Books & Reading Thread 2025

If there are any fans of Mick Herron (Slough House series aka "Slow Horses"), I've had an email, from BookDrop, indicating that a number of his books are available for e readers for 99p each. Think it's just today though.
 
As it's been a slow few weeks on this thread, I haven't mentioned anything about a group read for Q2.

If anybody wants to recommend anything, that's great. Or if people would prefer to carry on reading their own choices and post reviews, I'm easy either way.
 
stoneblue said:
If there are any fans of Mick Herron (Slough House series aka "Slow Horses"), I've had an email, from BookDrop, indicating that a number of his books are available for e readers for 99p each. Think it's just today though.
Click to expand...
Wonderful series. Just on the final book. Enjoyed every one of them and fantastic value at 99p.
 
RobMCFC said:
As it's been a slow few weeks on this thread, I haven't mentioned anything about a group read for Q2.

If anybody wants to recommend anything, that's great. Or if people would prefer to carry on reading their own choices and post reviews, I'm easy either way.
Click to expand...
I'm easy either way. The group reads force me to pick up something different to my normal choice, which is good. But my reading is slow at the moment due to a number of circumstances.
 
Just finished The Boys In The Boat. Story of USA rowing team going to Berlin Olympics but imo it's much much more than that. Another book I'd highly recommend that I would never had given a 2nd glance if had not been recommended on here. Thanks whoever it was. Cheers
 
ob said:
Just finished The Boys In The Boat. Story of USA rowing team going to Berlin Olympics but imo it's much much more than that. Another book I'd highly recommend that I would never had given a 2nd glance if had not been recommended on here. Thanks whoever it was. Cheers
Click to expand...
I think I suggested it as a group read. Thanks for the reminder and recommendation. I'm about to start another book.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ob
threespires said:
Sad news, for anyone else who was a fan..

forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk

The "which famous person died today" thread

Just found out about this. A monumental mind. RIP. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/21/daniel-dennett-obituary
forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Only read one of his books: Winter in Madrid, which was very good.

I already had the Shardlake TV series on my to-watch list.
 
Just finished up the Beartown trilogy by Fredrik Backman, who is the author of A Man Called Ove. Really enjoyed it. About a small dying town in Northern Sweden, the people that live there, and their hockey club. The author has a unique writing style which may be grating for some, but I couldn't get enough of the characters and the story.
 
Scaley said:
I’ve read Dominion, will definitely take a look at Winter in Madrid, the Spanish Civil War fascinates me.
Click to expand...
Have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon?

Not really about the Spanish Civil War, but a lot of the characters are haunted by it as this book (and it’s three sequels) progress. One of my favourite all-time books and series.

More closely associated with the Spanish Civil War is Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas. Takes a while to get going but I found it fascinating. I read it when my daughter was studying for her Spanish degree and she recommended it.
 
threespires said:
Sad news, for anyone else who was a fan..

forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk

The "which famous person died today" thread

Just found out about this. A monumental mind. RIP. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/21/daniel-dennett-obituary
forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk forums.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing this very sad information. He was a great author, one of my favourites, and outstanding in his main genre.

I've read a number of his books, and they are extremely enjoyable. Dissolution was a great opening to the Shardlake series, and I've read a few more in the series since. I've not read Winter in Madrid yet, but I intend to. Dominion was a diversion from his usual Tudor historical fiction, but nevertheless one of my favourite books of recent years. I reviewed it on here.

C J Sansom died from myeloma, a rare type of blood cancer, which he lived with for twelve years. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with myeloma last week. It's causing some serious pain.

I am looking forward to watching the forthcoming TV series, which I was unaware of until reading this news.

(Also posted in the other thread).
 
Paladin said:
Thanks for sharing this very sad information. He was a great author, one of my favourites, and outstanding in his main genre.

I've read a number of his books, and they are extremely enjoyable. Dissolution was a great opening to the Shardlake series, and I've read a few more in the series since. I've not read Winter in Madrid yet, but I intend to. Dominion was a diversion from his usual Tudor historical fiction, but nevertheless one of my favourite books of recent years. I reviewed it on here.

C J Sansom died from myeloma, a rare type of blood cancer, which he lived with for twelve years. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with myeloma last week. It's causing some serious pain.

I am looking forward to watching the forthcoming TV series, which I was unaware of until reading this news.

(Also posted in the other thread).
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. I hope she is getting the right treatment and at least some decent pain management.
 
RobMCFC said:
Have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon?

Not really about the Spanish Civil War, but a lot of the characters are haunted by it as this book (and it’s three sequels) progress. One of my favourite all-time books and series.

More closely associated with the Spanish Civil War is Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas. Takes a while to get going but I found it fascinating. I read it when my daughter was studying for her Spanish degree and she recommended it.
Click to expand...
I’ve read all of Zafon’s “Cemetery of Forgotten Books” series a couple of times, best thing about it is you can read them in any order, Zafon’s passing was a real loss to literature. “Soldiers of Salamis” is on my list, just making my way through Roberto Bolano’s “Savage Detectives” about visceral realist poets in 1970’s Mexico, it’s a good read but please don’t ask me to explain what a visceral realist poet is!
 
Scaley said:
I’ve read all of Zafon’s “Cemetery of Forgotten Books” series a couple of times, best thing about it is you can read them in any order, Zafon’s passing was a real loss to literature. “Soldiers of Salamis” is on my list, just making my way through Roberto Bolano’s “Savage Detectives” about visceral realist poets in 1970’s Mexico, it’s a good read but please don’t ask me to explain what a visceral realist poet is!
Click to expand...
I’ve read the first 3 twice each, the last run through in preparation for the mammoth final part 5 years ago. It’s that kind of series that you can get so much out of on multiple reads.

Totally agree about Zafon’s death. I was so intrigued about what he’d do next.
 
1. Unruly - David Mitchell - 9/10
2. A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Blackman - 7/10
3. The Book of Doors - Gareth Brown - 8/10
4. Hitler's British Traitors - Tim Tate - 4/10

On audiobook, whilst running, and sometimes whilst ironing. The first traitor covered by the book was narrated whilst I was out on an evening run, recently on holiday in Portsmouth. It caught my attention because the spy being discussed was from Southsea, coincidentally where I was then running.

It is a history of traitors, spies and fifth columnists in Britain, in the lead up and during WWII. Material is drawn largely from declassified files.

Obviously, it only covers known activists, and by virtue of this, most of them didn't get to do much damage to the war effort because they were arrested and interned. There is a stark contrast in how Fascists were treated depending on their social status, with the rich and famous left at liberty, rather than being incarcerated.

It's a well written history, but rather dry, and lacking any excitement whatsoever - hence the low rating. Ben MacIntyre weaves a far superior yarn when it comes to WWII history.
bfcefd4a0ea41f0e68bfa76231addfd8.jpg
 
  1. Fairy Tale – Stephen King - 5/10
  2. Wolf Pack – Will Dean - 7/10
  3. A Small Death in Lisbon – Robert Wilson - 6/10
  4. A Man Called Ove – Fredrick Backman – 8/10
  5. Tomorrow's Children – Daniel Polansky – 3/10
  6. The Mobster’s Lament – Ray Celestin – 8/10

Mobster.jpg


This is the third book in the “Blues City Quartet” series, which tells the tale of the rise of the mob in 20th Century America and intertwines it with the story of jazz through the same period.

This time post-war New York is the scene of the action as mobster Gabriel Leveson sees his secret plans to escape a life of crime come unstuck when his boss sets him the task of recovering $2M in stolen mob money.

Meanwhile, detective Ida Young teams up with retired former partner, Michael Talbot, whose son has been wrongly accused of a killing spree at a house where he’d been staying.

The two storylines run separately but eventually converge and once again, there’s a few appearances Ida’s friend, Louis Armstrong.

A with previous books, Ray Celestin skilfully weaves fact and fiction into an engaging story with well-drawn characters. As he notes at the end of the book, he has moved several real dates by a few days, weeks or months to help with the story flow, but only mob or jazz obsessives would know, and it certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of what is a very good series.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top