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This week I have been reading
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The Light of Day - Eric Ambler. Later the inspiration for the film Topkapi. A crime caper which is well paced and quite fun. The ending is a little underwhelming but even so it’s a very decent, light read and well written. From the Penguin Modern Classics collection.0
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Reading 11.22.63 currently and really enjoying it.
Only other Stephen King book I’ve read was Fairytale and it was batshit mental.
Anyone got any other good recommendations on his other books?1 -
Stephen King is probably one of my favourite authors, yet I still wouldn't class myself as a horror fan... just something about his style of writing that hooks me.cafc4life said:Reading 11.22.63 currently and really enjoying it.
Only other Stephen King book I’ve read was Fairytale and it was batshit mental.
Anyone got any other good recommendations on his other books?
11.22.63 one of my favourite books of all time. My other King recommendations would be:
It, The Stand, The Shining - all up there with his best (and best-known) but definitely more like Fairytale than 11.22.63, in terms of the horror/mental stuff, and the first two are very lengthy! Under The Dome is another one that I enjoyed that falls into this category (all of these are much better than Fairytale IMO which was great at the start but just got more and more crazy to the point I started to lose interest!).
The Mr Mercedes trilogy - great books of his that aren't horror (the first in the series is currently 0.99p for the Kindle version, on Amazon)
Cujo - not one of his best known but one I recently read which I'd recommend! And much shorter than a lot of his books. It's still got an underlying supernatural/horror theme (involving a dog!) but nowhere near as ridiculous as the likes of Fairytale.
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I'm reading Fair Warning by Michael Connelly. A non-Bosch book but no less superb, 2/3 through. Grippiing!1
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"Shaftesbury on Nature, Virtue and Art - A Philosophy of Beauty" (2022) by Michael B Gill, professor of Philosophy at Edinburgh.
A short and brilliant exposition of one of the most important thinkers of the early 18th Century, whose works demonstrate the synthesis of left and right brain hemispheres at its best.
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Cheers @Rufus is a dogs name
yeah I wouldn't say I'm a horror fan either. Much more of a crime, SAS/Army fiction type reader really but looking to branch out a bit.
Ive added Mr Mercedes and Billy Summers to my TBR list as they seem to be a bit more my kind of writing but intrigued to see what others suggest too.
Ill take a look at Under the dome and Cujo!2 -
One I keep returning to is " IT".cafc4life said:Cheers @Rufus is a dogs name
yeah I wouldn't say I'm a horror fan either. Much more of a crime, SAS/Army fiction type reader really but looking to branch out a bit.
Ive added Mr Mercedes and Billy Summers to my TBR list as they seem to be a bit more my kind of writing but intrigued to see what others suggest too.
Ill take a look at Under the dome and Cujo!2 -
Ben Macintyre , any true spy book if that interests you would be my recommendation, standouts would be
operation Mincemeat and Agent Sonyia.
All of his spy stories are good though.3 -
The only 2 Stephen King books I read are 11.22.63 (excellent)and The Longest Walk.cafc4life said:Reading 11.22.63 currently and really enjoying it.
Only other Stephen King book I’ve read was Fairytale and it was batshit mental.
Anyone got any other good recommendations on his other books?
The Longest Walk is really, really good and I mainly read faction/history books2 -
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Finished 11.22.63 last night. What a book!
Next up is A Short Stay in Hell - Stephen Peck2 -
I read Tommyknockers by Stephen King many years ago. I think it's possibly the hardest read I've ever had, really didn't like it.1
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Agree, AD.Afternoon Delight said:I read Tommyknockers by Stephen King many years ago. I think it's possibly the hardest read I've ever had, really didn't like it.0 -
Quick plug for this book about football culture in Argentina which coincidentally mentions The Addicks 24 times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-San-Lorenzo-Argentine-Football/dp/1836801998
Think 'Football Against the Enemy' x 'A Season with Verona', with the focus on people, politics, travel and history as much (if not more) than the football itself.5 -
Neil_Heaney said:Quick plug for this book about football culture in Argentina which coincidentally mentions The Addicks 24 times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-San-Lorenzo-Argentine-Football/dp/1836801998
Think 'Football Against the Enemy' x 'A Season with Verona', with the focus on people, politics, travel and history as much (if not more) than the football itself.
Had this given to me for my birthday, this really is a superb read @Neil_Heaney !
I've recommended it to a few mates.0 -
Ah that's great to hear. Thanks for spreading the word too!Rufus is a dogs name said:Neil_Heaney said:Quick plug for this book about football culture in Argentina which coincidentally mentions The Addicks 24 times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-San-Lorenzo-Argentine-Football/dp/1836801998
Think 'Football Against the Enemy' x 'A Season with Verona', with the focus on people, politics, travel and history as much (if not more) than the football itself.
Had this given to me for my birthday, this really is a superb read @Neil_Heaney !
I've recommended it to a few mates.1 -
Have just bought a copy, looking forward to reading it.Neil_Heaney said:Quick plug for this book about football culture in Argentina which coincidentally mentions The Addicks 24 times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-San-Lorenzo-Argentine-Football/dp/1836801998
Think 'Football Against the Enemy' x 'A Season with Verona', with the focus on people, politics, travel and history as much (if not more) than the football itself.2 -
I read this earlier this year.Neil_Heaney said:Quick plug for this book about football culture in Argentina which coincidentally mentions The Addicks 24 times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oh-San-Lorenzo-Argentine-Football/dp/1836801998
Think 'Football Against the Enemy' x 'A Season with Verona', with the focus on people, politics, travel and history as much (if not more) than the football itself.
A fantastic book which really wet the appetite for going out there to watch some games. Id recommend the book to any football fan.
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Me neither .. I believe he wrote this book and several others which were 'sub standard' during a nasty bout of booze and dope bingeing during the 1980sAfternoon Delight said:I read Tommyknockers by Stephen King many years ago. I think it's possibly the hardest read I've ever had, really didn't like it.0 -
Recent books:
Marble Hall Murders .. Antony Horowitz .. his usual tricky, clever murder mystery, perhaps a bit over long ?
Stalin's Apostles .. Antonia Senior .. in depth biography of the Cambridge Five spies, also a great insight into the political paranoia after WW1 and the rise of both fascism and communism in Europe
London Falling .. P R Keefe .. invesigation into the death of a 19 year old fantasist as well as an intriguing exposé into all kinds of criminality in London and how the city has changed since the big bang and the decline of the docks and manufacturing industry2 -
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I couldn't put down operation zig zag, and also found the BBC interviews of him after the war. He reminded me of Terry Thomas, an absolute cad!cblock said:Ben Macintyre , any true spy book if that interests you would be my recommendation, standouts would be
operation Mincemeat and Agent Sonyia.
All of his spy stories are good though.1 -
The Corpse wore tartan,by Stuart Macbride.Macbrides books are a joy to read,centred around a shambles of a police force in Aberdeen,so funny with some great characters,especially DCI Roberta Steele whom the latest book centres on2
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Just to follow this up, just read/listened to Whatever will be by Felix, beautiful book, not just the football, but why football, how it connects to your life, relationships, childhood, pain, grief, and the bit about why he chose Fulham, rung home, it’s probably not a million miles away from why Charlton for meNorth Lower Neil said:Just read It's Always Summer Somewhere by Felix White.
Thought it would be a light read about cricket and music (and there was a lot of them in there, obviously), but it was surprisingly raw and profound - it was essentially a memoir about his life but wrapped around his mum's battle with (and death from) MS, and the effects it had on his childhood and his adult life.
Really quite an emotional read at times, very well written.1 -
is that Felix white of The Maccabees? Ill give that a go.Rothko said:
Just to follow this up, just read/listened to Whatever will be by Felix, beautiful book, not just the football, but why football, how it connects to your life, relationships, childhood, pain, grief, and the bit about why he chose Fulham, rung home, it’s probably not a million miles away from why Charlton for meNorth Lower Neil said:Just read It's Always Summer Somewhere by Felix White.
Thought it would be a light read about cricket and music (and there was a lot of them in there, obviously), but it was surprisingly raw and profound - it was essentially a memoir about his life but wrapped around his mum's battle with (and death from) MS, and the effects it had on his childhood and his adult life.
Really quite an emotional read at times, very well written.0 -
Yep, the man himselfcafc4life said:
is that Felix white of The Maccabees? Ill give that a go.Rothko said:
Just to follow this up, just read/listened to Whatever will be by Felix, beautiful book, not just the football, but why football, how it connects to your life, relationships, childhood, pain, grief, and the bit about why he chose Fulham, rung home, it’s probably not a million miles away from why Charlton for meNorth Lower Neil said:Just read It's Always Summer Somewhere by Felix White.
Thought it would be a light read about cricket and music (and there was a lot of them in there, obviously), but it was surprisingly raw and profound - it was essentially a memoir about his life but wrapped around his mum's battle with (and death from) MS, and the effects it had on his childhood and his adult life.
Really quite an emotional read at times, very well written.1 -
Cheers Rothko, will keep an eye out for it.Rothko said:
Just to follow this up, just read/listened to Whatever will be by Felix, beautiful book, not just the football, but why football, how it connects to your life, relationships, childhood, pain, grief, and the bit about why he chose Fulham, rung home, it’s probably not a million miles away from why Charlton for meNorth Lower Neil said:Just read It's Always Summer Somewhere by Felix White.
Thought it would be a light read about cricket and music (and there was a lot of them in there, obviously), but it was surprisingly raw and profound - it was essentially a memoir about his life but wrapped around his mum's battle with (and death from) MS, and the effects it had on his childhood and his adult life.
Really quite an emotional read at times, very well written.
He also was the ghost-writer/co-writer of James Anderson's autobiography, which was decent.1 -
does anyone here use Goodreads? pretty good for keeping track of what you have read and if a book is part of a series etc.2
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I do.cafc4life said:does anyone here use Goodreads? pretty good for keeping track of what you have read and if a book is part of a series etc.
Useful to keep track of books I want to read as much as ones I have - got a shelf on there of books I've got but haven't read yet, a shelf of ones on Libby, a shelf to keep an eye out in charity shops for etc.
Good for when you're having a browse of a bookshop too - see a book you might like the look of, look it up and see how many people are saying "awful dull book, avoid like the plague...."2 -
I know it’s not a subject generally so but, if anyone has any interest at all in philosophy and, more specifically, the origins of secular concepts of morality in Britain, I strongly recommend another book by the current Professor of Philosophy at Edinburgh, Michael B Gill, called “The British Moralists on Human Nature and the Birth of Secular Ethics”.
His great gift is making philosophy accessible to non-specialists and this book is a brilliant exposition of the great thinkers of the 17th Century in Britain who, one after the other, and starting with the Cambridge Platonists, created and then developed their model of morality based on rational thought - breaking away from the externally-prescribed morality of Calvinism and Hobbesianism.
The origins of the British philosophical Enlightenment. Fascinating stuff.
There were some seriously smart dudes 400 years ago.
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Sounds interesting, although I thought Descartes was ahead of them in proposing a system of ethics based on rational thought.PeanutsMolloy said:I know it’s not a subject generally so but, if anyone has any interest at all in philosophy and, more specifically, the origins of secular concepts of morality in Britain, I strongly recommend another book by the current Professor of Philosophy at Edinburgh, Michael B Gill, called “The British Moralists on Human Nature and the Birth of Secular Ethics”.
His great gift is making philosophy accessible to non-specialists and this book is a brilliant exposition of the great thinkers of the 17th Century in Britain who, one after the other, and starting with the Cambridge Platonists, created and then developed their model of morality based on rational thought - breaking away from the externally-prescribed morality of Calvinism and Hobbesianism.
The origins of the British philosophical Enlightenment. Fascinating stuff.
There were some seriously smart dudes 400 years ago.0
