What are you currently reading..

big soft moose said:
yes - the first 8 are definitely worth it, if i was scoring them all it would be

killing floor 10/10
die trying 11/10
tripwire 9/10
the visitor 7/10
Echo burning 10/10
persuader 6/10
without fail 10/10
the enemy 9/10

after that they get a bit formulaic and are more 'okay' than absolutely brilliant - but even the bad ones are worth a read if you can pick them up cheap (or borrow them ;) )
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I may just take you up on that boy:D
 
Re-re-re-reading the Pern series by Anne and Todd McCaffrey. Currently on the White Dragon. Splitting the books with an assortment of autobiographies.
 
The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.

Red or Dead by David Peace.
 
The Sheltering Desert (Henno Martin). I've read it before, many years ago, and it's just as good as I remember.

I've driven through Namibia several times and the thought of the vast spaces, isolation, desert colours and the lonely roads still makes me want to go back; but the author and his companion experienced something very profound.
 
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Things have just taken a VERY unexpected turn!
 
Yv said:
Recently finished Relatively Strange by Marilyn Messik, very enjoyable read.
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All 20 reviews for this on amazon are 5 stars... Sounds promising! Sample downloaded... Thanks!
 
Flashman said:
All 20 reviews for this on amazon are 5 stars... Sounds promising! Sample downloaded... Thanks!
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Its one of those odd, slow burn books that really builds characters and suddenly you are at the end and you want it to carry on. I should add, I do know the author which was how I discovered it in the first place, but still wouldn't recommend it if I hadn't enjoyed it ;)
 
Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt. It's all about driver behaviour and it's one of the most interesting books I've read in ages.
 
SJ Parris "Heresy"

Just finished CJ Sansom's five Shardlake books and wanted something similar. Not as good I think but enjoyable nonetheless.
 
Speaking of actors who could play Jack Reacher (a few pages back admittedly), Ive recently been watching Person of Interest and I reckon Jim Caviezel would be a good call.

So, if you're reading this Tom, time to step away and just produce the next one, not star in it.
 
Got a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday (was finding the buttons too fiddly on my old Kindle) and have just started on the Jack Reacher books. Interesting to see that some are written in the 1st person and some in the 3rd

Have also seen the film and thought that Tom Cruise wasn't that bad actually (I see the 2nd film has been announced). I'm only a little more than a quarter of the way through The Killing Floor but the 1st actor who pooped in to my head was Hugh Jackman (in a Wolverinesque kind of way)
 
fabs said:
Got a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday
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Excellent!! I just got a Paperwhite too... I used to read everything on the iPad Kindle app but the Paperwhite is my device of choice for books now... the backlight makes it so much more practical than the old version.

Just finished 'Little Lies' by Lianne Moriarty... it's 'chick lit' I suppose but I challenge any hairy chested feller not to enjoy it too!
 
I am just up to page 98 of It Can't Go On by Joseph Connolly - It has a high rating at Amazon but I am finding it pretentious rubbish.
Unless advised otherwise - I can't go on.
 
ChasG said:
I am just up to page 98 of It Can't Go On by Joseph Connolly - It has a high rating at Amazon but I am finding it pretentious rubbish.
Unless advised otherwise - I can't go on.
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Ratings can be deceptive. I just had a look at them for the book you're reading and only 3 people have actually rated it. I tend not to take much notice of them unless there are quite a few more.
 
fabs said:
Ratings can be deceptive. I just had a look at them for the book you're reading and only 3 people have actually rated it. I tend not to take much notice of them unless there are quite a few more.
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And I suspect that a proportion of the 'reviews' of some books (especially the early ones) are written by friends & family of the author.
 
Flashman said:
And I suspect that a proportion of the 'reviews' of some books (especially the early ones) are written by friends & family of the author.
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Who knows. One thing I did find out recently is that you don't have to have purchased an item to review it on Amazon as my wife wrote a review on something I'd purchased but she did it whilst signed into her account.
 
Currently on The Ritual by Adam Nevill. 100 pages in and getting bored.
 
Quoth said:
SJ Parris "Heresy"

Just finished CJ Sansom's five Shardlake books and wanted something similar. Not as good I think but enjoyable nonetheless.
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I'd have to agree, I did the same after the Shardlakes, read the 4 Bruno ones by Parris. Fair to say not as good, but pretty close I'd say. Intriguing as Giordano Bruno was a real person, though the books complete fiction.
As an aside, does anyone know of any similar authors/books? A certain site recommends "John Shakespeare (character)" ( I think) regularly, has anyone read ?


Edit : Apologies if this already posted but....

Lamentation (The Shardlake Series 6) 23 Oct 2014 ! ! !
 
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I confess, I have just finished reading a series of Jeffrey Archer books that I really enjoyed.

Now it's time to read Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" again.
 
I love Dickens (snarf snarf for the non literati) and used to spend many happy hours reading Nicholas Nickleby to a girlfriend.

I had the amazing experience of watching a 10 hour performance at the Royal Shakespear many years ago.
An unforgettable and wonderful experience
 
Worth dying for - Lee Child

Wondering if it'll be as action packed as Guns of Navarone I've just finished.
 
Polished off Lamentation (see over excited post above!) thoroughly enjoyed it, am now on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson, who also wrote The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

If you like quirky, funny, irreverent, ludicrous, gentle, clever books I'd recommend both :)

After this it's Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles by Bernard Cornwell, a non-fiction account of the Battle of Waterloo (something of an obsession of mine)
 
Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift. (Ian Knight). I know both battlefields well, and it covers a fair amount of the same ground as his earlier books, but adds some interesting new interpretations.

Jon, could you post comments when you've read Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles? I used to enjoy Bernard Cornwell but I found the books getting increasingly formulaic a while back, and I haven't bothered with the later ones. This is his first foray into non-fiction, and I've heard that there are some basic factual errors. I'd be interested in your opinion, and whether you think these really matter in the greater context of the events. Thanks.
 
Inverted World - Christopher Priest. One of the SF masterworks collection. A bit slow going so far but persevering. Its readable at least not Hi faluting techy jargon or weird ideas.

He also wrote The Prestige which became the film with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale so I have hopes for it.
 
Have just finished full tilt- Ireland to India by bicycle and now started Tibetan Foothold which follows on.by dervla murphy, I've put off reading her books for ages and now have started I can see I will have to buy and read them all, well written and very enjoyable.
 
CheshireChap said:
I'd have to agree, I did the same after the Shardlakes, read the 4 Bruno ones by Parris. Fair to say not as good, but pretty close I'd say. Intriguing as Giordano Bruno was a real person, though the books complete fiction.
As an aside, does anyone know of any similar authors/books? A certain site recommends "John Shakespeare (character)" ( I think) regularly, has anyone read ?


Edit : Apologies if this already posted but....

Lamentation (The Shardlake Series 6) 23 Oct 2014 ! ! !
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I've read and enjoyed all (apart from the latest) of the Shardlake series, I didn't enjoy "Dominion' nearly as much though. I have read Rory Clement's books featuring John Shakespeare (Apparently Will's brother!) and found them pretty good.

In a similar vein perhaps to the Shardlake novels (if you haven't read it already) is Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth and it's sequel is worth reading too. Also highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction is the 'Erast Fandorin' series by Boris Akunin, very enjoyable - James Bond and Sherlock Holmes rolled into one!
 
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I ran out of new things to read earlier this week, so decided to revisit some of the really old stuff on the bookshelves.

Currently halfway through Stephen King's Tommyknockers and I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying it.
Must be at least 10 years since I last read it and I'd forgotten almost all of the storyline.
 
Just finished 'The Skin Collector' by Jeffrey Deaver... I've read all of his Lincoln Rhyme books and this is the best for a long time. Just when you think the plot's over, he throws in a big twist... and then another... and then another... I thought I knew his style well enough to outguess him by now but no, he got me again!
 
Currently reading Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton. Just discovered him recently and read Hangover Square prior to this. Very bleak but engrossing stories of London life between the wars.
 
Just finished Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel.

It is written in an unusual way that gets you feeling very involved, almost as if you were standing next to them listening in on the conversations. Even with the list of main characters at the beginning sometime I forgot exactly who was who, but it did not detract from the story - well worth a read.

Dave
 
You'll like the sequel too then, plus in new year, BBC dramatisation of the book
 
I'm looking forward to starting Bring Up the Bodies. I'm not so sure about the TV dramatisation. I have my own pictures of it and I'm not sure I'd be happy with someone else's interpretation, but I'll probably give it a go.

Dave
 
Just started rereading the deathlands series ...#1 being pilgremage to hell , by james adrian... utterly ridiculous but good fun when you want something undemanding.

for a slighly heavier read i am also mid way through 'the son' by jo nesbo
 
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