What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Peter]

The very one!

[woollypigs]

Just finished:

Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey’s first novel in the now TV series - the Expanse. Jolly good SiFi I say both as telly and book fodder.
http://www.jamessacorey.com/books/leviathan-wakes/

And ...

The Cleaner by Mark Dawson. A good read I think for some escapism into the world of spies and hit men. http://markjdawson.com/the-cleaner

Oh on a side note, it will be my claim to fame, if there is ever a red carpet, there is talk about Hollywood want to do something. I drank a few pints with this fella about 20 years ago when he dated a good friend of mine. Even helped them move and read a first draft of his first book. Not seen or heard anything about him since they split up, never close enough to be exchanging contact details. But farcebook kept nagging with ads a few months ago that I had to read this book. One day out of boredom I clicked the link to see what this was. And when I saw his ugly mug I remembered who he was.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker. I'm really enjoying it.

[Vince]

In the Cold Dark Ground - Stuart McBride's latest adventure for Logan McRae. February and there is lots of snow.
Some story lines get tied up in this book, but others are left hanging. In fact I'm not sure where the story can go with the way this book has finished. It will be interesting to see.

[Ruthie]

Gorky Park.

Loving it.

[andrewc]

Gorky Park.

Loving it.

That's an old one!  First of a series as I recall.    Try "Moskva" by "Jack" Grimwood. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/best-crime-and-thriller-novels-of-2016/

[spesh]

Gorky Park.

Loving it.

That's an old one!  First of a series as I recall.

I was surprised to learn recently that Martin Cruz Smith has written eight Renko books (I've got the first four - Gorky Park, Polar Star, Red Square and Havana Bay).

[andrewc]

Think I've read the first three. 

A good piece here on Jon Courtnay Grimwood in which he cites the Cruz Smith novels & also another old favourite of mine, "Running Blind" by Desmond Bagley. Annoyingly I never saw the TV adaptation.  It's never officially been released on DVD, though I've just found a few sites selling what must be transfers from VHS.....

http://wwwshotsmagcouk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/on-banks-of-moskva-with-jack-grimwood.html

[Auntie Helen]

Blitzed by Norman Ohler. It's about the German Army's use of Crystal Meth for the Blitzkrieg in WW2. The second half of the book is about the drugs Hitler took, and it's mind-boggling stuff!

The translation is a little bit ropy in places but the subject matter is fascinating.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Think I've read the first three. 

A good piece here on Jon Courtnay Grimwood in which he cites the Cruz Smith novels & also another old favourite of mine, "Running Blind" by Desmond Bagley. Annoyingly I never saw the TV adaptation.  It's never officially been released on DVD, though I've just found a few sites selling what must be transfers from VHS.....

I always liked 'Running Blind' but I think my favourite was always High Citadel. Would make an incredible film, if done well.

[Paul]

A Boy Called Christmas. It's a different christmas book with a novel (I think) take on the origin of FC. The boys are 7 and 10 now. Louis (10) still gets a kick from bedtime stories, but they have to be good. This one is.

(click to show/hide)

There's a truth Pixie who get so excited about exploding heads that she wets herself!

Happily, there's already a follow-up and it's sitting next to my bed ready when we finish the first one - in a day or two.

 

[Mr Larrington]

Finisterre (Wars Within) ~ Graham Hurley.  His first standalone novel in ages.  Set in 1944, partly at Los Alamos and partly in Spain.  Contains killin's, Nazis and the obligatory U-boat captain who is not a Nazi but does Nazi things at the behest of Nazis anyway.  Probably while wearing his hat backwards.  The lead SS man is straight out of the Bumper Book of Nazi Clichés too, but he's already dead so it doesn't matter quite so much.  Cautious approval so far.

[andrewc]

Think I've read the first three. 

A good piece here on Jon Courtnay Grimwood in which he cites the Cruz Smith novels & also another old favourite of mine, "Running Blind" by Desmond Bagley. Annoyingly I never saw the TV adaptation.  It's never officially been released on DVD, though I've just found a few sites selling what must be transfers from VHS.....

I always liked 'Running Blind' but I think my favourite was always High Citadel. Would make an incredible film, if done well.

They'd make the pilot an American though,  saving his passengers from damn commies... or muslim terrists..

[fuzzy]

Die Trying- Jack Reacher the Second.

An enjoyable read so far.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Think I've read the first three. 

A good piece here on Jon Courtnay Grimwood in which he cites the Cruz Smith novels & also another old favourite of mine, "Running Blind" by Desmond Bagley. Annoyingly I never saw the TV adaptation.  It's never officially been released on DVD, though I've just found a few sites selling what must be transfers from VHS.....

I always liked 'Running Blind' but I think my favourite was always High Citadel. Would make an incredible film, if done well.

They'd make the pilot an American though,  saving his passengers from damn commies... or muslim terrists..

It is something like 3.5 decades since I read the book, but I seem to recall that the plane it attacked because it is carrying a socialist south american leader. Plucky brit and ex-Korean war US veteran pilot risk all, together with the other passengers, to save him.
So you are probably right, that would get written out.

[rafletcher]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/best-crime-and-thriller-novels-of-2016/

Interesting list and new authors to me, just reserved three of them in the library system 

[andrewc]

Think I've read the first three. 

A good piece here on Jon Courtnay Grimwood in which he cites the Cruz Smith novels & also another old favourite of mine, "Running Blind" by Desmond Bagley. Annoyingly I never saw the TV adaptation.  It's never officially been released on DVD, though I've just found a few sites selling what must be transfers from VHS.....

I always liked 'Running Blind' but I think my favourite was always High Citadel. Would make an incredible film, if done well.

They'd make the pilot an American though,  saving his passengers from damn commies... or muslim terrists..

It is something like 3.5 decades since I read the book, but I seem to recall that the plane it attacked because it is carrying a socialist south american leader. Plucky brit and ex-Korean war US veteran pilot risk all, together with the other passengers, to save him.
So you are probably right, that would get written out.

I recall improvised crossbows & other stuff, built by a medieval historian or somesuch       My omnibus copy went to the charity shop about the same time as you last read it!

[Auntie Helen]

I read High Citadel again a couple of months back.

It's a rope-roaring yarn although the communist terror seems weird, plus the fact that female characters are all fairly helpless. But the ingenuity in the story makes it great fun!

[Jock Stewart]

Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'. Never read it before.

My eldest is studying it for his Politics' A level and left it lying around.

The Marriott translation, pub 1992.

I like the forthright confident style but it's a bit preachy.

[Mr Larrington]

Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'. Never read it before.

My eldest is studying it for his Politics' A level and left it lying around.

Oh, Daaaaaaad! That's, like, so embarrassing

[Jock Stewart]

He doesn't know I'm reading it. He had to read the first six chapters as weekend homework (I know because the bookmark is there) and then left it on the dining table.

[mcshroom]

Peter May, "The Blackhouse". Life, startlements, atmosphere, survival.

I read that book, and the other two in the Lewis Trilogy while I was riding round the NW Highlands and Western Isles with Ruthie last year. It seemed to match well being in the sort of landscape described in the books, and also explained some of the things we were seeing

[citoyen]

A Place Of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
Cracking good read. I do like the way she humanises the great figures of the French Revolution. Not nearly as polished as Wolf Hall though.

Persuasion - Jane Austen
Re-reading after a looooong interval. Feels a bit more flimsy than I remembered. And the ending is rushed and unconvincing - almost like she knew she had to finish it before she died. I've always loved Austen but I think my tastes in literature might have matured a bit in the last 20 years. Feels a bit old-fashioned now.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I just finished The Good Mother by A L Bird. It was absolutely fucking shit.

[T42]

A Place Of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
Cracking good read. I do like the way she humanises the great figures of the French Revolution. Not nearly as polished as Wolf Hall though.

A good bit earlier than Wolf Hall, though.  Great book.  What stuck me most was the appalling ease with which a mild difference of opinion could result in a trip to the guillotine - that, and the way Danton became d'Anton and then Danton again as the wind changed.

Andrej Wajda's film Danton was great.


I'm reading The Year of Living Dangerously for the first time.  Much more analytical than the film, of course.  Noticed too that while the narrator in the book is called Cook the author was Christopher J. Koch; according to Wiki the book is based on the experiences of his brother, Philip Koch, in Indonesia at the time.