What are you reading?

[philipsteak]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:21 AM, Woffy said:

Just finished Tim Marshall's The Power of Geography.

Decent follow on to his excellent Prisoners of Geography.

...for anyone out there who's interested in how geography has shaped modern nation states and their historical / political outlook. Easy to read, and he's pretty funny on occasions too.

Didn't realise he had a new one out. Really liked Prisoners of Geography. Borrowed it from my brother-in-law when I was on holiday with them a few years back and read it in a couple of days. Was less impressed with Worth Dying For, but still a good read.

 

On audiobooks, I just can't do fiction. I just don't retain the info when listening rather than reading. And it's not that easy to flick back to check something out. Don't seem to have the same issue with non-fiction. OI just treat them like really long podcasts

[Woffy]

1 hour ago, MaxPower said:

Just finished Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, the lead singer of Japanese Breakfast. 

Absolutely brilliant, couldn’t recommend it enough.

 

Read a glowing (and long) review of that in The Guardian.

I think you've just convinced me to buy it. Thanks.

Sounds like quite an emotional read.

[Woffy]

5 minutes ago, Woffy said:

Read a glowing (and long) review of that in The Guardian.

I think you've just convinced me to buy it. Thanks.

Sounds like quite an emotional read.

Signed hardback copies available from Waterstones if anyone's interested.

[gigpusher]

2 hours ago, MaxPower said:

Just finished Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, the lead singer of Japanese Breakfast. 

Absolutely brilliant, couldn’t recommend it enough.

 

Thanks added to my list. 

[bamber]

On 8/8/2021 at 4:03 PM, Ted Dansons Wig said:

 so bloody funny. A staple in our loo. Sometimes hear house guests giggling in there when they've picked it up

20 piece Hip Hop collective reforms as duo.

[John the Moth]

Currently on the go...

 

[blutarsky]

I’ve just ordered these two. They’ve been sat on a wish list for a while and I decided to order them ahead of going camping at worthy pastures. I can’t really remember what either is supposed to be about and didn’t have the inclination to check - I just trusted that if I’d put them on a wish list I’d obviously read the blurbs and reviews and decided they were both books I wanted to read. I think they may have been on my list based on recommendations in this thread. I guess I’ll find out if they are any good! 

Edited August 16, 2021 by blutarsky

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, blutarsky said:

I’ve just ordered these two. They’ve been sat on a wish list for a while and I decided to order them a head of going camping at worthy pastures. I can’t really remember what either is supposed to be about and didn’t have the inclination to check - I just trusted that if I’d put them on a Wish List I’d obviously read the blurbs and reviews and decided they were both books I wanted to read. I think they may have been on my list based on recommendations in this thread. I guess I’ll find out if they are any good! 

A man after my own heart. I often look at my wish list and wonder how on earth some of the books have ended up on it. Usually seen them recommended somewhere. Enjoy them!

[danmarks]

I'll be interested on your views of Utopia Avenue.

There were a couple of bits i found sat like a screaming gear change of a sentence - like he was trying to shoe-in some fact that us mere mortals arent meant to know but as i am an old hippie at heart i did know these things.

Didn't overtly stop my enjoyment but did pull me out of totally losing myself in the story.

[mcshed]

1 hour ago, blutarsky said:

I’ve just ordered these two. They’ve been sat on a wish list for a while and I decided to order them ahead of going camping at worthy pastures. I can’t really remember what either is supposed to be about and didn’t have the inclination to check - I just trusted that if I’d put them on a wish list I’d obviously read the blurbs and reviews and decided they were both books I wanted to read. I think they may have been on my list based on recommendations in this thread. I guess I’ll find out if they are any good! 

Have you read The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet? As there is a plot strand in Utopia Avenue which is a sequel to that, which given one is set in 18th century Japan and the other in the swinging sixties took me completely by surprise.

[blutarsky]

1 hour ago, mcshed said:

Have you read The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet? As there is a plot strand in Utopia Avenue which is a sequel to that, which given one is set in 18th century Japan and the other in the swinging sixties took me completely by surprise.

I haven’t - should I read that first? 

[mcshed]

50 minutes ago, blutarsky said:

I haven’t - should I read that first? 

I think you'll be fine, I read it when it came out ages ago and so didn't remember the specifics and the generalities are explained in Utopia Avenue. Bone Clocks is really the book that goes into the most detail about the magic in the Mitchell-verse but again that isn't essential if you're happy for the magic stuff just to be weird shit.

I liked Bone Clocks but Utopia Avenue is at it's best when it's just about a band and nothing fantastical is going on.

[Padjeq]

Boys in Zinc by Svetlana Alexievich.

It's about the Soviet-Afghan war. One thing I've been thinking about since I read it this morning is one of the young soviet soldiers, a few days into his first tour, saying when he sees one of his own army dead he's actually happy, because it means it wasn't him.

[gigpusher]

My August reads. A good mix. My usual mix of light and heavy, fiction and non-fiction. 

[blutarsky]

I read To The Lions by Holly Watt while at Worthy Pastures - I took a few others too but Baby B only allowed me enough time to read the one book! 
I picked it up in a charity shop before going and wasn’t expecting much but I enjoyed it a lot. It’s about an investigative journalist on the chase for a story and as an ex-journalist I’d have found it hard to read if the journalistic elements weren’t accurate, but it got most things right, albeit they were a bit far-fetched, but then, it wouldn’t have been much of a thriller if it more accurately echoed my experiences of a newsroom!

[eFestivals]

What am I reading, currently this topic 😁

[guypjfreak]

My late dad's diary 

He only did a few.. At the mo we're skint.. No car.. He's working in London just to feed us and my brother is dieing in a coma.... Aged 29....I'm 52 now and remember the night he went.... Fucking strange but I feel I have to realise the shit that my dad went through for us.. I'm the oldest of us and the coldest but I'm quite humbled on the one hand and more in hate of certain people on the other... 

Hey ho.... 

[gigpusher]

16 hours ago, guypjfreak said:

My late dad's diary 

He only did a few.. At the mo we're skint.. No car.. He's working in London just to feed us and my brother is dieing in a coma.... Aged 29....I'm 52 now and remember the night he went.... Fucking strange but I feel I have to realise the shit that my dad went through for us.. I'm the oldest of us and the coldest but I'm quite humbled on the one hand and more in hate of certain people on the other... 

Hey ho.... 

I'll bet it's an interesting read although I get how it could bring up many mixed emotions. 

[deebeedoobee]

Currently reading the death of bunny monro by Nick Cave. Anyone else read this? What did you think? I’m confused. I like it, I dislike it…I can’t decide…it’s…..marmite 

[mcshed]

4 minutes ago, deebeedoobee said:

Currently reading the death of bunny monro by Nick Cave. Anyone else read this? What did you think? I’m confused. I like it, I dislike it…I can’t decide…it’s…..marmite 

I read that years ago and thought it was awful.

[guypjfreak]

6 hours ago, gigpusher said:

I'll bet it's an interesting read although I get how it could bring up many mixed emotions. 

Yea true.. It's strange.. Funny as well. He only did a few but so far he's yakking on about getting stoned at night after a hard day's work in China Town... When I worked with him and later there by myself I used to eat Chad all the time he used to tell me off.... Lollol my sister picked up his ashes today so I've got to sort out that bit.. 

 

[gigpusher]

10 hours ago, guypjfreak said:

Yea true.. It's strange.. Funny as well. He only did a few but so far he's yakking on about getting stoned at night after a hard day's work in China Town... When I worked with him and later there by myself I used to eat Chad all the time he used to tell me off.... Lollol my sister picked up his ashes today so I've got to sort out that bit.. 

 

Everyone knows parenthood is a bit do as I say not as I do. You want your kids to be better than you. 

[gigpusher]

I just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Great book so many moral and ethical questions raised. For me it showed just how damaging the commercialisation of healthcare is. Would be interested to know if anyone else has read it. I need some people to read it so I can discuss it. 

[WestCountryGirl]

I've finally broken out of my reading funk a bit and finished two books last week, both of which I had been mulling over since mid-July. Devil's Day by Andrew Michael Hurley was a real struggle - I was disappointed because the first book of his I read, I devoured in one lovely Autumn morning last year, about 4 hours. This one I just could not get into, but I stuck with it like a stubborn mule. On Monday I was still lamenting that I wasn't even halfway into it's 290 pages, but then when I got to about page 160, it finally grabbed me and I was able to finish it that day. Mad. 

The other was The Manningtree Witches, by A.K.Blakemore. Meh. Nothing to write home about - as historical fiction about witch trials go, I far preferred The Familiars.

Just glad to have finally finished them so I am free to read the few things I have had stacking up, starting with The Women of Troy by Pat Barker. I adored The Silence of the Girls and really hope this one matches up to it, as part of the series. Then in a few weeks Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice is out. I've already got it pre-ordered and looking forward to setting a whole weekend aside to curl up and enjoy it.

[gigpusher]

20 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

I adored The Silence of the Girls and really hope this one matches up to it, as part of the series. 

I have this one on my TBR list. Is it the start of a series? or somewhere in the middle? I'm a bit of a stickler about trying to read things in the correct order.