What are you reading?

[gigpusher]

15 minutes ago, Homer said:

Don’t think I was algorithm-influenced when I put together my latest Amazon order - something for everyone there surely.

Interesting mix there. Something for everyone. 

I finished the Nightingale. It was okay but I felt a little like it was written with dreams of being an oscar winning film at some point in the future (it may already be a film for all I know) Felt like every cliche about World War 2 was included. 

Then The Hungover Games by Sophie Heawood was an enjoyable light read. 

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez was next and that is a vital 5 star read that everyone on the planet should read. 

Currently reading Good Omens by Terry Patchett and Neil Gaiman even though these are both very famous authors it's my first book by either of them. It feels slightly like they are trolling me as my last gripe was about long chapters. The chapter I am currently on it estimates will take me 2 hours 48 minutes to read. Now I'm a pretty speedy reader as evidenced by the fact that I am on my 25th book of the year and have a full time job and 2 crazy dogs to look after so I reckon an average reader it would be about a 3h 30 min chapter. I do not approve!! The story is ok though. I think long chapters and lots of character names is why I'm not really a reader of many fantasy genre books. 

 

[Quark]

19 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

Currently reading Good Omens by Terry Patchett and Neil Gaiman even though these are both very famous authors it's my first book by either of them. It feels slightly like they are trolling me as my last gripe was about long chapters. The chapter I am currently on it estimates will take me 2 hours 48 minutes to read. Now I'm a pretty speedy reader as evidenced by the fact that I am on my 25th book of the year and have a full time job and 2 crazy dogs to look after so I reckon an average reader it would be about a 3h 30 min chapter. I do not approve!! The story is ok though. I think long chapters and lots of character names is why I'm not really a reader of many fantasy genre books. 

I absolutely love Good Omens. It's one of the books on the shelf by my desk right now, along with a few other Gaiman and Pratchett novels.

I like Neil Gaiman. I adored Pratchett. Took me a while to get my head around no more Discworld books.

[gigpusher]

28 minutes ago, Quark said:

I absolutely love Good Omens. It's one of the books on the shelf by my desk right now, along with a few other Gaiman and Pratchett novels.

I like Neil Gaiman. I adored Pratchett. Took me a while to get my head around no more Discworld books.

Are all the chapters as long though?? I hate putting a book down mid-chapter. I appreciate this is probably a me thing that I need to get over but it really irritates me so when I see that a chapter is long I end up not starting it and it takes so much longer to read a book. 

I decided this would be a good gateway to the world of both authors. The only thing is I like to mix things up and isn't Discworld a series of about 5 million books. It would be basically a life's work for me to start reading them now wouldn't it ?? And where would you even start??

[Quark]

1 hour ago, gigpusher said:

Are all the chapters as long though?? I hate putting a book down mid-chapter. I appreciate this is probably a me thing that I need to get over but it really irritates me so when I see that a chapter is long I end up not starting it and it takes so much longer to read a book. 

I decided this would be a good gateway to the world of both authors. The only thing is I like to mix things up and isn't Discworld a series of about 5 million books. It would be basically a life's work for me to start reading them now wouldn't it ?? And where would you even start??

Discworld books didn't really have chapters as such, more like break points.  

There's certainly a lot of them, and it's tricky to say where to start as the key characters develop over the series. And there's definitely a pickup in quality.

I'll have a think about a recommendation 🙂

[John the Moth]

8 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Are all the chapters as long though?? I hate putting a book down mid-chapter. I appreciate this is probably a me thing that I need to get over but it really irritates me so when I see that a chapter is long I end up not starting it and it takes so much longer to read a book. 

This is me also. I’m currently reading Against All Things Ending, part of the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson.

Chapters are between 40 and 70 pages with no break points. Add in the fact that the print is small and dense, so each page has a word count about 20% above average and you get a situation where I’m only half way through after 4 months. (I do keep dipping in to other books along the way)

[BlackZeppelin]

12 minutes ago, John the Moth said:

This is me also. I’m currently reading Against All Things Ending, part of the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson.

Chapters are between 40 and 70 pages with no break points. Add in the fact that the print is small and dense, so each page has a word count about 20% above average and you get a situation where I’m only half way through after 4 months. (I do keep dipping in to other books along the way)

I read the Thomas Covenant series 20 plus years ago. I didn't know it had continued.

Still comes back to me regularly as a gruelling tale.

[John the Moth]

10 minutes ago, BlackZeppelin said:

I read the Thomas Covenant series 20 plus years ago. I didn't know it had continued.

Still comes back to me regularly as a gruelling tale.

There was a very long hiatus, then the final chronicles were published 6-7 years ago. It’s a bit dark in places that’s for sure. 

[picicata]

9 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Are all the chapters as long though?? I hate putting a book down mid-chapter. I appreciate this is probably a me thing that I need to get over but it really irritates me so when I see that a chapter is long I end up not starting it and it takes so much longer to read a book. 

I decided this would be a good gateway to the world of both authors. The only thing is I like to mix things up and isn't Discworld a series of about 5 million books. It would be basically a life's work for me to start reading them now wouldn't it ?? And where would you even start??

If you fancy more Pratchett then I would recommend starting with Guards! Guards! which is the eighth book in the discworld series but the first to deal with the nightwatch( a series within the series!). There are several character lines through the discworld series so you don't have to read them all, or even start at the beginning in order to get a flavour. Just don't expect chapters.

For Gaiman I would recommend Neverwhere because it's just an excellent book!

I'm just about to read The Fall of Koli by M R Carey, which is the third part of a trilogy and have loved the first two part so looking forward to it.

[bamber]

The Tetherballs of Bougainville by Mark Leyner.

The Warden hangs her keys from her...

13 yr old Mark writes his own review..

All is is good in the end, though it is all very strange to be honest.

Mark Leyner is a supremely strange human being, it must be said.

Very laugh out loud funny though.

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by bamber

[gigpusher]

On 3/19/2021 at 11:49 PM, John the Moth said:

This is me also. I’m currently reading Against All Things Ending, part of the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson.

Chapters are between 40 and 70 pages with no break points. Add in the fact that the print is small and dense, so each page has a word count about 20% above average and you get a situation where I’m only half way through after 4 months. (I do keep dipping in to other books along the way)

Yep took me 3 days to read one of the chapters of Good Omens. I did enjoy it though although like a lot of fantasy books had a few too many characters for my liking. I'm terrible with names so books with lots of characters with unusual names are a challenge for me. 

I've now started Hungry by Grace Dent which I am really enjoying. 

[gigpusher]

On 3/20/2021 at 12:50 AM, picicata said:

If you fancy more Pratchett then I would recommend starting with Guards! Guards! which is the eighth book in the discworld series but the first to deal with the nightwatch( a series within the series!). There are several character lines through the discworld series so you don't have to read them all, or even start at the beginning in order to get a flavour. Just don't expect chapters.

For Gaiman I would recommend Neverwhere because it's just an excellent book!

I'm just about to read The Fall of Koli by M R Carey, which is the third part of a trilogy and have loved the first two part so looking forward to it.

Thanks. Might add a few to my wishlist. I currently have over 70 books in my kindle to be read pile so have plenty to be going on with!

[Quark]

On 3/20/2021 at 12:50 AM, picicata said:

If you fancy more Pratchett then I would recommend starting with Guards! Guards! which is the eighth book in the discworld series but the first to deal with the nightwatch( a series within the series!). There are several character lines through the discworld series so you don't have to read them all, or even start at the beginning in order to get a flavour. Just don't expect chapters.

For Gaiman I would recommend Neverwhere because it's just an excellent book!

I'm just about to read The Fall of Koli by M R Carey, which is the third part of a trilogy and have loved the first two part so looking forward to it.

Guard! Guards! was my thinking as well, along with Mort. If you can get your head around the City Watch and Death as characters then a lot of the rest will gradually fall into place.

The other ones that I think stand up pretty well on their own are Small Gods and (at least once you understand Death a bit) Soul Music. 

4 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Thanks. Might add a few to my wishlist. I currently have over 70 books in my kindle to be read pile so have plenty to be going on with!

So there you go GP. I'd go with piciata's suggestion of Guards! Guards! and Mort as two points to start. Soul Music is a really good follow on from Mort, and Small Gods is one that stands up on its own. Enjoy!

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, Quark said:

Guard! Guards! was my thinking as well, along with Mort. If you can get your head around the City Watch and Death as characters then a lot of the rest will gradually fall into place.

The other ones that I think stand up pretty well on their own are Small Gods and (at least once you understand Death a bit) Soul Music. 

So there you go GP. I'd go with piciata's suggestion of Guards! Guards! and Mort as two points to start. Soul Music is a really good follow on from Mort, and Small Gods is one that stands up on its own. Enjoy!

Added to my wishlist. I should warn you I only buy books when they are deals on a kindle. I have a vinyl habit to keep up and I read books too quickly to justify spending too much on them. 😄 

[Homer]

Finished Porcelain by Moby last night (this is the rags to riches first book, not the sequel where he goes all rockstar/allegedly creepy).

Really enjoyed it and found myself flying through it (500 pages). Wasn't aware of his (extremely) impoverished background/addiction issues and he covers off a lot of other interesting stuff too (DJing in New York gay clubs, the UK rave scene, touring Europe).

Sometimes not quit sure if he's a virtuous underdog or a pious attention-seeker (I guess that's vegans for you - joke), but the tone is generally self-deprecating. Highly recommended and I'll certainly be buying the 'my drug hell' post-Play second instalment.

[SecretFish]

Lord of the rings, again. Why? Not sure 

[gigpusher]

I've read quite a few recently 

Hungry by Grace Dent was really good. I'd recommend it. 

Then read Moxie by Jennifer Matthieu which is a YA book if anyone has a teenager in their life I'd recommend it. In the past I might have said teenage girl but you know what if teenage boys read it it might go some way to fixing some of the problems

Then I read  The Problem with Men: When is International Men’s Day? by Richard Herring this was a short one but he raised some interesting points. I got it on a 99p kindle deal and as it's only a couple of hours of reading I'd only really suggest it if you could get it cheap

Next up Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams I really liked this one. I wish it had been a little more fleshed out but that's probably because I wanted to know more and more. It's only 99p on kindle at the moment and a bargain for that. deals with racism, sexism and child abuse as a heads up in case anyone doesn't like reading about those issues. 

The Louder I Will Sing: A story of racism, riots and redemption by Lee Lawrence - Really glad to have read this and to learn more about this shameful incident in our history. Lee is the son of Cherry Groce who was shot and paralyzed by the police. This is the story about that fateful day and the subsequent fight for justice. Very powerful book especially with all the shit going on at the moment. 

[Haan]

4 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

I've read quite a few recently 

Hungry by Grace Dent was really good. I'd recommend it. 

Then read Moxie by Jennifer Matthieu which is a YA book if anyone has a teenager in their life I'd recommend it. In the past I might have said teenage girl but you know what if teenage boys read it it might go some way to fixing some of the problems

Then I read  The Problem with Men: When is International Men’s Day? by Richard Herring this was a short one but he raised some interesting points. I got it on a 99p kindle deal and as it's only a couple of hours of reading I'd only really suggest it if you could get it cheap

Next up Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams I really liked this one. I wish it had been a little more fleshed out but that's probably because I wanted to know more and more. It's only 99p on kindle at the moment and a bargain for that. deals with racism, sexism and child abuse as a heads up in case anyone doesn't like reading about those issues. 

The Louder I Will Sing: A story of racism, riots and redemption by Lee Lawrence - Really glad to have read this and to learn more about this shameful incident in our history. Lee is the son of Cherry Groce who was shot and paralyzed by the police. This is the story about that fateful day and the subsequent fight for justice. Very powerful book especially with all the shit going on at the moment. 

some cool recommendations here, thanks! Added the last three suggestions to my list

[gigpusher]

6 minutes ago, Haan said:

some cool recommendations here, thanks! Added the last three suggestions to my list

I think the recommendation below will probably make you even more inclined to read this one. 

[Haan]

Just now, gigpusher said:

I think the recommendation below will probably make you even more inclined to read this one. 

sold!

[Homer]

This looks good. Reckon I'll get the paperback

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-Mystery-Maxwell-John-Preston/dp/0241388678

Maxwell was heavily implicated in Sarah Kendzior's book (Mossad agent, arms dealing, money laundering, people trafficking, aiding the spread of the Russian mafia).

(Could be one for @gigpusher)

[gigpusher]

13 hours ago, Homer said:

This looks good. Reckon I'll get the paperback

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-Mystery-Maxwell-John-Preston/dp/0241388678

Maxwell was heavily implicated in Sarah Kendzior's book (Mossad agent, arms dealing, money laundering, people trafficking, aiding the spread of the Russian mafia).

(Could be one for @gigpusher)

Sounds interesting. I'll add it to my ever growing wishlist! I've read a fair few books since I last updated so will endeavour to do a short precis soon. 

For anyone interested in some modern classics this list might be a good one to find some new reading material as well. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

 

 

[WestCountryGirl]

Last week I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It got a bit too twee in the latter part, but I was otherwise blown away by how relatable it was to exactly how I've been feeling in recent months. It's almost embarrassing to admit how relatable it is, because if anyone else is to read it, I feel almost as though they would be reading my own journal. This example is more on the superficial side, than the mirroring of deep existential worries - but at one point in the book the protagonist is described as wearing a Cure t-shirt and tartan pyjama bottoms, and as I read that part I was wearing a Cure t-shirt and tartan pyjama bottoms. So.. a bit eerie. 

And in between things I am dipping in and out of The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes - thanks to everyone who recommended it in this thread! Really enjoying it, and finding it very easy to read, even whilst it feels the subject matter should be more dense. 

[Homer]

23 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

Sounds interesting. I'll add it to my ever growing wishlist! I've read a fair few books since I last updated so will endeavour to do a short precis soon. 

For anyone interested in some modern classics this list might be a good one to find some new reading material as well. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

 

 

I fired through a couple of autobiogs really quickly and then felt compelled to read some fiction and am now totally stalled on Call Me by Your Name. Maybe I'm not the target audience - but I'm failing to find a man sneaking around another man's room and secretly licking his swimming trunks to be the height of romance. I'm 1/3 through though, so maybe if I plough on things will improve (I haven't seen the film either so not sure what's coming - no pun intended).

[jimmillen]

13 hours ago, gigpusher said:

For anyone interested in some modern classics this list might be a good one to find some new reading material as well. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

 

Thanks for sharing this - definitely a few I’ve missed to catch up on there. 🙂

And their choice to include Pratchett’s Night Watch - IMO the best of a very, very strong series - is great to see. 

[jimmillen]

2 minutes ago, jimmillen said:

Thanks for sharing this - definitely a few I’ve missed to catch up on there. 🙂

And their choice to include Pratchett’s Night Watch - IMO the best of a very, very strong series - is great to see. 

I’ve read the list properly now & also totally agree Kate Atkinson’s Life after life deserves its place on there. One of those books that had quite a profound emotional impact on me - was on my mind for days, possibly weeks, after I’d finished it.