What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Mr Larrington]

Just started The Girl In The Spider's Web, being David Lagercrantz' fourth volume in Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.  Early signs are that is it least much better translated than its predecessors.

[T42]

Have you seen this? Currently on 7/20
https://caboodle.nationalbooktokens.com/hiddenbooks/default.aspx?competition=9#.VliPudZSZXE

I got:

• 8, and
• bored

I got 10 before I lost interest...

(click to show/hide)

All Quiet On The Western Front
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
Gulliver's Travels
Paper Towns (lucky guess, never heard of it)
A Tale Of Two Cities
Ulysses
The Green Mile
The Shipping News
Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone
To The Lighthouse

A couple of those I hadn't twigged, but can add

(click to show/hide)

The War of the Worlds
A Year in Provence
The Buddha of Suburbia

and an assumption that any Harry Potter book will work, because I entered HP & the Chamber of Secrets

can only find 19 clues.

Indeed. I wonder if one is revealed when you've solved those 19.

I cheated - looked at the page source.  There's a green one in behind "London and Paris".

[Mr Larrington]

Just started The Girl In The Spider's Web, being David Lagercrantz' fourth volume in Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.  Early signs are that is it least much better translated than its predecessors.

About 3/4 of the way through.  It's suddenly become rather silly.

[jsabine]

Have you seen this? Currently on 7/20
https://caboodle.nationalbooktokens.com/hiddenbooks/default.aspx?competition=9#.VliPudZSZXE

I got:

• 8, and
• bored

I got 10 before I lost interest...

(click to show/hide)

All Quiet On The Western Front
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
Gulliver's Travels
Paper Towns (lucky guess, never heard of it)
A Tale Of Two Cities
Ulysses
The Green Mile
The Shipping News
Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone
To The Lighthouse

A couple of those I hadn't twigged, but can add

(click to show/hide)

The War of the Worlds
A Year in Provence
The Buddha of Suburbia

and an assumption that any Harry Potter book will work, because I entered HP & the Chamber of Secrets

can only find 19 clues.

Indeed. I wonder if one is revealed when you've solved those 19.

I cheated - looked at the page source.  There's a green one in behind "London and Paris".

Thanks. I like that.

[tiermat]

Just started The Girl In The Spider's Web, being David Lagercrantz' fourth volume in Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.  Early signs are that is it least much better translated than its predecessors.

About 3/4 of the way through.  It's suddenly become rather silly.

That'll be just after she gets shot, then!

[Mr Larrington]

Salander getting shot I can just about cope with but

(click to show/hide)

Having her sister suddenly revealed to be an Ebil Crinimal Mastermind is a Bit Much.

I stand by my earlier comment re the translation though.

[Mr Larrington]

That was a bit meh and Lagercrantz is obviously angling for a Several of sequels.  As an antidote I read Guy Martin's "When You Dead, You Dead" this afternoon and have now started "Bazaar Of Bad Dreams" by some unknown author with the unlikely name of Stephen King.

[perpetual dan]

BN (yes, I know, wrong thread): I've got a bad back.
GN: I've been lying on my back finishing reading things that have been half read for far too long. So far this weekend:
The Peripheral by William Gibson
Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum
Microadventures by Alastair Humphreys
and the most recent copies of Arivée and Cycle.

[Mr Larrington]

As a relief from the spookiness, killin's and the pockyclipse provided by Mr King I've just started The Secret War: Spies, Codes And Guerrillas 1939-1945 by Max "Hitler" Hastings.  Promises much underhand behaviour, general ludicrousness, SCIENCE and Nazis.

[T42]

Discovered a couple of unread Jim Craces at the bottom of a pile on our old printer table. Now reading The Pesthouse, which promises to be a barrel of laffs.

I went off him for a bit after starting All That Follows and disliking it (lacklustre, depressing).  This one feels more like a book.

[Mr Larrington]

Only read Being Dead of his.  Recommendations, anyone?

[Legs]

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Time In A Bottle and Thursday. 

[T42]

So far, I'd recommend everything but All That Follows.

In the last year I've read Harvest, Arcadia, The Devil's Larder and that.  All different, all good.  TDL is a series of short pieces, all centred on food.

[citoyen]

Only read Being Dead of his.  Recommendations, anyone?

I've only read Harvest, which I thought was very good indeed without actually enjoying it all that much.

Currently revisiting David Lodge's Small World having been reminded of it by the Dan Brown thread, as mentioned elsewhere. Proper comfort reading. Must be the third or fourth time but it's still hilariously funny. And you don't even have to be interested in structuralism to enjoy it.

[geraldc]

I'm reading Dan Brown's Inferno, I gave up the first time I tried to read it a year or so ago. I read Dan Brown as it's inspirational and to remind me that nothing is impossible.

How does this crap get published, and why do people think he's a good author.

It has made me want to visit Florence though.

[Nuncio]

Only read Being Dead of his.  Recommendations, anyone?

I loved Arcadia - I must re-read it (again) some time. Don't bother with Six. I think I've read All that Follows but can't remember a thing about it.

Quarantine.  A beautiful book, and slightly disturbing. About Jesus. Or is it?  Hmmm? (I'd recommend this one.)

Also the first two, Continent and The Gift of Stones. They're good. Different.

The range of subjects is astonishing.  The early ones have a strong thread of the poetic about them. There's an underlying iambic rhythm to his prose in parts which sounds as if it might be a tad mannered, but I like it.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

As a relief from the spookiness, killin's and the pockyclipse provided by Mr King

Is there much spookiness in it? I don't mind about killin's and the pockyclipse, but I don't like extreme spookiness when I'm reading books on my own at night, and I've just got his Bizarre Dreams out of the liberry.

[Mr Larrington]

As a relief from the spookiness, killin's and the pockyclipse provided by Mr King

Is there much spookiness in it? I don't mind about killin's and the pockyclipse, but I don't like extreme spookiness when I'm reading books on my own at night, and I've just got his Bizarre Dreams out of the liberry.

Not really.  Nothing that would have made me want to sleep with the lights on anyway.  The pockyclipse story is probably the scariest one because it's more plausible.  OTOH I read The Exorcist aged 9 and didn't find that particularly scary either.

[L CC]

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Actually made me say "what the fuck?" out loud on the bus the other day. Luckily it was the 14 and nobody noticed.

Current as ever, I'm listening to this right now. Apart from some slightly odd pronunciations (peedant, for example) the reader is OK.

My "what the fuck?" was walking through the estate late on my way home, having zoned out for 5 minutes running up to it. I'm really quite loving it.

[Ruthie]

Different Every Time - a biography of Robert Wyatt.

A book spanning such a long time period inevitably makes for a social history, especially when the subject is so politically and intellectually engaged.  The madness of the 1960s fostered such immense creativity and I do wonder if there'll ever be such a cultural watershed again.  I'm only a few chapters in and I'm hooked.

I've finished it.  The first time I've ever grieved at the end of a biography!  The way you grieve at the end of a novel, when you wish it would never end.  The best thing is that the story continues of course, as Robert is still being Robert at the moment so there may be room for addenda.

A unique and excellent life and creative output, it's even had me listening to 70's prog rock in the wee smalls - while sober.  Dammit, I nearly listened to some jazz!  I continue to have my musical horizons broadened as a result of reading this.  I'm very grateful for this.

Meticulously researched (just like it says in the blurb) and subtly written, respectful but not fawning.

This one's not going to the church fayre book stall.  I'll definitely read it again.  This book is an education and I recommend it.

[ElyDave]

Re reading 1984, again.

Also reading Casino Royale to my 13 yo son (special needs, can sit and listen, but not read on his own)

Just finished Kraken by China Mielville, very dark humour, fantasy London Underworld.  Have more of his on e-books.

Also re-reading The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Volek and Phinney, plenty of evidence that nutritional ketosis can help give better blood glucose control for T1s.

Generally also have a couple of management type books on the go as well, dipping in for bits and pieces now and then.

[Mr Larrington]

A unique and excellent life and creative output, it's even had me listening to 70's prog rock in the wee smalls - while sober.  Dammit, I nearly listened to some jazz!  I continue to have my musical horizons broadened as a result of reading this.  I'm very grateful for this.

A record company exec said at the time that he wasn't sure whether Soft Machine were the label's best-selling jazz band or worst-selling rock band.  As a general oral history of the Sixties this Unit recommends Jonathan Green's Days In The Life.

Started Hammond Innes' The Conquistadors yesterday as I didn't fancy lugging Max Hastings into the West End on a Saturday afternoon.  So far I have learned that the boy Cortés was a bit of a chancer.

[Kim]

The four-letter-computer-place thing explainer, in which the drawing guy explains how lots of things work using only the ten hundred most used words.

[T42]

90% of the way through The Pesthouse, another Crace. 

As noted Arcadia was excellent, ditto Harvest but very black, but lately I've realized that Crace is a miserable bugger.   The Pesthouse is about as much fun as Iain Banks' last book, the one he wrote while waiting to die of cancer.

But you never know, the last 10% might turn it into a comedy.

[cygnet]

I've just finished reading  'One man and his bog' - an account of walking the Pennine Way. Aside from the pig/tea incident just north of Hadrian's Wall (which rang bells of my walk) it put me in mind of Arrivee reports, but also via the way my mind works:
'What I talk about when I talk about running' by Hariuki Murakami.
I'm sure there's space out there for a talented cyclist for a companion piece - What I talk about when I talk about cycling!

TG or LaidbackRich to the fore.