What are you reading at the moment?

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 21/08/2026 at 11:02, Sampson said:

Nice. The Expanse is really high on my to read list as well. Will probably tackle it next year.

Do it!

 

Best book I've read in a long while, probably in my top 5.

[Guest]

The Remains of the Day, great stuff

[bovril]

1 minute ago, Guest said:

The Remains of the Day, great stuff

Best post war British novel imo, and one of the best in the English language.

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, bovril said:

Best post war British novel imo, and one of the best in the English language.

I'd be grateful for any recommendations you (or anyone else) might have - not terribly well-read and trying to remedy that

[bovril]

1 minute ago, Guest said:

I'd be grateful for any recommendations you (or anyone else) might have - not terribly well-read and trying to remedy that

I'm not a literary critic so apologies for the rather clumsy description and analysis coming up. Stoner is another book that while not really stylistically or thematically related is really beautifully crafted like Remains of the Day, no sentence wasted or out of place. The Go Between is one that I think probably influenced Ishiguro - a lot about past times, England, memory, life-changing decisions. Oh and Norfolk, where Ishiguro has set some of his books and where he lived for some time.

 

Other novels I love are The Garden of the Finzi Contini, Tender is the Night, American Pastoral, the Leopard and the Radetzky March. The latter two being my all time favourites. Alas I will never work for the LRB so don't ask me why...

[izzymuzzet]

40 minutes ago, bovril said:

I'm not a literary critic so apologies for the rather clumsy description and analysis coming up. Stoner is another book that while not really stylistically or thematically related is really beautifully crafted like Remains of the Day, no sentence wasted or out of place. The Go Between is one that I think probably influenced Ishiguro - a lot about past times, England, memory, life-changing decisions. Oh and Norfolk, where Ishiguro has set some of his books and where he lived for some time.

 

Other novels I love are The Garden of the Finzi Contini, Tender is the Night, American Pastoral, the Leopard and the Radetzky March. The latter two being my all time favourites. Alas I will never work for the LRB so don't ask me why...

You have excellent taste! Remains Of The Day and The Leopard are two of my favourite novels. Radetzky March is on my bedside table waiting to be read. I don’t enjoy American Pastoral as much as I thought I would but that might be because I read it in the midst of house move so associate it with stress and worry.

 

Guest: have you read William Boyd’s ‘Any Human Heart’? It’s more structurally straightforward than Ishiguro but I think you might like it. For a more classic post-war British novel The End of the Affair by Graham Greene might be up your street. 
 

Of more recent stuff, Benjamin Myers is wildly inconsistent but Cuddy is probably my favourite British novel of this decade and The Perfect Golden Circle is a more accessible introduction to his work.

[bovril]

42 minutes ago, izzymuzzet said:

You have excellent taste! Remains Of The Day and The Leopard are two of my favourite novels. Radetzky March is on my bedside table waiting to be read. I don’t enjoy American Pastoral as much as I thought I would but that might be because I read it in the midst of house move so associate it with stress and worry.

 

Guest: have you read William Boyd’s ‘Any Human Heart’? It’s more structurally straightforward than Ishiguro but I think you might like it. For a more classic post-war British novel The End of the Affair by Graham Greene might be up your street. 
 

Of more recent stuff, Benjamin Myers is wildly inconsistent but Cuddy is probably my favourite British novel of this decade and The Perfect Golden Circle is a more accessible introduction to his work.

I bought the Radetzky March in 2023 from Judd Books in London and similarly it sat on my bedside table for a long time before I read it at the end of 2024 and absolutely loved it. Since then I've read a lot of Joseph Roth's novels and enjoyed them thoroughly, especially Rebellion. Though I think outside of Radetzky he may not be to everyone's taste, I lived in and have family from Eastern Europe and he captures Central and Eastern Europe and its characters better than most writers in my opinion. But Radetzky is brilliant and would've made a great three and a half hour Kubrick film. 

 

It's interesting you mention how time and place can influence feelings towards a book because I read the Sun also Rises and to be honest couldn't stand it even though it's regularly listed in top 50 books of the century type lists. But I was going through a difficult period personally and the characters just did my head in. Smilarly, I read The Garden of the Finzi Contini at a time when I had lots of free time, was very relaxed and at peace with the world and it remains one of my favourites. Great novel I'd highly recommend. 

[izzymuzzet]

9 hours ago, bovril said:

I bought the Radetzky March in 2023 from Judd Books in London and similarly it sat on my bedside table for a long time before I read it at the end of 2024 and absolutely loved it. Since then I've read a lot of Joseph Roth's novels and enjoyed them thoroughly, especially Rebellion. Though I think outside of Radetzky he may not be to everyone's taste, I lived in and have family from Eastern Europe and he captures Central and Eastern Europe and its characters better than most writers in my opinion. But Radetzky is brilliant and would've made a great three and a half hour Kubrick film. 

 

It's interesting you mention how time and place can influence feelings towards a book because I read the Sun also Rises and to be honest couldn't stand it even though it's regularly listed in top 50 books of the century type lists. But I was going through a difficult period personally and the characters just did my head in. Smilarly, I read The Garden of the Finzi Contini at a time when I had lots of free time, was very relaxed and at peace with the world and it remains one of my favourites. Great novel I'd highly recommend. 

I didn't get The Sun Also Rises at all and having read some of Hemingway's other work I actually think it's one of his weaker novels. As you say, the characters are just annoying. I also think similar to Orwell his fiction is a bit overrated while his journalism and essays are underrated. 

 

Some books are so good that they can overcome the dire circumstances in which they're read though. I read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen last winter when I was horrendously ill with some kind of Covid/flu thing and still thought it was absolutely wonderful. 

[Guest]

18 hours ago, bovril said:

I'm not a literary critic so apologies for the rather clumsy description and analysis coming up. Stoner is another book that while not really stylistically or thematically related is really beautifully crafted like Remains of the Day, no sentence wasted or out of place. The Go Between is one that I think probably influenced Ishiguro - a lot about past times, England, memory, life-changing decisions. Oh and Norfolk, where Ishiguro has set some of his books and where he lived for some time.

 

Other novels I love are The Garden of the Finzi Contini, Tender is the Night, American Pastoral, the Leopard and the Radetzky March. The latter two being my all time favourites. Alas I will never work for the LRB so don't ask me why...

 

17 hours ago, izzymuzzet said:

You have excellent taste! Remains Of The Day and The Leopard are two of my favourite novels. Radetzky March is on my bedside table waiting to be read. I don’t enjoy American Pastoral as much as I thought I would but that might be because I read it in the midst of house move so associate it with stress and worry.

 

Guest: have you read William Boyd’s ‘Any Human Heart’? It’s more structurally straightforward than Ishiguro but I think you might like it. For a more classic post-war British novel The End of the Affair by Graham Greene might be up your street. 
 

Of more recent stuff, Benjamin Myers is wildly inconsistent but Cuddy is probably my favourite British novel of this decade and The Perfect Golden Circle is a more accessible introduction to his work.

Thanks both, greatly appreciated and some new names added to the shortlist

[SkidsFox]

21 hours ago, bovril said:

Best post war British novel imo, and one of the best in the English language.

What's your take on the spy books, Our Man in Havana (G Greene) and The Spy Who came in from the cold (Le Carre)?

[Manley Farrington-Brown]

19 hours ago, izzymuzzet said:

Benjamin Myers is wildly inconsistent but Cuddy is probably my favourite British novel of this decade

Cuddy's great. I like The Gallows Pole a lot too.

 

Recommendations for someone trying to get into reading?

John Steinbeck's short fiction is great - try Cannery Row.

All Graham Greene is good.

Iain Banks - I'd suggest reading Espedair Street before any of his more famous ones, but you can't really go wrong.

Of current authors, Sarah Hall and Elif Shafak don't put many feet wrong. Ditto Maggie O'Farrell.

If you want something a bit less 'literary' but really well done, approachable and funny, Nick Hornby and David Nicholls are both great.

 

Oh, and if you want something insanely literary, somewhat unapproachable, and often quite hard work, but also really brilliant, try some David Mitchell (no, not the Peep Show one!).

[bovril]

3 hours ago, SkidsFox said:

What's your take on the spy books, Our Man in Havana (G Greene) and The Spy Who came in from the cold (Le Carre)?

I realise from my post I'm suggesting I've read every major post war British novel but obviously I haven't and Our Man in Havana is one I still need to get round to. Enjoy Le Carre very much especially the Spy Who Came in from the Cold which is one of the best 20th century British novels I've read and the Honourable Schoolboy which to go back to what IzzyMuzzet said might be to do with the fact I read it in a week lying on a Mediterranean beach in 2011. I know some people don't rate it so highly but I loved it. 

[reynard]

On 10/09/2026 at 22:36, Guest said:

I'd be grateful for any recommendations you (or anyone else) might have - not terribly well-read and trying to remedy that

It depends what you like really. Remains of the Day is a great novel but the pace of it is quite slow and some readers struggle with that. 

Others have suggested Ben Myers, who is a very good writer. However, he is quite hard to categorise. For eg The Offing is one of his best but if you like that you probably wouldn't want to read Jesus Christ Kinski and vice versa.

 

If big sweeping novels are for you then I would definitely try Pachinko.

For sci-fi you could try Three Body Problem for something a bit different or for mare classic stuff I'd suggest Day of the Triffids.

 

For a different type of spy novel I'd say Restless by William Boyd is a good read.

 

If you have not read a lot and want to try getting into literary fiction I'd advise starting with the more accessible authors rather than diving straight into the likes of Salman Rushdie for eg. 

 

If you want good modern female writers the list is endless.  Anne Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, Anne Tyler etc etc.

 

Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood is another excellent book.  All her books are pretty decent though I'm less keen on her recent novels.

 

Then there's crime fiction. Agatha Christie is a good entry point. 

[Stopharage]

On 10/09/2026 at 22:36, Guest said:

I'd be grateful for any recommendations you (or anyone else) might have - not terribly well-read and trying to remedy that

Some great recommendations above. 
 

Stoner is superb. To describe what its about would make it sound unduly mundane but it’s a book that will totally stay with you. 
 

I’d recommend anything by Donna Tarrt, one of the great modern writers. 
 

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman is the best book I’ve read in years - does so much with so with little. Nearest thing I can liken it to is the game Elden Ring. Heaven splits as war abounds and this has a momentous impact on three people trying to survive during the black plague. It’s amazing.

 

Pretty much anything by Colson Whitehead, especially The Underground Railroad. Zeitoun (and kids if his other stuff) by Dave Eggers - he’s very accessible. 
 

I get through at least 50 books a year and read a lot of factual stuff too - Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City is a true story of two amazing people in Chicago at the end of the 19th Century. One is creating the World Fair - bringing exhibits of people, animals and inventions from around the world. The other character is a serial killer who uses the huge influx of people to the city as his prey. It’s great. See also Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe and Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. 

[SkidsFox]

Robert Goddard has a huge list of novels. His latest ones probably don't hit the height of his early works, but still enjoyable.

I recently read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and really ate it up. It gets a lot of plaudits, rightly so.

[DJW1]

I´m currently reading (again) "George", by Sean Smith. It´s a biography of George Michael and is an excellent account of the life of a very talented man.

 

Recently, I´ve read a few classics:

Robinson Crusoe: a bit boring

Far From the Madding Crowd: excellent

Brave New World: great - an uncanny view of the future, considering it was written in 1931

Frankenstein: Very good. I can accept the creation of the "monster", but some of the plot twists are a bit hard to believe

[MC Prussian]

Not reading this yet, but it just popped up in my e-mails.

 

The Encyclopedia of Movie Cats (by A24).