What book are you reading atm??

UpCork

"The Daughter" by Jane Shemilt.

Enjoying it so far.

Meanaspie

Just finished rereading Shantaram, in anticipation of the sequel finally being released in a few weeks. It's by far my favourite book I've ever read. It's been a few years since I last read it and I forgot about half the stuff that happens in it there's that much! Really makes me want to visit Mumbai every time I read it maybe one day...

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!

tigger123

Just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. I'd highly recommend it.

I am reading a book by Peter Carey called The Chemistry of Tears. I've only started. It seems to be a gentle and melancholic kind of book. I am fond of a good dose of melancholy.

floyd333

Meanaspie wrote: »

Just finished rereading Shantaram, in anticipation of the sequel finally being released in a few weeks. It's by far my favourite book I've ever read. It's been a few years since I last read it and I forgot about half the stuff that happens in it there's that much! Really makes me want to visit Mumbai every time I read it maybe one day...

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it!

I love Shantaram. It's probably my favourite book I hadn't heard about the sequel. It would be very hard to match the orignal

Meanaspie

floyd333 wrote: »

I love Shantaram. It's probably my favourite book I hadn't heard about the sequel. It would be very hard to match the orignal

I already have it preordered (first time I've ever preordered anything!), it's due for release on Oct 13th. There's not much detail about it apart from:

"It has been two years since the events in Shantaram, and since Lin lost two people he had come to love: his father figure, Khaderbhai, and his soul mate, Karla, married to a handsome Indian media tycoon. Lin returns from a smuggling trip to a city that seems to have changed too much, too soon. Many of his old friends are long gone, the new mafia leadership has become entangled in increasingly violent and dangerous intrigues, and a fabled holy man challenges everything that Lin thought he’d learned about love and life. But Lin can’t leave the Island City: Karla, and a fatal promise, won’t let him go."

I imagine it will be quite difficult to be as good as Shantaram, but he has taken 12 years to write it. I've read that there's supposed to be a trilogy, here's hoping the next one doesn't take another 12 years...

jamesieliz

reading Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson.
Third book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series - so many characters already in this book , to add to all the ones in the first two books ! also , so many plotlines , gods , monsters , histories , races etc. etc. etc.
10 books in this series , so may take a break after this one , and try a change of pace ..however i said that to myself after book 2

IvyTheTerrible

Am I the only person who hates Shantaram?

Birneybau

tigger123 wrote: »

Just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. I'd highly recommend it.

I started reading it and thought it was one of the most badly written books I've ever read. Might go back to it.

Flitting between the above, 'The Girl in the Spider's Web' (very early days) and recently finished 'Purity' by Jonathan Franzen which I was a bit disappointed in.

Having a bit of bad luck with books at the moment.

Canis Lupus

jamesieliz wrote: »

reading Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson.
Third book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series - so many characters already in this book , to add to all the ones in the first two books ! also , so many plotlines , gods , monsters , histories , races etc. etc. etc.
10 books in this series , so may take a break after this one , and try a change of pace ..however i said that to myself after book 2

I got to book 3 and gave up. Just got too monotonous. It felt like it was long and 'epic' just for the sake of it.

Shenshen

Birneybau wrote: »

I started reading it and thought it was one of the most badly written books I've ever read. Might go back to it.

Flitting between the above, 'The Girl in the Spider's Web' (very early days) and recently finished 'Purity' by Jonathan Franzen which I was a bit disappointed in.

Having a bit of bad luck with books at the moment.

I read Franzen's first 2 book - they both took a bit getting into, I felt, but I did like Freedom. So Purity doesn't live up to expectation?

Hugo Stiglitz

I received Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas & Mark Olshaker today. Not sure which to crack into first.

gutenberg

Hugo Stiglitz wrote: »

I received Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John Douglas & Mark Olshaker today. Not sure which to crack into first.

I really enjoyed Station Eleven, it's a great book.

Birneybau

Shenshen wrote: »

I read Franzen's first 2 book - they both took a bit getting into, I felt, but I did like Freedom. So Purity doesn't live up to expectation?

Ah, it's worth a read, sometimes great but it left me a bit wanting.

Menas

I have just finished reading Room by Emma donoghue.
They are making it in to a movie....But the book had left me thoroughly depressed. Very sad tale.

Rubberlegs

Menas wrote: »

I have just finished reading Room by Emma donoghue.
They are making it in to a movie....But the book had left me thoroughly depressed. Very sad tale.

Room is definitely one of those books that stays with you long after you finish it. I enjoyed it, and found it depressing all at once. I didn't know it was being made into a movie, one to watch out for.

At the moment I'm reading Stephen King's Finders Keepers, sequel to Mr. Mercedes. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, it's definitely a page turner. I love reading series of books where you get to meet some of the same characters in different circumstances. I'll be looking forward to the last of the trilogy being released:)

Conall Cernach

I'm reading The Amber Spyglass, the third book of the His Dark Materials trilogy. I picked up the three books for €2 in a charity shop and approached them with some trepidation expecting for some reason that they'd be of a level with or only slightly better than the Harry Potter books. How wrong was I? They are really, really good.

New Home

Conall Cernach wrote: »

I'm reading The Amber Spyglass, the third book of the His Dark Materials trilogy. I picked up the three books for €2 in a charity shop and approached them with some trepidation expecting for some reason that they'd be of a level with or only slightly better than the Harry Potter books. How wrong was I? They are really, really good.

I agree 100%. All three books of His Dark Materials are wonderful, I read them a lifetime ago but I loved them. I liked the fact that, unlike other children's books, they are unapologetic and, to a certain extent, merciless. I also love the fact that the style of writing changes as Lyra grows. But these aren't the only reasons that make those books great.

The two sequels, 'Lyra's Oxford' and 'Once Upon a Time in the North' were good too, but nowhere near the trilogy.

Bulbous Salutation

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

It's a great book. Some of the language and story telling is like nothing I've read before. It captures an era, aura and mindset with a richness that you could never find in another art form. Really loving it. 10 bulbous salutations out of 10.

Aglomerado

gutenberg wrote: »

I really enjoyed Station Eleven, it's a great book.

I loved it too, finished it last week and it left me wanting more!

Merkin

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Am I the only person who hates Shantaram?

No, I thought it was terrible.

I'm reading The Lemon Tree by Sandy Toban at the moment which is about the origins of Zionism and the Jewish occupation of Palestine. It's a story based on the unlikely friendship between a native Palestinian and Jew and is factual. I'm really enjoying it as I abandoned the previous book two thirds of the way through:

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. I REALLY wanted to like it given that the manuscript was found decades posthumously (she died in Aushwitz) but it was just so dull. I enjoyed her observations of the French but there were far too many characters and lacked direction. I also found the translation a little grating. It's considered a masterpiece but obviously not for me.

I read I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes recently and it's now in my top ten books. A highly readable, thrilling and intelligent crime story relating to bioterrorism. Not my usual type of fiction but I was engrossed and can't recommend it enough.

denis160

Merkin wrote: »

I read I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes recently and it's now in my top ten books. A highly readable, thrilling and intelligent crime story relating to bioterrorism. Not my usual type of fiction but I was engrossed and can't recommend it enough.

+1 Brilliant book, took me a little while to get into but a great read!

Birneybau

Bulbous Salutation wrote: »

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

It's a great book. Some of the language and story telling is like nothing I've read before. It captures an era, aura and mindset with a richness that you could never find in another art form. Really loving it. 10 bulbous salutations out of 10.

Oh, it's a fantastic book by a fantastic writer.

JohnMearsheimer

Birneybau wrote: »

Oh, it's a fantastic book by a fantastic writer.

Michael Chabon is a great writer. I really enjoyed reading Wonder Boys.

Bulbous Salutation

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

Michael Chabon is a great writer. I really enjoyed reading Wonder Boys.

Kavalier and Clay is the first book I've read by him. It won't be the last. It's a sensational novel.

Huzzah!

Merkin wrote: »

No, I thought it was terrible.


Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. I REALLY wanted to like it given that the manuscript was found decades posthumously (she died in Aushwitz) but it was just so dull. I enjoyed her observations of the French but there were far too many characters and lacked direction. I also found the translation a little grating. It's considered a masterpiece but obviously not for me.

Quite liked Shataram but agree on Suite Francaise. It was a big letdown.

skylight1987

Just finished After The Crash by Michel Bussi its a good read, sags a little in the middle but picks up again . If you suspend your disbelief and just go with it its a page turner

Barna77

Reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Wichita Lineman

The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis - A Personal Biography.
Charlotte Chandler.

Author interviewed Bette Davis extensively in the last decade of her life, resulting in a biography in which the great actress speaks for herself.

Rosie Gardens

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis - A Personal Biography.
Charlotte Chandler.

Author interviewed Bette Davis extensively in the last decade of her life, resulting in a biography in which the great actress speaks for herself.

Now that sounds like it's worth reading! I think that'll have to go on my list.
If you're looking for a good autobiography of an epic figure, Peter Ustinovs Dear Me is simply wonderful. He met everyone (nearly) and such a racanteur it's so well worth reading. I loved it!