind of Cruel - and now I have Little Face and The Other Half Lives. I'll probably get the rest at some point too.

I'd never heard of her, so I don't know how/why I picked this in my (virtual) basket, but I really liked it.

[bikepacker]

Just picked up a copy of Cyclings Greatest Misadventures in a charity shop. Hope none of you or I am not in there. 

[rafletcher]

I'm a bit of a "mainstream" reader these days, nothing too heavy (I did Cancer Ward in my teens!) so it's mainly crime fiction. Just finished the latest Kathy Reichs, and now on John Connolly's latest The Wrath of Angels.

Been overdoing the reservations at the library - I have 11 others at home now, 6 of which are different flavours of Nordic crime fiction. Just as well the nights are drawing in so I get some reading time!

[Auntie Helen]

Just picked up a copy of Cyclings Greatest Misadventures in a charity shop. Hope none of you or I am not in there. 

That was a free ebook on Kindle a month or so ago. I downloaded it but gave up halfway through - as you read it, you will probably discover why!

[mattc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_History , 3rd book in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition trilogy.

Apparently I'm reading SF about designer denim jackets. But it's intriguing!

It took 200 pages for anything to actually happen. There is more technology in a single paragraph of Neuromancer. But it's great writing - there's something clever about modern culture on every page.

Stuff did actually happen in the last 3rd, but at a very leisurely pace. (apart from some brief motorcycle courier action, that was less leisurely).

Really enjoyed this, and N has just declared similar. Despite the denim content.

[mark]

Just started Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and his Slaves by Henry Wiencek. Promises to be a very interesting read.

[Mrs Pingu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_History , 3rd book in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition trilogy.

Apparently I'm reading SF about designer denim jackets. But it's intriguing!

It took 200 pages for anything to actually happen. There is more technology in a single paragraph of Neuromancer. But it's great writing - there's something clever about modern culture on every page.

Stuff did actually happen in the last 3rd, but at a very leisurely pace. (apart from some brief motorcycle courier action, that was less leisurely).

Really enjoyed this, and N has just declared similar. Despite the denim content.

I'm reading that, but had no idea that it was a trilogy. Happily, I read Pattern Recognition first but just happened to pick up Zero History on the kindle next. Oh well, I guess I'll find out the name of the 2nd one and read that once I've finished
Am quite enjoying it though.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Just started JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy.

[pcolbeck]

D-Day Antony Beevor's latest opus on crucial WWII campaigns. This one is as good as Stalingrad, mixes grand sweep with many small vignettes of individual actions. Its warts and all and doesn't fail to point out bad decisions and leadership on the allied as well as German side along with atrocities committed by both. It's very moving and has some facts that I had never come across before such as the high number of combat stress casualties amongst the allied troops and the fact that the German troop suffered very little from this even though they were the ones being pounded by huge shells form naval gun fire.

[citoyen]

currently reading...

Queen Lucia, the first in EF Benson's Mapp & Lucia series. Loving it so far.

Now finished the first four novels plus one short story. Still very much loving it. So funny. I mean proper crying with laughter stuff. Sheer joy to read.

d.

[Martin 14]

Have just finished Stanley Karnow's 'Vietnam a History...................and about to read Anne Mustoe's A Bike Ride: 12,000 miles around the world.