Not too High brow but i've just read 'The Strat In The Attic'; an excellent read about 'Guitarcheology'. Basicaly it is a collection of stories about unearthing vintage guitars from the most bizarre of places. The stories are compelling and well written by a talented author and obvious enthusiast. If you have an interest in guitars, bargains and the opportunities that only happen when the planets align, this could be for you.
For instance, one story is about a lady who's father was a pilot in the 50's, 60's and 70's. He flew a lot of rock stars and musicians around during that time, on tours and to shows. In 1965 he flew a group of musicians to and back from the Newport Folk festival. After the return trip, he discovered a guitar in it's case that had been left behind. He contacted the musician and his management constantly for the next few years trying to return the guitar and was fobbed off time and time again. So he put it under the bed and left it. After his death, his daughter again tried to contact the management company and artist concerned to return the guitar and was fobbed off so she took it to an American TV show to have it inspected. Turns out the artist was Bob Dylan and the guitar was the Fender Stratocaster he played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he 'went electric' and was booed by his fans. A pivotal moment is music history.
Not all the stories are about famous guitars but i found it quite an enthralling read.
I've been reading some Jo Nesbo recently: I started with "Headhunters" because of the film and then bought the Harry Hole series. So far I've read "The Redbreast" and now I'm more than half-way through "Nemesis". Not only are they rattling good stories with an alcoholic dysfunctional policeman as the main character, the translation from the original Norwegian by Don Bartlett is simply amazing and it's impossible to tell that they weren't originally written in English.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Saw that on History Detectives on PBS.Originally Posted by Spencer Lee
Great story.
Cheers,
Neil.
I'm still surprised they didn't change the detective's name for the English editions.
Just started the 3rd of Stephen Leather's Spider Sheperd series of novels. Really enjoying these!
Think the new Clive Cussler is out soon too!
Savage Continent by Keith Lowe, a book about the state of Europe immediately after the end of WW2. Brutal yet compelling, not easy reading but the best book I have read in a long while.
Totally agree an excellent book. I read it at the beginning of Summer and then followed it up with Anne Applebaum's "Iron Curtain the Crushing of Eastern Europe".
Both books a quite sobering from a British perspective. Our perceived generalist view of of the Second World War is that when the fighting in Europe stopped "things"" started to get better. Both of these books paint a broader and in some respects grimmer picture.
Both books are highly recommended for anyone interested in what was happening and happened across Europe as the war ended.
Sounds interesting - I'll give that a look thanks
Harry Hole rules. Perfect anti hero.
I've just finished a book written by a friend of mine; The Greasy Spoon by Stephen Braiden. A quite amusing read which whilst fictional seems to be quite heavily based on real life in London in the late eighties. Every anecdote or character that I mention to Stephen gets the response "That really happened" or "Cosmic Clive was a real bloke" etc. Available on Kindle only.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Greasy-S...e+Greasy+Spoon
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
Over the last few weeks:
Transition - Iain M. Banks
The Dead Zone (for the umpteenth time) by Stephen King
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
The Passage - Justin Cronin
Rosemary's baby - Ira Levin
I'm using goodreads.com to get suggestions for new books; it's pretty good.
The son by Philipp Meyer
I really like good reads, have found it a good source of new books and fun too.
Looks like we have similar taste too. I've read 3 of those books (the Levin, King and Blatty) and my copy of The Passage arrived yesterday. :)
I'm currently reading The Pusher by Ed McBain, I'm working my way through the 87th Precinct novels in order.
I've never read any of McBain's books - would love a new series of books to get into, so that's a good tip. Michael Connelly's Bosch books are my favourite, but there can't be many left in him.
The Passage is pretty good - I've the second book in the series on my Kindle waiting to be read.
Check out Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith; it's a murder investigation novel set in Soviet Russia. I thought it was really good.
Yeah, the Bosch books are really good. McBain is dead now so won't be writing any more but there are 50 odd in the 87th Precinct series. They're all short but I haven't read a bad one. Most of them are available for Kindle and they do them for 99p every so often.
Just finished reading Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King. Really good book imo. A true sequel to The Shining.
I decided to read The Shining again and am now reading Doctor Sleep. I am enjoying it so far.
I guess you know that there are a couple of sequels, featuring agent Leo Demidov - The Secret Speech and Agent 6.
The Child 44 movie is currently in production for release next year. Tom 'Bane' Hardy plays Demidov and Noomi Rapace his wife Raisa. Paddy Considine and Gary Oldman are also in it.
I really enjoyed this - the Colonel is a great character.The son by Philipp Meyer
Yeah, I read the three of them - the other two were pretty good, but I think the first stood out. If you like that style, check out The Holy Thief - another series of soviet crime novels.
I didn't know there was a movie on the way; it sounds like it could be pretty good - but I find it's rare not to be disappointed with a movie adaptation of a book I like.
As much as I like The Shining, I'm a little wary of Doctor Sleep. I used to love King but I don't think I've finished anything he's written in the last 10 years.
I thought that Under the Dome was a lot closer to some of his better work - it's just unfortunate that the Simpsons movie with a similar plot came out just beforehand! 11-22-63 was OK, but overly long and too mushy & sentimental in parts for my tastes.
I think the last novel I finished was Cell. Before that I'd read most of them.
That wasn't too bad, but it felt a bit like "The Stand Lite".
Yes, agreed.
This is a weird one which crosses many boundaries - slightly sci-fi, police novel, and general human condition oddness.
China Mieville - The City & The City - http://www.amazon.co.uk/City-China-M.../dp/033053419X
It's a good read, in my opinion he loses track of the narrative occasionally, but that's only because it is so far-fetched and peculiar. It might be more my understanding which is lacking! Either way worth it for the uniqueness of the storyline.
Hi All,
I just finished "Running with the Kenyans" by Adharanand Finn, Superb book about the training methods, both Physical and Non Physical of the Kenyan runners, as seen through the eyes of a Brit who moves out there to train. Excellent !
A good book to start just after the Christmas Binge to help you to get your New Year Resolutions started.
The Russian Hat by Brendan Doherty is a rights of passage story of a young man's struggle with having to grow up quicker than normal.
Amazon free Kindle download
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. The story of the Dreyfus Affair that rocked the French establishment. One of the best books I've read in a very long time.
Stefan Zweig - Amoc
and if you like chess, Stefan Zweig - Chess Story
Birdsong was a good read.
Anyone seen the made for TV movie?
z
Wilbur Smith's Vicious Circle and Frederick Forsyth's The Kill List. Not literary geniuses, but they do spin a good yarn.
I've just finished reading 6 Jo Nesbo books and I loved them all.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Kindle only, but the latest Parrish & Richards book from Tim Ellis is pretty good, especially at the price.
I recently finished A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre. It puts the boot into private defense contractors, and is clearly heavily influenced by the Liam Fox / Adam Werrity affair. I enjoyed it a lot.
I've just finished the autobiography of the TV producer who "discovered" Keith Floyd and Rick Stein; Shooting the Cook by David Pritchard. Very enjoyable and also quite amusing to watch some of the Floyd episodes on Youtube knowing some of the back story. Don't let the cover put you off.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
I've just finished reading "The Stand" (the unabridged 1990 version) by Stephen King, and even though it took me quite some time to read it I really enjoyed it.
I think that's probably his best work, though I've not read the unabridged version. If you liked the theme, check out Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon.
I read both Swan Song and The Stand as a teenager and I think I remember rather preferring the McCammon book.
I'm reading a really good period detective novel at the moment, True Detective by Max Allan Collins. It's the first in a series of 10 or so books and they're only a quid each for Kindle.
Question regarding the the Harry Hole books: Are they best read in order or does it really not matter?
Just finished reading the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer
Read it for the first time about 25 years ago - an epic science fiction tale over 4 volumes -everyone that has ever lived is resurrected along the banks of a river millions of miles long at a distant time in the future. The story involves the efforts of a small band of people, some famous others not, to find out why. Lots of sub plots involving people and events along the way
Sounds weird but oddly it works
Thanks for the tip. "Swan Sing" is next in line now. I'll return here with my impressions.
And now, the extended version adds about 400 pages from the original manuscript and places the action in the nineties (with proper references and so forth). So if you liked the original I suppose it's worth a try.
I'm currently reading "The woman in the cage" - it's a detective novel set in Denmark. I'd look it up right now, but I'm at work and not sure what Google might return for that title. It's pretty enjoyable.
I think King's longer books can be big for the sake of it (11-22-63 had way too much padding), whereas Swan Song is a bit less "flabby". It's a great book, but I just don't think it has the same epic feel to it.
I tend not to read fiction, so from a non-fiction perspective:
Sir Alex Ferguson's new book - not very good. Not very interesting, not particularly well written.
Sir Alex Ferguson's old book - about halfway through and it is much better than the new one. There were a lot more interesting characters in football in the first half of his career. I probably should have read this one first, but never mind.
God is Not Great (Christopher Hitchens) - Rather good, albeit I was lucky to have read it on my Kindle which comes with an in-built dictionary. The late Mr Hitchens had a tendency to opt for a lesser known word when a commonly used alternative would have sufficed, but at least he has expanded my vocabulary.
Olly, funny you should bring up McCammon. I'm in the middle of "Boys Life" and it might be the best thing I've read in years. "Swan Song" was great too.
If you are into that stuff, check out Hugh Howey's "Wool" series. Great post-apocalyptic fiction with a very unique twist.
I forgot about that; I read that recently enough - great book; so many different themes that go well together.
Don't judge me but the best book I've read recently is H.I.V.E. 1 by Mark Walden, which is technically a kids book. It stands for Higher Institute of Villainous Education and basically what Harry Potter would be if it was all about being bad and a villain. Not sure if you can buy a print version but I got it off the Kindle store.
Quick read, very harmless and made me smile. And yes, I know I need to grow up.
I don't think I've read that one, although I certainly read a few of his back in the 80s and 90s. I remember one, 'Usher's Passing' being particularly chilling.
Another +1 on Boy's Life,fantastic book and wonderfully written.
Plus another +1 for the Wool books,working my way through them now. I'm up to book 6 and loving them,very different and very very good.
Suppose I'd better read Swan Song next
Anyone who likes the 80s style McCammon and King horror should also check out Dan Simmons - Summer of Night and Carrion Comfort are both great.
Just finished The Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett... yes, it's a kid's book really, but I like his style, it's very easy to read, and is full of lots of hidden observations that are very cleverly described.
I think I've read pretty much all the Discworld novels for the same reasons as above.
Simmons' "The Terror" was excellent - a supernatural take on the failed British Franklin expedition to the North Pole that I think those from the UK would really enjoy.
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