What books are we reading at the moment ?

[andrewc]

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.

Oh my Bog!  I remember reading "The Rucksack Man" over 30 years ago!  Didn't he end up half blind, with multiple pairs of hard contact lenses stuck behind his eyeballs?
Quite a character  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Snow

[andrewc]

Just finished reading "God's War" by Kameron Hurley.   Grim, with a large side helping of bleak.   I'm pondering ordering the sequel though...

Set on a far future planet colonised by what appears to be an Islamic nation,  split into two sects who are now in a state of perpetual war.  All men from 16-40 are drafted into the military & not many come back... so a matriarchal society has evolved.

Our "heroine" starts off as a government approved bounty hunter, tracking down & beheading deserters from the front.....  Tough, stubborn, ruthless.... imagine a female version of Takeshi Kovacs and you won't go far wrong.

[Wascally Weasel]

Recently read my way through ‘For the Win’, ‘Little Brother’ and ‘Homeland’*, all by Cory Doctorow – all very thought provoking about ‘the new normal’ a phrase I see in the news a lot now and is very good on how a free internet and freedom of speech are mutually dependent.  I find his tone a bit preachy at times but the subjects he’s writing about are real, very relevant to today and he articulates them clearly and emphatically.

He’s big on cold brew coffee too!

It’s also been useful in translating a lot of the language I see in comments on gamergate – an issue that shows that the freedom we are fighting to preserve for some people is the freedom to be an asshole of course.



*’Homeland’ is a follow on book from ‘Little Brother’.  The latter deals with what happens to a country when it gives up freedoms nominally in the name of fighting terrorism and both are very good in the militarisation of the police and feel very relevant now. 

[tiermat]

"Police", the latest Harry Hole book by Jo Nesbo.

It's strange to read a Harry Hole book that doesn't have him in it, well not so far (I am only a third of the way through at the moment).

It's good, though.

[Mr Larrington]

The Blood Spilt ~ Åsa Larsson.  Second in her Rebecka Martinsson series of Scandicrime Stuffs.  OK so far...

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

You by Caroline Kepnes. It's narrated by a man who is stalking a woman. It's extremely creepy.

[tiermat]

"Police", the latest Harry Hole book by Jo Nesbo.

It's strange to read a Harry Hole book that doesn't have him in it, well not so far (I am only a third of the way through at the moment).

It's good, though.

Finished it, it is very good, right to the end.

Now started "Domestique" by Charlie Wegelius (or some such spelling). I didn't know that he's from York, his first club being VC York.

[Nuncio]

"Police", the latest Harry Hole book by Jo Nesbo.

It's strange to read a Harry Hole book that doesn't have him in it, well not so far (I am only a third of the way through at the moment).

It's good, though.

Finished it, it is very good, right to the end.

Now started "Domestique" by Charlie Wegelius (or some such spelling). I didn't know that he's from York, his first club being VC York.

I hope you enjoy it.  I thought it the best pro cycling book I've read. I wonder what the balance of the input was between Wegelius and Tom Southam.

[Riggers]

Robert Jordan's A wheel of Time. Book 1 of 14. Halfway through. Enjoying it, but initially struggled (inevitably) to get one's tongue around chaps and girls' names. I dunno, why don't they throw the odd ordinary one in sometimes, like, Geoff or Steve. I suppose Rand and Perrin qualify, but ones like Al'Thor and Aes Asidai (or somefin') coming up with your own pronunciation. Wizardry 'n' stuff abound.

[tiermat]

"Police", the latest Harry Hole book by Jo Nesbo.

It's strange to read a Harry Hole book that doesn't have him in it, well not so far (I am only a third of the way through at the moment).

It's good, though.

Finished it, it is very good, right to the end.

Now started "Domestique" by Charlie Wegelius (or some such spelling). I didn't know that he's from York, his first club being VC York.

I hope you enjoy it.  I thought it the best pro cycling book I've read. I wonder what the balance of the input was between Wegelius and Tom Southam.

I am, very much, it makes a major change from the "It's shit in the peleton" "He did drugs but I never touched them, but I am going to rat him out, anyway" kind of book (mostly aimed at LA, but some not).  I like the style, I like the content, so far.  Shit luck he had on the quad bike, wasn't it?

[Ruthie]

The Thirteenth Tale. I can't put it down!

[andrewc]

"Ancillary Justice" by Anne Leckie.  Her debut novel, and it won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Clarke & BSFA awards for SF in the same year.  First time anyone's done that!

It's rather good 

[pcolbeck]

Its different isnt it. I think there is a sequel due out soon as well.

[pcolbeck]

The Man Who Saved Britain - Simon Winder

A reflection on the post war British psyche through loss of Empire and World status with the Bond novels of Ian Flemming as a framework to hang it all on.

Funny and sad in equal measures as most of Simon Winders books are.

[Nuncio]

'Alan Stoob: Nazi hunter'

Alan Stoob is the Nazi-Hunter de nos jours. If you haven't seen any Nazis on the streets of Dunstable latterly it is entirely down to his tireless efforts. (Charlie Higson)

Alan Stoob is the funniest and most effective Bedfordshire-based Nazi Hunter I've come across. (Stephen Mangan)

[andrewc]

Its different isnt it. I think there is a sequel due out soon as well.

I've just downloaded "Ancillary Sword".   Hopefully it will pass the time until the new William Gibson is released on Kindle.

[Mr Larrington]

The Fire Witness ~ "Lars Kepler".  Third Scandicrimething featuring Joona Linna as maverick cop Joona Linna.  Over 200 pages in and only two killin's?  Standards are slipping.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

You by Caroline Kepnes. It's narrated by a man who is stalking a woman. It's extremely creepy.

Finished it. Eek!

[ian]

"Ancillary Justice" by Anne Leckie.  Her debut novel, and it won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Clarke & BSFA awards for SF in the same year.  First time anyone's done that!

It's rather good 

Hmm, I read that as a Kindle 99p thing. I found it pretty dull mix of porridgy prose and uninteresting characters diligently labouring towards the inevitability of future volumes.

Books, like Cornish pasties, always seem to be award-winning these days. Both are disconcertingly chewable and ultimately unsatisfying.

[L CC]

The Girl with All the Gifts

I really liked that. Was a bit spooky listening to it while riding in the dark, mind.

[ian]

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August which started off in that stodge-lit (aka I've-done-a-creative-writing-course) style which was a bit off-putting, but loosened and livened up after a couple of chapters.

[fuzzy]

snip Cornish pasties, always seem to be award-winning these days. Both are disconcertingly chewable and ultimately unsatisfying.

BURN HIM!

[red marley]

snip Cornish pasties, always seem to be award-winning these days. Both are disconcertingly chewable and ultimately unsatisfying.

See also: cheese, wine (but inexplicably only bronze or silver awards) and curry houses in Brick Lane.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

You know sometimes you're enjoying a book so much you really resent going to work?

When bobb and I were in Greece I read Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I really enjoyed it and got myself the next two in the series, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground. I finished Moon Over Soho yesterday and started Whispers Under Ground straight away. I really really really like them.

[Mr Larrington]

You know sometimes you're enjoying a book so much you really resent going to work?

When bobb and I were in Greece I read Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. I really enjoyed it and got myself the next two in the series, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground. I finished Moon Over Soho yesterday and started Whispers Under Ground straight away. I really really really like them.

Episode 5, Foxglove Summer, was published last week and purchased by me today.  I've only skimmed the first few pages but they made me laugh at least half a dozen times.

Hurrah! It's dedicated to pTerry and uses the word "wossname" in the dedication.
Bah! Ben Aaronovitch is right at the beginning of the General Library so putting it in its rightful,place on the shelves will require moving about nine hundred books.