Magnus Mills - The Restraint of Beasts. Darkly humorous, and - like everything else he's written - vaguely unsettling Christian Wolmar- Broken Rails. Dissects how bad privatisation was for the railways - specifically Railtrack Matthew Gast - 802.11n: A Survivial Guide. A riveting read from start to finish (not)
I've been given a copy of this and am about to begin. Enjoyed 'The Maintenance of Headway', Mills' semi-autobiographical account of driving London buses.
Magnus Mills - The Restraint of Beasts. Darkly humorous, and - like everything else he's written - vaguely unsettling Christian Wolmar- Broken Rails. Dissects how bad privatisation was for the railways - specifically Railtrack Matthew Gast - 802.11n: A Survivial Guide. A riveting read from start to finish (not)
Wagons West The epic storey of Americas overland trails by Frank McLynn. Real cowboy and Indian stuff. Fascinating.
I really enjoyed this one (what I can remember of it) .. I've been doing fiction .. 'Doctor Sleep' by Stephen King .. he's almost back to his old best .. and that is brilliant bordering on genius
I was hoping for that one in my Christmas stocking, Lincs...
Wagons West The epic storey of Americas overland trails by Frank McLynn. Real cowboy and Indian stuff. Fascinating.
I really enjoyed this one (what I can remember of it) .. I've been doing fiction .. 'Doctor Sleep' by Stephen King .. he's almost back to his old best .. and that is brilliant bordering on genius
I was hoping for that one in my Christmas stocking, Lincs...
Will wait now until it's in paperback.
was in Tesco early this morning .. Dr Sleep is in there (admittedly in Cleethorpes) for £7 .. bargain (:>) .. that's hardback of course
Wagons West The epic storey of Americas overland trails by Frank McLynn. Real cowboy and Indian stuff. Fascinating.
I really enjoyed this one (what I can remember of it) .. I've been doing fiction .. 'Doctor Sleep' by Stephen King .. he's almost back to his old best .. and that is brilliant bordering on genius
I was hoping for that one in my Christmas stocking, Lincs...
Will wait now until it's in paperback.
was in Tesco early this morning .. Dr Sleep is in there (admittedly in Cleethorpes) for £7 .. bargain (:>) .. that's hardback of course
Doctor Sleep - Stephen King I was riveted and spent the first half the book thinking it was his best ever. Slightly disappointed at the ease with which the threat was despatched
Doctor Sleep - Stephen King I was riveted and spent the first half the book thinking it was his best ever. Slightly disappointed at the ease with which the threat was despatched
I agree with this .. unfortunately a very muddled and slightly ridiculous finish .. but the master is coming back into form .. a follow up to 'The Stand' would be good .. so long as SK does not waffle on toooo much .. ((:>)
Has anyone read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian? After struggling for a few weeks I finished it last night. I'm still pondering the ending, what a brutal book. I won't say much in case anyone does decide to read it, I'm not sure I've read anything that shocking. Some chapters were a hard going and it can be difficult to follow but it'll definitely be getting a re-read at some point.
Ender's Game was alright, a bit too 'this happened and that happened and then this'. I re-read Animal Farm, still great. I also have Of Mice and Men to go back to after many years.
Has anyone read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian? After struggling for a few weeks I finished it last night. I'm still pondering the ending, what a brutal book. I won't say much in case anyone does decide to read it but what a truly shocking novel. Some chapters were a hard going and it can be difficult to follow but it'll definitely be getting a re-read at some point.
I found it very difficult in many ways. Difficult to follow in places. Difficult to read in others. It's an extraordinary book but so dark that I can't imagine wanting to re-read it.
I've also read Blood Meridian. I thought it was excellent. Jeez, the Judge was a piece of work. Last I head, it was being mooted as a film. That'll be a grim watch.
Currently on Charlie Brooker's "I Can make you Hate". A collection of writing and broadcast scripts from 2009 - 2012. Usual amusing acidic take on media goings on. Poor sod doesn't half have to watch some dog-poo (so we don't have to). Also surprised how stories from 2009 seem like they were last week - that's getting old for ya...
Wagons West The epic storey of Americas overland trails by Frank McLynn. Real cowboy and Indian stuff. Fascinating.
I really enjoyed this one (what I can remember of it) .. I've been doing fiction .. 'Doctor Sleep' by Stephen King .. he's almost back to his old best .. and that is brilliant bordering on genius
Doctor Sleep - Stephen King I was riveted and spent the first half the book thinking it was his best ever. Slightly disappointed at the ease with which the threat was despatched
I agree with this .. unfortunately a very muddled and slightly ridiculous finish .. but the master is coming back into form .. a follow up to 'The Stand' would be good .. so long as SK does not waffle on toooo much .. ((:>)
I've also read Blood Meridian. I thought it was excellent. Jeez, the Judge was a piece of work. Last I head, it was being mooted as a film. That'll be a grim watch.
It is certainly a grower, I nearly gave up but it was hugely rewarding in the end. A film definitely has potential and a visual version of the ending would be great but it could lose a little of McCarthy's detailed imagery. I really liked the long paragraphs where he'd ramble about the sun and what-not.
I'm currently reading Watership Down for the first time in 10 years. It's bloody brilliant.
I'm reading Morrissey's book. Not even a huge fan of him or The Smiths, but I'm enjoying it. Really evocative passages of growing up in Sixties Manchester. Now we're into The Smiths era and, well, it seems he's set out to right a few wrongs. One of his bug bears is that, whenever he mentioned Thatcher in interviews, the music journos would always write it up as 'Maggie'. He'd end up storming into the offices of music journalists shouting, 'Why did you write that I said Maggie. I never said Maggie, I said Thatcher.'
You can see how he has a reputation for being a laugh a minute.
'Koba the Dread' .. Martin Amis's take on Lenin, Stalin, the Russian revolution and the USSR .. a frightening book about totalitarianism, terror tactics, the abuse of power and seriously large numbers of mass murders. Amis's heart is in the right place but the book rambles and is a wee bit repetitive .. I still enjoyed it though, if 'enjoyed' is the right word for a rather disturbing reading experience
EDIT: I forgot to add that although Amis is known as a writer of fiction, 'Koba the Dread' is his take on real, 'factual' history
Comments
:-)
Will wait now until it's in paperback.
I was riveted and spent the first half the book thinking it was his best ever.
Slightly disappointed at the ease with which the threat was despatched
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0847811867#immersive_view?1389538716657
Ender's Game was alright, a bit too 'this happened and that happened and then this'. I re-read Animal Farm, still great. I also have Of Mice and Men to go back to after many years.
The saga of liver eating Johnson
real boys stuff and not very pc.
Fortunately my girlfriend has assured me it's all lies and Mao was a fantastic man.
I'm currently reading Watership Down for the first time in 10 years. It's bloody brilliant.
You can see how he has a reputation for being a laugh a minute.
Amis's heart is in the right place but the book rambles and is a wee bit repetitive .. I still enjoyed it though, if 'enjoyed' is the right word for a rather disturbing reading experience
EDIT: I forgot to add that although Amis is known as a writer of fiction, 'Koba the Dread' is his take on real, 'factual' history
Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake - Sci-fi for a change of scenery, I'm making quick progress but am hitting a bit of reader's block.