The GF book thread

[Paul]

Read the Billy Connolly and Miriam Margolyes autobiographies. Both are really entertaining. 
 

Now on Stanley Tucci’s food-related memoir, Taste, which I got for Christmas. It’s really good. 

[YorkshireRed]

Anti Social by Nick Pettigrew.

 

A year in the life of an Antisocial Behaviour Officer.
 

Written in diary form this covers the authors day to day life working with some of the more challenging elements of society. 
 

It’s well written and has plenty of light hearted moments but I’ve found it a difficult read. I can’t help but be saddened by some of the individual stories and the ‘bigger picture’ decisions taken over the last decade that lead more and more people into the hands of people like Nick. His is a job I could never do.

 
7.5/10

 

[Paul]

Finished Taste and really enjoyed it. Not sure what I’m going to read next but it’ll be one from the Christmas pressie pile. 

[SasaS]

Le Carre's Silverview.

 

Well, that was a nostalgic read (audio book). And that may be the problem with this book, it reads like "in the style of" and feels fairly antiquated in its description and even the atmosphere of the secret service.

[mars]

City of Bones by Martha Wells (author of Murderbot Diaries). Apparently this is classified as SFF (sci fi fantasy). It is very good. It has a middle eastern flavour and is set on a desert world where only a few cities next to the sea survive. The main character isn't human, there are ghosts and magic and the trading of artefacts from an extinct civilisation. It is original and I read it very quickly - always a good sign. Finally, it's a stand alone novel, something of a rarity in this genre.

 

The Daevabad Trilogy (City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, The Empire of Gold) by S A Chakraborty. This is definitely fantasy but again uses a middle east setting. One of the main characters is a djinn, others are mages. Definitely read these in one go as they are complex and it is difficult keeping track of all the characters and factions. The first book is the best of the three but I don't regret finishing the trilogy. I think my experience was slightly soured by reading them when they were published rather than waiting until all three were available.

 

Dracula by Bram Stoker. God this is bad. I realise it is hamstrung by every other vampire novel and film since its publication but I gave up half way through. 

 

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. Have just reread this. What if Queen Victoria had married Vlad Tepes (Dracula)? This book answers that question. It is a lot of fun and features many Victorian characters (Holmes, Fu Manchu, Moriarty, Jack the Ripper). It starts slowly but once it gets going the premise is fascinating.

[Bjornebye]

She go me this for Xmas. Just finished it. Really good. 

 

[Paul]

Read the new Sharpe book, Sharpe’s Assassin, by Bernard Cornwell and loved it. Set in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, Lieutenant-Colonel Sharpe is given a mission by the Duke of Wellington to prevent a guerrilla resistance developing in Paris from the remnants of Boney’s defeated forces. It’s really good: pacy, plenty of action and true to the (now significantly ageing) character. Deffo check it if you’re a fan. Certainly, I hope he writes more based on this. 

[Rico1304]

I read Peranesi and didn’t really enjoy it but finished it.  Then for some reason known only to myself I’m reading another of her books about magic in the U.K.   it’s awful, long and has the most ridiculous footnotes I’ve ever seen.  70% of the way through it.  
 

Really need something good after those two.  

[SasaS]

18 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

I read Peranesi and didn’t really enjoy it but finished it.  Then for some reason known only to myself I’m reading another of her books about magic in the U.K.   it’s awful, long and has the most ridiculous footnotes I’ve ever seen.  70% of the way through it.  
 

Really need something good after those two.  

You didn't like Piranesi so you picked up 1,000 pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell next? You are my hero.

[Rico1304]

1 minute ago, SasaS said:

You didn't like Piranesi so you picked up 1,000 pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell next? You are my hero.

Yes.  What’s the fucking deal with the footnotes? They are infuriating, especially in the kindle version. If Mr Strange didn’t appear when he did I’d have binned it but it pulled me back in. Now he’s as boring as the rest. 

[SasaS]

Just now, Rico1304 said:

Yes.  What’s the fucking deal with the footnotes? They are infuriating, especially in the kindle version. If Mr Strange didn’t appear when he did I’d have binned it but it pulled me back in. Now he’s as boring as the rest. 

You should have streamed / downloaded the TV version instead.

[Rico1304]

26 minutes ago, SasaS said:

You should have streamed / downloaded the TV version instead.

I didn’t even know it’d been on telly.  I wouldn’t have guessed either as it’s awful. 

[SasaS]

17 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

I didn’t even know it’d been on telly.  I wouldn’t have guessed either as it’s awful. 

It was marketed as the next Harry Potter at the time. Potter for grown-ups, something like that.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

On 06/01/2022 at 18:48, Bjornebye said:

She go me this for Xmas. Just finished it. Really good. 

 

I bet the audiobook is worth a listen.

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Putting-the-Rabbit-in-the-Hat-Audiobook/1529416515

 

[polymerpunkah]

The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence

by 

Martin Meredith

 

A good over-view of a very broad subject.

 

It struck me, listening to it, that, even though it's one of the worst atrocities committed during my lifetime, I didn't know a single name of those responsible for the Rwandan genocide.

 

Good book, anyway, though not a particularly enjoyable read.

 

 

[Bruce Spanner]

Just finished Ian Dunt’s ‘How to be a liberal’

 

Really good, concise, easy overview of the political, philosophical and economical trends of liberalism/individualism.

 

Lags a bit towards the end, but a solid guide to some of the key trends and battles that led to today.

 

 

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Inspired me a lot of this cultured high brow reading. So I read The Twits by Roald Dahl a story of domestic abuse, I guess the moral is love can turn to hate and hate is all consuming..  don't stay in a loveless marriage. For my sins the trick of adding extra bits of wood to the end of Mrs Twits walking stick bit by bit, day by day to make her think she was shrinking was  stroke of cruel genius. Shame Mr Dahl as it turned out was such an anti semitic cunt. 

[Paul]

13 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

I read Peranesi and didn’t really enjoy it but finished it.  Then for some reason known only to myself I’m reading another of her books about magic in the U.K.   it’s awful, long and has the most ridiculous footnotes I’ve ever seen.  70% of the way through it.  
 

Really need something good after those two.  

Fair play to you for perseverance but I fuck books off after five or ten pages if they’re a struggle. Cannot be arsed reading something that takes real effort. 

[Rico1304]

7 minutes ago, Paul said:

Fair play to you for perseverance but I fuck books off after five or ten pages if they’re a struggle. Cannot be arsed reading something that takes real effort. 

I usually do too, and after this willbe doing again. 

[Rico1304]

Finished it. Shite. 

[Section_31]

Paul goes through more books than a Nazi's wood burner.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

I've taken to jibbing off books and films if they're not grabbing me, and just reading the plot on Wikipedia. It's amazing how often it confirms your early opinion, and leaves you feeling you've saved yourself precious time.

 

Struggling with Ring by Koji Suzuki, I took to aforementioned site, and I'm glad I did. The sequel books sound even madder.

[polymerpunkah]

Dictatorland, The Men Who Stole Africa

 

Paul Kenyon

 

A series of vignettes, looking at various dictators (and their collaborators) throughout the continent, and how they despoiled their own countries and peoples.

 

I didn't want this one to end, sad as the stories are, as it provides a lot of the detail that is missing in the broader histories of Africa I've been reading.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rico1304]

Dolphin Crossing by Mick Herron. Short stories all like an episode of Tales of the Unexpected.  Good.  

[Elite]

19 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

Dolphin Crossing by Mick Herron. Short stories all like an episode of Tales of the Unexpected.  Good.  

Might give that a whirl. Nothing has grabbed my attention lately.