Book thread: what are you reading?

[Tongs ya bas]

Just started Anthonia Fraser's book on the gunpowder plot. I bought it a few years ago and somehow omitted to read it.

Spurred on by the tv show

[Futtocks]

On 24/10/2017 at 1:29 PM, Futtocks said:

'Under Western Eyes' is excellent. 'Nostromo' is also worth reading, although it it is a bit more long-winded than it needs to be at times, IMO.

As well as a collection of columns about terrible B-movies (what, me?), I am also about a quarter of the way through 'New Grub Street' by George Gissing, which I am enjoying quite a lot.

It took me a few chapters to realise that two of the main character names in 'New Grub Street' are also re-used in the Radio 4 comedy series, 'Ed Reardon's Week'. Nice tribute.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Futtocks

[Vernon]

I bought most of Lyn McDonald's oral histories around 15 - 20 years ago (1914, 1915 - The death of innocence, Somme, They called it Passchendale, To the last man) - going to try to re-read them in the next 12 months or so  -  seems quite apt.

[ckn]

Gordon Brown’s autobiography is out next week. It’s the first political autobiography in ages that I’ve looked forward to reading. A seriously flawed man but also one not to shy away from a tough subject. I hope he doesn’t pull punches in it.

Also, all proceeds are going to charity. 

[Kenilworth Tiger]

I've just finished "Stasi Child" set in early 70's Eastern Germany - absolutely brilliant!

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, Kenilworth Tiger said:

I've just finished "Stasi Child" set in early 70's Eastern Germany - absolutely brilliant!

I have an interest in East Germany and this was one of the few books I've read that came close to capturing it.

[Kenilworth Tiger]

4 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I have an interest in East Germany and this was one of the few books I've read that came close to capturing it.

It wouldn't normally be something I'd have chosen but I had forgotten my book for the train journey and this was the only one that had any appeal at the book exchange at Hook (Hampshire) Station.

read it in 3 sittings which is unusual for me!

[The Future is League]

Started today to read "Murder on the Brighton Express" I've read the first 5 chapters and I think I'm going to enjoy it.

[ckn]

I've just used my last free Audible credit to buy the Sherlock Holmes Collection narrated by Stephen Fry.  Priced at £69.99, that's too much but for "free" as part of my three month trial then I'm happy!

I may actually keep the account... some good books coming up in the next few months that'd be good as audiobooks.

The marketing of the free trial has worked...

[gingerjon]

53 minutes ago, ckn said:

I've just used my last free Audible credit to buy the Sherlock Holmes Collection narrated by Stephen Fry.  Priced at £69.99, that's too much but for "free" as part of my three month trial then I'm happy!

I may actually keep the account... some good books coming up in the next few months that'd be good as audiobooks.

The marketing of the free trial has worked...

They get a bit ropey towards the end.

If it doesn't have the novels then get yourselves those as well as they're tremendous fun.

[ckn]

Just now, gingerjon said:

They get a bit ropey towards the end.

If it doesn't have the novels then get yourselves those as well as they're tremendous fun.

I've had the novels for years, they're a must-have for my book collection.  The audiobooks are just an addition that were a rare "yep, must have that" for me with additional purchases of things I already have!

[John Drake]

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite to take on my hols this year, thinking I'd be a bit stuck for things to do in the lengthy gaps inbetween stations on the Trans-Siberian Express, and not wanting to cart a bagful of heavy books with me on the journey.

As it turned out, there's lots to do on the train inbetween stations that doesn't involve much quiet reading time, so I only managed to get through one whole book, which was How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb (David Mitchell's comedy partner). 

I'd seen him plugging it on TV before I set off, and it sounded like an interesting alternative take on the traditional celebrity autobiography, and it was. He spends a lot of time explaining what an absolutely unforgiveable a-hole he has been in his life and trying to come to terms with it. It's funny too, which helps.

The thing about the Kindle though, is I've carried on using it since I got home, which I didn't expect to. I read more now that I ever did before and I find it easy to dip into various books at the same time, rather than finish one, start another, and I'll spend 15 minutes or so reading at lunchtime whereas I wouldn't have bothered to bring an actual book because it's a faff propping them open while you're using your hands to eat with. Sales of the 'i' newspaper will be down by one daily copy though.

I'm now into books about trains and Russia, or preferably both!

I raced through 'Trans-Siberian Adventures: Life on and off the rails from the Uk to Asia' by Matthew Woodward because it was basically a description of the journey I'd just done myself, although he did it in winter and without venturing much beyond the stations, which seems a wasted opportunity to me. Why go all that way and see so little? Still, it's an accurate and amusing account of what life on the train is like, and even the list of stations and stopping times made me feel nostalgic and wanting to do it again.

I'm in the middle of 'A Siberian Winter's Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the Edge of the World' by Helen Lloyd, and the title just about sums it up. It's about a crazy English woman cycling through Siberia in the winter, just for the fun of it. It's an eye-opening and entertaining read so far, but I definitely won't be following in her cycle tracks at any point in future.

I've also just started 'Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar' by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I'm not usually one to attempt these kind of heavy biographies, but my interest was piqued partly by the trip to Russia but also after watching the film 'The Death of Stalin' and wanting to find out what really went on during that period of history. It may take me as long as Uncle Joe's reign of terror to get through it though.

[ckn]

5 minutes ago, John Drake said:

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite to take on my hols this year, thinking I'd be a bit stuck for things to do in the lengthy gaps inbetween stations on the Trans-Siberian Express, and not wanting to cart a bagful of heavy books with me on the journey.

As it turned out, there's lots to do on the train inbetween stations that doesn't involve much quiet reading time, so I only managed to get through one whole book, which was How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb (David Mitchell's comedy partner). 

I'd seen him plugging it on TV before I set off, and it sounded like an interesting alternative take on the traditional celebrity autobiography, and it was. He spends a lot of time explaining what an absolutely unforgiveable a-hole he has been in his life and trying to come to terms with it. It's funny too, which helps.

The thing about the Kindle though, is I've carried on using it since I got home, which I didn't expect to. I read more now that I ever did before and I find it easy to dip into various books at the same time, rather than finish one, start another, and I'll spend 15 minutes or so reading at lunchtime whereas I wouldn't have bothered to bring an actual book because it's a faff propping them open while you're using your hands to eat with. Sales of the 'i' newspaper will be down by one daily copy though.

I'm now into books about trains and Russia, or preferably both!

I raced through 'Trans-Siberian Adventures: Life on and off the rails from the Uk to Asia' by Matthew Woodward because it was basically a description of the journey I'd just done myself, although he did it in winter and without venturing much beyond the stations, which seems a wasted opportunity to me. Why go all that way and see so little? Still, it's an accurate and amusing account of what life on the train is like, and even the list of stations and stopping times made me feel nostalgic and wanting to do it again.

I'm in the middle of 'A Siberian Winter's Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the Edge of the World' by Helen Lloyd, and the title just about sums it up. It's about a crazy English woman cycling through Siberia in the winter, just for the fun of it. It's an eye-opening and entertaining read so far, but I definitely won't be following in her cycle tracks at any point in future.

I've also just started 'Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar' by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I'm not usually one to attempt these kind of heavy biographies, but my interest was piqued partly by the trip to Russia but also after watching the film 'The Death of Stalin' and wanting to find out what really went on during that period of history. It may take me as long as Uncle Joe's reign of terror to get through it though.

I was given a Kindle as a birthday gift years ago and I thought I'd hate it.  Since then, I'm onto my second, having upgraded to the Paperwhite to get the backlit screen, and I've converted a reasonable chunk of my paper books to it over the years.  I've not bought a paper book since I got it in 2011.

Quite a few of my older books won't ever get converted to Kindle so they'll remain as my paper library.  A good few of my other books that I either decided I'd never read again or I've moved to Kindle I gave to my local library.  On the library, they have a rather reasonable ebook and audiobook lending section but it's for other formats than Kindle Paperwhite unfortunately,

[Futtocks]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

I'm now into books about trains and Russia, or preferably both!

Both Paul Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar) and Eric Newby (The Big Red Train Ride) have written good books about the Trans-Siberian Express.

[Futtocks]

I tried out the free Kindle software on my laptop before actually buying the gadget itself. While experience isn't quite the same, it does give you a bit of a taster of reading e-books before you actually decide to buy.

Now I have about 400 books on the thing, which I just couldn't have housed as printed volumes.

The quantity of free classics available is amazing, as are giant author anthologies available for pennies.

[Tongs ya bas]

3 hours ago, John Drake said:

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite to take on my hols this year, thinking I'd be a bit stuck for things to do in the lengthy gaps inbetween stations on the Trans-Siberian Express, and not wanting to cart a bagful of heavy books with me on the journey.

As it turned out, there's lots to do on the train inbetween stations that doesn't involve much quiet reading time, so I only managed to get through one whole book, which was How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb (David Mitchell's comedy partner). 

I'd seen him plugging it on TV before I set off, and it sounded like an interesting alternative take on the traditional celebrity autobiography, and it was. He spends a lot of time explaining what an absolutely unforgiveable a-hole he has been in his life and trying to come to terms with it. It's funny too, which helps.

The thing about the Kindle though, is I've carried on using it since I got home, which I didn't expect to. I read more now that I ever did before and I find it easy to dip into various books at the same time, rather than finish one, start another, and I'll spend 15 minutes or so reading at lunchtime whereas I wouldn't have bothered to bring an actual book because it's a faff propping them open while you're using your hands to eat with. Sales of the 'i' newspaper will be down by one daily copy though.

I'm now into books about trains and Russia, or preferably both!

I raced through 'Trans-Siberian Adventures: Life on and off the rails from the Uk to Asia' by Matthew Woodward because it was basically a description of the journey I'd just done myself, although he did it in winter and without venturing much beyond the stations, which seems a wasted opportunity to me. Why go all that way and see so little? Still, it's an accurate and amusing account of what life on the train is like, and even the list of stations and stopping times made me feel nostalgic and wanting to do it again.

I'm in the middle of 'A Siberian Winter's Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the Edge of the World' by Helen Lloyd, and the title just about sums it up. It's about a crazy English woman cycling through Siberia in the winter, just for the fun of it. It's an eye-opening and entertaining read so far, but I definitely won't be following in her cycle tracks at any point in future.

I've also just started 'Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar' by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I'm not usually one to attempt these kind of heavy biographies, but my interest was piqued partly by the trip to Russia but also after watching the film 'The Death of Stalin' and wanting to find out what really went on during that period of history. It may take me as long as Uncle Joe's reign of terror to get through it though.

The Stalin book is excellent

[Tongs ya bas]

2 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Both Paul Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar) and Eric Newby (The Big Red Train Ride) have written good books about the Trans-Siberian Express.

The Theroux book is brilliant

[Amber Avenger]

18 hours ago, John Drake said:

As it turned out, there's lots to do on the train inbetween stations that doesn't involve much quiet reading time, so I only managed to get through one whole book, which was How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb (David Mitchell's comedy partner). 

I'd seen him plugging it on TV before I set off, and it sounded like an interesting alternative take on the traditional celebrity autobiography, and it was. He spends a lot of time explaining what an absolutely unforgiveable a-hole he has been in his life and trying to come to terms with it. It's funny too, which helps.

I read this on holiday as well and thought it was great. Moving, honest, and he never made excuses. Not your typical autobiog, and it was much better for it. He's obviously a very talented writer and I thought it was a very thought provoking look at modern masculinity. 

I'm another in the "Thought I'd hate Kindles, but I love them" camp. Had one for years now and certainly read so much more because of it, but I still like a paper book on occasion and they both have a place. In fact, case in point, I enjoyed Robert Webb's book so much, I bought a hard copy to give someone as a gift. 

[John Drake]

16 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Both Paul Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar) and Eric Newby (The Big Red Train Ride) have written good books about the Trans-Siberian Express.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I just bought the Theroux book on Kindle, will look forward to getting stuck into that soon. The Newby book isn't on Kindle, seems to be long out of print too but I managed to order a second hand copy in paperback.

[Futtocks]

17 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Thanks for the recommendations!

I just bought the Theroux book on Kindle, will look forward to getting stuck into that soon. The Newby book isn't on Kindle, seems to be long out of print too but I managed to order a second hand copy in paperback.

Newby's a more light-hearted writer than Theroux, so it makes an interesting contrast of experiences.

Odd that it's not on Kindle, as several of his other books are.

[Maximus Decimus]

44 minutes ago, Amber Avenger said:

I read this on holiday as well and thought it was great. Moving, honest, and he never made excuses. Not your typical autobiog, and it was much better for it. He's obviously a very talented writer and I thought it was a very thought provoking look at modern masculinity. 

I'm another in the "Thought I'd hate Kindles, but I love them" camp. Had one for years now and certainly read so much more because of it, but I still like a paper book on occasion and they both have a place. In fact, case in point, I enjoyed Robert Webb's book so much, I bought a hard copy to give someone as a gift. 

I love Peep show but the YouTube advert for his book put me off for life. If I hear him go on about Rick Astley one more time I'll go stir crazy.

[Maximus Decimus]

In my late teens I loved Stephen King books and went through a significant number of them. As has happened since with other authors, I read one bad book and it put me off reading any more.

I never got round to reading what many see as his best The Stand. The size put me off but I also like to save the best one so I know I have something to look forward to.

I recently decided to take the plunge and got it on Audible about 15 years after my last Stephen King. I actually knew nothing about the story prior to getting it. It is epic in every sense of the word at a whopping 48 hours. 

I'm about 32 hours in and really enjoying it. I like books that make me wonder about what I'd do in that situation and I can't help but drive around imaginging how I'd cope if virtually everyone but me was gone.

[ckn]

1 hour ago, Maximus Decimus said:

In my late teens I loved Stephen King books and went through a significant number of them. As has happened since with other authors, I read one bad book and it put me off reading any more.

I never got round to reading what many see as his best The Stand. The size put me off but I also like to save the best one so I know I have something to look forward to.

I recently decided to take the plunge and got it on Audible about 15 years after my last Stephen King. I actually knew nothing about the story prior to getting it. It is epic in every sense of the word at a whopping 48 hours. 

I'm about 32 hours in and really enjoying it. I like books that make me wonder about what I'd do in that situation and I can't help but drive around imaginging how I'd cope if virtually everyone but me was gone.

The Stand is a good book, too overtly moralising for my liking and too black/white in its moralising as well in areas but it's just a cracking read from end-to-end.  King's writing mastery is in pacing and structure, he drags you along bit by bit at a good pace but catering for both fast and slow readers while also not letting multiple threads of a plot get too out of hand.

[Tongs ya bas]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

Thanks for the recommendations!

I just bought the Theroux book on Kindle, will look forward to getting stuck into that soon. The Newby book isn't on Kindle, seems to be long out of print too but I managed to order a second hand copy in paperback.

The old Patagonian express is a great read; witty and informative. It's the great railway bazaar, but on the continent of America. The diversity of experience is exhilarating. After a read these two books I made the mistake of reading one of his novels: bad move.

[Futtocks]

1 hour ago, Tongs ya bas said:

The old Patagonian express is a great read; witty and informative. It's the great railway bazaar, but on the continent of America. The diversity of experience is exhilarating. After a read these two books I made the mistake of reading one of his novels: bad move.

I'd second that; his factual writing is great, but I really don't enjoy his fiction. The Old Patagonian Express sees him take the train from his hometown of Boston, all the way to the bottom of South America.

In The Kingdom by the Sea, he travels round the coast of Britain by public transport or on foot. This was written in the Eighties, and is an interesting snapshot of the country at that time.

Sunrise with Seamonsters is an anthology of non-fiction on various subjects, not just travel.