Book thread: what are you reading?

[JonM]

7 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

'Between the Woods and the Water' is the sequel to 'A Time of Gifts', so a good one to go for. It is a shame he never wrote about his very interesting wartime exploits.

If you liked his writing, try some books by Norman Lewis, another interesting character whose journeys were more or less contemporary to Fermor's.

I've read the sequel, but not the third one in the sequence. Thought he had written a book about some of the wartime stuff (the abduction of the German General that was dramatised in the film Ill met by moonlight) just before he died.

Thanks for the Norman Lewis recommendation, haven't come across any of his writing (he lived in a village not too far from me, where Dodie Smith also lived.) I think "As I walked out one summers morning" by Laurie Lee is the closest thing to 'A Time of Gifts' that I've read.

[Futtocks]

I forgot; just before I started 'Mani', I found this in the shelves, and raced through it. A treat from my childhood!

[Donspaghetti]

Fingerprints of the gods by graham Hancock. Drawing amazing parallels between the Egyptians and the incas, despite living 4000 miles apart and there being a 2000 year gap between these 2 empires, they seemed to share technology that to this day is hard to comprehend. Mind blowing at times,one for history  and detective buffs, cheers guys, don spaghetti

[Tongs ya bas]

Raymond Chandler: ' The Lady Vanishes'. Wonderful use of language, classic plot, and an interesting social document of the times

[BryanC]

Daniel Yergin - The Prize.

History of oil, nowhere near as dull as it sounds, very well written. I'd recommend it.

[BryanC]

On ‎26‎/‎08‎/‎2015 at 5:52 PM, fieldofclothofgold said:

the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck .Fascinating it's 1930s and the dust bowl migrants from Oklahoma having to camp in shanty towns and the locals of California not very welcoming treating them like dirt and these were American citizens not illegal Mexicans

Probably one of the best books I've ever read. I'd also recommend Steinbeck's "Cannery Row".

[Phil]

On 28/06/2017 at 7:31 PM, Donspaghetti said:

Fingerprints of the gods by graham Hancock. Drawing amazing parallels between the Egyptians and the incas, despite living 4000 miles apart and there being a 2000 year gap between these 2 empires, they seemed to share technology that to this day is hard to comprehend. Mind blowing at times,one for history  and detective buffs, cheers guys, don spaghetti

Sorry but Hancock's theories were discredited many years ago

Ancient astronauts and all that guff 

[Futtocks]

2 hours ago, Phil said:

Sorry but Hancock's theories were discredited many years ago

Ancient astronauts and all that guff 

See also Erich von Daniken and Chariots of the Gods.

[Donspaghetti]

Hey phil,discredited or not,there's no smoke without fire.But then again,I'm dumber than a bag of rocks! Either way still a great read.

[Kayakman]

'Meditations' by Marcus Aurelius...he was a smart Dude!  Could be argued that he was a poor Dad though.

[Phil]

4 hours ago, Donspaghetti said:

Hey phil,discredited or not,there's no smoke without fire.But then again,I'm dumber than a bag of rocks! Either way still a great read.

I'm no way saying you're dumb mate 

[Donspaghetti]

3 minutes ago, Phil said:

I'm no way saying you're dumb mate 

Phil are you kidding me? I thought ten pin bowling was called temping bowling until I was around 14 years old! When God handed out brains, I thought he said trains and asked for a slow one.

[henage]

Monte Cassino - Sven Hassel .

Never did much reading when I was younger but for some reason I read most of Hassels books .

My partners father was at Monte Cassino fighting in a Sherman tank for part of the 2nd world war .

[marklaspalmas]

Hlafway through The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who's read it.

[westlondonfan]

Just started listening to Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch.

[Bleep1673]

This charity won't mean much to you, but there is a local to Hastings charity called the Sara Lee Trust, I assume they have a Webby site, they have been donated so many books, they are having to give them away for free.

I picked up Bradley Wiggins Bio, Gary Rhodes cookbook and a Chinese c book for free. Oh, & a Sophie Grigson Cooley too

[ckn]

Just out of interest for those who don't have it and are enjoying the TV series, American Gods by Neil Gaiman is currently available for 99p in the Amazon Kindle sales.

[Oxford]

On 09/07/2017 at 0:13 AM, ckn said:

Just out of interest for those who don't have it and are enjoying the TV series, American Gods by Neil Gaiman is currently available for 99p in the Amazon Kindle sales.

Thanks for the heads up I'll give that a go!

I usually like to have two or three books on the go at once and at the moment they are : The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut,

Writing Home - Alan Bennett

and My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk

 

[Futtocks]

On 2017-7-9 at 0:13 AM, ckn said:

Just out of interest for those who don't have it and are enjoying the TV series, American Gods by Neil Gaiman is currently available for 99p in the Amazon Kindle sales.

I used to have that in paperback, but cannot find it, so 99p well spent!

[Tongs ya bas]

Just downloaded no is not enough, by Naomi Klein, which I will start when I've finished they gave me a seafire: a book about fleet air arm pilots in world war two

Edited July 12, 2017 by Tongs ya bas

[Jeff Stein]

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee. Some detective series can be a bit wobbly in the early books, but this was a really strong start, particularly from a debut author (he got his publishing deal through winning a Daily Telegraph competition). The story is set in Calcutta just after the Great War and follows a Metropolitan Police detective damaged by the War and the loss of his wife to the flu who tries to escape his demons in India and occasionally in opium. The crime he investigates is the murder of a high ranking British civil servant in the "native" part of town. It had me guessing to the end and there were plenty of interesting insights into the Raj, not a topic I had particularly read about before. 

[Bearman]

Sapiens ....Yuval Noah Harari.

A brief history of humankind.

Brilliant

[Futtocks]

Geoffrey of Monmouth - Histories of the Kings of England. Most of it is completely made up, but it is quite an enjoyable read.

[ckn]

For Kindle readers: Did you know that if you go to this Amazon link it'll review your Kindle books and see if there are linked audio books?  You can often get audio books for about 1/10th of their normal prices and usually get them for way below their normal Audible price, even under the Audible membership discounts.

[Futtocks]

Greg Sestero - The Disaster Artist. The behind-the-scenes story of one of the most magnificently incompetent movies ever to get a cinematic release, The Room.

There's a film about the film coming out soon, but it is directed by one of those Seth-or-Zach types who crank out lazy T&A 'comedies' every other month or so. You know, the kind of celluloid pabulum they advertise on the side of buses. Still, I think Sestero's involved in the production, so maybe it'll be all right after all.