What are you reading at the moment?

[pete]

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (which I think is mentioned earlier in this thread).

[Andrew_C]

Oh yes...

[HarryMonkey]

Autobiography Of A Super-Tramp

 

The tramp in question being W H Davies (he of "What is this life if full of care" fame). So far so good. An interesting foreword from George Bernard Shaw.

 

A complete detachment from what I normally read but I'm enjoying it so far, plenty of gentle humour.

 

(It's also where the band took their name from).

[StevieM]

Autobiography Of A Super-Tramp

 

The tramp in question being W H Davies (he of "What is this life if full of care" fame). So far so good. An interesting foreword from George Bernard Shaw.

 

A complete detachment from what I normally read but I'm enjoying it so far, plenty of gentle humour.

 

(It's also where the band took their name from).

 

That's... Logical.

[LeMarchand]

That's... Logical.

 

Really? I always thought Auden was more of a Dreamer.

[mikeprice]

That's... Logical.

 

Responsible - practical???

[witch]

No more Supertramp jokes - or you will find you will have to take the long way home....

[southhamster]

Just finishing Beloved Poison by E.S.Thomson. A dark gothic tale set in Dickensian London. Plucky young apothecary Jem Flockhart harbours a deep secret as he struggles with anatomists and villains. The writer is a medical lecturer and it shows....

[paulkerton]

Do audiobooks count as reading here? If so, Jurassic Park.

If I wasn't already in doubt about it - Michael Crichton could not in any way shape or form write women. At all. In Jurassic Park they're either supposedly really intelligent yet do very little and are there merely as something for the male characters to ogle, or they're whining and annoying children.

 

Other than that and his science cynicism, I'm kinda enjoying it.

[Andrew_C]

Cage Of Souls Adrian Tchaikovsky

[mikeprice]

Still reading Wheel of Time

 

I don;t read as much when I'm at home and I've tried a few other things - nothing special

 

but I'm back on WoT again

 

currently up to 43% after only a year or so!!!

[LeMarchand]

Currently £22.74 on Humble Bundle most for Terry Moore's creator-owned output: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/ultimate-terry-moore-collection-abstract-studios-tbc-books?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_1_c_ultimateterrymoorecollectionabstractstudiostbc_bookbundle

[stevewill6]

The Bullish Case for Bitcoin - very interesting to see how bitcoin may effect or change our financial system. Quite an easy read with some good simple explanations.

[Vegas]

Just got the new Ben Aaronovitch - Amongst Our Weapons. Only read the first 3 chapters but so far so good.

[elsiegee40]

Just got the new Ben Aaronovitch - Amongst Our Weapons. Only read the first 3 chapters but so far so good.

 

I have yet to start it, but I have enjoyed the others in this series. Not least because of his encyclopaedic knowledge of London. I know so many of the places he uses as locations which gives me a really vivid image in my mind when reading them.

[Andrew_C]

It is on order, but I'm away so I don't know if it has arrived...

[pete]

Just got the new Ben Aaronovitch - Amongst Our Weapons. Only read the first 3 chapters but so far so good.

 

Is the series like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files or more like Charles Stross' Laundry Files?

[Vegas]

Is the series like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files or more like Charles Stross' Laundry Files?

 

Sorry I've not read either but having just looked them up I want to.

Give 'Rivers of London' (book 1) a go, you won't be disappointed.

[Andrew_C]

'Rivers' and the sequels have been described as 'A grown up Harry Potter joins the Met'.

 

Not to say they are anything children's booish, but it isn't that far from accurate. A good read, not gotthe latest yet.

 

The novellas and picture books? A bit light really.

[simpsonj]

Just finished Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. Definitely for a mature audience! The scenes involving torture are particularly gruesome, and from that you can take it isn't a standard fantasy trilogy. Instead, it takes some of the tropes, and turns them on their head and it's far more of a character study than anything else. Worth a read if you fancy a darker fantasy than WoT or even Game of Thrones.

[southhamster]

Just finished reading "Spies in the sky" by Taylor Downing. Really interesting book about WW2 aerial reconnaissance. By the usual British mixture of bumbling, luck and skill a massive operation to photograph occupied territories was built up by the end of the war. Some great stories of the pilots who risked everything for a photograph, but also the thousands of men and women who noticed tiny but important details from blurry images.

[LeMarchand]

Was having a bit of a reading slump, having got stuck on Pamela Dean's The Secret Country, which sounded like it was going to be "teen Narnia", but I found the characters unengaging - might go back to it at some stage.

 

Anyway, got over the slump with Shimaura by Leslie Charles (the nom de plume of a member here). An average guy starts seeing strange things after a car accident. Kept me entertained, as things kept getting worse and more complicated for the protagonist. It reminded me a bit of early James Herbert but without the extreme sex/gore. The cover doesn't really sell it, though!

 

Next up were the latest two Philip Reeve books. Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild (older kids/younger teenagers) has Utterly going to the mainland with her uncle where it seems that old magic is stirring. A fun read. Adventure Mice: Otter Chaos is for young 'uns and is basically Thunderbirds with mice; there's even a diagram of "Mousey Island". I wonder if this is one he and co-author Sarah McIntyre are hoping will be picked up for TV as I can see some great merchandising opportunities. Another fun one.

[LeMarchand]

if someone knows any good detective/crime books, I'd appreciate any recommendations.

 

Having just watched the film of "The Treatment" I'd say the first and second "Jack Caffery" books by Mo Hayder: Birdman and The Treatment. Be warned, the crimes portrayed are very strong stuff. I've read the next two books but they didn't grip me the same way, or enough to finish the series.

[pete]

Currently:

 

The Consuming Fire (Interdependency Book 02) by John Scalzi

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell

[mikeprice]

Currently reading "The Battle of the Narrow Seas"

 

it is about the small RN boats such as MTBs and MGBs that were in use in coastle areas in WW2

 

includes the attach on the dock at St Nazaire (spelling????) by HMS Cambletown among things

 

Not the best written book ever - relies a lot of diary entries from the actual people - so not professional writers - but it does give a much different view of a much neglected area of the war

and one with very high casualty rates at times

 

Many times it relates an action where the boat withdrew because all the crew were unable to continue due to injury!!!

 

 

pity none of those boats survived and were preserved - just the sound of the engines must have been really something!