A Lark Ascending Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) My usual summer detective binge: Very much enjoyed the last two - one based on the Norfolk coast, the other in Cambridge (though not the posh college side). Also another Kate Atkinson whose books I really love. Quirky sense of humour: And my big history book of the summer, a very good overview of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: The naval bits of which (alongside a trip to the 'Victory' in Portsmouth) made me read: A series I first read as a 14 year old, 40 years ago. Enjoyed it thoroughly - will try and read through the series again. Edited August 19, 2011 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 (edited) Definitely disappointing: shallow characters, dull style, lack of humor or depth. Actually I should have give it up after 20 pages, but I had to finish it, so is a perfect best seller, to some extent. Edited August 19, 2011 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 Daniel Silva: Prince Of Fire Obviously I disagree with the above post. I really am enjoying this series of Gabriel Allon novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 (edited) Daniel Silva: Prince Of Fire Obviously I disagree with the above post. I really am enjoying this series of Gabriel Allon novels. Compared to the best crime and spy novels, it lacks depth and humour. I mean the good guys are really really good, most of them are into Mossad only because some of their relatives were killed by the bad guys that are really really bad. I mean the worst thing the good good guys do in the novel is smoking cigarettes, despite they promised to quit to their wifes. Obvioulsy the bad bad guys smoke because they enjoy to smoke, the good guys smoke because they have to, everybody knows that keeping the world safe from the bad guys is a stressfull job. Plus there is a rankin for good and bad guys: the very very good guys are in the Mossad, the very good guys are in the CIA, the good guys are in MI5, the guys are in the French Secret Service, the bad guys are in the new KGB, FSB, the very bad guys are former KGB agent, the very bad bad bad guys are in Al-Qaeda. Compared to this novel, Spielberg's "Munich" looks like a movie wrote by Hamas. Edited August 20, 2011 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 A book I picked up on a used book store bender; much better than it's title, thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) Finished this today. Very good general survey of the 1792-1815 period. Could have done with some proof-reading on the dates - just errors that get events out of sequence in places rather than historical inaccuracies. About to start: Edited August 23, 2011 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 A book I picked up on a used book store bender; much better than it's title, thankfully. I've gotten a ton of Anderson's books at used bookstores; more than I'll ever get around to reading, probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 Reginald Hill: Exit Lines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 So I have been making pretty good progress in going through some books on my read-one-time-only-then-discard. However, for better or worse, I've just started Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh, and it may be one I end up keeping, totally defeating the purpose of the stack. Oh well. The opening is pretty strong, and I'm enjoying it. I have read The Best of Crank and a few others than were not particularly memorable. Somewhat inspired by the discussion of Levine becoming the Poet Laureate, I did pick up W.S. Merwin's Migration, which is a major expansion of his previous Selected Poems (around 200 pages longer and covers 6 or so collections that came out since Selected Poems). I saw it at Borders when lit. fic. was 25% off, but thought it too expensive. I was very surprised when it was still there at 50%, so I picked it up. There are certainly some good poems from the 80s and 90s (and maybe I will post one in the poetry thread) but in general he is working in a much longer form (2-3 page poems) that just seem off somehow and certainly not as meaningful/impacting as his shorter earlier poems. Well, I guess that's just the way it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 A book I picked up on a used book store bender; much better than it's title, thankfully. I've gotten a ton of Anderson's books at used bookstores; more than I'll ever get around to reading, probably. Yes, I have a few from the same source - clearly a transatlantic phenomenon! Just finished reading: A recent edition of this 1953 novel with the present day London skyline on the cover, the "erotic gherkin" well in evidence on the right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 A recent edition of this 1953 novel with the present day London skyline on the cover, the "erotic gherkin" well in evidence on the right. Talk about a gift from the gods... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 Having recently invested in a Kindle, I've been seeking recommendations. I read a few fantasy novels by Patrick Rothfuss which were actually quite enjoyable, the first two in his Name Of The Wind series. Fun magical medieval stuff. Fast reading, and some very memorable moments. Wanting something entirely different, I downloaded Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, what a friend described as "Japanese surrealism." I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and enjoying it quite a bit even if I'm left a bit bewildered by the plot. I'll have to download a few of the suggestions in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Hemingway: A Moveable Feast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Just finished reading: A recent edition of this 1953 novel with the present day London skyline on the cover, the "erotic gherkin" well in evidence on the right. Definitely one of the great ones! Speaking of which, I just started reading this one for the first time in decades: That's weird...the cover made absolutely no sense to me until I posted that. I couldn't see the baby's face on the actual cover until I saw it here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKE BBB Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Almudena Grandes - El Corazón Helado & Ricky Riccardi's bio of Louis Armstrong's later years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Wanting something entirely different, I downloaded Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, what a friend described as "Japanese surrealism." I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, and enjoying it quite a bit even if I'm left a bit bewildered by the plot. I am familiar with Murakami' works lately, and the Bird isn't his best novel, IMHO. I loved Norwegian Wood, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Kafka on the Shore, Dance Dance Dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Just finished reading: A recent edition of this 1953 novel with the present day London skyline on the cover, the "erotic gherkin" well in evidence on the right. Definitely one of the great ones! Speaking of which, I just started reading this one for the first time in decades: That's weird...the cover made absolutely no sense to me until I posted that. I couldn't see the baby's face on the actual cover until I saw it here! More Than Human is a classic, though I haven't re-read it since the first time, which was in the 70's. Perhaps I'm subconsciously afraid I'll be disappointed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Pomea Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America, Albert Brooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Loren D. Estleman, Retro. Fairly recent in the Amos Walker series (#17?). I used to read lots of Estleman, but got out of touch in recent years. This is a good one, but it'd help to have read some in the series going in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 More Than Human is a classic, though I haven't re-read it since the first time, which was in the 70's. Perhaps I'm subconsciously afraid I'll be disappointed? That's what held me back for so long as well; I let you know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 28, 2011 Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 Now for the movie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted August 28, 2011 Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 They're very smartly collected all the Elric work into six volumes, and I started reading the first. I'm a fan of the series and it's fun re-reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 30, 2011 Report Share Posted August 30, 2011 More Than Human is a classic, though I haven't re-read it since the first time, which was in the 70's. Perhaps I'm subconsciously afraid I'll be disappointed? I'd say it holds up damned well. The only difference I found in my response is a strong desire to read Faulkner now; that didn't happen back then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted August 30, 2011 Report Share Posted August 30, 2011 Verghese: Cutting For Stone Just as good the 2nd time through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 30, 2011 Report Share Posted August 30, 2011 More Than Human is a classic, though I haven't re-read it since the first time, which was in the 70's. Perhaps I'm subconsciously afraid I'll be disappointed? I'd say it holds up damned well. The only difference I found in my response is a strong desire to read Faulkner now; that didn't happen back then... Nice; glad to hear it. Thanks for the response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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