This week I have been reading

Dippenhall

Jints said:

North Lower Neil said:

robinofottershaw said:

Am sure this will have been recommended already as I am late to it, but have recently finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I believe it is currently being adapted for TV with Ewan McGregor. It really is one of the best books I have read in the past few years.

Have also just finished the first of the Shardlake novels by C.J. Sansom set in the 16th century around the time of the dissolution of the monasteries under Cromwell. Latter day murder mysteries and gives you a real flavour of the times.

Completely agree, great book - probably my favourite from those I read last year.

Excellent book. His other two (Rules of Civility and thr Lincoln Highway) are also really good.

Must admit I struggled to relate to the character in A Gentleman in Moscow until a few chapters in, then when I did, I re-read from the beginning. Enthralling story and I love plots set in real locations which seem to make everything believable. Call me weird but at the end I had to google the hotel to see if it was still standing. The hotel website has images of the hall and the fountain and the balcony which I found reassuring were exactly as visualised from the narrative. 

Algarveaddick

The Satsuma Complex - Bob Mortimer. Absolutley loved it. You don't need an audio book as it's Bob's voice in your head all the way through. Great plot and characters as well as quite a few laughs. Mind you if you don't like surreal humour it might not be the book for you...   

North Lower Neil

Algarveaddick said:

The Satsuma Complex - Bob Mortimer. Absolutley loved it. You don't need an audio book as it's Bob's voice in your head all the way through. Great plot and characters as well as quite a few laughs. Mind you if you don't like surreal humour it might not be the book for you...   

To be fair I really liked the audiobook.  Them accidentally leaving Sally Phillips saying "oh bollocks" after messing a line up in it also helped.

Algarveaddick

Straight Outta Crawley - Romesh Ranganathan. Autobiography/memoir of the comedian. Very honest, self depricating account of his life. He's very honest about his shortcomings, to the point where you quite dislike him at times, but also very funny at other times. Probably the most abrupt ending of any book I have read...   

thickandthin63

Just finished Twp Women by Martina Cole,this lady has been writing for 25 years or more and mostly about East End Life,you would think she would run out of stories,but once again this book is an absolute blinder,look forward to reading her latest called Loyalty.Also bough Ken Follets 5th book of the Kingsbridge series for my son,hope he reads  it quick as after reading the first four this is a must for me.

jacob_CAFC

Finished Ringworld by Larry Niven. I'd love to hear some opinions of it from people who read it in the 70s as it really doesn't hold up well in 2023. The only two women in the book are laughably written. Didn't think it was that good

Algarveaddick

Not Dark Yet - Peter Robinson. The penultimate DCI Banks novel. Good as ever, it would just about work as a standalone, but the two stories have so many threads that link, this is the first Banks book where I would recommend you read the previous book in the series (Many Rivers to Cross) first. The murder that ended the last book is investigated in this one, and Zelda (Bank's friend who was the sex slave in eastern Europe) continues her search for her abusers. The two threads interweave brilliantly and keep you turning the page to the end. So sad that the next book is the last.   
 

blackheathcanuck

I am reading Citizen Clem: A biography of Atlee by John Bew. I will let you know what I think when I finish it, probably late 2025, a monster book! So far, it's very enlightening, for a foreigner like myself.

Algarveaddick

Perfect People - Peter James. Very different from his normal detective or supernatural stuff. It deals with genetic engineering and is very thought provoking as well as being a good read. Well, eventually it's a good read - bit of a slow start, but no so much so that you are tempted to give up on it. Well researched as all his books are, it does leave you wondering "What if?" at the end.    

Jints

blackheathcanuck said:

I am reading Citizen Clem: A biography of Atlee by John Bew. I will let you know what I think when I finish it, probably late 2025, a monster book! So far, it's very enlightening, for a foreigner like myself.

It's a good biography. If only we had politicians of that calibre today. It's touching that him and Chruchill remained close right up to the latter's death. 

EveshamAddick

Surrender by Bono. It’s ok, like U2’s music, it’s a bit plodding..

Algarveaddick

10lb Penalty by Dick Francis. Staying at a mate's while the kitchen is refurbed and it was one of the books on his shelf. Read one ages ago, and do you know what, I have no idea why I have not read more. It is a cracking read. Combining horse racing (of course) and politics in a story about a flourishing relationship between a late teenage son and his until-now distant father. The characters are superb, and aforesaid father and son very easy to like. It isn't a complicated book and the villain of the piece is revealed reasonably early, but it is great fun in a boys own style, and some of Francis' descriptions are delicious. Makes a good holiday read. 

Raith_C_Chattonell

Erebus: The story of a ship (Michael Palin)

Basically about Erebus and sister ship Terror, their crews and their voyages into the Polar regions.  James Clark Ross led a mission to the Antarctic 1839 - 1943.  John Franklin led an expedition seeking the NW passage, using the same ships in 1845. His family waved goodbye to him from Greenhithe in what was to prove a final time. 

What these mariners achieved in their heroic journeys into the unknown, as they pressed ever closer to the Southern magnetic Pole and the NW passage is almost beyond belief. 

On Thursday 7th September 1843 Erebus and Terror arrived in Woolwich.  For four years Erebus had been home to 63 men: a cramped and crowded home that had been flung about in countless storms, lashed with breaking waves, bent by shrieking winds, bruised and battered by advancing ice, frozen stiff and smashed in collision.

The Franklin expedition was to spend three successive winters in the Arctic seeking the NW passage before all the men perished.  There were over 40 missions sent to seek and rescue them.  The John Franklin and crew story is still being pieced together to this day.    

Algarveaddick

Desert Star - Michael Connelly. # 24 in the Bosch series (# 5 Renee Ballard). Ballard is now running the re-instated cold case unit, and brings Bosch on board to join the team. Two cases are on the agenda, one involving the death of the sister of an influential member of the council - one who has championed the cause of the cold case unit - and the other the murder of a family of four where Bosch was involved in the original case and has always been bugged that he didn't find justice for them. Both stories keep you gripped, and running alongside is the narrative of Bosch's health deteriorating as he gets older. A worthy addition to the series.    

cafc4life

Algarveaddick said:

10lb Penalty by Dick Francis. Staying at a mate's while the kitchen is refurbed and it was one of the books on his shelf. Read one ages ago, and do you know what, I have no idea why I have not read more. It is a cracking read. Combining horse racing (of course) and politics in a story about a flourishing relationship between a late teenage son and his until-now distant father. The characters are superb, and aforesaid father and son very easy to like. It isn't a complicated book and the villain of the piece is revealed reasonably early, but it is great fun in a boys own style, and some of Francis' descriptions are delicious. Makes a good holiday read. 

Read a lot of his and his son, Felix books. All brilliant

Algarveaddick

cafc4life said:

Algarveaddick said:

10lb Penalty by Dick Francis. Staying at a mate's while the kitchen is refurbed and it was one of the books on his shelf. Read one ages ago, and do you know what, I have no idea why I have not read more. It is a cracking read. Combining horse racing (of course) and politics in a story about a flourishing relationship between a late teenage son and his until-now distant father. The characters are superb, and aforesaid father and son very easy to like. It isn't a complicated book and the villain of the piece is revealed reasonably early, but it is great fun in a boys own style, and some of Francis' descriptions are delicious. Makes a good holiday read. 

Read a lot of his and his son, Felix books. All brilliant

I read "Longshot" straight after "10lb Penalty" and loved that too... 

thickandthin63

Just finished The Autumn of light,by Ken Follett,this is the 5th book in the Kingsbridge series,and is just as compulsive as the previous 4 .How this man takes a rather mundane subject,in this case the Weaving and fabric trade and turns it into a page turning epic is beyond comprehension,but he does it every time,the guy is in a class of his own.

KingKinsella

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

Erebus: The story of a ship (Michael Palin)

Basically about Erebus and sister ship Terror, their crews and their voyages into the Polar regions.  James Clark Ross led a mission to the Antarctic 1839 - 1943.  John Franklin led an expedition seeking the NW passage, using the same ships in 1845. His family waved goodbye to him from Greenhithe in what was to prove a final time. 

What these mariners achieved in their heroic journeys into the unknown, as they pressed ever closer to the Southern magnetic Pole and the NW passage is almost beyond belief. 

On Thursday 7th September 1843 Erebus and Terror arrived in Woolwich.  For four years Erebus had been home to 63 men: a cramped and crowded home that had been flung about in countless storms, lashed with breaking waves, bent by shrieking winds, bruised and battered by advancing ice, frozen stiff and smashed in collision.

The Franklin expedition was to spend three successive winters in the Arctic seeking the NW passage before all the men perished.  There were over 40 missions sent to seek and rescue them.  The John Franklin and crew story is still being pieced together to this day.    

I listened to Michael Palin eating it on BBC4 and enjoyed it, but when I was reading it it all became too grim and I gave up before the end. Has anyone found them?

robinofottershaw

thickandthin63 said:

Just finished The Autumn of light,by Ken Follett,this is the 5th book in the Kingsbridge series,and is just as compulsive as the previous 4 .How this man takes a rather mundane subject,in this case the Weaving and fabric trade and turns it into a page turning epic is beyond comprehension,but he does it every time,the guy is in a class of his own.

Good to hear. Have just started reading The Pillars of the Earth and already know I am going to like the Kingsbridge series.

Raith_C_Chattonell

KingKinsella said:

Raith_C_Chattonell said:

Erebus: The story of a ship (Michael Palin)

Basically about Erebus and sister ship Terror, their crews and their voyages into the Polar regions.  James Clark Ross led a mission to the Antarctic 1839 - 1943.  John Franklin led an expedition seeking the NW passage, using the same ships in 1845. His family waved goodbye to him from Greenhithe in what was to prove a final time. 

What these mariners achieved in their heroic journeys into the unknown, as they pressed ever closer to the Southern magnetic Pole and the NW passage is almost beyond belief. 

On Thursday 7th September 1843 Erebus and Terror arrived in Woolwich.  For four years Erebus had been home to 63 men: a cramped and crowded home that had been flung about in countless storms, lashed with breaking waves, bent by shrieking winds, bruised and battered by advancing ice, frozen stiff and smashed in collision.

The Franklin expedition was to spend three successive winters in the Arctic seeking the NW passage before all the men perished.  There were over 40 missions sent to seek and rescue them.  The John Franklin and crew story is still being pieced together to this day.    on 

I listened to Michael Palin eating it on BBC4 and enjoyed it, but when I was reading it it all became too grim and I gave up before the end. Has anyone found them?

A note was found stating that Franklin died 11 June 1847, but the exact location of his grave is unknown.  A few other bodies were located though.  The very few clues gathered - along with a few inuit accounts - report a very grim picture of desperation indeed. Some believe that cannibalism took place.  The shipwrecks were only discovered in 2014 and 2016.  They are owned by the Canadians who are still exploring them in the short windows allowed by the weather conditions.

I was captivated by the sheer audacity of these mariners.  They pushed into the unknown in the most hostile conditions, under sail in missions that lasted years.    

North Lower Neil

So what were people's best books read this year?

Think my top 3 were:

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng

Blackheathen

TRUST by Hernan Diaz

It’s a fictional account of the lives of 4 people, all related, over a period of 100 years and a fascinating look at high finance In the years up to the crash of November 1929.  A fascinating read which won the  Pullitzer Prize last year.

charlton_hero

I just finished On The Road by Jack Kerouac. What a dull read.

Jints

North Lower Neil said:

So what were people's best books read this year?

Think my top 3 were:

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng

Fiction: 
Demon Copperhead -  Barbara Kingsolver
Acts of Oblivion -  Robert Harris 
Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

Non-fic: 
JFK - Fredrik Logeville (just pips another by him: Embers of War)
Enlightenment Now - Steven Pinker
The Restless Republic - Anna Keay

Jints

Blackheathen said:

TRUST by Hernan Diaz

It’s a fictional account of the lives of 4 people, all related, over a period of 100 years and a fascinating look at high finance In the years up to the crash of November 1929.  A fascinating read which won the  Pullitzer Prize last year.

On my kindle "to read" pile - looking forward to this one

blackheathcanuck

2023

Fiction - Old God's Time, Sebastian Barry

Non-Fiction - King: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jonathon Eig

jacob_CAFC

North Lower Neil said:

So what were people's best books read this year?

Think my top 3 were:

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng

Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (#2 in the Three Body Problem trilogy)
The Naked Sun by Asimov
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Got into a lot of sci-fi last year, read a lot of the classics

Jints

jacob_CAFC said:

North Lower Neil said:

So what were people's best books read this year?

Think my top 3 were:

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng

Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (#2 in the Three Body Problem trilogy)
The Naked Sun by Asimov
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Got into a lot of sci-fi last year, read a lot of the classics

I read Illium by Simmons last year - very much the same kind of quality as the Hyperion series. If you have any sci-fi recommendations in the mould of Cixin Liu, Simmons, Iain M Banks be great to hear them.

jacob_CAFC

Jints said:

jacob_CAFC said:

North Lower Neil said:

So what were people's best books read this year?

Think my top 3 were:

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng

Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (#2 in the Three Body Problem trilogy)
The Naked Sun by Asimov
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Got into a lot of sci-fi last year, read a lot of the classics

I read Illium by Simmons last year - very much the same kind of quality as the Hyperion series. If you have any sci-fi recommendations in the mould of Cixin Liu, Simmons, Iain M Banks be great to hear them.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Children Of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky which is on my list to read this year. Also not really in the same mould of those above, but Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

are fantastic, Klara and the Sun was the best book I read in 2022. 

I've not read any Iain Banks - where is a good place to start?

Jints

jacob_CAFC said:

Jints said:

jacob_CAFC said:

North Lower Neil said:

So what were people's best books read this year?

Think my top 3 were:

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke by Ronald Reng

Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (#2 in the Three Body Problem trilogy)
The Naked Sun by Asimov
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Got into a lot of sci-fi last year, read a lot of the classics

I read Illium by Simmons last year - very much the same kind of quality as the Hyperion series. If you have any sci-fi recommendations in the mould of Cixin Liu, Simmons, Iain M Banks be great to hear them.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Children Of Time trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky which is on my list to read this year. Also not really in the same mould of those above, but Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

are fantastic, Klara and the Sun was the best book I read in 2022. 

I've not read any Iain Banks - where is a good place to start?

Thanks, yes read those except the latest of the Children of Time trilogy (the first is one of the best sci fi books I've ever read, the second rather less so). 

I'd go for Player of Games by Banks as a great intro. I envy you have all his stuff to read (in case you don't already know his sci-fi is under Iain M. Banks and his non-sci-fi under Iain Banks).