Book thread: what are you reading?

[getdownmonkeyman]

Just finished Howard Marks' Mr Smiley. Whilst it was quite an enjoyable read, I got the feeling he was spinning a bit of a yarn, unlike Mr Nice, where there felt a decent level of detail behind the stories.

[Phil]

The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss a good first (fantasy) novel

[Bob8]

The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss a good first (fantasy) novel

I have not read that, but I have a guest staying with me who gave it a slagging off.  She summed up the story of it being the interview of a man who is brilliant at everything, who is telling us how he is brilliant at everything, who faces what would be challenges (but he is brilliant and better than everyone at everything), who has a love interest who is brilliant at everything.

 

The way she described it made it sound as much fun as talking to many ex-pat Aussies in London.

 

PS: Just passing on one review, I have not read it and I am sure you are a great bloke.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Bob8

[ckn]

The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss a good first (fantasy) novel

The problem I have with him is when the first book came out, there was a big fuss made that he'd already written the trilogy and it'd be released quite quickly.  Well, years later and we're still waiting on the third book.

 

If you're interested in good fantasy series that are solidly good reads then I've plenty of recommendations I can give.

[Phil]

I have not read that, but I have a guest staying with me who gave it a slagging off. She summed up the story of it being the interview of a man who is brilliant at everything, who is telling us how he is brilliant at everything, who faces what would be challenges (but he is brilliant and better than everyone at everything), who has a love interest who is brilliant at everything.

The way she described it made it sound as much fun as talking to many ex-pat Aussies in London.

PS: Just passing on one review, I have not read it and I am sure you are a great bloke.

Fair comment but I'm enjoying it

[Phil]

The problem I have with him is when the first book came out, there was a big fuss made that he'd already written the trilogy and it'd be released quite quickly. Well, years later and we're still waiting on the third book.

If you're interested in good fantasy series that are solidly good reads then I've plenty of recommendations I can give.

I do like a good fantasy (ooh matron

[Futtocks]

Due to a visit to the family home and retrieving various boxes of stuff from storage therein, I have recently been re-reading a few of the books of my childhood, and have been pleasantly surprised in the main. Adult impressions of the books are sometimes as favourable as when I was a lad, and sometimes less so.

 

Henry Treece - historical fiction books, mainly about Vikings and Romans. The action ticks along well, although the writing can sometimes be a little simplistic, especially the dialogue. 'Horned Helmet' was the first of his books I read, and is still the best to me now.

 

Rosemary Sutcliff - more historical fiction, like Henry Treece, but (in my opinion) written with a bit more character depth in general. 'Sword at Sunset' is an imagining of a more realistic King Arthur than the Camelot myths.

 

Mary Renault - even more historical fiction, and the best-written of the lot, especially the Theseus books ('The King must die' and 'The Bull from the Sea').

 

Arthur Ransome - the 'Swallows & Amazons' books. Really well-written by any standard and also charmingly illustrated. Mind you, 'Missee Lee' is bloody awful.

 

E.Nesbit - Loads of imagination, but a bit too twee at times, to be honest.

 

Tove Janssen - the 'Moomin' books. Strange, weird, sometimes to an unsettling degree, but also warm-hearted and full of wonder. I just remembered how scared I was of the Groke when I was little. 

 

C.S.Lewis - the 'Narnia' books. Okay, we all know about the Christian allegories, right? Beyond that, this is some solid storytelling with sympathetic characters and good pacing.

 

T.H.White - 'The Sword in the Stone' is still a joy, while the rest of 'The Once and future King' is more uneven in quality. 'The Book of Merlin' is some heavy and dark philosophical stuff to lay on a child's mind.

 

Eric Linklater - The Pirates in the deep blue Sea. A bit of a disappointment, because I remember enjoying this a lot at the time. But it is, revisited, a bit stodgy and simplistic.

 

Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows. A slight cheat here, as I have read this many times over the years. A total delight in every sense.

Edited October 27, 2016 by Futtocks

[Phil]

Due to a visit to the family home and retrieving various boxes of stuff from storage therein, I have recently been re-reading a few of the books of my childhood, and have been pleasantly surprised in the main. Adult impressions of the books are sometimes as favourable as when I was a lad, and sometimes less so.

Henry Treece - historical fiction books, mainly about Vikings and Romans. The action ticks along well, although the writing can sometimes be a little simplistic, especially the dialogue. 'Horned Helmet' was the first of his books I read, and is still the best to me now.

Rosemary Sutcliff - more historical fiction, like Henry Treece, but (in my opinion) written with a bit more character depth in general. 'Sword at Sunset' is an imagining of a more realistic King Arthur than the Camelot myths.

Mary Renault - even more historical fiction, and the best-written of the lot, especially the Theseus books ('The King must die' and 'The Bull from the Sea').

Arthur Ransome - the 'Swallows & Amazons' books. Really well-written by any standard and also charmingly illustrated. Mind you, 'Missee Lee' is bloody awful.

E.Nesbit - Loads of imagination, but a bit too twee at times, to be honest.

Tove Janssen - the 'Moomin' books. Strange, weird, sometimes to an unsettling degree, but also warm-hearted and full of wonder. I just remembered how scared I was of the Groke when I was little.

C.S.Lewis - the 'Narnia' books. Okay, we all know about the Christian allegories, right? Beyond that, this is some solid storytelling with sympathetic characters and good pacing.

T.H.White - 'The Sword in the Stone' is still a joy, while the rest of 'The Once and future King' is more uneven in quality. 'The Book of Merlin' is some heavy and dark philosophical stuff to lay on a child's mind.

Eric Linklater - The Pirates in the deep blue Sea. A bit of a disappointment, because I remember enjoying this a lot at the time. But it is, revisited, a bit stodgy and simplistic.

Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows. A slight cheat here, as I have read this many times over the years. A total delight in every sense.

Can't argue with much there "Sword at sunset" is a great read as is most of the Henry Treece stuff

[marklaspalmas]

Arthur Ransome - the 'Swallows & Amazons' books. Really well-written by any standard and also charmingly illustrated. Mind you, 'Missee Lee' is bloody awful.

 

"Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown."

 

Best advice any kid ever got. Great books.

[Maximus Decimus]

Just finished a book called Stasi Child by David Young and I really enjoyed it.

In general I'm not a fan of historical fiction or stories set in relatively unknown historical times like the former East Germany. In my experience the authors often can't help but show off their knowledge of the period and it becomes an annoyance after a while if you are knowledgeable on the subject.

With the GDR, whilst there are few stories set in this era, they often end up being cliché stories about Stasi informers where the informer is so obvious the main character would've had to be an idiot not to notice. The Bicycle Teacher is one such example.

Stasi child was an interesting story set in the GDR without being completely dominated by it. The Stasi are not treated as Hollywood bad guys and the public aren't presented as dumb sheep who don't have an idea what's going on.

It's the first of a trilogy and I look forward to the rest.

[Futtocks]

Roald Dahl - My Uncle Oswald. Definitely NOT one of his children's books!

 

An unscrupulous but charming rogue, a beautiful young nymphomaniac and a pioneer in IVF set out (armed with an incredibly powerful aphrodisiac) to harvest the semen of the greatest minds and crowned heads of the early 20th century, so they can sell it to rich women who want to give birth to the child of a genius or a king.

 

Funny, amoral and salacious.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Futtocks

[C H Calthrop]

Battler Britton Vol No2. published by Fleetway 1961. 

The second collection of some wartime exploits of Wing Commander of Robert Hereward Britton, DSO, DFC, AND BAR, CROIX DE GUERRE.

 At one point he takes out a V2 with a cricket ball which he throws while piloting a Mosquito. And while escaping enemy territory lasso's a Heinkel with a cable dangling from his glider and hitches a ride back to Blighty. 

[Bleep1673]

Ska'd For Lfe

A personal journey with Horace Panter, from The Specials.

 

In Paper.

[Futtocks]

Ballcocks* to Alton Towers and More Ballcocks to Alton Towers (far from the sodding crowd), by Robin Halstead, Jason Hazeley, Alex Morris and Joel Morris. They are also the creators of The Framley Examiner, in case the names ring a bell.

A love-letter to British tourist attractions that don't involve animatronic dinosaurs, vomit-inducing thrill rides, branded baseball caps or corporate anything. They visit all sorts of places, from fairly well-known places like Portmeirion (location for the TV series 'The Prisoner') to a series of secret tunnels built under Liverpool to Barometer World to the nondescript terraced house in Bedford that is maintained as a residence for Christ when/if he returns.

Available on Kindle, and ideal for people who want to get a more realistic feeling of Britishness than the usual destinations.

*not actually the swear filter-triggering scrotally-related real word in the title.

[Maximus Decimus]

Currently reading Wild Swans by Jung Chang and it's a real eye-opener. Whilst I was aware that Mao was responsible for the death of more than either Hitler or Stalin I always thought it was a result of the failure of collectivisation on a large population.

 

This books paints him in a much worse light and far more responsible than simply ill-thought out policies. It's incredible to think some go around in the west wearing his image.

[Futtocks]

I have been dipping in and out of a complete Jerome K.Jerome anthology, available for peanuts as a Kindle ebook, as he's well out of copyright. Witty and often poetic, with regular descents into broad farce and outright slapstick.

I am now a few chapters into Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Rock Star, which is the first volume of memoirs of a man with more anecdotes than Methuselah had hot dinners. Very funny stuff.

[Mister Ting]

The Last Lingua Franca - Nicholas Ostler

The Same Old Game - Mike Roberts

[Futtocks]

7 minutes ago, Mister Ting said:

The Last Lingua Franca - Nicholas Ostler

The Same Old Game - Mike Roberts

Those both sound rather interesting. However, I'm working on a fairly tight budget for book-buying. I might make a request to my family on a Christmas/Birthday present list.

[Mister Ting]

1 minute ago, Futtocks said:

Those both sound rather interesting. However, I'm working on a fairly tight budget for book-buying. I might make a request to my family on a Christmas/Birthday present list.

I only recently got the Same Old Game for about a quid. It has several hundred pages.

As you may well know, it's a history of every known form of football. It doesn't seem to have a slant toward any particular code.

[gingerjon]

Went through a very long stage when I was hardly reading at all.

In the past few months I've attempted to change that a bit.  Last book I read was The Glorious Heresies which, whilst being slightly too long, was a damn good read in a suitably grubby kind of way.  Apparently there's a sequel coming out now but I'm not sure I'm that bothered about that.

Currently making up for decades of mistakes by actually reading Iain M Banks' Culture sci-fi novels and very much enjoying them.  Use of Weapons currently.  After that, Guy de Maupassant's Like Death awaits.

[Robin Evans]

19 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Went through a very long stage when I was hardly reading at all.

I'm in one of those stages. It started as I left school. I'm 56!

[gingerjon]

6 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

I'm in one of those stages. It started as I left school. I'm 56!

Can I recommend ...

[Phil]

The North Water by Ian Maguire. A disgraced army surgeon and a psychopathic killer both sign on for a six month whaling trip to Greenland. Shades of Moby Dick almost inevitably but also echoes of Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Sumner the surgeon says of Drax the killer "its like talking to a black hole and expecting the darkness to answer back"

[Futtocks]

John Collier - His Monkey Wife. A peculiar, witty and beautifully-written tale from the 1930s.

[Bearman]

Just finished Bill Bryson's The Road To Little Dribbling.

One of my very favourite authors. I would really recommend his book "At  Home"

its a journey round a house that looks at the objects and rooms therein.It sounds dry but I found it hugely entertaining