What book are you reading atm??

K-9

Finished Last Night in Twisted river by John Irving. Not bad but not as good as his earlier work.

Currently on A short History of nearly everything by Bill Bryson, such a delight. Hilarious, serious and has me scratching my head loads of times, for good and bad reasons!

Finished Our Game by LeCarre, one of my favourites. It's semi-autobiographical, goes into a lot of detail about his father, who was quite the cad with both money and women.

eviltwin

The Redemer by Jo Nesbo. Best Harry Hole book so far.

micko45

Reading 2 books at the moment (bad habit)

Star Trek Section 31: Rouge, - Michael Martin. Seems good from the start.
The Iron Clad Prophecy - Pat Kellehar. WW II Soldiers vanish from the Somme and end up somewhere alien. Pure pulp fiction and enjoyable so far.

Birneybau

Reached an impasse reading '1,000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet', I'll really have to get stuck in but it's not doing it for me so far, 40% in.

Reading 'What if' by Randall Monroe on the side and it's fantastic, popular science taken to a ludicrous degree sometimes in a very funny and informative way.

Chapter about what would happen if you put an indestructible hairdryer pumping out heat in an indestructible box and see what would happen was hilarious, as he ramps up the power, again and again and again.

Also, great chapter about what would happen if a big drain opened in the ocean and the progressive changes that would happen as all the water drained!

Paddy Samurai

It is with a real sense of sorrow that I am coming to the end of this book.It seems strange when you consider that this is a book about the horror of battle in World War 1 from the POV of the Germans. Junger does not hold back on any of the details ,including not taking prisoners. Although wounded up to 14 times he kept coming back for more ,a real life "Terminator".
He was also awarded the Iron Cross and Knights cross ,and you can see why even hitler tried to get him to join his propaganda machine ,but to no avail.
I can understand why people label this the greatest war memoir they have read.

Storm of Steel is based on Jünger’s diary, which he worked – and frequently re-edited – into a piece of continuous prose. It combines the most astonishing literary gifts with absorption with war in every detail. It has German loyalties and a German sensibility, but not a trace of propaganda. It is particular, yet universal.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/10671755/The-greatest-war-memoir-I-have-ever-read.html

TheGoldenAges

Watched Gone Girl last week so I started reading the book there last night to see if the book could portray the reasoning behind the ending in better light than the film did.

Birneybau

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

Watched Gone Girl last week so I started reading the book there last night to see if the book could portray the reasoning behind the ending in better light than the film did.

It can't, I was furious when I read it.

BlaasForRafa

eviltwin wrote: »

The Redemer by Jo Nesbo. Best Harry Hole book so far.

Just bought "The Son" in a half price offer in the local book store, what a steal!

micko45 wrote: »

The Iron Clad Prophecy - Pat Kellehar. WW II Soldiers vanish from the Somme and end up somewhere alien. Pure pulp fiction and enjoyable so far.

Sounds like something right up my street. I hadn't heard of this writer before which I suppose is part of the point of this thread. As if I need to add more to my TBR pile but what the hell!

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

Watched Gone Girl last week so I started reading the book there last night to see if the book could portray the reasoning behind the ending in better light than the film did.

One of my brothers gave me a lend of gone girl and I only made it to about 20 pages in, I absolutely detested every single character and the thought of persevering with it was too much.

Currently I'm almost done "One Kick" by Chelsea Cain, an action thriller, real "chewing gum for the mind" stuff but it's certainly enjoyable.

Custardpi

glasso wrote: »

An officer and and a spy - Robert Harris novel based on the Dreyfus affair. only a hundred pages in - pretty good so far.

Read this a few months ago & really enjoyed it. The level of detail Harris goes into to set the political & social atmosphere of the time is very impressive. One of his best books since Fatherland in my opinion.

Just finished reading The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. It had been on my reading list for a while but the actions of religious fanatics in Paris recently spurred me to place it at the top. It's a bit of a weighty tome & carries a certain amount of expectation with it given the history of its publication. Despite that it's a surprisingly accessible read, though some background understanding (30 mins - 1 hour on Google, Wikipedia & Youtube will suffice) of Islamic history does help.
The controversial portions of it, in which the story of Mohammed is subjected to something like what South Park did to Joseph Smith form only one part of the book. Most of the action actually takes place in 1980s London & New Delhi with the experience of immigrants & ethnic minorities being a central theme of the book. Rushdie has a wonderful ear for capturing accents, whether cockney or Indian or a mixture of both & conveys movingly the struggle between old, adopted & emerging identities which inevitably arises when one moves to another country with a different culture.
One of the most tragic things about the violent protests at the time of its original publication was that many of those young men & women calling for Rushdie's head probably would have enjoyed the book immensely if they had actually set aside their prejudices & read it. Thoroughly recommended. Want to read Midnight's Children too as I've heard that's even better.

Thargor

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

It is with a real sense of sorrow that I am coming to the end of this book.It seems strange when you consider that this is a book about the horror of battle in World War 1 from the POV of the Germans. Junger does not hold back on any of the details ,including not taking prisoners. Although wounded up to 14 times he kept coming back for more ,a real life "Terminator".
He was also awarded the Iron Cross and Knights cross ,and you can see why even hitler tried to get him to join his propaganda machine ,but to no avail.
I can understand why people label this the greatest war memoir they have read.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/10671755/The-greatest-war-memoir-I-have-ever-read.html

Thanks for this, my next book sorted.

apieceofcake

Now on to Elizabeth Is Missing, which I've heard good things about.[/QUOTE]

'Elizabeth is Missing' is a brilliant read, hope you enjoy it.

Shenshen

I read Alessandro Baricco' Novecento yesterday.

I had read "Silk" years ago, and remembered it as a short, but intense read, and Novecento didn't fall short of this either. While I would normally prefer long book, I admire an author who can pack so much into so little words.

baron von something

Talisker - Miller Lau

david75

so i finished the Kvoethe books by Rothfuss..then heard he had a short story about Bast in a compilation called Rogues which is compiled by George RR Martin(and has a new GoT story in it)....and I have to say, its better than anything in the Kvoethe books!! havent finished it yet but im loving it

Mars Bar

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. So far so good! A few genuine laugh out loud moments.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I was given Dan Brown's Inferno as an xmas gift and got around to reading it over the past week. I found it engrossing, he's not a great technical writer with his clunky prose but can still tell a gripping story.

LucidLife

Seventh Son--- Orson Scott Card.

Very good. Interesting because of folklore and gave me a new perspective on some things.

EoghanIRL

When the bough breaks .

The Peanut

Towards Ireland Free by Liam Deasy.

Fascinating insight into living in West Cork around the time of The War of Independence.

New Home

The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels.

Utterly amazing.

D-FENS

Finally reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by the Wire creator David Simon, been meaning to for years and so far I'm not disappointed.

Very easy read, a great insight into the real Baltimore Homicide Unit and I guess the workings of any inner city police dept.

Would be really interesting as a standalone book but is also definitely helped by the amazing picture the Wire painted years afterwards, for any fans of that.

Collie D

D-FENS wrote: »

Finally reading Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by the Wire creator David Simon, been meaning to for years and so far I'm not disappointed.

Very easy read, a great insight into the real Baltimore Homicide Unit and I guess the workings of any inner city police dept.

Would be really interesting as a standalone book but is also definitely helped by the amazing picture the Wire painted years afterwards, for any fans of that.

If you like Homicide you should definitely check out The Corner. Same idea except this time the author hangs out on the other side of the law. I preferred The Corner - some very tragic characters, some with happy endings and others not so much.

Read both back to back and The Corner was definitely my favourite of the two. And I've never watched a single episode of The Wire

Collie D

Continuing my chronology through Stephen King's novels. Currently on The Dead Zone. Only few chapters in so haven't yet got into it but the plot summary is definitely appealing

scream

Just started One Rainy Night by Richard laymon. He can be a little adolescent at times particularly with his portrayal of women, but there's a real 80s horror feel to his novels that just make me smile. I read his beast house trilogy years ago and never looked back.

Chancer3001

Finished reading the bible. Some parts are funny they're so wacky. Insane bits in it too. Mental stuff altogether.

Boyght a book on philosophy today at a farmers market for 2euro. I've always had an interest in philosophy, will be interesting to study it a little bit.

Scuid Mhór

Collie D wrote: »

If you like Homicide you should definitely check out The Corner. Same idea except this time the author hangs out on the other side of the law. I preferred The Corner - some very tragic characters, some with happy endings and others not so much.

Read both back to back and The Corner was definitely my favourite of the two. And I've never watched a single episode of The Wire

I've never read either of the books (someday I will) but you should stop all relative clocks and watch The Wire. It is probably the pinnacle of television entertainment. I will warn you, however, that if you get past the first six episodes of season one, you will forever taint your own personal recreational leisure time experiences, because whenever you sit down and watch any other show (apart from the other top-tier classics such as the critically acclaimed and highly-esteemed HBO production The Sopranos, of course), you'll be consciously confronted with an annoying inner monologue you just won't be able to turn off, going something along the lines of 'this isn't as good as The Wire' ad infinitum.

Good luck.

I was going to start gravitys rainbow, but I picked up mason and dixon instead. Not bad, but heavy going.

Scuid Mhór

Deleted User wrote: »

I was going to start gravitys rainbow, but I picked up mason and dixon instead. Not bad, but heavy going.

Two incredible novels, perhaps the two definitive great american novels. The work you put into them will provide innumerable returns.

Thomas_.

The World Crisis Volume IV 1918-1928: The Aftermath By: Sir Winston S. Churchill -

Table Of Contents
Preface
1. 'The Broken Spell'
2. Demos
3. Demobilisation
4. Russia Forlorn
5. Intervention
6. The Fourteen Points
7. The Peace Conference
8. The League of Nations
9. The Unfinished Task
10. The Triumvirate
11. The Peace Treaties
12. The Russian Civil War
13. The Miracle of the Vistula

14. The Irish Spectre
15. The Irish Settlement
16. The Rise of the Irish Free State

17. Turkey Alive
18. Greek Tragedy
19. Chanak
20. The End of the World Crisis
Appendix

more information on the homepage of bloomsbury.com/uk (sorry, as a newby I´m not allowed to post links yet).

I expect to read more about the negotiations of the Anglo-Irish-Treaty in chapters 14 to 16 because parts of it were cited in Dwyers book "Michael Collins and the Civil War".

I´ve also started to read a JFK biography:

John F. Kennedy An Unfinished Life 1917-1963

Author: Robert Dallek

More information on the homepage of penguin.co.uk

Belle E. Flops

Just started The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I've been meaning to read it with ages. I'm only a few pages in but so far I'm really enjoying the way he writes.