The "I am currently reading" thread

[Ann_Steel 0]

I'm not reading anything lately, I'm just looking for suggestions. Thank you! 

[Gormenghast 59]

"The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks"  by Rebecca Skloot

 

Henrietta died in 1951 from cervical cancer. Cells from the cancer were collected and found to remain viable and reproduce freely, allowing lots of research to be carried out on human cells. This resulted in lots of medical discoveries, including proof that the Polio vaccine was safe to use on humans, chemotherapy, cloning and many more

 

Perhaps all of us  have benefited from  these.

 

The book covers her early life, illness, family background and their reactions. Also the research that has been enabled by using her cells.

 

The cell line, known as Hela cells, is still used today in medical research.

[mikeG 16]

'The Night Book' by Richard Madeley. He's a good author.

[fatrajah 10]

The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart. First published in the late 1950s, it's a very wordy & rather disparaging account of the effects of popular culture (at least it seems that way ) from what I've read so far.

Edited April 16, 2020 by fatrajah

[metalman 21]

Recently read:

Going, going, gone by Phoebe Atwood Taylor. Antique dealer found dead in old trunk sold at auction. Genial Cape Cod detective Asey Mayo solves the case. Enjoyable enough though it seemed to rely excessively on Mayo being in the right place at the right time to observe various characters' actions.

Jeeves and the wedding bells by Sebastian Faulks. It takes courage to write a Wodehouse novel because you know you're going to cop a load of flak however good a job you make of it, and I must admit I opened it with some trepidation, but actually it's not a bad effort.

The lake house by John Rhode. Didn't find this one of his most gripping ones, but it was OK.

Maske: Thaery by Jack Vance. A typical piece of Vance world-building in the Gaean Reach  from the mid-70s. If you've read any Jack Vance, you'll know what to expect.

 

Now I'm reading Finish me off by Hillary Waugh. One of the masters of the police procedural in my view, especially with books like Jigsaw and Last seen wearing.

 

[Brooker11 10]

Whiteout by Ken Follett - coincidentally this ones about a biological lab in Scotland that produces vaccines for lethal viruses, a technician steals one of the lab animals and is killed, the book features heavily on the ins and outs of the lab owners family, halfway through and very good so far.

[feargal 21]

I've just finished the latest Jack Reacher "Blue Moon"  by Lee Child.   It was, like every Reacher book, entertaining twaddle, good for some escapism in these lock down times. 

 

Much better was The Binding by Bridget Collins.  Similar in tone to The Essex Serpent, etc it tells the story of a young man who becomes a binder - someone who takes bad memories from people and binds them into books so they are forgotten. 

[nikki-red 308]

Cujo, by Stephen King.

 

I presumed I’d already read it but it turned out I hadn’t.

I know it’s supposed to be horror but I found the film quite sad, and the books even worse as parts of it are written from poor old Cujos point of view. 

[Rockers rule 673]

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov.

 

I am so happy I found this book & can't believe I knew absolutely nothing about it before reading it.

Fully enjoyable with so many twists, turns and the totally unexpected all the way through.

I'm going to say quite honestly I have never read anything as intriguing as this.

For something that was written in the 1920's destroyed and re written in the 1940's then finally published in the 1960's well after the

authors death was hard for me to believe this sort of thing could have been written so long ago.

I found myself asking myself "Why Do We Read?"

Entertainment, Knowledge personal interest or even the quest to find the perfect book?

My choice of book is so wide I often find myself as with this one something purchased by chance.

four for a pound at our local Charity shop (pre shut down) this book was the one you buy to boost the number up having found the three you want and by chance this caught my eye.

For me reading is about expanding your boundaries and I often buy books simply because I don't know anything about the subject in them.

This has so far worked out well having found many good authors and expanded my knowledge on many subjects.

There is a (dubbed) TV series and various lectures about this book on You tube and I'm halfway through the TV series.

A little surprised regarding how they could achieve some of the scenes in the book on film but so far the TV program has managed to do so.

 Allowing for the filming being done in a mixture of Black and White, Colour and available in sub titles or dubbed the specially affects are pretty good.

I'd definitely read the book first (avoid the introduction).

 

This is definitely one of those books every one should have in their collection.

 

Just to prove how diverse my reading is, I am now reading 'The Well Tempered Lyre' songs and verse (& history) of the Temperance Movement.

Again bought off Ebay for very little money.

 

Happy Reading and keep safe

Rocker.

[Bargepole23 337]

On 21/04/2020 at 11:09, Rockers rule said:

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov.

 

I am so happy I found this book & can't believe I knew absolutely nothing about it before reading it.

Fully enjoyable with so many twists, turns and the totally unexpected all the way through.

I'm going to say quite honestly I have never read anything as intriguing as this.

For something that was written in the 1920's destroyed and re written in the 1940's then finally published in the 1960's well after the

authors death was hard for me to believe this sort of thing could have been written so long ago.

I found myself asking myself "Why Do We Read?"

Entertainment, Knowledge personal interest or even the quest to find the perfect book?

My choice of book is so wide I often find myself as with this one something purchased by chance.

four for a pound at our local Charity shop (pre shut down) this book was the one you buy to boost the number up having found the three you want and by chance this caught my eye.

For me reading is about expanding your boundaries and I often buy books simply because I don't know anything about the subject in them.

This has so far worked out well having found many good authors and expanded my knowledge on many subjects.

There is a (dubbed) TV series and various lectures about this book on You tube and I'm halfway through the TV series.

A little surprised regarding how they could achieve some of the scenes in the book on film but so far the TV program has managed to do so.

 Allowing for the filming being done in a mixture of Black and White, Colour and available in sub titles or dubbed the specially affects are pretty good.

I'd definitely read the book first (avoid the introduction).

 

This is definitely one of those books every one should have in their collection.

 

Just to prove how diverse my reading is, I am now reading 'The Well Tempered Lyre' songs and verse (& history) of the Temperance Movement.

Again bought off Ebay for very little money.

 

Happy Reading and keep safe

Rocker.

I read for entertainment and education. Tend to alternate between fact and fiction. Fiction is usually a thriller, Scandinavian noir, espionage, military, police procedurals. Factual, generally history, generally colonial India, Africa, East Asia, or science, usually Physics.

Also other random books. I can recommend a book called The Box, about the history of shipping containers....better than it might sound!

[fatrajah 10]

By sheer chance I bought a copy of A Journal of The Plague Year by Daniel Defoe just before the present crisis kicked off. It's a harrowing, though second-hand account of the 1665 bubonic plague. Any household affected by the plague was locked down both night & day with watchmen in attendance to ensure no-one left the building. 

[Rockers rule 673]

12 hours ago, fatrajah said:

By sheer chance I bought a copy of A Journal of The Plague Year by Daniel Defoe just before the present crisis kicked off. It's a harrowing, though second-hand account of the 1665 bubonic plague. Any household affected by the plague was locked down both night & day with watchmen in attendance to ensure no-one left the building. 

You will have to (if you haven't already) visit Eyam (Plague Village) 

When all this is over Fatrajah.

 

Stay safe - eat well