Author Topic: What books are we reading at the moment ? (Read 844971 times)

IanDG · « **Reply #1000 on:** 13 December, 2009, 11:07:12 pm »

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Tom B · « **Reply #1001 on:** 14 December, 2009, 10:14:43 am »

'Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II' by A.N. Wilson. One I just want to keep kicking up. It is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek in places

Dunedin · « **Reply #1002 on:** 14 December, 2009, 01:51:59 pm »

The time Traveller's Guide To Medieval England- Ian Mortimer

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1003 on:** 15 December, 2009, 09:49:58 am »

"Head On" - Ian Botham's autobiography.

Not very well written (didn't expect it to be) and predictable (and understandably) boastful, but nicely nostalgic.

andygates · « **Reply #1004 on:** 15 December, 2009, 10:46:57 am »

Quote from: Flying_Monkey on 12 December, 2009, 03:30:48 am

Quote from: andygates on 11 December, 2009, 07:29:21 pm
Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain. If there's an epiphany in a hot tub, I'm going to get shirty.
heh heh -not that I can recall, but I can't say that it's either his strongest or most memorable book.

Frank just had his Buddhist / sporty chick epiphany.

C'mon KSR! A new trope please!

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #1005 on:** 15 December, 2009, 02:40:26 pm »

Quote from: andygates on 15 December, 2009, 10:46:57 am

Quote from: Flying_Monkey on 12 December, 2009, 03:30:48 am
Quote from: andygates on 11 December, 2009, 07:29:21 pm
Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain. If there's an epiphany in a hot tub, I'm going to get shirty.
heh heh -not that I can recall, but I can't say that it's either his strongest or most memorable book.

Frank just had his Buddhist / sporty chick epiphany.

C'mon KSR! A new trope please!

The Buddhist stuff works in The Years of Rice and Salt because it's part of the structure of the book - which is still his finest IMHO - he's been in a bit of down phase since then...

I am reading Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution. This is a beautiful natural farming work (originally published in the 1960s, I think) from a genuine visionary.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #1006 on:** 15 December, 2009, 09:59:04 pm »

I'm reading The Box Of Delights yet again. It's far too good for children.

clarion · « **Reply #1007 on:** 15 December, 2009, 10:04:38 pm »

Quote from: clarion on 11 December, 2009, 04:47:57 pm

Currently reading

The Toymaker by Jeremy de Quidt (David Fickling Books)

It's another one I found on the shelves at work, and is a Galley Proof. But I checked, and it was actually published.

It's pitched quite interestingly somewhere between teen & adult novel, and written in a storytelling style, all intimacies & teasing, intractable situations and impending menace.

The setting is a bit arch, being a sort of central European gothic, with travelling shows, wolf-ridden forests, deep snows, inns filled with shady characters etc.

It gets a bit implausible, but it is quite a page turner, and a well-told story. I'm a wee bit over half way through - I'll report back when I'm done.

Hmmm.

Got to the end, and it breaks a storytelling basic: Doesn't resolve the storylines. Too much left hanging, including the identity of the main protagonist.

Not a satisfying read.

her_welshness · « **Reply #1008 on:** 15 December, 2009, 10:57:05 pm »

Because I now work in a Library it is extremely tempting for books, have now started reading 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day'. Utterly charming.

Nuncio · « **Reply #1009 on:** 17 December, 2009, 08:23:11 pm »

The Great Gatsby (again). Not the right time of year, but it makes me warm. Comfort reading. Lord Jim lined up next and probably finished in time for whatever Santa may bring, probably something more modern.

andygates · « **Reply #1010 on:** 17 December, 2009, 10:14:16 pm »

Quote from: Flying_Monkey on 15 December, 2009, 02:40:26 pm

Quote from: andygates on 15 December, 2009, 10:46:57 am
Quote from: Flying_Monkey on 12 December, 2009, 03:30:48 am
Quote from: andygates on 11 December, 2009, 07:29:21 pm
Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain. If there's an epiphany in a hot tub, I'm going to get shirty.
heh heh -not that I can recall, but I can't say that it's either his strongest or most memorable book.

Frank just had his Buddhist / sporty chick epiphany.

C'mon KSR! A new trope please!

The Buddhist stuff works in The Years of Rice and Salt because it's part of the structure of the book - which is still his finest IMHO - he's been in a bit of down phase since then...

Aye, Rice and Salt is a gobsmacker of an alternative history and a pure delight, beautifully threaded and with, well, at least one artistic rewrite between his research notes and his draft. 40 Signs ain't dat. 50 Degrees is shaping up as bad, but at least the apocalypse is bloody happening at last.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #1011 on:** 18 December, 2009, 10:56:54 am »

A Few Kind Words And A Loaded Gun ~ Noel "Razor" Smith.

Autobiography of a right villain.

Moondog · « **Reply #1012 on:** 20 December, 2009, 06:28:52 pm »

Being Prez..Biography of Lester Young.Important Jazz Saxo player..but let me not detain you with this....
I have taken to Robert Wilson and his creation Javier Falcon a series of Policiers based in Seville.The first: The blind man of Seville.
Those who enjoyed Phillip Kerr and Bernie Gunther should give them a go.

n

αdαmsκι · « **Reply #1013 on:** 26 December, 2009, 10:20:12 pm »

I've finally picked up The Road by Cormac McCarthy. So far, it's great.

Zoidburg · « **Reply #1014 on:** 26 December, 2009, 11:51:18 pm »

Re-read Use Of Weapons

Banks at his best. The anti hero, the main protaganist, they do terrible thngs, they are likable but at the same time they can be bastards.

Hugely capable people but quite patently broken by past events, doomed, always doomed.

JohnP · « **Reply #1015 on:** 27 December, 2009, 09:49:07 am »

Just read 2 Mike Carden books - light hearted touring/meandering books. A Bit Scott - ish visited most of the spots that we visited over the past 3 years.

CrinklyLion · « **Reply #1016 on:** 27 December, 2009, 11:42:59 am »

Quote from: Zoidburg on 26 December, 2009, 11:51:18 pm

Re-read Use Of Weapons

Banks at his best. The anti hero, the main protaganist, they do terrible thngs, they are likable but at the same time they can be bastards.

Hugely capable people but quite patently broken by past events, doomed, always doomed.

And they are books that you can re-read time and again, I think. I'm looking forward to the eldest being old enough for Ian M - he's going to love 'em. He's currently enjoing Harry Potter, Terry Pratchet and the Hitchhiker's Guide.

I got a new Banks book for Christmas! An Ian, rather than an Ian M but I like both. I also got 5 other books, and am still working through the mountain of books purchased to use up a £30 'thank you for doing your job really well' borders voucher that I was given just before they went pear-shaped - dearly_beloved and the eldest cub went in and spent about £70 on impulse buys when you could still pay for half of the value of the sale in vouchers in the correct expectation that the voucher would have zero value shortly afterwards. So I still have a couple of big fat Peter F Hamiltons to go... lots of reading

Yesterday I finished one of the Void trilogy. And read Billy Back to Front, about three times

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #1017 on:** 27 December, 2009, 02:36:06 pm »

Quote from: CrinklyLion on 27 December, 2009, 11:42:59 am

I got a new Banks book for Christmas! An Ian, rather than an Ian M but I like both.

I got the Ian M. (Transitions)... but I am currently reading Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson. I'm a third of the way through and t's moderately amusing and quite well-written and engaging so far... not sure where it's going though.

Gaseous Clay · « **Reply #1018 on:** 27 December, 2009, 04:52:37 pm »

Monkey - its very erm, entertaining.

bobb · « **Reply #1019 on:** 27 December, 2009, 05:57:03 pm »

I'm currently working through the books I got for xmas. I'm currently reading "My shit life so far" by Frankie Boyle. Absolutely hilarious! Also incredibly crude as you might expect from him

David Martin · « **Reply #1020 on:** 27 December, 2009, 07:33:29 pm »

Cycling home from siberia.
Still slowly making progress through Russell's history of western philosophy. Up to Plotinus so far.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #1021 on:** 27 December, 2009, 08:36:21 pm »

The Complete Richard Hannay collection by John Buchan.

Deano · « **Reply #1022 on:** 27 December, 2009, 09:22:21 pm »

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.

I haven't read much sci-fi recently, and it was a gift from someone who claims to know f-all about the genre. I haven't encountered the author before, and after 150 pages or so, it is rather excellent..

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1023 on:** 27 December, 2009, 11:03:17 pm »

I've just finished "The Rider" by Tim Krabbé. That's where I got my sig line.

Flying_Monkey · « **Reply #1024 on:** 28 December, 2009, 04:43:52 pm »

Quote from: wowbagger on 27 December, 2009, 11:03:17 pm

I've just finished "The Rider" by Tim Krabbé. That's where I got my sig line.

The only good novel ever written about cycling. In fact it's more than good, it's superb.