Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 842401 times)

Steph · « **Reply #6100 on:** 18 October, 2020, 09:51:36 am »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-North-Times-Oswald-Northumbria-ebook/dp/B00CGOD5K0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T31M7XVGJNIQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+king+in+the+north+the+life+and+times+of+oswald+of+northumbria&qid=1603010684&sprefix=the+king+in+the+north%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1

A sort of biography of both King Oswald of Northumbria, nephew IIRC of Edwin the Great, and of the Kingdom(s). All too often, Northumbria's place in history is written something like "WESSEX WESSEX WESSEX ALFRED ALFRED and there were some other kingdoms", or, more tellingly, in re the Norman genocide inflicted on that area, "Stamford Bridge, HASTINGS HAROLD HASTINGS HAROLD LONDON, minor event up North, DOMESDAY BOOK"

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #6101 on:** 25 October, 2020, 05:03:03 pm »

I am currently reading The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray.
I think I picked the wrong year to read this. Now looking for something a bit less depressing.

rafletcher · « **Reply #6102 on:** 26 October, 2020, 01:03:52 pm »

I've been working through the backlog of library reservations that appeared all at once

. I managed the latest Val McDermid Karen Pirie outing, though I'm not sure how true to Police procedure it was. 3 stars. Then I tried Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne prequel, didn't like it all, gave up after 1/3. 2 stars. Now onto (the much better IMO) Rankin Rebus outing.

Canardly · « **Reply #6103 on:** 26 October, 2020, 01:06:37 pm »

Quote from: Steph on 18 October, 2020, 09:51:36 am

https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-North-Times-Oswald-Northumbria-ebook/dp/B00CGOD5K0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T31M7XVGJNIQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+king+in+the+north+the+life+and+times+of+oswald+of+northumbria&qid=1603010684&sprefix=the+king+in+the+north%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1

A sort of biography of both King Oswald of Northumbria, nephew IIRC of Edwin the Great, and of the Kingdom(s). All too often, Northumbria's place in history is written something like "WESSEX WESSEX WESSEX ALFRED ALFRED and there were some other kingdoms", or, more tellingly, in re the Norman genocide inflicted on that area, "Stamford Bridge, HASTINGS HAROLD HASTINGS HAROLD LONDON, minor event up North, DOMESDAY BOOK"

Yes also dipping into that. Seems that Aragorn was based on this chap.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #6104 on:** 26 October, 2020, 01:52:51 pm »

Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". I had this on my list to read about 18 months ago when on holiday, but I'd just read another BB book and I was a bit Brysoned-out.

His opening couple of paragraphs of Chapter 6 describe how walking a long way changes life's perspectives.

Quote

Life takes on a neat simplicity too. Time ceases to have any meaning. When it's dark you go to bed, and when it's light again you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It's quite wonderful really.

You have no engagements, commitments, obligations or duties, no special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants; you exist in a tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of exasperation, "far removed from the seats of strife", as the early explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required of you is the willingness to trudge.

That is how lockdown is for me.

nobby · « **Reply #6105 on:** 27 October, 2020, 08:57:02 am »

'Badgerlands' by Patrick Barkham but finding it a struggle (it has interesting bits but, for me, joined by tosh) so I am reading 'Wheeling Matilda' by Jim Fitzpatrick alongside it - very interesting and shows there is nothing new in Bikepacking if you use a diamond frame.

fimm · « **Reply #6106 on:** 27 October, 2020, 10:57:21 am »

Just finished "We were Young and Carefree" by Laurent Fignon, which is very interesting. Now on "My World" by Peter Sagan + ghostwriter which is much lighter but which I am actually getting through more quickly, possibly because I know about the events described while the Fignon book is all historical to me (I was alive, but not following cycling). It did at least mean I knew what people were on about after this year's Tour de France final time trial, though.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #6107 on:** 02 November, 2020, 05:08:34 pm »

Just finished Kim Stanley Robinson's latest "The Ministry for the Future" about a fictional UN climate agency created in 2025 and following the world and some characters from the agency for around thirty years.
The beginning is extremely harrowing and totally believable the way things are going but the book as a whole is rather poetic and hopeful.

bikepacker · « **Reply #6108 on:** 02 November, 2020, 06:07:26 pm »

I was looking for not too heavy crime fiction and came across this on Amazon: The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan. I am 4 chapters in and am finding it intriguing. The plot is about a murdered cyclists with the investigation being led by a detective that suffers with Asperger's syndrome and black female detective sidekick. It will be interesting to read how it develops and progresses.

Butterfly · « **Reply #6109 on:** 05 November, 2020, 11:56:01 am »

Quote from: fboab on 30 September, 2020, 03:17:45 pm

Quote from: ian on 24 September, 2020, 01:35:18 pm
He has a habit of introducing all the characters by skin colour and ethnic background which I find a tad grating.
I think it's supposed to feel police-speak-ish, IC1 female and all that.
The female/male character is Victor, yeah? On audio all that just slides on past with me relying on Kobna to give them differentiating voices.

I have listened to the entire series on audible and really enjoyed them. I think Kobna's narration is the best that I have come across. I felt that Victor was fairly evident as a character that appears female and identifies as male and that is mentioned once then moved on. I really like the identifying the characters clearly - it makes you realise how other authors either only identify black characters or just assume that everyone is white - I realise that is partly my own white centric reading, but it is good to have that challenged. There are various bits that I missed on the first listen of all the books, that I got on the second or third read through, probably due to my poor attention span. I liked False Value, although that took a couple of reads before I'd sorted it out in my head. I liked the bits set in Kent, because it was an area I was familiar with (Kobna needs to know that Twydall is pronounced twiddle though!). I've also enjoyed the graphic novels, which I wouldn't usually read, since the stories are referred to in the main novels. I like that the books have diversity in a general way - they have characters that are muslim/trans/gay/black without the books being about that. Other books seem more self conscious about that where the ROL books are just telling the story of modern London.

L CC · « **Reply #6110 on:** 05 November, 2020, 02:58:35 pm »

I think Kobna brings an extra dimension to the story that I might not have done myself. He's really good.

He's also the reader for Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series. I'm afraid to listen to it because I have such solid pictures in my mind and I'm not sure I can reconcile that with his.

Butterfly · « **Reply #6111 on:** 05 November, 2020, 03:47:43 pm »

I've never read them, so I might consider listening to them with him as the reader.

nobby · « **Reply #6112 on:** 05 November, 2020, 07:26:50 pm »

Broken Vows. Tony Blair the tragedy of power by Tom Bowers.
Very interesting.
About to start 'Warrior. A life of war in Anglo Saxon Britain' by Albert & Gething

Steph · « **Reply #6113 on:** 12 November, 2020, 04:44:09 pm »

Now on book 4 of the 'Oddjobs' series. The obvious and tempting comparison is Charlie Stross' Laundry books.

Alien gods take over the world, secretly, and a secret government agency, etc, etc. The writing is more than adequate, from a private publisher called 'Pigeon Park', with a rather amusing logo. Characterisation isn't great, but the books are funny, and I did find myself caring for some of them in the end.

The key point is that the books are set around central Birmingham, in places that I know rather well. A favourite pub that Basil introduced me to even gets a mention, The Wellington, and each book ends with "YES! The central library is a huge.../NO! The central library is not home to a dimension-defying alien court, nor a secret Vault containing the Big Bloody Book"

"Pigeon Park", by the way, is Cathedral Square.

tiermat · « **Reply #6114 on:** 15 November, 2020, 01:04:20 pm »

I have just finished off the 5 Frey and McGray books by Oscar De Muriel.

They have ghosts, vampires, witches and Queen Victoria.

Mostly set in Edinburgh and thoroughly enjoyable.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete · « **Reply #6115 on:** 16 November, 2020, 05:48:24 pm »

Heavy Duty by K.K.Downing and Mark Eglinton. To be followed by Rob Halford's: Confess. Will reserve judgement until have read both.

citoyen · « **Reply #6116 on:** 17 November, 2020, 02:16:55 pm »

I started re-reading Patrick Hamilton's The Slaves of Solitude a few months ago but haven't been in much of a mood for reading lately (ie this year) so didn't get very far before I put it to one side.

I was in the mood yesterday evening though, so picked it up and polished it off in one go. Such a wonderful, wonderful book - rather bleak but very funny indeed. One of my all-time favourite novels. And rather apposite for the times we live in.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #6117 on:** 24 November, 2020, 06:09:51 pm »

"On the Black Hill"by Bruce Chatwin. I have also bought his book "In Patagonia", both highly recommended by my pal Penelope.

I thoroughly enjoyed "On the Black Hill", a tale of identical twin brothers born and spending their entire lives on a farm in rural Radnorshire, an area I am reasonably familiar with. Not Much Happens in the 100 or so years described by the book, but it is described ery sympathetiaclly by the author.

My next effort will be "Galina", the autobiography of Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano and wife of cellist Mstislav Rostrapovich. It's out of print but I managed to pick up a bargain second-hand copy online.

citoyen · « **Reply #6118 on:** 24 November, 2020, 06:26:05 pm »

Have also just polished off The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, another I started re-reading earlier this year but didn't get very far with. Enjoyed it just as much the second time round - more in some respects. It was the very first of his books I read but I have since worked back through his oeuvre and doing so has revealed a lot more about the David Mitchell Universe that has made me see this one in a different light. I understand one of the characters in this makes a reappearance in his latest, Utopia Avenue, which I also intend to get round to soon...

Legs · « **Reply #6119 on:** 25 November, 2020, 08:17:45 am »

Quote from: citoyen on 24 November, 2020, 06:26:05 pm

Have also just polished off The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, another I started re-reading earlier this year but didn't get very far with.

There aren't many novels I've put down partway through and not picked up again, but this was one of them...

citoyen · « **Reply #6120 on:** 25 November, 2020, 08:49:43 am »

Quote from: Legs on 25 November, 2020, 08:17:45 am

Quote from: citoyen on 24 November, 2020, 06:26:05 pm
Have also just polished off The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, another I started re-reading earlier this year but didn't get very far with.
There aren't many novels I've put down partway through and not picked up again, but this was one of them...

It doesn’t get any better!

Which is to say, if you didn’t like the first half, you probably wouldn’t like the second half either.

I was more sensitive to the book’s flaws second time around but I still loved it.

I've now started re-reading The Bone Clocks. As with the first time round, the setting of the opening section, on the North Kent marshes, has had me hooked instantly. But it also helps that pace-wise, it's a book that hits the ground running.

woollypigs · « **Reply #6121 on:** 25 November, 2020, 09:30:33 am »

I have got sucked into audiobooks and I have managed to "read" quite a few in the last 2-3 months. I get to "read" the 2 times 40 odd min whole I'm out walkies a day. I have also found that I can listen while doing other chores and still be engaged. Though the more light hearted they are the easier it is to do other things, other more serious books, like the ones about racism, I really had to just sit an listen.

I dipped into the audiobooks on Google Books, this is where I read most of my books anyway. I started with the random 99p or free offers but I had to bail out on a few as the voice of the reader just did my head in. I had to order the .epub or put on the want to read pile.

I was thinking about using Audible and tried one of these free month offers, but again I tried the preview and heard the voice of the reader and I just knew I couldn't handle their voices for 5-10 hours. I'm not paying a monthly subscription and then paying per book on top to be annoyed.

I might just be me, I don't read a book and make a voice per character. So having a reader making voices up to fit the new person in the book is just so cringe. There is a few books where they have a different reader for the main characters, this is much better, than a man trying to be a woman or a US reader trying to sound like they are from Cornwall etc etc.

I signed up to the local library and their online service and at least there I can hand back if the voice annoys me without the nagging knowledge of a monthly sub. And I really like their app too and that kinda nostalgic feeling that you had to read the book in time or you will be fined. Along with the placing the book on hold and the having to wait for others to finish. This is also silly that they have limits on how many readers on a digital book.

So this is what I have managed to read of late, nearly in order.

The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Afropean: Notes from Black Europe by Johny Pitts
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

And then I needed a rest after all these "thinking" books

Alive by Sharon J. Bolton
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
I Found You by Lisa Jewell
Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

I liked how the The Bad Beginning had just the right amount of foley to make the book nice and silly. I have never really been into mysteries and thrillers ala Agatha Christie, but the two by Peter Sawnson and the one by Lisa Jewell I just binged, managed to "read" all in just over a week. Might be because I needed the rest from the books above.

Sadly this have cut into my podcast time.

ian · « **Reply #6122 on:** 25 November, 2020, 10:11:15 am »

Quote from: citoyen on 25 November, 2020, 08:49:43 am

Quote from: Legs on 25 November, 2020, 08:17:45 am
Quote from: citoyen on 24 November, 2020, 06:26:05 pm
Have also just polished off The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, another I started re-reading earlier this year but didn't get very far with.
There aren't many novels I've put down partway through and not picked up again, but this was one of them...

It doesn’t get any better!

Which is to say, if you didn’t like the first half, you probably wouldn’t like the second half either.

I was more sensitive to the book’s flaws second time around but I still loved it.

I've now started re-reading The Bone Clocks. As with the first time round, the setting of the opening section, on the North Kent marshes, has had me hooked instantly. But it also helps that pace-wise, it's a book that hits the ground running.

The Bone Clocks is one of my favourite books, but I really enjoyed The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet even though I thought I wouldn't (I'm not big on historical stuff). I do remember it taking a while to get going. Never really got on with number9Dream though, it seemed to try a bit too hard. My only really gripe with his books is that narration is often too well-wrought and erudite, Holly in The Bone Clocks is one of the places were he's little more in-character, and it works well.

Utopia Street got a bit of mixed review, but mostly the bad reviews seem to be from the sort of music bores who are all 'really, Jimi did not wear purple trousers on the 3rd January 1963, what an idiot this author is.'

fd3 · « **Reply #6123 on:** 28 November, 2020, 11:15:23 am »

Reading the first Harry Potter to#1 son at bedtime. Not sure it's supposed to be funny in the way we find it funny.

(click to show/hide)

citoyen · « **Reply #6124 on:** 28 November, 2020, 12:33:41 pm »

Quote from: fd3 on 28 November, 2020, 11:15:23 am

Reading the first Harry Potter to#1 son at bedtime. Not sure it's supposed to be funny in the way we find it funny.
(click to show/hide)
Fight a troll when you shouldn't -5 house points
Save the school from the troll +5 house points
Out of bed after lights out -50 house points
... AND get sent to the woods to catch the thing that's been killing unicorns
... which is *definitely* worse than a werewolf
... AND then the first part of the plan is to split up ...
I mean, really! It's "supposed" to be scary, but we couldn't stop laughing at the really bad forced plot development

Try the Lemony Snicket books, they’re so much better - my son enjoyed them a lot more than the Harry Potter books when he was a small person.

The plots are equally ridiculous - but not in a bad way like HP.