What books are we reading at the moment ?

[MSeries]

While I am not able to ride to work I have been taking the bus and for the last week been reading

Auschwitz, The Nazis and The Final Solution by Laurence Rees


ready and waiting is


Hitlers Holocaust &
IBM and The Holocaust

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm reading Darkmans by Nicola Barker.
I really wish I wasn't but I object to paying for books and not reading them so I'm persevering.

[Dave]

Spook Country by William Gibson, which is looking good so far.
About halfway through Stories Of Your Life And Others by Ted Chiang (sci-fi-ish short stories). Pretty good.

[rogerzilla]

"Two On A Tower" by Thomas Hardy 

One of his lesser-known novels, but quite absorbing and with one hell of a twist at the end.

[Si]

The Social Life of Trees.  by S. Rival(ed)

Dull but improving slowly.

[andrewc]

Spook Country was pretty good.  I finished "The Mission Song" by John Le Carre last night.  Good, if a little predictable.  Got a selection of guide / travel books to start but can't seem to get into the mood for them.

[Deano]

Baudolino by Umberto Eco - more of an adventure than The Name of The Rose, but it has a similar setting (i.e. medieval Europe) - I'm always awed by the breadth and depth of his knowledge. 

[Ian H]

The Merchant of Prato. Another micro-history, dredged this time from the late 14th and early 15th century account records and letters of a Tuscan merchant. An insight into the lives of the not so great of that period.

[nic]

I am currently reading Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (ISBN: 0571171044). Short paperback bought on a business trip. A rather enjoyable and easy read so far. 

[Really Ancien]

I am re-reading Holidays In Hell by PJ O Rourke, as in the following quotes.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
P. J. O'Rourke

Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope.
P. J. O'Rourke

[MSeries]

I am re-reading Holidays In Hell by PJ O Rourke, as in the following quotes.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
P. J. O'Rourke

Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope.
P. J. O'Rourke

Good choice, I read that in Melbourne in 1990, must dig it out. It's gotta be showing it's age though, Belfast is very different now.

[Really Ancien]

I am re-reading Holidays In Hell by PJ O Rourke, as in the following quotes.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
P. J. O'Rourke

Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope.
P. J. O'Rourke

Good choice, I read that in Melbourne in 1990, must dig it out. It's gotta be showing it's age though, Belfast is very different now.

I can't say that I ever read much for the content, Naples '44 by Norman Lewis gets a periodic re-read just to re-calibrate my style aspirations.

[Cyclops]

A Soldier's War in Chechnya - Arkady Babchenko

An account of the brutality and suffering on both sides of the conflict.

[Captain Zep]

My brother-in-law always buys me a couple of books for xmas - currently reading one of those: Legend by David Gemmell -  thought, "Ho-Hum fantasy nonsense", but I'm actually finding it very enjoyable in a "switch your brain-off and enjoy the axe-battle" kind of way.

His other book was "Peace and War" by Joe Haldeman: a compilation of "The Forever War", "Forever Free" and "Forever Peace".  "The Forever War", written in the 70's (sort of a sci-fi version of the author's experiences in Vietnam) is an absolute classic, and I can't believe that I hadn't heard of it before.  What annoys me though, is why to they get cover-art illustrators who haven't read the book.  The cover is very nice, but it shows a gun and a space-helmet.  The soldiers in the book use neither guns nor space-helmets 

These books aren't particularly high-brow compared to what most of you seem to be reading at the moment, but I do read more heavy-weight stuff too, honest!

RJMcB

[andrewc]

"The Forever War" is a classic. I've not read the sequels.

[Captain Zep]

"The Forever War" is a classic. I've not read the sequels.

I wouldn't worry about "Forever Free" which is indeed a sequel (same characters set 20 years in their future).

Forever Peace is a lot better, but not a sequel. It's set in our near future and is supposed to use ideas which Haldeman would have included in the "Forever War" if they had been around in the 70's.  A bit too "Hollywood" though.  One of the things I liked about "The Forever War" is that it is a worthy story and I can't imagine it ever getting "Hollywood" treatment.

[Flying_Monkey]

I am reading 'Who Are You? Identification, Deception and Surveillance in Early Modern Europe' by the Swiss historian, Valentin Groebner - it might be work related, but it is actually a damn fine read - the best kind of historical writing.

Oh, and also rereading 'The Einstein Intersection' by Samuel Delaney. (I am another Forever War fan too BTW...)

[Frenchie]

GENIUS -- Richard Feynman and Modern Physics by James Gleick.

[clarion]

Am I the only one reading a cycling book?  I just finished 'Riding to Jerusalem' by Bettina Selby, and started 'Long Cloud Ride' by Josie Dew.

[pcolbeck]

My current reading list:

God is not great: The case against relegion - Christopher Hitchens

Pretty self explanatory.

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

In the recent translation by Anthony Briggs

Paris after the Liberation 1944-1949 - Antony Beevor & Artemis Cooper

A study of immediate post war Paris by the famous husband and wife team. Not too flattering to de Gaulle this one.

Pushing Ice - Alastair Reynolds

A nice bit of space opera for relaxing reading.

[mike]

blimey - was about to post and Pat's reading the same as me!

war and peace.  It's taken me 3 years to start it, but I'm about half way through and quite enjoying it.  I do have to keep referring to the cheat-sheet at the back to remember who's who though.

also "the steep approach to garbadale" - Iain Banks for when I'm on the train.  Great.

[pcolbeck]

I read an older translation when i was about 18 but this one is much better.

[tiermat]

I am currently reading my way through Bernard Cornwell's Arthur books, having finished the Uthred books.

Also re-reading "The art of deception" by Kevin Mitnick, a great book which will change the way you view seemingly innocent cold calls and "informatin gathering".  Paranoid, moi? shurely not!

[Mr Larrington]

The General's Last Love - Andrey Kurkov.  Both Death And The Penguin and Penguin Lost were brillsticks, but this keeps jumping from 1985 to 2015 to 2003 to 2013 and is generally confusing.  I took it away with me at Easter but instead read three crap thrillers with explosions on the cover, and re-read two of Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks novels instead.  But I shall have to persevere with it, as it was a brithday present from my grate frend Ling Ling, who will be cross if I don't.

[Greenbank]

Latest book club book is Frankenstein.