What are you reading tonight?

Raven · Post by **Raven** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:12 pm

Just finished Twelve by (forget) very interesting Napoleonic thome, not fact but this time the Russians had help from 12 warriors from Wallachia (there's a clue) it was really good and loved it.

About to finish Age of Misrule by someone Chadborne, a gothic, horror, fantasy, the old gods are coming back and technology is about to die, the author knows his celtic mythology and British sacred sites, 5 people are sons and daughters of the dragon and they must awaken the land - Its fantastic and a rare can't put down book!

enfieldwhite · Post by **enfieldwhite** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:48 pm

Reading 'Dublin' by Edward Rutherfurd.

Basically it's the history of the Dubh Linn set against a fictional family. Sort of semi-fiction.

William the White · Post by **William the White** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:31 pm

Finally got started on the 'shelf of shame' mentioned above last week, and yesterday finished the first book i've read all year...

Blood River by Tim Butcher is an excellent piece of journalism with a literary ambition, that follows the author's journey down the Congo River following in the footsteps of Stanley in the late 19th century. He finds himself in a place pf chaos, fear and extraordinary poverty, in a temporary cease fire in an enduring complex civil war, in a Congo that has clearly regressed in many, many ways since the colonised days.

He doesn't quite slip into western smugness - and comes nowhere near the white supremacist websites he tells us about, that depict the congo as an example of black african savagery, as opposed to the civilised values of the white world - as witnessed in auschwitz, srebenice and your local BNP social club.

It's reportage and not analysis, but good, observant and honest. Well worth reading if you are interested in one actuality of africa.

FaninOz · Post by **FaninOz** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:46 am

Coming to the end of "The Nameless Day" first book in Sara Douglas's fantasy series The Crucible. She's a good writter and makes her books "believable" even when they couldn't possible be. Takes place in the late 14C when Edward III is on the throne and demons have infultrated society, good escapism for people who like that sort of thing.

William the White · Post by **William the White** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:10 pm

So, tonight I returned to the shelf of shame - my unread books of the year now reduced by one to 24 - and took dowm Sebastian Barry's 'The Secret Scripture', Booker nomination. The first page is now read... It is intensely poetic...

Athers · Post by **Athers** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:08 pm

Puskas wrote:
jimbo wrote:'Penguins Stopped Play' for me at the moment. Second time round for me on it. A funny, entertaining story of the guy who created 'Have I Got News For You' and 'They Think It's All Over' and his efforts to start up a casual cricket team. Recommended especially as a holiday read.

Take it that Cormac McCarthy one is worth a look?
That's good.

It spawned some imitators, too. I read one called "Batting on the Bosphorus" about a bloke who goes looking for cricket matches round Eastern Europe. Nothing like as good - for a start, he tries too hard to be "wacky". Never a good idea.

I've just started Jose Saramago's "Blindness". Because I've been meaning to read it for ages. And there's a film of it coming out in a few weeks time...

Just finished Penguins by Thompson on the back of this post, really enjoyed it! Though of course it's sad at the end.

Also read Yes Man which was OK but not brilliant I thought, and a little bit too soppy as it went on dare I say it. Though when he had to go to dinner with his ex and her new boyfriend because of a polite passing invitation amused me, as did sending his mate flowers telling him to come to the pub because the advert suggested to.

enfieldwhite · Post by **enfieldwhite** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:42 am

Picked up 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' by Steven Galloway on Friday, finished last night.

During the siege of Sarajevo in the early nineties a Cellist called Vedran Smailovic played an Adagio for 22 days consecutively in the ruins of the Public Library in memory of the victims of a bread queue who were killed by mortatr fire.

The book is about 3 people's lives during those 22 days and how they are wrapped around Smailovic's story.

A very well written piece.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:06 am

Just read two non-fictional offerings, an archeological report: "The Jesus Family Tomb" and a Masonic philosophy "Turning the Hiram Key", so I'm ready for a bit of light fiction. I'm finding it in an Ian Rankin's Rebus novel and a re-read of an old Fleming original James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Bit of a mixed bag to say the least.

Prufrock · Post by **Prufrock** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:33 am

Am working my way through several of the books I always buy in airports for £2.99. Just finished re-reading 'How to lose friends and alienate people', which I would recommend to anyone, very interesting book on several levels, as an examination of america and it's modern values as a whole, as an insight into the cut-throat world of New York journalism, and as a brilliant failure story. Do not watch the film, it's rubbish and not a patch on the book.

Have also finished 'Murder spree', 20 case studies on some of the most fascinating murders and trials of the 20th century. Macabre, morbid, yet very interesting.

Next up, 'World famous gangsters'.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 1:11 pm

From Rankin: " He had all the job prospects of a shoe-shine boy on a nudist beach"

Dujon · Post by **Dujon** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:12 am

Prufrock wrote: . . . Just finished re-reading 'How to lose friends and alienate people', which I would recommend to anyone, very interesting book on several levels, as an examination of america and it's modern values as a whole, as an insight into the cut-throat world of New York journalism, and as a brilliant failure story. . . .

. . . Have also finished 'Murder spree', 20 case studies on some of the most fascinating murders and trials of the 20th century. Macabre, morbid, yet very interesting.

Next up, 'World famous gangsters'.

Blimey, Prufrock, you don't half like the dark side of life!

Me? I'm re-reading Hawking's A Brief History of Time for the umpteenth time and comparing his views of that time with knowledge 'science' has gleaned in the interim. Last night I did a few cryptic crosswords (16 of the beggars) trying to put my brain to sleep. It worked, finally, at 0330. Erk.

I really must get over to the library and find some light reading (preferably really, really, boring light reading) for those 'insomniacal' hours of darkness.

Prufrock · Post by **Prufrock** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:40 am

Dujon wrote:
Prufrock wrote: . . . Just finished re-reading 'How to lose friends and alienate people', which I would recommend to anyone, very interesting book on several levels, as an examination of america and it's modern values as a whole, as an insight into the cut-throat world of New York journalism, and as a brilliant failure story. . . .

. . . Have also finished 'Murder spree', 20 case studies on some of the most fascinating murders and trials of the 20th century. Macabre, morbid, yet very interesting.

Next up, 'World famous gangsters'.
Blimey, Prufrock, you don't half like the dark side of life!

Me? I'm re-reading Hawking's A Brief History of Time for the umpteenth time and comparing his views of that time with knowledge 'science' has gleaned in the interim. Last night I did a few cryptic crosswords (16 of the beggars) trying to put my brain to sleep. It worked, finally, at 0330. Erk.

I really must get over to the library and find some light reading (preferably really, really, boring light reading) for those 'insomniacal' hours of darkness.

Must be said, chronologically, I read the depressing murders, then the surprisingly uplifting (and I say again, highly recommended) loser lit, then the gangsters. So I'm least trying to think people are more than a bunch of lying selfish misanthropes. As for Hawking, I love science, it fascinates me, but I've tried brief history, and didnae have a clue what he meant. I do think 'A Short History to Nearly Everything' should be a standard school text. I've never 'got' physics, but I got the basics so much more when a proper writer was describing them.

Dujon · Post by **Dujon** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:17 pm

I understand your point regarding Hawking, Prufrock. Should you ever be in the mood for a bit of well written science then try Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. Whilst he covers most of Hawking's territory - and much more - he sometimes approaches the various subjects in a different manner even though the ideas are the same. He's also an engaging writer who is not shy of using prosaic references to underline important points, even though in doing so it makes the publication far more bulky than Hawking's slim volume. Even if you are not a fan of string theory, which is the main thrust of this book, the introduction to that thesis is quite extended and (in my humble opinion) well worth reading.

General Mannerheim · Post by **General Mannerheim** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:10 am

Just finishing the Railway Man by Eric Lomax – its an unbelievable story of his time as a Japanese POW during the WW2 - absolutely brutal!!!

Really makes you think about these nice people who bring out biographies before they’re even thirty believing they have a story to tell because they once appeared on pop idol or summat like that.

Traf · Post by **Traf** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:11 am

Railway Man is an excellent book.

hisroyalgingerness · Post by **hisroyalgingerness** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:25 pm

Hmmm, might read that. Am still battling through Stalingrad. The German's are currently starving to death and barely able to lift their guns, and Hitler still won't let them surrender

Frandsen08 · Post by **Frandsen08** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 1:07 pm

Gazza My story (the autobiography)

in parts its hilarious,sad, moving and gripping its a brilliant read,

recently finished stuart pearce psycho and he was a model profesional and thats a brilliant read

Lord Kangana · Post by **Lord Kangana** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 1:17 pm

Just made a start on Don Quixote from my equivalent of William's "shelf of shame". I've heard it can be heavy going, but so far its remarkably fresh and light, given its age and notoriety.

superjohnmcginlay · Post by **superjohnmcginlay** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:06 pm

Think I'll try and read Empire of the Sun again.

JG Ballard RIP.

Dujon · Post by **Dujon** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:46 pm

Well I've had my fill of 'light reading for the midnight hours' and am a little over half way through The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (edited by non other than Richard Dawkins) - ISBN 978-0-19-921680-2.

I have read bits and pieces about Dawkins, some which applaud him and others that do not, but have not read any of his writings (not that I can remember anyway) and was therefore unsure what to expect from this extensive collection selected and introduced by him. The book is a compilation of snippets from a host of authors chosen by Dawkins using his subjective view of what is well written rather than the content (although the two are not mutually exclusive).

I have reservations regarding his opinion of what is 'well written' as I sometimes wonder as I read whether that is a euphemism for 'that with which I agree'. I suspect that I am incorrect in that assumption as it is not always the case.

Scepticism aside this is a book well worth the effort to source and one in which there are references galore to publications of which one might otherwise be ignorant.

*****

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