| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? 13:09 - Feb 28 with 8226 views | Steve_M |
Inspired by the Waterstones thread, an occasional reprise for one of the more interesting topics on here.* I'm currently reading the Murhen and Thijssen book which is well recommended for any Town fans but I'm considering what to read next.
A couple of very recent books which I recommend:
Pour Me. AA Gill.
Not really an autobiography but an excellently written and honest account of alcoholism and how he made a success of the second half of his life. It's not a 'look at me' type book or about how he got over it rather that he did. Knowing that he has died since writing it, actually makes the recovery life-affirming.
https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780297870821
Sapiens. Yuval Noah Harari.
A very long-range view of the development of Homo sapiens and why our species dominates the world. It's full of challenging and thought-provoking assertions and arguments, not of all of which I agree with but many of which challenge conventional thinking.
http://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens/
*Well, obviously TWTD to avoid giving Hoppy a tap in. |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:29 - Feb 28 with 2994 views | patrickswell |
Apart from The Damned United (see thread elsewhere), I'm also working my way through the late physicist, Richard P.Feynman's memoir, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman? |  | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:29 - Feb 28 with 2992 views | Ryorry |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:22 - Feb 28 by Superfrans |
I presume it was a joke.
Mary Wolstencraft Shelley, Susan Hill, Patricia Highsmith, Harper Lee, Jeanette Winterston, Bronte sisters, PD James, PL Travers, Dodie Smith, Margaret Attwood, Donna Tartt, Hilary Mantel, Anne Rice, Daphne Du Maurier, etc etc etc etc.
If you can't find a novel from one of those you'd like, its probably best to give up. |
One I rarely see mentioned but which was very influential on me when I read it in my mid-20s on the recommendation of my then boss, was Elaine Dundy's 'The Dud Avocado'.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1059856.The_Dud_Avocado |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:29 - Feb 28 with 2992 views | blueislander |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:22 - Feb 28 by BlueLikeJazz |
Which translation would you recommend for Don Q? |
I am reading it in Spanish. I have a goal of doing a translation of myself, but whether I will achieve it is another matter. |  | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:31 - Feb 28 with 2978 views | Johnhoz |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 14:00 - Feb 28 by HarryfromBath |
I am just finishing Arnold and Frans's book but I came across this little beauty the other week. You can read it in one sitting, but it is best eaten in small morsels...
Here's the publisher's blurb, which is good enough...
"Overpaid players. Sunday lunchtime kick-offs. Absurd ticket prices. Non-black boots. Football's menu of ills is long. Where has the joy gone? Why do we bother? Saturday, 3pm offers a glorious antidote. It is here to remind you that football can still sing to your heart.
"Warm, heartfelt and witty, here are fifty short essays of prose poetry dedicated to what is good in the game. These are not wallowing nostalgia; they are things that remain sweet and right: seeing a ground from the train, brackets on vidiprinters, the ball hitting the bar, Jimmy Armfield's voice, listening to the results in a traffic jam, football towns and autograph-hunters. This is fan culture at its finest, words to transport you somewhere else and identify with, words to hide away in a pub and luxuriate in.
"Saturday, 3pm is a book of love letters to football and a clarion call, helping us find the romance in the game all over again." |
It's great isn't it.
Chapters such as "Seeing an away end erupt", "Slide tackles in mud", "Talking to an old man about football"
A cracking little book |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:32 - Feb 28 with 2964 views | Ryorry |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:26 - Feb 28 by FKA_tomtheblue |
Virginia Woolf is for my money the best English novelist by some distance.
Jean Rhys, Elena Ferrante, and Angela Carter are all personal favourites too. [Post edited 28 Feb 2017 16:26]
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Oh Angela Carter, how could I forget her - 'Nights at the Circus' is just brilliant - thanks for the reminder!
Many of those mentioned on the thread well worth a re-read many years (or decades!) later. | |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:42 - Feb 28 with 2934 views | Ryorry |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:31 - Feb 28 by Johnhoz |
It's great isn't it.
Chapters such as "Seeing an away end erupt", "Slide tackles in mud", "Talking to an old man about football"
A cracking little book |
On the footie theme, I found Colin Schindler's 'Manchester United Ruined My Life' a superb read - extremely funny (in the first few pages, he describes his childhood pre-match ritual as a City fan in Manchester of having to run up and down the stairs of the family home whilst the loo flush lasted) - but is much more than just footie - also a nostalgic look back at Manchester life & cultures in the 50's - 60s, from the perspective of a Jewish lad growing up. | |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:47 - Feb 28 with 2919 views | Godzilla |
Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain - Barney Norris. Pretty good so far, really insightful for a debut novel by someone in their mid twenties. |  | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:51 - Feb 28 with 2906 views | dryas |
It's very good but rather depressing, especially for an academic to read! |  | | |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:51 - Feb 28 with 2906 views | Freddy |
Alan Sugar autobiography, hoping to get rich! | | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 18:24 - Feb 28 with 2870 views | Herbivore |
Forbidden Line by Paul Stanbridge. |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 18:51 - Feb 28 with 2848 views | ThisIsMyUsername |
'The Complete History of Jack the Ripper' by Philip Sugden.
Before that I was reading a bit of fiction for a change - 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy. |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 21:28 - Feb 28 with 2804 views | Dubtractor |
Currently reading a book called Infomocracy. Based on a not too distant future where politics has become global with centenals of 100,000 voting for various governments (mostly corporate) who govern each 100,000 people with the same policies globally. Would give it a 7 out of 10 so far.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114433-infomocracy
Before that read Children of Time, about a long distant future where the survivors of earth find a previously terraformed planet to inhabit - only to find that nature has left them a horrible surprise. Bloody brilliant book and won the Arthur C Clarke sci fi book of the year 2016.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 21:42 - Feb 28 with 2785 views | BlueLikeJazz |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 21:28 - Feb 28 by Dubtractor |
Currently reading a book called Infomocracy. Based on a not too distant future where politics has become global with centenals of 100,000 voting for various governments (mostly corporate) who govern each 100,000 people with the same policies globally. Would give it a 7 out of 10 so far.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114433-infomocracy
Before that read Children of Time, about a long distant future where the survivors of earth find a previously terraformed planet to inhabit - only to find that nature has left them a horrible surprise. Bloody brilliant book and won the Arthur C Clarke sci fi book of the year 2016.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time |
ooo. Might have to add both of those to the list.
If voting systems and scifi are your thing, The Prefect byv Alastair Reynolds is a goodie... | | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 22:03 - Feb 28 with 2746 views | Throbbe |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 21:28 - Feb 28 by Dubtractor |
Currently reading a book called Infomocracy. Based on a not too distant future where politics has become global with centenals of 100,000 voting for various governments (mostly corporate) who govern each 100,000 people with the same policies globally. Would give it a 7 out of 10 so far.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114433-infomocracy
Before that read Children of Time, about a long distant future where the survivors of earth find a previously terraformed planet to inhabit - only to find that nature has left them a horrible surprise. Bloody brilliant book and won the Arthur C Clarke sci fi book of the year 2016.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time |
Just added Children of Time to my Kindle list along with Stoner and bought a second hand copy of Dirty Blonde on the strength of this thread.
It's been an expensive, if hopefully rewarding, evening! |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 22:25 - Feb 28 with 2722 views | Dubtractor |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 21:42 - Feb 28 by BlueLikeJazz |
ooo. Might have to add both of those to the list.
If voting systems and scifi are your thing, The Prefect byv Alastair Reynolds is a goodie... |
That sounds good - just ordered! | |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 22:40 - Feb 28 with 2708 views | WeWereZombies |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 16:26 - Feb 28 by FKA_tomtheblue |
Virginia Woolf is for my money the best English novelist by some distance.
Jean Rhys, Elena Ferrante, and Angela Carter are all personal favourites too. [Post edited 28 Feb 2017 16:26]
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Although Edna O'Brien is the best author writing in English... |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 22:40 - Feb 28 with 2708 views | StNeotsBlue |
Not quite as highbrow as most of the titles listed but I've just started The Funeral Owl by Jim Kelly. |  | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 23:30 - Feb 28 with 2663 views | FKA_tomtheblue |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 22:40 - Feb 28 by WeWereZombies |
Although Edna O'Brien is the best author writing in English... |
Can't comment as I haven't read anything she's written (I'll get back to you by the weekend though), but Junot Diaz or Zadie Smith would be my pick. |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 23:32 - Feb 28 with 2656 views | Ryorry |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 22:40 - Feb 28 by WeWereZombies |
Although Edna O'Brien is the best author writing in English... |
Didn't realise she was still with us!
Other greats not yet mentioned - Iris Murdoch, Iain Banks, Doris Lessing, George Eliot, Rose Tremain.
For a bit of light-hearted fun - 'Buster's Diaries' - Roy Hattersly [Post edited 28 Feb 2017 23:36]
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 08:10 - Mar 1 with 2592 views | gerard1947 |
I read 40 - 50 books a year most of those in the winter.
I've just finished SAS Rogue Heros by Ben McIntyre, I really enjoy his books. This one's been on BBC2 recently.
Cuckoo by Prof Nick Davies, I know him, he does all of his research where I walk my dogs. I never cease to marvel at nature, the way Cuckoo and their hosts are constantly changing strategies to cope with each other.
Next will be Watching the Wheels, Damon Hill. I've got On Golden Hill lined up, this a well reviewed historical novel. My favourite fiction writers are Kate Mosse and Sebastian Faulks. |  | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 08:41 - Mar 1 with 2582 views | gtsb1966 |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 08:55 - Mar 1 with 2573 views | oldbluestu |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 14:05 - Feb 28 by ITFC_Forever |
That's one I need to add to my list as well. |
Another good book on football crowds is Laurent Mauvignier's 'In The Crowd' |  | | |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 12:14 - Mar 1 with 2544 views | WeWereZombies |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 08:10 - Mar 1 by gerard1947 |
I read 40 - 50 books a year most of those in the winter.
I've just finished SAS Rogue Heros by Ben McIntyre, I really enjoy his books. This one's been on BBC2 recently.
Cuckoo by Prof Nick Davies, I know him, he does all of his research where I walk my dogs. I never cease to marvel at nature, the way Cuckoo and their hosts are constantly changing strategies to cope with each other.
Next will be Watching the Wheels, Damon Hill. I've got On Golden Hill lined up, this a well reviewed historical novel. My favourite fiction writers are Kate Mosse and Sebastian Faulks. |
If you are a fan of Sebastian Faulkes I guess you have read 'Charlotte Grey' and I would recommend, if you have not read it already, William Boyd's 'Restless' which shares some of the same topics. | |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 12:31 - Mar 1 with 2528 views | itfcjoe |
I bought the Joey Barton book on Kindle for 99p the other day and am finding it strangely engrossing. Obviously helped by Mike Calvin who is a fine football journalist |  |
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| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 13:43 - Mar 1 with 2499 views | Superfrans |
| Book thread: What is everyone reading at the moment? on 12:31 - Mar 1 by itfcjoe |
I bought the Joey Barton book on Kindle for 99p the other day and am finding it strangely engrossing. Obviously helped by Mike Calvin who is a fine football journalist |
The best memoirs are often those of the craziest people - Ibrahimovic, Morrissey, Roy Keane, Grayson Perry and even Joey Barton, all fall into that category. |  |
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