What book are you reading atm??

arybvtcw0eolkf

Idiot boy wrote: »

The Hooligan......utterly gripping....even if u hate combat sports. .

Read it recently. I wouldn't describe it as ''utterly grippling'' but then I've known Paddy a long time now.

He gets off on the whole Jobstown hard luck story a bit much. The whole haemophilia thing was an open secret for a long time on the local scene. One of his team mates (won't name names, sorry) didn't go down the MMA route with Paddy because he was a haemophiliac so stuck with BJJ.. Many think the unfortunate and untimely death of the Portugese fighter Carvalho against Ward put things into perspective for Paddy.

JK was always an arrogant prick.

But overall its a good read for someone looking for an easy read between books. I enjoy Paddy's youtube Vlog or whatever you call these things, they're good craic. I'm delighted he's making a good life for himself and his young family now.

Due to a recommend from an earlier post I'm about to crack open (if you can do that on a Kindle) the opening pages on The Bee Keeper of Alleppo tonight, really looking forward to this one.

Alecto

I'm reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so far I'm not really amazed by it.

quickbeam

Alecto wrote: »

I'm reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so far I'm not really amazed by it.

Yeah, it’s not really that great. It’s a quick read at least.

Ticking and Bashing

finished reading Never Greener (Ruth Jones) recently which I really enjoyed. I got hooked on it! Currently half way through The Hunting Party (Lucy Foley) which is also going well although I found myself needing to constantly remind myself who the characters were. There's quite a lot of characters in the book.

friendlyfun

Autobiography of **** Phoenix.

friendlyfun

Biography of **** Phoenix. It's called he's still here

EmmetSpiceland

friendlyfun wrote: »

Biography of **** Phoenix. It's called he's still here

I believe that’s just a “biography”, F. Not written by the man, himself.

What do you make of it so far?

Edit: I see you had it right the second time. Apologies.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Alecto wrote: »

I'm reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so far I'm not really amazed by it.

I have that to start some day soon. I'm just wondering, have you been to Auschwitz?.

Reason I ask is the book doesn't sound like something I'd be reading but myself and my daughter were recently in Auschwitz, she said reading the book really put her mind back in the camps and she felt a huge connection with the book as a result.

I'm about half way through Full Throttle by Joe Hill. A collection of short stories, I find it very hit and miss. The first one is a collaboration with his father Stephen King which is excellent but its mostly downhill from there so far. I'll stick it out to the end but its feeling like a bit of a struggle.

CrankyHaus

Alecto wrote: »

I'm reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so far I'm not really amazed by it.

The title just put me off - makes me picture some Hipster Fashionista walking around making bitchy comments to the other concentration camp inmates like "I saw somebody with that same tattoo, last season, in Sobibor".



Reading John Le Carré's A Murder of Quality at the moment. His second novel was his foray into the murder mystery genre, with retired George Smiley investigating a killing in a posh English boarding school. Not bad but you're grateful he returned to spy stuff afterwards. Still though even second-rate Le Carré is a bit of craic.

Foweva Awone

Alecto wrote: »

I'm reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz, so far I'm not really amazed by it.

I wasn't a fan at all. I read it straight after The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz, a really excellent book, the Tattooist paled in comparison.

Thargor

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm about half way through Full Throttle by Joe Hill. A collection of short stories, I find it very hit and miss. The first one is a collaboration with his father Stephen King which is excellent but its mostly downhill from there so far. I'll stick it out to the end but its feeling like a bit of a struggle.

I think the guy is just a terrible writer and Ill never bother with him again, The Fireman and a couple of others are just WTF bad.

adox

I really enjoyed The Tattooist I’d Auschwitz although I haven’t read anything similar.

Ryder

Collected short stories - john Cheevor. Nice variety in short stories. Spectacular writing.

Tauriel

Foweva Awone wrote: »

I wasn't a fan at all. I read it straight after The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz, a really excellent book, the Tattooist paled in comparison.

I did the same as you and it was a big let down in comparison to The Boy Who Followed his Father into Auschwitz.

If ye don't like the Tattooist of Auschwitz, I would suggest staying clear of The Librarian of Auschwitz. That was way more disappointing and fairly boring to be honest.

Alecto

Noel Some Cornbread wrote: »

I have that to start some day soon. I'm just wondering, have you been to Auschwitz?.

Reason I ask is the book doesn't sound like something I'd be reading but myself and my daughter were recently in Auschwitz, she said reading the book really put her mind back in the camps and she felt a huge connection with the book as a result.

Foweva Awone wrote: »

I wasn't a fan at all. I read it straight after The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz, a really excellent book, the Tattooist paled in comparison.

I've been to Krakow but my partner at the time was German and understandably couldn't face going, although I would have found it very interesting, I've heard it can be quite upsetting for people too.



I must give The Boy who Followed his Father into Auschwitz a go next, thanks for mentioning it! I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas years ago and I really liked that book.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Alecto wrote: »

I've been to Krakow but my partner at the time was German and understandably couldn't face going, although I would have found it very interesting, I've heard it can be quite upsetting for people too.



I must give The Boy who Followed his Father into Auschwitz a go next, thanks for mentioning it! I read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas years ago and I really liked that book.

I can understand a German not wishing to go to see the camps. If you're ever there again its worth the trip out from Krakow.

I read The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas but I don't remember much of it, probably because it was over shadowed by the end of the movie. I seen the movie in the cinema and had to turn away from the end, I couldn't bare to watch it and just remembering trying to swallow a massive lump in my throat.

Collie D

Collie D wrote: »

Have had a bit of a readers’ block for a year or two which I’m planning to remedy in 2020...a big backlog to get through.

Same here! I used to read feverishly but the last couple of years I seem to have readers block. I'm not usually one for new years resolutions but I'm hoping to get back to my old ways in 2020. Maybe reading/posting here might help.

Today I finished The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes. I really enjoyed it. Just an easy read and a little bit different to her usual stuff.

I've started The Overstory by Richard Powers. Truth be told I started it in the summer but I got distracted by life after only a couple of chapters and never got around to going back to it. So back I've gone tonight.

Carry

Stasi Child by David Young.
Actually I finished by now the next two books in the series, Stasi Wolf and A Darker State. Two more to go (Stasi 77 and Stasi Winter)

I stumbled across Stasi Child during the black friday sale on amazon, with kindle books for 99p. And now I'm addicted to that series.

These are crime novels set in the 1970s in the GDR. Main character ist a female detective, Karin Müller, in the murder squad in East Berlin and her sidekick, a rather ambiguous character somehow involved with the Stasi. And of course the Stasi themselves.

It's not only set in East Berlin, the crimes bring them all around East Germany, Rügen at the Baltic Sea, Thuringia, Halle-Neustadt, Eisenhüttenstadt near the Polish border and more. It's a bit like a travel and history book through the GDR.

The stories are well researched (I'm German and have almost nothing to complain about), they are gripping and inventive and, as I mentioned above, very addictive.
Highly recommended for fans of historical crime novels.

PoisonIvyBelle

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I'd been meaning to pick it up for a while and got it there last week. It's only a short book but it takes a bit of focus to get through.

lozenges

PoisonIvyBelle wrote: »

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I'd been meaning to pick it up for a while and got it there last week. It's only a short book but it takes a bit of focus to get through.

Am reading this at the minute, just dipping in and out. Love it!

I just finished 'Song of Solomon' by Toni Morrison. Engaging and constantly inventive. A great book, I will definitely be reading more of hers.

Just started 'Black Beauty' by Anna Sewell. Only about 40 pages in and it had me welling up a bit. I never knew this book was told from the perspective of the animals.

I finished Joe Hills Full Throttle thank god, it was terrible. I started Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett. I got a few of the watch series for Christmas after reading Gaurds Gaurds a while back.

CrankyHaus

American Desperado - Jon Roberts and Evan Wright.

Jon Roberts, Née Riccobono, recounts his life as a career criminal born into the Gambino Mafia Family, active in NYC Nightclub racketeering who later moved to Miami and become a high level cocaine trafficker for the Medellin Cartel.

Most interesting is the broad array of the people Roberts dealt with and his anecdotes of each: infamous criminals, celebrities in sport, music, film and comedy, crooked cops, senior politicians, lawyers and judges, CIA. A terrible person but an excellent book, difficult to put down.

Foweva Awone

Recently read Vicky Phelan's autobiography "Overcoming". Honestly as I read it I was thinking an alternative title could be "A Series of Unfortunate Events", the things that woman has been through, a terminal cancer diagnosis is nearly the least of her worries. It's a very good read though, she's a very resilient, articulate and principled woman, I've a lot of respect for her after reading it.

Then I read "The Shout" by Stephen Leather, a crime novel, first one I've read of his. The whodunnit twist was quite predictable, and there were a couple of plot holes and clunky bits of writing, but on the whole I enjoyed it all the same, a good story, will probably read more of his.

Alecto

I've just started Big Little Lies, I watched the series and liked it so I thought I'd give the book a go.

completedit

Hopping around through books at the moment, decided I’d start to read some fiction, always find fiction stays with you longer, even books I read when I ‘hated’ reading’ back in my school days, have slipped into my subconscious. Wonder why that is? Maybe non fiction ends to be too on the nose.

Anyway reading ‘The Holy Machine’ online. Start reading it ages ago and stopped but quite liked it. Dystopian, deals with religion, secularism, AI, consciousness, decent enough.

05eaftqbrs9jlh

PoisonIvyBelle wrote: »

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I'd been meaning to pick it up for a while and got it there last week. It's only a short book but it takes a bit of focus to get through.

lozenges wrote: »

Am reading this at the minute, just dipping in and out. Love it!

That's a super read. If you're interested in Epistemology, Kant has some fascinating thoughts on the role of sense accessories in our access to the world. I also love the Wittgenstein theory of language. Their writing is very dense though, Bertrand Russell gives great accountings of their work and the response to it.

Or if it's the Moral Philosophy you enjoy, reading about Jeremy Bentham and JS Mill's morality is a great way to understand ontology and utilitarianism.

I got Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio in a charity shop yesterday. Damasio and his wife I believe are neuroscientists, he has a specialism in the field of traumatic brain injury. It's unbelievably revealing, I read half of it in one sitting last night and I'm definitely going to be dipping back in and out of it once I'm finished because the science and philosophy in it is so interesting. He does seem to fictionalise elements of the story though, detracting somewhat (but not much) from his conclusions.

Here's the case study in question that he embellished:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/
It's a really fascinating insight, even without any editing.

Carry

Lingo - A language spotter's guide to Europe, by Gaston Dorren.

This is a book that explains in short articles the fifty-odd languages and dialects in Europe, which one is related to which, how they spread (or died) through geopolitics and/or migration, and all the quirks individual languages have.

It's witty and erudite, wonderfully written and easy to read, with a lot of light-bulb moments, and interesting and sometimes funny tales.

It's a joy to read, and en passant you learn the odd word in a language you didn't know exists.

Mars Bar

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Honestly, don't think I'll ever be much of a fan of Gaiman.