What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

Tauriel

Between the Tides: Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast by Roy Stokes

The author was an amateur diver who travelled around the Irish coast in search of and cataloguing long forgotten shipwrecks.

hoodie6029

Rathcormick: A childhood recalled by Homan Potterton. It very interesting and at times, touching. It describes an Ireland that I never knew existed and now is long past. Well worth a read IMO.

Tauriel

Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson MP by Ronan McGreevy

Fascinating book on the assassination of Wilson (a really detestable man) which looks into the motivators of both the assassins, the assassinated and the wider political climate between The Free State, Britain and Northern Ireland.

Goodigal

Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney - loved it, could relate to a lot of it. Read it in a day.

dinneenp

Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

I've read several people saying it' hilarious. I'll give it till page 50 and give it up if it hasn't bitten me.

The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years—except Biff, the Messiah's best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work "reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams" (Philadelphia Inquirer).

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121825699#Comment_121825699

He’s a very good journalist. Sounds interesting, I’ll add that to my list. Thanks.

Tauriel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827118#Comment_121827118

He also leads a WWI battlefield tour a few times a year to follow in the footsteps of his other book "Wherever the Firing Kine Extends: Ireland and the Western Front".

bullpost

Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations by Avi Shlaim

Reading to try understand this conflict . Author is an Arab Jew who seems very objective so far.

AMTE_21

Just finished Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. Got it for a present Christmas 23 and only tackling now. Not the type of book I would pick for myself. Maybe it’s my mood, but I found it very depressing and dull. Parts of it are very “wordy”, and I found myself saying, “oh get on with it will you”. But I could see that the writing was good, very descriptive. Didn’t like the ending. I watched the series on Shakespeare that was on the BBC a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, so I kind of knew the storyline, maybe that was the problem.

AMTE_21

The Trees by Percival Everett. A black comedy, excuse the pun, set in Mississippi where revenge is being taken for the lynching of a black boy in the early 20th century. It was an easy read with very short chapters and funny in parts. Didn’t show up the white community very well! You could see it turning into a Coen brothers film. It kind of petered out at the end though.

Tauriel

Body of Truth by Marie Cassidy

Excellent debut novel by Ireland's former State Pathologist. Unsurprisingly, this crime fiction offering centers on Dr. Terry O'Brien, the newly appointed State Pathologist originally from Glasgow, who suspects that Dublin has its very own serial killer targeting sisters.

I really hope she turns this into a series as I haven't been this gripped in the genre since Kathy Reichs' "Bones", Tess Gerristens' "Rizzoli and Isles" and J.K. Rowlings' "Strike" series.

Jack Daw

Just finished reading The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Excellent dystopian novel doesn't give you much information at the beginning about Gilead but gradually teases it out as you read so the book always keeps you engaged in that way as there is a lot of mystery to it.Obviously it's a book that is critical of fanaticism, totalitarianism and religious fundamentalism but one thing I got from it is how it is very critical of surrogacy (which i guess goes against the modern mainstream thought which thinks surrogacy is the most wonderful thing in the world, although I have issues with it myself).

bullpost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121855262#Comment_121855262

If you have issues with surrogacy wait until you see whats coming down the line - The following book covers it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hacking-Darwin-Genetic-Engineering-Humanity/dp/149267009X

pavb2

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch

Not sure where I got the idea to read this time travel book it could have been here the initial premise was good and:

Spoiler Warning

the idea of solving a murder by going forward in time but after that the most frequent word to describe the book was convoluted. I'm still not sure exactly what went on the multiple worlds, timelines, were hard to comprehend.The forest turned the narrative into some kind of supernatural story. Also i don't think Shannon having a prosthetic added to the story likewise the crucifixions. The emphasis on her leg reminds me of the quote, 'If you show a gun as being present in the first act, you have to show it as being used by the third'.

bullpost

A Waste of Shame by Jim Lusby

Irish Crime fiction series (Made into TV series "Making the Cut")

AMTE_21

Assassin 18 by John Brownlow. It was classed as a spy thriller, but just a thriller really. 17 is a name given to a hitman who operates under the radar for the CIA. He’s coming to the end of his usefulness so 18 will be on the way to kill him and take over his mantle. But first he has to save his daughter, who he never knew he had, and save the world from nuclear disaster. The story moves from America, to Africa to South America. With plenty of violence, it’s a good read with short chapters, a page turner.

Must try to read the prequel, Agent 17.

Tauriel

Shackleton: A Biography by Ranulph Fiennes

Greatly researched biography on the great man Shackleton. While most books on Shackleton's exploits concentrate on the infamous Endurance disaster, Fiennes details the difficulties Shackleton experienced in both his professional and personal life, as well as detailing the obstacles he had to overcome to attract funding for his explorations and resultant financial difficulties.

eightieschewbaccy

Abaddon's Gate, never got that into the expanse TV show but really love the books. Just does some great world building in a highly political system.

Loafing Oaf

1519. A Journey to the End of Time by John Harrison

Account of the author's travels in the footsteps of Hernan Cortes, interspersed with episodes from his battle with cancer a few years earlier

Love this sort of combined history/travel book, and find the conquistadores an endlessly fascinating subject, so I guess this is right up my street...

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121892971#Comment_121892971

Years ago I read Hemingway’s Adventure, by Michael Palin. I think he also had a tv show about it, he travels to locations where Hemingway spent a lot of time

The edition I read had some great color photos. I old read Hemingway’s story about the big fish, but I found the book very interesting.

K-9

Finished The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, really enjoyed it, had to skip forward at one stage to see wtf happened one of the characters!

The Polar Bear Expedition by James Carl Nelson, The story of America's forgotten invasion of Russia in 1918-19 to fight the Bolsheviks. The incompetence of the higher ups, and the bravery and endurance in -20/30 degree temperatures was amazing.

Tauriel

That Place We Call Home: A Journey Through the Place Names of Ireland by John Creedon

An interesting little book about how we got some of our place names in Ireland from such influences as the Vikings, Norman's, British, etc.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121905749#Comment_121905749

Didn't he do a TV show along these lines too?

Tauriel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121906898#Comment_121906898

He did yes, Creedons' Atlas of Ireland.

Jack Daw

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AMTE_21

The latest books. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor, a big read set in Delhi, very violent. It was about corruption and wealth in Delhi with a lot of drugs and drink thrown in. I don’t know how any of them survived all the drugs they were taking.

A Line in the Sand by Kevin Powers? This was about a former interpreter for the army in Afghanistan who is given asylum in the States after witnessing a massacre by private contractors. His wife and child are killed so he is on his own. He’s out swimming one morning and finds a body so he suspects they have found him. A great read and the cops were good characters.

All the Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby. Set in Virginia in a small town, about a serial killer which starts with a school shooting. Good read, a bit too gory in parts.

AMTE_21

I finally got around to reading Where the Craw Dads Sing. I enjoyed it I didn’t see the film as the reviews weren’t great, but heard so much about it I had a fair idea of the story. An easy pleasant read after my last few reads.

I always have a non fiction on the go at the same time the last couple of years. So far I’ve read, the big one, Ulysses, Tim Pat Coogan’s biography of Michael Collins, and now reading A Life, Fidel Castro. Never know I might learn something 😊

EmmetSpiceland

’A Melon for Ecstasy’ by John Fortune & John Wells. An epistolary story about a man who is romantically interested in trees.

Funny enough tale, lots of letters, newspaper clippings, council meetings and outlandish situations. But some of the scenarios have, really, not dated well at all.