I believe they're both being made into TV shows at the moment.
Finished Ken Bruen's The Dramatist. Another masterpiece of a crime drama set in Galway that really just has it all. Cannot praise it too highly.
Sad that she died at only 58 years of age.
I read two of her books this year (Parable of the Sower and Kindred). She was an absolutely amazing writer.
Finished Dawn by Octavia Butler. The first book in a sci fi trilogy. An interesting read set in a post nuclear war earth where an alien civilization has come and rescued the few human survivors but they want something in return.
Thanks both, reading list updated!
That was also my first Le Carre book, and i have since read about 15 of his books since. I would strongly recommend reading the Smiley Trilogy after this (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People and the Honorable Schoolboy). All superb.
The Perfect Spy is probably his best book though.
If you like Le Carre, you might like Mick Herron's Slough House series. Same grimy world of espionage, a bit more humour.
Back on a Bernard Cornwell binge with Sharpe’s Regiment, I’ll read a few and then move on to a book about Genghis Khan that was mentioned the After Hours book thread.
Finished Harlen Coben's Win an enjoyable action crime novel. This one is focused on Win one of the support characters from his earlier action crime novels.
The Spy that came in from the cold.
My first La Carre book. Expected it to be bigger for some reason. Having read a number of long books of late I am glad it is not, but I am enjoying it a lot. It must have been absolutely thrilling when it was first published, a glimpse into the underhandedness of that world.
I think that is a fair summary of the two books.
Finished Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This. It's a funny one, like two different books grafted together. The first part is stream of consciousness musings about the internet, the second part a meditation on grief. Not what I was expecting after Priestdaddy but I'm glad I read it.
I finished this a while back. Really enjoyed it, had more of a structured narrative than Trainspotting, but I think Trainspotting edged it out as it really had everything: funny, sad, grim and really f***ing grim. Not that Skagboys didn’t but Trainspotting done it better.
It was not as good as Trainspotting itself or Porno I agree but I still enjoyed it and well worth the read if you like the series. I have both Blade Artist and Dead Mans Trousers on my to read shelf and am looking forward to them.
Finished Susan Wright's Slaves Unchained the third and final book in her sci fi action adventure series and it was like the previous two a fun and enjoyable read.
Read the earlier ones and was pleasantly surprised with the sequels (Blade Artist, Dead Man's Trousers) but can't summon up the enthusiasm for a prequel. Can't really think of any prequel worth the effort....
Finished Irvine Welsh's Skagboys. It is a prequel to Trainspotting. So if you have not read Trainspotting try and read this first as it really sets the stage for all the characters very well. Not quite as crazy as Trainspotting or its sequel Porno but very enjoyable all the same.
Read Washington Black, Esi Edugyan. Had it in my pile for quite a while and had some rave recommendations. Also, I loved her previous book, Half Blood Blues, so I had high hopes. Bit disappointed in the end - starts off very strong but, for me, kind of lost direction a little after the half-way point.
On to Patricia Lockwood's Nobody is Talking about This next
I read The Last Girl by Nadia Murad over the weekend. Heart wrenching
Finished Star-Begotten (1937) by H.G.Wells, not great. Figures of Earth (1921) by James Branch Cabell is another fantastic read. You should check out Jurgen then Figures of Earth if your intersted in early fantasy or just really good erudite writing. Figures isn't naughty like Jurgen.
Speaking of naughty, also read Lysistrata (411 B.C.) by Aristophanes, even the gutenberg versions have illustrations. Very adult, very funny comedy satire.
Currently rereading Exploits of Englebrecht (1950) by Maurice Richardson, a set of short surreal (mostly) sports tales, very Monty Python. Also reading the Cleft (2007) by Doris Lessing and Here Comes a Candle (1950) by Fredric Brown. The latter is a noir thriller although it has this almost Twilight Zone like narrator. The former is a sort of faux history/mythology tole by a roman scholar about how women were the first sex.
Oh and i also recently finished rereading Happyslapped by a Jellyfish by Karl Pilkington. It hasn't stood up well, hiliarious the first time not so much any more.
Reading a book called Disappear Doppelganger Disappear by Matthew Salesses. I am 40 pages in and very confused!
I am liking it and some parts are wonderful but others are boring the pants off me 😄 I will get there eventually, I am determined to finish it!
I liked it but its very low stakes and its a bit twee. There's no 'twists'.
Miamee, that sounds like a book to keep in the loo. :)
I finished reading my book. Advise something from psychology
My reading time/sttention span has gone way down in recent times but eveni at that, I have been reading A Gentleman in Moscow since 3rd July! And I am still only 72% of the way through. Is it worth sticking with? I feel like if I give up now I am not going to miss much but I ahve read this much so...
I might just set it aside and start something new for now. I'm enjoying it but it's not pulling me in to read whenever I have a few spare minutes like other books would.
Finished Lars Brownworth's In Distant Lands which is an account of the Crusades from the first one in the late 10th century through the last one in the 13th century. Really enjoyed the book.
Figures of Earth, another of James Branch Cabells Biography of Manuel sequence from the 1920's which are all worth reading so far. Also one of the later H.G.Wells books Star-Begotten, from 1937. Seems to be about people who start to think they're loved ones etc. are actually aliens :) .
Finished book 2 in Susan Wright's Sci-fi trilogy Slaves Masters. A fun action adventure read.
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