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Book Corner.

I'm reading A Column of Fire by Ken Follett, the third installment of his 'Cathedrals' series. This one isn't terrible but he's lost a lot of oomph from the previous two. He was never the best writer but he could make you really hate a character, and the villains in ACoF are just... meh.

On the other side, I'm a writer and my first paperback book will be out in January. Very excited.
 
wolfie11969 said:
Finished Gone with the Wind

Also read Pleasing Mr Pepys by Deborah Swift. Good book if you like spy stories. This is set during the time of Charles II.

Click to expand...

Samuel Pepys?

I tried All the Light We Cannot See upon recommendation of a friend. Well written, but depressing, so I went online to see how it came out ... and thought, What's the point? So I returned it to the library.

I finished The Little Beach Street Bakery, by Jenny Colgan, which is a nice change from the usual chick-beach-lit I've read set in the coastal Low Country of South Carolina and Georgia. Then I read the sequel, Summer At Little Beach Street Bakery.

Now I am all set to either read the second sequel, or the nonfiction Great Horse Racing Mysteries, both from the library; or else Ursula Le Guin's Searoad, which another friend recommended to me some 20-30 years ago. For some reason, her books are hard to find at the library, and almost impossible to find as e-books. I ordered a paperback copy online.

Am I the only person having problems with online orders recently? Ever since just before Christmas, shipping seems to be getting really weird.
 
It sounds very interesting, @wolfie11969 . I first read about Samuel Pepys' diary in Helene Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road.

Now I want to read the diary again.
 
I've read a few books over the past couple of weeks.

I enjoyed Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley. Her take on what happened to Scarlet O'Hara after Gone with the Wind finished.

I've now picked up Les Miserables in the hopes I can finish it. 1400 pages, who knows.

Also bought some bookshelves/cases for the books I keep buying. Going to use the alcove in the granddaughter's bedroom so I can have a mini library.

I'm going out tomorrow on the hunt for yet more books, fingers crossed I find some worth joining my collection
 
Oh, this thread looks a bit threadbare.
Anyhow, I am in the middle of my current book; Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Basically, Taleb's thesis is that skin in the game is necessary for fairness, commercial efficiency, and risk management, as well as being necessary to understand the world.

A very interesting read so far. What is striking is how the world is being changed by just very small number of people who tend to shout the loudest. Not that they are correct, always, but sometimes that they are intolerant of others.

The appendix is about half the book so I have chosen the following as my next read:
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?" By American physicist Richard Feynman.
 
In between Les Mis I've read the Butterfly Room by Lucinda Riley. It was OK, plenty of twists and turns but some were predictable.

Back to the huge monstrosity of a book. I've got to where Valjean is trying to work out how to get out of the convent to return as a new character and therefore new employee
 
I've been naughty and cheated. I'm still reading Les Mis, 2/3 of the way through. I decided to watch the screen adaptation so that if this book beats me I will have fresh memories of what happened ha ha. In all seriousness I will finish the book I'm just undecided whether to give it a break and read something a bit more lighthearted
 
Well I finished it. Hard going but something I cna say I've actually read. I was tempted yesterday to try Dumas The Three Musketeers but decided my memories of old 70's and 80's movies would suffice.

I'm now reading Two Brothers by Ben Elton. Not too impressed at the moment
 
I am an avid reader too and I usually have several books on the go. One is man in black the autobiography of Johnny Cash. It's quite interesting but a bit god fearing if you know what I mean. He certainly loved his pills.
I have the Open Library app on my phone and lap top and they have about 100000 books available for free. I am rereading PG Wodehouse atm for a laugh. The great thing with reading Jeeves and Wooster on line is you can look up those quotes right away. His books are full of Keats Tennyson, Shakespeare etc so you are learning.
I have read a load of Carl Hiiasen lately too; his stuff is so funny always about idiotic hoodlums in Florida.
 
I've just subscribed to Audible. Any suggestions for what to download?

My eyes are still a bit funny with the up and thankfully now down of BG (newly diagnosed T2) and the summer is when I do all my reading for the whole year!
 
mouseee said:
I've just subscribed to Audible. Any suggestions for what to download?

My eyes are still a bit funny with the up and thankfully now down of BG (newly diagnosed T2) and the summer is when I do all my reading for the whole year!
Click to expand...

It all depends on what type of book you like, what style.

I could suggest many books I've read but not knowing if they are your style is a bit difficult.

Or look through t he thread and see if any of the books mentioned take your fancy

Happy reading
 
I'm reading The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell. I can see from the book there are about 8 others which I shall try sourcing via the local library.

I do have the dvd series of this book but havent managed to watch them yet. I wanted to see how the book panned out first before investing time in the dvd
 
Just listened to Sweet Sorrow by David Mitchell.
It's a fantastic book. It's funny, sad and nostalgic for first love.

I loved the story and was hooked for the whole 15 hours!

I chose to listen as if I were reading so no putting on in the background whilst doing housework etc but listened whilst lying on the sofa or sitting outside although I did knit! Listened to some of it in the car too.

It's the summer holidays so it's when I do a huge amount of reading!
 
Cracking series read em all apart from last one
 
Reading the Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell.

I've also piked up a stand alone of his called Stonehenge so looking forward to some reading.

I must admit the reading has taken a back seat as I've been doing word puzzles, all good for the brain
 



Ah.... Me to
Caves of steel, Issac Asimov . And I was also hooked

Like many I have read a certain type then got bored and switched genres.
Sci fi - horror - war - history - action.. But my first choice is always sci fi

Anyone with a small interest in the genre, might like WOOL Trilogy.

Post disaster ( nuclear war).
Lots of old fashioned personal interactions, Central characters pretty interesting, nice take on how society might evolve if we had to hide beneath surface for extended periods

Premise is original and does make you think
" what if"

Decent read, I bought the one (kindle ) on recommendation of reviews. (was an online book released chapter by chapter as writer literally finished each section)

Liked enough to buy the trilogy .

Two others I have read and then read again recently.
The end of the world running club.

More typical disaster scenario, guys let the wives and family leave in rescue helicopter, then are forced to make their own way from Scotland to the south coast in a most disjointed UK.

I liked it for the human take, and the running made me want to take it up, helped with the T2D DX coming quickly on its heels not long after I read it.

And The Stone man.
More a novel for inside a sci fi compendium
But enjoyable none the less.

Alien artifact appears on earth
No seemingly real danger... Until it moves on a projected path... With one goal .. Leaving devastation in its wake.
Seems very English in how it flows from the page

Ending didn't quite pan out as I expected, but the sense of dread and inevitability was nicely portayed.

Honourable mention must go to the Martian.

Highly technically accurate apparently.
Mission lands on Mars.. Gets aborted
Others leave surface believing colleague is dead

But he's only stunned
His remarkable attempts to keep himself Alive in the face of a world doing it's best to kill him.

Made into a major movie.
 
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Reading Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell. Pretty interesting book.

Now I need to source what book to take away on my holiday. I think my stepson has bought me War and Peace
 
I did take War and Peace on holiday but did very little reading. Instead I did crossword puzzles and watched a couple of programmes. I spent most my time occupied so didnt feel the need to pick the book up. (Think I read about half a dozen short chapters)

I do have another Bernard Cornwell book to read (Uhtred series), something about Lords of the North?
 
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