Book thread: what are you reading?

[Futtocks]

Collected Folk Tales, edited by Alan Garner. These are from all sorts of countries, not just the European mythos.

[Futtocks]

Due out in the Autumn and available to pre-order.

 

Edited April 3 by Futtocks

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I like big books and I cannot lie,

You other readers can't deny:

When a book walks in with a good plot base and a big spine in your face you get interested!

Wanna get out your notepads 'cause you noticed that book was dense,

Deep in the book I'm reading, I'm hooked and I can't stop speeding, through baby I wanna get that literature, and Instagram that picture,

My teachers try to train me but that book you've got makes me so brainy!

(Baby got books!)

[Adelaide Tiger]

I am now reading Fermi’s Paradox ‘Cosmology and Life’ by Michael Bodin.  The first three Chapters proved a little bit difficult to comprehend but as a lad that went to Airedale High School in Cas and left with 4 ‘O’ Levels, I am pretty chuffed that I have spotted around half a dozen spelling mistakes so far!

[Futtocks]

Brian Aldiss - The Malacia Tapestry. The pacing's a bit slow but I'm sticking with it because it's decent, although not the best of his books I've read.

[Red Willow]

trying to recall a book title.

Its a Sci Fi book at least 30 years old about a guy who's clothes change colour as he moves round to match the area he is in.

[Futtocks]

On 07/06/2024 at 13:12, Futtocks said:

I am currently enjoying The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov, a mystery set in Kyiv in the year 1919.

I have just finished the sequel: The Stolen Heart. It follows the same character and I'm quite enjoying the way the world and historical era he inhabits being fleshed out by a second book.

[Oxford]

I heard somewhere that the most popular read for younger adults right now is White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky now I remember seeing the film of this years ago but didn't remember much about it. So IU thought I'd give it a go. It's good there's little doubt about that but as yet I'm not sure what young people are finding attractive about. Maybe it'll grow on me, unless it's just that I'm not young!

 

 

 

Edited April 25 by Oxford

[graveyard johnny]

not a book reader but have started reading a magazine called BEST OF BRITISH a UK monthly nostalgia magazine 

[The Future is League]

I have just read Private Monaco by James Patterson & Adam Hardy.

An excellent read.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Tonight, I will be starting War Lord, the final novel in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories series.

And when I've finished that series, I'll be starting on Simon Scarrow's Eagles of the Empire novel series about the Roman occupation of Britain.

[lucky 7]

I have just finished reading, RAJ- British India by Lawrence James.

A very good read that i found a job to put down

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 08/05/2025 at 20:21, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Tonight, I will be starting War Lord, the final novel in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories series.

And when I've finished that series, I'll be starting on Simon Scarrow's Eagles of the Empire novel series about the Roman occupation of Britain.

I have finished the Saxon Stories but have decided to read Edward Rutherford's 1,350 page epic historical novel Sarum, before Simon Scarrow's series.

Sarum tells the story of Salisbury from the founding of the first settlement by hunter-gatherers just after the last Ice Age, right through to the creation of the modern city. I've read 102 pages on day 1 of the odyssey through this tale and have absolutely loved it so far!

[Route66]

On 25/05/2025 at 22:34, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I have finished the Saxon Stories but have decided to read Edward Rutherford's 1,350 page epic historical novel Sarum, before Simon Scarrow's series.

Sarum tells the story of Salisbury from the founding of the first settlement by hunter-gatherers just after the last Ice Age, right through to the creation of the modern city. I've read 102 pages on day 1 of the odyssey through this tale and have absolutely loved it so far!

Wow, Edward Rutherford haven’t read Sarum but his book London is excellent and no doubt set out the same, only read a couple of Scarrows Roman books but all been good , his Sword and scimitar stand alone book is good but not as good as Tim Willocks similar book The Religion (part of an unfinished trilogy) which is always my favourite historical fiction book

[The Hallucinating Goose]

13 minutes ago, Route66 said:

Wow, Edward Rutherford haven’t read Sarum but his book London is excellent and no doubt set out the same, only read a couple of Scarrows Roman books but all been good , his Sword and scimitar stand alone book is good but not as good as Tim Willocks similar book The Religion (part of an unfinished trilogy) which is always my favourite historical fiction book

I've read about 150 pages of Sarum so far. I've read about the first people in the area just after the last ice age, the early settlers after them who began building burial barrows and now I'm reading about the bronze age residents of Salisbury building henges. From what I've seen, it is the same sort of format as London, essentially telling the entire history of a city from its earliest foundation to the relative present, telling the story through the history of a number of families. This is my first of Rutherford's books and I'm really enjoying it so far. Just another 1,200 pages to go.

What is The Religion about? 

My favourite novel of all time is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, again another 1,200 page epic telling the story of the building of a cathedral during the medieval period of The Anarchy, the civil war between King Stephen and Matilda.

[Route66]

11 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I've read about 150 pages of Sarum so far. I've read about the first people in the area just after the last ice age, the early settlers after them who began building burial barrows and now I'm reading about the bronze age residents of Salisbury building henges. From what I've seen, it is the same sort of format as London, essentially telling the entire history of a city from its earliest foundation to the relative present, telling the story through the history of a number of families. This is my first of Rutherford's books and I'm really enjoying it so far. Just another 1,200 pages to go.

What is The Religion about? 

My favourite novel of all time is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, again another 1,200 page epic telling the story of the building of a cathedral during the medieval period of The Anarchy, the civil war between King Stephen and Matilda.

The Religion is mainly based on the siege of Malta in 1565 and its defence by the Knights of St John, the follow up is based on the St Batnolomews day massacre in Paris. Willocks also wrote the excellent Green river rising about a prison riot in America 

[Futtocks]

Bud Flanagan - My Crazy Life.

Bud was half of the music hall duo Flanagan & Allen, which was itself part of a larger troupe of entertainers called The Crazy Gang, which formed in the early 1930s. To modern audiences, he is best remembered for his final ever recording, which was the theme tune to the sitcom Dad’s Army.

After the opening which sets the scene of his childhood in Whitechapel, he set off unannounced one day in 1910 at the age of 14, walked to Southampton (about 70 miles) and blagged his way into a job on board a transatlantic liner.

He then did a runner when the ship arrived in New York and started looking for whatever work was going, riding the rails to discover the United States and find jobs, from delivering telegrams on Broadway to farming in North Dakota.

That’s as far as I’ve got as of today. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

4 hours ago, Route66 said:

The Religion is mainly based on the siege of Malta in 1565 and its defence by the Knights of St John, the follow up is based on the St Batnolomews day massacre in Paris. Willocks also wrote the excellent Green river rising about a prison riot in America 

Sounds like my sort of thing, I'll have a look at it.

[Futtocks]

On 27/05/2025 at 17:56, Futtocks said:

Bud Flanagan - My Crazy Life.

Bud was half of the music hall duo Flanagan & Allen, which was itself part of a larger troupe of entertainers called The Crazy Gang, which formed in the early 1930s. To modern audiences, he is best remembered for his final ever recording, which was the theme tune to the sitcom Dad’s Army.

After the opening which sets the scene of his childhood in Whitechapel, he set off unannounced one day in 1910 at the age of 14, walked to Southampton (about 70 miles) and blagged his way into a job on board a transatlantic liner.

He then did a runner when the ship arrived in New York and started looking for whatever work was going, riding the rails to discover the United States and find jobs, from delivering telegrams on Broadway to farming in North Dakota.

That’s as far as I’ve got as of today. 

Now Bud’s done 30 days in the penitentiary for riding the rails, written a song with a warder who paid his way back to New York, enlisted with the Royal Artillery, bumped into future stage partner Chesney Allen in a café near Passchendaele, been shelled and temporarily blinded by gas, as well as meeting the absolute swine of a sergeant whose surname he adopted for stage use, just to needle him for the rest of his life.

Still half of the book to go.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 27/05/2025 at 14:46, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I've read about 150 pages of Sarum so far. I've read about the first people in the area just after the last ice age, the early settlers after them who began building burial barrows and now I'm reading about the bronze age residents of Salisbury building henges. From what I've seen, it is the same sort of format as London, essentially telling the entire history of a city from its earliest foundation to the relative present, telling the story through the history of a number of families. This is my first of Rutherford's books and I'm really enjoying it so far. Just another 1,200 pages to go.

Reached 400 pages last night. We've had the Roman occupation and first major development of Sarum with the building of the first stone buildings and roads, and also the establishment of Christianity. We're moving into the Dark Ages now with the coming of the Saxons.

[The Future is League]

I have just finished Zero Day by David Baldacci, and as always the case with David Baldacci iit's a very good read.

[Futtocks]

On 07/06/2025 at 12:42, Futtocks said:

Now Bud’s done 30 days in the penitentiary for riding the rails, written a song with a warder who paid his way back to New York, enlisted with the Royal Artillery, bumped into future stage partner Chesney Allen in a café near Passchendaele, been shelled and temporarily blinded by gas, as well as meeting the absolute swine of a sergeant whose surname he adopted for stage use, just to needle him for the rest of his life.

Still half of the book to go.

Next section; he's performed with the French cabaret legend Mistinguett as part of Army Entertainments, been demobbed, started working in showbiz professionally, taken The Knowledge to augment his income with cab-driving and then, offered entertainment work in Glasgow and short of funds, walked there from London.

He's met Chesney Allen again, although they still haven't become a double act. He's also met his future wife and been offered a step up to the No.1 venues (and better money) by the music hall star and manager Florrie Forde, which is where the Flanagan & Allen act is about to hit the stage for the first time. 

[Futtocks]

I just spent my monthly Audible credit on Tolkien's The Silmarillion, read by Andy Serkis.

A couple of chapters in and he's doing a fine job; neither a straight recitation nor an over-dramatic performance. It's a fine line and he's treading it sure-footedly so far.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 07/06/2025 at 13:56, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Reached 400 pages last night. We've had the Roman occupation and first major development of Sarum with the building of the first stone buildings and roads, and also the establishment of Christianity. We're moving into the Dark Ages now with the coming of the Saxons.

Coming up on 700 pages now, despite having a week of not reading any. We're now into the Middle Ages and the building of New Sarum, or Salisbury. We are following the story of Master Mason Osmund and the building of the cathedral, while also keeping pace with he life of Peter, a merchant who becomes caught up in Simon de Montfort rebellion against Henry III.

The Middle Ages is my favourite part of history and I'm loving this section in particular. I'm past halfway now and only have approximately 650 pages to go.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

20 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Coming up on 700 pages now, despite having a week of not reading any. We're now into the Middle Ages and the building of New Sarum, or Salisbury. We are following the story of Master Mason Osmund and the building of the cathedral, while also keeping pace with he life of Peter, a merchant who becomes caught up in Simon de Montfort rebellion against Henry III.

The Middle Ages is my favourite part of history and I'm loving this section in particular. I'm past halfway now and only have approximately 650 pages to go.

I will take your reading of this book and mentioning that on here as good omens for me, HG.  I have a job interview at Salisbury Cathedral on Wednesday of next week.  It's just part-time and only for a year (as maternity cover), but would be enjoyable, I hope.

I think the current equivalent of master mason, Osmund, would be either clerk of works, Gary, or head mason, Lee!