What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

taxAHcruel

Not sure if it has or would have been mentioned on the thread already but I am reading a book called "Just like us" which is written following the lives of 4 mexican girls coming into america illegally - written by an author who herself is born of direct Irish decent into america. Not just direct decent but to a father who left Ireland and made a **** load of money through the BBC and then Sony and then all kinds of things like Skywalker Ranch.

An amazing book actually and it came to me as an indirect recommendation from here on boards so I was surprised by it.

"Just Like Us" by Helen Thorpe

Jack Daw

Reading Frankenstein right now, totally different than what I expected it to be.

About 2/3 through it currently.

Citizenpain

Lisa Jewell . Then the was gone .
I’ve read a few of her others and enjoyed them. Can’t say I enjoyed this one though

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122742256#Comment_122742256

I didn’t enjoy it at all, I was expecting more of a pure horror story.

pavb2

I like the film ‘Millers Crossing’ it’s got that balance of a good plot, atmosphere and plenty of action I read that it was based on the book ‘The Glass Key’ by Dashiel Hammett so got it on kindle. The book really only has one scene I think that corresponds with the film it was ok but the mystery is solved in the main protagonist’s brain rather than the reader deducing it from the narrative.

The kindle book I got also includes other works of Hammett’s such as ‘The Maltese Falcon’. I’ll get to it later though I suspect it will be difficult to read without visualising Humphrey Bogart ‘the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side’.

bullpost

Jerusalem by Alan Moore.

Door stopper of a book set in the Boroughs area of Northampton over several time periods.

pavb2

Autumn Chills - Short stories from Agatha Christie easy to read nothing too jaw dropping but worth the money for ‘The Witness for he Prosecution’. Romaine Vole (Heilger) is a great character. There’s an ongoing stage play in London I must get to see it.

Tauriel

The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I by Douglas Brunt

This book charts the rise of Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine, from his childhood, invention, and subsequent disappearance.

Germany is making inroads with developing lethal diesel engine powered submarines while the rest of the world, particularly the UK, are left behind.

Some people suspect that Diesel committed suicide, some believe he was murdered by one of three men. First suspect is the Kaiser, who doesn't want Germanys submarine secrets to be shared. Second suspect is Winston Churchill, who wants to curtail the development of the diesel engine and thus the threat to Great Britain of a potential invasion. And finally, John D. Rockefeller, the oil tycoon who has identified Diesel as a threat to his empire due to his engines compatibility with running on sources other than petroleum.

So was it suicide, murder, or something altogether different that caused Diesel's sudden disappearance?

AMTE_21

Holly by Stephen King.

This was another good read from Stephen King. Holly Gibney was a character in Mr Mercedes, she inherited the detective agency from her partner who died, Finders Keepers. This book was written during COVID so includes references to Trump and other political references. It was about the disappearance of a young girl, which she thinks may be a once off but when she starts investigating she discovers other people missing and suspects there is a serial killer. As usual for Stephen King there were a few gruesome parts in it but it was a great read.

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner.

A literary spy thriller would be the best description.

it is shortlisted for the Booker prize

Dial Hard

I abandoned my witchy brain fluff book, it was actually just downright bad.

I'm currently reading Out There Screaming, which is an anthology of horror stories by black writers edited by Jordan Peele. Only two stories in but enjoying it so far. I do love a short story collection, I have to say.

Tauriel

Crean: The Extraordinary Life of An Irish Hero by Tim Foley

This is an excellent biography of the life and achievements of one of my personal heroes, the Antarctic exploration legend that is Tom Crean.

I have read so much about Crean over the years but this book gives a new dimension by focusing on his career in the Royal Navy, both before, during, and after his three Antarctic voyages, and his life after retirement.

Mehaffey1

Finished 'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly last week. Been the first novel I've managed to finish in a long time probably two years.

May be suited slightly towards young adults but definitely heavy enough reading for the much older. Would recommend to anyone and was just a nice read with plenty of entertaining twists on some classic fairytales. The plot ran along really well although I found the ending rather abrupt.

Mehaffey1

Moved onto 'The Whistler' by John Grisham. Only 40 pages in but plot is opening up slowly.

Id love to visit the massif Central area of France after reading creation lake that's the great thing about books they transport you to somewhere else.

AMTE_21

A Killing in November by Simon Mason.

A good murder mystery set in Oxford. Two detectives, with the same surname are brought together to solve the murder of a young woman in an Oxford college. They are complete opposites, one comes from a dysfunctional family, reared in a trailer park, the other. Middle class black man, who attended Balliol College in Oxford. They just about get along and after Ryan, the guy reared up in a trailer park, shows his disgust for the privileged elites, gets suspended from the case, but cannot let it go.
A good read will try to read the next in the series.

NIMAN

Just started the Thursday Murder Club.

Sephiroth_dude

Just finished metro 2033, I really enjoyed it and now I'm gonna start metro 2034.

AMTE_21

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.

I read The Dutch House also by her and really enjoyed it, this one wasn’t as good. It was set on a cherry and fruit farm in rural Michigan. The parents and their three daughters are back staying on the farm because of COVID and they start asking the mother to tell them about a time when she was an actress and dated a man who became a famous film star. The story moves back and forth but I thought it was a bit disjointed and I couldn’t get into the characters.

AMTE_21

A stranger in the Family by Jane Casey.

This is a Maeve Kerrigan crime novel, it’s about a child who goes missing and years later, after her parents have moved, they are found murdered which was made to look like a murder-suicide. The police think it’s connected to the disappearance of the child some years earlier. It was a good read but I wasn’t keen on the concentration on the personal relationships of the two officers, Kerrigan and Derwent, a will they, won’t they sleep with each other scenario, which occurred throughout the book. I don’t really care about that aspect of the story.

Tornaedo

Got a copy of Angela's Ashes in the local charity shop. Really good read, deals with a lot of misery and misfortune but in a funny and entertaining way. It was a great idea to write it from the point of view of the child and young adult that he was in the period. I saw the movie several years ago and it doesn't do the book justice.

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122832916#Comment_122832916

Ah, a classic. How much of it is actually true is another story I suppose!

If you like I would also recommend the follow ups 'Tis & Teacher Man - also great reading experiences.

Frank McCourt was an excellent writer.

yagan

I've been struggling to find a good read in a new subject but I took a punt on a €1 charity shop find called The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan. Absolutely brilliant read about that era.

I had read plenty of Greek philosophy and theatre but had no idea of the dynamics of constantly shifting alliances in the Greek world.

I had read the Alexander trilogy by Massimo years ago but this explainer of the pre Alexander Greek world is fascinating.

Plus while reading this you can imagine the iron age conflicts in Ireland between shifting factions.

_BAA_RAM_EWE

The Book of Elsewhere

Awful sh1te.

What comes out of a slurry tank is clearer than whatever that drivel is going on about.

dinneenp

A Little Life by Hanya Yangihara.

800 pages long but loving it.

Set primarily in New York City, the story chronicles the lives of four friends as they grapple with substance abuse, sexual assault and depression

pavb2

I’ve started book one of The Farseer Trilogy, Assassin’s Apprentice as recommended on here. It’s different to my usual genre a slow start but seems to be picking up. I’ve no idea how many pages it is as I’m reading it on the Kindle at the moment I’m at 10%.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122742256#Comment_122742256

Same. Still quite an enjoyable book.

Read ‘The Fisherman’ by John Langan, someone on the blurb compares it to M.R. James but it’s far more H.P. Lovecraft.

Currently on ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers.

Ceist_Beag

To whoever on here recommended Wellness by Nathan Hill, thank you (I searched the thread but couldn't find the post). I really enjoyed it, even if I didn't particularly like the characters in the book. In fact I think that was the intention, we're all flawed and life doesn't always pan out the way we expect but it was an interesting read in how they reacted to this.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122835109#Comment_122835109

Not available for Kindle, sadly.

I'm reading Claire Jackson's Devil-Land: England Under Siege about England in the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century. It's excellent. I'd forgotten what a mess the English civil war was. Then again, civil wars are always messy, fractious affairs.

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122838879#Comment_122838879

I think I raved about it in here back at the start of the year, yes, great book: really captures the bewilderment of modern life.

The extended sequence detailing the father's bit by bit spiral into internet addiction and eventual extremism is incredible.