What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

Hobsonbulmer · 19-05-2020 3:57pm

gutenberg wrote: »

I finished it last week. I also don't think it is as accomplished as either Wolf Hall or Bring Up the Bodies: the middle sections rather dragged, while I wanted the end parts to be much longer, unfolding the plots and the ultimate denouement. Having said that, I still think it's one of the best books I've read in a long while and will likely win prizes etc. It's just that in comparison to the other (superlative) two, it pales a little. Some of that may also be the nature of the story: it's easier I suspect to write a convincing, interesting, suspenseful account of someone's improbable rise to power, including how they protect themselves, versus where someone is at the height of their powers for the great majority of the book and so conspiracies etc. seem less threatening. Hence why I felt more was needed to cover the last, say, six months or so, to really explore the nature of power and how it can unravel.

Bring Up the Bodies was/is my favourite and has remained so now that I've read the full trilogy.

Have to agree with your analysis. Still, even though the middle third sagged a bit, it stands right up there top of the class in it's genre.

pavb2 · 19-05-2020 4:03pm

I read 'The Year of the French,' by Thomas Flanagan a great story which has such depth to it. I'm now about quarter the way through 'The Tenants of Time' also by Flanagan but I'm struggling as it goes at such a slow pace I actually don't know if I can finish it.

gutenberg · 19-05-2020 5:38pm

Hobsonbulmer wrote: »

Have to agree with your analysis. Still, even though the middle third sagged a bit, it stands right up there top of the class in it's genre.

Oh I completely agree! It's a masterful trilogy and has to be counted among the very best historical fiction. I suspect also that the buzz created by the long wait between books 2 and 3 meant it was always going to be something of a let-down...

I'm re-reading Normal People (haven't started the TV show yet). I'm also reading Reckonings by Mary Fulbrook, about the aftermath of the Holocaust, including the trials of persecutors and how memory of it developed in the postwar period. I find the broad topic - things like the Nuremberg trials, ideas of justice and so forth - really interesting. It's a beast of a book though, so will take a while I suspect!

gmisk · 19-05-2020 6:59pm

I have downloaded the new hunger games prequel!
I just need to finish the last 10 percent of I am pilgrim but that is definitely next!

Foweva Awone · 19-05-2020 7:57pm

gmisk wrote: »

I have downloaded the new hunger games prequel!
I just need to finish the last 10 percent of I am pilgrim but that is definitely next!

Did not know a prequel existed! *adds to list*

mariaalice · 19-05-2020 8:15pm

December Bride by Sam Hanna Bell, I am getting this next, I love the film and always wanted to read the book.

I though I would get through loads of books with the lockdown on but it hasn't happened.

appledrop · 19-05-2020 8:42pm

Just reread Normal People. I actually enjoyed it more the second time.

I didnt think it was that great 1st time but love the tv adaptation of it. I think it gets across the emotions + anguish of their lives much better than the actual book.

gmisk · 19-05-2020 9:23pm

Foweva Awone wrote: »

Did not know a prequel existed! *adds to list*

Just released today!

Hobsonbulmer · 19-05-2020 10:33pm

Jackoflynn wrote: »

This is happiness
By Niall Williams.
Beautifully written, gorgeous words. Old school Irish tale of ordinary lives. Funny and heart - warming.
Touching and unique.

Niall Williams is a marvel. A neglected marvel. He is not part of the club. His ability to capture the essence of his characters is unsurpassed - even the most peripheral passing character is rendered whole by the slightest brush stroke of the artist that is Niall Williams. This is Happiness is a gem of a book.

gutenberg · 20-05-2020 12:08pm

appledrop wrote: »

Just reread Normal People. I actually enjoyed it more the second time.

I didnt think it was that great 1st time but love the tv adaptation of it. I think it gets across the emotions + anguish of their lives much better than the actual book.

I'm also rereading it and finding it more enjoyable the second time round! Perhaps knowing the basic story outline helps to engage more with subtexts, language etc - I know I often tend to read 'for the story' initially.

bodhrandude · 20-05-2020 12:50pm

Just finished When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi, about Afghan refugees fleeing to England and their journey through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy and France and finally to England. An enthralling read.

Foweva Awone · 20-05-2020 1:12pm

Just finished Cyntoia Brown's memoir "Free Cyntoia", first book in ages I've read in one sitting ... even though I'd already watched the Netflix documentary and knew the eventual outcome! The book is excellent. For those who don't know her story, she was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man in self-defence as a 16 year old sex worker. The book is about her fight for clemency. It's a very moving powerful story.

Church on Tuesday · 20-05-2020 2:49pm

The Green Mile.

BraveDonut · 20-05-2020 3:21pm

I read 90% of Joseph O'Connor's "Shadowplay"
I gave up because I just couldn't bear it anymore as it continued to wander around in uninteresting self-indulgent circles.

It is a dramatisation of Bram Stoker's life - mostly as managing a theatre in London.

O'Connor's "Star of the Sea" was a great book, but now he constantly disappoints as it seems now that he just wants to be too clever all the time

Doctors room ghost · 20-05-2020 3:22pm

I’m currently reading ruby walshes autobiography.i started it a fortnight ago so I’m going to stick it out and finish it,but it would put years on you reading it.
I do normally fall asleep and drop it when I’m reading it.I’m sorry I ever started it.It’ll be getting a spin to the charity shop when they reopen.pass on the misery.

namloc1980 · 20-05-2020 3:53pm

Russia's War by Richard Overy. It's an overview of the eastern front during WW2 from the Soviet perspective. War on a vast scale with unimaginable death, suffering and destruction.

bobbyss · 20-05-2020 5:18pm

The American Civil War by McPherson. Tough gong. Not recommended if you know very very little about American history. But apparently the best one volume book on that war. He's a good writer but I am sure there is a book out there which sets it out more clearly. It took about 250 page to get to the first day of the war. Enjoyable though.

Also Murder on the Orient Express and David Copperfield.

pavb2 · 21-05-2020 9:07am

The Kind Worth Killing - Peter Swanson

It’s nice when you find a book that grabs you from the start, I’m about halfway through this in one sitting. The story is thriller, murder, mystery a real page turner. The author’s got another few books out any recommendations?

Tauriel · 21-05-2020 5:13pm

I have recently finished the final two books in the Sean Reilly series, Rasputin's Shadow and The End Game by Raymond Khoury.

Rasputin's Shadow was good but The End Game was a bit meh. The first two books in this series were the standouts for me.

Hobsonbulmer · 21-05-2020 5:54pm

bobbyss wrote: »

The American Civil War by McPherson. Tough gong. Not recommended if you know very very little about American history. But apparently the best one volume book on that war. He's a good writer but I am sure there is a book out there which sets it out more clearly. It took about 250 page to get to the first day of the war. Enjoyable though.

Also Murder on the Orient Express and David Copperfield.

I presume you are referring to Battle Cry of Freedom. Readers differ - I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

bobbyss · 22-05-2020 8:25pm

Hobsonbulmer wrote: »

I presume you are referring to Battle Cry of Freedom. Readers differ - I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

Yes. Absolutely. My fault. I had been watching interview with Shelby Foote about his life and his great book. And looking at Ken Burns' documentary. Thus the confusion. Have on my shelf also Team of Rivals and just wish Doris Kearns had written a book soley about Lincoln. She is a wonder writer.

ablelocks · 22-05-2020 8:34pm

just started scrublands by chris hammer. aussie journalist goes to a small town in the outback to see how the townspeople are coping 1 year after a priest went on a shooting rampage.

in the process, he will a) figure stuff out about himself and deal with his PTSD from an incident in his past, b) hook up with the local stunner, who keeps him in regular supply of coffee, c) solve the mystery of why the priest did it, d) write a pulitzer prize winning story about the town, thus restoring his rep in the big city of sydney and e) move back to Sydney only to realise he really loves the town (and the girl, obvs) so he returns lives happily ever after.*

*may not actually happen

Danger781 · 22-05-2020 11:27pm

Danger781 wrote: »

Currently listening to:
The Mayor of Noobtown by Ryan Rimmel
After dying and being reborn into a world that's built like a video game, Jim has found himself stuck in a very old world style new player zone for low level adventurers. Unfortunately, the zone fell out of use centuries ago, and no one told the monsters they were supposed to take it easy on the Noobs. Even worse, the only new player around is Jim.

This is my first time listening to an audiobook, and honestly it may not have been the best choice to start with. My inner nerd caved after stumbling across it from the title and description. It feels so long at a little over 9 hours of audio, and I'm not really enjoying it all that much, not for lack of trying.. I'm 7 hours in at this point so I guess LitRPG adventures just aren't for me.

Currently reading:
Nemesis Games (The Expanse #5) - James S.A. Corey
A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the the old solar system begin to buckle.

Finished both of these.. Expanse did not disappoint. Stayed up well past my bed time to finish it last night.

Think I'm going to take a break from the series for a book or two before moving on.. Not sure what's up next!

gogo · 23-05-2020 12:53am

Just on the last chapter of the fifth book in Conn Iggulden’s Ghengis Khan series.

It’s pretty much a history of the Mongolian empire from Ghengis himself right down to his grandson Kublai Khan and the path they took when they very nearly conquered half the world on what were essentially ponies with bow and arrows (and some cannons in Kublai’s time), brilliant read and an area of history I wouldn’t have looked at before.
Nice fact from the books. .5% of the male
Population today are direct decedents of Ghengis, that’s about 16 million people..

Ive read Conn’s Roman series prior to this one and I tend to continue on with the same author until I’ve exhausted what they written (once it enjoyable of course). But I seem to be on a ‘greatest emperors’ thing at the moment so I’m the look out for anything on Alexander the Great next if anyone has any recommendations.

Ipso · 23-05-2020 6:47am

gogo wrote: »

Just on the last chapter of the fifth book in Conn Iggulden’s Ghengis Khan series.

It’s pretty much a history of the Mongolian empire from Ghengis himself right down to his grandson Kublai Khan and the path they took when they very nearly conquered half the world on what were essentially ponies with bow and arrows (and some cannons in Kublai’s time), brilliant read and an area of history I wouldn’t have looked at before.
Nice fact from the books. .5% of the male
Population today are direct decedents of Ghengis, that’s about 16 million people..

Ive read Conn’s Roman series prior to this one and I tend to continue on with the same author until I’ve exhausted what they written (once it enjoyable of course). But I seem to be on a ‘greatest emperors’ thing at the moment so I’m the look out for anything on Alexander the Great next if anyone has any recommendations.

His series on The Wars if the Roses was good.

georgina...c · 23-05-2020 8:48am

Danger781 wrote: »

Finished both of these.. Expanse did not disappoint. Stayed up well past my bed time to finish it last night.

Really? I found it quite boring. Felt like a chore to read.

Thelonious Monk · 23-05-2020 8:53am

About 60% through Wolf Hall, I love it. Anyone read it?

appledrop · 23-05-2020 8:55am

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

About 60% through Wolf Hall, I love it. Anyone read it?

Yep have read the 3 books in this series. I loved Wolf Hall + Bringing up the Bodies but disappointed with the Mirror & the Light which was released recently.

Thelonious Monk · 23-05-2020 9:06am

appledrop wrote: »

Yep have read the 3 books in this series. I loved Wolf Hall + Bringing up the Bodies but disappointed with the Mirror & the Light which was released recently.

are they all as long as the first one? feels like I've been reading it forever.

appledrop · 23-05-2020 9:11am

Yep the last one is just shy of 900 pages!

LeYouth · 23-05-2020 9:40am

I was recently reading a non fiction book called Atomic: The First War of Physics by Jim Baggot.

It's about the development of the atomic bomb. It goes from the initial excitement of the discovery of fission right through to the Manhattan project and it has accounts on all the spying & technical challenges they faced.

A very interesting book, even if you're not interested in Physics.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 23-05-2020 10:55am

Ipso wrote: »

His series on The Wars if the Roses was good.

And his Emperor series were probably the best series of books I've read.

I've been on a few books on the various Nazi high ranking officers recently, presently reading Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel by Daniel Allan Butler

No need to give an introduction to Rommel, this is just a fantastic read.

da_miser · 23-05-2020 11:57am

Stopped reading books a year ago, takes up too much time and you cant do anything else while reading a book.
I switched to Audio books, fantastic stuff, should have done it years earlier, im getting through many more books now that i can consume the content while doing other things.
Some have multiple cast members and really bring the book to life, try out audio books before you dismiss them, i know i did for years and now regret i did not listen to them years ago.
The last few i have listened to
Kolymsky heights -Lionel Davidson, top notch thriller,
Arisen-Zombie apocalypse series, non stop action
Check out some of the original Alien audiobooks, and the audio book version of Alien Covenant and a prequel are both very good.
The Lost Fleet- jack campbell, good space opera, plenty of action
Frontlines - Marko Kloos, another space action series, Love death and robots on Netflix done Lucky 13, a Frontlines story.

py2006 · 23-05-2020 3:14pm

Audio books is cheating! :P

TheRepentent · 23-05-2020 3:42pm

da_miser wrote: »

Stopped reading books a year ago, takes up too much time and you cant do anything else while reading a book.

:eek:

:pac::pac::pac:

Danger781 · 23-05-2020 6:17pm

georgina...c wrote: »

Really? I found it quite boring. Felt like a chore to read.

That seemed to be the consensus on GoodReads for the last two books, but I found them the best additions to the series so far. Book 3 seemed to be among many people's favourites but I thought it was the most boring one of the series. I laboured through it but breezed through 4 and 5 while loving every minute. Maybe I'm just strange!

da_miser · 23-05-2020 6:35pm

For years i thought whats the point of audio books? Sure i can read them myself, and then around last January i gave them a go, only wish i did it sooner. When you are reading a book you have to put time aside to do so as it requires your full attention, now with Audio books i'm multi tasking, listen to books when exercising, driving, out shopping, cleaning the house and so on, i have easily increased my consumption of books fourfold in the past year and have plenty of time left to catch up on other forms of entertainment.
Sounds like a advert for Audible! its well worth the price and with the sales they regularly have you can easily pick up audio books for under a fiver and you will in no time be consuming way more than you would otherwise.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 23-05-2020 7:01pm

da_miser wrote: »

For years i thought whats the point of audio books? Sure i can read them myself, and then around last January i gave them a go, only wish i did it sooner. When you are reading a book you have to put time aside to do so as it requires your full attention, now with Audio books i'm multi tasking, listen to books when exercising, driving, out shopping, cleaning the house and so on, i have easily increased my consumption of books fourfold in the past year and have plenty of time left to catch up on other forms of entertainment.
Sounds like a advert for Audible! its well worth the price and with the sales they regularly have you can easily pick up audio books for under a fiver and you will in no time be consuming way more than you would otherwise.

I've tried them for my longer runs, they were ok but I couldn't enjoy an audio book anywhere else. Although I've run training partner who's a truck driver, he swears by audio books. They just weren't for me.

I like my 'me time' with just me and my Kindle, it gives me an excuse to go to bed early, shut out the world and just read for a few hours.

New Home · 23-05-2020 7:40pm

Audiobooks have their place, but to me they're like smelling food instead of tasting it.

nigeldaniel · 24-05-2020 9:37am

Just finished Nickolis Nickleby. It took me a while. I have to hand it to the optimist in Nicks's character.

All My Stars Aligned · 24-05-2020 10:07am

gogo wrote: »

Just on the last chapter of the fifth book in Conn Iggulden’s Ghengis Khan series.

It’s pretty much a history of the Mongolian empire from Ghengis himself right down to his grandson Kublai Khan and the path they took when they very nearly conquered half the world on what were essentially ponies with bow and arrows (and some cannons in Kublai’s time), brilliant read and an area of history I wouldn’t have looked at before.
Nice fact from the books. .5% of the male
Population today are direct decedents of Ghengis, that’s about 16 million people..

If you listen to podcasts Dan Carlin does a fantastic series on the Khan.

All My Stars Aligned · 24-05-2020 10:08am

Just finished Homeland by Fernando Aramburu. Set in the Basque lands of Spain It's the story of two families. I don't want to say anymore about the story as I don't want to risk spoiling it for any of you that decide to read it. All I will say is that I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Tauriel · 25-05-2020 10:13am

I finished reading Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris last night and just like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this is fiction based on fact.

Tauriel · 26-05-2020 6:21pm

Shadow Warriors: The Irish Army Ranger Wing by Paul O'Brien and Wayne Fitzgerald. I absolutely loved this brief insight into the founding and development of the ARW.

Barna77 · 30-05-2020 9:23am

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding.
I'll try to finish this beast before the end of the year! Language and writing style are tricky.

appledrop · 31-05-2020 9:57pm

I finished Girl, Women, Other.

I really enjoyed it.

I've now started Apeirogon by Colm Mc Cann. Not that mad about the style of writing but very interested in story. An Irasel + Palestine who have both lost a child during the conflict.

EmmetSpiceland · 03-06-2020 10:01am

‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou.

Not my usual “read” but found it to be a tough, powerful and, exceptionally, well written book.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 03-06-2020 4:46pm

mustang shelly wrote: »

Shadow Warriors: The Irish Army Ranger Wing by Paul O'Brien and Wayne Fitzgerald. I absolutely loved this brief insight into the founding and development of the ARW.

Read it, its an excellent and informative read.

As a serving soldier I thought I'd probably know a lot of what the ARW done, but I found there was lots I didn't know (when I read the book).

Reading 'Field Marshall, the life and death of Erwin Rommel'. It started with Rommel's childhood and his service in WWI, then it [the book] gets bogged down in the treaty of Versailles, the Night of the Long Knives and the formation of the Nazi party & Hitlers rise.. Tbh its a drag, but I'll plug on through to Rommel's service in WWII, which I'm really looking forward to.

RIGOLO · 03-06-2020 5:30pm

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom - autobiographical account of T.E Lawrence (of Arabia ) his expereinces in The Arab revolt .
Just at the part where the Arabs have asked for British help to defend Mecca from Ottoman forces ... go figure Muslims asking Christians to defend Mecca from other Muslims ...
The epic self supported journeys by camel across vast swathes of desert are the best part of the story.
If that interests you but your not interested in the militray campaigns then Id recommend Wilfred Thesiger Arabian Sands or The Marsh Arabs . Thesiger the first westerner or even Arab to explore many routes across the deserts in modern day middle east, a great first hand account of life on the move with the Bedouin pre 1950

DrSerious3 · 03-06-2020 8:24pm

Nothing is Strage With you
James Jeffry Paul
True crime - the story of Gordon Stewart Norcott who killed several boys in the 1920s and buried them in his California chicken farm while keeping his 14 year old nephew as a sex slave.

Incredible story.

What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

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