The "I am currently reading" thread

[wearysmith 140]

17 hours ago, sibon said:

If you like Carl Hiassen, I think you’ll approve of Brookmyre. I’d give you mine, but most of them went to the charity shop last week. If you are anywhere near Abbeydale Road, St Lukes have a selection of cut price Brookmyres😀

Was there for just after 9 only to find they didn't open till 10, but two lovely ladies who worked there let me in anyway. Between them they found me 6 Brookmyres.

Also got m'self some groovy ties for work 😀 .

(Hope he's good after all this effort)

 

[Guest sibon]

4 minutes ago, wearysmith said:

Was there for just after 9 only to find they didn't open till 10, but two lovely ladies who worked there let me in anyway. Between them they found me 6 Brookmyres.

Also got m'self some groovy ties for work 😀 .

(Hope he's good after all this effort)

 

I think you got my books. 😀

 

If you like them, let me know. I’ve still got some more here. I’d be happy to drop them

off.

 

Not the end of the world would be a good starting place. Or, When The Devil Drives.

 

I couldn’t get into Places in The Darkness.

 

 

[Rockers rule 673]

Keeping Watch.

Pip Beck.

Slightly A typical, Service personnel's story during WW2.

Pip volunteers for the WAAF in 1941 and you follow her from being posted at RAF Waddington & various other stations throughout the war. 

Most of the book sounds like she had a good time, but i'm sure (as we all know) it wasn't all boyfriends dances & afternoon teas for those in the WAAF. Lots of personal recollections and story's around the people she met , places she was posted to and how they survived, or didn't in many cases.

The technical details and feeling of being part of seeing off and waiting for the return of Flights from the prospective of such a young woman radio operator are well done (& there is a glossary of terms at the end of the book).

Worth a read if you come across it.

Only disappointing bit - lack of photo's & while there is a summery of what happened to some of Pip's friends there is nothing mentioned of how she herself fared after the war.

2nd book would have been nice.

 

Keep safe read well.

 

 

 

[cuttsie 1,089]

The Big Sleep . Raymond Chandler , re reading , the attention to detail that Chandler put in to his writing is comparable with any one .

[mikeG 16]

The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman.  Enjoying it.

[wearysmith 140]

On 08/10/2021 at 15:02, sibon said:

I think you got my books. 😀

 

If you like them, let me know. I’ve still got some more here. I’d be happy to drop them

off.

 

Not the end of the world would be a good starting place. Or, When The Devil Drives.

 

I couldn’t get into Places in The Darkness.

 

 

Nice offer. Thanks.

 

I've simply put the ones I picked up in chronological order and I'll work through them that way. It meant End Of The World came first. I'm 45 pages in.

 

Love the dedication:

 

[Rockers rule 673]

Don't ask!

My justification - I'll, read anything!

50p car boot find, Lad bought this & as I was in-between books, gave it a go.

 

Harry Potter on Location.

J.P. Sperati.

222 pages.

I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books (or seen any of the films come to that).

So, any reference to any of the characters or plot lines in the films/ books went straight over my head.

Well illustrated throughout &,  highly informative to the point you learn more about  the history of the places where filming took place than any Harry Potter Story line .

As a stand alone book / Gazetteer it worked for me and would certainly be of interest any Harry Potter fan.

Beautiful photos of Stately homes,, Castles, Lakes, Lochs, Markets, Villages, Towns, Houses, churches, Railways, Mountains etc, etc, etc.

For the enthusiast it even has the post codes of the places talked about in the book (is that sad or what ?).

With the price of petrol, a trawl on google maps would save the expense and long journey to the remoteness of the Highland of Scotland . 

 

Keep safe out there & read responsibly  🧐 

 

There are other books in the same series,

Midsomer Murders on Location.

&

James Bond on Location. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rockers rule 673]

Two more books from the 'According to Spike Milligan' series.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles

&

Frankenstein.

Frankenstein was the better of the two, But ? 

How the hell did he get away with writing such tripe?

Political Correctness hadn't been invented as testified to by the over use of C, N, L, G, B, C, & W throughout the books.

Spike's forever wandering mind was always working overtime to the point where even he couldn't control it.

 

 

Keep safe out there 🧐

 

 

 

 

[Rockers rule 673]

Racing In The Street,

Early Cafe Racer Years

1960 - 1963.

 

Billy Wells.

Sub titled,

A Rockers Ramblings.   (No it's not the book I'm working on )

 

A self published book looking, as it says at the authors ramblings about his early motorcycling days.

Excellent photos throughout, anecdotes of the scrapes, mates and the specials that were being built in sheds.

Along with the usual BSA, Triumph, AJS, Norton & Ariel there were the bikes built from a mixture of bikes in the quest for speed.

Tritons (Triumph engine in a Norton frame) Tribsa (Triumph engine BSA frame) and the biggest most special of all specials the Norvin (1000cc Vincent V Twin engine shoehorned into a Norton feather bed frame).

Biker friendly cafes, open road shenanigans, trips to the coast, getting in trouble with the law, and lost mates its all there.  

Being a self published book although it is available at a few places on the internet, if you buy it from Billy himself ( Ebay) he will sign and dedicate the book.

 

Christmas Present?

 

Keep safe,

Read well & often 

 

 

 

 

[Mandem 13]

I haven't read through all this thread, but if you like a good murder and mayhem, Michael Wood is a good read.  All his books are set in Sheffield and are very well written.  No 8 of Matilda Darke series has just come out and I am devouring it.  Give him a go

[metalman 21]

Here's what I've been delving into in October - the usual mix of crime old & new and a bit of science fiction/fantasy.

 

Dell Shannon - Rain with violence. In this 1969 entry in the Luis Mendoza series of police procedurals, the squad tackle several murders and the disappearance of an au pair. Good as usual.

Dell Shannon - The ringer. This one's from 1971, and one of Mendoza's colleagues is accused of being the brains behind a car theft racket; it's left to his policeman girlfriend to work out why.

Robert B. Parker - Family honor. The first in the Sunny Randall series, in which she tracks down a teenage runaway and takes on some Boston mobsters with the help of her ex-husband. Typically Parkerian.

Gene Wolfe - In Green's jungles. The second volume of the Short Sun trilogy; protagonist Horn relates his time on the planet Green fighting the vampiric alien inhumi. Wolfe's never an easy read and it's a lot more complex and non-linear than that suggests.

Dorothy L. Sayers - Strong poison. Harriet Vane is on trial for poisoning her ex-lover with arsenic. Lord Peter Wimsey doesn't think she did it, partly because he's fallen in love with her. Another excellent one in this series.

Martin Edwards - Mortmain Hall. The second in the Rachel Savernake series where Edwards tries to marry thriller and Golden Age detective story, largely successfully. Recommended, and you can buy it in The Works pretty cheaply at the moment if you fancy giving it a go.

Simon Brett - The murder in the museum. Managed to find another of these I hadn't read. Middle aged sleuths Carole & Jude investigate when a corpse is unearthed at a writer's house, now a museum (not surprisingly). One of the better ones, I think.

Joyce Porter - Dover beats the band. Scotland Yard's laziest, fattest and most obnoxious detective, Wilfred Dover, investigates a corpse in a municipal rubbish tip, in his own half-hearted bungling way. Like all of Porter's books, amusingly entertaining.

 

Now reading: Gene Wolfe - Return to the Whorl. The final part of the Short Sun trilogy. Will Horn find his way back to the generation starship he grew up on? Will anything be resolved? Quite possibly not but somehow it doesn't seem to make it any less worthwhile.

Edited November 1, 2021 by metalman

[Guest sibon]

I've just smashed my way through Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.

 

I say "smashed" because it is tough going. The story centres on the relationship between an alcoholic mother and her gay son. Its not exactly a barrel of laughs, but it is beautifully written and the characters have you willing them on, hoping they will triumph.

 

Spoiler: they don't. But it is well worth a read.