This week I have been reading
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Three factual books that I recently finished.
Flash Boys - Michael Lewis: How big money financiers continue to ride roughshod over the rest of us. It may not be illegal but it is extremely immoral. Excellent.
Becoming Steve Jobs - Brent Schlender: Even better than the official autobiography. Fascinating insight into this intriguing man and the company that is Apple.
Hack Attack, How the truth caught up with Rupert Murdoch: This really opened my eyes, hadn't realised quite how endemic hacking had been in the newspaper industry. Reads almost like a novel.
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The Mongol Empire .. John Man .. you think that Islamic State are bad .. they have nothing on Genghis and his merry men1
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Viv Albertine - Clothes music boys, A memoir.0
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Good choice Badger ...great book1
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Badgerlands - The twilight world of Britain's most enigmatic animal
by Patrick Barkham (Granta, 2013)0 -
Just finished XO by Jeffrey Deaver. A riveting murder mystery, but it does have a rather ludicrous plot twist that even in the world of fiction is a bit far fetched.0
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under standing the border collie.0
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A Naked Singularity - Sergio de la Pava0
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Look Who's Back - Timur Vermes
Hitler suddenly reappears 66 years after his death and has not aged. A genuinely amusing book about his experiences in an age of social media.1 -
Deliverance by James dickey. If you've seen the film it is still a good read
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The Martian - Andy Weir. Robinson Crusoe in space. Only 100 pages in but gripping.0
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Foul - Andrew Jennings had it for a while and under the circumstances thought now was a good time to start reading it. Mind blowing what was going on then can't imagine anything has improved1
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Just finished the Red Riding Quartet by David Pearce and now onto the Damned United.0
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'The Valley of Unknowing' - Philip Sington
A genuinely fantastic story of a highly decorated author of a socialist-realist popular classic, which has given him a protected status in East Germany, who publishes a critical book in the West.
Not a lot I can write here that doesn't spoil the plot but at £8 on amazon, it is an £8 very well spent.0 -
Anyone read much Eric Newby?
Re-read Love and War in the Appenines which is a great read but don't know any of his other stuff.
Have just bought the new Tracy Thorn book and Zeppelin Nights for holiday.
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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. A dense, doorstop of a book. It's going to be months before I finish it, and that's without the hundreds and hundreds of often funny footnotes. Anyway, a tennis academy called ETA, Quebecois separatists, a promising child tennis star who thinks he's saying incredibly insightful and erudite things but is actually only making loud grunting noises and 'waggling' his arms, and the mysterious film of the title, made by the kid's dad, which basically renders you helpless so you can only watch it over and over again. That's a very, very, VERY simple plot outline.
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'January Window' .. Philip Kerr .. an amusing whodunit based about a fictitious east end football club .. no spoilers here .. for those who have never read any Kerr, he has written a variety of terrific novels .. try the 'Bernie Gunter' series1
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if you enjoy Newby you must also like Patrick Leigh Fermor, though I understand from his biography that sometimes the line between fact and fiction in some of his work can be somewhat blurred .. probably true of most travel and adventure writers thoughHenry Irving said:Anyone read much Eric Newby?
Re-read Love and War in the Appenines which is a great read but don't know any of his other stuff.
Have just bought the new Tracy Thorn book and Zeppelin Nights for holiday.1 -
You missed the drugs rehab centre...hawksmoor said:Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. A dense, doorstop of a book. It's going to be months before I finish it, and that's without the hundreds and hundreds of often funny footnotes. Anyway, a tennis academy called ETA, Quebecois separatists, a promising child tennis star who thinks he's saying incredibly insightful and erudite things but is actually only making loud grunting noises and 'waggling' his arms, and the mysterious film of the title, made by the kid's dad, which basically renders you helpless so you can only watch it over and over again. That's a very, very, VERY simple plot outline.
Amazing book. Will read it again some day soon.
I'm reading Seasons in the Sun by Dominic Sandbrook - the UK 194-79. Glad I was only a kid and wasn't aware of just how depressing it all was then.
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I love Eric Newby's writing, and would happily recommend them all, but particularly a Short Walk in The Hindu Kush.Lincsaddick said:
if you enjoy Newby you must also like Patrick Leigh Fermor, though I understand from his biography that sometimes the line between fact and fiction in some of his work can be somewhat blurred .. probably true of most travel and adventure writers thoughHenry Irving said:Anyone read much Eric Newby?
Re-read Love and War in the Appenines which is a great read but don't know any of his other stuff.
Have just bought the new Tracy Thorn book and Zeppelin Nights for holiday.
I first discovered him off the back of a Paul Theroux interview where he described him as his own favourite travel writer. I'll try Lincs suggestion now!
Currently enjoying Floodlights and Touchlines by Rob Steen...brings an obviously broad love of sport together to tell the story of how professional and spectator games developed.1 - Sponsored links:
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Cheers mate, I've ordered A small place in Italy and Something Wholesale so will go from there.Swerve said:
I love Eric Newby's writing, and would happily recommend them all, but particularly a Short Walk in The Hindu Kush.Lincsaddick said:
if you enjoy Newby you must also like Patrick Leigh Fermor, though I understand from his biography that sometimes the line between fact and fiction in some of his work can be somewhat blurred .. probably true of most travel and adventure writers thoughHenry Irving said:Anyone read much Eric Newby?
Re-read Love and War in the Appenines which is a great read but don't know any of his other stuff.
Have just bought the new Tracy Thorn book and Zeppelin Nights for holiday.
I first discovered him off the back of a Paul Theroux interview where he described him as his own favourite travel writer. I'll try Lincs suggestion now!
Currently enjoying Floodlights and Touchlines by Rob Steen...brings an obviously broad love of sport together to tell the story of how professional and spectator games developed.0 -
Yes, very goodSwerve said:
I love Eric Newby's writing, and would happily recommend them all, but particularly a Short Walk in The Hindu Kush.Lincsaddick said:
if you enjoy Newby you must also like Patrick Leigh Fermor, though I understand from his biography that sometimes the line between fact and fiction in some of his work can be somewhat blurred .. probably true of most travel and adventure writers thoughHenry Irving said:Anyone read much Eric Newby?
Re-read Love and War in the Appenines which is a great read but don't know any of his other stuff.
Have just bought the new Tracy Thorn book and Zeppelin Nights for holiday.0 -
Just started The Circle on a recommendation. Anyone read it, like/dislike it?0
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I started it, but didn't think it was going anywhere.EastTerrace said:Just started The Circle on a recommendation. Anyone read it, like/dislike it?
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I enjoyed itEastTerrace said:Just started The Circle on a recommendation. Anyone read it, like/dislike it?
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Good concept badly executed. Clunky dialogue, one-dimensional characters and some extraordinarily predictable plot twists.EastTerrace said:Just started The Circle on a recommendation. Anyone read it, like/dislike it?
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The Battle for the Valley by some bloke called Rick Everitt. So much better than the original, because this edition has my noble profile on the back cover...
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never noticed that, so it has ... more hair then P ;-)Algarveaddick said:The Battle for the Valley by some bloke called Rick Everitt. So much better than the original, because this edition has my noble profile on the back cover...
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Considerably more... :-(stonemuse said:
never noticed that, so it has ... more hair then P ;-)Algarveaddick said:The Battle for the Valley by some bloke called Rick Everitt. So much better than the original, because this edition has my noble profile on the back cover...
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Finders Keepers - Stephen King
Not a sequel, but includes some of the characters from Mr Mercedes. Enjoyed this a lot, excellent thriller. Stephen King fans (eg. Lincsaddick/Fanny) will like this.
And the way it ends makes it look like he may use some of the characters again, quite unusual for his books.1
