This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Fathom

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
by J. K. Rowling

pavb2

Reading 'Is Paris Burning' about the liberation and planned destruction of WW2 Paris.

Flows very well reads like a work of fiction.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paris-Burning-Larry-Collins-ebook/dp/B00B8YKTVW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479584809&sr=1-1&keywords=is+paris+burning+collins

Callan57

Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls

Wyldwood

Finished Anna Hope's Wake and loved it. Her characters are very real and I find can get invested in them easily. It's a heartbreaking story of how three women can't let go of the men they lost in WW1. Also read her other book The Ballroom and really enjoyed that too.

Now onto Enright's The Green Road

eire4

Finished Peter Tremayne's Absolution By Murder. The opening book in his mystery series set in ancient Ireland. A who done it type of crime novel just set in the 7th century in this case.

Callan57

Dead Men by Stephen Leather

Callan57

Just starting The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien

Fathom

Impact
by Rob Boffard

Xofpod

Hhhh by Laurent Binet - with Trump's victory and Le Pen on the march in France, I guess it's time to start reading up on nazis again.

ahlookit

Xofpod wrote: »

Hhhh by Laurent Binet - with Trump's victory and Le Pen on the march in France, I guess it's time to start reading up on nazis again.

That's an odd book - it's not saying bad - just strange!

Reminds me I must look up that Anthropoid film.

Callan57

Xofpod wrote: »

Hhhh by Laurent Binet - with Trump's victory and Le Pen on the march in France, I guess it's time to start reading up on nazis again.

Great read IMO ... you are dead right IMO it should be made compulsory to read books on the Nazis & WW11 period. Those who forget history are destined to repeat it sadly.

Gonzovision

Just finished 'Killing the Rising Sun' by Bill O'Reilly, it was actually an excellent read, which I wasn't expecting given who the author is.....

Picked up 'Truman' by David McCullough today, so that's probably next up.

holy guacamole

Read 'The Year of the Runaways' by Sunjeev Sahota. It tells the story of three young men from India and their struggle to first gain access to the UK, and to then find work there.

Given the current global issues surrounding migrants this book is ever more salient. The men involved all flee their homeland for different reasons, and all go to Britain with the intention of working to provide for their families back home.

It also examines the caste system in India and how it affects those on the bottom rungs of society, in fact the whole culture of India is explored, and some of the best passages of the book concern the men's difficulties in adapting to life in the west.

What let's it down is it's prohibitive length and a final act which, for me, failed to convince, that aside I'd highly recommend it not only as an excellent piece of fiction but also a means of education on a culture which many of us still know little about.

Ipso

Just finished a spurt of Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden books and started on Trainspotting. Only 25 pages in and the desperation and hopelessness is almost overwhelming.

Callan57

Starting Everything I Don't Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Wyldwood

Half way through The Green Road and it feels more like a book of (very average) short stories. Not sure if it's worth continuing,it's a library book so might take it back. Does it get better towards the end?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Wyldwood wrote: »

Half way through The Green Road and it feels more like a book of (very average) short stories. Not sure if it's worth continuing,it's a library book so might take it back. Does it get better towards the end?

I read that a while ago, can't really remember much about it other than it felt a bit pointless? And everyone was thoroughly unlikable.

Callan57

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I read that a while ago, can't really remember much about it other than it felt a bit pointless? And everyone was thoroughly unlikable.

Agree, didn't think much of it to be honest

ahlookit

Finished City of Mirrors, so that's The Passage Trilogy finally completed after many months.

Overall I enjoyed it, but its overly long. Would make a good film series or TV series ... which may well happen, though sadly with Fox rather than HBO. They probably want it as a rival to The Walking Dead

The Passage has been optioned for a film adaptation for a while — is there any news on that front?

Here’s what I am permitted to say: There are plans afoot, it could become a “major television event” through FOX Studios.

Would you be involved?

Yes, in some manner. I think television is the right format for this story. One, television accommodates large stories. A good television show goes for a number of seasons, it has many characters, it naturally leads to ensemble storytelling. And television right now is excellent. It is being run by writers. Accomplished writers of fiction are indulging in television! Sometimes it’s a side project, sometimes they throw themselves in it wholeheartedly. But it’s produced a tremendous profusion of great TV.

Next up for me is something completely different - Set The Boy Free, Johnny Marr's autobiography.

eire4

Finished The Day of the Barbarians by Alessandro Barbero. an interesting look at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 CE and how that battle signaled the beginning of the end for the Roman empire.

Callan57

The One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

Belle E. Flops

I finished 'The Storyteller' by Jodi Picoult. I thought that the start and the end were grand, but I really liked the part of the story written by the grandmother giving her account of the Holocaust.

Callan57

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Xofpod

The Given Day, Denis Lehane

Callan57

Starting Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

ahlookit

Callan57 wrote: »

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Callan57 wrote: »

Starting Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Jaysus, was Nutshell that bad?

Both of these are on my list, I'm a big fan of both writers.

Callan57

ahlookit wrote: »

Jaysus, was Nutshell that bad?

Both of these are on my list, I'm a big fan of both writers.

Honestly wasn't taken with Nutshell at all, & I am a McEwan fan, but it's short so I did finish it (in the early hours).

Gonzovision

I thought Nutshell was fairly average. Some interesting bits, but nothing special. Worth a read considering how short it is.

eire4

Xofpod wrote: »

The Given Day, Denis Lehane

How do you like Denis Lehane? I have not read any of his books but I have one on my to read shelf.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer

First book in a while I've been able to get properly in to. Pretty light read, like Jane Austen light, in a nice way.