Books & Reading Thread 2025

Re-read "Papillon" by Henri Charriere after a break of 30 years. Searing expose of the French penal system which sent convicts to Devil's island (life sentence, harsh beatings, poor food/medication etc). Riveting tale of clashes with authority and frequent escapes. Fair film version starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman but read the book first.
 
Recently read:
"La Belle Savage" (Pulmans Dark Materials prequel) absolutely wonderful
"The Secret Commonwealth". (Dark Materials Sequel) Brilliant
"The Night Circus" Beautiful, magical
"Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" (Where Eagles Dare comedic analysis) Brilliant
"Beartown" (scandi tale of community set around Ice Hockey team) wonderful
"The ragged trousered Philanthropists" (tale of historic work practice..coming around again) great, must read
"Natives" (the polymath rapper Akala tells his history and black Britain in the 80s) Brilliant
 
fanatic1 said:
Re-read "Papillon" by Henri Charriere after a break of 30 years. Searing expose of the French penal system which sent convicts to Devil's island (life sentence, harsh beatings, poor food/medication etc). Riveting tale of clashes with authority and frequent escapes. Fair film version starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman but read the book first.
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Might try it again after all those years.
The follow up was great as well.
Some doubt about how true it was but two cracking reads.
 

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discopop said:
No his follow up is a complete and utter dogs dinner which is a pity
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Just seen this response and agreed. One of the strangest books i've ever read in terms of a story taking an extreme twist in plot and genre mid way through. For the first half it was a decent read and similar to 'I am Pilgrim' which i loved, then it went bat shit crazy sci fi bollocks and absolutely killed it stone dead.
 
The Bayeux Embroidery - Howard of Warwick - 7/10

Hilariously pointless. Cadfael meets Clouseau (not my comparison, but apt). A very easy read of about 500 pages. This is the 13th book in a series of 35. I was inspired by the title to pick this up, having previously read the second book in the series. Both books were funny and entirely unserious. If you like the medieval crime comedy genre, this series is a must.

Briefly, the king's investigator, Brother Hermitage is sent to find out what happened to a bunch of nuns, who had been commissioned to create the Bayeux Tapestry, and were suspected to have been murdered.

Hermitage and his two assistant investigators stumble around Kent trying to find out what happened to the murdered nuns, and soon discover that only one nun actually disappeared, and that was probably because she ran away.

The Earl of Kent, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and someone claiming to be Queen of England all have conflicting opinions, and all seem to want the others found guilty of the murder. But they would also prefer to kill each other rather than wait to find out what happened to the missing nun. Hermitage succeeds in keeping everyone alive without further bloodshed, whilst his assistant inserts a few important historical corrections into the embroidery.1000027477.webp
 
17. 13 - Steve Cavanagh. Always loved Eddie Flynn series. This has been the best so far even though it's a pretty ridiculous plot. Sometimes, I guess, you just have to go with it and enjoy the ride. 4/5
 
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Relates the story of the poor Osage Indian tribe in America in the 1920s onwards. They were relocated to the worst parts of the reservation to Oklahoma - then gushers of oil were discovered
Overnight they then became the richest people in America. The book details the efforts of the white community leaders to muscle in on the riches by inter - marriage (the Indians had to have a guardian to 'safeguard' their wealth), poisoning (doctors were complicit) and murders to secure the head leases at knock down prices. The newly formed FBI under J Edgar Hoover were instrumental in stopping this outrage. A decent film version starring De Niro and Dicaprio was made recently.
 
kate_grey said:
8I love reading and try to spend at least half an hour a day reading
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I do too. But far less than I did previously, because life in the way,plus this wretched phone has really damaged my levels of concentration.

The thing with enjoying books is that I can honestly say in my leisure time I have never been bored in my entire life. My hubby is the same, whereas offspring don't read novels, just leisure interest/ instruction books. We tell them they are missing out on so much. When I had a really bad, out of the blue personal incident mid 80s, a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel and the series helped me off into another world; gave me time to heal and get myself together. I fear the ability to read for enjoyment will be lost on future generations because of Internet scrolling and addiction. I worry about myself and I'm an foc with a developed (!) brain, so what lack of reading will do to those youngsters Lord only knows.
 
I've just started Klara and the Sun. Really enjoying the start of the book. I love Ishiguro. His writing is just so eclectic. I've also got The Buried Giant. I started reading it on a plane, but then life got in the way. I'm really trying to get back into reading again though after finishing my uni course (where I only had time to read boring academic bollocks).
 
69FACUPfinal said:
The thing with enjoying books is that I can honestly say in my leisure time I have never been bored in my entire life. My hubby is the same, whereas offspring don't read novels, just leisure interest/ instruction books.
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This is a huge thing nowadays, particularly amongst men. They just don't read novels any more as a demographic. Whenever you see these 'bros' on Youtube talking about their favourite books, they're always basically some self-help or pop science stuff. A million different versions of how to get rich (without effort).
 
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Does anyone have any decent City books, read ‘City in Europe’ was amazing, anything else?
 
My parents were avid readers, but they were of pre war generation. My dad was really bright, came from a very poor family but made use of the local library, got a decent education and made something of himself. Mum from a poor family too, a lot larger than dad's, but enjoyed reading and used her nous to escape her background and get a decent job. We were always surrounded by books, it was normal. I always noticed when I visited friends homes in my teems whether there were books around, made such a difference to individuals. Summer holiday 1970 we were at the local library every day getting new books, brilliant when I got to 13 and could join the adult section - wow the choice was amazing.

Town we lived in had excellent library facilities, I went back recently ( moved late 80s) and so sad to see how library had declined.

I'm off now for a cuppa and to read a travel book before tea. I'm a geography and train geek, brothers liked neither nor footy!!
 
The decline in reading explains the decline in - well, just about everything. You can see that many people do not know how to make a coherent intellectual case. They just parrot propaganda they have found on the web, 99% bollocks.

Current reading: The Roots of Betrayal by James Forrester. (Aka Ian Mortimer.)
 
Today I received a delivery of 12 books from Better World Books. My Mrs went mental saying I already own more books than I will ever read in my lifetime.
However, when I had a fortnight off recently she received parcels on 10 days. Her crafting doesn't take up any space apparently!!!!!
 
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