What are you reading at the moment?

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Great subject - really interesting - wasn't a fan of the writing in terms of the amount of Roman characters which skipped about and died off. Hard to keep track of at times - I think a lot depends on the translation and which version you read.

You're right, and I have read most of the contemporary works, which give a great insight into the culture, and life of  ancient Rome.

 

I have the two works of Julius Caesar, The Gallic Wars, and The Civil Wars, which are really interesting. I am a Roman buff, and just love their exciting history. It all began when I was ten, and read the Rosemary Sutcliff novel, The Eagle of the Ninth.

 

Salute.

[reynard]

I have just been sent notification of a very important football book coming out on 23rd April this year.

 

It is called simply 56 written by Martin Fletcher.

 

It is the story of the Bradford Football stadium fire which happened 30 years ago this May. 56 people died that day and Martin was one of the survivors. He lost his dad, brother, uncle and grandfather that day in the biggest single loss suffered by a single family in a British football tragedy.

Every year we have Hillsborough everywhere but this terrible event is appalingly overlooked by national media.

 

30 years on it seems appropriate we should remember it more.

[reynard]

I hope you enjoyed it, it's on my 'to read' list.  I've just finished And the mountains echoed by the same author, the first book of his I've read, it's also set in Afghanistan and has the same qualities that you describe for The Kite Runner.. 

 

I think A Thousand Splendid Suns is even better than these two.

If you enjoyed these though try a book called Mornings in Jenin.

[The People's Hero]

I'm currently reading a book about reinsurance. Last night about 9.30 I had a moment of reflection and realised that reading about reinsurance on a Saturday evening is probably not what I should be doing with my life. Addressed this by completely failing at Neo Scavenger for a few hours.

[Guest MattP]

Anyone read Ratings of a US and A piss handle yet?

[ozleicester]

Amazing story of how easy it is.

 

 

If your screen ever mysteriously flicked on, or your credit card was stolen

[purpleronnie]

Transcript of dylans (30 minute) acceptance speech at the grammys. 

 

 

Critics say I mangle my melodies, render my songs unrecognizable. Oh, really? Let me tell you something. I was at a boxing match a few years ago seeing Floyd Mayweather fight a Puerto Rican guy. And the Puerto Rican national anthem, somebody sang it and it was beautiful. It was heartfelt and it was moving.

After that it was time for our national anthem. And a very popular soul-singing sister was chosen to sing. She sang every note -- that exists, and some that don't exist. Talk about mangling a melody. You take a one-syllable word and make it last for 15 minutes? She was doing vocal gymnastics like she was on a trapeze act. But to me it was not funny.

 

Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice: He said, "Well that's very kind of you, but voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth."

so true.

 

[bovril]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders

 

The ever brilliant William Dalrymple in the Guardian.

 

It's a long read but worth it. As are all of his books.

[Captain...]

Currently reading Cloud Atlas and I'm in the 'middle' story/chapter 6 and I'm really struggling with the way it is written in a sort of mangled futuristic Yorkshire/Somerset I just can't read more than a few pages of:

First time I went inside the Icon'ry was with Pa'n'Adam'n'Jonas when I was a sevener. Ma'd got a leakin' malady birthin' Catkin, an' Pa took us to pray to Sonmi to fix her, 'cos the Icon'ry was a spesh holy place an' Sonmi was norm'ly list'nin' there. Watery dark it was inside. Wax'n'teak-oil'n'time was its smell. The icons lived in shelfs from floor to roof, how many there was I cudn't tell, nay, you don't go countin' 'em like goats, but the gone-lifes outnumber the nowlifes like leafs outnumber trees. Pa's voice spoke in the shadows, fam'liar it was but eerie too, askin' Sonmi to halt Ma's dyin' an' let her soul stay in that body for longer, an' in my head I prayed the same, tho' I knowed I been marked by Old Georgie at Sloosha's Crossin'. An' then we heard a sort o' roaring underneath the silence, made o' mil'yuns o' whisp'rin's like the ocean, only it wasn't the ocean, nay, it was the icons, an' we knew Sonmi was in there list'nin' to us. Ma din't die. (Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, page 245)

I really want to finish this one and see how it all ties together with the other stories but I just can't be arsed to struggle through a few pages of that before I go to sleep.

The Book Of Dave was similar and just always feels like it is the author trying to show off rather than create a coherent piece of literature.

Next up is the Mirror World of Melody Black, written by the same author as The Universe vs Alex Woods.

[DB11]

Amazing story of how easy it is.

 

 

If your screen ever mysteriously flicked on, or your credit card was stolen

 

I read that last year, excellent read.

 

I've just finished reading a few on iBooks, all of which were interesting enough

 

Cassius - The True Story of a Courageous Police Dog

 

Cassius was a truly exceptional police dog whose career became the stuff of legend and the gold standard for all dogs coming after. In just five years he scored a century of arrests, saved lives, bit half a dozen policemen, and gave his handler, PC Joe Sleightholm, the most exciting, exhilarating and nerve-wracking times of his life.Things did not go according to plan in Sleightholm's first years as a police dog handler. The difficulties of finding and keeping the right dog were so great that he was ready to give up. Then Cass came along. The two of them quickly formed a bond, graduated as stars from the training school and became an outstanding effective working partnership. Cass became part of the Sleightholm family too. Car thieves, armed robbers, drug dealers, murderers, burglars - Cassius learned to find them, contain them, intimidate and attack if he had to. Sometimes it was dangerous for him. Usually it was more dangerous for the criminal. The story of Cassius is by turns thrilling, funny and moving, and always a fascinating insight into the freemasonry of police dog training. A genius among dogs he may have been, but he was still a dog, an animal that could trust, please, stir every emotion, frustrate, infuriate, delight and, in the end, break your heart.

 

Name & Number by John Hoskison

 

 

Art student Nick Wood risks selling a few Ecstasy tablets at a party to impress friends and ends up with a two year prison sentence.

Nick hopes to spend his sentence in an open prison, the type he's read about in the papers. The ones often referred to as 'holiday camps'. Instead, his worst nightmare comes true.

Locked up in HMP Blackthorpe, a prison known for its medieval-like squalor, Nick lives at the mercy of the drug barons and in fear of the lifers. Constantly stalked by danger he has to find a way to survive.

To earn protection money he turns to the one thing he's good at—art. But can selling pictures to visitors be enough to keep the mob at bay? Or will he be made an example of by the hard men and suffer the worst type of prison punishment?

Based on the experiences of the author.

Edited 17 March 2015 by DB11

[Trav Le Bleu]

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett - all kinds of 1st person inner monologue goodness!

[Leicfox]

 

The 1st of the Joona Linna series, and so far it's been a decent page-turner.

[Renart]

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving.

 

Also reading The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene.

 

I have a throw back to my youth coming up next with a re-read of The Once and Future King, by T. H. White

[Rincewind]

bought a book from a charity shop yesterday. The Long earth Terry Pratchett Stephen Baxter. Not bad 200 pages in already. Different to Discworld. Alternate Earths discovered assessable by a contraption powered by a potato. The TP parts are recognisable to me. Some offbeat humour but still more straight forward SF than his usual stuff.

[ozleicester]

Very interesting reading....

 

 

(oh and "Randy Shilts" )

[Rincewind]

Just finished this. I enjoyed  it but  the review I just read from the Guardian was not so kind. I am a little bias as I like his SOH.

 

[Rincewind]

Not  what I am reading but books that  were  found on Osama Bin Laden's bookshelf. No Game of Thrones I'm afraid.

 

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/these-were-the-books-on-osama-bin-ladens-shelves--ly4dm6yLWZ

[Rob1742]

David Armstrongs autobiography. He used to play in the 80's for Middlesbrough and Southampton.

I used to know him for a while, we had a few nights out a few years ago, so interesting to know his full story.

A decent chap and a really good read. Gives an insight into the difficulties of making a living after you have been a footballer all your life.

[The Blur]

Currently reading Cloud Atlas and I'm in the 'middle' story/chapter 6 and I'm really struggling with the way it is written in a sort of mangled futuristic Yorkshire/Somerset I just can't read more than a few pages of:

First time I went inside the Icon'ry was with Pa'n'Adam'n'Jonas when I was a sevener. Ma'd got a leakin' malady birthin' Catkin, an' Pa took us to pray to Sonmi to fix her, 'cos the Icon'ry was a spesh holy place an' Sonmi was norm'ly list'nin' there. Watery dark it was inside. Wax'n'teak-oil'n'time was its smell. The icons lived in shelfs from floor to roof, how many there was I cudn't tell, nay, you don't go countin' 'em like goats, but the gone-lifes outnumber the nowlifes like leafs outnumber trees. Pa's voice spoke in the shadows, fam'liar it was but eerie too, askin' Sonmi to halt Ma's dyin' an' let her soul stay in that body for longer, an' in my head I prayed the same, tho' I knowed I been marked by Old Georgie at Sloosha's Crossin'. An' then we heard a sort o' roaring underneath the silence, made o' mil'yuns o' whisp'rin's like the ocean, only it wasn't the ocean, nay, it was the icons, an' we knew Sonmi was in there list'nin' to us. Ma din't die. (Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, page 245)

I really want to finish this one and see how it all ties together with the other stories but I just can't be arsed to struggle through a few pages of that before I go to sleep.

The Book Of Dave was similar and just always feels like it is the author trying to show off rather than create a coherent piece of literature.

Next up is the Mirror World of Melody Black, written by the same author as The Universe vs Alex Woods.

 

They made a movie so you could watch the film instead. I know there could be a risk of the movie not living up the book but frankly from that piece of transcript that you have included then I would not even bother reading! 

 

I am reading Father and Son by Richard Madeley- at the beginning, he said that his family history is rather Dicken-esque, he isn't half right about that! A fascinating insight into menkind and their emotions. 

Edited 24 May 2015 by The Blur

[Guest]

The Girl with all the gifts .

Really enjoying it. An easy read but the characters are kinda captivating. If you like a good zombie story then it's worth a read IMHO .

Edited 17 July 2015 by Guest

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Refreshing my memory with, Roman Britain; Conquest and Civilisation, by Joan P. Alcock. (A rather unfortunate name)

[Buce]

I'm re-visiting my youth with Asimov's 'Foundation' series.

[Raj]

Gone girl.

Mrs gave me it, thought it'd be a girly bore but its actually really enthralling

[Wassname]

Tess Of The D'Urbervilles. Needed a bit of culture after reading 'Big Dick's Little Black Book', fabulous and funny footy book - if you can find it. Amazon only, I believe.

[Molly]

I started reading Shelter by Harlan Coben yesterday evening and couldn't put it down. Finished at 2 this morning.

 

Coben writes great books.