This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Xofpod · 02-03-2026 03:31PM

Couple of good books recently:

Hip-Hop is History, by Questlove (from the band the Roots). A very interesting look back over 50 years of rap/hip-hop from a cultural and industry point of view, written both as a fan and a player in the scene. Like with many music books, I found it almost as worthwhile for the playlists you put together when listening to it and the old tracks you listen to, as for the writing (which was excellent in this case, by the way).

The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley. Time-travel, espionage, romance, all mixed up together. I was worried that it might be a bit sickly-sweet but it has a nice edge to it, looking at questions of colonialism, race, climate and more. The way the plot develops might be a little familiar if you've read broadly similar sci-fi stuff before but I think it's well worth a read.

eire4 · 16-03-2026 04:58PM

Finished Robert Ludlum's thriller The Matlock Paper. I had really enjoyed his Bourne trilogy so though I would give this earlier thriller of his a read and have to say it really was not up to the same standard.

Quiet Achiever · 16-03-2026 07:44PM

I started reading Moby Dick. Not at all as challenging as I thought it might be, it has very short chapters, but I'm not far in.

Xofpod · 20-03-2026 05:31PM

Read a couple of football books:

the Liam Brady autobiography Born to be a Footballer. I always liked Brady so was predisposed to like this, but actually truly loved it. It's a pretty straightforward account of playing in England and Italy in the 70s and 80s but he tells it with great insight and warmth. Covers similar ground to the recent enough RTE doc, but much more in-depth.

Also, Narcoball, David Arrowsmith, covering football and the drug cartels, and the huge interplay between the two, in 70s-90s Colombia. Veers a little into True Crime territory but balances the football well with the Escobar obsession. Well worth a read.

eire4 · 20-03-2026 10:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124327491#Comment_124327491

Thanks for the mention on Liam Brady's autobiography. Some great childhood memories going to watch him play for Ireland at Lansdowne Road. Will have to get myself that one for sure.

Xofpod · 23-03-2026 10:33AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124328300#Comment_124328300

It's great and it will definitely spark further good memories. What a player…

eire4 · 29-03-2026 07:24PM

Finished Robert Ludlum's thriller The Sigma Protocol and really enjoyed. Very much the proverbial page turner.

Xofpod · 01-04-2026 05:22PM

Down Cemetery Road, Mick Herron - the first novel by the guy who went on to write the (brilliant) Slow Horses series. This is presented as more of a detective story, and I think the later books in the series fully go down that route, but it actually shares a lot of common ground with the Slow Horses stuff - shady government agency hijinks, conspiracies, limited life expectancy even for main characters,…

I liked it, definitely enough to read the other books in the series

New Home · 01-04-2026 06:36PM

I've read a few children's books, this week.

By David Almond, one of my favourite authors:

Paper Boat, Paper Bird (Mina, a recurring character in D.A.'s books, travels to Kyoto with her mother)
War is Over (the life of an English child in 1918)
Joe Quinn's poltergeist
The dam

Illustrated by P.J. Lynch:

No one but you
The boy who fell off the Mayflower
A bag of moonshine

Currently reading:

By Donal Ryan (another amazing writer):

Heart, be at peace

By Niall Williams (same evaluation as for DR):

This is Happiness

I've a pile more borrowed from the library, hoping to get through as many of them as I can in the next month or so.

holy guacamole · 04-04-2026 01:46PM

Any Karl Ove Knausgaard fans here? Just read The School of Night and was blown away by it.

It's a bit like American Psycho mixed with Crime and Punishment and strange, occultist elements which are often hinted at but never expressly mentioned.

It's both a literary masterpiece and a compelling page-turner.

Really want to read more of his stuff now but not sure where to go next; his six-part autobiographical series 'My Struggle' does not appeal to me.

Hermy · 05-04-2026 10:16AM

I've read the first two volumes of Min Kamp and really like them though they might be described as an acquired taste.

I haven't read anything else of his but I will when time allows.

Xofpod · 07-04-2026 10:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124364792#Comment_124364792

Have to admit, I had to read that post a couple of times…

Hermy · 07-04-2026 10:09AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124368853#Comment_124368853

Yes, his choice of title was controversial to say the least!

Arghus · 07-04-2026 12:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124362672#Comment_124362672

The first of the "My Struggle" cycle made a huge impression on me when I read it. It should be boring in a way, just this endless recition of all the little moments that make up a life as it is lived, but instead it was hypnotic. And there was so much else in it I admired: how it's specific, but yet universal. How totally honest it is - he doesn't save himself or make himself look better for the reader. How well he described the intensity of feeling and emotion of experiences as a child and adolescent. And then how he takes detours from recounting life, into these philosophical asides.

Amazing book. Not like just seeing the world through someone's eyes, but like actually being somebody else.I could go on and on about it.... I read all the others and it's the same style all the way through. It's essentially one complete work. Could see how it might get boring for some, but I always found it interesting.

I read the seasons books as well - Summer, Winter etc - which were good, but didn't feel as fully realised.

I also read The Morning Star, which, if I'm being honest, didn't do a lot for me. I'm not sure if the magical realism and the ultra-real worked as a mix and maybe because I'd read so much of him over the years that there was some fatigue beginning to work on me.

But, I'd definitely recommend the first of the My Struggle series. If you like it, read the rest, if you hate it you know to not go any further.

eire4 · 20-04-2026 04:33PM

Finished Catherine Ryan Howards thriller 56 Days and just loved it. Really becoming a big fan of the Cork author.

Xofpod · 28-04-2026 11:36AM

Read The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones, a Native American horror story set in the 19th/early 20th century American West. Uses the supernatural to examine some of the very real horror that went on in the period. Very gory and a little drawn-out, but well worth a read.

Xofpod · 15-05-2026 01:06PM

Reheated Cabbage, Irvine Welsh. Sitting in the TBR pile for a long time but I finally gave it a go and enjoyed it. It's a collection of short stories, some fantastical (alien abductions in Edinburgh), some featuring well know Welsh characters (Begby's christmas dinner, the lads from Glue popping up 15 years later). Definitely not as good as the best of his work but surprisingly enjoyable.

New Home · 15-05-2026 03:36PM

Four Stories by Alan Bennett

eire4 · 15-05-2026 06:10PM

Finished my first ever Stephen King novel Billy Summers and really enjoyed it. Not one of his horror books more a drama/action novel about an assassin taking one last job before retiring.

Quiet Achiever · 21-05-2026 09:39PM

The Remains of the Day. It's actually quite funny.

Xofpod · 22-05-2026 09:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124471173#Comment_124471173

Good book. King has always been one of my favourite writers but gets absolutely looked down on because of snobbery about genre. He's a great describer of average American life and has a great, low-key style that makes for huge readability. With anyone that prolific there's going to be a certain number of duds but the flipside is, with such a body of work, there's always something new to pick up that even a fairly dedicated reader of his work won't have read before. For me recently that was his short story collection "You Like it Darker" - well worth a read.

Xofpod · 22-05-2026 09:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124488625#Comment_124488625

Remember really liking it and thinking it was brilliantly written, but I don't remember it being funny as such. What elements do you mean?

Quiet Achiever · 22-05-2026 10:51AM

Brilliantly written, absolutely. I am only a few chapters in, but have found the stuffiness of the Butler especially when trying to figure out how to "banter" with his new American master to be pretty funny. It's kind of a case to me of someone who struggles to deal with the world, similar to Forrest Gump or Eleanor Oliphant in a way, though of course it's a very different book.

But I am aware having seen the film years ago that ultimately it will be quite sad, that this man has repressed his own passion and desires in the name of duty and servitude.

Xofpod · 22-05-2026 11:42AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124489411#Comment_124489411

Good point. There's potential for a bit of Jeeves and Wooster at the start but the sadness and self-isolation/repression kicks in fairly quickly. Great read though.

eire4 · 22-05-2026 04:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124489233#Comment_124489233

Well for sure after enjoying Billy Summers I will definitely be looking at putting some more Stephen King novels onto my to read shelf next time I am adding to it. Glad I took the plunge as no doubt given his large body of work I will have a fair few books to enjoy in the future.

_Godot_ · 22-05-2026 05:42PM

I'd happily read a Stephen King book just about life and stuff, like Insomnia without all the spooky stuff.

Quiet Achiever · 22-05-2026 06:53PM

Who the bloody hell am I to critique Stephen King, but I have struggled with the length of his books. While I loved IT, especially the bits set in the past and how immersive Maine feels, I found bits of it dragged needlessly. Something about a tortoise in space...

And I actually gave up on 11.22.63. But I am not arrogant enough not to realise that it says more about me than King.

Hermy · 23-05-2026 08:35AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124489233#Comment_124489233

I think criticism of King is warranted and has nothing to do with snobbery.

He's a great storyteller and that's what made early works like The Shining and Carrie so good.

But too often his prose is bloated and that great storytelling gets lost in the mire.

Having not read him in years I recently read Salem's Lot and what stood out was just how mediocre the book was.

Xofpod · 23-05-2026 09:56PM

Agree that he can drift into bloat but mostly it's the micro-level, everyday detail and characterisations that I really like.

eire4 · 31-05-2026 12:59AM

Finished Michael Connelly's crime thriller Fair Warning. This one featuring his Jack McEvoy journalist character and as usual from Connelly a good read.

This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Comments