Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ?  (Read 835454 times)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5950 on: 29 April, 2020, 01:27:45 pm »
A book about how to read water by the guy who did a book about natural signs. Can't remember his name


Tristan Gooley?
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5951 on: 29 April, 2020, 02:17:48 pm »
London Falling, by Peter (or Paul?) Cornell.  Thought it was hard-bitten peeler procedural until
(click to show/hide)
. Anyway, I'm enjoying it.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5952 on: 29 April, 2020, 04:48:01 pm »
MrsT, reading Helen Mantel's latest, suddenly burst out laughing after lunch and spluttered until she turned puce.  The passage that got her began:

On Shrove Tuesday, the priest abased himself on the flags of St. Pauls...
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5953 on: 29 April, 2020, 04:59:20 pm »
What with Mr Stephenson having written a couple more sturdy boks since the last time I looked I am now a third of the way through Fall: or Dodge In Hell, wot is a sort of sequel to Reamde, unites the universes of that book with that of Cryptonomicon and has some pertinent observations on the malignant power of social media, which I think the author would like to uninvent.  Also it's got Enoch Root in it.

He looks like a weird bugger!
I'd never heard of him until now, and he's got quite a back catalogue; which book do you recommend for starters?

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5954 on: 29 April, 2020, 05:06:03 pm »
I've just finished Beloved Poison by E S Thomson.
It's either a gothick crime thriller or a horror detective novel, set in a London hospital in the 1840s.
Well written, with characters that I cared about and lots of historical, technical and anatomical detail.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5955 on: 30 April, 2020, 11:26:31 am »
False Values by Ben Aaronovitch - complete with glow in the dark front cover
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

bludger

  • Randonneur and bargain hunter
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5956 on: 30 April, 2020, 11:27:49 am »
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein which feels pretty apt.
YACF touring/audax bargain basement:
https://bit.ly/2Xg8pRD



Ban cars.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5957 on: 30 April, 2020, 11:41:26 am »
What with Mr Stephenson having written a couple more sturdy boks since the last time I looked I am now a third of the way through Fall: or Dodge In Hell, wot is a sort of sequel to Reamde, unites the universes of that book with that of Cryptonomicon and has some pertinent observations on the malignant power of social media, which I think the author would like to uninvent.  Also it's got Enoch Root in it.

He looks like a weird bugger!
I'd never heard of him until now, and he's got quite a back catalogue; which book do you recommend for starters?

I started off with Snow Crash and worked forward. Liked them all except Seveneves, which is entertaining enough but left me with a sprained credulity.  Anathem was so good I re-read it immediately on finishing it.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5958 on: 30 April, 2020, 12:07:37 pm »
What with Mr Stephenson having written a couple more sturdy boks since the last time I looked I am now a third of the way through Fall: or Dodge In Hell, wot is a sort of sequel to Reamde, unites the universes of that book with that of Cryptonomicon and has some pertinent observations on the malignant power of social media, which I think the author would like to uninvent.  Also it's got Enoch Root in it.

He looks like a weird bugger!
I'd never heard of him until now, and he's got quite a back catalogue; which book do you recommend for starters?

I started off with Snow Crash and worked forward. Liked them all except Seveneves, which is entertaining enough but left me with a sprained credulity.  Anathem was so good I re-read it immediately on finishing it.

The first one I read was Cryptonomicon which, in spite of being firmly rooted in 90s technology hasn't dated at all badly, which is always a danger when tech is involved.  Seveneves was better second time around but still not that wonderful while The Diamond Age, er, wasn't.  +1 for Snow Crash as an introduction and don't start The Baroque Cycle unless you're sure you'll have Copious Free Time.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

fuzzy

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5959 on: 30 April, 2020, 01:13:28 pm »
Starting at the beginning of A Song Of Ice And Fire again.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5960 on: 30 April, 2020, 01:43:43 pm »
Starting at the beginning of A Song Of Ice And Fire again.

And by the time you've finished A Dance With Dragons, The Winds Of Winter still won't be out...  :demon:

(Joking apart, I do get an impression from the last time I read his blog that GRRM being holed up in self-isolation (his age and BMI put him well into being at risk from coronalurgi) might actually be helping his work-rate.)
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5961 on: 30 April, 2020, 03:34:25 pm »
Thank you, T42 and Mr Larrington. Snow Crash it is.

Currently, I'm reading Mr Finchley Discovers His England by Victor Canning. I enjoyed the BBC radio dramatisations. It offers a spell of light relief between beloved Poison and Snow Crash.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5962 on: 30 April, 2020, 04:58:25 pm »
What with Mr Stephenson having written a couple more sturdy boks since the last time I looked I am now a third of the way through Fall: or Dodge In Hell, wot is a sort of sequel to Reamde, unites the universes of that book with that of Cryptonomicon and has some pertinent observations on the malignant power of social media, which I think the author would like to uninvent.  Also it's got Enoch Root in it.

He looks like a weird bugger!
I'd never heard of him until now, and he's got quite a back catalogue; which book do you recommend for starters?

I started off with Snow Crash and worked forward. Liked them all except Seveneves, which is entertaining enough but left me with a sprained credulity.  Anathem was so good I re-read it immediately on finishing it.

The first one I read was Cryptonomicon which, in spite of being firmly rooted in 90s technology hasn't dated at all badly, which is always a danger when tech is involved.  Seveneves was better second time around but still not that wonderful while The Diamond Age, er, wasn't.  +1 for Snow Crash as an introduction and don't start The Baroque Cycle unless you're sure you'll have Copious Free Time.

I rather liked The Diamond Age.  We have The Baroque Cycle in hardback. It came with a wrist brace and a tube of ibuprofen ointment.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5963 on: 30 April, 2020, 07:03:43 pm »
Cycle rides around London  by Charles g
 Harper
Written in 1902
Might try some of the routes to see what changed when the lockdown ends   :)
Hopefully next week I can get with cyclists around the world by adi b hakim,lal p bapasola
And rustom b bhumgara
On the 15 October 1923 a group of Indian cyclists left Bombay to ride around the world  and this is a record of their trip.
When I have read it I will review it on hear  :)
the slower you go the more you see

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5964 on: 03 May, 2020, 08:14:11 pm »
So I have read it and and recommend it to the house  :thumbsup:
There are a few black and white pictures at the end of the book but the places and sights are described very well  . The  bikes were single speed and heavily overloaded. In all a very interesting view of the world in the 20 s  :)
the slower you go the more you see

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5965 on: 12 May, 2020, 05:03:40 pm »
Currently reading, amongst other things, Moby Dick. Can't say I'm enthralled so far.
Bloody finally. More like Moby What A Dick! Took ages because I could only bear a few pages at a time.

Still that's the 27th book of the year done and dusted.

And I started the first Expanse book a couple days ago and enjoying it much more.
Miles cycled 2014 = 3551.5 (Target 7300 :()
Miles cycled 2013 = 6141.4
Miles cycled 2012 = 4038.1

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5966 on: 23 May, 2020, 01:23:43 am »
Keyes' Flowers for Algernon - Good read, well written, reasonably predictable though.
Delaney's Nova - Not Babel-17.  Some good ideas but the core of the story is lacking.
Tevis' Mockingbird - very much Farenheit 451.  Enjoying it so far (but early days).
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5967 on: 23 May, 2020, 08:33:45 am »
Pietr le Letton, the first Maigret novel.  When we first came to France we bought one a week from the local supermarket, and by the time a university friend visited us we had quite a shelf-full. He dived on them and then said "shit, they're in French". ;D

Anyway, although we still have around 50 of them they're all crack-spined, so I picked up an eBook containing the first 8 or 9 and I'm revising my 30's French. Social history, too; e.g. did you know they used to have floating laundries on the Seine?  Oh, and Maigret's favourite gris tobacco was one of the reasons I quit pipe-smoking: the wretched stuff nearly burnt through my tongue.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5968 on: 23 May, 2020, 10:23:37 am »
Maigret is a totally different experience in the French speaking world that in English.  If you grew up with the English series I would recommend the Bruno Cremer series as being a billionty times better and a truer representation of the books.
Nice tip, I haven't read in French in so long, I might give it a try.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5969 on: 23 May, 2020, 02:10:33 pm »
Maigret is a totally different experience in the French speaking world that in English.  If you grew up with the English series I would recommend the Bruno Cremer series as being a billionty times better and a truer representation of the books.
Nice tip, I haven't read in French in so long, I might give it a try.

I'm spending more time following stuff up in the dictionary and on the Internet than I am reading.  When all your French-speaking chums use Alsacien for preference your vocab doesn't get a lot of exercise.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5970 on: 23 May, 2020, 09:43:26 pm »
My gast was flabbered when I met Alsacians who barely spoke French.  I thought it was dying out now though.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5971 on: 24 May, 2020, 09:31:33 am »
Between Strasbourg & the northern frontier with Germany it still persists, getting stronger as you move north. South of Strasbourg it pretty well fades out.  The kids up here speak it less and less, too.

Latest Maigret gem is fil-en-six: Before WW2 the strength of spirits used to be indicated by loops of string knotted round the neck of the bottle, presumably for people who couldn't read the labels. The more loops, the stronger the drink.  Fil-en-six was eau-de-vie, around 40% alcohol.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5972 on: 24 May, 2020, 10:22:58 am »
 Blazing bicycle saddles  by James Clarke.
Enjoyable funny cycle touring in Europe   :)
the slower you go the more you see

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5973 on: 25 May, 2020, 01:47:11 am »
From Bicycle to Superbike - didn't realise it was part biography/interviews/outtakes and part about the bikes.  I would have enjoyed more of mike's musings about the bikes he made.
Mr L gets an honorable mention partway through.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5974 on: 06 June, 2020, 12:52:00 pm »
Le Guin - Left Hand of Darkness.  Too early to comment atm.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace