What are you reading at the moment?

[FoxyPV]

Reading Andrew Marr's - A a History of Modern Britain right now. Highly recommend it - very interesting and informative.

Bar his massive Tory love in, I'd agree.

[The People's Hero]

Marr's History of Modern Britain is very, very good.

The sheer scale of what it covers, the readability and some of the insight is impressive.

There are obviously more focussed history books out there - more edgy and (to me) more interesting, but you can't fault the research, the scope of the writing style. History books can often become a dirge, bogged down in dry research and figures, but Marr's main strength is avoiding this.

I was bought it for Christmas one year and didn't expect it to be as good as it was.

I'd urge anyone with an interest in British history - or without an existing knowledgebase but looking for something accessible, to give it a read.

[notnow john]

I am halfway through Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. Hope there's not a test at the end!

[The People's Hero]

I am halfway through Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. Hope there's not a test at the end!

How are you finding it?

[notnow john]

How are you finding it?

Enjoying it but I'm struggling with all the Russian names, only Stalin and Kruschev are familiar,germans are easier to remember.

(Sorry was I supposed to say turn left at Kiev)

[Carl the Llama]

I've been given a copy of A Street Cat Named Bob. Anyone read it?

[Head Honcho]

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

[The People's Hero]

I've been given a copy of A Street Cat Named Bob. Anyone read it?

Yes. I've read a hell of a lot of books this year.

It's a decent enough read and ties in with some stuff we've been discussing on here about the plight of the homeless.

Its a bit heartwarming tale really. The cat on the cover looks exactly like one of my three cats too. (I'm a crazy cat person).

I enjoyed it despite myself.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Yes. I've read a hell of a lot of books this year.

It's the 10th of Jan. That's some going!

[The People's Hero]

It's the 10th of Jan. That's some going!

Of the various committees I currently sit on, I've only had one meeting so far this year.

I finish work at 5/5.30 and am fortunate enough to be local enough to be home by six. I then feed my 10 month old soon, then cook for my wife and I.

I might have a few more chores to do, then I have a play with my son and then he goes off for a bath, then I read him a story he has his bottle and hopefully goes to sleep by 8ish.

Not long after this my wife goes to sleep, usually by 9. She was in bed by 8.15 tonight.

After that, providing I'm reasonably quiet (its more than my life is worth) I do what I please, but I've preferred recently to do something productive if possible. In many cases that has been finishing off books I'd read most of or half of previously so I can finish them off, box them up and get them out the way. 2013 I'm trying to get a bit tidy; we are going to need the space!

It wasn't a boast or anything and I know the year is only 10 days old, but when you sit up for at least say 3 hours on your own of an evening - and there is very little you want to watch on TV, coupled with a need to be reasonably quiet, I have found I've got a lot of reading done, a fair amount of work from home and the odd nap in my chair (always feel worse after).

Its nice to have that 'me' time though, without wanting to sound like too much of a woman. One thing I should stop is drinking a bottle of wine every night while I do it.

Anyway, I have 3 or 4 long Ken Follett books lined up that should keep me going for a while, a biography of Leonard Cohen, a study on the failure of AIG, the history of LLoyds of London and a book called Consider the Birds, which was £1 and genuinely does just seem to be about birds. I'm intrigued.

My wife used to read a lot also and one thing I miss I suppose is talking about the books we've both read. I could join a book club I suppose, but I think I'm in quite enough clubs already.

[danny.]

I then feed my 10 month old soon, then cook for my wife and I.

I might have a few more chores to do, then I have a play with my son and then he goes off for a bath, then I read him a story he has his bottle and hopefully goes to sleep by 8ish.

Not long after this my wife goes to sleep, usually by 9. She was in bed by 8.15 tonight.

After that, providing I'm reasonably quiet (its more than my life is worth)

You always sound so happily married.

[danny.]

Started on Game of Thrones. Jumping all over the place with characters. Got to the part where an exiled princess is being visited by some lord.

If you think GoT has a lot of characters, give up now, it's gets far worse.

[The People's Hero]

You always sound so happily married.

I hope it doesn't come across as that I'm not. We are very happily married, but we do have a hard time of it just at the moment as the boy doesn't sleep through the night.

I don't think he's ever done more than about 3 hours straight.

My wedding day was the second best day of my life (after the birth of my son) and I'm very proud of my wife and proud to be married to such a good woman.

[AoWW]

I'm proofreading reports.

[The People's Hero]

I'm proofreading reports.

I did proofreading of 5 or 6 fairly long policy wordings every night for a few weeks about a year ago.

You have my sympathy.

Crack open a bottle of wine

[The Doctor]

My reading list is growing faster than I can bloody read - now got Magic of Reality (ongoing), then Origins of Species, The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene, Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Freedom Evolves on my side ready to get started. Really trying to resist buying a Brief History of Time & Cosmos as well.

However, right now I'm reading internet shit in attempts to avoid reading about the Van Deemter equation ahead of an exam in 12 hours that it's almost bound to come up on.

[AoWW]

I did proofreading of 5 or 6 fairly long policy wordings every night for a few weeks about a year ago.

You have my sympathy.

Crack open a bottle of wine

You don't imagine I did that several hours ago?

[The People's Hero]

You don't imagine I did that several hours ago?

Sounds like its either time to open a second, or find that bottle of port you opened on boxing day!

[AoWW]

It's a long while since I've drunk port! Someone did give me one of those bottles of pre-mixed Mojitos for Christmas, though... might be worth investigating.

[The People's Hero]

It's a long while since I've drunk port! Someone did give me one of those bottles of pre-mixed Mojitos for Christmas, though... might be worth investigating.

No one ever lies on their deathbed and looks back and thinks 'I wish I'd drunk less mojitos on Thursday nights' - so I'd go for it.

[vandamman]

Out of interest, has anyone read House of Leaves before? Sounds like a really intriguing book but cant tell from reviews if its any good!

[notnow john]

Melvyn Bragg's Twelve books that changed the world, only to read about the inception of the rule book of association football.

Before these gentlemen codified the rules, each public school played under its own set of rules.

When two schools played each other they played half the game with one set of rules and half with their opponents that's where half

time originated. Great read for a footy fan.

[Webbo]

I've got a few John Grishams for the Kindle. Looking forward to seeing if he's as good as the hype.

[Rincewind]

5th edition Got it from the library last week not read much yet.

Edited 24 January 2013 by Rincewind

[Guest MattP]

Viz.