What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I'm just about to start Doctor Sleep.

I'm not getting on very fast with Doctor Sleep because it's too scary to read alone at night.

[Ruth]

I just finished Long Walk Home by Jude Tebbutt.

It's a very honest book, by an ordinary person, who had a series of extraordinary and horrifying experiences.  She may have gained some catharsis from writing this book, I don't know.   Reading it has left me with sadness for her, but also great respect for her resilience and pragmatism.

Behind the scenes, as her son fought to get her home, Things Happened that she can't tell in the book for fear of compromising individuals, but there are clearly whole worlds of movers and shakers and parties around on the international scene who have to deal with kidnap and goodness knows what, goodness knows how.

We feel safe, don't we, in our nice cosy country, but we're only a hair's breadth away from anarchy.  And I don't want to go anywhere near bloody Somalia, ever.

[Steph]

Just finished Dust (third in the Wool trilogy) by Hugh Howey. Best SF I've come across in years.

Now I've just started on Complicity.

Been wondering about those. Lots of Kindle marketing, but I've been a bit busy formatting my own stuff to do much reading. Taking a break from that, so are they seriously worth a read? What genre of SF do they fall into, if that doesn't give too much away? I am guessing post-apocalyptic.

[L CC]

Been wondering about those. Lots of Kindle marketing, but I've been a bit busy formatting my own stuff to do much reading. Taking a break from that, so are they seriously worth a read? What genre of SF do they fall into, if that doesn't give too much away? I am guessing post-apocalyptic.

Lots of kindle marketing because he self published first, I think¹, then was taken up and marketed. Post apocalyptic for Wool, the others are "How did we get here?".
Very listenable for this non-reader.

_{1: Could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.}

[rogerzilla]

I've just got through The Great Gatsby (very good) and Ian Fleming's two collections of Bond short stories (also very good, although For Your Eyes Only is the better one).

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I'm just about to start Doctor Sleep.

I'm not getting on very fast with Doctor Sleep because it's too scary to read alone at night.

Finished. Most of it was pretty good, some of it was pretty scary, one bit of it was "oh ffs, there was no need for that 'twist'" and one bit was beautiful.

[fuzzy]

Interesting Times- Rincewind returns.

(click to show/hide)

Get ravished by a village of Amazons whose menfolk have died out due to a particualr genetic disease or acquire potatoes? Hmmm, a bit of a dilema.

[tiermat]

Last night I finished "The Sisters Brothers", then moved onto "The Time Keeper", which I finished in 2 hours, the fact that the type is not dense on the page and it is only 200 pages long (a fair few of which are coverplate pages, i.e. just a page with a picture on seperating chapters) had something to do with the quickness that I read it.  I then moved onto a much more dense book, "A Stark and Wormy Knight" by Tad Williams, a collection of short stories.

[mark]

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-43. First of a three part series on WWII by Rick Atkinson. The blunders and incompetence displayed by American and British high commands is truly amazing. I almost think that the winner of that was the side that picked the least inopportune times to screw up.

[interzen]

Iain (M) Banks - Surface Detail (following on from 'Excession', with 'The Hydrogen Sonata' to follow)

I'm busy working my way through the Culture books again, albeit not in any particular order. This being Iain Banks, there have been several extremely 'interesting' deaths within the first couple of chapters, although no major characters (yet) ... time will tell if it can match the body count of 'Consider Phlebas'.

It seems to have received mixed reviews but I'm rather enjoying it at the moment.

[Ruth]

I love the Culture.

The new Bridget Jones by Helen Fielding - Mad About The Boy.

Pounds lost: 0  (bad)
Spinning sessions attended: 1 (bad)
Musical instruments learned: 0 (bad)
Tolstoy novels read: 0 (bad)
Indulgent trashy fiction novels about a favourite fictional character: 1(vvg. indeed)

[andrewc]

I love the Culture.

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/10/spook-century.html#comment-1744871

Pre Culture Culture ?    I've read a few short stories by the Strugatsky's but this is new to me...

[citoyen]

Wednesday's 99p kindle deal of the day: The Universe vs Alex Woods (might still be available at the low price, not sure)

Today's 99p kindle deal of the day: The Secret History

The former I'm very much looking forward to after recommendations here.

The latter I'm looking forward to revisiting, having first read it something like 20 years ago. Crikey.

Both will have to wait until after I've finished Spring Fever, which I have to say, even as a huge Wodehouse fan, is an awfully long way from being one of his best.

[Lady Cavendish]

Citoyen, I rely on you to point all these things out from the kindle store. I follow you on all these books. Just downloaded The Secret History as well. I'm like your bookcase stalker.

[rogerzilla]

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-43. First of a three part series on WWII by Rick Atkinson. The blunders and incompetence displayed by American and British high commands is truly amazing. I almost think that the winner of that was the side that picked the least inopportune times to screw up.

It's fair to say that Patton didn't do terribly well; he got the Vichy French to surrender and then put them in charge again while he went hunting and hobnobbing with the Sultan.

[mark]

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-43. First of a three part series on WWII by Rick Atkinson. The blunders and incompetence displayed by American and British high commands is truly amazing. I almost think that the winner of that was the side that picked the least inopportune times to screw up.

It's fair to say that Patton didn't do terribly well; he got the Vichy French to surrender and then put them in charge again while he went hunting and hobnobbing with the Sultan.

Patton started screwing up before he left the US, squabbling with other services and making a mess of all the logistics. As I said, none of the Allied commanders were all that impressive.

[citoyen]

I'm like your bookcase stalker.

Heh.

I use ereaderiq.co.uk to keep track of my amazon wish list and notify me of price drops. Very handy!

My amazon wish list currently runs to about 400 books - I just add anything to it that sounds interesting (eg Alex Woods) then wait for it to become available cheaply. There are very few books I'm so desperate to read that I can't wait for the price to drop - plus I've got quite enough on my kindle already to keep me going for a long time...

Started Alex Woods last night. First impressions very favourable, despite a few minor irritations that aren't even worth mentioning. Great opening chapter, as I think someone said upthread. Very funny.

[Mrs Pingu]

I have just finished The Gardener from Ochakov by Andrey Kurkov (he of Penguin Lost etc).
Good book, suitably weird, slightly abrupt ending though. No penguins.

[Mrs Pingu]

Next up is On The Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds. Need to find some stuff to read after that....

[rogerzilla]

Towards The End Of The Morning by Michael Frayn.  The Erskine Morris character is a work of genius.

[The_Mikey]

The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism  -  Naoki Higashida

[tiermat]

Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of The World - Alex Rutherford The third book on the Empire of the Moghul series (I started it the night before last and didn't have an internet connection to check the order in which to read them )

A very well written historical fiction book, along the lines of Bernard Cornwell or Simon Skarrow, but these are set in, as you might have guessed, India.  Set in the 16th Century the series of books follow one dynasty's rise to power and the treachery behind the throne.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Moghul

[citoyen]

Towards The End Of The Morning by Michael Frayn.  The Erskine Morris character is a work of genius.

I love that book and have read it several times. It does seem strangely outdated now though - it certainly doesn't reflect what it's like to work in journalism in the 21st century.

[citoyen]

Finished The Universe Versus Alex Woods last night. Enjoyed it. I don't think it quite lives up to the hype but there are some very funny bits. Alex Woods reminds me of Adrian Mole in many respects.

[Steph]

Just finished Charles Stross's latest entry in his "Laundry" series. A novella called  "Equoid"    I think I need a unicorn chaser....

Just finished it. Poor old HPL.....