What books are we reading at the moment ?

[Mr Larrington]

Ooh, ooh, the new Inspector McLean was released and delivered to my kindle today which was a nice surprise

Just this minute finished it.

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Noooooooooo!  The Alfa!

[Legs]

Just finished The Long Walk as part of my Stephen King-athon.

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Loved it, but there were a few things that were a bit bonkers:
i) The 4mph limit seems ridiculously fast - at no point do any of the protagonists pass comment about just how brisk a 4mph walk is!  3mph would have worked just as well, apart from the points at which certain named places were reached.
ii) Why would anyone ever go ahead?  It's current pace rather than overall average pace that gets penalised, so there's absolutely no reason for anyone pressing on ahead (I'd be sure that would be amongst The Hints).  There is even a mention of 10mph! (though I can't remember whether that is said to be one of the Chinese whispers).
iii) Surely it was pretty obvious that Richard Bachman and Stephen King were one and the same?  The general tone and style, the Maine setting, references to the Androscoggin River, the Walkers weaing Keds, "funnybooks", etc etc etc

Having a bit of a break from Constant Reading with The Devil of Nanking (aka Tokyo) by Mo Hayder.  So far so good.

[Paul]

The Shepherd's Crown (Terry Pratchett). TP is enjoying a renaissance with me, after a gap of about 10 years.

Some are better than others (I still think Going Postal was the one I enjoyed most), but this one is doing very nicely for the moment.

Except,

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I can't believe he killed of Granny Weatherwax! Well, I can - I just wasn't prepared for it. And I get that the set up requires her absence. Still, I had a lump in my throat while reading it, which I don't think TP does often.

Nevertheless -  so far.

[fuzzy]

Rekindling my techno thriller junkie mode and starting Tom Clacy again with The Hunt For Red October.

I know Patriot Games is firswt in the timeline but THFRO was the first Jack Ryan novel I believe.

[pcolbeck]

The Land Where Lemons Grow - Helena Attlee

A history of citrus fruit in Italy, Utterly fascinating and makes me want to go to Sicily in the spring.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Blackass by A Igoni Barrett.

Nigerian man has a job interview, wakes up on the morning of the interview to discover he is suddenly white.

I am currently reading The Miniaturist, after a Goodreads recommendation from that Eccentrica Gallumbits.  It's very good

I am hoping for a sequel.

[T42]

The Mechanical by one Ian Tregillis.  Alternate history: Dutch Empire vs New France with clockwork golemish automata and epoxy. Intriguing and well-written, though brought up short occasionally by interweb-age grammatical horrors of the lay/lie variety.

The missus is reading a bio of Darwin, whose English is delightful.  Those Victorian chappies' English was really elegant.

[andrewc]

The Mechanical by one Ian Tregillis.  Alternate history: Dutch Empire vs New France with clockwork golemish automata and epoxy. Intriguing and well-written, though brought up short occasionally by interweb-age grammatical horrors of the lay/lie variety.

The missus is reading a bio of Darwin, whose English is delightful.  Those Victorian chappies' English was really elegant.

I read his "Milkweed" trilogy, English characters in a WW2 setting, he doesn't quite get the use of British English right.

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm reading the 2nd in the Vera Stanhope series of crime novels by Ann Cleeves  (her wot also writes the Shetland novels).

After that I may read the new Inspector McLean...

[Jakob W]

Francis Spufford's _Golden Hill_: mysterious young stranger with a credit note for huge riches turns up in 18th-c. New York. Took me about 30-40 pages to get into it, but as I really rate Spufford's non-fiction I persevered, and am now greatly enjoying it.

[Torslanda]

Blackass by A Igoni Barrett.

Nigerian man has a job interview, wakes up on the morning of the interview to discover he is suddenly white.

I am currently reading The Miniaturist, after a Goodreads recommendation from that Eccentrica Gallumbits.  It's very good

I am hoping for a sequel.

Sort of 'Watermelon Man' but in reverse . . .

[Vince]

Just finished reading book 2 of the inspector McLean series and have book 3 cued up.

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OK. So which Scottish detective was the first to have a girlfriend from SoC who has an accident and becomes comatose?

[Mrs Pingu]

Just finished reading book 2 of the inspector McLean series and have book 3 cued up.

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OK. So which Scottish detective was the first to have a girlfriend from SoC who has an accident and becomes comatose?

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I believe that James Oswald was encouraged to get into crime writing by Stuart Macbride (hence his DC Macbride character) so I assume Macbride did it first. I think Oswald is the better writer of the pair of them, but it's quite amusing reading stuff set in your home town.

[andrewc]

Just finished "Europe in Winter" the latest in Dave Hutchinson's Fractured Europe series of novels. There will be a fourth and final book in the series apparently but no release date as yet.
The whole series is brilliant. Fantastic writing. Set in a near future Europe where the EU has broken up into micro states. No SF gizmos really but more of a feel of John le Carrie novel with some weird stuff about topology and maps. Oh and lots about restaurants and food. Highly recommended.

On Hutchinsons Twitter..



So, the Europe books have been been acquired by film director Anand Tucker’s UK TV production company Seven Stories, backed by All3 Media.

[rafletcher]

"Darktown" by Thomas Mullen. Set in Atlanta in 1948, and based on the true story of the cities first 8 black police officers, the eponymous darktown being their beat. Well written, and historically interesting, albeit sickening in it's depiction of casual racism, some of which no doubt remains today.  One interesting (to me) snippet, the local politicians were Democrats, the Republicans being the party of Lincoln, emancipator of slaves.

[eck]

Just finished reading book 2 of the inspector McLean series and have book 3 cued up.

(click to show/hide)

OK. So which Scottish detective was the first to have a girlfriend from SoC who has an accident and becomes comatose?

(click to show/hide)

I believe that James Oswald was encouraged to get into crime writing by Stuart Macbride (hence his DC Macbride character) so I assume Macbride did it first. I think Oswald is the better writer of the pair of them,but it's quite amusing reading stuff set in your home town.

Even better than that dear, I read my first Val McDermid recently, The Distant Echo. Set initially in St Andrews, where I spent an unhappy year at uni, featuring four guys from Kirkcaldy High School, where I spent six years, some of the action in Glenrothes, where I grew up. Even Kirriemuir, where I live now, gets a mention.
No, it's not biographical. 

[Quint]

Just finished "Europe in Winter" the latest in Dave Hutchinson's Fractured Europe series of novels. There will be a fourth and final book in the series apparently but no release date as yet.
The whole series is brilliant. Fantastic writing. Set in a near future Europe where the EU has broken up into micro states. No SF gizmos really but more of a feel of John le Carrie novel with some weird stuff about topology and maps. Oh and lots about restaurants and food. Highly recommended.

On Hutchinsons Twitter..

       Thank you for that, I have just ordered the first in the series, and thank you to everyone who contributes on here lots of very valued reviews


So, the Europe books have been been acquired by film director Anand Tucker’s UK TV production company Seven Stories, backed by All3 Media.

[Mrs Pingu]

Just finished reading book 2 of the inspector McLean series and have book 3 cued up.

(click to show/hide)

OK. So which Scottish detective was the first to have a girlfriend from SoC who has an accident and becomes comatose?

(click to show/hide)

I believe that James Oswald was encouraged to get into crime writing by Stuart Macbride (hence his DC Macbride character) so I assume Macbride did it first. I think Oswald is the better writer of the pair of them,but it's quite amusing reading stuff set in your home town.

Even better than that dear, I read my first Val McDermid recently, The Distant Echo. Set initially in St Andrews, where I spent an unhappy year at uni, featuring four guys from Kirkcaldy High School, where I spent six years, some of the action in Glenrothes, where I grew up. Even Kirriemuir, where I live now, gets a mention.
No, it's not biographical. 

Oh, I might give that one a look when I run out of books again then.

[Legs]

Having a bit of a break from Constant Reading with The Devil of Nanking (aka Tokyo) by Mo Hayder.  So far so good.

Finished last night.  Highly recommended. 

[andrewc]

Currently re-reading William Gibson's "The Peripheral"

"Reality television. It merged with politics. Then with performance art." .......

[Mr Larrington]

Tennison ~ Lynda LaPlante.  This has been sitting on the "to-read" pile since well before ITV announced the existence of "Prime Suspect 1973", so I'm not sure which came first.  Ms LaPlante's prose thuds like AC/DC's Phil Rudd on Valium.

[sg37409]

Dodgers, by Bill Beverly.

"a literary thriller" Bit different to the last few I've read, mainly due to the language style, and am enjoying it more because of that I think. Makes me go slower and I find Im getting more of a picture of things

[Mr Larrington]

Out Of Bounds ~ Val McDermid.  Fourth in the Karen Pirie series, which Thick Boy here didn't realise was a series until yesterday.

[fuzzy]

About to start A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms George RRRRRRRR Martin book set before GoT, telling tales of Aegon 'Egg' Targaryan.

[pcolbeck]

Sapiens, A brief history of humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

Excellent it should be required reading in all secondary schools. Covers what is real and imaginary in society as well as gender and racial politics. How the human race got here from being an upright ape in Africa.