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Thread: Anyone read any good books recently ?

  1. #1901
    Craftsman
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    I recently read The Force by Don Winslow it's a exciting well written thriller about a corrupt cop

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  2. #1902
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    Drama in the bahamas

    interesting book on alis last fight

  3. #1903
    Master Joe.K's Avatar
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    Just reread 'green river rising' by Tim Willocks. A gut wrenching chronicle of a riot in a Texas prison. It's a blast!
    Joe

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  4. #1904
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    I really enjoyed

    Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

    Fascinating.

  5. #1905
    Master Harry Smith's Avatar
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    I'm reading the GOT series again. I had forgotten how good they are. I wish I could write like George RR Martin.

  6. #1906
    Has anyone read Stephen Baxter's Xeelee books? If so what do you think?
    Last edited by Ventura; 19th January 2018 at 07:51. Reason: Autofill spelt Xeelee as deeper

  7. #1907
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ventura View Post
    Has anyone read Stephen Baxter's Xeelee books? If so what do you think?
    I have.

    Unless you are a SF fan, they might seem a bit over the top.

    Baxter is a great writer but if you expect space opera, you will get that but under layers of hard SF/military SF.

    If you are new to series, read "Resplendent" it is collection od short stories from the whole Xeelee sequence series.

    One of my favorite writers btw.

  8. #1908
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    Sapians.

    Enlightenment in a paperback


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    RIAC

  9. #1909
    Quote Originally Posted by sinner77 View Post
    I have.

    Unless you are a SF fan, they might seem a bit over the top.

    Baxter is a great writer but if you expect space opera, you will get that but under layers of hard SF/military SF.

    If you are new to series, read "Resplendent" it is collection od short stories from the whole Xeelee sequence series.

    One of my favorite writers btw.
    Thanks, I have "Timelike Infinity" and "Vacuum Diagrams" at the moment. Do any of the books have the Xeelee actively involved or are they always in the background?

  10. #1910
    Master Shakespeare's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chrisb View Post
    'This Thing Of Darkness' by Garry Thompson.
    A cracking tale of the man who enabled Darwin.
    Harry Thompson. It's one of my favourite books and it's fascinating.

    Also: Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis

    Homo Sapiens and Homo Deus are both great shouts too. Have the first and am awaiting delivery of the latter.

  11. #1911
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ventura View Post
    Thanks, I have "Timelike Infinity" and "Vacuum Diagrams" at the moment. Do any of the books have the Xeelee actively involved or are they always in the background?
    Theyre a bit mixed up. Whole series involves more or less Xeelee activity, most directly through photino birds activity,so it is in the background.

    Besides "Infinity", "Raft", "Flux" and "Ring" are concidered as Xeelee omnibus.

    There is a chronologic sequence (in order of timeline in the book) that involves all the Xeelee world books.

  12. #1912
    Grand Master Passenger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shakespeare View Post
    Harry Thompson. It's one of my favourite books and it's fascinating.

    Also: Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis

    Homo Sapiens and Homo Deus are both great shouts too. Have the first and am awaiting delivery of the latter.
    I've read both of Noah Yuval Harari's books, very insightful imo. No spoilers.

  13. #1913
    Not sure if anyone has mentioned them yet but Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson are really good and the sort of thing we could see start happening in the near future.

  14. #1914
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    Quote Originally Posted by jammie*dodger View Post
    Not sure if anyone has mentioned them yet but Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson are really good and the sort of thing we could see start happening in the near future.
    Great trilogy.

    I would also recommend "Wind up girl" by Bacigalupi.

    Great novel.


    Also any of China Mevilles novels are really good. Great baroque bizzare fantasy novels. For example in "Kraken" you have a villain that only exists as tattoo on back of his prisoners. "Perdido Street Station" is already a classic.

  15. #1915
    Just ordered Wind up girl" from Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation

  16. #1916
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    You Will not be disappointed. If you recall "Neuromancer" this one has the same noir feel to it.

  17. #1917
    Master Jardine32's Avatar
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    I would second "This thing of darkness" a superb book. Also just finished "The Religion" by Tim Willocks about the siege of Malta, brutal but very good.
    J

  18. #1918
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    Yep. My Father in law!

    Wife kindly bought me 'How to build a car' Adrian Newey's Autobiography, for Christmas.
    Never got a look in though as the Father in Law started on it before I had a chance. Haven't seen it since. keeps telling me how much he's enjoying it.

    My time will come.

  19. #1919
    Wind up Girl has arrived so will be getting into that soon.

    For any of the motorcyclists out there who have been to or are thinking about an American road trip I really enjoyed Looking For America by Ian Mutch.

  20. #1920
    Administrator swanbourne's Avatar
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    I'f you're interested in cheap or free books from Amazon for your Kindle, sign up here: https://www.bookbub.com/home/

    You get a daily alert informing you of the latest bargains and I've downloaded about 10 books now for less than a fiver. Don't expect many top names but there are a few.

    Eddie
    Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".

  21. #1921
    Master vagabond's Avatar
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    ^^^^^

    Thanks for that Eddie - signed up and already bought a few books this morning. Should keep me occupied on the (train) commute for the next couple of weeks. Cheers.

  22. #1922
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    .. Along similar lines - if you're willing to contribute reviews, netgalley.co.uk provides pre-release drafts to review/read. Had a variety of interesting kindle'able reads from it..

    al

  23. #1923
    Craftsman Waldorf's Avatar
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    The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressall.
    A not very well known classic, it was recommended to me by an older colleague. Well worth a read👍.

    Cheers

  24. #1924
    Grand Master Glamdring's Avatar
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    Peter F Hamilton's Faller books. Originally meant to be three volumes it ended up as two, following on from his Commonwealth Saga. Excellent sci-fi.

  25. #1925

    How to Build a Car

    Hi All,

    Just last week finished
    "How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer" by Adrian Newey, good insight into the design and problems ( including Nigel Mansells feet ) of designing a competitive Formula One car, and keeping it competitive over consecutive seasons,

    Cheers, Richie



  26. #1926
    Master luckywatch's Avatar
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    A drop too many by Major-General John Frost. Can't imagine doing what they did. Superb read.

  27. #1927
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    "Zoo City" by Lauren Beukes.


    Pleasant surprise and great book.


    Just picked "Railsea" by China Mieville. Few pages look... Well... Like his weird phase at best.

  28. #1928
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    Just finished Crooked by Austin Grossmann.

    Excellent imaginary story (based on fact) that Richard Nixon led the USA in an occult war against evil.

    This sort of stuff is not usually my cup of tea but I was really pleasantly surprised as the modern US history bit was well done and the story woven around it.

    Finding it at Dollar tree was good too!

    Cheers,
    Neil.

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  29. #1929
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    ^ off to find it. Looks promising. Reminds me od Charles Stross Laundry serial. (which is something between Ludlum and Lovecraft with Douglas Adams approach)

  30. #1930
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    'Here and there' by W Somerset Maugham. Collection of superb short stories approximately written between 1920 and 1935.

  31. #1931
    Journeyman parsig9's Avatar
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    Been reading Slow Horses Slough House series lately. Feels like 70s spy fiction of LeCarre a bit. Very good.
    Actually listening via Audible to the great Gerard Doyle read them. He reads most of the McKinty books and those are great too.

  32. #1932
    Craftsman Nuisance Value's Avatar
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    Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine.

    An autobiography by the Slits lead guitarist and her story up to a few years ago. If you're at all interested in the mid / late seventies punk movement then it should certainly be on your list.

    A great easy read, not especially well written by literary standards, but it has an honesty and brutal charm that reflects the time and place and suits it perfectly and is welcome change from some flowery prose you get nowadays.

    Recommended.

  33. #1933
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    Reading "The Code of the Woosters" PG Wodehouse. The greatest English comic writer of the 20th century.

  34. #1934
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mulligrub View Post
    Reading "The Code of the Woosters" PG Wodehouse. The greatest English comic writer of the 20th century.
    Couldn't agree more, wonderful writer.
    Cheers,
    Neil.

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    http://www.freewebs.com/neil271052

  35. #1935
    Quote Originally Posted by parsig9 View Post
    Been reading Slow Horses Slough House series lately. Feels like 70s spy fiction of LeCarre a bit. Very good.
    Actually listening via Audible to the great Gerard Doyle read them. He reads most of the McKinty books and those are great too.
    Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy books are superb.

  36. #1936
    Just waiting for "Madam, Where Are Your Mangoes?" to arrive, ready for some holiday reading.

    It is the memoirs of Sir Desmond de Silva QC.

    Reading his obituary in today's paper prompted me to buy it, an initial view that was rapidly reinforced by reading the online reviews.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituari...nals-obituary/

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/s...uary-klrmjxflp

    https://www.ft.com/content/29e5e450-...3-0c230fa67aec

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/09/...goes-reviewed/

    https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/ar...pisodic-memoir

    Hopefully it will live up to expectations.

    Also in the To Read pile I have Antony Beever's "Arnhem" as well as "It Never Snows in September" by Robert Kershaw, giving the views from opposing sides of the same battle. Both came highly recommended.

    Can't wait!

  37. #1937
    As to books I have read, I have just finished two.

    A Pathfinder's War, by Flt Lt Ted Stocker, DSO, DFC. A fine account of an airman who survived over 100 operations.

    Aces, Warriors and Wingmen - Firsthand Accounts of Canada's Fighter Pilots. A really fascinating account put together by someone who interviewed over 100 Canadian pilots who served in WW2.

    I can thoroughly recommend both, if these sort of memoirs are your thing.

    If anyone would like to read them I will happily send them my copies in return for a donation to the fundraiser.

  38. #1938
    Master Jardine32's Avatar
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    Working my way through Antony Beevor's Arnhem. My God they were made of something else.
    J

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  39. #1939
    Grand Master magirus's Avatar
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    Haven't read any Tom Sharpe for a long while so I've just finished Wilt and have Blott On The Landscape downloaded from Library on Line to start next (on my iPad and iPhone from my local library via the Overdrive/Libby apps)
    F.T.F.A.

  40. #1940
    Quote Originally Posted by Jardine32 View Post
    Working my way through Antony Beevor's Arnhem. My God they were made of something else.
    J

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    Finished this book in the course of three days whilst on holiday on Scotland.

    A fantastic book and, as you say, the men involved were a breed apart.

    The mismanagement by those in power who conceived and persisted with the plan, even in the face of glaring evidence that the plan itself was destined to failure, is equally shocking. Montgomery comes out particularly poorly.

    Similarly, the treatment of the Polish armed forces - whether before, during or after Arnhem - is shameful in the extreme.

    Highly recommended.

  41. #1941

    Anyone read any good books recently ?

    BTW, “Madam, Where Are Your Mangoes?” is the best book I have read this year by some way.

    A fascinating account of Sir Desmond de Silva, QC, both in terms of the man himself and also the legal cases he was involved with.

    Hugely enjoyable!

  42. #1942
    Journeyman Greenman's Avatar
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    Any good autobiographies?

    Read a few recently and seem to like nosing around famous people's early lives.

    Done these so far:-

    Alan Sugar
    Richard Branson
    Simon Cowell
    Morrissey
    Obama

  43. #1943
    Grand Master SimonK's Avatar
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    Funnily enough, as a change from my usual consumption, I've just finished Michael Caine's autobiography 'From The Elephant to Hollywood'. A series of anecdotes and non-stop name-dropping - not surprising really, but Sir Michael's humour and self-deprecation shine through.

    I guess it's not every Hollywood A-lister would admit to shitting themself while suffering from Montezuma's revenge but be thankful for having chosen to wear brown trousers on that particular day.

  44. #1944
    Master Wooster's Avatar
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    Station Eleven. Exceptional.

  45. #1945
    Craftsman
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    Children of Time - Longish Sci Fi. Very good. And has a dry humour I quite liked too.

  46. #1946
    Master
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    Drive by James Sallis. Far superior to the decent but rather affected film.

  47. #1947
    Reading Stalingrad at the moment. What a tragic story for both sides as it's told in a neutral balanced way.

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  48. #1948
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    Quote Originally Posted by Humptynumpty View Post
    Reading Stalingrad at the moment. What a tragic story for both sides as it's told in a neutral balanced way.

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    I read this book approx 10 years ago, it’s excellent. I remember having nightmares after reading it late at night! Can’t remember any other book having this effect.

    Paul

  49. #1949
    First Light by Geoffrey Wellum. It's his account of being an RAF fighter pilot in WW2.

    An excellent book & really makes you realise the guts these guys had & how many didn't make it to the end of the war.

    Wellum sadly died recently, another hero gone.

    Dave

  50. #1950
    Craftsman Ribena36's Avatar
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    Exit West - Mohsin Hamid

    It’s a novel but talks around the subject of refugees and immigration (probably most important political issue of our times) in a unique way.

    Nice holiday book.


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