Favourite non sci-fi Banks: The Bridge, Espedair Street, The Crow Road, The Wasp Factory. Favourite sci-fi (M) Banks - Player of Games, Use of Weapons, Excession.
He wrote a book about whisky as well, which was very good
I loved Excession, and Look to Windward. Ian Bainks was a tremendous writer, and sadly missed. I just finished the third part of Holary Msntells trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, the Mirror and the Light. The previous two were do good they drove me into reading up about the whole Tufor period, and this one is a very good read too. Recommendedm
I loved Excession, and Look to Windward. Ian Bainks was a tremendous writer, and sadly missed. I just finished the third part of Holary Msntells trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, the Mirror and the Light. The previous two were do good they drove me into reading up about the whole Tufor period, and this one is a very good read too. Recommendedm
Hic !
Sadly, that's just fat fingers, rather than a cheeky piss up in the garden.
Skin by Mo Hayder. Fourth in the Jack Caffery series, the second set around Bristol. Two intriguing plots interwoven, a slight undertone of the supernatural, but not enough to make it silly - better than the previous book and it keeps you wanting to read more.
The Patient Assassin, I was in the garden early April 2019......
From Wiki
A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj is a 2019 book based on the life of Indian revolutionary Udham Singh. Authored by Anita Anand, it was published by Simon and Schuster UK in April 2019 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre in Amritsar, India
A while ago someone on here recommended the Ken Follett Century trilogy of books, i.e. Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity. I decided to read them starting in early March and finished the third volume yesterday. Around 2,800 pages in total.
Really enjoyable. Historical novels following several generations of a handful of families in Britain (aristocracy and Welsh mining), the USA, Russia and Germany starting from just before WWI through to the election of Barrack Obama. Lots of connections build between the families over the generations, involvement in politics, the military, pop music etc.
Would highly recommend reading the whole trilogy. It has certainly helped pass time during the lockdown.
I’m a third of the way through Jeff Vandermeer’s SF novel Dead Astronauts. He writes with great humour and freedom, a character called Moss , who is actually moss (the plant) is just playing frisbee...
A while ago someone on here recommended the Ken Follett Century trilogy of books, i.e. Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity. I decided to read them starting in early March and finished the third volume yesterday. Around 2,800 pages in total.
Really enjoyable. Historical novels following several generations of a handful of families in Britain (aristocracy and Welsh mining), the USA, Russia and Germany starting from just before WWI through to the election of Barrack Obama. Lots of connections build between the families over the generations, involvement in politics, the military, pop music etc.
Would highly recommend reading the whole trilogy. It hasn't certainly helped pass time during the lockdown.
I’ve just started the third book of this trilogy. Very enjoyable read.
Broken Ground - Val McDermid. Cracking detective thriller. Clever plot, well written, well told story and characters that you really empathize with. Or in the case of the baddies, hate. Karen Pirie, the heroine is someone you really want to root for. Real page turner, recommend it highly.
I recently finished John Nivens latest novel the fuck it list
About a late middle aged man diagnosed with terminal cancer and had some rotten luck setting out to avenge perceived slights against him. Like all John Niven books he has the capacity to really tickle my funny bone but this one whilst obviously being bleak was really bleak and there were not any characters I felt invested in.
He has written some genuine crackers and has had a few misses, this one was one of the misses.
recent, decent reads (I am getting serious eye ache)
Orwell - A Man of our Time .. comparing Orwell's 'predictions' with contemporary times, also a decent biography
Goliath - A damning of modern military spending, thoery and tactics
The Rules of Contagion - Why they start and how they stop (including 'addictions' to e.g. twitter, mob violence/panic etc)
The Grid .. Novel re protecting POTUS, psychic injuries .. decent 'thriller'
David Cameron's autobiography
No wonder you are getting eye ache! 🧐 🙂
not all read in a week, but over 20 days or so .. I have just had 2 books delivered by my friendly post lady .. Bezonomics, how Jeff has come to rule the world and one of my favourite 'Prey' series by John Sandford, one I read a few years back but have mislaid .. the Prey series comes highly recommended.
I've finally finished Barbarossa by Alan Clark. Superb book written in 1964.
I'm about to revisit The Greatest Battle - The Fight For Moscow 1941-42 - by Andrew Nagorski. I read it on holiday a few years back but that was probably more of a skim-read. I'll read it properly now.
In normal times, I try not to buy new paperbacks but use the many Charity shops in Tunbridge Wells ...and return the books afterwards for resale.
However, I recently found my stash had been reduced to a single unread tome & was forced to use Amazon to replenish my stock.
I'm pretty sure that the author Peter May has already been mentioned on this thread - I was introduced to his books by our son and have sought them since then.
So, I ordered his latest called Lockdown.
In the foreword, Peter relates how, in 2005, he was finding difficulties in securing a publisher for the book he had finished writing, so ,as a distraction, started to research a crime novel set against a backdrop of a bird flu pandemic. He continues that, at this time, scientists were predicting that H5N1 would probably be the next flu pandemic....He had already researched the Spanish Flu for one of his "China Thrillers" (Snakehead) so it was a topic in which he was pretty well versed. But, he adds, nothing had prepared him for what his research into H5N1 turned up & the horrors that a bird flu pandemic would unleash on the world.
During a 6 week spell of burning the midnight oil, he wrote Lockdown but it was never published. British editors at that time thought his portrayal of London under siege by this invisible enemy was unrealistic, in spite of what his research had shown.
Once covid 19 began to ravage the world, the book was eagerly snapped up by those who had rejected it 15 years earlier...
I am halfway through it now and it's pretty decent .
However, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed his 6 books under the heading of The China Thrillers & would definitely recommend them as worth seeking out.
The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg. First in a series recommended by @Eynsfordaddick - thanks for that. Very good read, good plot and excellent characterisation. It's a slow burn to start, but develops into a proper page turner. Look forward to the next in the series.
The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg. First in a series recommended by @Eynsfordaddick - thanks for that. Very good read, good plot and excellent characterisation. It's a slow burn to start, but develops into a proper page turner. Look forward to the next in the series.
Glad you enjoyed it! I must get the first one as my friend gave me number 5 in the series.
Innocent Graves by Peter Robinson. Classic DCI Banks novel, an intriguing plot with plenty of red herrings and blind alleys. I recently re-watched the TV version, which is very loosely based around the book, as so often the tele version is not as good.
ENGLAND The Biography The Story of English Cricket 1877-2019 Simon Wilde
Have almost finished the 600+ page book. It’s packed with facts and statistics of course, going back to WG, but it’s the behind the scenes stuff and the very politics of cricket which make it a great read for any cricket - especially Test Match Cricket - fan. I especially enjoyed the ‘50s and ‘60s and the many references to Colin Cowdrey and Peter May etc
Peter James, Love You Dead. One of the Roy Grace series, and one of the best. Gripping from start to finish, three or four different threads, the return of an old foe plus the ongoing saga of Grace's missing ex wife keep you turning the pages.
My internet didn't work yesterday so i used the opportunity and finally read Brave NewWorld by Aldous Huxley. What can i say, it's a masterpiece and frighteningly accurate. I wonder what would Huxley say about society in 2019. I guess he wouldn't be overly surprised. Just another dot on the straight line he had calculated long time ago, all within statistical error.
The Bat by Jo Nesbo. The first Harry Hole novel. Surprisingly set in Australia, it takes a while to get off the ground and is not a page turner until the last couple of chapters, but does demand your attention. Having read one of his later novels you can see how he gets better as time goes on. Sometimes the translation from Norwegian to English does seem a little clumsy, but mostly it holds up well.
Comments
@Lincsaddick @Fanny Fanackapan
Puk Damsgard
Harrowing story of his treatment at the hands of the British jihadis 'the beatles'
Now onto My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.
From Wiki
Really enjoyable. Historical novels following several generations of a handful of families in Britain (aristocracy and Welsh mining), the USA, Russia and Germany starting from just before WWI through to the election of Barrack Obama. Lots of connections build between the families over the generations, involvement in politics, the military, pop music etc.
Would highly recommend reading the whole trilogy. It has certainly helped pass time during the lockdown.
About a late middle aged man diagnosed with terminal cancer and had some rotten luck setting out to avenge perceived slights against him. Like all John Niven books he has the capacity to really tickle my funny bone but this one whilst obviously being bleak was really bleak and there were not any characters I felt invested in.
He has written some genuine crackers and has had a few misses, this one was one of the misses.
Orwell - A Man of our Time .. comparing Orwell's 'predictions' with contemporary times, also a decent biography
Goliath - A damning of modern military spending, thoery and tactics
The Rules of Contagion - Why they start and how they stop (including 'addictions' to e.g. twitter, mob violence/panic etc)
The Grid .. Novel re protecting POTUS, psychic injuries .. decent 'thriller'
David Cameron's autobiography
I'm about to revisit The Greatest Battle - The Fight For Moscow 1941-42 - by Andrew Nagorski. I read it on holiday a few years back but that was probably more of a skim-read. I'll read it properly now.
However, I recently found my stash had been reduced to a single unread tome & was forced to use Amazon to replenish my stock.
I'm pretty sure that the author Peter May has already been mentioned on this thread - I was introduced to his books by our son and have sought them since then.
So, I ordered his latest called Lockdown.
In the foreword, Peter relates how, in 2005, he was finding difficulties in securing a publisher for the book he had finished writing, so ,as a distraction, started to research a crime novel set against a backdrop of a bird flu pandemic. He continues that, at this time, scientists were predicting that H5N1 would probably be the next flu pandemic....He had already researched the Spanish Flu for one of his "China Thrillers" (Snakehead) so it was a topic in which he was pretty well versed. But, he adds, nothing had prepared him for what his research into H5N1 turned up & the horrors that a bird flu pandemic would unleash on the world.
During a 6 week spell of burning the midnight oil, he wrote Lockdown but it was never published. British editors at that time thought his portrayal of London under siege by this invisible enemy was unrealistic, in spite of what his research had shown.
Once covid 19 began to ravage the world, the book was eagerly snapped up by those who had rejected it 15 years earlier...
I am halfway through it now and it's pretty decent .
However, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed his 6 books under the heading of The China Thrillers & would definitely recommend them as worth seeking out.
The Biography
The Story of English Cricket 1877-2019
Simon Wilde
Have almost finished the 600+ page book. It’s packed with facts and statistics of course, going back to WG, but it’s the behind the scenes stuff and the very politics of cricket which make it a great read for any cricket - especially Test Match Cricket - fan. I especially enjoyed the ‘50s and ‘60s and the many references to Colin Cowdrey and Peter May etc