What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Mr Larrington]

I have now finished this.  Far from being a mere rehash of Mr Jones' tweets, entertaining as that would be, this is a meticulously referenced history of the maelstrom of bigotry, malignancy, corruption and ineptitude we've lived under from the election of gammon-faced pig-botherer Cameron to the end of 2020.  Though it does have jokes in it too.

Living through it, when the news of such high crimes and misdemeanours trickled out via the media as from a landlord shower was one thing.  Getting them over the course of a day or two is like being exposed to a tsunami of shit.  I might have to give my b-i-l a copy for Xmas.  Because he’s an historian, obv, not because he’s a Tory (which he isn’t).

[rafletcher]

(click to show/hide)

Slightly unsatisfactory ending, Mr Rankin, though I suppose it means at least one more outing for the increasingly decrepit Rebus.  Also, don’t you dare have Siobhan join The Complaints

It was well written as usual (except for “leaped” in stead of “leapt”) but….. meh. No explanation as to one main characters plight, too many disparate threads, and no comeuppances to speak of. 

[BrianI]

I'm really enjoying Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem (English translation by Ken Liu)    I had gotten out of the habit of reading, until I started this book And yes, I have the next two books in the trilogy on my Kindle as well!

Looks like there is a Netflix series of this coming out eventually as well!

[T42]

I'm really enjoying Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem (English translation by Ken Liu)    I had gotten out of the habit of reading, until I started this book And yes, I have the next two books in the trilogy on my Kindle as well!

Looks like there is a Netflix series of this coming out eventually as well!

I hope they don't decide that it needs lots of rockets roaring in vacuum and has to end with a gallant but conflicted ex-marine saving the day with a CGI explosion.

[Snakehips]

I was thrilled to find a copy of  Nazis on the Nile: The German Military Advisers in Egypt 1949-1967 by Vyvyan Kinross  under my Christmas tree.

[Jurek]

Just finished reading On The Marshes by Carol Donaldson.
A non-fiction recounting of a woman who's relationship has broken down and she decides to walk from Cliffe Woods on the Hoo Peninsular to Whitstable (in a series of walks).
I read it in conjunction with an OS map of the area, Google maps and occasional visits to The Kent Messenger's  website.
It may interest anyone who has participated in the FNRttC to Whitstable, or any of my daytime rides to the same destination as the route she took is pretty much the same as the one we rode.

I thought I was knowledgeable about the area, however, I never knew that the vicar of the church in Upchurch where we naturally re-group - the one with the double spire - was the father of Sir Francis Drake.
Also, the Russian submarine which is moored in Rochester, is not the only sub on The Medway. There are at least three others - one of which is clearly visible.
Recommended.

[Kim]

I recently discovered that there were sequels to Connie Willis's Doomsday Book, which I read as a teenager, so I've been working my way through the series in order.  I note that bumbling Oxbridge academics are pretty much timeless, but the first book stands out as a product of that awkward period between the invention of practical mobile phones and writers accounting for them in their storylines.  It could also do with a find-and-replace of 'laser' with 'LED', and it makes an interesting read post-COVID.

To Say Nothing of the Dog is an amusing homage to Three Men in a Boat, and it's probably just as well that I didn't discover it until after I became familiar with the original.

Currently waiting for Blackout/All Clear to start making sense...

[nicknack]

Just finished reading On The Marshes by Carol Donaldson.
A non-fiction recounting of a woman who's relationship has broken down and she decides to walk from Cliffe Woods on the Hoo Peninsular to Whitstable (in a series of walks).
I read it in conjunction with an OS map of the area, Google maps and occasional visits to The Kent Messenger's  website.
It may interest anyone who has participated in the FNRttC to Whitstable, or any of my daytime rides to the same destination as the route she took is pretty much the same as the one we rode.

I thought I was knowledgeable about the area, however, I never knew that the vicar of the church in Upchurch where we naturally re-group - the one with the double spire - was the father of Sir Francis Drake.
Also, the Russian submarine which is moored in Rochester, is not the only sub on The Medway. There are at least three others - one of which is clearly visible.
Recommended.

Thanks. I've ordered it. 

[Jurek]

Just finished reading On The Marshes by Carol Donaldson.
A non-fiction recounting of a woman who's relationship has broken down and she decides to walk from Cliffe Woods on the Hoo Peninsular to Whitstable (in a series of walks).
I read it in conjunction with an OS map of the area, Google maps and occasional visits to The Kent Messenger's  website.
It may interest anyone who has participated in the FNRttC to Whitstable, or any of my daytime rides to the same destination as the route she took is pretty much the same as the one we rode.

I thought I was knowledgeable about the area, however, I never knew that the vicar of the church in Upchurch where we naturally re-group - the one with the double spire - was the father of Sir Francis Drake.
Also, the Russian submarine which is moored in Rochester, is not the only sub on The Medway. There are at least three others - one of which is clearly visible.
Recommended.

Thanks. I've ordered it. 

I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy it.
Somewhat fittingly, my bookmark for this borrowed tome is the return half of a railway ticket from Whitstable to Bromley South from earlier this year.

ETA - She also takes a dive onto the island that is your home, which happens to be uncharted territory for me.

[nicknack]

Just finished reading On The Marshes by Carol Donaldson.
A non-fiction recounting of a woman who's relationship has broken down and she decides to walk from Cliffe Woods on the Hoo Peninsular to Whitstable (in a series of walks).
I read it in conjunction with an OS map of the area, Google maps and occasional visits to The Kent Messenger's  website.
It may interest anyone who has participated in the FNRttC to Whitstable, or any of my daytime rides to the same destination as the route she took is pretty much the same as the one we rode.

I thought I was knowledgeable about the area, however, I never knew that the vicar of the church in Upchurch where we naturally re-group - the one with the double spire - was the father of Sir Francis Drake.
Also, the Russian submarine which is moored in Rochester, is not the only sub on The Medway. There are at least three others - one of which is clearly visible.
Recommended.

Thanks. I've ordered it. 

I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy it.
Somewhat fittingly, my bookmark for this borrowed tome is the return half of a railway ticket from Whitstable to Bromley South from earlier this year.

ETA - She also takes a dive onto the island that is your home, which happens to be uncharted territory for me.

Thanks. I did indeed enjoy it. Although I was slightly disappointed to find that I only knew 2 of the people in it. 

[T42]

David Cloud-Atlas Mitchell's Utopia Avenue. 1960s pop group, the trials, tribulations and triumphs thereof, not necessarily in that order. Sort-of enjoying it so far.

[rafletcher]

Robert Harris' The Ghost. It's diverting, but has one of my pet hates, poor editing. E.G "..a Sony Walkman digital tape recorder with a pile of MD-R 74 mini-discs. 

[T42]

David Cloud-Atlas Mitchell's Utopia Avenue. 1960s pop group, the trials, tribulations and triumphs thereof, not necessarily in that order. Sort-of enjoying it so far.

Finished it a couple of days ago and wanted more. Excellent, but I'm not sure I'd want to read it twice.

[coops456]

Currently waiting for Blackout/All Clear to start making sense...

Hope you enjoyed them. I've belatedly discovered Jodi Taylor's series; more disaster-magnet historians getting into mischief across time. 

[Canardly]

A fairly poor translation of a Witcher novel by Andrzej Sapkowski.

[L CC]

Currently waiting for Blackout/All Clear to start making sense...

Hope you enjoyed them. I've belatedly discovered Jodi Taylor's series; more disaster-magnet historians getting into mischief across time. 

I found them awful.

[Canardly]

All the Light We Cannot See,  Anthony Doerr. A wordsmith. Excellent so far. Pulitzer winner.

[Nuncio]

That looks good. I'll put it on the list for when I want something hefty (530 pages).

Currently on the 5th of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie detective series. Funny (in a literary way, so no more than light chuckles) and very good, if you can accept extreme coincidence piled upon extreme coincidence, and tethered near the end of the book to a different pile of extreme coincidences. I can. But I've got 120 pages into this one without a death (except one in the past), without our hero being beaten up or punching a dog, and with but a few fairly explainable coincidences so far. So a bit different from the first 4.

[ian]

Having previously poo-poo'ed Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy, I did stumble back into in, evidently in a different frame of mind, and rumbled through all three of them apace. Quite a luminous history lesson. You do have to remind yourself periodically that it's fiction and there's some embellishment for the purposes of entertaining the reader.

[Mr Larrington]

Doesn’t have any wolves in it though.

[T42]

The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Thailand after global ecosystem collapse/rampant global warming effects.  Different local factions + westerners all trying to score points off each other. Difficult first couple of chapters since hard to discern a likeable protagonist but once in it's good.

[Efrogwr]

I've just read Cold Water by Dave Hutchinson, his fifth book about events in an alternative Europe. Although It's a standalone novel, and can be read without reference to his earlier series, Fractured Europe, it is set in the same world.

It led me to reread the earlier books, which I am enjoying immensely. I must agree with the earlier posts from 2017 to 2019.

[ian]

Doesn’t have any wolves in it though.

All said, there's surprisingly little Wolf Hall featured. You'd probably be able to get your money back if you were really in the trilogy just for the Wolf Halls.

[Mr Larrington]

Renewing the ongoing battle with John Le Carré, specifically “The Tailor Of Panama”.

[Quint]

After the Duncton Wood trilogy (I could not stop reading, after all what's a mole to do) I was bought for Chrissymuss - Colditz by Ben MacIntyre a riveting read and as my birt is in January the four books of the Hyddenworld (also btw way a Aladdin mantle lamp to read by if the scroats we call government allow the lights to go out) series, Spring is the first and after a difficult first few chapters (the after effects of brilliant Duncton ?) I am in and well and truly hooked.