Book thread #8686868

[BoldonBlackCat]

Tend to buy my physical books at airports so usually a Dan Brown, Ian Rankin etc. just read Dan Brown - Inferno his latest, was quite appropriate as I was heading to Florence.

Sucker for Jeffery Deaver too - the follow up to The Bone Collector is out now, The Skin Collector...just started it.

 

[Nannou]

recently finished Rubicon which was about the decline of the Roman Empire and just about finished The Heart and the Fist which is about an American aid worker who joined the Navy Seals. Thoroughly enjoyed both.

 

[ivanthereasonable]

Currently reading Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre. Nowt great but enjoyable enough.

Recently finished Mr Mercedes by Stephen King and Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez which were both a bit 'meh'.

This.

 

[Medulla]

might have to check this out... sounds interesting... what period does it cover?

Colonisation by the British to the present day.

 

[ConfederacyofDunces]

If it's a good read you're after, you really ought to check out this book I'm publishing: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...orrow-the-palace-an-amazing-untold-true-story

I'm not saying you have to pledge, but I won't stop you if you want to. It's your life.

 

[Mr Vertigo]

Enjoyed the new Murakami (Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage). It's very much in the Norwegian Wood category of Murakami's work.

Just finished David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks. A decent enough read, but I have no idea how it got onto the Booker long list.

The Bone Clocks has some cracking parts, but the underlying sci-fi story stretches it a bit thin. Loved the first part with Holly Sykes and the second part with Hugo Lamb. The last part, set in a dystopian Ireland, was a bit too grim for me.

Best books I've read recently are James Ellroy's The Cold Six-Thousand and Owen Jones's Establishment.

 

[alexander]

There have been translators who were writers themselves and it helped them do a decent job. Dorothy L Sayers, for example, was a fairly decent author of crime fiction but also a distinguished scholar of Dante who produced perhaps the definitive translation of The Divine Comedy.

The translations I've read of other Márquez books were excellent, including ...Cholera and 100 Years Of Solitude, which seemed to capture the really magnificent prose of the author. I've also read very good translations of Tolstoy, but I reckon it would take a f***ing moron to ruin Tolstoy.

I thought the translations of Stieg Larsson were pretty poor mind - I kind of assume the translator was part of the problem as Larsson was regarded as a very good writer of journalism. And he always had a point (hehe)

Somewhat off topic, sorry, but you wouldn't happen to have some advice on how to tackle illegal, free downloading of copy-writed books do you ? Without the hassle of going through the legal system, I mean.

I would have asked on the SMB Writers Forum but have lost the link to the site and not even sure it's still there.

 

[JonnotheMackem]

Currently reading Marching Powder by Thomas McFadden and Rusty Young. Utterly fascinating account of prison life in Bolivia.

Recently finished I Am Zlatan - he comes across as a right helmet, Genius by James Gleick - the life and times of Richard Feynman, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and Invasion by DC Alden - mentioned earlier in this thread, which seems to have eerily similar parallels to ISIS' beginnings.

Next up is The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer . Also have Post Office by Charles Bukowski, The Reluctant Communist by Charles Jenkins, Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes, The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel and the Matterhorn and Agent Zigzag books to wade through amongst others.

Read that ASAP, it is absolutely hysterical.

 

[air asia]

Recently finished:
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard

Now reading:
Bad luck and trouble by Lee Childs

 

[JonnotheMackem]

Recently finished:
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard

Now reading:
Bad luck and trouble by Lee Childs

The one about the Mormons? How was it?

 

[air asia]

The one about the Mormons? How was it?

Yes the Mormons. It was really good. His writing really flows so he could probably make just about anything interesting. The history of the Mormons and specifically the Fundamental branch of Mormonism is bonkers mind so it makes for a good tale.

 

[JonnotheMackem]

Yes the Mormons. It was really good. His writing really flows so he could probably make just about anything interesting. The history of the Mormons and specifically the Fundamental branch of Mormonism is bonkers mind so it makes for a good tale.

Excellent. I'll bump it up the list.

 

[ouro]

I enjoy both poetry and Shakey in live performance but would never consider reading either.

This Ole House was f***ing good mind.

 

[Cockney Mackem]

Somewhat off topic, sorry, but you wouldn't happen to have some advice on how to tackle illegal, free downloading of copy-writed books do you ? Without the hassle of going through the legal system, I mean.

I would have asked on the SMB Writers Forum but have lost the link to the site and not even sure it's still there.

It's still there but no activity sadly. I'm not sure how you'd tackle it without the legal system though. If you known the site and could trace it's service provider you could get them shut down, but they might be too hard to trace... Let me know how you get on though

 

[errant]

just picked up the tyler hamilton 'secret race' book this morning, had it to read for a while now...

 

[Derbys Exile]

telly tubbies chrimbo special

 

[taipeisafc]

Yes the Mormons. It was really good. His writing really flows so he could probably make just about anything interesting. The history of the Mormons and specifically the Fundamental branch of Mormonism is bonkers mind so it makes for a good tale.

I thought it was excellent, he writes some decent stuff although he has been accused of twisting stories a few times to give them a more dramatic edge. It was scary how insane some of the mormons are and I thought the bits of the history of the Mormons was very interesting. If you like that kind of stuff I just finished a biography of L Ron Hubbard which was really excellent and called Bare Face Messiah - he was something of a twisted genius IMO albeit a complete and utter charlatan.

 

[Soap MacTavish]

Looks like a shedload of suggestions on this thread to keep me reading for a long while

Just downloaded and started reading Matterhorn - looking good so far.

For sci-fi stuff try anything by Peter F Hamilton, especially the Night's Dawn or Void Trilogy sagas. His stories are epic.

 

[Sandboy]

Just finished that. Not great.

Just started Ghosts of My Life by Mark Fisher.
Recently finished 'Underground Overground' by Matthew Engel, 'The Big Midweek' by Steve Hanley (about The Fall) and Palin's last diary book (he is a wonderful chronicler of the times).

Yer not wrong on the Bernard Sumner book mind, I'm up to 1994 and very disappointed, its like its written by a child. I'll finish it to see if he says owt on Hooky but I know he wont

 

[air asia]

Looks like a shedload of suggestions on this thread to keep me reading for a long while

Just downloaded and started reading Matterhorn - looking good so far.

For sci-fi stuff try anything by Peter F Hamilton, especially the Night's Dawn or Void Trilogy sagas. His stories are epic.

Great book, one of the best accounts of combat I have read.