Book thread: what are you reading?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

52 minutes ago, FileyBulldog said:

I'm not too fussed over the gangster movies but he is so much more than that which people seem to forget. Love The Big Shave too.

I still love his gangster films and would probably put Goodfellas in my top 5 but it would be the only one in there. Yep, The Big Shave, one of his student short films, decent piece of cinema for what it is, and is still better than Who's That Knocking at My Door? which he made the same year, but that was his first attempt at a feature, also made when he was a student on a tiny budget basically with a video camera so we can cut him some slack there I think. 

My top 5 would be, 1. After Hours, 2. Taxi Driver, 3. Hugo, 4. The King of Comedy, 5. Goodfellas. 

[FileyBulldog]

9 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I still love his gangster films and would probably put Goodfellas in my top 5 but it would be the only one in there. Yep, The Big Shave, one of his student short films, decent piece of cinema for what it is, and is still better than Who's That Knocking at My Door? which he made the same year, but that was his first attempt at a feature, also made when he was a student on a tiny budget basically with a video camera so we can cut him some slack there I think. 

My top 5 would be, 1. After Hours, 2. Taxi Driver, 3. Hugo, 4. The King of Comedy, 5. Goodfellas. 

My Top 5

1- Shutter Island (also my favourite Di Caprio performance)

2- After Hours

3- The King Of Comedy

4- The Last Temptation Of Christ

5- Bringing Out The Dead

[Route66]

On 12/11/2023 at 17:15, FileyBulldog said:

Just ordered Shutter Island from Waterstones. Without doubt the best Martin Scorsese film ever........IMO.

Shame that you have seen the film first as the book is a masterpiece, Mystic River is an excellent book as well 

[FileyBulldog]

5 hours ago, Route66 said:

Shame that you have seen the film first as the book is a masterpiece, Mystic River is an excellent book as well 

Yeah it is always tricky to have watched the film or show of a book adaptation first as when reading you have those actors in mind but if the book is a masterpiece then it should stand up on its own seperate from the film.

[tonyXIII]

Back onto books.

"Halfway" by B.E.Jones. A decent ending, but a somewhat slow and definitely confusing start. Too many switches between storylines means you don't really get a sense of who is who until well into the book. The ending is interesting and has a couple of twists to the tale. I think the author was trying to set up one of the twists right from the start by giving one of the characters a name which makes you think 'man', but is later revealed to be a woman. It's a neat trick, but here it's a bit laboured.

On the whole, a good story and a decent read, but it could, and should, have been even better.

[Midlands hobo]

Just finished the question mark by Muriel Jaeger. Sci-Fi as most my reading is, nearly 100 years old, not the easiest read but still worth trying.

[marklaspalmas]

4 hours ago, tonyXIII said:

Back onto books.

Ah. Many thanks for that.

In my search to fill the void after finishing the magnificent Aubrey-Maturin series, I turned to Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. I read the first two of twelve books but have failed to continue.

So, now I've just bought the first three books if Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga. I'll give it a go.

[Josef K]

Has anybody read 

The Fatal Shore - Robert Hughes. 
I have had the book for as long as i can remember, my pa used to tell me to read it as it’s an amazing story.

I have never read it as i remember someone telling me it was fiction!!!!. 

[Hopping Mad]

Just finished [Dr] Charles Loft's 'Last Trains, Dr Beeching and the Death of Rural England'.

Interesting overview of how and why the 'Beeching Axe' was wielded. Of little comfort, mind, to residents of, say, Cornwall, Devon, Dumfries & Galloway, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, whose rail networks became skeletal.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, Hopping Mad said:

Just finished [Dr] Charles Loft's 'Last Trains, Dr Beeching and the Death of Rural England'.

Interesting overview of how and why the 'Beeching Axe' was wielded. Of little comfort, mind, to residents of, say, Cornwall, Devon, Dumfries & Galloway, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, whose rail networks became skeletal.

Sounds like something I'd like to read, thanks for mentioning it. 

[marklaspalmas]

On 19/11/2023 at 22:37, Josef K said:

Has anybody read 

The Fatal Shore - Robert Hughes. 
I have had the book for as long as i can remember, my pa used to tell me to read it as it’s an amazing story.

I have never read it as i remember someone telling me it was fiction!!!!. 

Been sitting on my shelf waiting for at least 10 years since I bought a second hand hardback copy for a quid 

[idrewthehaggis]

On 12/11/2023 at 20:29, LeeF said:

If you enjoy Knots & Crosses then there are just another 23 very readable Rebus novels to follow plus a few short stories. 

Yup I know. I had only done the TV shows and thought I'd like to read the books, after getting very drunk at that Oxford pub in Edinburgh a year ago. 

[Futtocks]

Werner Herzog's autobiography has been published. He's also voiced the audiobook!

I shall be nodding off to the latter this evening, so my dreams may be somewhat peculiar. 

[Moose]

Just finished reading Pierre Lemaitre’s Irene, the first book of his trilogy featuring Commandant Camille Verhoeven of the Copenhagen Brigade criminelle. Not a book for the faint hearted, although a fiction book it contains some of the most gruesome descriptions of murders I’ve ever read. Highly recommend.

 

[Midlands hobo]

Currently reading where late the sweet birds sang. It's a look at cloning at the collapse of civilization. 

Also just received but not started the first two books in a trilogy by Arkady Martine.

[Futtocks]

On 12/12/2023 at 16:21, Futtocks said:

Werner Herzog's autobiography has been published. He's also voiced the audiobook!

I shall be nodding off to the latter this evening, so my dreams may be somewhat peculiar. 

It is, as expected, 100% totally absolutely utterly mucking fental - and that's before we get to the Klaus Kinski anecdotes.

I LOVE this book!

Edited January 12 by Futtocks

[DavidM]

Andrew Roberts ‘ Churchill ‘ , Sophie Hannah’s new Poirot book ‘ Silent Night ‘ , Antony Beevor’s ‘ Russia ‘ and James Holland’s book on the Italian campaign 

[Adelaide Tiger]

Got these books for Christmas.

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy.  The Things they Carried - Tim O’Brien.  Animal Farm - George Orwell.  Helter Skelter - Bugliosi and Gentry.  Slaughterhouse-five - Kurt Vonnegut.  The Day Job - Mark Wallington.  The Battle of the Falklands - Max Hastings.  Vulcan 607 - Rolland White.  Humble Pi - Matt Parker.

[Ackroman]

Maybe you guys would be interested in helping a fellow forum member promote their first publication? 

My book "Snowflake" is based on my experiences as a youth worker. It's made up of short stories about how young people engage with the world as they begin their working lives. It has a humorous slant but the subject matter serious, from drugs to crime and poverty. My intention is to compare how differing generations view resilience and therefore whether the label "Snowflake" is justified.

It is released on the 2nd Feb and can be bought from most online book shops. Here's the link and thanks for taking the time to read my post. Obviously if any of you are in book clubs I would happily attend if you are kind enough to review it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snowflake-Simon-Ackroyd/dp/1398436666/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nwib-Zs8SFQVixD0C_50Dw.-g2PnnUTVPeQC6bG13mAdCLwB7vn0xo_kQTPOiegBig&dib_tag=se&keywords=9781398436664&linkCode=qs&qid=1705146722&s=books&sr=1-1&fbclid=IwAR2UiAOWCFWIFHdeWQQxZUwNbsR4NgZp3qDCNUlYaBvPN4by5hSQi4jE8Jk

[Futtocks]

Here's one for the Punk diehards.

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I treated myself to a couple of new books from the local bookshop today. Both by an author called Peter Ross, the first is about his fascination with graveyards and the second about his love of churches. I too find these topics very interesting and have thoroughly enjoyed the first couple of chapters of A Tomb With a View which I started this evening. 

[JonM]

On 12/01/2024 at 23:43, Adelaide Tiger said:

Got these books for Christmas.

 Animal Farm - George Orwell.   Slaughterhouse-five - Kurt Vonnegut.  

Re-read both of these recently after a gap of 20+ years. Possibly a controversial opinion but I don't think Orwell's writing has aged well at all, Animal Farm being perhaps an exception. With Vonnegut on the other hand, I've gone out to buy his other books - just full of great lines and ideas and ways of looking at the world.

[Futtocks]

2 hours ago, JonM said:

Re-read both of these recently after a gap of 20+ years. Possibly a controversial opinion but I don't think Orwell's writing has aged well at all, Animal Farm being perhaps an exception. With Vonnegut on the other hand, I've gone out to buy his other books - just full of great lines and ideas and ways of looking at the world.

I think Orwell's best writing (from what I've read of his) was his non-fiction. But even then he can plod a bit.

[Futtocks]

Currently reading Ryan Bodman's Rugby League in New Zealand: A People's History.

I'm 12% in (on the Kindle) and it's packed with interesting information and very readable.

[MattSantos]

I've stumbled into a series of books by Donald Hamilton about a 'spy' called Helm. They're from the 60s and of their time, but i'm enjoying them.