Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ?  (Read 835808 times)

What books are we reading at the moment ?
« on: 31 March, 2008, 07:59:40 pm »
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

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #1 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:05:48 pm »
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.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Dave

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #2 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:14:38 pm »
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

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #3 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:15:39 pm »
"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.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Si

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #4 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:19:07 pm »
The Social Life of Trees.  by S. Rival(ed)

Dull but improving slowly.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #5 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:27:44 pm »
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.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #6 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:35:33 pm »
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. 

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #7 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:47:37 pm »
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.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #8 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:51:22 pm »
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.  :thumbsup:

Really Ancien

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #9 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:56:09 pm »
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




Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #10 on: 31 March, 2008, 08:59:11 pm »
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

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #11 on: 31 March, 2008, 09:44:15 pm »
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.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #12 on: 31 March, 2008, 09:54:42 pm »
A Soldier's War in Chechnya - Arkady Babchenko

An account of the brutality and suffering on both sides of the conflict.
It didn't look at all like that in the photographs

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #13 on: 31 March, 2008, 09:59:54 pm »
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

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #14 on: 31 March, 2008, 10:04:12 pm »
"The Forever War" is a classic. I've not read the sequels.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #15 on: 31 March, 2008, 10:44:16 pm »
"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

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #16 on: 01 April, 2008, 12:31:52 am »
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...)

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #17 on: 01 April, 2008, 02:04:45 am »
GENIUS -- Richard Feynman and Modern Physics by James Gleick.
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

clarion

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #18 on: 01 April, 2008, 09:51:50 am »
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.
Getting there...

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #19 on: 01 April, 2008, 09:56:32 am »
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.


I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #20 on: 01 April, 2008, 09:59:31 am »
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.

Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #21 on: 01 April, 2008, 10:05:11 am »
I read an older translation when i was about 18 but this one is much better.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

tiermat

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #22 on: 01 April, 2008, 10:07:35 am »
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!
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Mr Larrington

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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #23 on: 01 April, 2008, 10:33:20 am »
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.
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Re: What books are we reading at the moment ?
« Reply #24 on: 01 April, 2008, 02:08:34 pm »
Latest book club book is Frankenstein.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."