This week I have been reading
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When is Acworth's book out again ?0
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Chavs (The demonization of the working class) - Owen Jones
Got some pretty bad reviews, be interested what you think of it, It's certainly an interesting topic.0 -
Currently reading:
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, just a year after everyone else. Enjoying it plenty but mot as much as I did the Corrections.
The Power Borker by Robert Caro: A huge (1,300 page) biography of Robert Moses - he was a civil servant who basically ran New York for 30/40 years despite never standing for any public office. He transformed the City, building almost all its parks, express ways, bridges etc but in the process destryong neighbourhoods and without any accountability or consultation. But the main point of the book (as with Caro's even bigger biography of Lyndon Johnson) is power. Where it is, how to get it and how to keep it. Brilliantly written and meticulously researched it's shaping up to be my book of the year.
On audio Penguins Stopped Play, a funny book about a crap cricket team. It's OK but haven't really got the hang of audio. My thoughts seem to drift off elsewhere and I find I've missed 5 minutes.
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The War Of The End Of The World by the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.
A 20th century Spanish-speaking Tolstoy, Proust and Dickens all rolled into one.
Staggering, mind-blowing epic. I'm 478 pages in with still another 300 to go, and wishing it was longer!.
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It's pretty good so far, will report back once I've finished it.Chavs (The demonization of the working class) - Owen Jones
Got some pretty bad reviews, be interested what you think of it, It's certainly an interesting topic.
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The knife of never letting go - Patrick Ness. Nominally a children's book but really Science Fantasy and if you enjoyed The Golden Compass, this is great. First of a trilogy I believe.0
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The knife of never letting go - Patrick Ness. Nominally a children's book but really Science Fantasy and if you enjoyed The Golden Compass, this is great. First of a trilogy I believe.0
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The knife of never letting go - Patrick Ness. Nominally a children's book but really Science Fantasy and if you enjoyed The Golden Compass, this is great. First of a trilogy I believe.0
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The knife of never letting go - Patrick Ness. Nominally a children's book but really Science Fantasy and if you enjoyed The Golden Compass, this is great. First of a trilogy I believe.0
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The knife of never letting go - Patrick Ness. Nominally a children's book but really Science Fantasy and if you enjoyed The Golden Compass, this is great. First of a trilogy I believe.0
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The knife of never letting go - Patrick Ness. Nominally a children's book but really Science Fantasy and if you enjoyed The Golden Compass, this is great. First of a trilogy I believe.0
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The Inimitable Jeeves
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The Inimitable Jeeves
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Ulthred books by Bernard Cornwall
Imagine Sharp as an Anglo-Saxon. A bit formulaic but good romps and interesting if you like the period of English history (which I do)
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronavitch
Really funny, knowing London story. Not to be taken too seriously but a good read. Now waiting for Lady Irving to finish the 2nd book in the series so I can catch up.
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Don't do much reading these days, but a lot of listening instead. Have just finihed Alfred Lancing's 'Endurance': the story of Shackleton's epic journey in the Antarctic. A true story of heroism arising out of failure in the best British tradition, well read by Tim Piggott-Smith.
Am building up the collection of Sharpe stories on audio (the unabridged versions) but unfortunately the reader gives our hero a Home Counties accent which doesn't fit at all: luckily Sharpe's a man of action, rather than conversation. Have also managed to collect all the Aubrey/Maturin audio books and must say that Robert Hardy is a terrific reader and really brings the stories alive. What with Jack Aubrey, Sharpe and Hornblower up against him, Boney didn't stand a chance.
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Best autobiography I have read for years is "Baby I don't Care" the life of Robert Mitchum now there was a man who lived the life. In parts he comes across as a real bastard but without doubt there are some very funny stories. At present I am reading the latest Lee Childs - Jack Reacher novel "The Affair" which ties in nicely as Mitchum would have been a great Reacher on screen.0
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Second both Rivers Of London and Moon over Soho, good humorous light reads. Prefer reading his brothers articles in the Times though.0
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Second both Rivers Of London and Moon over Soho, good humorous light reads. Prefer reading his brothers articles in the Times though.
I wondered if they were related. Good journalist.
Third book meant to be coming out in 2012
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At present I am reading the latest Lee Childs - Jack Reacher novel "The Affair" which ties in nicely as Mitchum would have been a great Reacher on screen.
Haven't read Jack Reacher but I understand he is 6'5" and is being played in a new film by the vertically challenged Tom Cruise.
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Well Tom has bought the film rights for sure and yes Reacher is 6' 5" and over 200lbs so how Tom thinks he can play this part is beyond me it says something about the ego of the man doesn't it. By the way the books are good entertainment and nothing else they tend to be a bit samey but that's true of all popular fiction I find you could aim the same comment at Patricia Cornwall, John Grisham and a dozen others but I guess if you like the format that's fine.0
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A Feast for Crows - George R.R. Martin0
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Just getting to the end of "For crying out loud", one of Clarkson's collections of newspaper articles. The devils advocate bit does grate after a while, and his lack of empathy with anyone or anything else, and the complete absence of self awareness are unintentionally amusing, but it passes a bit of time while on the lav.0
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The Drop ... Michael Connelly .. disappointing0
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The Good, the bad and the Multiplex -Mark Kermode. Interesting book about the invasion of multi screened cinemas and the onslaught of 3D.
Next on the list - Roadwork - Stephen King.
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Ulthred books by Bernard Cornwall
I've read all of Bernard Cornwall's books. Excellent Historical fiction.
Imagine Sharp as an Anglo-Saxon. A bit formulaic but good romps and interesting if you like the period of English history (which I do)
Rivers of London - Ben Aaronavitch
Really funny, knowing London story. Not to be taken too seriously but a good read. Now waiting for Lady Irving to finish the 2nd book in the series so I can catch up.
I'm now into Wilbur Smith's books. I missed these back in the day but I'm finding out they're a great read. Historical fiction mainly based around the African continent.
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Been reading Pillars of the Earth which I finally finished last week. Brilliant book. Also to get me in in the spirit I read Dicken's A Christmas Carol over the last couple of days.
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Lincs - I read the Brass Verdict by Michael Conolly recently, and enjoyed it, might pick up another.
I was expecting Snowdrops by AD Miller to be a thriller too but it wasn't so much as a story of one man's slip into the amorailty of modern Moscow and pretty good too. I've just finished The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt which I'll admit I bought because it sounded a bit like a Cormack McCarthy book ... and it has a great cover! Turns out to be lighter than McCarthy, a bit of a black comedy and a great read - perfect for a Coen Brothers film!0 -
'The Last Hundred Days' by Patrick McGuiness, poet and Professor of Literature at Oxford Uni. This is a debut novel and I am finding it utterly engrossing. Basically a young English student arrives in Ceausescu's Romania in 1989 to take up a job that he had never applied for and the duties of the job are totally unclear. Blurb words' As Ceausescu's demolition squad race to destroy the old city and replace it with a Stalinist Legoland, its inhabitants live out communism's dying days.................'
The author lived in Romania in the years leading up to the revolution and his words just effortlessly carry you into the city until you feel you can smell the streets. It's one of those books that I do not want to have an ending as i just know that I will get that feeling of losing an old friend.
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The Inimitable Jeeves
I'm on 'Joy in the Morning'. Working my way through all 99 of Wodehouses books. On number 9 now. Absolutely brilliant0 -
Really Really want to read the SIsters Brothers, but I cannot bring myself to pay 12.99 for a paperback. I read at least a book a week and some authors I have to buy the hardback because I cannot wait, yet I still cannot make myself buy this book. Kindle for xmas, then I'll get it
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