📚 I am currently reading

I ‘enjoyed’ this too.

If this sort of thing had been on the syllabus I may have enjoyed History at school.

Still, it’s no Spinning Jenny.

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Just finished reading the Helliconia trilogy (Brian Aldiss), the first 2 were very good I feel he ran out of ideas for the 3rd part.

Still interesting scientific ideas and good social commentary.

Especially liked the idea of necrogenes!

I also learnt some new big words which I am unlikely to remember or use in RL

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The cricket scores and cant find any

Ah been a way from here.

Artemis was OK not as good as The Martian and almost as if it was written as a new movie script.

A meh ok for beach/plane 6/10.

Jack Reachers’ last book was imho one of the best yet. A dramatically small cut down scale and a very informative read on the massive Opiate crisis in US society and it’s impact on relatively normal people. Tom Cruise will ruin it but best read on a long time.

For my upcoming 6 hour no frills B737 flight I had no choice went straight to Dan Brown & Origins. 6 hours in 29" seat pitch and driving at other end I need brain numbing. Made sure it was bearable. So far not as bad as his sequels. Still hate how I get Tom Hanks voice in my head with it though.

Oh and have you never tried cricinfo @philippinesaint ?

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I purchased Ready Player One a couple of years ago, kept meaning to read it. It’s is now queued up on my Kindle app


My son appeared one day with this book in his hands. It had been given to him by a friend on his bus to school. They’d passed it around between themselves like a piece of illicit contraband. Yes, just like his father, my son is a bit of a geek.

Anyway, I decided to read it and actually enjoyed it quite a bit although I wondered to what extent the kids who’d read it understood any of the references. It’s a piece of nostalgic, espcapist nonsense, but fun nonetheless.

My son is now badgering me to take him to see the film.

My son wants to see the film as well but I know if I see the film I won’t read the book.

Talking of nostalgia and kids not getting the reference (a bit OT I know) but have you seen Wreck It Ralph?

Make him read the book. It really is an easy read.

Yes, I saw Wreck it Ralph, but that was a colourful film which the kids could engage with.

See the film at Imax and in 3D while you can. Visually astonishing.

Today, I bought The City and the City by China MiĂ©ville. I saw that it’s been adapted for the Beeb but wanted to read it first.

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Currently reading Mark Curtis’ book: Secret Affairs-Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam.

But definitely going to be reading this next:

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Another 6 hours on low cost airlines Tuesday.to Katowice this time (70km from Krakow)

So bought Ready Player One to pass the time.

I will let you know if you can read it AFTER seeing the movie

:sunglasses:

To be honest, I wish I hadn’t seen the film, not a patch on the book and almost totally different too.

Amazing how Simon Pegg manages to get in a lot of films these days


Just finished The Gorse Trilogy by Patrick Hamilton

I enjoyed it but as the three books went on, instead of building to a powerful conclusion it petered out.

We meet Gorse in book one at school in Sussex and watch as he starts to manipulate and abuse the girls and women in his life.

By book two Gorse is a consummate conman defrauding his victims with elaborate stories and invented identities.

Book three follows Gorse as he exploits a young barmaid and her family in London but Hamilton seems to lose his way towards the end as if another book or two were planned and we reach no real conclusion.

Shame really as the first two books were building to tell the story of the real-life conman and murderer Neville Heath that Gorse was loosely based on.

Either of the first two stand alone outside of the trilogy and are worth a read but give book three a swerve.

I’d previously read Hangover Square by Hamilton and was really gripped by it - thoroughly recommended.
An exploration of a man - George suffering from what we would now see as multiple personality disorder. He, by turns, is romantically obsessed with Netta or wants to brutally murder Netta - depending on whether he’s ‘having one of his moods’.

Netta, an out of work actress and good-time-girl is viciously cruel and keeps a throng of men (including George) at arm’s length to buy her drink and entertain her without every giving them full access to her.

It build and builds and the mistreatment of this slightly slow, gentle giant George gets worse and worse and it ends predicatably but brilliantly.

Think I’ve got Stuart MacBride book lined up next which I’m really looking forward to.

I thought this was going to be a book about the plant that seems to spread everywhere.

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Recently finished Shtum and thoroughly enjoyed it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0119Q17ZK

It follows an excruciatingly slow-motion, marriage breakdown and tracks the subsequent decision about where their profoundly autistic son will end up - both in terms of his education and his long-term, post-break-up home.

All of this is set against the protagonist’s drink problem, failing business, money issues and the discovery that his father, a Jewish refugee, is very, very ill.

It’s a debut novel but you’d never know as it’s written with confidence and such a clear voice.

It’s sad, it’s funny and I loved it.

Best thing I’ve read recently is The Gallows Pole, by Benjamin Myers. Which is based around the story of a gang of coiners in Yorkshire in the 18th century; basically a bunch of fellas snipping bits off coins and minting their own money. It’s a fucking brutal story but almost delicious in its brutality, with a load to say about our continued struggle over state approved impoverishment. And the notion that capitalism is basically the vicious barbs of wounded male pride.

And now I’m finally reading Dune some 30 years after starting it as a child, and
 it’s really good! But you probably already knew that.

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Another holiday and a bit of reading. My kindle is playing up so didn’t get through much.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (spoiler she hasn’t actually stopped). I can see there are some mixed reviews of the book. I found it to be an interesting and thought provoking read.

part through The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken which is a bit of an eye opener about the legal system.

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FYI all, I wanted to remember @Intiniki’s book recommendations post so I bookmarked* it.

It will now be in my bookmarks when I come to buy my next few books.

Press your Avatar and then the bookmark icon to see your bookmarks.

Great for marking posts that you don’t have time to reply to.

Bookmarks are excellent !

* no pun intended

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