Book thread: what are you reading?

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 27/03/2019 at 06:28, gingerjon said:

I've still to read the latest two but, as a series, I think it's pretty close to unbeatable.

Try the Falcon series books by Robert Wilson...Spanish based detective....it's amazing too

[Futtocks]

42 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

I assume it's about Withnail and I? ......what a film.....I mean WHAT a film!!!!!

"But officer I've only had a few ales"....

It starts with his big break in Withnail & I, but goes on to later experiences, including the highs of working with Coppola, Scorsese and Altman, but also the unbelievable car-crash that was Hudson Hawk.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

5 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

It starts with his big break in Withnail & I, but goes on to later experiences, including the highs of working with Coppola, Scorsese and Altman, but also the unbelievable car-crash that was Hudson Hawk.

Yes HH awful....I remember I liked the game for the Spectrum 48k though

[Bleep1673]

48 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Never read any of this sort of stuff (Disc world is it?).....as a newbie who normally likes thrillers/crime/comedy novels where do you recommend starting with Pratchet? 

For Discworld, maybe Guards! Guards! to get the feel for Ankh-Morpork, and work your way through Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, and then Start at Colour of Magic, and work your way through. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

10 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

For Discworld, maybe Guards! Guards! to get the feel for Ankh-Morpork, and work your way through Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, and then Start at Colour of Magic, and work your way through. 

Okay....just bought second hand copy of GG on eBay!....will let you know

[Bleep1673]

I was posting on the Obit thread, about a children's author, & it started me thinking about the books and poetry that I read my (now) 10 year old in the womb, and that she now reads (according to her school), much more than anyone in her class. She stared reading things like Gruffalo, then I bought her the Spanish version, and she is now learning Spanish.

[Bleep1673]

A mouse took a stroll through a deep dark wood.

A fox saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

John will be jumping up on his higher copyright horse.

Who knows the next lines?

[Steve May]

Just finished Wings on my Sleeve by Eric “Winkle” Brown

He was a Royal Navy test pilot who was instrumental in developing naval aviation.  He flew more different types of aircraft than anyone else, and holds the record for most landings on aircraft carriers.   Neither record is ever likely to be beaten.  

His career perfectly straddled the thirty extraordinary years when aviation went from spluttering biplanes to the edge of space.

As he spoke fluent German he spent much of 1945 and 1946 wandering around Germany flying and assessing any German aircraft he could find, including the Me262 and 163, the He162 and the Ar234 He also interviewed senior Luftwaffe officials and pilots including Goering, Udet, Galland and even Hanna Reitsch.    

He met many other pilots and aviation pioneers including Yuri Gagarin

He died a few years back in his late 90s

One hell of a life and lived to the full.

If you have even a vague interest in aviation, it’s a must read. 

I am a tremendous plane geek.   I was finishing this book on the train yesterday and the guard noticed it and we had a good chat about his Cessna 150.     

I wish I had the time to have a pop at flying. 

[Steve May]

16 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

A mouse took a stroll through a deep dark wood.

A fox saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

John will be jumping up on his higher copyright horse.

Who knows the next lines?

From memory it’s 

Where are you going to, little brown mouse?

 

We’ve loved the Donaldson/Scheffler books in our house.   The kids seemed to like Zog and Tiddler best, but I prefer A Squash and a Squeeze.

 

 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Steve May said:

From memory it’s 

Where are you going to, little brown mouse?

 

We’ve loved the Donaldson/Scheffler books in our house.   The kids seemed to like Zog and Tiddler best, but I prefer A Squash and a Squeeze.

 

 

Tiddler? Tiddler? TIDDLER'S LATE.

Sorry, but like Chekhov's gun, it has to be fired.

[Steve May]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

Tiddler? Tiddler? TIDDLER'S LATE.

Sorry, but like Chekhov's gun, it has to be fired.

Quite so.

Just don’t mention that bloody busking cat. 

“Me you and the old guitar, how perfectly perfectly happy we are”

I had to “lose” that one as it annoyed me so much.   I would gleefully have Tabby McTat and his irritating kittens put down. 

[gingerjon]

Just now, Steve May said:

Quite so.

Just don’t mention that bloody busking cat. 

“Me you and the old guitar, how perfectly perfectly happy we are”

I had to “lose” that one as it annoyed me so much.   I would gleefully have Tabby McTat and his irritating kittens put down. 

I didn't so much lose that one as purposefully and with wilful forethought never buy it.

Little Ginger's obsession - being autistic you can take 'obsession' here to mean 'oh my god will this nightmare ever end?' - was the absolutely awful, beyond terrible, who has cacked all over Reverend Awdry's legacy, 'new' Thomas and Friends books. Not the ones related to the Ringo Starr voiced animation but the ones that date from the franchise sale in the mid-00s. So bad they don't even have author names on them and so many that helpful relatives would bring them in by the bucketload.

So bad that when Tiny Ginger fell into Ben 10's world we regarded that as a triumph.

[Steve May]

7 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I didn't so much lose that one as purposefully and with wilful forethought never buy it.

Little Ginger's obsession - being autistic you can take 'obsession' here to mean 'oh my god will this nightmare ever end?' - was the absolutely awful, beyond terrible, who has cacked all over Reverend Awdry's legacy, 'new' Thomas and Friends books. Not the ones related to the Ringo Starr voiced animation but the ones that date from the franchise sale in the mid-00s. So bad they don't even have author names on them and so many that helpful relatives would bring them in by the bucketload.

So bad that when Tiny Ginger fell into Ben 10's world we regarded that as a triumph.

Eldest one has, amongst many other things, autism so I understand *completely*

A word of warning - do not, under any circumstances, go on Netflix and watch the piece of utter dreck that is Potato and Chip.  

Oh how I miss Paw Patrol...

[Futtocks]

4 minutes ago, Steve May said:

Oh how I miss Paw Patrol...

Mark Kermode wishes he could have missed Paw Patrol...

 

[Futtocks]

I am currently reading Prospero's Cell by Lawrence Durrell. Very very good.

[Bleep1673]

[Bleep1673]

Just now, Bleep1673 said:

 

For those of you who are going camping this year

[Steve May]

17 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

Twenty six years ago this summer I narrowly avoided being eaten by a lion. 

It is a tale so fantastic even I can scarcely believe it’s true, but it is!

[Mumby Magic]

Touchstones by Steve Mascord.

[Phil]

2 hours ago, Steve May said:

Twenty six years ago this summer I narrowly avoided being eaten by a lion. 

It is a tale so fantastic even I can scarcely believe it’s true, but it is!

Come on!!! We’ve got to hear this 

[Steve May]

On 23/05/2019 at 12:55, gingerjon said:

I didn't so much lose that one as purposefully and with wilful forethought never buy it.

Little Ginger's obsession - being autistic you can take 'obsession' here to mean 'oh my god will this nightmare ever end?' - was the absolutely awful, beyond terrible, who has cacked all over Reverend Awdry's legacy, 'new' Thomas and Friends books. Not the ones related to the Ringo Starr voiced animation but the ones that date from the franchise sale in the mid-00s. So bad they don't even have author names on them and so many that helpful relatives would bring them in by the bucketload.

So bad that when Tiny Ginger fell into Ben 10's world we regarded that as a triumph.

On the I topic of autism I can heartily recommend Neurotribes by Steve Silverman. 

A very interesting and accessible history.

[Steve May]

7 hours ago, Phil said:

Come on!!! We’ve got to hear this 

It’s one for the pub. 

It’s so fantastic that no one believes it.  

At my wedding, my best man - who I’ve known for only twenty five years - actually went and asked my mum and each of my sisters if it was true.    They all assured him it was.   I’m not sure he believed them.

[Futtocks]

Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen. How John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and John Candy went from TV sketch-show performers to movie stars. 

[Oxford]

Because I'm so tired it takes me years to finish everything.

But looking through my favourite reads 99.99% were by irreverent, iconoclastic, questioning and cynical writers amd mickey takers.

I can't imagine why that is??????

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

not a book,but epicmagazine.com Amazing true stories,brilliantly written, pepino the gentleman thief being one of the best,if anybody reads it I hope they enjoy it as much as I did