The "I am currently reading" thread

[nikki-red 307]

Requiem for a Dream - Hubert Selby Jr

 

Its hard going in places because of how it’s written, but you get used to it.  
I’m about halfway through and enjoying it now.

[feargal 21]

I'm on The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly. It's yer standard crime thriller so far, but he's a reliable author. 

 

Prior to this I read Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown, which was short, but good - NY couple relocate to the burbs, wife tries to become an author after finding old 50s magazines and books in the cellar, they nearly fall apart.   I also read Once Upon a River by Diane Setter field, which was also excellent.  A bit of a mystery set along the Thames in days gone by, with some magic thrown in. 

[mikeG 16]

A Ticket to Oblivion by Edward Marston. Set in Victorian times - an excellent read.

[Bargepole23 337]

On 01/06/2021 at 17:07, Bargepole23 said:

Firewatching by Russ Thomas, cold case murder set in Sheffield, good, not outstanding, but worth reading.

 

Would I have checked it out of the library without the novelty of the Sheffield link, maybe not.

Now finished it, got much better towards the end, so much so that I reserved the next in the series at the library.

[David Rowley 0]

I'm reading  the War of the Roses series of books by Conn Iggulden - I've read the first two Stormbird and Trinity, now I'm halfway through Bloodlines. The difficulty is the complication  with the different houses Lancaster, York, Percy Neville and the range of characters. But it is very well written and a piece of history which is really quite enthralling and shows you how these people amassed lands and wealth and kept their positions to keep there family influential into the present time. 

I have read Bernard Cornwell's Alfred series of books and Simon Scarrow's Roman series of novels all very enjoyable. But the wars of the roses was a very confusing historical period full of complications but great writing all the same. 

[Delbow 693]

On 01/06/2021 at 18:17, nikki-red said:

Requiem for a Dream - Hubert Selby Jr

 

Its hard going in places because of how it’s written, but you get used to it.  
I’m about halfway through and enjoying it now.

I read Last Exit to Brooklyn recently. A really fantastic book. Selby said that his aim was to avoid putting himself between the characters and the reader, so that you get the characters (based on the kinds of people living in his neighborhood) as unfiltered as possible. That makes it uncomfortable reading, because the characters are needy and messed up, but it's brilliantly written and therefore impossible to put down, tempting though that is at times. Clearly an influence on Trainspotting, but better. My mate who gave Last Exit to me warned me not to read The Room by Selby unless I was feeling robust.

[feargal 21]

I'm reading Honeycomb by Joanne M Harris now.  It's a real joy to read, not only because I love her writing, and the illustrations are gorgeous, but because of the book itself.  It's a hardback with really lovely silky pages 😂. It feels luxurious, I've never noticed how much this improves my experience before! 

[Guest sibon]

I’ve just read a whole load of Glasgow noir by.  Alan Parks. Set in 1970s Glasgow. All fairly predictable, but fun.

 

As penance, I’m now making my way through a proper book. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. A journey through the way that our lives and others are entangled with the lives of fungi.

[metalman 21]

Here's what I've read lately, not so many as usual but a couple of them were quite long.

 

Robert B. Parker - Shrink rap. Sunny Randall investigates a psychiatrist who seduces his patients. 

Robert B. Parker - Melancholy baby. Randall tries to find the birth parents of a girl who thinks she's adopted. One of things I like about Parker's books is that they're all set in the Boston area, so characters from the Spenser series (or indeed the Jesse Stone series) make appearances in the Sunny Randall books too.

James Lee Burke - Neon rain. New Orleans homicide cop Dave Robicheaux stirs up a whole load of trouble when he pulls a dead girl from a lake. As hardboiled as they come.

Anthony Horowitz - Moonflower murders. Retired publisher Susan Ryeland tries to solve a nine-year-old murder using the clues hidden in a detective novel she published. The sequel to Magpie Murders, and just as good.

Simon Brett - Death under the drier. A strangled hairdresser leads to more Sussex sleuthing for Carole and Jude. Essentially the same as all the others but still a decent read.

H.R.F. Keating - A rush on the ultimate. Schoolmaster malleted to death during a croquet tournament; young Aussie master investigates the mostly dotty participants. One of Keating's earlier efforts, before he invented Inspector Ghote. Good fun.

Peter Haining - A slip of the pen. Collection of mistakes, gaffes etc. made by writers. Amusing enough, but spoilt by having all the quotes set in almost unreadable fonts. Why oh why etc.

Frank Parrish - Snare in the dark. Poacher Dan Mallett becomes prime suspect when a gamekeeper is crossbowed to death in front of him. Parrish was one of several pen-names used by Roger Longrigg, and this whole series of 8 books, published mainly in the 1980s, was a delight. 

Gene Wolfe - On Blue's waters. The first part of the trilogy called the Book of the Short Sun, which followed the tetralogies Book of the Long Sun and Book of the New Sun. If you haven't read Long Sun in particular, you won't understand most of what's going on here as it follows on quite closely with many of the same characters. In Long Sun they were reaching the end of their voyage on a generation starship, but now they have dispersed to two planets, called Blue and Green. Surprisingly this last trilogy was never published in the UK so it's quite hard to get hold of a copy.

Leland Gregory - Cruel & unusual idiots. Collection of press reports of people doing very stupid things. Amusingly diverting for a couple of hours.

 

Now I'm half way through Death by inches by Dell Shannon, another mid-1960s case for LA cop Luis Mendoza. This series is definitely recommended for police procedural fans.

[Funky_Gibbon 42]

The Spy and The Traitor by Ben Macintyre.

 

The true story of Oleg Gordievsky, the Soviet KGB officer who also became one of the most important spies for MI6 in during the Cold War and influenced some of the major world events of the 1980s. Very good book.

 

 

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

 

Written by the author of The Martian, this is the story of a scientist who wakes up to find himself as the only survivor of the crew of a space craft sent from Earth on a desperate, last chance mission that he cannot remember. Very entertaining so far. Somewhat similar to The Martian in that it's a first person narrative full of humour in which there's a lot of challenges being overcome by the clever use of science.

[wearysmith 140]

 

I know some of you will have read Rob Halford's book, 'Confess', and others will have no intentions of, but this, unlike much of it, made me smile..

 

It's on one of the closing pages. "camp grief"...... Oh dear God.... In fairness, I would go and visit that statue.

[Rockers rule 673]

Strange eclectic reading habits.

No its not the name of a book, (but it ought to be)

its more of the choice of cheap books I can buy now second hand donated books have reappeared in the supper markets.

I'll read anything (ish).

This weeks delights have been,

The Choral Revival in the Anglican Church 1839-1872.        Bernarr Rainbow.  1st ed 1970

What an excellent book explaining how what had been basically the rabble of those who wanted to sing, those who didn't and how the introduction of properly trained choirs and Choir masters went out into communities introducing a way of performing services that not only kept tradition alive but enabled the ordinary Man and Woman to feel part of the services.

Prior to this I had no idea of Gregorian Chants, Plainsong, Tractarianism, the Pimlico Riots or any of the main characters mentioned.

 

Young Adolf,      Beryl Bainbridge.  1st ed 1979

Had to buy this off Fleecebay because i couldn't find the copy I have somewhere in my 1,000 of books.

Turned out it wasn't the book I wanted.

I was looking for the story of how Hitler had visited Liverpool prior to WW1 I was partly right, 'Young Adolf' is in fact about Hitler visiting Liverpool to stay with his 1/2 brother but is the strangest miss-mash of rubbish i've read for a while.

The book i was looking for (Pygmies might have it in't attic) was Bernadette Hitlers supposedly true (?) story of Hitler visiting Liverpool (cheapest copy i could find on Biblico £26) looks like i'll have to go in't attic, if I'm not back by Sunday Pygmies got me. 

 

Meet me at the Station    Elizabeth A Willmot.  this edition 1980 first 1976

What an excellent find.

Elizabeth has taken her hobby of photographing railway carriages and Railway stations to produce this book.

The book concentrates on the railway stations from Toronto all the way to Aurora.

One page of writing to a full page photo of 57 of the stations with banter about the towns and the mid 1800's introduction of railways throughout America / Canada.

As Children we used to play in an abandoned guards van (how it got there is still a mystery) in the abandoned allotments where Abbey Brook (Chancet wood) is now.

Most of the Stations in the book are still there, some are still in use while others have  in that good old American tradition been picked up moved to private land, turned into homes, converted into museums, restaurants or become part of local history (pioneer) villages.

There's a lot's of conical towers with witch's hat roofs, woodwork, archways and overhanging Eaves and story's of how Farmer wives, School Children etc could 'Flag' down trains in between stations or at Flag stations that were little bigger than my shed. 

The advent of the motor car did for the tourist trains that had started running to skiing resorts the coast and Childrens main transport to and from School.

 

 

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