What are you reading at the moment?

[Illusion35]

Now reading and enjoying the first in the Silo trilogy having seen it recommended on here - thanks for the suggestion, I love dystopian fiction!

[DillonLive]

Currently reading, "The Angel of Darkness" by Caleb Carr.   

[Mayofox]

Can thoroughly recommend a series of six books written by David Downing, the 'Station' series, set in Berlin during the Second World War. Best read in chronological order, the first one being the pre-war 'Zoo Station'. The books follow an American journalist, initially recruited as an agent, who subsequently becomes a double agent. Highly descriptive of life during wartime, and how the Jews suffered.

Edited 23 February 2016 by Mayofox

[Thracian]

Stalin - as a warlord. What a cunning but treacherous individual.

[ramboacdc]

just finished doctor sleep and now on IT. not allowed to read ahead of the mrs however so need another one to keep me company. 

 

any recommendations?

[Carl the Llama]

just finished doctor sleep and now on IT. not allowed to read ahead of the mrs however so need another one to keep me company. 

 

any recommendations?

Tinder?

[Webbo]

The Crossing-Michael Connelly. I could read this bloke's shopping list and find it gripping. Top notch as always.

[Costock_Fox]

Just bought Sexy Beast which is about the Hatten Garden robbery, looking forward to it.

[The Blur]

Two Brothers by Ben Elton.  It is about two brothers- one Jew and one German.  I do not know if it is histrionically accurate but it is an absorbing dip into Germany pre WW2 and their treatment of Jews against the context of two brothers growing up and how they were split up. Thoroughly recommended. 

[kushiro]

Norwegian Wood

Anything by Murakami is pretty gold.

 

 

Second that. If anyone fancies a dip into Japanese literature try the following: 

 

 

Haruki Murakami, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle  

 

 

Natsume Soseki,  Kokoro   (This is the classic Japanese novel, written in 1912 -  the Penguin translation is the best)

 

 

Keigo Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X 

[Carl the Llama]

Second that. If anyone fancies a dip into Japanese literature try the following: 

 

 

Haruki Murakami, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle  

 

 

Natsume Soseki,  Kokoro   (This is the classic Japanese novel, written in 1912 -  the Penguin translation is the best)

 

 

Keigo Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X 

Are they as good as One Punch Man?.

[Ozwin]

I want some intellectual stuff, something that makes you think a bit, philosophical if you will. I'm watching Good Will Hunting and I've got the itch to understand the meaning of life.

[Merging Cultures]

The Circle.

It's a decent story.

[Guest MattP]

Anything by Murakami is quite brilliant.

I'm going through a classics stage at the moment, Catch 22 is my current read, a promising start and I know it's going to be brilliant.

[Nick]

The Circle

 

Dave Eggers

 

The Circle.

It's a decent story.

 

 

Been picking this up intermittently for months because I've had to prioritise work reading - I'm a way in and its not bad but I hope there's a twist as its looking a tad predictable... i hope it'll surprise - it gets some rave reviews.

[ozleicester]

Sad and scary

 

[Merging Cultures]

Been picking this up intermittently for months because I've had to prioritise work reading - I'm a way in and its not bad but I hope there's a twist as its looking a tad predictable... i hope it'll surprise - it gets some rave reviews.

Agreed. I am near the end now. No spoilers.

[kushiro]

Are they as good as One Punch Man?.

 

One Punch Man wouldn't stand a chance against the Mongolian soldier in Wind Up Bird Chronicle (I won't explain why and give the story away). 

[Captain...]

Second that. If anyone fancies a dip into Japanese literature try the following: 

 

 

Haruki Murakami, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle  

 

 

Natsume Soseki,  Kokoro   (This is the classic Japanese novel, written in 1912 -  the Penguin translation is the best)

 

 

Keigo Higashino, The Devotion of Suspect X 

 

Currently reading Dance, dance, dance

 

Looking to go to Japan for a month or so next year so thanks for the tips, I will add them to the reading list.

 

I've 1Q84 sitting on my bookshelf but it just looks so imposing and I've heard mixed reviews and it is not one to carry around on the tube, can anyone convince me it  is worth starting?

 

Is  it worth reading the first 2 in the detective Galileo series, or should I just dive into The Devotion of Suspect X ?

Edited 6 April 2016 by Captain...

[kushiro]

Currently reading Dance, dance, dance

 

Looking to go to Japan for a month or so next year so thanks for the tips, I will add them to the reading list.

 

I've 1Q84 sitting on my bookshelf but it just looks so imposing and I've heard mixed reviews and it is not one to carry around on the tube, can anyone convince me it  is worth starting?

 

Is  it worth reading the first 2 in the detective Galileo series, or should I just dive into The Devotion of Suspect X ?

 

Definitely try 1Q84. I loved it so much that when the English translation came out I ordered about 10 copies for friends and family. In Japan it came out first as a two volume edition. The third part came out a year later. I think it was better without the 3rd part. His UK publisher followed the original pattern and published part 3 separately (at least when the hardback came out), in the US it was all in one.

 

IMHO here's the Murakami top 5:

 

1) Wind Up Bird Chronicle

2) 1Q84

3) Norwegian Wood

4) Wild Sheep Chase

5) Tokyo Kitanshu (strange Tokyo tales) - which in English are the last five short stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

 

Plus, many critics rate his Hard-boiled Wonderland very highly.

 

Haven't read the Galileo series.

[Captain...]

Definitely try 1Q84. I loved it so much that when the English translation came out I ordered about 10 copies for friends and family. In Japan it came out first as a two volume edition. The third part came out a year later. I think it was better without the 3rd part. His UK publisher followed the original pattern and published part 3 separately (at least when the hardback came out), in the US it was all in one.

 

IMHO here's the Murakami top 5:

 

1) Wind Up Bird Chronicle

2) 1Q84

3) Norwegian Wood

4) Wild Sheep Chase

5) Tokyo Kitanshu (strange Tokyo tales) - which in English are the last five short stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

 

Plus, many critics rate his Hard-boiled Wonderland very highly.

 

Haven't read the Galileo series.

 

Maybe I will take it on holiday with me, the version I have is all 3 volumes in one paperback and I don't fancy taking it on the tube with me.

 

I googled the devotion of suspect X and this is what came up:

 

 

The Devotion of Suspect X is a 2005 novel by Keigo Higashino, the third in his Detective Galileo series and is his most acclaimed work thus far.

 

 

Have you not read the devotion of suspect X, or did you just not know it was part of a series?

 

Also any good music recommendations?

[kushiro]

Maybe I will take it on holiday with me, the version I have is all 3 volumes in one paperback and I don't fancy taking it on the tube with me.

 

I googled the devotion of suspect X and this is what came up:

 

 

Have you not read the devotion of suspect X, or did you just not know it was part of a series?

 

Also any good music recommendations?

 

Ah - sorry. I forgot it was part of that series - so long since I read it. I just recall what a mind-****er of a story it was. It certainly works as a stand-alone novel, to finally answer your question!

 

Glad you're going to try 1Q84. I think the background to the book is really interesting - just dug out something I wrote when the English translation was published:

 

The novel, published in Japan in 2009, is a response to that great blow to Japan’s identity, the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway carried out by members of the Aum religious group in 1995. At that time, Murakami was appalled not only by the events of the day, but also by the media coverage that traced the cause of the attacks simply to the ‘evil’ of cult members and the group’s leader, Shoko Asahara. Murakami believed that Japanese society also had to look at itself. Why, he asked, did these people feel so alienated that they turned to Aum?. Why couldn’t society offer them a better narrative? For the first time as a writer, Murakami felt a sense of responsibility towards his homeland. His task, he believed, was to create a more inclusive narrative for his country. ‘I know I’m going to have to construct a “cosmic communication device”, he said, ‘I’ll probably have to piece together every last scrap of junk, every weakness, every deficiency inside me to do it’. It took him 14 years.

[Webbo]

The Girl on the Train-Got a good write up and I  must admit it's original and well written but it never really gripped me as other thrillers. apparently they're already making the film.

[The Doctor]

Just finished How They Stole The Game - David Yallop; covers the corruption of FIFA under Joao Havelange. Genuinely disgraceful how much of this stuff was known 17 years ago and yet it still took till last year for the shit to finally stick; not to mention how much he tangled FIFA up with all sorts of dictators for a quick buck.

 

Had a snicker at some Argentinian delegate promising to vote for England to host the 2006 World Cup if England returned the Falkland Islands. Some cheek to ask for that as a bribe rather than the standard money in briefcase.

[ramboacdc]

just read hitchhikers guide to the galaxy in a day.

onto the restaurant at the end of the universe.