What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Quint]

Martin Amis was worth reading once upon a time, back when he had something to say and an interesting way of saying it. Like the Rolling Stones or I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, he has become a pastiche of himself.

I found Bring Up The Bodies an easier read than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

No one should ever need to feel ashamed of their reading choices. I might pass judgment on the quality of a writer's work but that doesn't imply judgment of the person who reads it.

    Re No one should etc - fwiw I totally agree, I remember choosing a book on Michael Jackson (ooh years ago -many years ago) for my son when he was quite little, the person serving me in Blackwells sort of sneered implying it wasn't a "proper" reading book, "oh" I said "does it only have pictures then", "no" replied oik, "well" I said "it's a frigging reading book is it not, hopefully spell checked etc so he will absorb and learn", never went back there.
    If you enjoy what you read then that is all you need to think about, they said the tinternet would kill books, of course it has everyone can see there are no books anymore  , computers will make you illiterate ? of course they have, have you ever typed a comma into an address bar instead of a full stop, very dodgy, it will not be what you're looking for, all good fun what.

[Mrs Pingu]

This hollybobs I've been reading Charles Stross' The Laundry books. Not heavyweight by any means but good page turning zombie spy thrilling fun

[tiermat]

Just put this year's Booker shortlist on my ebook reader.

There may be some long nights ahead!

[Mr Larrington]

Thin Air ~ Ann Cleeves.  Book six of the increasingly inaccurately-named Shetland Quartet.

[rabbit]

Just finished - Everest the Hard Way by Chris Bonington

Now a good deal of the way through 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer

[TheLurker]

Just finished "Faster" by Michael Hutchinson.   Arguably Britain's best (and quite possibly only)  International Time Trialling Journalist.  The content could be as dry as dust in other hands but he manages to make it both interesting and, at times, funny.  Enjoyed it.

[Nuncio]

Just put this year's Booker shortlist on my ebook reader.

There may be some long nights ahead!

(Only if you put the shortlisted books on your ebook reader as well )

Let us know what you think. 

[Karla]

Lady Chatterley's Lover

It's the Vintage edition, which has a rather exciting cover. A colleague's comment on seeing it, "Oh, so is that the new version of '50 Shades' or something?" 

[tiermat]

Just put this year's Booker shortlist on my ebook reader.

There may be some long nights ahead!

(Only if you put the shortlisted books on your ebook reader as well )

Let us know what you think.

First one is easy, Ali Smith, How To Be Both. Pretentious shite. There always has to be one, at leadt it's not yet another Will Self one.

The Lives of Others is good, though.

[Nuncio]

First one is easy, Ali Smith, How To Be Both. Pretentious shite.

My kind of review.

[citoyen]

First one is easy, Ali Smith, How To Be Both. Pretentious shite. There always has to be one, at leadt it's not yet another Will Self one.

Hey, I liked Umbrella!

[tiermat]

First one is easy, Ali Smith, How To Be Both. Pretentious shite. There always has to be one, at leadt it's not yet another Will Self one.

Hey, I liked Umbrella!

You may have done, for which I applaud you, but to me it was just a load of pretentious shite, like all his books, in fact.

[red marley]

... but to me it was just a load of pretentious shite, like all his books, in fact.

Gosh. I admire your perseverance to have kept reading all his books while concluding each and every one of them was pretentious shite. Personally, Great apes is one of my all time favourites.

[citoyen]

Fwiw, I don't believe Will Self is pretentious. I don't think he cares enough what other people think of him for that to be true. I always get the feeling from his work that he writes for his own enjoyment first and foremost. And I generally find his writing to be entirely sincere. He does seem to enjoy expressing a controversial opinion but I'd say he's far less cynical than the likes of Dan Brown or Jeffrey Archer.

I'm currently reading Cloud Atlas, another book that is frequently dismissed as pretentious shite. I'm absolutely loving it. Every beautifully crafted sentence.

[ian]

I've met Mr Self. He talks like he writes. It's splendid and he doesn't seem to do it on purpose, all that bejewelled verbosity just spontaneous boils out of the him like someone reduced the linguistic pressure. He just likes words and unlike me he's smart enough that he doesn't have to make them up in a futile attempt to impress people (mostly, I'm pretty sure he sneaks some made-up ones in). One of the few writers who sends me gleefully scurrying for the dictionary just to check. And yes, I think he likes to be tad cheeky (and he was right about Orwell). None of this is influenced by the fact he bought me a pint.

I bleurgled through Cloud Atlas. Well written maybe, but contrived tripe. It was better than the movie though. Then again shitting rocks would be better than the movie.

[citoyen]

Very well written and thoroughly entertaining contrived tripe so far.

[spesh]

Very well written and thoroughly entertaining contrived tripe so far.

A description which reminds me of a magazine article, which I think was by David Langford, where the author laid out a four-band system of categorising books or films:

Good good - Ought to be good, and it doesn't disappoint
Good crap - Ought to be crap, but it's surprisingly good
Crap good - Ought to be good, but falls short
Crap crap - Ought to be crap and oh boy, it sure is!

[Tail End Charlie]

I have just re-read Beau Geste. Great story and I'd forgotten the ending. It also had a word every half dozen pages or so which I had to look up the meaning of and yet it's not a difficult read.

Double Cross by Ben Macintyre is also a fascinating read, the true story of the operation to fool the Germans that the D-Day landings weren't going to be in Normandy. You couldn't make up some of the tales.

[Quint]

Naming the dead (Rebus, worrying how similar we are  ) also Elizabeth David - English Bread and Yeast Cookery, it is very good 

[mark]

A Viet Cong Memoir, by Truon Nhu Tang. An excellent account of the conflict in Vietnam from 1946 to 1975, from the perspective of a high ranking member of the NLF.

[Quint]

How on earth did you discover that one

[mark]

Amazon.com book recommendations, based on my past reading/purchasing patterns. I've read a fair bit about the Vietnam war in the last few years, none of it especially flattering to the 5 US presidents involved or to the US government in general. It's extremely readable, and reading what someone on the other side has to say is fascinating.

[madcow]

Just finished - Everest the Hard Way by Chris Bonington

Now a good deal of the way through 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer

Got both of those and my copy of Everest etc is signed by Mr B himself and Doug Scott.
If you like "Into Thin air" , follow it with "No Way down" by Graham Bowley. Death and survival on K2.

My current book is "Where the hell have you been? " by Tom Carver, ex BBC foreign reporter.
His father, who was Montgomery's stepson, escaped from an Italian POW camp and walked back to the British lines.
 Tom Carver writes using material from his fathers diary,his own childhood memories and  then brings the reader back to recent times and when his dad is almost housebound.

[Mr Larrington]

Just finished - Everest the Hard Way by Chris Bonington

Now a good deal of the way through 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer

Got both of those and my copy of Everest etc is signed by Mr B himself and Doug Scott.
If you like "Into Thin air" , follow it with "No Way down" by Graham Bowley. Death and survival on K2.

I was talking to a cameraman in Battle Mountain who has worked extensively with David Breashears, leader of the IMAX expedition on Everest in '96.  His book High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places is worth a read.

My current book is "Where the hell have you been? " by Tom Carver, ex BBC foreign reporter.
His father, who was Montgomery's stepson, escaped from an Italian POW camp and walked back to the British lines.
 Tom Carver writes using material from his fathers diary,his own childhood memories and  then brings the reader back to recent times and when his dad is almost housebound.

Read that not so long ago; a jolly ripping yarn.  Natch if the baddies had sussed who he was he'd have been in Colditz quicker than you could say "Mein Hund hat keine Nase".

[mark]

Just finished - Everest the Hard Way by Chris Bonington

Now a good deal of the way through 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer

Got both of those and my copy of Everest etc is signed by Mr B himself and Doug Scott.
If you like "Into Thin air" , follow it with "No Way down" by Graham Bowley. Death and survival on K2.

Another good followup to "Into Thin Air" (or just a really good read about high altitude mountaineering) is "The Climb", by Anatoly Boukreev. Boukreev was the Russian guide who helped rescue a number of people during the storm described in "Into Thin Air". "The Climb" is partly his version of the entire incident, partly a rebuttal of accusations made against him after said incident, and partly a summary of his views on what the role of a high altitude guide ought to be, contrasted with the role played by too many modern climbing guides.