What book are you reading atm??

Thargor

TheRepentent wrote: »

His Sci-fi is excellent but I never liked his non-sci fi so go figure

His sci-fi is some of the best ever written but I never really got on with his other stuff, I remember giving up on the Bridge and a couple of others (Crow Road?). The Bridge was just this random nonsensical string of waffle, there's a dud like that for every Wasp Factory style masterpiece.

megaten

GLaDOS wrote: »

Have you read any of his other work? Find it hard to imagine him writing Sci Fi!

His Sci-Fi is good but maybe start with with Player of Games since his first Sci-Fi book Consider Phlebas isn't really representative of the the other books.

eviltwin

Just finished The Trauma Cleaner and moving onto The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Ipso

Has anyone anyone read Red sky in the morning, by Paul Lynch.
I saw it described as No country for old men, set in the West of Ireland in the 1930’s.

Joe_ Public

Ipso wrote: »

Has anyone anyone read Red sky in the morning, by Paul Lynch.
I saw it described as No country for old men, set in the West of Ireland in the 1930’s.

Read it very quickly a few years ago, the McCarthy influence is very apparent. Very cinematic, feels almost like reading a screenplay. Wouldn’t put anybody off, but didn’t like the writing style personally.

Foweva Awone

This Is How It Always Is, by Laurie Frankel. I'm really loving it so far.

ShagNastii

The Dirt by Motley Crue is due on Netflix this week. Looking at the trailers I don't hold out hope. Went back to the book a few weeks back for my 3nd or 4rd read. It was probably one of the first RnR memoirs and IMHO the best.

So much drama, so much fun and surprisingly sad in many parts.

Dial Hard

Dial Hard wrote: »

Started The Familiars by Stacey Halls yesterday. Too early to make much of a judgement yet.

Finished this over the weekend. It was very meh. Badly paced, imo. Halls spends forever setting up the story and then, three-quarters of the way through it's like she realises she's going on a bit and needs to finish up in a hundred pages and then just races to the end. I finished it thinking "I have no idea what the point of half of that was." I genuinely think I'm just getting ridiculously fussy in my old age, though.

Anyway, that's all my new books done so I've no excuse not to go back to Milkman now. Le sigh.

arybvtcw0eolkf

rushfan wrote: »

The Stolen Village. Excellent book.

Finished Company Commander by Russell Lewis.

A fantastic book, some of which I could relate to my first tour of duty in Lebanon way back in 1988, ie war and its effects on the soldier, esp after the soldier returns home but his thoughts are still back 'in country'.

I contacted the author via facebook, never thought I'd get a reply and got into a really good chat. A book which will live with me for awhile.

After reading the preview for The Stolen Village I couldn't wait to start it. Well its started

In June 1631 pirates from Algiers and armed troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, led by the notorious pirate captain Morat Rais, stormed ashore at the little harbour village of Baltimore in West Cork. They captured almost all the villagers and bore them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates -- some would live out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves, while others would spend long years in the scented seclusion of the harem or within the walls of the Sultan's palace. The old city of Algiers, with its narrow streets, intense heat and lively trade, was a melting pot where the villagers would join slaves and freemen of many nationalities. Only two of them ever saw Ireland again.

The Sack of Baltimore was the most devastating invasion ever mounted by Islamist forces on Ireland or England. Des Ekin's exhaustive research illuminates the political intrigues that ensured the captives were left to their fate, and provides a vivid insight into the kind of life that would have awaited the slaves amid the souks and seraglios of old Algiers.

The Stolen Village is a fascinating tale of international piracy and culture clash nearly 400 years ago and is the first book to cover this relatively unknown and under-researched incident in Irish history.

Right from the first page it grips you.. Good one Rushfan, a thumbs up.

cj maxx

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

Finished Company Commander by Russell Lewis.

A fantastic book, some of which I could relate to my first tour of duty in Lebanon way back in 1988, ie war and its effects on the soldier, esp after the soldier returns home but his thoughts are still back 'in country'.

I contacted the author via facebook, never thought I'd get a reply and got into a really good chat. A book which will live with me for awhile.

After reading the preview for The Stolen Village I couldn't wait to start it. Well its started



Right from the first page it grips you.. Good one Rushfan, a thumbs up.

Just marking this si i can find it again, sounds good

Foweva Awone

Almost finished You by Caroline Kepnes. Better than the Netflix series. On to the sequel Hidden Bodies next.

Tauriel

Just finished Lethal White by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling.

This is the fourth novel in the Strike series and by far the best.

Cheshire Cat

Great, just started it. Looking forward to getting into it.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Nearing the end of The Stolen Village now, not a brilliant read but not bad either. I never knew about piracy in the 1600's and just how big a business it was along the southern coast of Ireland, or how it scourged the sea's from Iceland to Ireland, England and around to southern Europe and north Africa so its been educational in that regard.

Because of the above I done a fair bit of research on what I was reading and the book appears to have a few historical inaccuracies. But its a good read all the same.

Now a request.

I loved the TV series The Tudors, I only caught up on it after watching The Crown ~ which led me into The Tudors.

I'm looking for something along the line of The Tudors, but not a history book. Something along the lines of the historically accurate novels the likes of which Conn Iggulden would put out, ie Wars of the Roses but about the Tudors. Henry VIII and his wives.. I've a soft spot for Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Any recommends?.

Lisha

Try the Phillipa Gregory books. I really enjoyed them.

buried

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

Nearing the end of The Stolen Village now, not a brilliant read but not bad either. I never knew about piracy in the 1600's and just how big a business it was along the southern coast of Ireland, or how it scourged the sea's from Iceland to Ireland, England and around to southern Europe and north Africa so its been educational in that regard.

Because of the above I done a fair bit of research on what I was reading and the book appears to have a few historical inaccuracies. But its a good read all the same.

Now a request.

I loved the TV series The Tudors, I only caught up on it after watching The Crown ~ which led me into The Tudors.

I'm looking for something along the line of The Tudors, but not a history book. Something along the lines of the historically accurate novels the likes of which Conn Iggulden would put out, ie Wars of the Roses but about the Tudors. Henry VIII and his wives.. I've a soft spot for Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Any recommends?.

Did you ever read 'A Journal of The Plague Year' by Daniel Defoe, M?

Cheshire Cat

Have a look at Philippa Gregory's books. She wrote "The Other Boleyn Girl". The Constant Princess is about Catherine of Aragon. https://www.philippagregory.com/books/the-constant-princess

Lisha was faster!

New Home

I read "The Other Boleyn Girl" a couple of years ago, and I must say I didn't like it at all. The historical part was probably accurate, but I hated every single character and how they were all portrayed. I guess I don't like her style of writing. It's just me, though.

arybvtcw0eolkf

buried wrote: »

Did you ever read 'A Journal of The Plague Year' by Daniel Defoe, M?

I haven't, but I'm just reading a review of it now.

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

Have a look at Philippa Gregory's books. She wrote "The Other Boleyn Girl". The Constant Princess is about Catherine of Aragon. https://www.philippagregory.com/books/the-constant-princess

Lisha was faster!

The Other Boleyn Girl', I was going to watch it on Netflix last night but wasn't impressed by the trailer but of course I'd be interested in the book.

You've read it?.

buried

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

I haven't, but I'm just reading a review of it now.

Journal of The Plague Year is really really good. Defoe writes it a good 60 years after the event but he must have interviewed somebody who went through the hell-scape during the year 1665. Its the closest thing to be actually witnessing the historical reality and horror of what was going on, albeit through DeFoe's fictional narrator that goes through this event. It is so cool. It's written in the grammar language of the time but it sucks you in big time so you just pick it up and totally adds to the visual realism of what you are reading and seeing. So good. Huge recommendation from me anyways if you want some entertaining visceral narrative history job!

arybvtcw0eolkf

buried wrote: »

Journal of The Plague Year is really really good. Defoe writes it a good 60 years after the event but he must have interviewed somebody who went through the hell-scape during the year 1665. Its the closest thing to be actually witnessing the historical reality and horror of what was going on, albeit through DeFoe's fictional narrator that goes through this event. It is so cool. It's written in the grammar language of the time but it sucks you in big time so you just pick it up and totally adds to the visual realism of what you are reading and seeing. So good. Huge recommendation from me anyways if you want some entertaining visceral narrative history job!

I love old English actually, that might sell me on the book alone!.

Ipso

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

Nearing the end of The Stolen Village now, not a brilliant read but not bad either. I never knew about piracy in the 1600's and just how big a business it was along the southern coast of Ireland, or how it scourged the sea's from Iceland to Ireland, England and around to southern Europe and north Africa so its been educational in that regard.

Because of the above I done a fair bit of research on what I was reading and the book appears to have a few historical inaccuracies. But its a good read all the same.

Now a request.

I loved the TV series The Tudors, I only caught up on it after watching The Crown ~ which led me into The Tudors.

I'm looking for something along the line of The Tudors, but not a history book. Something along the lines of the historically accurate novels the likes of which Conn Iggulden would put out, ie Wars of the Roses but about the Tudors. Henry VIII and his wives.. I've a soft spot for Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Any recommends?.

Almost finished his book on The Siege of Kinsale, The Last Armada. Really enjoyed it. I’d be interested to know how accurate it is, many of the Irish players don’t come out of it looking too good.

quickbeam

Philippa Gregoy’s series aren’t that historically accurate if that’s what you’re after.

I like the CJ Sanson, Shardlake series. It’s fiction though but mixes in real Tudor people into the story. It starts a bit later on the period though. During Henry’s marriage to Jane Seymour IIRC in the first book.

I like Conn Iggulden. Just finished Stormbird and thought it was excellent.

Ipso

Are there many historicL fiction series set in Ireland? The Gaelic Chieftannera would make for some fascinating stories.

Lucifer31

On Green Dolphin Street, by Sebastian Faulks, 2001.
It's very good - but not as good as Birdsong of course.

Lucifer31

GLaDOS wrote: »

I just finished the Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

I would have it up there with one of the best books I've ever read, and I don't say that lightly.

Same as that. Unreal read.

The Princess Bride

Rereading Marathon Man by William Goldman, paying more attention to it because I've just rewatched the film this week.
Classic.

arybvtcw0eolkf

quickbeam wrote: »

Philippa Gregoy’s series aren’t that historically accurate if that’s what you’re after.

I like the CJ Sanson, Shardlake series. It’s fiction though but mixes in real Tudor people into the story. It starts a bit later on the period though. During Henry’s marriage to Jane Seymour IIRC in the first book.

I like Conn Iggulden. Just finished Stormbird and thought it was excellent.

Accuracy or inaccuracies in an historic novel doesn't bother me a whole lot. Conn Iggulden's Emperor series was spell binding, it told a great story of Julius Caesar & Brutus from growing up as children to Caesar's assassination.

Accuracy wasn't Iggulden's aim, it was way off the mark in a lot of the story but the series told a brilliant story none the less.

I still have the Emperor series on my shelf and still get a little trill of excitement when I see them and wish I was starting them fresh again. If I found something on the Tudor's along the same lines I'd be delighted.

quickbeam

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

I'm looking for something along the line of The Tudors, but not a history book. Something along the lines of the historically accurate novels the likes of which Conn Iggulden would put out, ie Wars of the Roses but about the Tudors. Henry VIII and his wives.. I've a soft spot for Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn.

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

Accuracy or inaccuracies in an historic novel doesn't bother me a whole lot.

????

Anyway, my Shardlake recommendation still stands.

I have the Emperor series in my to read list too. I look forward to it if the WotR series is anything to go by.

arybvtcw0eolkf

quickbeam wrote: »

????

Anyway, my Shardlake recommendation still stands.

I have the Emperor series in my to read list too. I look forward to it if the WotR series is anything to go by.

Feck ya, I wasn't looking back at any of last nights posts on boards.ie ~ I'd a few beers onboard

You're in for a treat with the Emperor series, enjoy.