This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Tom Joad

Swiper the fox wrote: »

I've been recommended to try Iain Banks, what would be the best one?

The Wasp Factory - his first one and one of the most memorable books I've read.

Ms. Regina Phalange

Just finished Keeper of the Light and about to start Kiss River, both by Diane Chamberlain.

Callan57

Finished Shadowstory by Jennifer Johnston ... absolutely beautiful.

Tonight I start The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Belle E. Flops

Finally finished the Count of Monte Cristo. Absolutely loved it, especially how everything came together at the end. Quite sad now that it's finished though. Such a great story.

Starting 'Valley of the Dolls' by Jaqueline Susann now.

Lolyta

Just finished a Dance With Dragons (Game of Thrones No.5) As usual GRRM left it on a complete cliffhanger and there were quite a few "WTF, why would you do that moments!!!" He really let's the reader get far too emotionally attached to certain characters....

Have a copy of Kevin Barry's City of Bohane to get stuck into next. Looking forward to it; hope it lives up to all the hype!

juicyduckie

Belle E. Flops wrote: »

Starting 'Valley of the Dolls' by Jaqueline Susann now.

This book is really slow to start but stick with it, it improves as it goes on.

Meathlass

About a third of the way though Transatlantic by Colum McCann. Excellent so far, fantastic poetic language.

The Princess Bride

Reading,and very much enjoying,Alan McMonagle's Psychotic Episodes.
It is a collection of short stories from this Irish Writer.

Such a refreshingly honest read- I'm in between laughing and crying,and sometimes when I laugh,I feel guilty and want to cry.

Very worthwhile.

Monkeybonkers

Time for a break from sci-fi for a while so next up is Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.

Honey-ec

Just back from 2.5 weeks in Florida and have read the following:

Michael Connolly, Dark Hollow - an early Charlie Parker novel where he's a bit more of a caricature than in the later stuff. Louis and Angel kind of overshadow him in this, but tbh a lot of Connolly fans would consider them the more interesting characters anyway. Connolly, at this stage in the CP novels, can't quite seem to make up his mind whether he wants to be a hard-boiled detective writer, or a horror one. Still enjoyable, though.

Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim - Erm, only alright, I have to say. I was expecting laugh-out-loud funny, but it induced only mild snorting, and very little of it. I just found Jim a bit of a wet dishcloth of a character. I think that's more my own fault than Amis', though, as I have yet to really warm to a dithery, no-self-confidence, woe-is-me type character in any novel. They always just annoy me, tbh.

Michael Connelly, 9 Dragons - formulaic, Harry Bosch-by-numbers stuff, but an enjoyable enough way to kill a few hours without having to engage your brain in the least.

Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl - this is going to be one of those books where anyone who read it early will have raved about it, then dismiss it as potboiler crap once it hits critical commercial mass. It's not Tolstoy, but it's well-written, well-structured and will keep you turning pages well into the night. The end feels a little bit rushed, though, and is completely preposterous. But it's worth a read for the build-up alone.

Stephen King, The Wind Through the Keyhole - a tangentially-related Dark Tower novella. I'll be the first to admit that I'd read King's shopping list and enjoy it, but non DT readers would be totally underwhelmed, I'd say, despite King claiming in the forward that you don't need to have read the series to appreciate this one.

So, now I'm on to Gillian Flynn's Dark Places. I'm only a couple of chapters in, so can't really comment on it more than to say that the main character is driving me mad already; she's so dislikable, but I think that's kind of the point. After that, I have Stephen King's Joyland lined up.

Callan57

Finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being .... wow! what a book.

Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel - picked it up from the library on impulse.

Honey-ec

Finished Dark Places and Joyland over the weekend. Off to the bookshop with me again, so...

Callan57

Finished Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel - absolutely beautiful little book.

Now it's on to The Interrrogator by Andrew Williams

a0ifee

just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibin! not really what I'd typically read, but what a really good book. well written and very authentic I thought

Say it Aint So

Hannibal -Thomas Harris

wilkie2006

a0ifee wrote: »

just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibin! not really what I'd typically read, but what a really good book. well written and very authentic I thought

I loved Brooklyn - felt it was brilliantly written and very, very entertaining. Like you, it wasn't something that I'd usually pick up; I expected it'd be a load of twee, overly sentimental rubbish.

eire4

I just finished a re read of Tim pat Coogan's excellent book Ireland Disilluisioned Decades 1966-1987. A little dated obviously especially given all that has come on gone since teh mid 80's but still a great read.

Honey-ec

Finished Jon Stark's Games Traitors Play yesterday. Spy story, not really my usual cup of tea, but I'd finished all my other books and needed *something* to read. Anyway, it's the second book involving a recurring character and they referred to events in the previous book so often that it just got kind of tiresome.

Bought Patrick Suskind's Perfume and Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects yesterday. Perfume is first up, and I'm expecting good things from it.

Meathlass

Just started The Dalkey Archive by Flann O'Brien

x Purple Pawprints x

My mission is to read more than I have been so this weekend I finished these two books:

A Spot Of Bother by Mark Haddon - I really enjoyed this book. Each chapter is quite short and is written from the point of view of a different character in the book. I found it really easy to read. It's gotten a few bad reviews but personally I loved it.

Let The Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor - This is the sequel to a book I read in secondary school for my Junior Cert almost ten years ago. I did find it a little bit difficult to get into at the start, say the first 3 chapters or so but I persevered because I enjoyed Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Once I got into it I did read it quickly.

A couple of months ago I read Flick by Geraldine Meade and liked it too. I did find some of the characters a little irritating. Other than that I liked it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

a0ifee wrote: »

just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibin! not really what I'd typically read, but what a really good book. well written and very authentic I thought

wilkie2006 wrote: »

I loved Brooklyn - felt it was brilliantly written and very, very entertaining. Like you, it wasn't something that I'd usually pick up; I expected it'd be a load of twee, overly sentimental rubbish.

Personally I found Brooklyn to be a little slow for me, but I read The Tenderloin by John Butler recently and it reminded my of Brooklyn, but with a boy and set in the early 90's. It was an enjoyable read, I'd recommend it.


While on holiday I read Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. It was all right but it was very heavily influenced by To Kill A Mocking Bird and never got anywhere close to being as good as it. Still a nice read.

Also read Where You Once Belonged by Kent Haruf. Very disappointing after reading and adoring Plainsong and Eventide.

Callan57

Finished The Interrrogator by Andrew Williams ... very interesting read for anyone interested in WW11 and the early days of the intelligence services.

Next is The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurhah

eire4

Finished a re read of Tim Pat Coogans On The Blanket this morning. An incredible behind the scenes look at the dirty protest.

SarahBM

Just finished Dangerous Liaisons. I have to say it was easy to read and way more enjoyable to read than I thought it would be. very good book.

I started the Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas. and next a few friends and I are going to read Room for book club.

x Purple Pawprints x

Just started A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. First time I've ever read one of his books and I'm really enjoying it.

Aineoil

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I found it hard to get into the book. The first few chapters are heavy going but I'm glad I persisted with the book as the author really manipulates the reader's mind and perception of facts.
If men read this book they'll never entertain the thought of getting married!

Callan57

The Innocents by Laura Lippman ..... really enjoying it

Monkeybonkers

The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories by PG Wodehouse

aha_sender

Hidden Order: A Thriller by brad thor is really good

Tom Joad

SarahBM wrote: »

Just finished Dangerous Liaisons. I have to say it was easy to read and way more enjoyable to read than I thought it would be. very good book.

Read it recently and absolutely detested it - found it was a real struggle to read.