What are you reading tonight?

[Prufrock]

I would say, don't knock the Kindle. I thought I'd want to stick with books, but I love mine. Easy to transport, the e-ink stuff is fab, and if you want a book you have it in seconds. The books are cheaper too.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I would say, don't knock the Kindle. I thought I'd want to stick with books, but I love mine. Easy to transport, the e-ink stuff is fab, and if you want a book you have it in seconds. The books are cheaper too.

You would say that wouldn't you Pru (Do you drink that e-beer* stuff as well?)






* [e-beer = lager or cider]

[Prufrock]

Ha! Never in a pub, unless there's no alternative.

[LeverEnd]

'Surfacing' by Maragaret Atwood. Enjoying it so far, love the way she gradually reveals a character, usually a flawed heroine. Now need to put together a holiday reading list for next Saturday, as well as a music playlist.

[TANGODANCER]

Just finished Funeral Note, the latest Bob Skinner offering from Quintin Jardine. Really liked all his stuff where he acts as narrator. This time he used a different character to tell each chapter. Got somewhat jumbled and off-track and didn't work for me. Disappointing.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

The quality of my holiday reading was mixed this year.

Only two books read, both on the Kindle.

The first was great and I have no hesitation recommending it here, especially to LLS who, like myself, is a hill walker. The Last Englishman by Keith Foskett tells the tale of the writer walking the 2700 mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada on the west coast of the USA. He walks with some fantastic characters along the way and writes with passion and humour..

Cheers Clappers, recommendation found and I've ordered the last paperback from Amazon (I don't do kindle, just like e-cigs e-books are absent from my life). It had one of them preview panes on Amazon, he has a very jaunty writing style; looking forward to it.

Amazon failed to deliver on time. Hopefully tomorrow then

[William the White]

I finished Herta Muller's The Hunger Angel/i]. which kept its dense and poetic language going to the end (must have been very difficult to translate) and told, a new (for me) but essential story of the Soviet GULAG - the slave labour camps German minorities in Romania - and, I suspect, but don't know, other East European countries - were sent to after liberation by the Red Army. Five years of hunger in an Arctic camp, told from the perspective of a boy aged 17 when first captured. Powerful work.

On the train journey home from family do in Hastings (known colloquially as 'da stings', I discovered...) i started David Mitchell's number9dream. Onto p 97 by Stockport. Gripped. I'm pretty sure it isn't going to match up to his outstanding Ghostwritten or Cloud Atlas - but that's placing the bar very high - I'm more than sure it is an excellent book. On thebish's holiday list, I note...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

The quality of my holiday reading was mixed this year.

Only two books read, both on the Kindle.

The first was great and I have no hesitation recommending it here, especially to LLS who, like myself, is a hill walker. The Last Englishman by Keith Foskett tells the tale of the writer walking the 2700 mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada on the west coast of the USA. He walks with some fantastic characters along the way and writes with passion and humour..

Cheers Clappers, recommendation found and I've ordered the last paperback from Amazon (I don't do kindle, just like e-cigs e-books are absent from my life). It had one of them preview panes on Amazon, he has a very jaunty writing style; looking forward to it.

Amazon failed to deliver on time. Hopefully tomorrow then

I can tell you quite categorically what I will not be reading tonight: The Last Englishman. Not because I don't want to, because I do. No, I won't be reading it because Amazon in their wisdom have consigned the last paperback they possess to a delivery firm who are not the Royal Mail, and the driver for their delivery firm doesn't appear to know what roads are or how to navigate from point A (where he is) to point fecking B (where I am).

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Ok Clappers, The Last Englishman has arrived. I shall start on it tonight.

[Jugs]

Will Self - The Quantity Theory of Insanity.

A collection of Self's short stories, published in 1991 - his first published work.

The first story is highly indebted to Woody Allen's prose. Funny and unbelievable. Magical realism, that sort of thing.

The rest is quite dark material, some of it disturbing, all of it engaging if at times Self enters a world of science and maths that few actually understand.

[Prufrock]

He's probably just describing fraction using big words, the pretentious bell-end.

[Jugs]

Yeah I haven't a clue what he's on about at times. Its a bit indulgent but he bears in mind that there's still a story to tell.

[thebish]

this is entertaining..

http://www.commonplacebooks.com/p/blog-page.html

[TANGODANCER]

Just finished Robert Goddard's Sight Unseen. Excellent.

[Bruce Rioja]

Just finished Robert Goddard's Sight Unseen. Excellent.

Still have his Name to a Face upstairs in the exact same spot on the shelf where I placed it on Christmas Day. Too many books - not enough reading time.

Have Found Wanting here if you're up for more Goddard, Tango. A brilliant read - I promise.

[TANGODANCER]

Just finished Robert Goddard's Sight Unseen. Excellent.

Still have his Name to a Face upstairs in the exact same spot on the shelf where I placed it on Christmas Day. Too many books - not enough reading time.

Have Found Wanting here if you're up for more Goddard, Tango. A brilliant read - I promise.

Have read quite a few Goddards Bruce and that's the Anastasia one. Tis indeed s great read and an intruiging plot. Thanks though.

[mrkint]

Started reading e=mc squared which is a book aimed at explaining the history of the thinking that led to einstein's famous equation, and what it actually means. Really rather interesting so far.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Started reading e=mc squared which is a book aimed at explaining the history of the thinking that led to einstein's famous equation, and what it actually means. Really rather interesting so far.

It means what it says on the equation, energy is mass, mass is energy. It indirectly tells us that the speed of light is a limit. It also intimates that the universe is finite but unbounded. Other than that it gives practical measurements to what can be done with a few grams of plutonium. Not bad for such a meagre expression.

[mrkint]

well that's the thing. it's jogging foggy high-school memories and showing how groundbreaking it was, as was the thinking of Faraday and that (with a bit of french revolution thrown in for good measure). How it was thought energy and mass were completely separated, as was energy from other forms of energy. It's pretty cool.

[William the White]

I finished David Mitchell's number9dream.

It is seriously good. Complex, gripping, multi-faceted. A 19 year old Japanese man, from the countryside, travels to Tokyo in an effort to find the father he has never known. This is a novel of desire and loss, inhabiting dreamscapes, telling stories that may or may not be real, where everything is insecure, most things are dangerous, and, frequently, bizarre. It combines mystery, thriller, fantasy and video gaming, and makes excursions into romance and history.

It's hard to describe, but held me page after page. He is an excellent, excellent writer.