What books are we reading at the moment ?

[clarion]

I'm most of the way through Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry. Very entertaining and enlightening, and the bit where he discusses his homosexuality should be required reading for all homophobes (but I expect their position is set in stone so it's unlikely to make any difference  )

I like the way he writes, although there a few times where he uses 20 words when 2 would do, but overall it's been a good read.

That seems to be one of the harder Frys to find in the old charity shops...

I'm still reading Josie Dew's Long Cloud Ride - well, a lot of magazines come out round about now...

[nicknack]

Blowing the Blues by Dick Heckstall-Smith and Pete Grant.

Well worth a read if you're into the 60s and 70s blues rock scene in Britain.

[harrumph]

...I really enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction.  "The Day of the Triffids" is one of my favourite books of any genre.

Me too. Among British authors, can I recommend The Death of Grass and the Prince in Waiting trilogy by John Christopher, and The Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper? All probably out of print, but Abebooks is your friend! Then there's Fugue for a Darkening Island by Christopher Priest, and... well, I could go on, but that's enough for now.

Except that if alternative history floats your boat, Keith Robert's Pavane and Kiteworld are both magnificent.

[rudolph]

I've just finished Bertrand Russell's "Why I am not a Christian". You may agree or not with him (I couldn't agree more) but in any case his intelligent writing is delightful. The most profound ideas exposed with utmost simplicity.

Now, I am re-reading that little gem "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka.

[rogerzilla]

The Hobbit.  Bloody dwarfs.

[miloat]

I just finished reading Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.
Good book miles better than the film.

[Thing2]

Very unusually, I there are only 2 books I'm currently reading.

I've nearly finished Moby Dick (Herman Melville). To be honest, it's probably a couple of months since I last read any of it, but it is at the point where I will probably finish it one weekend morning, when/if I feel like it. I am bored with it, but too close to the end not to finish it. 

I've just started re-reading The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco). Inspired by catching the first part of the film on TV the other night, and having just finished Shalimar the clown (Salman Rushdie).

I'll pick up a fairly light book to re-read next week for when I'm having my breakfast. I seem to be going through a Diskworld phase with those at the moment, although I'm getting to the point where I could be tempted to re-read the Harry Potter series. I'm also tempted to re-read The Code Book (Simon Singh), but that is likely to be a third book to be read in parallel with others. Confessions of an English Opium Eater (Thomas De Quincey) is also on the near future reading list.

Emma

[Flying_Monkey]

...I really enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction.  "The Day of the Triffids" is one of my favourite books of any genre.

Me too. Among British authors, can I recommend The Death of Grass and the Prince in Waiting trilogy by John Christopher, and The Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper? All probably out of print, but Abebooks is your friend! Then there's Fugue for a Darkening Island by Christopher Priest, and... well, I could go on, but that's enough for now.

Except that if alternative history floats your boat, Keith Robert's Pavane and Kiteworld are both magnificent.

All most excellent. Christopher Priest continues to excel too - The Changes is a great slipstream / alt-history mash-up.

I've just been to the local book fair, so my new reading list for the coming week(s) is:

James Baldwin - The Fire Next Time
JG Ballard - The Atrocity Exhibtion
Jack Kerouac - Big Sur
Henning Mankell - Faceless Killers
Flann O'Brien - The Third Policemen

I was very tempted by a lovely first edition of William Carlos Wiliams's later poems, but it was a bit too expensive. I know I will regret not getting it later... just like I did when I missed out on a first edition of Paterson...

[clarion]

Oh that's a grand reading list!  Love Baldwin...

[domesticated ape]

I'm reading Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of the outdoor clothes company Patagonia. The book's all about the history of the company, and how he runs the business in a way that tries to be as environmentally sustainable as possible, as well as treating all their employees well. It's a bit 'businessy' but it's definitely an interesting read.

[MSeries]

Since I am cycling to work more than I am using the bus, I don't have a book at work to read at lunchtimes or whilst on the can. So I have started reading Nick & Dick Cranes Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. I first read this in the 80s when I was preparing for my transcontinental ride. 

[Quisling]

I'm currently reading a page or four of Rogers Profanisaurous (The Magna Farta) before bed to ensure I go to sleep smiling.

[Mr Larrington]

Attempts to dig "The General's Last Love" out of the bag in which it has lain since Easter have proved fruitless, as I got side-tracked by Griffith Borgeson's The Golden Age Of The American Racing Car, which led inexorably to Mark Dees' The Miller Dynasty.

[mrcharly-YHT]

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

It's brilliant, particularly in it's treatment of time-dilation effects and the resulting effects on people and society.

I think it would be a better novel if Haldeman wasn't obsessed with group sex (he seems to put this in all his books  ).

Mindbridge is possibly even better.

[velocitizen]

I have just finished reading 'Margrave of the marshes' the John Peel biography this evening.
To be honest I was finding it all a bit boring, and then towards the finish I didn't want it to end, and now it's over I wish there was a bit more...I think I was always a bit like that when I listened to his radio shows, and it has reminded me what I loved about him. RIP.

[andrewc]

"think it would be a better novel if Haldeman wasn't obsessed with group sex (he seems to put this in all his books  Roll Eyes)."

What's wrong with group sex?  Good fun.........   You want pervy, try late Heinlein..

I've recently finished "Judge" by Karen Traviss, this is the last of her 6 book Wess'har series.  The Eqbas fleet has reached Earth, to judge & punish those responsible for a nuclear incident on the planet Bezer'ej, which nearly resulted in the extinction of the intelligent, aquatic natives.  Once this minor matter is attended to, they will restore Earth's ecology to a balanced state, and repopulate it with many of the extinct species sent into space in a gene bank over a century ago. This will involve a forced reduction in the human population  from 7 billion to 1 billion.....  Intelligent, enjoyable SF, with a greenish tinge.

Also just re-read Alistair Reynolds "Century Rain",  half  Chandleresque detective story set in Paris, half wormholes, nanotech & a devastated Earth.  Not as bleak as his "Revelation Space" series, and a decent ending (something I don't think he's good at)

[Jezza]

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera. One of the best books I've read about what it means to love.

The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho. A simple story yet one which contains much essential truth about life, and the importance of following your dreams.

The Ravens, by Christopher Robbins. The story of America's pilots during the secret war in Laos.

[Nuncio]

The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck.

[andygates]

Light stuff after The Road: Iain Banks's The Algebraist.  Second reading so I'm muttering "you clever bastard" a lot...

[domesticated ape]

I've just started The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson.

[pcolbeck]

Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453 - Roger Crowley

The title says it all really, a gripping account of the fall of Constantinople to Sultan Mehmed II. The final act in the long slow fall of the Roman Empire.

[MSeries]

I'm onto "IBM and the Holocaust" now

[Flying_Monkey]

Light stuff after The Road: Iain Banks's The Algebraist.  Second reading so I'm muttering "you clever bastard" a lot...

A real return to his best sf form IMHO... I read The Steep Approach to Garbadale last week and in contrast that felt like he was treading water, or just retelling the same quirky family stories again. He's much better when he lets himself go...

[tiermat]

Just finished Simon Scarrow's Centurion and have Bernard Cornwall's Heretic to read tonight.

[Dave]

Light stuff after The Road: Iain Banks's The Algebraist.  Second reading so I'm muttering "you clever bastard" a lot...

A real return to his best sf form IMHO...

Only temporary, sadly. Matter (the latest Culture book) is terrible . Easily 250-300 pages too long (seriously). The Algebraist was a bit too long too, but was at least enjoyable.

I've just finished Spook Country (William Gibson), which is really good.