What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

littlefeet

John Creedon:This boys Heart.

Its a lovely meandering read.

In the introduction he apologies for having a happy childhood!!

We truly are a strange lot here we seem to love misery, imagine apologising for having a happy childhood.

Loafing Oaf

A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages : The World Through Medieval Eyes by Anthony Bale

Takes us into the minds of medieval people by showing them on their travels, in the spirit of T.S. Eliot

We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring. Will be to arrive where we started. And know the place for the first time.

Aimed at a popular audience and very readable, but obviously grounded in a mountain of research

Decuc500

Just finished The Puppet Show by MW Craven. Decent enough crime novel but the main character, a sensitive male detective, being constantly saved and bailed out by his stronger female colleagues grated a bit too much in the end.

nigeldaniel

Jilly Copper 'Mount' aaahhhh what more can I say. 😉

bullpost

Life Sentence by A. K. Turner

Goth mortuary technician crime series. This is book 2 in the series.

Its ok so far , nothing to shout about.

Tauriel

Mary Rose by Alexzandra Hildred

My final read of 2024 concludes with a signed edition of Mary Rose, which I picked up on my visit to the Mary Rose museum.

This book takes you through the history of the Mary Rose, from her days as Henry VIII's flag ship, her loss, her rediscovery, her raising and her conservation. The Mary Rose has enabled us to gain a never before seen insight into the Tudor Age and has been instrumental in setting the standards for shipwreck conservation.

Tauriel

I am looking for some advice on Kindles if anyone can help.

I prefer to read physical books as I work on a computer all day but I'm going on a work secondment to another country in the coming weeks and the particular area I willing be residing in for a couple months do not allow their libraries to lend books to foreign nationals, so it looks like I will need a Kindle.

As someone who does tend to get Computer Vision Syndrome I would be looking for Kindle that will be gentle on the eyes, if there is such a thing. Can anyone recommend a Kindle?

KH25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123017353#Comment_123017353

I’ve used a paper white for a long time now and never had any issues with eye strain or the like. I’d be the same as yourself in terms of being at a computer screen all day.

NIMAN

All the kindles now are more or less the same when it comes to their displays.

pavb2

Just finished Robyn Hobbs, Farseer Trilogy a lengthy read and kept the interest but left a lot of unanswered questions.

I’ve also got the Wool trilogy as recommended on here not sure if I’ll start that I’ve got a lot on my Kindle including

John Grisham, Joseph O Conner, Terry Pratchett, Frederick Forsyth,Robert Harris, Stephen Fry’s. Mythology series and Jeffery Archer might also give Xenophon a re read.

Mars Bar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123026362#Comment_123026362

The books that come after the Trilogy might answer some questions? They are all based in the same world. It took me a while to get in to the liveship traders but I loved it at the end!

Tauriel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123026905#Comment_123026905

Got to agree on the Liveship trilogy. Found a bit of the first book a slog but really enjoyed the second. Still have the final book of that trilogy to finish off.

Mehaffey1

Just finished 'What Happened to Nina?' by Dervla McTiernan.

Have to say I really enjoyed it, it was a great fast paced plot. Definitely not my usual genre but that was probably refreshing anyway. An original take on the usual whodunit style.

The only thing letting it down could have been better editing actually. Had a few moment where the wording jarred or wasn't correct.

All in all a good easy read. I got through it in no time and will be reading more from the same author again

Going onto Night Music by John Connolly now.

AMTE_21

Nearly finished Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh. A very thick book I got from the library to do me over Christmas. Found it hard to get into. It’s based on his time in the army during the Second World War. It was originally three novels and later on he put them together as one book. After reading it I can understand how Britain nearly lost the war. It seems to be very ramshackle planning and the Officers seemed to be a lazy bunch, they even had batmen/servants with them when they went anywhere. They did a lot of hanging around waiting for orders. The last part of the book when he travels to Crete and Egypt was the most interesting.

pavb2

I read John Grisham’s The Partner, it started off well and was easy to read but towards the end the plot didn’t really make sense.

AMTE_21

The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason. This was the second book in a series with DI Ray Wilkins, I read the first one and enjoyed it, this was also a good read. It was about a child being snatched from her pre school and the pressure is on to solve as quickly as possible. It had the usual red herrings that are in this type of story so it kept your attention. His sidekick from the first novel is in this as well, even though he was dismissed from the force in the first book. He helps to solve this mystery so there is a way back for him into the force. The first chapter of the next book is at the back, I never read these as when I start to read the full book,it I think I’ve read it before and am confused!

Loafing Oaf

Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion: AD 300-1300 by Peter Heather

Exhaustive account of Christianity's rise to close-to-absolute power in Europe over the millenium under consideration. Really gets into the weeds of ecclesiastical historiography but keeps it lively for the reader with a conversational style I've rarely come across even in popular nonfiction, e.g.:

Penda thought he'd won, but, as Bede presents it, striking Oswald down had just made him more powerful than the Pagan king of Mercia could possibly imagine

poop emoji

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6665847

Quite a good techno thriller sci-fi, hard to put down

bodhrandude

Currently reading Aphex Twin: A Disco Pogo Tribute, a fascinating insight into an amazing musician.

AMTE_21

Just finished The Racketeer by John Grisham. The usual legal drama from him that you can’t put down. A great yarn about a lawyer in prison for innocently getting caught up in a money laundering racket. He vows to take revenge on the FBI and puts together an elaborate plot to get out of jail early. A good read that led you along various paths to the final unraveling of the plot.

Mars Bar

Dawn Study by Maria V. Snyder

I've been really enjoying the entire series

AMTE_21

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly. Standard Michael Connelly, this was about a journalist Jack McEvoy who is made redundant from his job on the LA Times but for his last big story he sets out to find a serial killer who has been killing women. A 16 year old boy is arrested, but he proves he didn’t do it and teams up with an FBI agent to hunt the real killer. A good page turner.

pavb2

Just finished Pyramids by Terry Pratchett he’s quite wordy and the plot a bit disjointed. I only had a vague idea of what was going on and had to do a bit of googling to fully understand the story.

Dial Hard

I'm re-reading The Secret Garden for the first time since I was a child and burning through it.

AMTE_21

Dissolution by C J Sansom. This was a great read, really enjoyed it. It was about the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry the eighth aided and abetted by Oliver Cromwell. One of Cromwell’s men, Commissioners they were called, is murdered in a monastery he is sent to prepare for dissolution. Cromwell sends another Commissioner there to find out what happened. While he is there another two murders are committed and the body of a girl who had been missing for two years is found in the lake. It combined historical facts with the story which made it very interesting. There seems to be a series of these books, I must try to get some more.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123130600#Comment_123130600

I was reading this going "Why does this sound *so* familiar???" And then I realised it was made into the TV series Shardlake 😆

Also, it's Thomas Cromwell, not Oliver! Two very different historical figures 🤣🤣🤣

millie35

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123130600#Comment_123130600

Do you mean Thomas Cromwell?

Ceist_Beag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123130600#Comment_123130600

As others have said, it's Thomas Cromwell. I've read two of these so far, on to the third in the series now. They very much overlap with the period and characters in the Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall series so in that sense it's nice to see them from a different angle. The Sansom books are very enjoyable reads alright.

AMTE_21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123130600#Comment_123130600

Of course! It was Thomas, so used to hearing about Oliver Cromwell, forgot about Thomas….. 🙂

Sgt Hartman

Currently reading Joseph: The Life, Times and Places of The Elephant Man by Joanne Vigor-Mungovin on Kindle. Very good so far and very well researched.