Reply With QuoteReading 'A Prayer' for the 4th, maybe 5th time. It's a masterpiece.Originally Posted by DMC102
just finished "D day through German eyes" really enjoyed it.
Reading 'A Prayer' for the 4th, maybe 5th time. It's a masterpiece.
Completely agree, he´s a brilliant story teller.
Just finished Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway, which was an extremely entertaining read with a distinctive style. Giant steam trains, kung fu, mobsters, spies, a clockwork doomsday device and teenage lesbianism, all you could want in a book really.
Now reading A Town Called Alice by Nevil Shute, which is a big change of pace, but very good so far
Just picked up The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin and straight away it has gripped me.
Has numerous accolades and judging on the first 35 pages I can see why, hope this continues through the rest of the book.
Regards.
Keith.
I read that recently and enjoyed it, nice sense of time and place
I've just finished an excellent pair of books and, more by luck than judgement, managed to read them in the right sequence. Two biographies of diplomats; the Irish minister in Berlin in the thirties and the German minister in Dublin in the later thirties and throughout the war.
Mr Bewley in Berlin: Aspects of the Career of an Irish Diplomat 1933-39 by Andreas Roth.
Herr Hempel at the German Legation in Dublin 1937-1945 by John P Duggan
The first irony is that the Irish chap in Berlin was significantly more of a Nazi than his career-diplomat counterpart in Dublin; to the extent that somebody in Dublin saw sense and gave him the boot once hostilities started (and even the Nazis were somewhat dumb-founded by his fanaticism and largely considered him unreliable towards the end). The second irony is that the Irishman was a rabid Republican and did what he could to undermine his boss, the Irish leader, De Valera, despite the fact that he, Bewley, was Oxford-educated, spoke with an English accent and came from an old ascendancy family.
The Hempel book gives an interesting account of "The Emergency" as WWII was known on the emerald isle.
Reading two music books at the moment......
Fascinating insight into Bob's song writing. Very enjoyable read for Dylan fans.
And this sad but authoritative book charting the day by day basis of the Beatles break up.
Cheers,
Neil.
I'm almost exactly half way through the Void trilogy of books by Peter F Hamilton.
If you like sci-fi go straight to Amazon and order them.
If you like archaeology/treasure hunt books, you should enjoy David Gibbins. I recommend reading the books in order as the characters refer to previous adventures in successive books.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
On the beach by Nevil Shute, a modern classic. I'm surprised it's not been remade in movie yet
The Martian by Andy Weir
Really good premise and a gripping storyline
Nearly finished this - really enjoying it
Pelecanos is a master storyteller & the dialogue & period settings are utterly convincing. Brilliant crime fiction
I've read probably everything Pelecanos has written. Can't understand why he isn't better known. His style may not be to everyone's tastes is all I can think.
I've just finished a quick read of Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany; a guide for soldiers written in 1944 to prepare them for the forthcoming occupation. In many ways surprisingly spot on and I'll admit sharing some of the opinions expressed about Germans when I'm having the odd, uncharitable moment. It's absolutely on the money when it says that Germans can't make tea!
Last edited by Carlton-Browne; 4th August 2015 at 10:05. Reason: formatting
I've just finished a quick read of Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany; a guide for soldiers written in 1944 to prepare them for the forthcoming occupation. In many ways surprisingly spot on and I'll admit sharing some of the opinions expressed about Germans when I'm having the odd, uncharitable moment. It's absolutely on the money when it says that Germans can't make tea!
I've seen a few of the originals around at flea markets.
Only flicked through but quite an amusing read, especially the parts about fraternisation.
Cheers,
Neil.
Reading another Wodehouse, Thank You Jeeves.
Great read on a summers day in the garden.
Cheers,
Neil.
Under the Skin - Michel Faber. I was really taken by the film first time round & enjoyed it even more on the 2nd viewing, so I bought the novel to confirm/deny my thoughts & fill in other parts the film only touched on. The novel as you would expect is quite a bit different from the film but is equally excellent.
Bonjour Tristesse - Françoise Sagan. Bed hopping father, two birds on the go, jealous naïve daughter = not happy ending. Very French.
I just finished Logan's Run. I didn't realise it was a trilogy, I don't know why no one made a film of the other two books as actually the story in the second is better.
Finished this
Currently re-reading this
......it's very 'American'
Two enjoyable reads in the last couple of weeks..
The Odyssey by Homer - a great story and the Robert Fagles translation is really accessible. Very modern feel in parts which is amazing considering it was written so long ago.
The Cartel by Don Winslow - sequel to his 2005 book 'Power of the Dog', a good read very much based in fact and almost like a Mexican drug cartel version of the Godfather.
This is a great book. I saw it referenced in Oliver Stone's "The untold history of the United States" and I read it. Agree that it's very surprising it hasn't been remade into a film; it could be excellent.
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. Recommended by a Russian colleague..very much the Russian Dickens.
The story deals with big social change and an unrequited love from a nihilist, Basarov.
Gommorah by Roberto Saviano.
I've an Italian wife who has a pathological hatred of the South and I've always wanted to understand how the North and South can be viewed (and are by most Italians) as two separate countries. I've always wondered why Naples seemed so beautiful and yet so run down. This book does a great job of explaining just how entrenched the shadow economy is run by the Camorra and how without it the whole economy would collapse.
I've just finished Ernest K Gann's autobiographical account of the early days of commercial aviation - Fate is the Hunter. He started flying DC2s and DC3s in the thirties, was seconded to military transport during WW2 and was one of the pioneers of trans atlantic flying, when maps of Canada, Iceland and Greenland still had large tracts of land marked as 'unexplored' and navigation was by dead reckoning - including using a sextant and astral navigation to cross the oceans. By the time of the Korean war he had 10,000 hours in his logbook.
If you've ever done any flying, be it professionally or just pottering about in a Cessna, there are some truly scrotum-tightening moments.
And I'll say this, the bloke can write; it's a long time since I last read such clear and elegant prose.
Last edited by SimonK; 16th August 2015 at 19:59.
I finally got round to reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde and was totally glued to it. Looking for some more classics like that.
Currently reading "Reamde" by Neal Stephenson, pretty good so far.
Plenty of classics for free on Kindle - I just download Conrad's Nostromo and Sterne's Tristram Shandy. You can find Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and many more - all free.
I have just read two books by Tony Parsons - The Murder Bag & The Slaughter Man - that have both been excellent - both detective/crime books featuriung the same character & quite a departure from the normal Tony Parsons stuff but well written & a good read in each case.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
.12345
Last edited by jambobbyb; 21st May 2019 at 19:38.
The Ukulele Handbook by notorious idlers Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tom Hodgkinson. Penned in their distinctive good-humoured manner, it is the perfect choice for accompanying my half-hearted efforts at showing an interest my eldest's uke playing, with plenty of historical diversions as well as some entertaining practical advice.
Just finished 'The Black Echo' by Michael Connelly, the first of the Harry Bosch mysteries. Really enjoyed it and definitely see myself reading more.
Currently reading Sunset at Blandings which was PG Wodehouse's last unfinished book, so a bit melancholy.
Cheers,
Neil.
The Accountants Story by Roberto Escobar very good insight into the Colombian drugs cartel from the criminals POV rather than the usual say FBI' s perspective....in more detail and slower paced than the very good NARCOS tv series ....
Apologies as probably been mentioned before but I haven't read through all 35 pages of the thread but I'm currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman which is so far excellent....
Reading a WW2 thriller called 'When Eagles Burn' which was free (I think) for Kindle, it's actually a lot better than I expected. Doesn't require a lot or brain power to read but gripping and lots of fun in a Commando type of way. First of a series and I can see myself reading more of them.
I read JG Ballard's Concrete Island while on holiday in Montenegro. Stunning read. The Kindle version has a lot of typos unfortunately, presumably resulting from being digitised by OCR without having been proof-read, which is a shame but doesn't spoil the experience.
I had exactly the same criticism of the Kindle edition of his novel High Rise. Great book but very very lazily converted
Michael Connellys "Harry Bosch" books are excellent imo. Another great read I enjoyed was this, far better than the film.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27364132
More like a comic book than a book, but I just trawled a collection of Man Thing from the mid '70's from the loft and am reading them this afternoon.
I love the artwork and the old ads too!
Cheers,
Neil.
Wonderful cover. I remember reading American conics as a kid and being intensely envious of all the things advertised.More like a comic book than a book, but I just trawled a collection of Man Thing from the mid '70's from the loft and am reading them this afternoon.
I love the artwork and the old ads too!
I know....Why oh why were those lucky yanks allowed to get x Ray spex and sea monkeys and hostess twinkies!
Ditto.
Cheers,
Neil.
Golf against cancer (A month of madness on the M25) - Trevor Sandford, a great humerous read for any golfer or anyone who understands the game!
'Mind over matter' and 'Mad, bad and dangerous to know' by Ranaulph Feinnes
'The White Spider' by Heinrich Harrer
'Karlology' by Karl Pilkington
They did, in 1959.
Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins starred.
edit. I see you wrote 'remade'.
There was a TV movie in 2000
m.imdb.com/title/tt0219224/
Last edited by chrisb; 5th October 2015 at 16:19.
Completely agree, read most of the Bosch. I can highly recommend the series as well of Harry Bosch http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3502248/
In terms of my reading, i have just fininshed another Raymond Chandler about detective Marlowe, excellent stuff.
I found the last couple of Bosch books a bit average, but the bar was set pretty high with the likes of "Angels Flight". The TV series is quite good - they managed to avoid most of the cliches. Not sure I pictured him as a Rolex owner though!
Hehe, i agree about the Rolex comment, he is a bit slicker in the series than i had pictured him. Also, perhaps i have just missed that part, but is the 'movie money' mentioned in the series also part of the books?
Yep, pretty sure that's mentioned in the books at some stage - he was an advisor on a TV cop show or something like that. I think they did a pretty decent job over all, especially compared to the appalling movie version of Blood work.
It is mentioned several times in the first few books to establish how he could afford to live where he does, and why his relationship with his bosses is sometimes strained.
Posting Permissions
