What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Mr Larrington]

And as a complete antidote try "The Burgess Book Of Lies" by Adrian & Alan Burgess.

Maybe true
Maybe not true
Better you believe

[Aidan]

Just finished All you need is kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. This is the book Edge of Tomorrow was based on.
Not a deep book by any means and a much simpler story than the film turned into, but an enjoyable read

[Quint]

John le Carre - The Honourable Schoolboy, very good so far 

[interzen]

Neal Stephenson - Anathem

Weird vocabulary aside (the glossary helps) it's shaping up to be a good one.

[citoyen]

Absolute Beginners - Colin Macinnes

I read his other two London novels some years ago but never this one, for some reason. Totally love it. Very funny and a sharp, authentic voice. Feel like re-reading the others again now.

[citoyen]

To The River - Olivia Laing

A deeply personal extended essay/travelogue about rivers, specifically the Ouse (the one in Sussex), in which Virginia Woolf drownded herself and which the author walked along from source to sea during one week in summer 2009 following a messy break-up.

And it's a lot more interesting than that makes it sound. Something you'd read for the quality of the writing alone, regardless of whether you have any particular affiliation with the subject matter.

[Mr Larrington]

Land of the Green Man ~ Dr Larrington.  I am instructed to look for "where it doesn't make sense, or where it's too boring to read, or too academic-sounding" on account of it not being published yet.

'Tis a folkloric ramble around the BRITISH Isles, with the chapters on the type of Other involved rather than the geography, if that makes sense.

[citoyen]

Land of the Green Man ~ Dr Larrington.  I am instructed to look for "where it doesn't make sense, or where it's too boring to read, or too academic-sounding" on account of it not being published yet.

'Tis a folkloric ramble around the BRITISH Isles, with the chapters on the type of Other involved rather than the geography, if that makes sense.

I just looked this up on Amazon cos it sounds intriguing but... Oh yeah, not published yet. You did mention that. Some of Dr Larrington's other books look interesting though.

As an aside, because I expressed an interest in Dr Larrington's work, Amazon thinks I might also be interested in a box set of The Chinese Detective, series 1 and 2.

[T42]

Got this one coming:

Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World, by one Mark Pendergrast

Saw a documentary based on it and ordered it.  One nice snippet: in the 18th century coffee had the reputation of being bad for a gent's libido. "Not tonight, m'dear, I've been drinking coffee" was the well-worn excuse for disappointing one's spouse.  In reality, many or most coffee-houses had a brothel on the first floor. This, apparently, led to Britain becoming a tea-drinking nation as m'dear counter-attacked.

[Mr Larrington]

As an aside, because I expressed an interest in Dr Larrington's work, Amazon thinks I might also be interested in a box set of The Chinese Detective, series 1 and 2.

This is no doubt due to the presence in the cast of one Larrington Walker.  No relation.

[citoyen]

This is no doubt due to the presence in the cast of one Larrington Walker.  No relation.

Nothing to do with David Yip's obsession with medieval folklore then? How disappointing.

[tiermat]

Currently just finished "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan, a book about a group of Australians in a POW camp during WWII.

Quite good, but a little formulaic in places.

Moved onto "Perfect", which I thought was on the short list, but isn't...

Have also, recently, finished "To Rise Again at a Decent Hour" by Joshua Ferris.  This and the Ali Smith one make me despair at the Booker Prize this year.

[Mr Larrington]

Having now finished "Lou Reed: The Life" by Mick Wall¹, am about to start on "Buried Angels" wot is the latest Camilla Läckberg, or at least the latest Camilla Läckberg to be published in the BRITONS' English.  Three years behind the Swedish edition.  Cover blurb says she's sold 12 million books; Jo Nesbø is on 20 million hence his books are translated straight away

1: it's a good read but rather falls down with the repeated and somewhat startling revelation that artist / feminist / journalist / RELEASE co-founder Caroline Coon is dead which, it seems, she, er, isn't.

[tiermat]

2/3rds of the way through "J" by Howard Jacobson.

It's very densely written, but readable nontheless.

[citoyen]

This and the Ali Smith one make me despair at the Booker Prize this year.

I was rather hoping my old uni friend's debut novel would at least get shortlisted for something this year but it has gone unregarded by both the Guardian First Book Award and now the Booker. It's a great book. And I would say that even if he weren't a friend.

No doubt once I have read Bone Clocks I will also be adding my voice to the clamour of "He wuz robbed!" cries from Middle[brow] England at the fact that David Mitchell has once again been overlooked.

[redshift]

This and the Ali Smith one make me despair at the Booker Prize this year.

I was rather hoping my old uni friend's debut novel would at least get shortlisted for something this year but it has gone unregarded by both the Guardian First Book Award and now the Booker. It's a great book. And I would say that even if he weren't a friend.

No doubt once I have read Bone Clocks I will also be adding my voice to the clamour of "He wuz robbed!" cries from Middle[brow] England at the fact that David Mitchell has once again been overlooked.

If that's the thing that's just been on Radio 4 for the last week or so I wouldn't bother, but then I find much fiction to be tedious drivel these days.

[ian]

The Girl with All the Gifts which I didn't know was that genre, but Mr Kindle recommended it after Richard Kadrey's rather excellent The Getaway God, the latest Sandman Slim adventure. Who wouldn't want to roar around LA/Pandaemonium on their Hellion hog. That's not a question because the answer is 'everyone', that's who. I'd like to ride around Croydon on a Hellion hog, for that matter. And yes, motorbike, not pig.

I mostly avoid zombies (easy in real life, because they're shit, it's like being chased by an OAP, we only need to fear them if they get mobility scooters and the Daily Mail dubs them 'Pavement Terrorists'). Oh there's so many of them, comes the usual rebuke, force of numbers. These are people who never tried to post a parcel at 11am. Unless you find long waits terrifying they're not scary. Anyway, this was a cut above, and not just because fungus is scarier than the undead. Not entirely cheerful mind. Oh, those dystopian futures, always doom and gloom.

I did try The Martian but boats again failed to be floated. Seemed a formulaic 'outline problem then solve problem' with lots of babble and no character development. Everything is 'oh well, I'm going to die today, except no, I'm not because I've discovered [insert long dull explanation]'. Anyway, as part of my new policy, I'm dumping books that don't grab me, so it's dumped. Also, and I'll say this again, the wind on Mars isn't going to blow satellite dishes 'kilometres.' Pressure at ground level on Mars is about 0.6% what it is on Earth. It might flap a parachute and kick dust into the air. On the plus side, your bike tyres wouldn't need much pumping up.

[mrcharly-YHT]

On the plus side, your bike tyres wouldn't need much pumping up.

Are you sure about that?
I suspect that you'd need as many strokes of the pump to achieve a proportionally lower pressure. In other words, if you need 100 strokes to get 6bar on earth, would you not need 100 strokes to get 6martian bar on mars? They'd be easier strokes, mind, but still need the same amount.

[ian]

On the plus side, your bike tyres wouldn't need much pumping up.

Are you sure about that?
I suspect that you'd need as many strokes of the pump to achieve a proportionally lower pressure. In other words, if you need 100 strokes to get 6bar on earth, would you not need 100 strokes to get 6martian bar on mars? They'd be easier strokes, mind, but still need the same amount.

Hmm, true, as you'd be pumping from ambient pressure. Probably best to avoid those CO₂ cartridges though.

[mark]

Just started Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond. So far the book is fascinating.

[tiermat]

2/3rds of the way through "J" by Howard Jacobson.

It's very densely written, but readable nontheless.

Finished it last night, thought provoking is what I would call it, but a book that leaves more questions than answers.

Glad to see that my favourite out of the shortlist won this year.

Next year I am going to try and get through them all, this I might manage if a) there is no pretentious shite and b) there aren't any really really densely written books (yes, I am looking at you, "J" and "Bring Up The Bodies")

[Steph]

A monograph on Blackburn Roc/Skua by Aeroflash, FOTP.

[citoyen]

a) there is no pretentious shite and b) there aren't any really really densely written books (yes, I am looking at you, "J" and "Bring Up The Bodies")

"It's difficult to keep up with [Hilary Mantel's] prose like it's difficult to keep with Fred Astaire on the dancefloor. But once you get into the rhythm it's like you can fly."

- comment on the Guardian website (and it's not often I feel compelled to quote anything from the bottom half of the internet)

[Guy]

If you haven't already done so, I can heartily reccommend reading "Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook to Travelling Upon the Ankh-Morpork & Sto Plains Hygienic Railway."

I am currently re-reading "Rucksack Man" by Sebastian Snow, being an account of his walk from Tierra del Fuego to the Panama Canal.

[tiermat]

a) there is no pretentious shite and b) there aren't any really really densely written books (yes, I am looking at you, "J" and "Bring Up The Bodies")

"It's difficult to keep up with [Hilary Mantel's] prose like it's difficult to keep with Fred Astaire on the dancefloor. But once you get into the rhythm it's like you can fly."

- comment on the Guardian website (and it's not often I feel compelled to quote anything from the bottom half of the internet)

Good point, and  I have to agree.  I would add that Howard Jacobson's writing (at least in "J") is in a similar vein.