Lonesome Dove.

What a book.

Then went immediately to watch the 80s TV miniseries on Youtube.  What a series.

Flesh reminded me a little of Any Human Heart by William Boyd but I felt this was more raw and I think you are definitely right about the dialogue. 

Im also nearly finished Lonesome Dove. I don't want it to finish 

Carter said:

I'm on my third David Szalay novel now and whilst the other two have oddly left lasting impacts on me its really hard to put my finger on why. He builds characters in a really nondescript way. A lot of the dialogue is realistic, to the point he is almost making it forgettable but its also very crucial to the character development. 

Spring is the one I'm reading now 

The first one I read was London and the South East and the middle one was Flesh. 

His characters are very flawed humans I'll say that but probably reflective of a lot of people. 

Recently read Spring.  Found it quite a strange book but weirdly compelling and readable.

Nearly finished Return of Odessa by Frederick Forsyth.

Another one for Lonesome Dove. One of my favourite books of all-time.

I read Orbital by Samantha Harvey. This won the Booker Prize... On what planet...? It reads like someone asked Uncle Colm from Derry Girls to talk about astronauts. 

I just finished Careless People, written by the former Global Policy Lead at Facebook. It's her reflection working with Zuckerberg, Sandberg & co. It's a pretty withering account and they come across as sociopaths, unsurprisingly. The first 3/4 of the book are great, but the last 1/4 gets deeper into the policies, which was less exhilarating. 

Also read Augustus by John Williams. It's the story of Emperor Augustus's life, as told through letters, fragments of memoirs, documents, etc. I was not sold on the format in the first few chapters, but it becomes a very effective way of telling a great story. I also love Stoner by the same author. He was obviously some sort of genius to write two totally different novels. 

A touch of fantasy with The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson. I do like BS and I'm very much into his Stormlight Archive series. This book is a short, and some say it's his best. I zipped through it - great read.

And Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. There was so much to love about this one and so much to hate. Still, it was an absolute mammoth, and I finished it, so that's saying something. 

thickandthin63 said:

This house of burning stones,by Stuart Macbride,really enjoyable read,a tongue in cheek saga revolving around a police force of misfits and oddballs in Aberdeen.This is the latest of around a 16 book series,highly entertaining,and in places hilarious.

so a bit like the City Guard in The Discworld series?

Lincsaddick said:

DaveMehmet said:

Whilst I'm reasonably well read, I realised a while ago that there's a lot of books I haven't got round to reading. Have got through a few classics and am currently on Grapes of Wrath. Gave up on Catcher in The Rye though unfortunately, call me a philistine but thought it was shite.

agree on both counts .. Steinbeck is one of my favourite writers especially on the 1930s 'depression years' in the USA

I got to the end of Catcher… but it was hard going. 

Just coming to the end of Ronan Hession’s second book Panenka - superb stuff!

Hellraiser - Ginger Baker's autobigraphy written with the help of his daughter...how he made it to 80 is a miracle in its own right!  So argumentative (especially with Jack Bruce).  Run ins with the mafia, shot at in Nigeria and so many incidents and so many women (which was shocking as he wasn't exactly an attractive man!).  Also went thru rehab for Heroin and cocaine addiction 29 times!  But a good, easy, compelling, read.

Jints said:

Chunes said:

Another one for Lonesome Dove. One of my favourite books of all-time.

I read Orbital by Samantha Harvey. This won the Booker Prize... On what planet...? It reads like someone asked Uncle Colm from Derry Girls to talk about astronauts. 

I just finished Careless People, written by the former Global Policy Lead at Facebook. It's her reflection working with Zuckerberg, Sandberg & co. It's a pretty withering account and they come across as sociopaths, unsurprisingly. The first 3/4 of the book are great, but the last 1/4 gets deeper into the policies, which was less exhilarating. 

Also read Augustus by John Williams. It's the story of Emperor Augustus's life, as told through letters, fragments of memoirs, documents, etc. I was not sold on the format in the first few chapters, but it becomes a very effective way of telling a great story. I also love Stoner by the same author. He was obviously some sort of genius to write two totally different novels. 

A touch of fantasy with The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson. I do like BS and I'm very much into his Stormlight Archive series. This book is a short, and some say it's his best. I zipped through it - great read.

And Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. There was so much to love about this one and so much to hate. Still, it was an absolute mammoth, and I finished it, so that's saying something. 

Agree about Orbital, I quite liked the style at first but thought it was ultimately dull and grating. Fortunately quite short. 

Augustus and Stoner are both excellent books. His Butcher's Crossing is again completely different - a western focussing on the slaughter of the buffalos. Also great. Shame he only wrote four novels. 

I gave up on Shantaram about 500 pages in. I absolutely hated it, and the author, with a passion. Athena poster philosophy by someone trying but failing to hide a massive ego. 

Stoner is excellent, couldn’t put it down,  I couldn’t get into Butchers's Crossing though. Gave up around 40 pages in.
Might give it another go, also need to give Augustus a try.