What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

Dial Hard · 18-03-2021 11:08pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

60% of mirror and the light, I'm enjoying it but god it's so long. Just behead the f*cker already.

I'm pretty sure the Biden family bible used for the inauguration was smaller than TM&TL.

Thelonious Monk · 18-03-2021 11:25pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the Biden family bible used for the inauguration was smaller than TM&TL.

I'm on Kindle so it's hard to even quantify the size

Cheesey Cheese Hood Cheese · 18-03-2021 11:35pm

Savage Lust (Night Seekers 5) by Desiree Holt

i buy direct to support the artist, always -
https://desireeholt.com/

huffington piece: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/desiree-holt-erotica-sexiest-senior_n_2330890 (in case you thought it was just kindle self publishing)

AlejGuzman68 · 18-03-2021 11:38pm

Arthas Rise of the Lich King,from the world of warcraft series by Christine Golden.

Your Face · 19-03-2021 12:36am

The Captain Coignet Notebooks.

"Memoirs of A Soldier of Napoleon's Imperial Guard from the Italian Campaign to Russia and Waterloo"

Tauriel · 24-03-2021 3:10pm

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Very interesting book that looks at the attitudes of the USSR that contributed to the explosion at Reactor Number 4 and the attempts at covering up the true cause and fallout of the disaster.

"The dramatic true story of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, based on original reporting and interviews with survivors".

Dial Hard · 24-03-2021 3:32pm

Just finished Bethany Clift's Last One at the Party, it's about a woman who's the sole survivor of a global pandemic.

The main character was so annoying that I was hate-reading it by halfway through. I'd refuse to believe there are people that stupid, lazy and helpless in the world if I hadn't met several over the years. I actively wanted her to die for most of it.

breezy1985 · 24-03-2021 3:32pm

"At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig" by John Gimlette
A journey through Paraguay which is a country I knew nothing about outside of a soccer team. Seems to have been a pretty crazy place for the 19th and 20th century with a string of horrendous dictatorships

gutenberg · 29-03-2021 2:18pm

appledrop wrote: »

Currently Reading 'The four winds' by Kristin Hannah.

It's fiction but based on Dust Belt and Great Depression in America in 1930s when all land in this area turned to dust and couldn't be farmed.

It's very powerful and sad.

People left the areas in search of better life in cities etc but there was nothing for them.

I have this on my TBR list. I loved her The Nightingale - if you haven't read it, then I really recommend it.

I have two books on the go. One is Jung Chang's Wild Swans. The other is Cal Newport's A World Without Email.

Barna77 · 29-03-2021 2:26pm

Thomas Harding, The House by the Lake

In the summer of 1993, Thomas Harding traveled to Germany with his grandmother to visit a small house by a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. It had been a holiday home for her and her family, but in the 1930s, she had been forced to flee to England as the Nazis swept to power. Nearly twenty years later, the house was government property and soon to be demolished. It was Harding’s legacy, one that had been loved, abandoned, fought over―a house his grandmother had desired until her death. Could it be saved? And should it?

When Harding began to make inquiries, he unearthed secrets that had lain hidden for decades about the lives of the five families who had lived there: a wealthy landowner, a prosperous Jewish family, a renowned composer, a widow and her children, and a Stasi informant. The house had been the site of domestic bliss and of contentment, but also of terrible grief and tragedy. As its story began to take shape, Harding realized that there was a chance to save it, but in doing so, he would have to resolve his own family’s feelings towards their former homeland―and a hatred handed down through the generations

Took me just a week to read it.

Tauriel · 29-03-2021 10:54pm

The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callum MacDonald

Based on the true story of Operation Antropoid executed by Czech parachutists.

I would also highly recommend watching the movie Antropoid.

EmmetSpiceland · 29-03-2021 11:09pm

mustang shelly wrote: »

The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callum MacDonald

Based on the true story of Operation Antropoid executed by Czech parachutists.

I would also highly recommend watching the movie Antropoid.

‘HHhH’ by Laurent Binet is an excellent book on the same topic. Told in a rather interesting manner.

breezy1985 · 29-03-2021 11:16pm

mustang shelly wrote: »

The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Callum MacDonald

Based on the true story of Operation Antropoid executed by Czech parachutists.

I would also highly recommend watching the movie Antropoid.

HHhH on the same subject is also a good read but not as amazing as some of the reviews it got. Reminded me a lot of East West St. in structure

appledrop · 29-03-2021 11:18pm

gutenberg wrote: »

I have this on my TBR list. I loved her The Nightingale - if you haven't read it, then I really recommend it.

I have two books on the go. One is Jung Chang's Wild Swans. The other is Cal Newport's A World Without Email.

Thanks gutenberg, I have read the Nightingale also very good. Have you any other fiction your would recommended reading? I've a stack of non- fiction waiting for me to read but just not able for it at the moment!

Nigel Fairservice · 29-03-2021 11:21pm

I'm reading Hart's War by John Katzenbach as the moment. I saw the movie years ago and watched it again recently. The story has a German POW camp backdrop with a John Grisham style murder trial with ethical issues among the US captives as the plot. The book is a good deal different from the movie but I'm enjoying it. It's an interesting whodunit albeit a bit far fetched.

Loafing Oaf · 29-03-2021 11:29pm

The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price

Great stuff altogether

Dial Hard · 30-03-2021 9:12pm

Finished The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex today. It's a literary locked-room mystery involving three keepers who disappear from a tower lighthouse. Raced through it, but not sure I'd read it again. And I re-read everything, unless I actively hate it.

Fathom · 30-03-2021 9:19pm

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs.

gutenberg · 30-03-2021 10:09pm

appledrop wrote: »

Thanks gutenberg, I have read the Nightingale also very good. Have you any other fiction your would recommended reading? I've a stack of non- fiction waiting for me to read but just not able for it at the moment!

I read Hamnet over Christmas and loved it. I have Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’ waiting for me, looking forward to that. Anything by Margaret Atwood, and I also like a lot of Louis de Bernières’ work.

appledrop · 30-03-2021 10:41pm

gutenberg wrote: »

I read Hamnet over Christmas and loved it. I have Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’ waiting for me, looking forward to that. Anything by Margaret Atwood, and I also like a lot of Louis de Bernières’ work.

Thanks I've read Hamnet, it was brilliant even though I knew what was going to happen I kept hoping it wouldn't!

Yep read Margaret Atwood aswell, great writer.

I'm definitely going to look up the other two authors.

Thanks!

Dial Hard · 31-03-2021 7:33pm

Just starting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's almost a thousand pages and the type is *tiny* and extremely close-set, so let's see how long this takes.

mikhail · 31-03-2021 8:12pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Just starting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's almost a thousand pages and the type is *tiny* and extremely close-set, so let's see how long this takes.

I liked the premise very much, but it didn't really go anywhere that I found interesting with it.

New Home · 31-03-2021 8:20pm

mikhail wrote: »

I liked the premise very much, but it didn't really go anywhere that I found interesting with it.

Agreed, much ado about nothing, I found.

cee_jay · 31-03-2021 8:27pm

breezy1985 wrote: »

HHhH on the same subject is also a good read but not as amazing as some of the reviews it got. Reminded me a lot of East West St. in structure

I was not a fan of HHhH, the historical aspects were brilliant, but the segue back to the author's life annoyed me so much. I really didn't care for that.

I'm currently reading Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Kathnora · 31-03-2021 8:59pm

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (author of The Nightingale, The Great Alone, Firefly Lane ...)

A story set in the 1930s Dust Bowl of America. It follows the struggles of Elsa and her family as they battle years of drought and dust storms. People move west to California in search of a new start and a better life but many challenges and struggles to survive await them. It's a story of struggle and survival, a test of character too. Reading it sure put our own struggles with the pandemic in the shade!

Barna77 · 01-04-2021 9:36am

Reading two books at the moment

Stephen Clarke, A 1000 Years of Annoying the French. Quite self explanatory

And started the beast that is The Mirror and the Light.

Dial Hard · 01-04-2021 3:29pm

mikhail wrote: »

I liked the premise very much, but it didn't really go anywhere that I found interesting with it.

New Home wrote: »

Agreed, much ado about nothing, I found.

Ah rats.

TheRepentent · 01-04-2021 5:04pm

Dial Hard wrote: »

Ah rats.

Yeah I couldn't get into it at all ..maybe a 1/4 of the way through the book..never finished it...just found it seriously boring.

AlejGuzman68 · 01-04-2021 6:30pm

Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami.The book follows a group of dissolute Japanese youths in the mid-1970s, and is infused with themes of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll.

_Godot_ · 04-04-2021 12:42am

I just bought To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini on kindle for 91p. Figured I would give it a chance.

Loafing Oaf · 08-04-2021 12:57pm

Shakespearean: On Life & Language in Times of Disruption by Robert McCrum

Perfect reading for the times that's in it...

appledrop · 08-04-2021 1:00pm

Vickie Phelan, Overcoming.

Obviously I knew about the cancer but didn't realise the other tradgies she has had in her life.

pottokblue · 08-04-2021 3:26pm

Just finished Hamnet I'd recommend and am about to star one city one book leonard and hungry paul

bnt · 09-04-2021 4:49pm

Today I finished "Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?" by Alyssa Mastromonaco, which is mostly about her time in the White House (2009-14), in two roles in the Obama administrations. Alyssa was possibility the most senior person there who wasn't in the media spotlight.

If you have any lingering fantasy that working in the White House might be glamorous, this is the book to fix that. Near the start there's a little story about getting feminine sanitary products in the women's toilets - which are apparently bog-standard - and how she managed that. There were no objections to supplying them, once she raised the issue, it's just that everyone had been too busy with other stuff.

The book is a fun read, not all doom and gloom about the brutal workload. Obama pops in occasionally to raise a disapproving eyebrow, and there's even some romance. Alyssa's second role was Deputy Chief of Staff - like Josh Lyman in The West Wing - and by the end the exhaustion gets to her and she has to leave for the sake of her health.

gmisk · 10-04-2021 1:31am

Last one at the party.

Its a bit of an odd mix...Bridget Jones meets a global deadly pandemic, but easy reading so far.

I also devoured James Acasters book Classic Scrapes, just a collection of silly stories really but hugely enjoyable if you like his standup.

Tauriel · 10-04-2021 11:04am

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

This would of been a superb espionage novel if only the whole Dominika, (the sparrow and main character), seeing coloured halos over peoples heads which enables her to accurately read peoples emotions/intentions was dropped. Otherwise, very entertaining read when the halos weren't mentioned.

Also didn't get the idea around having to mention food in each chapter so that a recipe could be thrown in at the end of chapters

Graces7 · 10-04-2021 2:05pm

Oh I am rich !

A kind friend sent me not just "Lord of the Rings" as I lost my copy in the move before last, but "The Hobbit" AND "Sillmariliion" as well...

The sheer luxury of being warm abed with my favourite books.. so I am being careful and ekeing it all out...

They are books that give more with each reading

sporina · 10-04-2021 5:10pm

pottokblue wrote: »

Just finished Hamnet I'd recommend and am about to star one city one book leonard and hungry paul

started Leonard and Hungry Paul myself last night.. promising so far

sporina · 10-04-2021 5:13pm

bodhrandude wrote: »

Just read the two books about Afghanistan called The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini which were amazing and traumatic at the same time, especially the passages about the Taliban. Just now I've started another book by author Christy Lefteri called The Beekeeper of Aleppo that is as equally good based on refugees fleeing Syria and settling in the UK, also about Isis and Assad destroying that beautiful city, definitely an Eastern journey I'm in at the moment.

Big Hosseini fan here - loved And the Mountains echoed too...

ClydeTallyBump · 11-04-2021 3:54pm

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

A very quirky book about a 'social misfit' who works in a convenience store.

mikemac2 · 11-04-2021 4:02pm

Homicide: A year on the killing streets by David Simon

I saw the TV production of this a long time ago. Both the TV show and the book are super

A journalist spent a year with the Baltimore homicide detective department.

It's an amazing book and gives lots of things you might never learn. Like how to convince a suspect to talk and sign away his right to a lawyer. All human life sure isn't equal and a drug gang murder will get investigated but a tourist murdered in a good part of town will get unlimited overtime and pressure from the top brass and media. I suppose is the same in all countries really. Everything is so needlessly political

I love this book

Thargor · 11-04-2021 10:26pm

Reading Homocide now thanks, forgot I already had it for some reason.

Arghus · 12-04-2021 8:10pm

I always mean to religiously update this thread after each book, but I always forget and then there's a few in one go, anyway:

An Instance of The Fingerpost by Iain Pears - Really excellent historical mystery set in the 17th century. An initally simple enough story is re-told from differing perspectives. Works equally well as a page turner and as an exploration of the political and social world of that period. One of a kind this book. Highly recommended.

Real Life by Brandon Taylor - Campus novel of a young gay black man coming of age in a predominantly white American University. While it contained some insight, obviously hard won from lived experience and might appeal to some people, I found it overwrought, extremely overwritten and weirdly unaffecting. Pretty hum-drum.

Notes From an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O' Connell - Great literary non fiction. Partially about time the author spent with those planning and making money off any potential future global cataclysm, but also a deeper investigation into what anxieties we feel - or at least should feel - in a world that can often appear to be irredeemably fcked. O' Connell is a great writer: articulate, knowledgeable but honest and perceptive. Thought it was a great read to be honest.

Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey Williams - Whistle stop tour through the history - discovery, use, cultural history - of a proportion of the elements. Meh, it was occasionally interesting, but it was a pretty scattershot affair. It wasn't rigorous enough to really teach me anything that will stick or whimsical enough to keep me fully entertained. A bit of a chore.

Angynomics by Eric Longeran and Mark Blyth - Very interesting and persuasive overview of the economic causes, problems because of and potential solutions to global anger, its economic drivers and its political ramifications. There's a bit of everything in here - economic and social history, theory, prognostication and forecasting. A lot of the book is about anger, but it's also fundamentally optimistic about what can be done to assuage it. It's robust enough, but also quite easy to get through. Recommended.

Aglomerado · 12-04-2021 8:58pm

Arghus wrote: »

I always mean to religiously update this thread after each book, but I always forget and then there's a few in one go, anyway:

An Instance of The Fingerpost by Iain Pears - Really excellent historical mystery set in the 17th century. An initally simple enough story is re-told from differing perspectives. Works equally well as a page turner and as an exploration of the political and social world of that period. One of a kind this book. Highly recommended.

Real Life by Brandon Taylor - Campus novel of a young gay black man coming of age in a predominantly white American University. While it contained some insight, obviously hard won from lived experience and might appeal to some people, I found it overwrought, extremely overwritten and weirdly unaffecting. Pretty hum-drum.

Notes From an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back by Mark O' Connell - Great literary non fiction. Partially about time the author spent with those planning and making money off any potential future global cataclysm, but also a deeper investigation into what anxieties we feel - or at least should feel - in a world that can often appear to be irredeemably fcked. O' Connell is a great writer: articulate, knowledgeable but honest and perceptive. Thought it was a great read to be honest.

Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey Williams - Whistle stop tour through the history - discovery, use, cultural history - of a proportion of the elements. Meh, it was occasionally interesting, but it was a pretty scattershot affair. It wasn't rigorous enough to really teach me anything that will stick or whimsical enough to keep me fully entertained. A bit of a chore.

Angynomics by Eric Longeran and Mark Blyth - Very interesting and persuasive overview of the economic causes, problems because of and potential solutions to global anger, its economic drivers and its political ramifications. There's a bit of everything in here - economic and social history, theory, prognostication and forecasting. A lot of the book is about anger, but it's also fundamentally optimistic about what can be done to assuage it. It's robust enough, but also quite easy to get through. Recommended.

Plus one on An Instance of the Fingerpost. I got it as a gift over 20 years ago and would never part with it. I like to revisit it every few years.

Arghus · 12-04-2021 9:26pm

Aglomerado wrote: »

Plus one on An Instance of the Fingerpost. I got it as a gift over 20 years ago and would never part with it. I like to revisit it every few years.

An outstanding book. It's got it all really. It's extremely entertaining, involving and amazingly researched. The best historical fiction I've read, after Flashman, of course.

Whestsidestory · 12-04-2021 9:43pm

The moth and the mountain really enjoyed it a great story of a man who attempted to fly to Everest base camp and climb from there

nigeldaniel · 13-04-2021 12:01pm

I just got my hands on a 1990's edition of Wind In The Willows, K Grahame. It's a great read and a nice trip back to when I was a lad.

Loafing Oaf · 13-04-2021 2:20pm

Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II, by Linda Porter

Not nearly as saucy as the title suggests, but still an illuminating exploration of a (to me) fascinating era

Tauriel · 15-04-2021 2:50pm

The Diary of A Young Girl - Anne Frank

Finally got around to reading this.

fixXxer · 15-04-2021 3:29pm

mustang shelly wrote: »

The Diary of A Young Girl - Anne Frank

Finally got around to reading this.

I remember visiting her hiding place when I was over in the Netherlands. I cannot imagine what it was like staying in that tiny space for all that time, without all the modern conveniences we take for granted.

What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

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