What book are you reading atm??

Ave Sodalis

Riddle101 wrote:

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. I've managed to collect his entire book series now so i'll be reading through all of his books.

I could never figure out where to start with them...

mariaalice

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold Stephen Fry. its brilliant but bizarre.

Bull**** Jobs: A Theory David Graeber is next on my list.

Mars Bar

mariaalice wrote: »

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold Stephen Fry. its brilliant but bizarre.

I started this but couldn't get in to it. Worth trying again?

mariaalice

Mars Bar wrote: »

I started this but couldn't get in to it. Worth trying again?

yeah just for the madness.

Thargor

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Trying to read the last book of The Wheel of Time after putting it off for years (been stuck thinking it made sense to reread them all then never making it through and putting the series aside). Love Sanderson but I feel Jordan has hamstrung him here a bit. I'm finding it all a bit dull and a struggle to get through.

Im on Book 11, maybe I shouldn't have read the full series non-stop but Im in it now, actually I enjoyed it at the start but 8, 9 and 10 were a real grind. Reading it at work mostly as things are slow atm so Ill persevere and finish it but looking forward to reading anything else, there is an awful lot of repetition...

Ill read Sapiens A brief History of Humankind after WoT I think, heard good things and I got it in a charity shop for €2 the other day.

Taiga

Sapiens is very good, I found it fascinating. At the other end of the scale I'm just finishing Stephen King's The Outsider. I enjoyed it as a handy read. I probably won't remember it next week though.

I got a bit excited on the Libraries Ireland site a few weeks ago and put holds on a heap of books so I now have six waiting to be read and all due back soon.

Next up is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

Widdershins

The Undead, book 24. I got into them because they're free on Kindle Unlimited .Bonkers zombie comedy starring a Tesco supervisor and his co-worker, an autistic assassin .
I've never found jokes about poo funny but I dissolve at some of the ridiculous scenes like when a zombie Jimmy Carr sh1t on the hero's head in the throes of battle . He's a really funny writer .

Riddle101

Ave Sodalis wrote: »

I could never figure out where to start with them...

Yeah I wasn't sure at first myself but I did some research. The first book to start with is The Last Wish I believe. Then Sword of Destiny, Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake. That's how I'm going to read them anyway.

B0jangles

I read an Edgar Wallace for the first time yesterday - "The Square Emerald". (If you haven't heard of him, he was a writer of thriller/crime stories in the early 20th century and was famous for the sheer volume and speed of his writing output.)

Anyway, "The Square Emerald" - It was completely, totally bonkers - just insanely crammed with stuff happening - murderous far-eastern foreigners, forgeries, secret marriages, unjust imprisonments and SO MANY imposters, and yet... when I was actually reading it, it all kind of makes sense at the time. Absolutely masterful in its own way.

100% recommend

Danger781

Just finished 'Noir' by Christopher Moore. This book is like an amalgamation of Paul, E.T., Men in Black and The Hangover muddled with some romance and general absurdity. If that sounds like your jam then I can highly recommend this book!

Cheshire Cat

B0jangles wrote: »

I read an Edgar Wallace for the first time yesterday - "The Square Emerald". (If you haven't heard of him, he was a writer of thriller/crime stories in the early 20th century and was famous for the sheer volume and speed of his writing output.)

Anyway, "The Square Emerald" - It was completely, totally bonkers - just insanely crammed with stuff happening - murderous far-eastern foreigners, forgeries, secret marriages, unjust imprisonments and SO MANY imposters, and yet... when I was actually reading it, it all kind of makes sense at the time. Absolutely masterful in its own way.

100% recommend

I read tons of them in my teens. My dad bought a complete paperback collection that came out in 1982 on the 50th anniversary of EW's death. Good memories! I was a voracious reader then and had a great summer holiday with those books!

Widdershins

B0jangles wrote: »

I read an Edgar Wallace for the first time yesterday - "The Square Emerald". (If you haven't heard of him, he was a writer of thriller/crime stories in the early 20th century and was famous for the sheer volume and speed of his writing output.)

Anyway, "The Square Emerald" - It was completely, totally bonkers - just insanely crammed with stuff happening - murderous far-eastern foreigners, forgeries, secret marriages, unjust imprisonments and SO MANY imposters, and yet... when I was actually reading it, it all kind of makes sense at the time. Absolutely masterful in its own way.

100% recommend

Danger781 wrote: »

Just finished 'Noir' by Christopher Moore. This book is like an amalgamation of Paul, E.T., Men in Black and The Hangover muddled with some romance and general absurdity. If that sounds like your jam then I can highly recommend this book!

They sound good .

I forget the name but one of CM's is about a man who ends up with the job of returning peoples lost souls. It's very original and funny but touching .

EmmetSpiceland

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin.

Picked it up from a pile of my partner’s books, didn’t know what it was about. Actually thought it was going to be some old sci-fi story! Even though that’s not a genre she would read at all. How wrong I was.

I will say this, while it is certainly not a book for a man to read on public transport, or in a public setting, it is incredibly well written.

Erotica isn’t really a genre I have explored, outside of “jazz mags” and “bawdy” films back in the day but I may well try a few more of this kind of novel but I’ll save it for the bedside locker rather than public transport, canteen, or pub.

TimeUp

Hector Savage wrote: »

It's a great one allright, if you like Anthropology check out Jared Diamond - in particular "Rise and fall of the third Chimpanzee" , it's old but still a great book.

I am reading Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham and can't put that one down either!

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check that out once I'm done with this one.

By the way, any thoughts on Homo Deus?

leahyl

Reading "A Keeper" by Graham Norton at the moment - nice and light, an easy read

PMBC

Just finished two
An oldie picked up in the bookshelf in work - Airport - not great writing but will grab you and
Woman in the Window - slow starter but gripping and great twist in the end

gutenberg

Reading Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering at the moment. It's about the American Civil War, but from a very different perspective. It focuses on the meaning, understanding and 'management' of death during and after the Civil War. Sounds grim, and it is, but it is also fascinating. We tend to think especially of the First World War when thinking of massive numbers of unknown dead, of the difficulties of dealing with mass casualties, and commemorative culture around memorialising and honouring the dead. But in fact, the Civil War had over 600,000 dead, so many of these issues actually stemmed from this period. Of course, many of the legacies are still powerful today, with the 'lost cause' ideology among some southerners, and the contested understanding and memory of the war in modern America.

Foweva Awone

"When I Had A Little Sister (The Story Of A Farming Family Who Never Spoke)" by Catherine Simpson. It's a beautifully written memoir about the loss of a sister to suicide. Really powerful and thought-provoking.

Carry

I'm in the middle of The Witch Elm by Tana French. I probably would have finished it by dinner time today, skipping lunch and dinner altogether to go on reading, but at about 3.30 a.m. this morning I reluctantly thought I should get some sleep.

Yes, it's that gripping.

I enjoyed all of French's books but this one is something else. There is some crime of course (all set in Dublin), but that seems just to be a vehicle to the true story, the question about the reality that we create for ourselves and that can be shattered at any point. Is "to be lucky in life" just a mindset, an illusion? What does privilege do to you?

French's prose is artful and elegant but never ostentatious and always hits the point with a sharpness that cuts through your mind.
This book is not any old crime novel but pure intellectual joy.

EmmetSpiceland

Carry wrote: »

I'm in the middle of The Witch Elm by Tana French. I probably would have finished it by dinner time today, skipping lunch and dinner altogether to go on reading, but at about 3.30 a.m. this morning I reluctantly thought I should get some sleep.

Yes, it's that gripping.

I’ve read a number of reviews, and interviews with the author, for this book and it was getting a lot of praise for being “inventive” and “original” but no one mentioned, not even the author, that it’s clearly based on the “Bella in the Wych Elm” case.

I found that bizarre, to be honest. Is it mentioned in the book anywhere?

Carry

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

I’ve read a number of reviews, and interviews with the author, for this book and it was getting a lot of praise for being “inventive” and “original” but no one mentioned, not even the author, that it’s clearly based on the “Bella in the Wych Elm” case.

I found that bizarre, to be honest. Is it mentioned in the book anywhere?

Yes, the case is mentioned in the epilogue. But that case is not the point of the novel, just a background idea to weave the actual story around. At least as far as I've read the book (I'm one third trough).

EmmetSpiceland

Carry wrote: »

Yes, the case is mentioned in the epilogue. But that case is not the point of the novel, just a background idea to weave the actual story around. At least as far as I've read the book (I'm one third trough).

That’s good, yeah, from what I’d read the only real similarity is the tree, just found it odd that it wasn’t mentioned in three or four pieces on the book.

Either way, the reviews were universally positive. I’ll certainly look into picking up a copy when I get a chance.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Meditations by Marcus Aurelious

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement

This book came at just the right time in my life, although I could have done with it many times throughout my life.

Engrossing.

JohnnyFlash

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

Meditations by Marcus Aurelious



This book came at just the right time in my life, although I could have done with it many times throughout my life.

Engrossing.

Will you be incorporating stoicism and stoic philosophy into your life, Noel Some Cornbread? Being humble, patient, and empathetic in everything you do? Battling the hubris and excess of the ego? Will that mean less posts bragging about your life?

keepalive213

Dark is the sun

Ipso

The New Threat by Jason Burke, interesting look at the emergence of ISIS.

buried

Ipso wrote: »

The New Threat by Jason Burke, interesting look at the emergence of ISIS.

Brilliant book that, all Burke's work is top class stuff. Did you ever read 'The New Spymasters' by Stephen Grey? Very good stuff too if you like 'The New Threat'

Kewreeuss

I'm a third of the way through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I can't really see where it's going and there were also a couple of dead boring sections.
just finished a fantasy "city of lies" by Sam Hawke. interesting just because one of the protagonists is the protector of the Ruler, tastes all his food and knows all about poisons. there are even invented ones at the chapter ends. Parts of it are a bit fluffy. Like a section of your subjects have been downtrodden and badly treated. Saying sorry and promising to do better in future is simple.
Flew through Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchet. 'A romp' in blurb language.

NasserShammaz

John Connolly nocturnes vol 2 didn't think I'd like it was recommended but it's great got first one and can't wait to get to it . Really good interesting little twists great ideas brilliant for dipping in for a quick trip

buried

Well I really really enjoyed 'The White Goddess' by Robert Graves. The whole thing is basically a great look at the history of poetic myth, investigating documented ballads, poems, folklore and magic spoken by mostly wandering minstrels based in Wales around the time of the Norman conquest of Britain. How these bards and minstrels who were ostracised from the courts of the new Norman masters and had to basically encode the teachings and stories of their pagan ancestors and teachers into new songs with hidden meanings and myths. The 'Battles of the Trees' that the Druids used.
Although based on Welsh poems and songs there is lot of pre-christian Irish myths and works set into this, Graves makes the case that most of this documented ancient knowledge came from the island of Ireland through ancient migrations from the Mediterranean and afar. How the Celtic Irish church documented these ancient works before the 12th century. Its just a great look and attempt to try to decode that ancient and lost way of life.
Somebody who recommended this to me said it would be tough going, but it isn't at all. Its brilliant and accessible to everyone. Great read for out the garden in the summer. Highly recommended from me. I never knew Graves wrote the 'I Claudius' Book series, always heard of 'I Claudius' but never read it. Im going to rectify that as I speak and order it right now. Graves is a genius. This book 'The White Goddess' was published in 1948 but it may as well been published last year. Just timeless magical work. Fans of The Lord of The Rings or even Game of Thrones would dig this fantastic work.
Ten out of the Ten