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I have to say that I was surprised when I first read Deighton - I had not expected him to be as readable as I found his earlier work - which is prejudice for you. If you found SS/GB interesting you...

Just finished "HHhH" by Laurent Binet. It's about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. It's also about the difficulty of writing about the assassination of Heydrich. It's also about memory and...

Just finished reading the novella "Who goes there?" by John W. Campbell. I would guess that this is arguably one of the most influential Science Fiction stories ever written. Very much of it's time...

Just finished reading "All Hell Let Loose" by Max Hastings. It's a one volume history of WWII. It's a thought provoking history and not being up on the current state of historical debate about the...

You may have already come across this book but I'd recommend 'Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth' by Andrew Smith. He manages to capture the sense of awe and strong emotion that I...

I did and quite liked them which made the 'Endyminion' books all the more disappointing.

I got the feeling that these books were a little forced and were perhaps written to contract making the...

I recently finished 'Endymion' and 'Endymion Rising' by Dan Simmons. If you are interested in future travelogue mixed with a rather adolescent messianic parable then these books might be for you. ...

Just finished "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion" by Dan Simmons. These are Science Fiction books written on an epic scale. The first is a little like the Canterbury Tales where a group of seven...

Bought a bunch of Sci-Fi Masterworks which I'm ploughing through as some kind of nostalgia trip. I got these as they were out of print and difficult to get hold of and they all seem to be highly...

I've read and I recommend it- his political point doesn't come across strongly enough but its a highly orginal book. To my mind Mr Miéville is the most consistently interesting author working in...

I've read and I recommend it- his political point doesn't come across strongly enough but its a highly orginal book. To my mind Mr Miéville is the most consistently interesting author working in...

Just read 'The city and the city' by China Miéville. Mixture of police procedural and allegorical Orwellian Distopia, which could represent the start of a whole new genre.

Ironically (considering...

When working in London years ago, I saw Page walking down Fleet Street bedecked with a couple of Leica M6s. He was a bit of a hero of mine, so I plucked up courage and went up to him to say hello...

I went to see Don McCullin giving a talk some time ago now when he first retired. He seemed very weary and some of the stories he told were extremely grim. The thing I remember most is that he said...

For Vietnam, the book that made the greatest impact on me is 'Dispatches' by Michael Herr. Herr apparently co-wrote of 'Apocalypse Now', (along side Joseph Conrad of course). 'Dispatches' is a record...

Quite some time ago I read 'The Spire' by William Golding, which is about an obsessive medeval Cathedral builder, and every time someone mentions 'The Pillars of the Earth' it always put me in mind...

Aw, I love that book. It's been many years since I read it, but should pick it up again sometime.

I'm currently reading The Pillars Of The Earth. Really enjoying it and have been up until the...

Best of luck. I know how this goes; after 5 or 6 attempts I've never managed to get past page 50 of 'A passage to India'.

Just starting 'The Long Goodbye' having re-read all the others for the fourth or fifth time. They are a constant delight and Chandler is a brilliant stylist. There are passages that make the hair on...

Saw a mention of Cormac McCarthy above and thoroughly recommend 'The Road' particularly for anyone with a young son. It's gruelling and truly terrible but worth it.

But for me his masterpiece is...