View Full Version : What are you Reading today!
'Flashman And The Redskins'.
'Flashman And The Redskins'.Just finished that recently..
nonuffin
28-09-2019, 18:36
I am currently wading through a tall heap of Lee Child's books, mainly because I liked the Jack Reacher fillums with Tom Cruise. Apparently Mr Child is less than happy about having his six foot odd subject in the books being played by a short arse in the shape of Mr Cruise :lol:
'Murder on the Orient Express' by Agatha Christie.
Hi Dominic,
You may have already them, but if you like the Lee Child books, then I can recommend the Will Trent series by Karin Slaughter and the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo.
Kind regards
John
Spectral Morn
07-10-2019, 11:31
Pandemic (Infected) by Scott Sigler
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1444791699/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i11
Flashman and the Dragon.. the eighth in series i think and set in the Second Opium War of 1860 china... like all Flash books, it is excellent, although being written in 19th c style not pc....(thankfully)
'The Victorian Parson' by Barry Turner.
‘The Book Seller of Kabul’ by Åsne Seierstad
ISBN 1 54408 047 1 (Virago © 2003)
Read this a couple of years ago, but thought I would read it again as I enjoyed it first time round.
walpurgis
22-10-2019, 08:30
I just finished reading 'Pygmy', by Chuck Palahnuik.
If ever a book was to divide opinion it's this story. It took me a couple of chapters to 'get it', then I realised what fun it was in a slightly wicked sort of way. Certainly very different and imaginative. Review: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jun/13/pygmy-chuck-palahniuk-review Palahnuik by the way, wrote 'Fight Club'.
https://i.imgur.com/uYWj9Jd.jpg
Stryder5
22-10-2019, 09:03
It was the best of times
It was the worst of times....
Gary
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
just about to start the 3 musketeers by some guy called alexandre dumas:lol: its an audiobook read by a full cast so a sort of extended radio play..over 8 hrs lol
The Girl Who Lived Twice - David Lagercrantz
The Dead School: Brian McCabe
Jostein Gaarder - 'The Solitaire Mystery'
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41CKGBQJ2ML.jpg
ISBN 1 89758 009 6 (1996)
A lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be.
https://media.npr.org/assets/bakertaylor/covers/a/a-higher-loyalty/9781250192455_custom-bd588d4046de7b1bfa6178c3e94eac024a28c11b-s300-c85.jpg
Flashman and the Mountain of Lighthttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191112/1a1f6bc60a20e943a4fdf2a647e66d47.jpg
SAS Shadow Raiders by Damien Lewis https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191118/ab1520bc15841b6d37976c512dba241c.jpg
walpurgis
18-11-2019, 18:49
'The Hundred-Year-Old Man' by Jonas Johansson. I'm halfway through and really enjoying it. Great fun, definitely a hint of Tom Sharpe about it.
https://i.imgur.com/rJncRlw.jpg
'The Hundred-Year-Old Man' by Jonas Johansson. I'm halfway through and really enjoying it. Great fun, definitely a hint of Tom Sharpe about it.
https://i.imgur.com/rJncRlw.jpgNow on my wish list
walpurgis
18-11-2019, 18:58
You'll like it.
There are other related stories, I'm going to look for them.
'The Hundred-Year-Old Man' by Jonas Johansson. I'm halfway through and really enjoying it. Great fun, definitely a hint of Tom Sharpe about it.
https://i.imgur.com/rJncRlw.jpg
I have his "The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden" on my 'to read' pile of books.
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/0075/9780007557905.jpg
'The Hundred-Year-Old Man' by Jonas Johansson. I'm halfway through and really enjoying it. Great fun, definitely a hint of Tom Sharpe about it.
https://i.imgur.com/rJncRlw.jpg
You may have read it, but if you like the above, I also enjoyed "A man called Ove" by Fredrick Backman.
City Of Windows - Robert Pobi
Just about to start this;
The Tattooist of Auschwitz – Heather Morris
https://thelastwordbookreview.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/cover3.jpg?w=553&h=841
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.. Mark Twain.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191128/e6ec0cda9d9c73319c2eca4f1c44a083.jpg
The New Oxford Book of Victorian Verse.
Landloper
02-12-2019, 01:21
27037
Robert Alter's translation of the Psalms.
walpurgis
04-12-2019, 20:58
Currently reading 'The Wrong Side of Goodbye' by Michael Connelly and really enjoying it.
https://i.imgur.com/HRCDEG3.png
Landloper
02-01-2020, 19:16
Goldhagen: Hitler's Willing Executioners - Ordinary Germans & the Holocaust, Abacus books, 1997 >>> Received with utter fury in sone quarters, its author vilified for setting the genocide of the war years in the totality of German history. Goldhagen dismisses the usual excuse that the Holocaust was down to the unfortunate collison between economic recession and a freakish abberation of Germany's national psyche known to us as National Socialism. Germany's desire to 'solve' the Jewish Question goes back much further and deeper than the years 1933 - 1945.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517-v%2B9GWSL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
As a big fan of both Allison and Shelby Lynne, this is a very powerful and moving book about their personal tragedy. First time she's really opened up about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd92hs0DnRA
walpurgis
14-01-2020, 12:20
Currently reading 'Tourist Season' by Carl Hiaasen. This is good fun, the plot and characters are a bit like the old Rockford Files TV series from years ago.
https://i.imgur.com/PgvDDxY.jpg
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ed9lVnWHL._SL500_.jpg
Jonas Jonasson
jazzpiano
24-03-2020, 18:20
The Coroners Lunch - Colin Cotterill, Set in 70s Laos. Extremely charming characters, especially the lead - Dr. Siri Paiboun, a reluctant coroner in his 70s.
Forty Words for Sorrow - Giles Blunt, Set in Northern Ontario, Canada. Well fleshed-out or humanized main characters with problems of their own.
A Simple Plan - Sam Smith, set in rural Ohio, United States. Classic tale of ignorance and greed with a palpable sense of the inevitable.
~all of these are a great vacation for the mind as they project a tactile sense of place. Enjoy.
Best,
Barry
Made in 1968
24-03-2020, 18:51
Seen as i have plenty time on my hands ill finish this i started reading last month
https://i.imgur.com/ghUmxl9.jpg
walpurgis
24-03-2020, 19:06
I finished reading this last night.
https://i.imgur.com/fNZ4efF.jpg
walpurgis
04-04-2020, 11:25
Anybody who thinks things are grim at the moment should read 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. It's the bleakest post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read. The nature of the apocalypse is undefined in the story, but its effects are depicted well.
https://i.imgur.com/ndsTmTR.jpg
The Decameron of Boccaccio
This book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men (hence the decameron of the title) sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city.
Boccaccio probably conceived of The Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and wrote it somewhere between 1349 and 1353.
In the Introduction Boccaccio mentions the three ways in which the populace approached the epidemic:
Those that fled from the sick and thought to secure immunity for themselves,
Those that continued to mix and satisfy their appetites, and to scoff at whatever befell them considered it to be a certain remedy,
and the third group who isolated themselves:
Some there were who conceived that to live moderately and keep one’s self from all excess was the best defence against such a danger; wherefore, making up their company, they lived removed from every other and shut themselves up in those houses where none had been sick and where living was best: and there, using vary temperately of the most delicate viands and the finest wines and eschewing all incontinence, they abode with music and such other diversions as they might have, never suffering themselves to speak with any nor choosing to hear any news from without of death or sick folk.
Seems a perversely appropriate thing to read given the current situation.
walpurgis
29-04-2020, 08:14
I just tried reading 'Incompetence' by Rob Grant, which started off looking promising, but after a chapter or two, it became clear that he was just being a smartarse and working every line to death trying to look 'clever'. I'm sure he thinks he's wonderful, but it became wearing pretty quickly!
https://i.imgur.com/hUSTcvx.jpg
I just tried reading 'Incompetence' by Rob Grant, which started off looking promising, but after a chapter or two, it became clear that he was just being a smartarse and working every line to death trying to look 'clever'. I'm sure he thinks he's wonderful, but it became wearing pretty quickly!
https://i.imgur.com/hUSTcvx.jpg
so hes an incompetent then:D
walpurgis
29-04-2020, 08:49
:lol:
Pigmy Pony
29-04-2020, 08:54
Currently reading 'Tourist Season' by Carl Hiaasen. This is good fun, the plot and characters are a bit like the old Rockford Files TV series from years ago.
https://i.imgur.com/PgvDDxY.jpg
This one looks like my sort of thing, I'll have a look on my Kindle for it :)
walpurgis
29-04-2020, 09:00
This one looks like my sort of thing, I'll have a look on my Kindle for it :)
Hiaasen writes well. :)
As usual, I have several books on the go at the moment:
The Memoirs of Charles Greville (Vol. 2; the London Library's copy of Vol 1 seems to have gone astray). Greville was a senior civil servant from the 183s to the 1860s, and knew all the major politicians of the day. In the present Volume, the Great Reform Bill is on its way through Parliament, William IV has just succeeded George IV, and a cholera epidemic is sweeping through Europe.
London Overground, by Iain Sinclair. Sinclair walks the route of the 'Ginger Line' which is an overground rail line which goes around That London.
Just finished: The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane. Macfarlane travels old routes in Britain and beyond. He's an excellent writer, whom I've only just discovered.
'The Jewel' by Sir Thomas Urquhart
Fahrenheit 451
By: Ray Bradbury
Narrated by: Tim Robbins
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/510aIzH7XfL._SL500_.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71odNf1GmkL.jpg
Today I am mostly reading about the QAnon conspiracy. Most illuminating!
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/sealed-indictments-qanon-conspiracy/
Landloper
29-06-2020, 17:12
'The Jewel' by Sir Thomas Urquhart
Sir Thomas Urquhart of blessed memory: irrefragable Royalist, man of letters, proposer of a Universal Language, and the exalter of The Admirable Crichton. What edition of The Jewel did you read, Joe? i have my eye on a Scottish Academic Press edition but it is a bit pricey given these lean times. Some claimed that died in during a fit of laughter on the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
walpurgis
16-07-2020, 07:34
Just finished reading 'Lucky You' by Carl Hiaasen. What a treat, this is properly entertaining fun! His style seems to fall somewhere between Tom Sharpe and Elmore Leonard, but is of course like neither :).
Some reader reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/294430.Lucky_You
https://i.imgur.com/cEC8WXL.jpg?1
ive one of his books, double whammy...
walpurgis
16-07-2020, 08:00
ive one of his books, double whammy...
I've read quite a few, but this one, Lucky You is the best so far. It would make a great movie.
walpurgis
17-07-2020, 07:41
I started reading Cormack McCarthy's 'Cities of The Plains' last night. His direct and gritty style strikes you immediately, as does the lack of punctuation. I get the impression this will be a memorable read. If it gets near his amazing 'The Road', it will be unforgettable.
https://i.imgur.com/xpXa2P0.jpg?1
Just started reading Indurain by Alasdair Fotheringham. A biography of the cyclist Miguel Indurain, my cycling hero. It was him and Laurent Fignon that got me interested in cycling all those years ago.
Enjoying it so far. For a long time there didn't appear to be any books about him apart from Indurain: A Tempered Passion, which was a terrible book. This popped up in one of these we recommend emails from Amazon I received recently.
About to start the camomile lawn as an audio book.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201019/d7f02afb2d38836b05b2959c35f9c2d2.jpg
I do enjoy Bernard Cornwell.
Dear old Uhtred is thick as anything.
But I have bought me Christmas book. War Lord.
Uhtred versus the Danes and the Scots. Can't wait for the outcome. :lol:
Pete McCarthy - 'McCarthy's Bar'
https://storage.googleapis.com/lr-assets/gardimg/200/9780340766057.jpg
One of the funniest books I've read in a long time.
A couple of books I got for my Xmas.
Both Ronald Searle drawings.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201224/6d9d042d8d8db6489a17112c5a683aff.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201224/7dc0c5fba637cf22ae6eaf6589e622d8.jpg
Ooh - they look like they were written with me in mind! :lol:
Ooh - they look like they were written with me in mind! [emoji38]Some great sketches. Yes you and Marco are great winos [emoji23]
True - but I'm also a keen book collector. ;)
Mikeandvan
31-01-2021, 13:31
The strange death of Europe by Douglas Murray - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strange_Death_of_Europe
And just started this one 'Taboo' by Wilfred Reilly - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45733289-taboo
Latest book is this nice hardback autobiography of actor Leslie Phillips. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210520/850b2885ed957f16e953a45e9ddbbb05.jpg
Shouldn't the autobiography be titled "Ding Dong"? :D
Paul Hawkins - "The Bloody British - a well-meaning guide to an awkward nation"
https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41etwb8FDkL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_ML2_.jpg
ISBN 9781706709916 (2019)
Shouldn't the autobiography be titled "Ding Dong"? :D
yeah those were his 2 catchphrases.. ding-dong and he-llo. apparently taken from terry-thomas.
I always remember Terry Thomas advising people that "You are a complete Bloody shower!"
Have just finally finished the "Last Kingdom" series.
Detected certain plot holes, but immensely entertaining if you enjoy blood and slaughter. As I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-XKMQh_u2Q
Basic plot is the English hammer all their Enemies. And what is wrong with THAT! :lol:
Always found Leofric entertaining. A Mercian, like myself.
29618
Terry-Thomas.. a god(small g) it was an 'Absolute Shower':lol:
I think you are right, Grant. It would be unlike Terry Thomas to swear.... :)
Plot hole in "War Lord" is apparently Uhtred, son of Uhtred, son of Uhtred was fighting Steapa when Evil Viking Guthrum invaded Wincaester (Winchester as now call it).
Unless I am losing my mind, he was up against Leofric of Mercia. For THIS rubbish Bernard Cornwell makes a living? :lol:
yeah it was absolute, and occasionally positive too. top man. Terry- Thomas real name was Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens. He turned round his first 2 names and inserted a hyphen later.
Philip Serrell - What am I bid
Amusing and interesting stories from his auctioneer past.
V2 by Robert Harris.
Lovely as usual.
Hank and Jim; The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart ... By: Scott Eyman.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61JvViRu4mL._SL500_.jpg
walpurgis
29-09-2021, 08:40
William Diehl, 'Hooligans' & 'Sharky's Machine' omnibus. I'm halfway through Hooligans so far, great crime thriller.
https://i.ibb.co/fQB5MTs/Screen-Shot-09-29-21-at-09-31-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Been reading various Raymond Chandler books lately, very enjoyable. Just got my first Hemingway novel, 'The Old Man and The Sea', never read him before so I thought I'd find out why he's so renowned.
walpurgis
25-10-2021, 06:35
Just finished 'A Murder of Quality' by John LeCarre. A little old fashioned, but not stuffy as it moved along well enough, very English though.
https://i.ibb.co/s1QQm6V/Screen-Shot-10-25-21-at-07-19-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Now started reading 'Tough Guys Don't Dance' by Norman Mailer. Not far enough into it to form a real opinion, but the style is interesting.
https://i.ibb.co/HnWX3H4/Screen-Shot-10-25-21-at-07-24-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
The man who died, Twice by Richard Osman is my latest audio book.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51M64+SdR7L._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
walpurgis
19-11-2021, 11:55
I've been reading Raymond Chandler novels recently and I'm halfway through 'The Long Goodbye' currently. Classy and very enjoyable writing!
https://i.ibb.co/R0xTtmm/Screen-Shot-11-19-21-at-11-49-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
John Humphrys - 'Lost for Words, The Mangling and Manipulating of the English Language'
https://productimages.worldofbooks.com/034083658X.jpg
Hodder & Stoughton
Hardback, ISBN 0 340 83658 x (2004)
walpurgis
11-12-2021, 10:34
I'm halfway through reading (again) 'Something Rotten' by Jasper Fforde, fourth book in the Thursday Next series. These stories are great fun! Fforde's imagination takes some beating. The first in series is The Ayre Affair.
https://i.ibb.co/6Y1RnZq/Screen-Shot-12-11-21-at-10-30-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26999.Something_Rotten
not been out in car much and not been reading either so no new books.. current audiobook is The angel of the lord; a flashman novel.
walpurgis
15-12-2021, 09:54
Never read any Kurt Vonnegut, so I've ordered 'Mother night' in paperback. It sounds fascinating! We shall see :).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Night
https://i.ibb.co/7vyct9S/Screen-Shot-12-15-21-at-09-52-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
I read 'Slaughterhouse Five' many years ago. It was a sort of hybrid sci-fi/WW II novel. Can't remember too much about it, save to say I ought try to read some more of his writing.
I read 'Slaughterhouse Five' many years ago. It was a sort of hybrid sci-fi/WW II novel. Can't remember too much about it, save to say I ought try to read some more of his writing.
i have the film of that.
walpurgis
15-12-2021, 19:00
Following a recommendation, I started reading 'Badlands' by C J Box last night. Only read about thirty pages so far, but the story seems to be coming together well. First time I've read this writer.
https://i.ibb.co/rHCCGys/Screen-Shot-12-15-21-at-06-52-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
https://www.cjbox.net/badlands
walpurgis
26-12-2021, 10:06
Never read any Kurt Vonnegut, so I've ordered 'Mother night' in paperback. It sounds fascinating! We shall see :).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Night
https://i.ibb.co/7vyct9S/Screen-Shot-12-15-21-at-09-52-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
I'm about a third of the way through reading this and really enjoying it. It's wry, with a mischievously subversive undercurrent, very entertaining in a bleak sort of way. Just my sort of thing!
walpurgis
14-01-2022, 08:55
Reading 'The Body In The Marsh' by Nick Louth at the moment. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and not greatly impressed. It started off OK, but unfortunately, the writer thinks he's slick and clever, yet ends up predictable and also implausible. The string of 'surprise' coincidences littering this tale are killing it and I can sense the 'clever' ending approaching! A 3/10 rating I'd say. I won't be looking for more of his books!
https://i.ibb.co/pvtPqgd/Screen-Shot-01-14-22-at-08-54-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
walpurgis
23-01-2022, 11:40
This is fun! I'm halfway through another Kurt Vonnegut book, 'Breakfast of Champions' this time. Simply written, but not childish and very astute. There are some great observations.
https://i.ibb.co/r3TTQz6/Screen-Shot-01-23-22-at-11-33-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
"the big show is in my head"
walpurgis
31-01-2022, 21:38
Last night I started reading 'Mucho Mojo' by Joe R Lansdale. It seems his usual slightly comic adventure/misadventure kind of tale.
I enjoy his books, not got too far into this one yet.
https://i.ibb.co/wQvbzp8/Screen-Shot-01-31-22-at-09-32-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
server facebook indonesia (https://imgbb.com/)
walpurgis
03-02-2022, 18:48
Last night I started reading 'The High Window' by Raymond Chandler. Not got far yet, but it's shaping up well. I love Chandler's writing.
https://i.ibb.co/cN2MxPG/Screen-Shot-02-03-22-at-06-45-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
I like a bit of Chandler myself. A very good writer.
Just finished this:
https://i.ibb.co/NLywSrv/tvl.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)
Historian Paul Johnson's memoirs of his childhood in The Potteries in the decade before WW2.
walpurgis
18-02-2022, 09:25
Just finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's 'Jailbird', it was fun! Another satirical observation and dig at just about everything.
Nobody else writes like this. He writes the way I think...............I think? :)
https://i.ibb.co/ZNzRtsT/Screen-Shot-02-18-22-at-09-17-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
sirens of titan is supposed to be good.. not read any of his tho
walpurgis
18-02-2022, 09:51
sirens of titan is supposed to be good.. not read any of his tho
That's on my list.
Somebody described his writing as 'taking a leak in front of humanity'. I liked that one! :D
If you want to try his writing have a look at 'Mother Night'.
walpurgis
18-02-2022, 10:18
Last night I started reading Mark Billingham's 'Rush of Blood'. Not got far enough to form an opinion yet.
https://i.ibb.co/GPYyK2J/Screen-Shot-02-18-22-at-10-17-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Just finished reading:
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
https://cdn.waterstones.com/override/v1/large/9781/7851/9781785174179.jpg
Publisher: Picador
ISBN 978-1-5098-5861-3
Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships . . . Welcome to the life of a junior doctor.
Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, comedian and former junior doctor Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line.
Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking by turns, these diaries are everything you wanted to know - and more than a few things you didn't - about life on and off the hospital ward.
And yes, it may leave a scar.
This has now been made a series for TV. The book is a damming indictment of the way the NHS has been deliberately run down and starved of investement. And of the way the staff are expected to work way beyond what would be considered unacceptable in any other profession.
Read it whilst the NHS lasts.
walpurgis
21-02-2022, 07:31
Last night I started reading Mark Billingham's 'Rush of Blood'. Not got far enough to form an opinion yet.
https://i.ibb.co/GPYyK2J/Screen-Shot-02-18-22-at-10-17-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
This book is frustrating. It's just about readable, but jumping between three linked pairs of suspects, two investigations by separate police officers here and in America, short monologue chapters from the anonymous killer and flashbacks, add up to a disjointed experience. Won't be reading more of his books.
walpurgis
24-02-2022, 09:57
This is more like it. 'Back of Beyond' by C J Box. Crime, murder, thriller with a somewhat antihero alcoholic cop hero.
Started well, only read a few chapters so far. Nice sense of the bleak, out in the wilds environment.
https://i.ibb.co/M6Rk7CF/Screen-Shot-02-24-22-at-09-50-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
walpurgis
01-03-2022, 08:44
This is more like it. 'Back of Beyond' by C J Box Actually, this ended up a bit formulaic and predictable. I've read worse though.
Now. Onto a bit of cheap pulp, 'Killer's Payoff' by Ed McBain. I'm enjoying this, it's slick and direct, like listening to dialogue from a Bogart movie. I may get more McBain books.
https://i.ibb.co/TKpx0Fp/Screen-Shot-03-01-22-at-08-37-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Got flashman and redskins on Android auto. One of GM Fraser,s best.
Lawrence001
01-03-2022, 21:41
Or Flashman and the Indigenous Americans as it will be known soon.
Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk
walpurgis
14-03-2022, 09:18
Two disappointments.
James Patterson, 'Cross Justice'. Patterson is usually OK, but this was predictable, a bit twee and the ethnic angle overdone.
Alfred Bester, 'The Demolished Man'. Sci-Fi, written in 1953. Probably fairly original in its day and Bester is a respected writer, but the 'cleverness' turned this into a bit of a disjointed ramble.
I need something to cheer me up after those. Maybe a bit of Chuck Palahniuk or Carl Hiaasen, I'll have a look around.
Two disappointments.
James Patterson, 'Cross Justice'. Patterson is usually OK, but this was predictable, a bit twee and the ethnic angle overdone.
Alfred Bester, 'The Demolished Man'. Sci-Fi, written in 1953. Probably fairly original in its day and Bester is a respected writer, but the 'cleverness' turned this into a bit of a disjointed ramble.
I need something to cheer me up after those. Maybe a bit of Chuck Palahniuk or Carl Hiaasen, I'll have a look around.
try some flashman... cant fail there
walpurgis
14-03-2022, 09:39
try some flashman... cant fail there
I may do that.
I may do that.
all the g mcdonald fraser ones are superb. there are a few written by others, but ive not tried any. but there is 10/12 to choose from. first one is just called flashman
walpurgis
14-03-2022, 09:50
all the g mcdonald fraser ones are superb. there are a few written by others, but ive not tried any. but there is 10/12 to choose from. first one is just called flashman
Looked them up. The character is as I anticipated, a development of the Flashman in Tom Brown's Schooldays. Seems promising.
Looked them up. The character is as I anticipated, a development of the Flashman in Tom Brown's Schooldays. Seems promising.
he sure aint woke:eek:
walpurgis
21-03-2022, 15:47
I said I needed cheering up, so I just re-read 'The Wilt Alternative' by Tom Sharpe. Enjoyed that, so I've ordered the rest of the Wilt series. Not read any Tom Sharpe for years.
https://i.ibb.co/SK7fcZ4/Screen-Shot-03-21-22-at-03-46-PM.png (https://ibb.co/NLnTrGd)
I said I needed cheering up, so I just re-read 'The Wilt Alternative' by Tom Sharpe. Enjoyed that, so I've ordered the rest of the Wilt series. Not read any Tom Sharpe for years.
https://i.ibb.co/SK7fcZ4/Screen-Shot-03-21-22-at-03-46-PM.png (https://ibb.co/NLnTrGd)
tom sharpe had great wit.
Agreed! :) I love all his books.
walpurgis
21-03-2022, 18:40
tom sharpe had great wit.
I had a friend who was called for jury service and after the first day he asked me if I could lend him something to read, as he got very bored when waiting. I gave him a handful of Sharpe books and he said they made people give him funny looks as he couldn't avoid bursting out laughing whilst on the tube.
walpurgis
22-03-2022, 08:42
Well I did my best and got nearly halfway through before accepting that Dick was not in full possession of his faculties when he wrote this.
https://i.ibb.co/qB89Xs3/Screen-Shot-03-22-22-at-08-34-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Rather more introspective ramblings by proxy than a tale.
one to cross off my list :D
Well I did my best and got nearly halfway through before accepting that Dick was not in full possession of his faculties when he wrote this.
https://i.ibb.co/qB89Xs3/Screen-Shot-03-22-22-at-08-34-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Rather more introspective ramblings by proxy than a tale.
I'm a big Philip K. Dick fan, although I was unaware of that title. Yes Dick can be a difficult read, but I find his ideas interesting - and they provide good material for sci-fi films.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ff62-cHwL._SL500_.jpg
just started this again. another classic tale:D
Audio books is cheating! One should read text. :D
walpurgis
07-04-2022, 08:12
Been reading 'Wolf Pack' by C.J. Box. I'm about 1/4 into it now and although reasonably entertaining, the 'vicious killers' are a bit overdone and the homely scenes of domesticity here and there are annoying. Obviously written to formula.
https://i.ibb.co/8cssp8k/Screen-Shot-04-07-22-at-09-04-AM.png (https://ibb.co/BN33xsk)
Audio books is cheating! One should read text. :D
not good at holding paperbacks mate, or any book tbh, so i took up audiobooks... i think i prefer them now anyway if you get a good reader. i have 157 now. lots of hardbacks too tho.
Been reading 'Wolf Pack' by C.J. Box. I'm about 1/4 into it now and although reasonably entertaining, the 'vicious killers' are a bit overdone and the homely scenes of domesticity here and there are annoying. Obviously written to formula.
https://i.ibb.co/8cssp8k/Screen-Shot-04-07-22-at-09-04-AM.png (https://ibb.co/BN33xsk)
not a sub in sight i bet:D
The life and adventures of Frank Grouard by Joe DeBarthe.
Been after a nice copy of this for a while. This is n mint leather boundhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220414/a4a4199381da7317005f4b3cc3cab0c3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220414/7b70da6a17dce8a751c62d99daccfc08.jpg
What's it all about Grant - stories of the American west in the 19th century?
Just finished reading this:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Dv514gffL.jpg
I haven't laughed out loud so much before when reading a book (much to the surprise, and initial consternation of my partner).
I would commend it to anyone for a frank, astute and witty 'outsider's' view of the UK.
Reading The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton.
https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780091771027-uk.jpg
I have the DVD of the film with Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, which I enjoyed, but was annoyed with the recent serial on ITV. The latter, to me, seemed to be wildly overblown and unrealistic.
Thus I thought I had better read the book, to find out which version is the closest.
Having just re-read George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'
https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/md/md31099059216.jpg
I thought I would re-read 'Down and Out in Paris and London'
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/1411/9780141184388.jpg
Read it many years ago and found it deeply depressing (I was going through a difficult period at the time), but would like to give it another go.
walpurgis
15-04-2022, 08:31
Re-reading Tom Sharpe's 'Riotous Assembly' for the first time in generations. I'd forgotten how good a writer Sharpe was. This is very funny and well observed satire, politically incorrect from start to finish!
https://i.ibb.co/SBZG0jL/Screen-Shot-04-15-22-at-09-20-AM.png (https://ibb.co/Hq93YSJ)
the s african classic with constable els:eek:
I've enjoyed all the Tom Sharpe books I have read: 'Wilt', 'Porterhouse Blue', 'The Throwback', 'Blott on the Landscape' and those set in South Africa.
As you say, astute, funny and deliciously salacious and politically incorrect. :)
walpurgis
29-04-2022, 06:47
I've started reading 'Black Money', by Ross Macdonald. Despite his being well known, I've not read his books before. This seems a decent thriller so far, in a similar style to Raymond Chandler. I'll definitely get more of his work. Nice to find some solid writing when there's so much dross about.
https://i.ibb.co/hF5hPTG/Screen-Shot-04-29-22-at-07-37-AM.png (https://ibb.co/tpfk710)
What's it all about Grant - stories of the American west in the 19th century?
he was an indian, or half indian. he scouted for us cavelry as well as being against them etc. in fact he was also according to mr Fraser, Flashman's son(you can take that with some salt tho):)
quite a good bood tho. interesting life.
https://cdn.waterstones.com/override/v2/large/9780/5527/9780552779838.jpg
One of the things that happens when you get older is that you discover lots of new ways to hurt yourself. Recently, in France, I was hit square on the head by an automatic parking barrier, something I don’t think I could have managed in my younger, more alert years.
Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling marks the return of the world’s favourite anglophile to his beloved Britain, and the result is a still properly-funny, and sometimes withering, summary of where we are today.
Two decades ago saw the publication of Notes from A Small Island, Bryson's often-ascerbic and sporadically baffled gazeteer of our fair isle; his humour and evident love for Britain found a legion of fans, with Waterstones in particular providing a certain kinship for Des Moines' most famous son. Now many, many shop events and a number of equally-superb books later, The Road to Little Dribbling reminds us of just how clear-eyed his vision is: there's much humour here, but it's a humour laced with a certain quiet truth that Blighty has undergone massive change - and not all necessarily to the good.
In a journey that takes us from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath (by way of a myriad of other destinations, largely as yet unobserved by the gimlet-eyed Bryson), we are served with his unequalled delight in obscure fact and ability to cast a new light on the deeply familiar, presenting a version of Britain that is at once revealing and strangely compelling.
Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 9780552779838
Number of pages: 480
Weight: 325 g
Dimensions: 198 x 127 x 28 mm
Written 20 years after 'Notes From a Small Island'. Still amusing, but not a "laugh-out-loud read" as 'Notes From a Small Island'. No doubt due to Bryson getting older, more curmudgeonly, and the British have had 20 more years to despoil the country and to bugger up public services.
https://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/51w-nyN4reL._SX316_BO1204203200_.jpg
17th book in the "No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series.
walpurgis
13-05-2022, 13:15
Last weekend, I finished reading 'The Sirens of Titan' by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a bit daft and entirely implausible, but I enjoyed it all the same :).
https://i.ibb.co/37DNfD2/Screen-Shot-05-13-22-at-02-01-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Then the other day, I started on 'Not Dead Enough' by Peter James. I hated it, trying to be slick and contemporary and obviously working to formula. Managed about thirty pages and gave up. It should go back to being pulp.
https://i.ibb.co/fN30nBH/Screen-Shot-05-13-22-at-02-07-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
A couple of days ago I began on Ross Macdonald's 'The Goodbye Look'. This is a great crime thriller in typical American style, up there with Raymond Chandler.
https://i.ibb.co/6yRF24F/Screen-Shot-05-13-22-at-02-11-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327935785l/828387.jpg
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian was bestselling author Marina Lewycka's bestselling debut novel which has sold over one million copies worldwide. Lewycka tells the side-splittingly funny story of two feuding sisters, Vera and Nadezhda, who join forces against their father's new, gold-digging girlfriend.
Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blonde Ukrainian divorcée. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.
Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must aside a lifetime of feuding to save their émigré engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western wealth.
But the sisters' campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of Europe's darkest history and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget . . . .
ISBN-13:978-0-141-02052-5
ISBN-10:0-141-02502-0
Borrowed it from our local library years ago (2007). Enjoyed it, and thought I would read it again, after finding a copy in a charity shop.
walpurgis
14-05-2022, 07:26
I really ought to read something more meaningful. I have a fair collection of books going back nearly 300 years in age for the oldest.
Fatherland by Robert Harris
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/0995/9780099527893.jpg
Today I was bored ,as I hadnt loaded a Kindle book for a while as the last 2 were meeeh (cant recall the titles atm )
So as I passed my old bookshelf ,I reverted to a hard copy choice ,and revisited Craig Thomas's - Firefox Down
Proper entertainment ,even though its probably 20-30 yrs since I last read it :eyebrows:
Fatherland by Robert Harris
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/0995/9780099527893.jpg
Is it gripping Grant ??
Is it gripping Grant ??
not read much yet as i havent been out in car(audio book)
walpurgis
11-06-2022, 08:51
I just finished re-reading Tom Sharpe's 'Indecent Exposure', which was fun.
https://i.ibb.co/FWtXDhB/Screen-Shot-06-11-22-at-09-25-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Now I'm a few chapters into Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse Five', I just love Vonnegut's somewhat absurdist writing, it's very different! :)
https://i.ibb.co/pdJNqPH/Screen-Shot-06-11-22-at-09-27-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
(I've just ordered a copy of his 'Deadeye Dick', hope that meets expectations)
Fatherland by Robert Harris
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/0995/9780099527893.jpg
I read that years ago, it's a bit like Len Deighton's 'SS-GB' in that the premise is interesting but the execution is poor.
I just finished re-reading Tom Sharpe's 'Indecent Exposure', which was fun.
https://i.ibb.co/FWtXDhB/Screen-Shot-06-11-22-at-09-25-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Now I'm a few chapters into Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse Five', I just love Vonnegut's somewhat absurdist writing, it's very different! :)
https://i.ibb.co/pdJNqPH/Screen-Shot-06-11-22-at-09-27-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
(I've just ordered a copy of his 'Deadeye Dick', hope that meets expectations)
ive got the film of that
Leonard Cohen - 'Beautiful Losers'
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/0073/9780007318384.jpg
Read it about fifty years ago. Then it was a difficult read, so I though I would give it another 'go'.
The above is very heavy going, despite short chapters.
So I'm alternating it with something much, much lighter:
Richard Adams - 'Watership Down'
https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/773/695/1375695773.0.m.jpg
Yes, it might be regarded as solely as a book for children, but the themes are not childish at all. Read it when it first came out (1972); but managed to find a nice hardback folio edition with a slipcase today, which will look nice on the bookshelves.
The above is very heavy going, despite short chapters.
So I'm alternating it with something much, much lighter:
Richard Adams - 'Watership Down'
https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/773/695/1375695773.0.m.jpg
Yes, it might be regarded as solely as a book for children, but the themes are not childish at all. Read it when it first came out (1972); but managed to find a nice hardback folio edition with a slipcase today, which will look nice on the bookshelves.
never read either.
walpurgis
15-06-2022, 07:18
Just started reading 'Passage of Arms', a thriller by Eric Ambler. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's shaping up well.
https://i.ibb.co/yFBR9QG/Screen-Shot-06-15-22-at-08-07-AM.png (https://ibb.co/9H3vDrz)
Just started reading 'Passage of Arms', a thriller by Eric Ambler. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's shaping up well.
https://i.ibb.co/yFBR9QG/Screen-Shot-06-15-22-at-08-07-AM.png (https://ibb.co/9H3vDrz)
Wrote a lot of good screenplays as well
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71R3-fcAz4L.jpg
walpurgis
02-08-2022, 14:11
And I'm reading 'Echoes in The Darkness' by Joseph Wambaugh. A twisty and tricky almost documentary style tale based on a true murder.
Wambaugh is a great writer!
https://i.ibb.co/JzLzxxM/Screen-Shot-08-02-22-at-03-02-PM.png (https://ibb.co/VvyvHHP)
walpurgis
16-08-2022, 12:22
Just finished another Kurt Vonnegut book. 'Deadeye Dick' this time and I really enjoyed it. A bit strange as usual, but very engaging!
https://i.ibb.co/BN8Kcqc/Screen-Shot-08-16-22-at-01-12-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61LstPa315L.jpg
I'm a big fan of McCall Smith's "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. Not so much detective novels, more a gentle psychological and incisive look at the nature of the human condition. And being set in Botswana, they provides an interesting and humorous slant.
walpurgis
27-08-2022, 08:51
More pulp :). I'm halfway through 'Clandestine' by James Ellroy. Not read him before that I recall, seems to fall somewhere between Chandler and Leonard in style and it's very good (must get more of his).
https://i.ibb.co/VDM0B45/Screen-Shot-08-27-22-at-09-45-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Ellroy wrote the outstanding 'L. A. Confidential' by the way.
More pulp :). I'm halfway through 'Clandestine' by James Ellroy. Not read him before that I recall, seems to fall somewhere between Chandler and Leonard in style and it's very good (must get more of his).
https://i.ibb.co/VDM0B45/Screen-Shot-08-27-22-at-09-45-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
he did black daliah the de palma film
walpurgis
27-08-2022, 08:58
he did black daliah the de palma filmed
Just remembered, I've read that. It was more of a docu-drama as I recall, good though.
That gets me thinking, I should read Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood' again. It has similarities and was excellent.
Sherwood
27-08-2022, 09:26
do audiobooks count?
do audiobooks count?
sure, a book is a book.
Sherwood
27-08-2022, 10:32
Rama Revealed.
Read the whole Rama series (maybe) 45 years ago. Listening to this on Audible now. I see Morgan Freeman is working on his long planned RwR movie.
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Rama-Revealed-Audiobook/B00MWAQNGQ?ref=a_library_t_c5_libItem_&pf_rd_p=7e7340a8-8768-4798-a0ce-83f879c09110&pf_rd_r=WSFZFDFYVE36T42JA5D9
sure, a book is a book.
good. i use audible myself a lot as hands dont hold books too well and i get eye strain reading a lot. also a good narrator opens up a book a lot imo
Sherwood
27-08-2022, 10:52
Same for me. My illness (pneumonia and influenza a) caused severe heart damage and also triggered an extreme auto immune response. I am now barely able to use my hands (osteo arthritis). Various drugs including Methotrexate (a cancer drug) have failed spectacularly and I am now on a very expensive biological drug which I get as an intravenous infusion at my local hospital. Time will tell if it works.
In addition to Audible, my local library allows me to download many audiobooks and ebooks. The audiobooks are mp3 and do not have DRM protection. This means I can load them on to my Sony mp3 player and listen out in the garden.
good. i use audible myself a lot as hands dont hold books too well and i get eye strain reading a lot. also a good narrator opens up a book a lot imo
Same for me. My illness (pneumonia and influenza a) caused severe heart damage and also triggered an extreme auto immune response. I am now barely able to use my hands (osteo arthritis). Various drugs including Methotrexate (a cancer drug) have failed spectacularly and I am now on a very expensive biological drug which I get as an intravenous infusion at my local hospital. Time will tell if it works.
In addition to Audible, my local library allows me to download many audiobooks and ebooks. The audiobooks are mp3 and do not have DRM protection. This means I can load them on to my Sony mp3 player and listen out in the garden.
hope it does mate... ive still not fully recovered from that last booster i got last october. caused heart and lung issues. im on a better asthma drug now and breathing is a bit better which has slowed heart a fair bit. confused about having another tho.
walpurgis
02-09-2022, 08:46
I'm about 2/3 through another Kurt Vonnegut story, 'Bluebeard'. This is great stuff, it takes the form of a fictional autobiography and the underlying subversive sense of the ridiculous is never far away, it's a send-up of human nature. Possibly the best of his I've read yet.
https://i.ibb.co/HrrSbzL/Screen-Shot-09-02-22-at-09-39-AM.png (https://ibb.co/5550S8X)
walpurgis
13-09-2022, 08:42
Just finished reading 'Rules for Perfect Murders', by Peter Swanson. It was entertaining and a bit different from the usual murder thiller.
I'll keep an eye out for more of Swanson's books.
https://i.ibb.co/rHVpZX8/Screen-Shot-09-13-22-at-09-34-AM.png (https://ibb.co/SBzmKZY)
Now I've started a bit of proper crime pulp. 'Mischief' by Ed McBain, should be OK, he's a good writer.
https://i.ibb.co/yBynSyj/Screen-Shot-09-13-22-at-09-41-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Flashman and the great game..
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220913/346f464db3b6a4a6ca8ea42cedb839fa.jpg
walpurgis
13-09-2022, 09:03
I must find another Flashman to read :).
walpurgis
24-09-2022, 10:04
Halfway through 'Find You First' by Linwood Barclay, decent thriller this. A bit different, intelligently written and interesting characters, nothing overblown or implausible so far. I'll keep an eye out for more of his books.
https://i.ibb.co/mT8Z0sg/Screen-Shot-09-24-22-at-10-54-AM.png (https://ibb.co/tKXjzfF)
latest buy is this len deighton spy thriller..i hope lol
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51jTYh+4hdS._SL500_.jpg
walpurgis
24-09-2022, 10:29
latest buy is this len deighton spt thriller..i hope lol
I read many of Deighton's books, don't recall that one though. Decent writer.
another couple picked up today..
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41p8C14CLtL._SL500_.jpg
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61bdYbXSd7L._SL500_.jpg
Been reading the plays of J. B. Priestley. I particularly like 'An Inspector Calls', and can highly recommend the TV adaption starring David Thewlis as 'the inspector'. :)
https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81PmRtsGmBL.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg
Been reading the plays of J. B. Priestley. I particularly like 'An Inspector Calls', and can highly recommend the TV adaption starring David Thewlis as 'the inspector'. :)
https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81PmRtsGmBL.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg
oddly i recently bought this version in hd...not watched it yet, but hope its as good as the alistair sim original.
I have seen the Alistair Sim original, and good though it is, I prefer the 2015 BBC version.
The portrayed status of the 'inspector' is more subtle - is he an avenging angel, a ghost made flesh, or some sort of ghoul (he is introduced as Inspector Goole)? In the Sim version he just vanishes from a side room, whereas in the Thewlis version he leaves the way he came in.
I would have loved to have seen the stage play with Ralph Richardson as the 'inspector'.
I have seen the Alistair Sim original, and good though it is, I prefer the 2015 BBC version.
The portrayed status of the 'inspector' is more subtle - is he an avenging angel, a ghost made flesh, or some sort of ghoul (he is introduced as Inspector Goole)? In the Sim version he just vanishes from a side room, whereas in the Thewlis version he leaves the way he came in.
I would have loved to have seen the stage play with Ralph Richardson as the 'inspector'.
priestly was fascinatd by circularity and as he said himself that the second detective was as important as the first, just as its setting just before ww1 and its release just after ww2 was to show how things will repeat if we dont learn from our, and others actions.
only 2 of the younger ones learnt from it; the others(the establishment) didnt and quite frankly still hasn't. he was the ghoul of the establishments lax morals and their greed.
walpurgis
15-11-2022, 15:03
Just started reading 'The Drop', a murder mystery by Michael Connelly.
Not got far in yet, but I'm enjoying this so far. Seems very competent and well thought through as is usual with Connelly.
https://i.ibb.co/0VPMQgz/Screen-Shot-11-15-22-at-02-56-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Limited Edition of One
Book by Steven Wilson
Very interesting if you have an interest in Steven's work or Porcupine Tree - a fascinating insight and not like a normal run of the mill autobiography.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41x59BWA2XL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
walpurgis
25-12-2022, 09:54
I recently finished reading 'Unwholly' by Neal Shusterman, one book of a bunch picked up in a charity shop without great expectations and was surprised by this one. Despite being, I suppose, aimed at juvenile readers, it gets a thumbs up from me! Check the reviews.
https://i.ibb.co/swN4H2p/Screen-Shot-12-25-22-at-09-22-AM.png (https://ibb.co/2tCrNy0)
Currently halfway through 'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut. Yes, yet another Vonnegut book, I like 'em! This one is great fun in his typically quirky way.
https://i.ibb.co/Mp20XxL/Screen-Shot-12-25-22-at-09-51-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
walpurgis
01-01-2023, 12:21
Another charity shop purchase, 'The Genesis Code', by John Case. Nicely paced murder mystery/thriller, I'm halfway though and enjoying it. There's a hint of a Dan Brown flavour and complexity to it and it predates the Da Vinci Code I think.
https://i.ibb.co/7XfDpNr/Screen-Shot-01-01-23-at-12-17-PM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
walpurgis
04-01-2023, 08:07
Now reading 'Her Every Fear' by Peter Swanson. Seems a quite twisty murder mystery and a few red herrings being strewn I suspect. He's not a bad writer.
https://i.ibb.co/zsBbJyJ/Screen-Shot-01-04-23-at-08-05-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Shiloh, Shelby Foote..
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61AzhUhvmxL._SL500_.jpg
I'm re-reading all of the books in Alexander McCall's "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency". (There are 23 books in the series, so far.)
walpurgis
18-05-2023, 07:46
Just finished reading 'The Wrong Side of Goodbye' by Michael Connolly.
https://i.ibb.co/9vRQDZp/Screen-Shot-05-18-23-at-08-32-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
A slightly twisty tale about the reluctant heir to a huge fortune, enjoyed it. Connelly thinks his ideas through well.
Now starting 'Chasing Darkness' by Robert Crais. Another decent writer, with a style not entirely dissimilar to Connelly.
https://i.ibb.co/f8W5mJ6/Screen-Shot-05-18-23-at-08-42-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
one of the bosch stories that one i think
walpurgis
18-05-2023, 08:19
one of the bosch stories that one i think
Yes it is, with another Connolly character popping in. Haller, from 'The Lincoln Lawyer' story, who is Bosch's stepbrother apparently.
Sherwood
18-05-2023, 11:05
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/456724/its-ok-to-be-angry-about-capitalism-by-sanders-bernie/9780241643280
Link doesn't work for me.
Sherwood
18-05-2023, 13:42
Bernie Sanders
It's OK To Be Angry About Capitalism
walpurgis
07-06-2023, 07:16
Just finished reading 'Sacred Monster' by Donald E Westlake. A black comedy/satire about a self-obsessed and self-destructive actor. I enjoyed this.
https://i.ibb.co/2Nf3vF3/Screen-Shot-06-07-23-at-08-01-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Donjald E Westlake also wrote under the name of Richard Stark and was responsible for the 'Parker' novels in that name.
im back with a flashman novel.. clessic and sure to upset the woke....love it
Lawrence001
09-06-2023, 09:14
Do you know the Brigadier Gerard stories by Arthur Conan Doyle? They're not as juicy as Flashman but I do think there was a strong influence there.
There's a brilliant one where Napoleon himself sends him on a dangerous mission to deliver a letter but I won't spoil it and say what happens.
Do you know the Brigadier Gerard stories by Arthur Conan Doyle? They're not as juicy as Flashman but I do think there was a strong influence there.
There's a brilliant one where Napoleon himself sends him on a dangerous mission to deliver a letter but I won't spoil it and say what happens.Think I've got that one but not read it yet. Adventures of I think it's called
walpurgis
14-06-2023, 06:53
I see Cormack McCarthy died. Shame, he was a terrific writer.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/cormac-mccarthy-stephen-king-tributes-b2357114.html
I see Cormack McCarthy died. Shame, he was a terrific writer.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/cormac-mccarthy-stephen-king-tributes-b2357114.html
i saw that. not sure ive read any of his books..
walpurgis
14-06-2023, 09:59
i saw that. not sure ive read any of his books..
You have to adjust to his unusual way of wring. With 'The Road' in particular, worth persevering with though.
walpurgis
26-06-2023, 07:57
Just finished reading 'Cause for Alarm' by Eric Ambler. Written before WW2 a thriller featuring European industrial intrigue in the late thirties. Not bad.
https://i.ibb.co/RT8y5Vs/Screen-Shot-06-26-23-at-08-55-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Mikeandvan
08-07-2023, 22:47
Have read a few books about the Russia-Ukraine conflict now, but this is the most intriguing, and gives an insight into Russian propaganda. It requires no special knowledge, and is only 200 pages, an easy read. Russia seems to have its own version of the scouts, where kiddies are taught a lop sided version of Russian history.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53031780702_4d48d79e62_z.jpg
walpurgis
12-07-2023, 10:48
Started reading 'Lie in The Dark', by Dan Festerman. Lovely bit of writing so far, you'd not guess it was his first novel. It's a murder mystery about a police detective investigating a shooting assassination in war-torn Sarajevo. Not written for quick thrills or 'clever' plot twists, just well told in a well described and bleak setting. Must read more of his.
(found out Festerman is a former foreign correspondent, that explains much)
https://i.ibb.co/8jRqggX/Screen-Shot-07-12-23-at-11-35-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
'The Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Graham.
https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780416169805-uk.jpg
Something nostalgic and comforting to read in these troubled times.
Now for something a bit more serious:
Area 51 -An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
by Annie Jacobsen.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0316132942.01._SX180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
©2011 ISBM 9781409141129
An interesting and shocking read. Although her 'explanation' of the Roswell incident suggests, if you believe her, that "truth is stranger than fiction" - a lot stranger.
Now for something a bit more serious:
Area 51 -An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
by Annie Jacobsen.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0316132942.01._SX180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
[emoji2398]2011 ISBM 9781409141129
An interesting and shocking read. Although her 'explanation' of the Roswell incident suggests, if you believe her, that "truth is stranger than fiction" - a lot stranger.I read an article about that book as I was thinking of getting it.
It wasn't overly complimentary
It gets mixed reviews, most of them are largely positive. I picked it up in a charity shop for a couple of quid.
Mikeandvan
13-07-2023, 21:36
Had this a few years, but just started reading it, most timely too, as some of its predictions are now coming true, about US/China relations and the prospect of all out war. Absolutely riveting.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53043897356_81e0a52312.jpg
I don't normally read books but I had to buy this one as I had been fascinated for years by the extraordinary writing talents of Rod Temperton (Heatwave drummer), a mild mannered reclusive chain smoking ordinary bloke from Cleethorpes who wrote hit after hit including Thriller for MJ and the Off The Wall album and countless others. Sadly the fags killed him too soon.
https://i.imgur.com/Wh7u2nI.jpg
narabdela
14-07-2023, 07:36
The latest Harry Hole from Jo Nesbo.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/812ttBG027L._AC_UY327_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg
Mikeandvan
31-07-2023, 21:30
Into the first 100 pages of Michael Wolff - Fire and Fury, inside the Trump whitehouse. It's rather hilarious, still can't fathom how he got to be president. According to the book, he didn;t even want to be president, and was shocked when he won the election.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/14/fire-and-fury-michael-wolff-inside-trump-white-house-review
Into the first 100 pages of Michael Wolff - Fire and Fury, inside the Trump whitehouse. It's rather hilarious, still can't fathom how he got to be president. According to the book, he didn;t even want to be president, and was shocked when he won the election.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/14/fire-and-fury-michael-wolff-inside-trump-white-house-review
daft republicans will vote in a donkey if its suitibly anti democratic
walpurgis
01-08-2023, 08:09
Well I'm reading a proper bit of pulp fiction. 'Lady, Go Die', by Mickey Spillane, written in the nineteen forties. Good fun crime thriller and slick in an almost cartoonish way.
https://i.ibb.co/NZLxtWG/Screen-Shot-08-01-23-at-09-03-AM.png (https://ibb.co/qkRB7m2)
image hosting (https://imgbb.com/)
last book purchase which ive not read yet was, last hope island by lynne olson.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51vv4w6Q2KL.jpg
walpurgis
01-08-2023, 08:48
a mike hammer one i bet?
Yup :).
Charity shop find yesterday, best £2.50 that i have spent in years (i have read most/all? “Forgotten voices”, so i am very pleased to have found this):
https://i.postimg.cc/gjGyrCj8/IMG-0080.jpg (https://postimg.cc/DJY4MYqw)
'Shakespere's Brexit - A political sh* storm in five acts' by Boris Starling'
https://www.whsmith.co.uk/mobify/caching/assets/product-image/large/9781788702546.jpg
BORIS JOHNSON:
To leave or not to leave, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrag'd Remainers,
Or to take arms against a sea of Leavers,
And by opposing end them? To leave, to stay,
No more; and by leaving to say we end
The EU, and the thousand petty rules
That we adhere to, - 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To stay, to leave;
To stay, perchance to leave: ay, there's the rub;
For in that move to leave what dreams may come,
When we have shuffl'd off this Brussels yoke...
'This is our story. All Brexit's a stage, and all the men and women merely players...' Written by the Bard himself, with a little help from novelist Boris Starling, this wonderful 'comedy of errors' retells the tragic story of the UK's acrimonious break from the EU, written in wonderful iambic pentameter. A story of cynical electioneering and poisoned political scheming, featuring the likes of Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron, this is a most original take of the defining event of our time - and the perfect satire for anyone interested in politics, humour, or even a little bit of Am-dram.
Picked up in a charity shop for £1.99 - one of the cleverest and funniest books I have read for a while.
walpurgis
09-10-2023, 06:37
Halfway through 'The Enemy' by Lee Child 2011. The First Jack Reacher story I've read for ages, surprised I'd not come across this before. It's very good.
https://i.ibb.co/023L4dF/Screen-Shot-10-09-23-at-07-30-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
Halfway through 'The Enemy' by Lee Child 2011. The First Jack Reacher story I've read for ages, surprised I'd not come across this before. It's very good.
https://i.ibb.co/023L4dF/Screen-Shot-10-09-23-at-07-30-AM.png (https://imgbb.com/)
is that one of the early reacher ones?
walpurgis
09-10-2023, 17:58
is that one of the early reacher ones?
It's an earlier one, don't know when first one was. Some later stories were a bit formulaic.
All the sinners bleed by S. A. Cosby.
A good crime novel.
Over the last 12-18 months I have also read all of the Charlie Parker detective novels by John Connolly, most twice, and I rate these very highly.
If you like a story with strong characterisation, lots of background information on the locations the novel is set in, together with a bit of dark humour then you may enjoy these books. There is also a hint of the supernatural which may initially seem a bit odd but it works.
Whist each book in the series can be considered a stand alone novel, characters and events from previous books are often featured in later books, so it is best to start with book 1. However if you just wanted to try one out, then " The Dirty South " is perhaps more accessible than others.
If you use Kindle then Amazon have a special offer on sets of books in the series, namely books 1-4, and 5-8.
Apologies for the long post.
Regards
John
walpurgis
26-11-2023, 19:37
Just finished reading 'Dirty Money' by Richard Stark (Donald E Westlake). It's a crime novel and a 'Parker' character story, as in the movie Point Blank and equally as direct and spare. Good hard hitting stuff!
https://i.ibb.co/4jZLLMD/Screen-Shot-11-26-23-at-07-28-PM.png (https://ibb.co/fCYWWtK)
latest purchase was ON THE BEACH BY NEVILLE SHUTE.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51spbAmtYqL._SL500_.jpg
walpurgis
02-01-2024, 11:20
latest purchase was ON THE BEACH BY NEVILLE SHUTE.
It crossed my mind recently to get another copy of that. Read it ages ago.
Pigmy Pony
02-01-2024, 11:20
Having read "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "The Brass Verdict", on this now, book 3 of the series. Very informative of the way criminal law works in the US, and an entertaining read too.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/816p2OJxG0L._SY466_.jpg
walpurgis
02-01-2024, 11:42
Having read "The Lincoln Lawyer" and "The Brass Verdict", on this now, book 3 of the series. Very informative of the way criminal law works in the US, and an entertaining read too
I like Connolly's writing, always decent and worth reading.
Mikeandvan
12-01-2024, 22:43
Reading 'A line in the sand', by James Barr, about the British/French rivalry over the Middle east, spans roughly both world wars. Very good, explains a lot, including Israel. For instance the French funded Israeli para military orgs, which struck at Brit forces in Palestine around 1940, to get back at the Brits for messing up with their takeover of Syria/Lebanon.
The BBC - Myth of a Public Service
https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BBC_book_tom_JkGUUh0.width-800.jpg
The BBC: The mouthpiece of the Establishment?
The BBC is one of the most important institutions in Britain; it is also one of the most misunderstood. Despite its claim to be independent and impartial, and the constant accusations of a liberal bias, the BBC has always sided with the elite. As Tom Mills demonstrates, we are only getting the news that the Establishment wants aired in public.
Throughout its existence, the BBC has been in thrall to those in power. This was true in 1926 when it stood against the workers during the General Strike, and since then the Corporation has continued to mute the voices of those who oppose the status quo: miners in 1984; anti-war protesters in 2003; those who offer alternatives to austerity economics since 2008. From the outset much of its activity has been scrutinised by the secret services at the invitation of those in charge. Since the 1990s the BBC has been integrated into the market, while its independence from government and big business has been steadily eroded. The BBC is an important and timely examination of a crucial public institution that is constantly under threat.
The BBC - Myth of a Public Service
https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BBC_book_tom_JkGUUh0.width-800.jpg
The BBC: The mouthpiece of the Establishment?
The BBC is one of the most important institutions in Britain; it is also one of the most misunderstood. Despite its claim to be independent and impartial, and the constant accusations of a liberal bias, the BBC has always sided with the elite. As Tom Mills demonstrates, we are only getting the news that the Establishment wants aired in public.
Throughout its existence, the BBC has been in thrall to those in power. This was true in 1926 when it stood against the workers during the General Strike, and since then the Corporation has continued to mute the voices of those who oppose the status quo: miners in 1984; anti-war protesters in 2003; those who offer alternatives to austerity economics since 2008. From the outset much of its activity has been scrutinised by the secret services at the invitation of those in charge. Since the 1990s the BBC has been integrated into the market, while its independence from government and big business has been steadily eroded. The BBC is an important and timely examination of a crucial public institution that is constantly under threat.
the last number of years its become more obvious, with the tories i have to say. just a mouthpiece now. they are becoming as insidious as the trump led gop
rmcin626
17-01-2024, 12:15
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240117/c4b1d35ba3c3b3fe2820e38125fa27f1.jpg
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240117/c4b1d35ba3c3b3fe2820e38125fa27f1.jpg
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
good books these.
rmcin626
17-01-2024, 12:50
good books these.
Yes and very helpful
walpurgis
18-02-2024, 07:36
Just finished reading 'The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler' for the first time, I enjoyed it. The renowned Bogart film is obviously fairly true to the book. I've read Chandler's other stories but for some reason never go around to this, but I do think I like 'The High Window' best.
https://i.ibb.co/tmvf83v/Screen-Shot-02-18-24-at-07-28-AM.png (https://ibb.co/r7zP4vz)
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiney
It was book of the month or something on Radio 4 a while ago !! They interviewed Katherine and she just sounded funny ,and as the books centering on her autistic son in the book ,thats right up my street
(Hi everyone - not been here for an age !!:)
Recovering from a hernia op last Weds , ooooff )
Mikeandvan
12-08-2024, 20:25
Blood and Ruin - Richard Overy. About WW2, focuses a lot on empire and its fallout, bloody good read. Just coming to the end of its 900 odd pages now. For instance newly liberated soldiers in France went off to punish FLN freedom fighters in Algeria being one of the obvious contradictions in the widely understood narrative of a war fought 'for our freedoms'.
Lawrence001
12-08-2024, 20:54
Blood and Ruin - Richard Overy. About WW2, focuses a lot on empire and its fallout, bloody good read. Just coming to the end of its 900 odd pages now. For instance newly liberated soldiers in France went off to punish FLN freedom fighters in Algeria being one of the obvious contradictions in the widely understood narrative of a war fought 'for our freedoms'.To be fair nobody claimed it was fought for the freedom of the people in the countries in the empires, it was to retain the freedom of the peoples of the western powers. Backfired somewhat in the medium term.
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Mikeandvan
12-08-2024, 22:29
To be fair nobody claimed it was fought for the freedom of the people in the countries in the empires, it was to retain the freedom of the peoples of the western powers. Backfired somewhat in the medium term.
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Freedom is supposed to be a universal value, but there are other contradictions, an absolute bloomer being the fact that the biggest freedom lovers and 'leaders of the democratic world' didn't give equal rights to black people until the mid 60s.
Back to books on malt whisky - I picked these up in a boot sale recently for 50p each:
The Classic Whisky Guide, by Jim Murray
1977
ISBN 978-1-85375-741-9
And:
The Legend of Laphroaig, by Marcel van Gils & Hans Offrings
2007
ISBN 978 90 89100 276
Both are hardback in near mint condition. :)
Mikeandvan
14-10-2024, 20:58
Empire by Niall Ferguson, nice easy reading. I've learnt that the British empire was all started by pirates! And they were well sneaky in how they took over India, is that where the phrase 'divide and rule' comes from?
Lawrence001
15-10-2024, 21:20
Empire by Niall Ferguson, nice easy reading. I've learnt that the British empire was all started by pirates! And they were well sneaky in how they took over India, is that where the phrase 'divide and rule' comes from?If you mean the privateers like Hawkin and Drake under Elizabeth I they weren't pirates.
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Empire by Niall Ferguson, nice easy reading. I've learnt that the British empire was all started by pirates! And they were well sneaky in how they took over India, is that where the phrase 'divide and rule' comes from?
I think it was the Romans who coined the phrase, but it might be older.
The phrase and policy has been attributed to several people and governments: to the British after quelling the Indian Mutiny; to Louis XI of France; to the Hapsbergs; before that to Machiavelli, but the first person was indeed Julius Caesar who said: "divide et impera".
Lawrence001
17-10-2024, 09:09
I thought it was divide and conquer. Is that just a different version of the same phrase or does it have a different meaning?
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No - the two phrases have more or less the same meaning: contrive to exploit the differences between two of your group of enemies, so that their energies are diverted in fighting each other and not you.
Having done that and thus 'conquered' them, you then go on to recognise the social and cultural differences amongst the conquered masses and exploit them so as to 'divide and rule'.
Alan Turing: The Enigma
by Andrew Hodges
https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91BsVzlvTiL._AC_UL232_SR232,232_.jpg
The official book behind the Academy Award-winning film The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley
Alan Turing was the mathematician whose cipher-cracking transformed the Second World War. Taken on by British Intelligence in 1938, as a shy young Cambridge don, he combined brilliant logic with a flair for engineering. In 1940 his machines were breaking the Enigma-enciphered messages of Nazi Germany’s air force. He then headed the penetration of the super-secure U-boat communications.
But his vision went far beyond this achievement. Before the war he had invented the concept of the universal machine, and in 1945 he turned this into the first design for a digital computer.
Turing's far-sighted plans for the digital era forged ahead into a vision for Artificial Intelligence. However, in 1952 his homosexuality rendered him a criminal and he was subjected to humiliating treatment. In 1954, aged 41, Alan Turing took his own life.
I think it was the Romans who coined the phrase, but it might be older.
You could be right - taken from Wikipedia: 'Tradition attributes the origin of the motto to Philip II of Macedon (350 - 336 BC): διαίρει καὶ βασίλευε (diaírei kài basíleue), in Ancient Greek, meaning "divide and rule".'
Mikeandvan
17-10-2024, 19:42
If you mean the privateers like Hawkin and Drake under Elizabeth I they weren't pirates.
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Those exact names are mentioned, and Ferguson calls them pirates. They went to America in search of Gold, they found none, so robbed the Spaniards.
Lawrence001
19-10-2024, 20:26
That's interesting if you mean Niall Ferguson as he is on the right and I would have expected those on the left to call them pirates. There's probably not much difference in practice to be honest.
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A pirate is an outlaw and will plunder anyone, a privateer has a charter from a ruler to plunder anyone they are at war with.
Both get to keep what they take but the privateer was expected to kick up at least some of the take to the ruler that was chartering them.
It's a fine line I suppose but it is a line. A lot of pirates became privateers when England went to war with Spain, but switched back to being pirates when peace broke out. I mean a man's got to make a living.
Mikeandvan
19-10-2024, 22:56
A pirate is an outlaw and will plunder anyone, a privateer has a charter from a ruler to plunder anyone they are at war with.
Both get to keep what they take but the privateer was expected to kick up at least some of the take to the ruler that was chartering them.
It's a fine line I suppose but it is a line. A lot of pirates became privateers when England went to war with Spain, but switched back to being pirates when peace broke out. I mean a man's got to make a living.
Yep, that's exactly how Ferguson told it, alongside paying a commission to the crown, the privateers pirating also had the effect of weakening Spain.
Mikeandvan
19-10-2024, 23:07
That's interesting if you mean Niall Ferguson as he is on the right and I would have expected those on the left to call them pirates. There's probably not much difference in practice to be honest.
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He's quite balanced, though it's easier to admit to crimes committed long ago. On the whole though the book surprised on how much he condemns the empire in parts.
One thing about this that gets me.
Why do the British get all the flak for the imperial stuff when Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Russia and Portugal all had empires too?
And all the countries that didn't have empires, wanted them.
In other words everyone was at it, it was just how it was at the time.
Go back far enough and you can add Greece and Mongolia to the list.
Go back far enough and you can add Greece and Mongolia to the list.
And your Romans. And what did they ever do for us?
Mikeandvan
20-10-2024, 14:10
One thing about this that gets me.
Why do the British get all the flak for the imperial stuff when Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Russia and Portugal all had empires too?
And all the countries that didn't have empires, wanted them.
In other words everyone was at it, it was just how it was at the time.
Well, the book is about the British empire, but the others do get a mention. Apparently, King Leopold was a proper ****!
Well, the book is about the British empire, but the others do get a mention. Apparently, King Leopold was a proper ****!
Yes just a bit lol
Mikeandvan
11-11-2024, 23:48
Just read Easternisation again by Gideon rachman, this century is China's for sure, if little England could owned 25% of the planet at its peak, then just think what the CHinese empire is going to look like, scary. Now almost finished on a mini history of WW1 (michael Howard, apparently Britain's top military historian), cos I know jack shit about it, shameful, but getting there. Then it's onto this fantastic pictorial history of WW1 edited by Richard Overy, full of stunning photos and illustrations which is really gonna bring the conflict to life, it was only £5 including postage! (used, but almost looks new).
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54133550606_8cbaa6b870_c.jpg
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