The books thread

[stampjones]

I only read Normal People and I really disliked it. I read it shortly after release before everyone was spaffing over it so don't think it was overhyped. I felt the authors views on relationships wasn't particularly interesting unless I missed something. The way she shoehorned pop culture references like The White Lies felt really jarring. It felt like the author loved The White Lies so wanted to wedge it in her book somehow.

I have a friend who tends to like the same books as me and they also disliked Normal People. They say Conversations with Friends is much better, but I am not tempted to read it as I don't want to take the risk.

Its interesting how authors try and put music into books like that. Often its really terrible and shoe-horned in like the inspector banks books where its obvious the author is just trying (and failing) to make the character interesting. But very occasionally it works so well and really hrlps define the character like the rebus books by ian rankin

[Clarence Boddicker]

I remember reading of mice and men back in school. That story had a big impact on me. I aim to read The grapes of wrath aswell.

I read Grapes of Wrath relatively recently,I really wish I'd read it as a kid, I think it might have changed me for the better and I think everyone should read the first chapter were it shows the nature of banking hasn't really changed in all these years, it could've been written yesterday.  I also read Of Mice and Men at school and it also left an indelible mark on me, I especially remember the first couple of pages that sets a scene of complete biodiversity happily co-existing until man arrives and everything scatters away in fear.

[Sevro]

I read Grapes of Wrath relatively recently,I really wish I'd read it as a kid, I think it might have changed me for the better and I think everyone should read the first chapter were it shows the nature of banking hasn't really changed in all these years, it could've been written yesterday.  I also read Of Mice and Men at school and it also left an indelible mark on me, I especially remember the first couple of pages that sets a scene of complete biodiversity happily co-existing until man arrives and everything scatters away in fear.

I definitely have to give it a read because of your description

Finished the book Filth by Irvine Welsh. This was an excellent read especially for people like us who enjoy the company of prossies. Theres plenty of whoring and punting in this book. Theres a whole section where the main character is in Amsterdam and his just fucking prostitutes left right and centre. Theres plentyof depravity shown by the main character. However, theres much more going on with him, its not just surface level.

Hidden Image/Members Only

[Jonestown]

Does anyone have any experience of listening to something like this on Audible?

I listen to lots of books on Audible, but not fiction, they're mostly business books and business biographies. So the beauty of the story and how you perceive it in the voice that exists in your head, isn't as important.

I know that the narrator makes a massive difference also.

If you’re willing to stump up about £11/m for access to You Tube premium you get a vast number of audio books with no interruptions, most run to 8 hours plus. In terms of fiction I four the Horowitz & Hawthorne crime series written by Anthony Horowitz excellent, a particular bonus being that they are narrated by the actor Rory Kinnear, who does a brilliant job. I run it off an iPad and feed the audio to a Soundcore mini blue tooth speaker, £18 on Amazon, and it’s just like sitting back and listening to a BBC broadcast on the old Home Service.

[PilotMan]

If you’re willing to stump up about £11/m for access to You Tube premium you get a vast number of audio books with no interruptions, most run to 8 hours plus. In terms of fiction I four the Horowitz & Hawthorne crime series written by Anthony Horowitz excellent, a particular bonus being that they are narrated by the actor Rory Kinnear, who does a brilliant job. I run it off an iPad and feed the audio to a Soundcore mini blue tooth speaker, £18 on Amazon, and it’s just like sitting back and listening to a BBC broadcast on the old Home Service.

We get through about 12/ 15 books per month on Audible, buying three credits at a time. Are the books on YouTube unlimited? I ask because Spotify has a listening limit per month, which is really frustrating as it will always stop when I'm in the middle of a book.

Your speaker set-up sounds good. I don't listen to books when I'm inside relaxing, I usually listen to books or a Podcast when I'm working outside in the elements or in the tractor. It passes the time away, more so than listening to music .

[Jonestown]

We get through about 12/ 15 books per month on Audible, buying three credits at a time. Are the books on YouTube unlimited? I ask because Spotify has a listening limit per month, which is really frustrating as it will always stop when I'm in the middle of a book.

You can watch or listen to unlimited content, I found You Tube a revelation in premium mode with all the adverts and rubbish removed, don’t think I’d be able to go back to the standard/ free set up.

They usually have a free trial offer, ie you sign up an get a month or three months to decide if it’s for you, if not you can cancel anytime in the trial period. As a start you could go into YT and search on “full audio book” with an author’s name,  see if what comes up interests you.

[Rick2468]

Does anyone have any experience of listening to something like this on Audible?

I listen to lots of books on Audible, but not fiction, they're mostly business books and business biographies. So the beauty of the story and how you perceive it in the voice that exists in your head, isn't as important.

I know that the narrator makes a massive difference also.

I am completely with you on this. I love Audible for non-fiction and find it a great way to get through non-fiction books as I can listen and absorb it whilst just walking to the shops and back. For fiction I have to read the book, audio books just don't work for me.

[standardpostage]

Body Count by Julie Mae Cohen. Very good recommended. Crime, humour, fiction, thriller.

About a female assassin. 2025 book. Set in the UK.

[Malvolio]

Cosi Fan Tutti by Michael Dibdin.  Set in Naples in the mid-nineties: our hero is Aurelio Zen, who is an extremely workshy police inspector.  Against his will he gets involved in a mafia feud and a smuggling conspiracy. 

Very well written - a large part of the plot follows the opera of the same name, but he has fun with the tropes of opera and takes everything a lot further.  Also features a couple of WGs amongst the cast of supporting characters.

This is the fifth in a series of eleven Aurelio Zen novels - I'm definitely going to check out some more.

[Jonestown]

Cosi Fan Tutti by Michael Dibdin.  Set in Naples in the mid-nineties: our hero is Aurelio Zen, who is an extremely workshy police inspector.  Against his will he gets involved in a mafia feud and a smuggling conspiracy. 

Very well written - a large part of the plot follows the opera of the same name, but he has fun with the tropes of opera and takes everything a lot further.  Also features a couple of WGs amongst the cast of supporting characters.

This is the fifth in a series of eleven Aurelio Zen novels - I'm definitely going to check out some more.

A fine series indeed, there was also a very good three part BBC tv adaptation with Rufus Sewell that is available on streaming and DVD.

[Malvolio]

Thanks for the tip - that will go on my list of things to watch

[Jonestown]

After a gap of many years the latest instalment of Malcolm Pryce’s Aberystwyth Noir series has been published - A Streetcar Named Aberystwyth. You’re not likely to find it in bookshops as it was published privately, but it’s on Amazon, and is available to order from Waterstones.

There is also a final novel from Frederick Forsyth out, it’s called Revenge of Odessa, written in conjunction with Tony Kent, it’s had mixed reviews so far.

[standardpostage]

Peter Kay. 2023 book.  TV : Big Adventures On The Small Screen.  Humour. Autobiography.

Good, recommended. Will make you smile.

[Malvolio]

A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith - like the Ripley series, it features a nasty bloke doing nasty things who gets away with it in the end.  Not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it also paints a vivid picture of England in 1964.

[ulstersubbie]

A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith - like the Ripley series, it features a nasty bloke doing nasty things who gets away with it in the end.  Not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it also paints a vivid picture of England in 1964.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm a huge fan of Highsmith, particularly the Ripley books. Strangely for an American writer, she was far better received in Europe than back in her native USA.

[Pillowtalk]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm a huge fan of Highsmith, particularly the Ripley books. Strangely for an American writer, she was far better received in Europe than back in her native USA.

Me too, a much under rated writer in my opinion. I arrived at her via Ripley but I read others of hers and enjoyed them very much.

[Pillowtalk]

This one comes with a serious health warning:- I read and very much enjoyed Andrew O'Hagan's 'Caledonian Road'. The heath warning is its length - it's a whopper, but well worth sticking with in my opinion.

[standardpostage]

This one comes with a serious health warning:- I read and very much enjoyed Andrew O'Hagan's 'Caledonian Road'. The heath warning is its length - it's a whopper, but well worth sticking with in my opinion.

Good reviews. 656 pages !

[standardpostage]

Wilt In Nowhere. By Tom Sharpe. Humour. Laugh out loud funny. Recommended. 10 out of 10.

2004 book. Set in the UK and the USA.

[Jonestown]

The Hadacol Boogie, by James Lee Burke has just been published, the 25th book in the Dave Robicheaux series. The travails of a Louisiana detective and his winger, fighting the good fight, often with extreme violence and summary justice. Almost certainly, like the Ian Rankin books, the series has gone on to long, but still manages to summon up an atmospheric sense of good and evil in the good old south.

[ulstersubbie]

The Hadacol Boogie, by James Lee Burke has just been published, the 25th book in the Dave Robicheaux series. The travails of a Louisiana detective and his winger, fighting the good fight, often with extreme violence and summary justice. Almost certainly, like the Ian Rankin books, the series has gone on to long, but still manages to summon up an atmospheric sense of good and evil in the good old south.

I read one of the Robicheaux books a long time ago, couldn't get into it I'm afraid just not for me. Still 25 is an impressive number and I agree with you, the Rebus series went on far too long.

[Jonestown]

I read one of the Robicheaux books a long time ago, couldn't get into it I'm afraid just not for me. Still 25 is an impressive number and I agree with you, the Rebus series went on far too long.

Two of the Robicheaux books were made into movies. Heaven’s Prisoners with Alec Baldwin; and In The Electric Mist with Tommy Lee Jones.

[standardpostage]

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman.  2025.

Crime with humour. Murder mystery.  4 out of 5.

Set in modern day England.

[Sevro]

Nearly finished Killers of the flower moon excellent non fiction book by David Grann. I have also read the Wager by the same author. Which i liked slightly more.

[Sunny]

"Breath: The new science of a lost art" by James Nestor.
Nasal breathing at night has been a game changer, sleep quality has drastically improved.

[Jonestown]

The Cut Up by Louise Welsh, the third instalment of the Rilke series that started with The Cutting Room. It’s less woke than the second instalment and all the better for it.

[ulstersubbie]

The Cut Up by Louise Welsh, the third instalment of the Rilke series that started with The Cutting Room. It’s less woke than the second instalment and all the better for it.

I didn't realise she'd had written a third book featuring Rilke, loved the first one but found the second one a bit meh. Thanks for the recommendation.   

[Malvolio]

I recently read Success by Martin Amis - thought I'd been through his back catalogue, but had missed this one.

One of his early books so looking to shock (with about three times as much swearing as an Irvine Welsh novel), but pretty entertaining.  It's narrated by two brothers, and as the narrative shifts you have to keep thinking about who's telling the truth.  Incest themes, sexual deviance and a bloke called Keith all feature.

[standardpostage]

The Compound. By Aisling Rawle. Average.  2025 book.  Hardback from library. Reality television drama.

[Rexgarvin]

Just finished reading the third novel by Bob Mortimer  The Long Shoe...having read his previous two works of  fiction ..Hotel Avacado  and Satsuma Complex..enjoyed all three ...decent story lines and funny.

[NoStringsFun]

Recently finished Dead Man's Grave, The Night Watch and The Blood Tide - Max Craigie series by Neil Lancaster.

[diver ted]

Recently finished Dead Man's Grave, The Night Watch and The Blood Tide - Max Craigie series by Neil Lancaster.

Were they any good? Always interested in a positive recommendation.
DT

[Jerboa]

Secret Affairs by Mark Curtis
Devil's Game by Robert Dreyfuss

Both books cover first how the British Empire used Islamic extremism in the Middle East as part of the divide & conquer plan, and how the American Empire continued the operation, as they do till the present day, with Al-Julani a former al-Qaeda leader now their puppet in Damascus.

[NoStringsFun]

Were they any good? Always interested in a positive recommendation.
DT

I liked them. The detail of the military and being in the police force of the author does come through in the books.

I stumbled across the author who featured in the Crime Agents podcast and decided to give him a try. The background of the main character is a military one, who then moves into being a police officer in Scotland.

[diver ted]

I liked them. The detail of the military and being in the police force of the author does come through in the books.
I stumbled across the author who featured in the Crime Agents podcast and decided to give him a try. The background of the main character is a military one, who then moves into being a police officer in Scotland.

On my To Buy list
Thank you
DT

[Sunny]

"The art of the good life"

Rolf Dobelli

[standardpostage]

"The art of the good life"

Rolf Dobelli

What about it ?

[standardpostage]

Beyond Possible. by Nimsdai Purja.  About climbing the 14 highest mountains in the world, in under 7 months.

2020 book.  10 out of 10. Recommended.

All the peaks are above 8,000 metres.

[PilotMan]

Beyond Possible. by Nimsdai Purja.  About climbing the 14 highest mountains in the world, in under 7 months.

2020 book.  10 out of 10. Recommended.

All the peaks are above 8,000 metres.

Sounds like the author is at the peak of his career.

Coat 

[standardpostage]

Sounds like the author is at the peak of his career.

Coat 

[Jonestown]

Spies & Other Gods by James Wolff, espionage fiction more in the vein of Tinker, Tailor than James Bond, worth searching out. Wolff also has a previous three book series that I’ll be looking out for.

[standardpostage]

Spies & Other Gods by James Wolff, espionage fiction more in the vein of Tinker, Tailor than James Bond, worth searching out. Wolff also has a previous three book series that I’ll be looking out for.

Sounds good 

[ShadowProclamation]

'This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (And Why It Matters)' by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones. Written in the same informative, but comical style as their 10 year old YouTube channel 'Map Men'.

[bigden40]

Sounds like the author is at the peak of his career.

Coat 

Not really, he died last week.

External Link/Members Only

[Malvolio]

I recently read the Lonely Sea and the Sky by Francis Chichester.  It's an autobiography of sorts, but with most of the focus on his exploring exploits.  For someone I only knew as a sailor, it turns out he spent five years as a pioneering aviator between 1929 and 1934, before injuring himself very badly.  The first two Gypsy Moths were planes, and the next two boats.

If everything in the book is true, it's amazing he managed to last five years as he took all kinds of crazy risks when flying.  I suppose most aviators of that time were taking risks given the lack of communication when in flight and reliance on decent weather or outrunning storms.  Turns out he only took up sailing as a hobby in his forties as he had got married and wanted something he could do with his wife.  I'm going to try and find a biography of him as he's a fascinating character.

[standardpostage]

A Particularly Nasty Case. By Adam Kay. 2025 .  Medical humorous fiction crime. Very good, recommended.  Written by a real doctor.

[Rick2468]

Is anyone a fan of China Mieville? His new book The Rouse came out this week and is being reviewed very well so I am looking forward to checking it out.

I read The City by The City by Mieville and I rate it as the best book I've read over the past 10 years. The concept is excellent, there are two cities with different cultures / beliefs who occupy the same space. The citizens of each city are conditioned from a young age to block out all residents, signs, sights and sounds from the opposite city. They see people from the other city as blurs. It is a crime to acknowledge anything from the other city, and there is a secret police ('breach') who capture and punish anyone who does so.

A murder is committed, and it is clear that the victim was murdered from someone from the opposite city. A police detective from one of the cities is given special permission to 'access' the other city and speak to the residents to investigate the murder. This opens his eyes to a lot of things. And I'll stop there as what happens next is wild. It's a brilliant book with an excellent idea, all told in a great way.

I have also read Perido Street Station, Embassytown, The Scar and King Rat by him and really enjoyed them. I also really liked This Census Taker by him but it felt a very different kind of book. The only book I've read by Mieville that wasn't an obvious thumbs up was Railsea, but even that was okay, I remember thinking I would have loved it if I read it as a kid.

[Billy no mates]

If you’re willing to stump up about £11/m for access to You Tube premium you get a vast number of audio books with no interruptions, most run to 8 hours plus. In terms of fiction I four the Horowitz & Hawthorne crime series written by Anthony Horowitz excellent, a particular bonus being that they are narrated by the actor Rory Kinnear, who does a brilliant job. I run it off an iPad and feed the audio to a Soundcore mini blue tooth speaker, £18 on Amazon, and it’s just like sitting back and listening to a BBC broadcast on the old Home Service.

I have the last book to read, saving for holiday next month.

The first three were excellent, I found four and particularly five slower, let’s see how it wraps up.