Books & Reading Thread 2025

[69FACUPfinal]

I am reading Joey Bartons auto. He is thick the way he acts but also a seriously intelligent bloke. ( don't shoot me).

Also new Marti Pernau book on Pep ( although dipping in and out, will save properly for after Club WC).

Madeliene - by Kate MCCann. Still an odd one that and I hope they eventually get the closure they need.

And finally a revisit 24 years later to Bridget Jones diary. That is the only book I have totally laughed out loud on and nearly choked, involves Colin Firth as Mr Darcy.

As you may tell from my reading choices I am an ageing female who has had no gender changes!!

Happy reading folks.

 

[richardtheref]

13 The Atlas Paradox - Olivie Blake 2/5. 2nd in The Atlas 6 trilogy. As poor as the 1st one but no doubt I will have to read the 3rd given I cannot start a series without ending it.

 

[Paladin]

Red Notice - Andy McNab - 5/10

Just like James Bond, McNab's SAS hero Tom Buckingham has umpteen guns pointed at his head, but he's so good, he always lives to tell the tale. And this particular tale isn't anywhere near my top ten adventure stories of recent times.

His best writing is in his biographies, whilst I find his SAS adventures rather formulaic. I turned to this as my wife was embarking on a train journey on the Eurostar, through the channel tunnel. Lucky for her she didn't have a battalion of mad, Special Forces trained Moldovan mercenaries trying to blow up the tunnel, with just one SAS guy who happened to be on the same train trying to stop them.

I think I'm done with this particular genre for a while.

 

[PinkFinal]

Just got these off Audible

A Sound Mind , Paul Morley (about his new found love for classical music)
The Last Days of Budapest , Adam LeBor (WW2)
HMP Manchester Prison Officer , John Sutton
RIP It Up and Start Again Post Punk 1978-84 , Simon Reynolds

 

[bennyboy]

Just got these off Audible

A Sound Mind , Paul Morley (about his new found love for classical music)
The Last Days of Budapest , Adam LeBor (WW2)
HMP Manchester Prison Officer , John Sutton
RIP It Up and Start Again Post Punk 1978-84 , Simon Reynolds

I have tried audible but i cannot finish one book on it.
Last attempt was Empire of the Summer Moon by S C Gwynne off Spotify, stuck on 21%.
Fallen asleep is my main problem.

 

[JRockBlues]

I know there's a few Abercrombie fans on here. Might find this interesting...

 

[Ribble73]

Just read Vasily Grossman's epic novel 'Stalingrad'. Absolutely fantastic.

Is it a rebadged “Life and Fate”

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Is it a rebadged “Life and Fate”

No. It's either the sequel or the prequel. Not yet read L& F

 

[Ribble73]

No. It's either the sequel or the prequel. Not yet read L& F

Have to check this out -apparently recently released in the West acc to Amazon

 

[RobMCFC]

I know there's a few Abercrombie fans on here. Might find this interesting...

Great news. But not as great as if he’d announced a deal for the First Law trilogy.

 

[JRockBlues]

Great news. But not as great as if he’d announced a deal for the First Law trilogy.

If this is a success then other film-makers may look into his back catalogue. There's always hope. Admittedly a little less after the cancellation of The Whhel of Time though I suppose.

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Just read Vasily Grossman's epic novel 'Stalingrad'. Absolutely fantastic.

A fantastic book . I'm reading War and Peace this year which has been compared to his other novel Life and Fate . Sacrilege to say but , so far , I prefer Grossman .

 

[surprisedbygrass]

I am reading Joey Bartons auto. He is thick the way he acts but also a seriously intelligent bloke. ( don't shoot me).

Also new Marti Pernau book on Pep ( although dipping in and out, will save properly for after Club WC).

Madeliene - by Kate MCCann. Still an odd one that and I hope they eventually get the closure they need.

And finally a revisit 24 years later to Bridget Jones diary. That is the only book I have totally laughed out loud on and nearly choked, involves Colin Firth as Mr Darcy.

As you may tell from my reading choices I am an ageing female who has had no gender changes!!

Happy reading folks.

Bridget Jones is classic . Irrelevant fact : Helen Fielding's older sister , Jane , is a good friend of mine .

 

[surprisedbygrass]

I just read this passage in Now in November / Josephine Johnson , which is about the Great Depression and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1935 . Made me think of a club in Stretford ...

" This year will have to be different " , I thought . " We've scrabbled and prayed too long for it to end as the others have."

The debt was still like a bottomless swamp unfulfilled, where we had gone , year after year , throwing in hours of heat , and the wrenching on stoney land , only to see them swallowed up and to creep back and then begin again . I felt sure somehow that this year would end differently and better , and not be merely a shift of seasons that left us still bound and waiting . We had gone too long in a fog of hope .

 

[Newman Noggs]

A fantastic book . I'm reading War and Peace this year which has been compared to his other novel Life and Fate . Sacrilege to say but , so far , I prefer Grossman .

Yes, I'm halfway through War and Peace and can see the magnificence of it but, as I'm particularly interested in the Napoleonic war, I was hoping for a bit more war than peace. I then got distracted by re-reading Adam Zamoyski's "1812", account of Napolean's March on Moscow, in parallel, to identify the role of the real characters. I'm hoping the second half bucks up a bit but I'm not finding it a page-turner..

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Yes, I'm halfway through War and Peace and can see the magnificence of it but, as I'm particularly interested in the Napoleonic war, I was hoping for a bit more war than peace. I then got distracted by re-reading Adam Zamoyski's "1812", account of Napolean's March on Moscow, in parallel, to identify the role of the real characters. I'm hoping the second half bucks up a bit but I'm not finding it a page-turner..

Good idea . Me too . I am finding the "Peace" plots facile and the " spirit of Mother Russia in the simple serfs" patronising . I fully get that the female characters will necessarily be preoccupied by romance , dancing and marriage given when it was written but ....please. Natasha , thus far , is well drawn as an impatient , impulsive privileged teenager but I find her vacuous . Trollope was writing at the same time as Tolstoy and all his characters , especially women , are much more complex . Disclosure . I've been reading Trollope continuosly since lockdown and am hoping to read all his novels before The Great Reaper catches up with me ....

As for Napoleon , I can understand your fascination . 1812 is what I'm waiting for in this novel . Zamoyski sounds like a good companion.I liked the Austerlitz section and the lead up to it.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Good idea . Me too . I am finding the "Peace" plots facile and the " spirit of Mother Russia in the simple serfs" patronising . I fully get that the female characters will necessarily be preoccupied by romance , dancing and marriage given when it was written but ....please. Natasha , thus far , is well drawn as an impatient , impulsive privileged teenager but I find her vacuous . Trollope was writing at the same time as Tolstoy and all his characters , especially women , are much more complex . Disclosure . I've been reading Trollope continuosly since lockdown and am hoping to read all his novels before The Great Reaper catches up with me ....

As for Napoleon , I can understand your fascination . 1812 is what I'm waiting for in this novel . Zamoyski sounds like a good companion.I liked the Austerlitz section and the lead up to it.

Spot on. I'll finish it, though. Never read any Trollope but I'll give it a try.

 

[Paladin]

Good idea . Me too . I am finding the "Peace" plots facile and the " spirit of Mother Russia in the simple serfs" patronising . I fully get that the female characters will necessarily be preoccupied by romance , dancing and marriage given when it was written but ....please. Natasha , thus far , is well drawn as an impatient , impulsive privileged teenager but I find her vacuous . Trollope was writing at the same time as Tolstoy and all his characters , especially women , are much more complex . Disclosure . I've been reading Trollope continuosly since lockdown and am hoping to read all his novels before The Great Reaper catches up with me ....

As for Napoleon , I can understand your fascination . 1812 is what I'm waiting for in this novel . Zamoyski sounds like a good companion.I liked the Austerlitz section and the lead up to it.

I've read a few Trollope, and agree about his writing. Definitely worth a read if classics is your thing.

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Spot on. I'll finish it, though. Never read any Trollope but I'll give it a try.

Ooh . You have some treats in store .

 

[69FACUPfinal]

Bridget Jones is classic . Irrelevant fact : Helen Fielding's older sister , Jane , is a good friend of mine .

Small world. I'm going on to the follow ups, an easy lighthearted read. Amazing how much has changed since 1995 - what we refer to as a mobile now was a 'portable phone' in the novel.