The GF book thread

[SasaS]

Anyone read any Richard Price?

[Em City]

On 16/11/2024 at 09:16, Em City said:

The Racket by Conor Niland - 5/5

 

This is a very detailed and engrossing account of a journeyman tennis player who sporadically was in the top 200 of the world tennis rankings, but spent most of his career scratching a living in the top 500. Very much a no frills blow by blow account of the unglamorous life of mid level professional in an ultra competitive field, where injuries, inconsistent form, relentless travel and deep existential introspection are the recurrent themes. Much like Moneyball with baseball, you really don't have to have any interest in tennis to really enjoy this.

 

 

 

This just won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.

[The wanderer]

Chasing the Dime . Another winner from Michael Connelly. Guy moves into an apartment and starts receiving phone calls for the previous owner , call girl,of his new number. I found it to be a real page turner.

[Elite]

49 minutes ago, The wanderer said:

Chasing the Dime . Another winner from Michael Connelly. Guy moves into an apartment and starts receiving phone calls for the previous owner , call girl,of his new number. I found it to be a real page turner.

Is that new?

 

Don't recall that one and I've read all his stuff.

[The wanderer]

12 hours ago, Elite said:

Is that new?

 

Don't recall that one and I've read all his stuff.

Just checked first print in 2009. Found it in my local library ebooks. I really enjoyed it.

[TheBitch]

Anybody read Gregg Hurwitz, Orphan X, books? 
Got the recommendation of a mate in work, which goes against all my principles of only ever getting recommendations off the GF. 
Sounds a little bit Jack Reacher, which I enjoyed at first but then got bored of because they were all the same format. 
 

Also step forward whoever recommended the Logan Macrae books by Stuart Macbride. I’m four in and loving them. 
DI Steel and Insch are great characters. 

[polymerpunkah]

For the first time in a very long time I've put a book down.

 

"On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett

 

Apparently the story of a rescue from Iran before the revolution, funded by Ross Perot.

 

Both the rescue and the book's publication, I'm guessing.

 

The first chapter is entirely Follett praising Perot.

 

Incredibly bad. It's like his campaign publicists wrote the damn thing.  

 

Embarassing.

 

Avoid.

[Edward.]

2 hours ago, TheBitch said:

Anybody read Gregg Hurwitz, Orphan X, books? 
Got the recommendation of a mate in work, which goes against all my principles of only ever getting recommendations off the GF. 
Sounds a little bit Jack Reacher, which I enjoyed at first but then got bored of because they were all the same format. 
 

Also step forward whoever recommended the Logan Macrae books by Stuart Macbride. I’m four in and loving them. 
DI Steel and Insch are great characters. 

I think that may have been me also recommended by someone at work. Just recently finished no less the devil by him as well, avoid. Reading The Flashman Chronicles now great read.

[JohnnyH]

Just finished "Killing Thatcher: The IRA, the Manhunt and the Long War on the Crown".  A very good read on the IRA Brighton bombing. 

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

I’m thinking of listening to (audiobooks are doing it for me at the moment) The Facemaker next. 
 

The true story of a plastic surgeon who helped to rebuild people’s faces after they were injured during the First World War. 
 

Anybody read it? 

[NoelM]

1 hour ago, polymerpunkah said:

For the first time in a very long time I've put a book down.

 

"On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follett

 

Apparently the story of a rescue from Iran before the revolution, funded by Ross Perot.

 

Both the rescue and the book's publication, I'm guessing.

 

The first chapter is entirely Follett praising Perot.

 

Incredibly bad. It's like his campaign publicists wrote the damn thing.  

 

Embarassing.

 

Avoid.

 

I read Follets "Never" recently and it was absolutely dreadful too - a long way from The Eye of the Needle.

[Evelyn Tentions]

2 hours ago, Nelly-Szoboszlai said:

I’m thinking of listening to (audiobooks are doing it for me at the moment) The Facemaker next. 
 

The true story of a plastic surgeon who helped to rebuild people’s faces after they were injured during the First World War. 
 

Anybody read it? 

That is an old one! I read it about 50 years ago - I remember it as being a really good book. A serious biography written by the same guy who wrote the humourous " Doctor" series. Must have been good for me to remember it after all these years.

[Elite]

Gangland by Chuck Hogan - 7.5/10

 

Good but not great. I've had some trouble focusing on books lately, so maybe that played a part in me not completely engaging with the story. Definitely worth a go though if you're into mafia stories.

[TheBitch]

My absolute darling - Gabriel Tallent

 

The first chapter was a difficult read, but it had a lot of acclaim for a debut (2017 but I’m late to this particular party) so I carried on. 
 

One of the reviews I’ve just seen says… Hard to read, harder to put down. 
 

I’d go with that. 
 

Story follows a 14 year old girl, who is a dab hand with a gun, in an abusive relationship with her dad somewhere in the back end of California. 
 

I enjoyed it but the reviews I’ve just looked at are either 1 or 5. There’s no middle ground. 
 

[polymerpunkah]

"Band of Brothers"

 

Stephen Ambrose

 

Watch the TV show instead.

 

Same stories as the show, but the tone is wrong. The show makes it abundantly clear what these fellows went through, the book just seems to gloss over the costs of war.

 

Just listened to "Enemy at the Gates" and "Ghosts of the Ostfront" (both of which I recommend) about the horrors of Stalingrad, and the contrast is jarring.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

On 05/12/2024 at 18:26, Evelyn Tentions said:

That is an old one! I read it about 50 years ago - I remember it as being a really good book. A serious biography written by the same guy who wrote the humourous " Doctor" series. Must have been good for me to remember it after all these years.

Think this is a different one to the one I’m thinking of listening to. This one was only published 2 years ago and written by a woman called Lindsey Fitzharris. 

[Paul]

7 hours ago, polymerpunkah said:

"Band of Brothers"

 

Stephen Ambrose

 

Watch the TV show instead.

 

Same stories as the show, but the tone is wrong. The show makes it abundantly clear what these fellows went through, the book just seems to gloss over the costs of war.

 

Just listened to "Enemy at the Gates" and "Ghosts of the Ostfront" (both of which I recommend) about the horrors of Stalingrad, and the contrast is jarring.

Totally agree that it’s tonally different, but I loved that book. That said, maybe having already seen the TV show, I didn’t want/need it to do anything more than it does. 

[Paul]

I seem to have massively slowed down on my reading over the last two years. I smashed my 2022 reading challenge with 45 books read, but last year and this I’m only in the 20s. Don’t know why really, although I would say I’ve not found a new series to love and rattle through in a good while. 
 

Since the last time I posted, I’ve read the new Ballard & Bosch which I thought was great. I love how Connelly manages to make it comfortingly familiar but also feel continually fresh. I think the decision to allow Bosch to age with the series was brilliant. So few long-term series do that well. 
 

I also read Eagle In The Snow by Wallace Breem. It’s a fictionalised account of some of the final battles of the Roman Empire. It was fine but I wasn’t blown away.

 

I’m now reading Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang. It’s a fantasy novel about a city in the middle of a world which is isolated from everything else by the use of magic. Apparently the world outside is blighted by some phenomenon which disintegrates people. The main character is the only female mage in the city who slowly begins to uncover a horrendous secret. Again, it’s fine and I’m making decent progress, but it isn’t gripping me. 
 

I’m absolutely desperate for a new series that totally captures my imagination and demands I rattle through it. I haven’t found a new one like that for years now though.
 

 

[YorkshireRed]

Another top recommendation from here and also the winner of the William Hill Sports book of the year.

 

Racket by Connor Niland, his account of life as a low ranked tennis player, criss crossing the globe to play on which ever tour he could get a game. 
 

His career highlights included qualifying for Wimbledon and the US Open. I won’t spoil it by sharing what happened then, but he does articulate very well how incredibly difficult it is just to achieve a qualification to a Grand Slam tournament. 
 

Shares plenty of insights into the ‘big names’. Andy Murray, in particular, is shown in a very good light. 
 

8.5/10.

[Evelyn Tentions]

9 hours ago, Nelly-Szoboszlai said:

Think this is a different one to the one I’m thinking of listening to. This one was only published 2 years ago and written by a woman called Lindsey Fitzharris. 

Plagiarist!

[AngryOfTuebrook]

It's that time of year; I've just reread A Christmas Carol and the book is still better than any adaptation. Simply wonderful.

[Elite]

46 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

It's that time of year; I've just reread A Christmas Carol and the book is still better than any adaptation. Simply wonderful.

Just had a look on Audible. Narrated by Hugh Grant and included, so will listen that.

[El Rojo]

On 25/11/2024 at 15:57, Em City said:

 

This just won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.

 

6 hours ago, YorkshireRed said:

Another top recommendation from here and also the winner of the William Hill Sports book of the year.

 

Racket by Connor Niland, his account of life as a low ranked tennis player, criss crossing the globe to play on which ever tour he could get a game. 
 

His career highlights included qualifying for Wimbledon and the US Open. I won’t spoil it by sharing what happened then, but he does articulate very well how incredibly difficult it is just to achieve a qualification to a Grand Slam tournament. 
 

Shares plenty of insights into the ‘big names’. Andy Murray, in particular, is shown in a very good light. 
 

8.5/10.

Will definitely give this a go.

 

The Heart In Winter by Kevin Barry is as great as his stuff usually is. 
 

Munichs by David Peace (novelisation of the 1958 air disaster) is really good and probably more accessible than his Bill Shankly novel. 
 

Liam Brady - Born To Be A Footballer is a cut above most football autobiographies and a particularly great insight into 1980s Serie A.

[YorkshireRed]

On 13/12/2024 at 11:40, Elite said:

Gangland by Chuck Hogan - 7.5/10

 

Good but not great. I've had some trouble focusing on books lately, so maybe that played a part in me not completely engaging with the story. Definitely worth a go though if you're into mafia stories.

Just started this. Quite enjoying it so far but too early to rate. 

[Sut]

I reread Hound of the Baskervilles a few weeks ago. Great book. I'm about halfway through The Maltese Falcon and am a few chapters into Easy Riders, Raging Bulls as well. Also made a start into a book for university on spectatorship and reception, Viewing Positions: Ways of Seeing Film.