This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Quiet Achiever

Finished Long Island, my first Toibin book. Really enjoyed it, very well told and loved the bits he didn't show either as you can easily imagine better how they went - very economical use of words and of our time!

Currently reading Mediation for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (loved the perspective from 4000 weeks and this is more of the same condensed into a topic for each day.

Also started Norwegian Wood, my first Murakami.

Hermy

I'm currently reading Shade by Neil Jordan and I can honestly say it's as good as anything I've ever read before. Prior to hearing Pat McCabe mention Mistaken in an interview, the book published immediately after Shade, I had no idea that Jordan was a novelist so I'm very grateful to the father of Bog Gothic for enlightening me. If you haven't already, do check him out.

eire4

Finished Prince Lestat by Anne Rice book 11 of 13 in her famous Vampire Chronicles horror series. I have been a big fan of the series and while this was a decent read it was not of the high standards of the previous books in the series for me. It seemed like she was doing a set the stage for winding up the series book to an extent and given there is only 2 other books left for me to read in the series that may be exactly what she was doing.

miamee

I'm reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett for the first time and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm almost a third of the way through it. There is a lot of description around cathedrals, how they look and are built when reading from the perspective of Tom Builder, I find myself impatient to glance over some of those bits. I'm assuming knowing the integral ins and outs of cathedral buildings are not 100% necessary to the plot 😁

eire4

Finished The Immortal Irishman by Tim Egan a biography of the remarkable Thomas Franics Meagher from his turning away from a life of privilege during the English genocide of the Great Hungar in Ireland to his time in the prison colony of Van Dieman's land to his escape to the US and becoming a Union general in the civil war and governor of Montana. An engrossing read.

Quiet Achiever

Reading Intermezzo. I am enjoying it but find i am reading it in very short bursts for some reason.

Xofpod

Picked up Holmes and Moriarty (Gareth Rubin) on a whim in the library. It's a new Sherlock Holmes story, written with the approval of the Conan Doyle estate and focuses as equally on Moriarty and his sidekick Moran as it does on Holmes/Watson. It only struck me now for the first time how Conan Doyle, of Irish Catholic background, made his villains so recognisably Irish and his heroes so English…

A good read so far but I'm rooting for the bad guys…

Slightly Kwackers

Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary

This was an unusual scifi book, very readable, believable and hard to put down.

The more academic might find a calculator useful, but it was a brilliant story and I am looking forward to the Martian, from reading the Project Hail Mary novel, I am sure it will be even better entertainment than the quite good film version provided.

Looking for more of his work I found "The Egg".

An interesting work and one that seemed somehow feasible and suited to the human approach to "justice".

This is freely available all over the internet, no doubt for anyone determined a print copy could be purchased, but the only sale is an Amazon audiobook.

Quiet Achiever

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894764#Comment_122894764

Funny, i came across a site where lots of silicon valley types recommended their favourite books. They were mostly non-fiction, but those who did recommend fiction almost always recommended Project Hail Mary.

Only sci-fi i ever read is Dune but i might gove this one a try.

miamee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747872#Comment_122747872

I was wrong the cathedral talk continued all through the book 😂 however I really did enjoy this and will read the next installment, World Without End in the new year. I need to read a few short books in the meantime 😊

eire4

Finished Michael Connelly's Dark Sacred Night an enjoyable crime thriller from his core Bosch series.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122895253#Comment_122895253

I was quite into scifi in my younger days, but it's often predictable, the same script but with a different "flavour".

I have started Artemis by Weir, it's readable and the plot is developing. There is still the attention to interesting detail that I liked in Project Hail Mary.

I'm very confident that I will stay with it to the end which isn't the case for around 10% of what I pick up these days.

Xofpod

For the time of year that's in it, what was the best book you read this year?

For me, it was probably Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. The best Irish book I read was probably The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry.

Quiet Achiever

Currently reading Wild Houses which i am loving, so may become my book of the year.

Other favourites this year in fiction: City of Bohane, Long Island.

Non-fiction: Memoir by John McGaherne, Chip War, Doninion.

Hermy

Hoping to get one or two more read before the year is out but of those I've read so far The Road by Cormac McCarthy was probably the stand out book.

_BAA_RAM_EWE

project Hail Mary was AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE as R***y would say right up until that bullsh1t ending.

_BAA_RAM_EWE

Iron Druid chronicles. I'm nearly finished book 3 and great so far.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/52837-the-iron-druid-chronicles

eire4

Finished John Connolly's A Book of Bones from his Charlie Parker supernatural thriller series. Really enjoyed it, a great read and another excellent edition in this series.

Quiet Achiever

Enjoyed Ready Player One and am now enjoying Project Hail Mary immensely.

_BAA_RAM_EWE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123013703#Comment_123013703

that gets recommended way to much, curious what you'll think of the ending

Quiet Achiever

Project Hail Mary? Pretty fun and clever so far, let's see how it goes

_BAA_RAM_EWE

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123016277#Comment_123016277

yup, it's constantly recommended all over the net but that ending is atrocious so I can't understand the love for it.

awec

Finished Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo (the latest Harry Hole book), massive disappointment that stretched the boundaries of credibility.

I think I have grown fed up by the misery in this series, and I have a big issue with all of the characters speaking so philosophically about everything.

eire4

Finished Ken Bruen's Galway Girl. Another brilliant edition in his Jack Taylor noir crime series.

Xofpod

I'm loving Quickly, while they still have horses, a short story collection by Jan Carson.

irishspiderplant

the Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes

eire4

Finished Jo Nesbo's crime thriller The Son. Not part of his Harry Hole crime series this is a stand alone book but in a similar style and if you enjoy his Harry Hole series which I very much do you will enjoy this one too. A good read for sure.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123017348#Comment_123017348

I actually thought the ending quite good.

A bit like the beginning, but with a lot more gravity :-)

Quiet Achiever

Yeah i thought it was an ok ending, not what i was expecting. Might have enjoyed another ending though

Xofpod

Read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I understand why many people mightn't like it (sometimes deeply unsympathetic main character) but also why so many people love it. I'm in the second camp. Will definitely pick up her other work, including the follow-up book to this.