What are you currently reading..

DorsetDude said:
Not just teenage boys.

To be fair there quite often is blood in a battle though.
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It wasn't that there was a lot of blood (I know enough history to know that Agincourt wasn't decided by tiddlywinks), but more the way it was portrayed. There was a kind of visceral excitement in it that jarred with the acts themselves. Just my personal opinion.
 
I don't read much (cant find the time) but I do listen to plenty of audio books.

The Girl With All the Gifts and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August are both 5/5 in my opinion.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Almost finished book #2 in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord (Aurthurian) Chronicles. First time I've picked up an author I've avoided for years based on preconceived ideas and had everything turned on its head. It's brill. Humourous and told from a pagans view of Christianity which is really refreshing and
Lots of spitting in it too.

Has anyone read any of his other stuff? Is the style of writing the same? On his wiki, he states these were his favourite books, so it would be interesting to see if people thought his other stuff was not up to scratch...
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I've read just about all Bernard Cornwell's books over the years, and the Warrior Chronicles are my favourites too. The Sharpe and Uhtred (Saxon) series are well written and entertaining, but they start getting a bit formulaic after a while and lack the 'magic' of the Arthur books. His other, short, series are Grail Quest, which is a sort of precursor to Azincourt, although Cornwell denies it, and Starbuck which is set during the American Civil War. Both are worth reading, if you like historical fiction. There are a few others, but that's enough to keep anyone going for quite a while!

DorsetDude said:
I've read about half the Sharpe ones and 2 or 3 of his yachting/sea based ones. Enjoy them pretty much all as I recall.
Are the warlord ones "The winter king" and so on? I do fancy giving those a go.
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The Winter King is Part 1 of the Warrior Chronicles (Arthur), followed by Enemy of God and Excalibur. A very different, and fascinating, interpretation of the story. Highly recommended.
 
I currently have 4 samples from Amazon and haven't been able to make up my mind which to buy. One of them is The Martian by Andy Weir and I jst saw the trailer for the film (with Matt Damon). Given that the book ill always be better than the film, I think I've finally made my mind up.

Anybody read it?
 
MartynK said:
I've read just about all Bernard Cornwell's books over the years, and the Warrior Chronicles are my favourites too. The Sharpe and Uhtred (Saxon) series are well written and entertaining, but they start getting a bit formulaic after a while and lack the 'magic' of the Arthur books. His other, short, series are Grail Quest, which is a sort of precursor to Azincourt, although Cornwell denies it, and Starbuck which is set during the American Civil War. Both are worth reading, if you like historical fiction. There are a few others, but that's enough to keep anyone going for quite a while!



The Winter King is Part 1 of the Warrior Chronicles (Arthur), followed by Enemy of God and Excalibur. A very different, and fascinating, interpretation of the story. Highly recommended.
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I ahve read all the david gemmall novels that seem to be simmilar.. unfortunatly there are no more.. 20 yrs later tried reading again... do you know how cornwall and gemmall compare ?
 
KIPAX said:
I ahve read all the david gemmall novels that seem to be simmilar.. unfortunatly there are no more.. 20 yrs later tried reading again... do you know how cornwall and gemmall compare ?
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Afraid not, I haven't read any of David Gemmell's books.

What are you interested in? Cornwell's main series are set during the later Saxon/Viking period and the Napoleonic Wars, with forays into the Arthur legend, High Middle Ages, the American Civil War and a few others. He's prolific.
 
fabs said:
I currently have 4 samples from Amazon and haven't been able to make up my mind which to buy. One of them is The Martian by Andy Weir and I jst saw the trailer for the film (with Matt Damon). Given that the book ill always be better than the film, I think I've finally made my mind up.

Anybody read it?
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Yes. I quite enjoyed it although its more about the technical aspects of being stranded and dealing with faults and problems rather than the human side of "oh my god I'm alone millions of miles from home"
 
MartynK said:
Afraid not, I haven't read any of David Gemmell's books.

What are you interested in? Cornwell's main series are set during the later Saxon/Viking period and the Napoleonic Wars, with forays into the Arthur legend, High Middle Ages, the American Civil War and a few others. He's prolific.
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His last books where a take on TROY.. A lot are post apocolypse or fantasy times.. but the better ones are diff takes on history....the cornwells arthur legend and middle ages sound interesting then :)
 
KIPAX said:
His last books where a take on TROY.. A lot are post apocolypse or fantasy times.. but the better ones are diff takes on history....the cornwells arthur legend and middle ages sound interesting then :)
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The Arthur books aren't really fantasy. They're more a blend of the legend, without the medieval romantic spin, and Merlin's attempts to turn the clock back to Britain's pre-Christian, Druid, past and the 'old gods'. Bernard Cornwell's interpretation of the main characters (Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot etc) is interesting, but I'm not going to say any more because I don't want to spoil it...

The Grail Quest( 3 books) and Azincourt are set during the 100 Years War and are good historical fiction, based on real people and events. There's a certain amount of religious varnish, but that's in keeping with the period and it doesn't detract from the stories. Grail Quest was originally written in two parts, but Cornwell turned it into a trilogy because readers asked for another book, and Azincourt is set abut 50 years later. He's always said it isn't a sequel, but there's enough commonality to suggest that it is, even if this was unintentional!
 
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DorsetDude said:
Yes. I quite enjoyed it although its more about the technical aspects of being stranded and dealing with faults and problems rather than the human side of "oh my god I'm alone millions of miles from home"
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I'm reading The Martian now and I reckon it's one of the best reads I've ever come across, funny, technical, interesting... The main character Mark Watney has some great lines that make me laugh out loud.

I saw an interview on Youtube Andy Weir did with Adam Savage and he came across really well, explained a lot of his thinking and research into the details of the story.

I bought the ebook from amazon but apparently you can download it for free from the authors web site, whether you pay for it or get the free copy I really recommend reading it.
 
just to fill in the gap between the Giro d'Italia finishing and the Tour de France starting, I decided to finally grab a copy of Tim Moore's Gironimo!

Can't remember the last time I spent as much time empathising and relating to the central character in a book... He even swears at the mountains and homicidal truck drivers in a very similar vernacular to me...

Might have to pick up his French Revolutions to pass the time beween the TdF and LaVuelta at this rate...
 
TheBigYin said:
just to fill in the gap between the Giro d'Italia finishing and the Tour de France starting, I decided to finally grab a copy of Tim Moore's Gironimo!

Can't remember the last time I spent as much time empathising and relating to the central character in a book... He even swears at the mountains and homicidal truck drivers in a very similar vernacular to me...

Might have to pick up his French Revolutions to pass the time beween the TdF and LaVuelta at this rate...
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"Do not Pass Go" good as well.
 
I've started reading the Jack Lark series by Paul Fraser Collard. I've read the first two short stories and just starting not on The Scarlet Thief. Looks promising just hoping it's not trying too hard to be a new Sharpe.
 
Hunter's Rage (Michael Arnold). This is the third book in a series set during the English Civil War, which I didn't realise when I borrowed it. I like historical novels, and it's competent, but it's just a bit too similar to Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe' series. I read these years ago and eventually got bored with the style and repetition. I'll probably check to see if they're available from the library, but I don't buy much fiction nowadays.
 
KIPAX said:
I ahve read all the david gemmall novels that seem to be simmilar.. unfortunatly there are no more.. 20 yrs later tried reading again... do you know how cornwall and gemmall compare ?
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Back off holiday now... Managed to finish the Arthurian ones and am working through Sharpe (about to start Sharpe's Rifles). Thoroughly enjoying the read!

I'm a huge Gemmell fan. My 1980something copy of Legend is falling apart it's been read so many times. Thank God for ereaders! Comparing the two is tough. Cornwell is much more historical fiction, although one can see how it translates well to TV. Gemmell's work is much more fantastical, though I'd still consider it low fantasy (a la Game of Thrones). Cornwell is an excellent storyteller and also a history fan. Gemmell is (was) just a brilliant storyteller. Following Cornwell's battles can get a bit tedious, but for me, Gemmell's battles were easy to follow and well explained. The Ghost King/Sword of Power duology were a couple of great books - as were the Arthurian Cornwell books. Both were about the same sort of thing, but both were very different. Gemmell's magic is real, Cornwell's is just hinted and could easily be explained as coincidence.

I also imagined Gemmell's characters better. Cornwell's characters seem a bit "samey" and "lucky" Sharpe is obviously going to make it through all the books. Gemmell rarely did books with the same character until later on, and I think three was his limit (Waylander 1, 2 & 3) His characters were less realistic and very much larger than life.

"But bear in mind, you ugly son of a bitch, that I could cut you in half without breaking sweat. I could swallow you whole if someone buttered your head and pinned your ears back"
 
Just finished ' I am pilgrim'
Read it twice now - t
Got to be be in one of my top 10, bloody fantastic read!
 
I've a simple taste in books;

Liberation Day - The 5th book in a series of Nick Stone books by Andy McNab

I've read the 4 previous books and enjoyed them so....
 
The March of Folly (Barbara Tuchman). It's a historical analysis of rulers/governments making irrational decisions, and continuing to act contrary to their best interests, despite having reasonable alternatives. The Trojan War, Pearl Harbour and US policy in Vietnam are a few examples she cites. I'm looking for Turning Wheels (Stuart Cloete) but it's been out of print for a while and I haven't found a copy in decent condition at a reasonable price. I'll find one eventually.
 
I've recently finished the first Outlander book and The Girl on the Train. Loved them both.

I'm now reading The Girl With All The Gifts. Seems pretty good so far.
 
stemll said:
I've started reading the Jack Lark series by Paul Fraser Collard. I've read the first two short stories and just starting not on The Scarlet Thief. Looks promising just hoping it's not trying too hard to be a new Sharpe.
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I've read the first two 'main' books, they were 'ok' but not much more than that. The premise is good but even within two books it gets a bit samey.
 
J40ADF said:
I've a simple taste in books;

Liberation Day - The 5th book in a series of Nick Stone books by Andy McNab

I've read the 4 previous books and enjoyed them so....
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What, even crisis 4?
 
Steep said:
I've read the first two 'main' books, they were 'ok' but not much more than that. The premise is good but even within two books it gets a bit samey.
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Just started the third one (because I had ebook credit on Amazon so it was only £2) but I tend to agree with you. They are a bit samey. The two short stories were actually better as they weren't following the premise of the main books but introducing the character and his background.
 
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity.

I can't put it down.
 
Julie1979 said:
I've recently finished the first Outlander book and The Girl on the Train. Loved them both.

I'm now reading The Girl With All The Gifts. Seems pretty good so far.
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Loved the girl on the train :)
 
I've just read the entire series of Charlie Parker books by John Sandford. Had read most before over several years and often out of sequence. Really enjoyed doing the series justice. Fantastic writing about a Maine based private detective who is haunted by his past and by some ghosts.... Highly recommended.
 
The Satan Bug - Alistair Maclean
Fairly slow in places but some good action scattered about. Not quite up to the level of Night Without End, Fear is the Key, Guns Of Navarone, but enjoyable.
 
Steep said:
I'm reading The Martian now and I reckon it's one of the best reads I've ever come across, funny, technical, interesting... The main character Mark Watney has some great lines that make me laugh out loud.

I saw an interview on Youtube Andy Weir did with Adam Savage and he came across really well, explained a lot of his thinking and research into the details of the story.

I bought the ebook from amazon but apparently you can download it for free from the authors web site, whether you pay for it or get the free copy I really recommend reading it.
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Another big thumbs up for The Martian. Ordered it on the recommendation of some of my friends. My wife picked it up and was hooked before I could get to it. When I did get to read it, I really enjoyed it. It was a quick light read but entertaining and gripping. I liked it a lot
 
I just finished Susan Rogers' Vietnam (Journey of Unexpected Delights) and I enjoyed reading it so much that I decided to but her second book Brazil & Argentina (From Jungle to Icebergs) too which is what I am reading presently.

I'll be completely honest and will say I used to know her and, when she said she had written her first book (a bucket list kind of thing) and was available to purchase as an e-book, I thought I'd support her and buy it. It was only recently that I decided to read it as I had some free time and I really liked it so I purchased her other book.
 
DorsetDude said:
The Satan Bug - Alistair Maclean
Fairly slow in places but some good action scattered about. Not quite up to the level of Night Without End, Fear is the Key, Guns Of Navarone, but enjoyable.
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The Satan Bug takes me back a long way, probably to the 60s! I think HMS Ulysses was probably my favourite Alistair MacLean book, but not quite in the same class as The Cruel Sea.
 
Having recently finished the entire series of Charlie Parker books (by John Sandford), I was at a loose end as to what to read next. Just finished 'Galveston' by Nic Pizzolatto. I enjoyed it, but it's a very dark and moody story - no humour at all. The author is the guy behind the True Detective series on TV, so if you enjoy that you'll probably enjoy this story.
 
simonkit said:
I'm not allowed to say as I'd be advertising my own book ;):D

Simon
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I think maybe you're doing that already Simon.... Had a wee look on Amazon - looks good but no 'look inside' option. :(
 
Mad-Photographer said:
Just finished ' I am pilgrim'
Read it twice now - t
Got to be be in one of my top 10, bloody fantastic read!
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I'm just reading this at the moment - about three quarters of the way through, and so far got to agree with you! (even if the plot is a slightly terrifying prospect...)

Glad to see positive comments about The Martian as that's next on my list!
 
Reading The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane.

It's slow (as a book about walking old paths should be) but interesting and relaxing at the same time.
 
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