What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

magick · 13-05-2020 10:15pm

New Home wrote: »

Wasn't there an old play like that? By Yeats, perhaps? That ^^^ does ring a bell, for some reason...

tbh im not sure, im really enjoying it!

Also to shamelessly promote myself, i published my first book last year!

New Home · 13-05-2020 10:16pm

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Are you thinking of Beckett’s ‘Play’? The three characters are just heads in separate urns.

Could've been Beckett, but no urns, it was a woman buried in a graveyard who meets her neighbour who'd recently died and had been buried beside her; the first woman was asking the second one for news from "upstairs".

magick · 13-05-2020 10:24pm

New Home wrote: »

Could've been Beckett, but no urns, it was a woman buried in a graveyard who meets her neighbour who's recently died and had been buried beside her; the first woman was asking the second one for news from "upstairs".

The author is Máirtín Ó Cadhain

Danger781 · 13-05-2020 10:37pm

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.

New Home · 13-05-2020 11:14pm

magick wrote: »

The author is Máirtín Ó Cadhain

Thank you.

mikhail · 13-05-2020 11:25pm

LeYouth wrote: »

Not yet, but I will check it out. Ty.

I didn't enjoy The Terror as much - the true story is fascinating, but the fantasy he layers on top doesn't add to it for me. Hyperion is great though. Apparently it's inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but I haven't studied that to make the comparison.

TheRepentent · 13-05-2020 11:40pm

mikhail wrote: »

I didn't enjoy The Terror as much

Couldn't finish the book myself

EmmetSpiceland · 13-05-2020 11:42pm

mikhail wrote: »

Hyperion is great though. Apparently it's inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but I haven't studied that to make the comparison.

Must check that out. Is it full of bawdy goings on, wind breaking and someone getting a “red hot” poker up the backside or does it just stick to the boring ones?

I did enjoy Simmons’ ‘Summer of Night”, that’s a horror one. Haven’t read any of his space stuff.

Foweva Awone · 19-05-2020 8:59am

I'm reading Kate Holden's memoir "In My Skin". She's a normal intelligent educated woman from a perfectly lovely family, who experiments with heroin and ends up completely addicted, and works as a prostitute to fund her addiction. She doesn't hold back on the details, it's a fascinating read. Incredibly well written.

LeYouth · 19-05-2020 9:33am

Foweva Awone wrote: »

I'm reading Kate Holden's memoir "In My Skin". She's a normal intelligent educated woman from a perfectly lovely family, who experiments with heroin and ends up completely addicted, and works as a prostitute to fund her addiction. She doesn't hold back on the details, it's a fascinating read. Incredibly well written.

Does she take "three" pages to describe 'one' thought....like most bleeding heart literary fiction. Lol

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.

What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

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