Jump to content

The what are you reading at the moment fred


Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC

Recommended Posts

Shanks said no

Just read Ken Follett - The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End both of which I really enjoyed as they were a few centuries outwith my normal reads. Looking forward to the final instalment A Column of Fire (working title) which is scheduled for release in autumn 2017

 

Followed up by reading his The Man from St. Petersburg which was a decent holiday type read.

 

I have now moved even earlier by starting Robert Harris - Imperium  (Volume 1 of the Cicero Trilogy) and so far so good, its an enjoyable read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2.8k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Haken

    242

  • dougal

    233

  • Gigolo-Aunt

    140

  • Coco

    124

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Just read Ken Follett - The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End both of which I really enjoyed as they were a few centuries outwith my normal reads. Looking forward to the final instalment A Column of Fire (working title) which is scheduled for release in autumn 2017

 

Followed up by reading his The Man from St. Petersburg which was a decent holiday type read.

 

I have now moved even earlier by starting Robert Harris - Imperium (Volume 1 of the Cicero Trilogy) and so far so good, its an enjoyable read.

I didn't realise there was to be a third in that series. Thanks!

Have you read Follett's Century trilogy? I really enjoyed those - the first two in particular.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shanks said no

I didn't realise there was to be a third in that series. Thanks!

Have you read Follett's Century trilogy? I really enjoyed those - the first two in particular.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Yes, they were the first books I read by him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just over half way through East of Eden.  It's tremendous and am now wondering why it's taken me so long to get round to reading it.

Love Steinbeck but he was always and will always be in Hemingway's and Faulkner's shadow. As I Lay Dying is pretty much as good as it gets imo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After watching the divergent trilogy I thought I would give the books a go. Just finished reading divergent,a thoroughly enjoyable book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Transcendental

Just finished this and can't recommend it highly enough.Hopefully will go on to win the Booker. A blend of beauty and brutality; in terms of style and substance, up there with James Hogg and James Robertson - a fine addition to the Scottish Lit Canon.

Graeme%20Macrae%20Burnet%20-%20His%20Blo
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished A God in Ruins - thouroughly decent but not as good as Life After Life.

 

And now onto The Girl With All the Gifts by M R Carey.  Really good so far.

Finished TGWATG and really enjoyed it.  A slightly different approach to the post-apocalypse zombie thing.  Good page turner.

 

Now onto His Bloody Project which, as one of the other posters has mentioned, is shortlisted for the Booker.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After watching Wolf Hall on Netflix, I just bought Wolf Hall and Bringing up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel.

I struggle a wee bit with Mantel's style of writing. Wolf Hall is very good, though, and Bringng up the Bodies is on the To Read shelf.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got hooked on "A Game of Thrones", so started reading "A Song of Ice and Fire" about two months ago.  I'm now on book 5.

 

Normally I don't read fiction, but this is great stuff.  Having watched the TV series makes it much easier to follow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Connolly writes the Charlie Parker novels which are a bit more than normal detective books as there is a large slice of superstitious stuff going on in the background. Lots of novels in the series now. The first "Every Dead Thing" is a brilliant introduction.

 

As an aside I am surprised that no one has mentioned Mo Hayder who consistently writes good books. Try Birdman and The Treatment for some disturbing writing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished TGWATG and really enjoyed it.  A slightly different approach to the post-apocalypse zombie thing.  Good page turner.

 

Now onto His Bloody Project which, as one of the other posters has mentioned, is shortlisted for the Booker.

Finished His Bloody Project.  I highly recommend it. It is an absolutely fantastic piece of writing.  For a book of a mere 280 pages, there is so much in it.  Fully deserving, imo, of its Booker shortlisting.

 

Am just about to start Stephen King's Finders Keepers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Finished His Bloody Project.  I highly recommend it. It is an absolutely fantastic piece of writing.  For a book of a mere 280 pages, there is so much in it.  Fully deserving, imo, of its Booker shortlisting.

 

Am just about to start Stephen King's Finders Keepers.

Finished Finders Keepers.  Bit average but readable.

 

Now onto The End of the World Running Club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Finders Keepers.  Bit average but readable.

 

Now onto The End of the World Running Club.

Finished TEotWRC - it turned out to be only okay.

 

Now onto a bit of a behemoth, City on Fire.  A bit Dickensian in style though set in NY in the 70s.  160 pages in and so far it's superb; only 750 pages to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've gotten right into boxing history of late. Much of my reading has been online but I've decided to take it to the next level and read some books on fighters I've taken an interest in with interesting back stories.

 

The killings of Stanley Ketchel

Unforgivable blackness, the rise and fall of Jack Johnson

Sam Langford, the greatest uncrowned champion

Charlie Burlie and the black murderers row

Live fast, die young, the life and times of Harry Greb

 

I'm particularly interested in the middle 3 and the general theme of Black fighters being barred for contesting the title. An interesting yet unfortunate period in boxing history

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Shanks said no

In the last couple of weeks I have read Ken Follett - A Dangerous Fortune - very good but I enjoy his easy reads tinged with subjects I don't normally cover, this time Victorian London. Followed up with Adrian J Walker - End of the World Running Club - good particularly the Edinburgh based bits

 

Now reading, so far I am the idiot on the No. 31 bus trying not to LOL

 

41dFqcymK6L._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Edited by godandgorgie2012
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the last couple of weeks I have read Ken Follett - A Dangerous Fortune - very good but I enjoy his easy reads tinged with subjects I don't normally cover, this time Victorian London. Followed up with Adrian J Walker - End of the World Running Club - good particularly the Edinburgh based bits

 

Now reading, so far I am the idiot on the No. 31 bus trying not to LOL

 

41dFqcymK6L._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

I watched the film of this just a couple of weeks ago and it was very funny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished David Downing's series of 'Station' novels, set mostly in Berlin in the days leading up, during, and just after the war. Not exactly high literature, but worth a read if you've even a passing interest in that time. The last book is the weakest of the bunch, but the others are real page turners.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Downing/e/B000APO7Z4/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Thanks for this recommendation, this series sounds right up my street.

 

I've been right into 'what if' versions of history recently. Read Robert Harris' 'Fatherland' and Philip K Dick's 'The Man in the High Castle' and about to start Len Deighton's 'SS-GB'.

 

Reading fiction is a treat for me at the moment as I started an Open University degree in October so I've mostly been reading stuff for my course, so it's nice to slip back in to some fiction.

Edited by GorgieGooner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished TEotWRC - it turned out to be only okay.

 

Now onto a bit of a behemoth, City on Fire.  A bit Dickensian in style though set in NY in the 70s.  160 pages in and so far it's superb; only 750 pages to go.

Took me over a month to get through City on Fire.  Enjoyed reading it but couldn't help wondering what the hell it was all about by the end of it. 

 

In need of something lighter (in both senses) now onto Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.  I've only started it but it's a bit of a weird horror about some old wifey with sewn up eyes and mouth who seems to wander freely around a town that uses surveillance to keep track of her movements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Took me over a month to get through City on Fire.  Enjoyed reading it but couldn't help wondering what the hell it was all about by the end of it. 

 

In need of something lighter (in both senses) now onto Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.  I've only started it but it's a bit of a weird horror about some old wifey with sewn up eyes and mouth who seems to wander freely around a town that uses surveillance to keep track of her movements.

HEX was ok, though verging on meh.

 

Have just started 'The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau' by Graeme Macrae Burnet. Christmas present from the wife who obviously had been listening when I raved about. 'His Bloody Project'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau, which was good but not as good as 'His Bloody Project'.  But with only two books under his belt, Burnet's made an amazing start to his writing career.

 

Change of pace required again, so now onto A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay.  Horror about a  young woman recalling her older sister's possession.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone read Gorky Park and is it worth reading?

Definitely. Was a very good read.

Edited by leginten
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trapper John McIntyre

Anyone read Gorky Park and is it worth reading?

 

Yes, well worth it. The film is pretty decent too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, well worth it. The film is pretty decent too.

 

Cheers mate.

 

For some reason when I select multi-quote it takes me directly into the first response.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sure I got it from a recommendation on here, just finished "one fine day in the middle of the night" by Charles Brookemyre.

 

Really good read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished A Head Full of Ghosts.  Can't make my mind up about it.  It was either very good or very poor!  I think the fact that I'm still thinking about it makes it a success.  Not out and out horror, but gets you thinking.

 

Now reading The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge.  Set in 19th century and so far its themes are around equality for women set against a background of scientific research in the field of evolution.  The Lie Tree itself has not featured; the blurb says that it is a tree that will, if told a lie, tell a truth in return, with the bigger the lie told, the bigger the truth.  hundred-odd pages in and so far it's very good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just read Born to Run. Springsteen's autobiography.

Excellent read. Written like one of his classic songs.

Loved it but I'm a huge Springsteen fan & have been since I first heard Born to Run in the 70's as a kid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished The Lie Tree.  Young Adult fiction, I'd say, and a really good book.

 

Now onto Horns by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King).  Started it on Saturday and now 170 pages in - it's absolutely tremendous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Horns.  Really good, and didn't realise until someone told me that it's been made into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe.  Strange choice, but there you go.  I'd strongly recommend Joe HIll to Stephen King fans.

 

Now onto Fellside by M R Carey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished reading "Wearing the Green Beret", by Jake Olafsen.  It's the story of a Royal Marine commando who served two tours in Afghanistan.

 

Very enjoyable read. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trapper John McIntyre

Reading again for about the fourth or fifth time. Still a great book, 65 years on from publication.

 

51VPZ2ZW4CL._SX301_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Finished Fellside.  Pretty decent, and completely different from The Girl With All The Gifts (same author).

 

Now onto a wee bit of crime fiction, Stalkers by Paul Finch.  Normally I stick to Rebus in terms of the crime genre, but this looked interesting enough to give it go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Fellside. Pretty decent, and completely different from The Girl With All The Gifts (same author).

 

Now onto a wee bit of crime fiction, Stalkers by Paul Finch. Normally I stick to Rebus in terms of the crime genre, but this looked interesting enough to give it go.

I've read the girl with all the gifts, might give the other one ago.

 

I'm a big fan of crime books but I've been reading a lot of post apocalyptic stuff and fantasy I suppose.

 

I'm reading Endgame, James Frey, just now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...