What are you reading? 📚

[ariotofmyown]

9 hours ago, B4’s Sister said:

@MaltRam Added this to my wish list. I love Greek myths and well researched historical fiction.  The last book I read was Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant which was about the the Borgias

I read Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, which expanded on the Greek Myth of Minatour story. Have you read or similar. I was thinking of getting Song of Achilles next in this genre.

[ariotofmyown]

I'm reading Lessons by Ian McEwan. I think I've read all his books and this might be one of the best.

[B4’s Sister]

2 hours ago, FlyBritishMidland said:

Is Surrounded by Idiots a good read?  I love all that sort of stuff and different personality styles.

It is really interesting and it helps you understand different personalities. Especially in the workplace. I was introduced to it from an away day exercise. We established what personality type we were and then planned a party in our personality groups. I’m a blue - very detail focussed. Everyone I have met who has done the exercise loved it. My only critique of the book is it very American. 

[B4’s Sister]

1 hour ago, Sufferingfool said:

A favourite book of mine is Waterlog by Roger Deakin, essentially a random journey through Britain wild swimming (written before it was a ‘thing’). A beautiful read if you appreciate nature and the sensuality of swimming.

Best book recently was My Effin Life by Geddy Lee, obviously best if you are a fan of Canadian rock band Rush, but has some really thoughtful content on his family’s experience in the holocaust and is pretty well written for an autobiography.

I am a swimmer but have never been wild swimming. Swimming is so relaxing. I love nature too.  The Salt Path by Raynor Winn is a good read. She has written two follow ups too. 

[B4’s Sister]

2 hours ago, Crewton said:

I've just finished That Old Country Music by Kevin Barry, an enjoyable and quirky collection of short stories set generally in the west of Ireland.

I'd previously read his novel Night Boat to Tangiers, about 2 Irish drug smugglers trying to quit the game while searching for the estranged daughter of one of them in southern Spain, which was an entertaining read. It's subsequently been made into a film starring Michael Fassbender.

I will have to see the film. So many books, so little time to read them all 😂 My favourite Irish author is John Boyne. 

[B4’s Sister]

1 hour ago, ilkleyram said:

If you enjoyed that you might like When the dust settles by Lucy Easthorpe - a really enjoyable read by someone involved (seemingly) in every disaster’s aftermath for the last 40 years.  I know it doesn’t sound interesting but it was! 
I’ve just started Essex Dogs by Dan Jones which is historical fiction - well written and researched - and just finished Ryan Conway’s Pride before the fall - well written but nothing of too much note given all the NDAs in place. What was most interesting was the number of people who wouldn’t talk to him, far more than just Stephen Pearce. 

I bought Before the Dust Settles last night. Only 99p on kindle at the moment. 

[B4’s Sister]

36 minutes ago, ariotofmyown said:

I read Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, which expanded on the Greek Myth of Minatour story. Have you read or similar. I was thinking of getting Song of Achilles next in this genre.

The book club I go to picked Song of Achilles last year and we enjoyed it. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker is good. They are a lot of characters who appear in different myths. Achilles is also part of the story. My favourite rewritten myth is Circe by Madeline Miller. 

[B4’s Sister]

1 hour ago, Comrade 86 said:

Last three were LA Confidential by the doyen of crime writers, James Elroy, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. Very different books, but I loved them all.

They are all different. Is Cloud Atlas easy to follow? I’ve watched the film twice and been quite confused both times

[ariotofmyown]

2 minutes ago, B4’s Sister said:

The book club I go to picked Song of Achilles last year and we enjoyed it. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker is good. They are a lot of characters who appear in different myths. Achilles is also part of the story. My favourite rewritten myth is Circe by Madeline Miller. 

I usually listen to non-fiction on Audible, but got Circe to listen too as ended up with a few credits to burn. I'll try and get round to listening to it sooner than planned now! Thanks.

[Crewton]

2 minutes ago, B4’s Sister said:

I will have to see the film. So many books, so little time to read them all 😂 My favourite Irish author is John Boyne. 

I read The Heart's Invisible Furies and really enjoyed that (reminded me allot of William Boyd's "Any Human Heart"), so I might try some more of his in the future but, as you say, it's difficult to get round to reading all those on my list.

If you like Irish literature, or just want to read a bit more of it, I can recommend a fair few.

 

[Comrade 86]

9 minutes ago, B4’s Sister said:

They are all different. Is Cloud Atlas easy to follow? I’ve watched the film twice and been quite confused both times

Laughing as I did initially find the film confusing too, but the more leisurely pace of reading versus 2 hours of film makes it easier. It's one of those books that makes you marvel at the imaginations some folk possess and there's always copies in charity shops too which is handy! 😂

[Comrade 86]

Can anyone who does audiobooks explain how they do different characters please? Is it the same person or multiple persons. Sorry if this is a daft question, but I've never 'read' a book that way and am intrigued.

[FlyBritishMidland]

51 minutes ago, B4’s Sister said:

It is really interesting and it helps you understand different personalities. Especially in the workplace. I was introduced to it from an away day exercise. We established what personality type we were and then planned a party in our personality groups. I’m a blue - very detail focussed. Everyone I have met who has done the exercise loved it. My only critique of the book is it very American. 

We’ve done that too and snap, I’m also a blue.  It’s amazing, and scary, how accurate the profiles are.  I’ve been tempted to order it, think I might give it a go 👍.

[B4’s Sister]

32 minutes ago, Comrade 86 said:

Can anyone who does audiobooks explain how they do different characters please? Is it the same person or multiple persons. Sorry if this is a daft question, but I've never 'read' a book that way and am intrigued.

The majority of audiobooks are read by one person who acts out the different characters. Some audiobooks have more than one narrator. Personally, I don’t like more than two narrators as it can get a bit confusing, but it could be that I’m usually listening while driving and can’t always concentrate on the book 100%. 
 

if you have a library membership you can use the BorrowBox app for free audio and ebooks. I use this a lot.  

[B4’s Sister]

42 minutes ago, Crewton said:

I read The Heart's Invisible Furies and really enjoyed that (reminded me allot of William Boyd's "Any Human Heart"), so I might try some more of his in the future but, as you say, it's difficult to get round to reading all those on my list.

If you like Irish literature, or just want to read a bit more of it, I can recommend a fair few.

 

Loved The Hearts Invisible Furies. Cyril two had me in stitches 😂

Please add some recommendations. I’ve really been enjoying Chinese and Japanese literature recently too. The Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and Pachinko by Min Ji Lee are all excellent. 

[Crewton]

1 hour ago, B4’s Sister said:

Loved The Hearts Invisible Furies. Cyril two had me in stitches 😂

Please add some recommendations. I’ve really been enjoying Chinese and Japanese literature recently too. The Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and Pachinko by Min Ji Lee are all excellent. 

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy 

All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan

Norah Webster by Colm Toibin

The Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor

The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor

All excellent reads IME 

 

[Leeds Ram]

got a few on the go atm. Mixing it up between IN ASCENSION by Martin Macinnes, Cold Peace by Michael Doyle and Making the Arab World by Fawaz Gerges. Not long finished The Bee Sting by Paul Murray which I thought was much better than the eventual winner of the Booker Prophet Song which I found very underwhelming. I'd also recommend Wellness by Nathan Hill who has only written one other novel and anything by Brandon Taylor I've really enjoyed recently too.

[B4’s Sister]

Thanks for the recommendations @Crewton my book club is reading Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan for our April meeting 

[B4’s Sister]

10 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

got a few on the go atm. Mixing it up between IN ASCENSION by Martin Macinnes, Cold Peace by Michael Doyle and Making the Arab World by Fawaz Gerges. Not long finished The Bee Sting by Paul Murray which I thought was much better than the eventual winner of the Booker Prophet Song which I found very underwhelming. I'd also recommend Wellness by Nathan Hill who has only written one other novel and anything by Brandon Taylor I've really enjoyed recently too.

Someone recommended The Bee Sting to me. My reading wish list is growing by the minute today 😂

[Carl Sagan]

Creating books is a really slow process. I moved to Penguin a couple of years ago, but first you have to contract an author to write a book, then they must do the hard graft of writing, and we go through numerous drafts together, and then it moves into production and all the stages there. My very first book from start to finish like that publishes on Thursday and it's a great story - proper narrative nonfiction that follows Chris Thorogood's lifelong obsession with Rafflesia, the world's biggest flowers, and his quest to save them. Lovely review in the Guardian to kick things off. Before this book, I was pretty blind to plants. Now I notice them so much more. It's called Pathless Forest if anyone wants to try out a nature adventure story.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/01/pathless-forest-by-chris-thorogood-review-love-letter-to-a-monstrous-flower