This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Aenaes

I started Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian last night.

Memoirs of a German General, describing his work in pioneering motorized tactics during the inter-war years, leading armoured commands during the invasions of Poland, France and Russia and staff positions such as Chief of Staff of the Army. Also includes interactions/arguments with other Generals and leading personalities of the Third Reich, including Hitler.

Daisy78

How to build a girl by Caitlin Moran. Avoided reading her first one but picked this up and thought it might be worth a gander.....

fruvai

1/3 of the way through Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. Bat**** crazy as usual......

Swiper the fox

The new John Boyne book is excellent after 100 pages, slightly disturbing certainly at times but the main character is very human.

Finished Ian McEwans new book "The childrens act", not bad but he's fallen a long way since he put Amsterdam, Atonement, Saturday and On Chesil beach back to back (to back to back)

Wyldwood

Wilkie Collins The Woman in White. Love it.

I'm also experimenting with Amazon's Whispersync, alternating between reading and listening as it's a free kindle book. It's a useful feature, especially when sitting outdoors, but I don't think I'd pay extra for it.

Callan57

Wyldwood wrote: »

Wilkie Collins The Woman in White. Love it.

I'm also experimenting with Amazon's Whispersync, alternating between reading and listening as it's a free kindle book. It's a useful feature, especially when sitting outdoors, but I don't think I'd pay extra for it.

I love Wilkie Collins

Daisy78

Wyldwood wrote: »

Wilkie Collins The Woman in White. Love it.

It's a really great read, and a really strong female lead as well which is always good!

Belle E. Flops

Still reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles, kind of enjoying it but at the same time I'm looking forward to finishing it and starting something new.
I am getting the feeling that Tess will not have a happy ending. I'm finding her a bit annoying.

Censorsh!t

On Book 6 of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, Song of Susannah.

So far, so good. Not looking forward to coming to the end of this series!

booklove72

hi,

just joined. I am currently reading Dan Simmons - The Abdomiable. It is a first class foray into mountain climbling. very technical, when i finish reading it, may decide to try for Snowdon again

Bonny23

Just finished The Secret Place by Tana French, quite disappointed by it, I've liked her other books. This one, however, has a predictable plot (I was less than half way through when I figured out how it was going to end), it's set in a upper crust D4-type girls secondary school so there's a lot of 'totes amazeballs' slang throughout which grates after a while and there's two parallel storylines told in alternating chapters making it difficult to maintain interest in what is happening in each.
I also felt it could have done with being 100 pages shorter.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Bonny23 wrote: »

Just finished The Secret Place by Tana French, quite disappointed by it, I've liked her other books. This one, however, has a predictable plot (I was less than half way through when I figured out how it was going to end), it's set in a upper crust D4-type girls secondary school so there's a lot of 'totes amazeballs' slang throughout which grates after a while and there's two parallel storylines told in alternating chapters making it difficult to maintain interest in what is happening in each.
I also felt it could have done with being 100 pages shorter.

I haven't read that one but I read Tana French's first 4 books and by the 3rd one I had the pattern figured out. Murder, troubled detective, mystery that takes up most of the book but in the end has nothing to do with the actual murder and never gets solved, murder is solved. The end.

That said I did enjoy In The Woods and The Likness

ivytwine

I also found them quite obvious, knew whodunnit well before the end. I quite enjoyed In The Woods but I disliked the constant references to the 'police' even within the legal system. Bit of a bugbear of mine is neutralising local references, and Irish popular fiction is a divil for it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

ivytwine wrote: »

I also found them quite obvious, knew whodunnit well before the end. I quite enjoyed In The Woods but I disliked the constant references to the 'police' even within the legal system. Bit of a bugbear of mine is neutralising local references, and Irish popular fiction is a divil for it.

Yes, that bugged me too. How hard would it be to put a little note at the start explaining that Gardaí = Police.

catallus

Isn't neutralising local references understandable with a view to publishing in UK/US markets? A small price to pay.

Aenaes

Why should it have to be that way to appeal to broader markets though? People might read books for entertainment rather than educational purposes but it doesn't mean they should be adverse to learning things.

One of the biggest criticisms against novels can be their lack of authenticity or lack of knowledge leading people to claim "the author was never there/doesn't know what they're talking about".

I love learning little pieces of information while reading books set in places I don't know much of.

It seems strange that other books of different genres (especially crime novels) from other countries keep their names, ranks, methods and idiosyncrasies.

ivytwine

I'm with Aenaes. I love reading books set in different countries/cultures. Some like France or Germany or Italy I've already been to, others like places in Africa or South America I might never get to. I love a bit of local colour in my books.

As Tickle Me Elmo says, putting a note to say Gardai=police is hardly a massive task for a publisher and most readers will pick it up, unless they have short-term memory loss.

It seems to be an Irish inferiority thing tbh. Reading a book set in Italy you will come across the Carabinieri and no-one expects any different.

Swiper the fox

The new John Boyne book "A history of loneliness" is a fantastic read. Not quite finished yet but this is going to be a very important Irish novel in my opinion.

catallus

ivytwine wrote: »

It seems to be an Irish inferiority thing tbh. Reading a book set in Italy you will come across the Carabinieri and no-one expects any different.

Not to be splitting hairs here, and this probably isn't the place for this, but "Carabinieri" ain't the Italian equivalent of the Gardai here. They have the polizia. "Carabinieri" are a totally different quasi-military outfit. So we should be careful about what we "learn" from media.

I've just started "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins" by Rupert Everett, the first part of his autobiography. I have already got through "Vanished Years", the second part and it left me shaking it for more. The guy is a great writer.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

catallus wrote: »

Not to be splitting hairs here, and this probably isn't the place for this, but "Carabinieri" ain't the Italian equivalent of the Gardai here. They have the polizia. "Carabinieri" are a totally different quasi-military outfit. So we should be careful about what we "learn" from media.

I find when I'm reading something set somewhere I'm not familiar with and I come across a term I don't understand I'll take the time to go and look it up. I learn a pile of stuff from reading novels.

ivytwine

catallus wrote: »

Not to be splitting hairs here, and this probably isn't the place for this, but "Carabinieri" ain't the Italian equivalent of the Gardai here. They have the polizia. "Carabinieri" are a totally different quasi-military outfit. So we should be careful about what we "learn" from media.

I've just started "Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins" by Rupert Everett, the first part of his autobiography. I have already got through "Vanished Years", the second part and it left me shaking it for more. The guy is a great writer.

I know that the Carabinieri and the guards aren't to be conflated, I remember my first day in Italy being shocked by the size of the guns they were carrying! But it kinda proves my point that few enough countries have a dual police system, likewise few countries call their police 'guardians of the peace' (whether you agree that they are or not is a different story!). However if you were reading an Italian crime novel I'll bet there'll be an acknowledgment at the very least of the dual system, so why not an acknowledgement of the official name of our police force?

IvyTheTerrible

I love to get lost in a good novel. That's why using the correct names for things, and doing good research is important. Some detail that's incorrect can be really jarring and then I don't "believe" the story anymore.
I've come across a few clangers and it spoils a book for me.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I just finished reading Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain's autobiography of her early life including her struggle to get into Oxford, her first love, her years as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) during WW1 and then a few years after the war.

I've become quite interested lately in WW1 but more from a personal perspective, individual stories rather than the whole history of it. Vera Brittain was born into a quite well off family but had to struggle to get permission to go to Oxford as it wasn't the done thing back then. Women were educated to the standard required to attract a husband. After finally making it to Oxford she abandons her studies after a year to become a VAD and follow her closest friends, all male, into the War.

Before and during the war she kept a diary so these sections of the book paint a vivid picture of War Time England and what it was like to be a nurse posted throughout Europe. My only problem with it is the sections after the War are a bit dull in comparison. She skims through her personal life and it's heavy with facts and names and dates, basically an introductory history of the League of Nations. Although there are some interesting bits from her time spent touring Germany and Eastern Europe after the war to see the conditions the German people are living in under occupation by French and English armies.

The whole book does a great job of conveying the fact that an entire generation of young people were lost to the war. Whether it was the ones who died and never came home or the ones that survived but were changed entirely by it and could never quite fit in to normal life again.

Belle E. Flops

Just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. So glad it's over, I enjoyed parts of it but not as a whole and I don't think it's a book I will read again.

Starting Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' now. Haven't read anything by him before, although I've read great reviews about his stuff.

Ice Storm

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. So glad it's over, I enjoyed parts of it but not as a whole and I don't think it's a book I will read again.

It's very bleak isn't it?


I got through it quite quickly because I was interested in the story and I enjoyed the writing. However, I don't think I'd want to read it again either.

SarahBM

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. So glad it's over, I enjoyed parts of it but not as a whole and I don't think it's a book I will read again.

One of the first books my two friends and I read for our mini book club. I liked it but I found large stretches of it boring. and then lots would happen, and then it would get boring again. and the ending just felt like it was wrapped up in a hurry.
If the ending had been better I would have given it 3/5. but I was so disapppointed I gave it 2/5.

Im struggling with the Lost World. Its very pedestrian. there is no real excitement despite the setting. Im making my self read it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Started Carn by Patrick McCabe yesterday evening, half way through it already. Very realistic descriptions of Irish life, I like it so far.

eire4

Finished a re read of Diarmid Ferriter's The Transformation of Ireland. I liked it. Especially how he pays a lot of attention to groups such as women, working class, poor and children who typically do not feature in these kind of general history overviews.

Esterhase

Finished off The Strain by del Toro/Hogan. It was an interesting premise but the characters weren't great and it was awkwardly written in places, so a disappointing read overall.

Now I'm about 2/3 of the way through Hilary Mantell's Bring Up The Bodies, and it is absolutely fabulous.

Kurtosis

I flew through my reading of One Summer by Bill Bryson, which was a delight. Followed that up with The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, which I liked a lot but felt my lack of understanding of Spanish hindered the enjoyment somewhat.

Onto Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood now, about halfway through and it's great so far, a well balanced combination of flashbacks and current day chapters making it a real page turner.

Swiper the fox

penguin88 wrote: »

I flew through my reading of One Summer by Bill Bryson, which was a delight. Followed that up with The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, which I liked a lot but felt my lack of understanding of Spanish hindered the enjoyment somewhat.

Onto Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood now, about halfway through and it's great so far, a well balanced combination of flashbacks and current day chapters making it a real page turner.

Loved Oscar Wao but for me the footnotes were a bit of a pain, there didn't really seem to be a need for them. You don't need to know the history of a country to enjoy a novel based there IMO. Great writer though, I read some excellent short stories from him also

Dial Hard

Esterhase wrote: »

Finished off The Strain by del Toro/Hogan. It was an interesting premise but the characters weren't great and it was awkwardly written in places, so a disappointing read overall.

I thought it was unadulterated shite, so you're being a lot more charitable than me! But yeah, it was an excellent premise, just executed absolutely appallingly.

I'll be be starting Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale this evening, and that will probably be the last reading for pleasure I do until May. Screw you, academic year! *shakes fists*

Huzzah!

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Loved Oscar Wao but for me the footnotes were a bit of a pain, there didn't really seem to be a need for them. You don't need to know the history of a country to enjoy a novel based there IMO. Great writer though, I read some excellent short stories from him also

Loved Oscar Wao, but I'm pretty sure I stopped reading the footnotes after the first chapter. I also loved This is How You Lose Her, which is a collection of short stories by him. They were also excellent.

Callan57

Anyush by Martine Madden

Birneybau

'The Bone Clocks' by David Mitchell, a favourite writer, and it's amazing so far.

Also have David Niven's autobiography 'The Moon Is A Balloon' on the side, very enjoyable, very funny.

GLaDOS

Completely Enthralled reading The Iliad at the moment, already looking forward to The Odyssey!

ivytwine

Birneybau wrote: »

'The Bone Clocks' by David Mitchell, a favourite writer, and it's amazing so far.

Also have David Niven's autobiography 'The Moon Is A Balloon' on the side, very enjoyable, very funny.

Oooooh I bought The Bone Clocks in Hodges Figgis the other day (I really shouldn't have done!) Cannot wait to start it! Glad the verdict is good so far.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I'm reading Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe. Read Carn over the weekend and liked it. Liking BOP so far too. Might read a few more of his after this too, quite easy reads.

lockman

Am about 100 pages or so into Don DeLillo's Underworld. DeLillo is a wonderful writer.

Ipso

James Elroy 's Perfidia, it's a prequel to his LA Quartet. A lot of familiar characters make an appearance (maybe a bit too many), and it doesn't grab you the same way as his earlier stuff but still a good read.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished Breakfast on Pluto. I was a bit disappointed with it in the end. It started off well but it's a bit all over the place towards the end. I suppose maybe that's the point, as Pussy's mental state declines so does the narrative but it was a bit hard to follow at times.

Callan57

Finished Anyush by Martine Madden .... superb and haunting.

Now it's the massive A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel .. almost 900 pages should keep me occupied over the weekend!

Esterhase

Finished Bring Up The Bodies yesterday. I felt quite sad at the end, and I'm not sure if it's because of what happened or because the book is over. Don't know what to do with myself now. Got Fall of Giants by Ken Follett on a Kindle deal weeks ago and haven't read it yet so might give that a go next.

eire4

Finished a re read of the short stories book A New Book of Dubliners which was pretty good. It had 15 short stories in total and I liked 12 of them.

Swiper the fox

eire4 wrote: »

Finished a re read of the short stories book A New Book of Dubliners which was pretty good. It had 15 short stories in total and I liked 12 of them.

Did you re-read the three that you didn't like? That book only came out a few months ago assuming you mean Dubliners 100.


I finished the new John Boyne book the other night, I thought it was excellent, extremely interesting take on the church abuse scandal through the eyes of an inherently decent but damaged priest in the late 20th century. I'll be surprised if this isn't recognised as a modern Irish classic.

GinnyR

I'm just after finishing Big Fat Love by Peter Sheridan & am just starting Somg For a Raggy Boy by Patrick Galvin.

SarahBM

GinnyR wrote: »

I'm just after finishing Big Fat Love by Peter Sheridan .

Did you enjoy that? My parents loved it but I didn't think it was that good.

Finished the Lost World. I thought it was boring.
Picked up when A monster calls for €6 in Charlie Burns in Galway :-) gonna start that tomorrow

GinnyR

SarahBM wrote: »

Did you enjoy that? My parents loved it but I didn't think it was that good.

Finished the Lost World. I thought it was boring.
Picked up when A monster calls for €6 in Charlie Burns in Galway :-) gonna start that tomorrow

I enjoyed it, but mostly the descriptions of Dublin & the fact that I could visualise the area & journeys (as a homesick Dub).

I thought the ending was a bit of a let down though, but overall I'm a bit of a sucker for those types of books.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

SarahBM wrote: »

Picked up when A monster calls for €6 in Charlie Burns in Galway :-) gonna start that tomorrow

Do you mean A Monster Calls?

If so stock up on tissues.

crustybla

Has anyone read Charmed and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn? Gonna start it tonight but I think it's about a werewolf so not sure if it's my sort of thing.