Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 846668 times)

fuzzy · « **Reply #3250 on:** 31 January, 2014, 03:44:03 pm »

A song of Ice and Fire book 1- Game of Thrones. I am loving the way he has written each chapter from an individual characters perspective.

interzen · « **Reply #3251 on:** 03 February, 2014, 10:54:19 am »

Quote from: fuzzy on 31 January, 2014, 03:44:03 pm

A song of Ice and Fire book 1- Game of Thrones. I am loving the way he has written each chapter from an individual characters perspective.

I've pretty much given up on it precisely because of this ... I don't mind interweaving storylines, but GoT has far too many characters to pull this off, IMO.

I've just finished 'Espedair Street' by the late Mr. Banks - it's the first 'non-M' book of his that I've read, although I did listen to its radio adaptation a few years ago on R4. It's not a bad read, in fact it captures the whole 70s-80s sex-n-drugs-n-rock-n-roll bit rather nicely, but the ending utterly ruined it (OK, you could sort-of see the ending coming a mile off, but even so ...)

Started 'The Crow Road' last night - enjoying it so far.

andrewc · « **Reply #3252 on:** 04 February, 2014, 10:34:58 pm »

Half way through "The Days of Anna Madrigal". So far, so good.

Armistead Maupin's reading in Liverpool next week is sold out, just as well as I doubt I'd be able to get the afternoon off

interzen · « **Reply #3253 on:** 05 February, 2014, 07:01:02 pm »

Close to half-way through 'The Crow Road' ... my, it's getting interesting

Have also downloaded 'The Steep Approach To Garbadale', since my interest in Iain Banks' non-scifi stuff has been piqued and it has a bit of a tech angle to it if the synopsis I read is any indication.

mattc · « **Reply #3254 on:** 05 February, 2014, 07:24:29 pm »

Quote from: interzen on 05 February, 2014, 07:01:02 pm

Close to half-way through 'The Crow Road' ... my, it's getting interesting

Have also downloaded 'The Steep Approach To Garbadale', since my interest in Iain Banks' non-scifi stuff has been piqued and it has a bit of a tech angle to it if the synopsis I read is any indication.

I can't recommend Garbadale - it's not an awful book but to me it seemed a dull attempt at reproducing Crow Road.

For me his best are The Wasp Factory and Complicity (with Crow Road somewhere in there!). I liked Espedair too.
TWF is just unique, certainly nothing like his other books! Probably a love-hate thing, but it is short so I'd recommend it to anyone

Complicity is probably much closer to CR in flavour.

Song of Stones is the worst of his I've read - just totally depressing. Didn't rate Canal Dreams much. The others I've either not read or can't remember very well!

interzen · « **Reply #3255 on:** 05 February, 2014, 07:29:57 pm »

Quote from: mattc on 05 February, 2014, 07:24:29 pm

Quote from: interzen on 05 February, 2014, 07:01:02 pm
Close to half-way through 'The Crow Road' ... my, it's getting interesting

Have also downloaded 'The Steep Approach To Garbadale', since my interest in Iain Banks' non-scifi stuff has been piqued and it has a bit of a tech angle to it if the synopsis I read is any indication.
I can't recommend Garbadale - it's not an awful book but to me it seemed a dull attempt at reproducing Crow Road.!

We shall see - I'm enjoying 'The Crow Road' immensely.
Since I had a bit of Amazon gift voucher surplus to get rid of I've gone and got 'Whit' and 'Feersum Endjinn' as well - I suspect that in the case of the latter I'll have to do a bit of a mental gear change akin to what I had to do when I first read 'Trainspotting' (took me ages to get my head round phonetic Embra-ese)

andrewc · « **Reply #3256 on:** 05 February, 2014, 07:46:19 pm »

Quote from: interzen on 05 February, 2014, 07:29:57 pm

Quote from: mattc on 05 February, 2014, 07:24:29 pm
Quote from: interzen on 05 February, 2014, 07:01:02 pm
Close to half-way through 'The Crow Road' ... my, it's getting interesting

Have also downloaded 'The Steep Approach To Garbadale', since my interest in Iain Banks' non-scifi stuff has been piqued and it has a bit of a tech angle to it if the synopsis I read is any indication.
I can't recommend Garbadale - it's not an awful book but to me it seemed a dull attempt at reproducing Crow Road.!
We shall see - I'm enjoying 'The Crow Road' immensely.
Since I had a bit of Amazon gift voucher surplus to get rid of I've gone and got 'Whit' and 'Feersum Endjinn' as well - I suspect that in the case of the latter I'll have to do a bit of a mental gear change akin to what I had to do when I first read 'Trainspotting' (took me ages to get my head round phonetic Embra-ese)

If you can handle the phonetics you might want to give "The Bridge" a try as well

Whit is twee but fun. Endjinn is good. I'd agree with Matt about Garbadale, along with The Business it's one of his weaker efforts. I've always thought Song of Stone was his last attempt to try a different writing voice , it failed miserably, so he went back to cozy Scottish.

tiermat · « **Reply #3257 on:** 06 February, 2014, 10:14:02 am »

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen

I started and finished this book in one sitting. It's a touching story of how the author reached the very bottom of life (as a homeless drug addict), started to turn his life around then found Bob. Bob gives him the sense of responsibility and hope to clean up and move on.

Lady Cavendish · « **Reply #3258 on:** 06 February, 2014, 10:14:54 am »

Right. I've been in and out of hospital recently like a boomerang, am in atm. I've got through a ridiculous amount of books. I'm bored out my mind.

Citoyen, where are you with all my recommendations?

I don't want anything too deep or needing too much concentration, as I'm drugged to the eyeballs. Something easy, Alex Woods-esque would be great. And I'm just downloading the streetcat named Bob, thanks Tiermat

List please

citoyen · « **Reply #3259 on:** 06 February, 2014, 10:48:48 am »

Quote from: Lady Cavendish link=topic=342.msg1638817#msg1638817 Citoyen, where are you with all my recommendations?
[/quote

Well, er... I've just started We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo, which is looking extremely promising. First impressions: here is an exciting new voice in literature. Immediately engaging and colourful without being overwrought. IIRC, her_welshness was also a big fan of this one.

I quite enjoyed Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson. My interest was tailing off by the end but I would recommend it on the basis of the lovely writing, and some good stuff about the trials and tribulations of being a teenage girl (which I can only relate to indirectly, of course) and about being the single mother of a teenage girl living with your aged Hungarian in-laws in a poky London flat (likewise). None of the male characters come out of it particularly well!

I've also just finished an anthology of early PG Wodehouse stories - "Kid Brady Stories" (1905-7) and "A Man Of Means" (1914). Kid Brady is very early stuff, juvenilia that's probably only of interest to Wodehouse completists like me, or fans of boxing lit, perhaps. There are hints of his voice coming through but generally the style is very immature. "A Man Of Means", however, is just wonderful. It concerns the adventures of the hapless Roland Bleke, a recognisably Wodehousian hero, who keeps getting in scrapes with people who want to fleece him and yet somehow always lands on his feet, and with much more money than he started, despite having no interest in financial wealth and no idea what to do with his riches. Very funny, very easy to read.

andrewc · « **Reply #3260 on:** 07 February, 2014, 08:48:26 am »

Quote from: andrewc on 04 February, 2014, 10:34:58 pm

Half way through "The Days of Anna Madrigal". So far, so good.

Armistead Maupin's reading in Liverpool next week is sold out, just as well as I doubt I'd be able to get the afternoon off

Finished it. Very good.
You complete & utter bastard Mr Maupin. I wasn't expecting that..!

tiermat · « **Reply #3261 on:** 07 February, 2014, 08:50:53 am »

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

The true story of a pleasure flight taken by US service men and women, through the valleys and mountains of New Guinea, that ended in disaster.

It is well written, moves along nicely and is, historically, interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_in_Shangri-La

pcolbeck · « **Reply #3262 on:** 07 February, 2014, 09:03:34 am »

The Twelve Caesars - Matthew Dennison

A potted biography of the twelves Caesars from Julius Caesar to Domitian
It's like (and admits to being) a modern version of Suetonious's famous "Twelve Caesars" so not a biography in the first they did this then they did that genre but more a description of character, politics and motives. Excellent so far (I am only up to Augustus) but I would have to say some prior knowledge is essential as it assumes a basic background knowledge of Roman history.

interzen · « **Reply #3263 on:** 08 February, 2014, 06:38:25 pm »

Finished "The Crow Road" - the ending was ... interesting, to say the least. Not quite as flat as that of 'Espedair Street' that's for sure.
I must admit feeling a little sad for the protagonist right at the end (those who've read the book will likely know what I'm referring to) but maybe that was the intention. I dunno.

Anyway, quite a low body count for a Banks novel, M or otherwise, although true to form the bodies in question met their end in a variety of, shall we say, interesting and unusual ways. Not your typical whodunnit, but immensely enjoyable in a macabre sort of way.

Moving on to "The Steep Approach To Garbadale" ...

interzen · « **Reply #3264 on:** 11 February, 2014, 10:11:26 am »

Quote from: interzen on 08 February, 2014, 06:38:25 pm

Moving on to "The Steep Approach To Garbadale" ...

... which I finished at silly o'clock this morning.

Definite similarities to "The Crow Road" - whether this was intentional on IB's part I don't know. I enjoyed it all the same, but like Crow Road it seemed to gather a lot of pace towards the end and the climax was truly

-worthy.

(click to show/hide)

tiermat · « **Reply #3265 on:** 11 February, 2014, 10:14:41 am »

Orr - My Story by Bobby Orr.

If you don't recognize the name, then this book probably isn't for you.

If you do then it is...

I am also working my way through Never Go Back by Lee Child, the latest Jack Reacher book.

Vince · « **Reply #3266 on:** 11 February, 2014, 10:47:11 am »

What is it about Lee Child's books? They are all the same, but you read the new one anyway.

Nuncio · « **Reply #3267 on:** 19 February, 2014, 02:08:37 pm »

I'm off to New Orleans shortly for a holiday. On the off-chance that I'll have some reading time, can the panel recommend some fiction with a local (or fairly local) - to New Orleans - flavour to read.

By the way - I've never dabbled with Faulkner, and know nothing of his books. Any good?

tiermat · « **Reply #3268 on:** 19 February, 2014, 02:25:26 pm »

Just finished The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort. Jeez, what a total sleaze bag that guy is.

Hasn't stopped me reading Catching The Wolf of Wall Street, though.

Nuncio, there is a whole raft out there, including:
The Client
The Pelican Brief - both by John Grisham
Misisipi by Michael Rielly
Neon Rain (and sequels) by James Lee Burke

It seems easy to find detective stories set there, but not many others.

citoyen · « **Reply #3269 on:** 19 February, 2014, 03:33:31 pm »

-Tu connais William Faulkner?
-Non, qui est-ce? Tu as couché avec lui?
-Mais non, mon coco!
-Alors je me fous de lui.

Never read any Faulkner myself but have been minded to for a while since he ticks both the Modernism and Great 20th Century American Novels boxes. Was discussing him with a colleague recently. The one he recommended was As I Lay Dying.

Anyway, he's got to be a better bet than John bloody Grisham.

mark · « **Reply #3270 on:** 19 February, 2014, 06:29:58 pm »

"Climbing Anchors" by John Long and Bob Gaines. One of the more readable books on the subject that I've found, not that that's saying a whole lot.

red marley · « **Reply #3271 on:** 19 February, 2014, 07:48:47 pm »

Quote from: Nuncio on 19 February, 2014, 02:08:37 pm

I'm off to New Orleans shortly for a holiday. On the off-chance that I'll have some reading time, can the panel recommend some fiction with a local (or fairly local) - to New Orleans - flavour to read.

If you haven't read it already, an ideal opportunity to read A Confederacy of Dunces. Deservedly on many reading bucket lists.

Not quite New Orleans , but my introduction to the Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins was Gone Fishin' which captures the heat of coastal Texas and bayou country well. And if you get on with that, there are plenty of other excellent Easy Rawlins books to choose from (mostly set in LA rather than the south).

Quint · « **Reply #3272 on:** 19 February, 2014, 08:43:02 pm »

Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh, I hoped against hope that LA was innocent, then TT blew that out of the water, now reading this leaves a dirty taste in my mouth when I watch any sport, how many are really clean I wonder

Nuncio · « **Reply #3273 on:** 19 February, 2014, 08:58:04 pm »

Thanks Jo and Citoyen. A Confederacy of Dunces and As I Lay Dying look just right. Off to the Nook.

L CC · « **Reply #3274 on:** 19 February, 2014, 09:43:50 pm »

For utterly lightweight/ hysterically bad, you know Sookie Stackhouse is from the Louisiana hinterlands and heads into New Orleans in the later 'novels'?

Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 846668 times)

fuzzy

red marley