Books & Reading Thread 2025

[SCEtoAUX]

Good luck. I published a trilogy via Amazon. Really enjoyed writing and editing, which was a good job because I didn’t sell too many!

Thanks. I enjoyed the writing too, all done down the pub which meant it took a couple of years because of Covid.

If I never sell another copy it won't bother me, but I made a bit on the first print run and a golf buddy of mine has ordered 30 copies of the first edition.

What I do have in my favour is that there are no similar books out there (probably for good reason!), and the fact that there are a lot of golfers :-)

 

[threespires]

This is my suggestion...it fails one of the suggested criteria in that it is over 400 pages long and probably a selfish choice - it is a book I have had on my "to read" list since it was released and think it could be an interesting choice. I appreciate that historical fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea.

View attachment 66944

It is the latest release from Robert Harris who is probably better known for WW2 fiction and was well received on release.

"1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason.

In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He'll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive."

It's available in hardback and kindle. I am happy to purchase a hardback copy to pass on (logistics to be determined!).

What does everyone think?

Be happy to read that. I read and enjoyed his first two books donkeys years ago, not sure why I haven't read any since

 

[bennyboy]

This is my suggestion...it fails one of the suggested criteria in that it is over 400 pages long and probably a selfish choice - it is a book I have had on my "to read" list since it was released and think it could be an interesting choice. I appreciate that historical fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea.

View attachment 66944

It is the latest release from Robert Harris who is probably better known for WW2 fiction and was well received on release.

"1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason.

In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He'll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive."

It's available in hardback and kindle. I am happy to purchase a hardback copy to pass on (logistics to be determined!).

What does everyone think?

I have a file for this book off one of those sites.

 

[JRockBlues]

At the start of this thread, I mentioned the possibility of somebody nominating a book that we could all read and comment on. Quite a few people seemed keen on the idea, so let's start the ball rolling and see what we can come up with.

Thinking about the type of book we read (as a group), I think that the following genres come up often:-

- History (war and espionage)
- Police procedurals/crime investigation
- Espionage fiction
- Stephen King - technically not a genre, but he is popular in here!
- Fantasy (a few of us)

Anybody care to shout out a few suggestions as to what might make a good group read?
I think that a standalone book with 400 pages or less would make a good candidate.

Just to re-iterate, if we do decide to go ahead with this, I don't want anybody feel that they have to join in in order to continue posting on this thread! Committing to a book means a good chunk of hours (and maybe expense) so it's entirely optional, and I want people to continue to post freely on here whether they decide to join in with the communal book or not.

Count me out for group reads, I never join in. I don't know what I'm going to be reading next as it's very much a mood thing for me. It's not like I don't have enough to choose from already as I have 514 on the tbr shelves already waiting for me to get to. Not to mention any shiny and new ones that might arrive before I finish my current read.

 

[RobMCFC]

Given that there's only been one nomination, somebody is already reading it , and a few more seem keen, I think we can name Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris as our first group read.

We'll see how this goes, but maybe we should aim to nominate one read every quarter. I'll add this to the thread title so that people can see it easily.

 

[RobMCFC]

1. Cunning Folk – Adam L.G. Nevill - 8/10
2. Bad Apples – Will Dean – 7/10
3. The Winter Road – Adrian Selby – 6/10

Four years ago, I read Adrian Selby’s debut novel, Snakewood. It’s taken until now for me to pick up the prequel, The Winter Road.

Like his previous book, The Winter Road is a standalone fantasy novel. Teyr Amondsen has a dream of building a road that she hopes will unify the Circle – a vast wilderness of warring clans. People tell her she’ll fail, but it doesn’t put her off assembling a huge caravan of merchants and mercenaries to set off and review the parts of the route that she has managed to build so far, including roads, bridges and outposts, and complete her road. However, the rise of a brutal warlord threatens everything she aims to achieve.

The structure of this book is unusual: there are two timelines. In the first, we find Teyr fighting for her life, and although it isn’t yet explained, it’s clear that her caravan has suffered a huge catastrophe that only she survived. In the second, we follow the caravan’s journey and a convergence of the two timelines at a significant event. The last 10% or so of the book consists of a series of letters between Teyr and another major character.

This is one of those books where colloquial terms are used liberally – there is no husband or wife or spouse, instead a person has a keep. Kids are known as duts, and there are plenty of other terms that are initially unfamiliar, but you pick up the lingo as you read.

Like Snakewood, a major concept of this book is the brew system. Fighters drink fightbrews to give themselves the strength for battle and use other plants to sharpen their senses. However, like any drug, they have to deal with the comedown afterwards. This is handled very well in the writing and takes up a lot of the book.

What is less successful is that there are pages and pages of explanation and sometimes a character speaks for what feels an interminably long time. I found myself flagging for large portions of the book and being honest, it was a bit of a relief to finish. There is no snappy humour or devious plots that drive some of the best fantasy. Aside from the main character, Teyr, there’s not much in terms of character development and therefore despite the successes the book does score, I can only give The Winter Road 6/10.

 

[richardtheref]

No One Gets Out Alive - Adam Nevill.

Very very average. He gets good reviews but this is the 2nd book of his I have read & I don't get it. Have another 1 awaiting my attention but if it isn't any better I won't be bothering with any more

 

[RobMCFC]

No One Gets Out Alive - Adam Nevill.

Very very average. He gets good reviews but this is the 2nd book of his I have read & I don't get it. Have another 1 awaiting my attention but if it isn't any better I won't be bothering with any more

Not read that one but as noted in my earlier review, the two I have read are both excellent (Banquet of the Damned and Cunning Folk).

 

[blueish swede]

First book of the year - The riddle of the sands by Erskine Childers. I spent some time where it's set in Northern Germany - Southern Denmark. It's uncanny how it foretells the Great War. E.C was a bit if a bloke, ended up being executed by firing squad by the Irish Free State.
Next up was going to be The tin drum - Gunther Grass, but I'm tempted to join the challenge.

 

[stoneblue]

3. Harlem Shuffle - Colson Whitehead



I bought this book recently on the strength of the description on back cover. I have never heard of this author before and didn’t realise he was a double Pulitzer Prize winner.
It's a crime fiction novel - the story unfolds in three sections, set a few years apart between 1959 and 1964. And while they are entirely separate stories, they all tie together.
The central character is Ray Carney, a furniture store owner in Harlem. As well as running his store, he occasionally fences some goods. When his cousin Freddie gets him involved in a hotel robbery heist, he starts associating with some of the city’s more interesting characters
I found the book hard going at first but I’m glad I stuck with it. The author paints a compelling picture of the period and place with some interesting characters. Will probably re-read it sometime in the future.
One interesting aside....the main character partakes in the second sleep, referred to here as "dorvay". Interesting that I was completely unaware of this practice until it came up in the Robert Harris book I read recently, so I've encountered it twice in a matter of months!

 

[ob]

Downloaded and started reading Act of Oblivion

 

[threespires]

Downloaded and started reading Act of Oblivion

Started last night too. it crossed my mind to finally give in and getting a Kindle but in the end I got a hardcopy and treated myself to a better book light!

What's the etiquette on this folks, obviously no spoilers but are we discussing any aspects as we go along or are we waiting till everyone is done?

 

[ob]

Started last night too. it crossed my mind to finally give in and getting a Kindle but in the end I got a hardcopy and treated myself to a better book light!

What's the etiquette on this folks, obviously no spoilers but are we discussing any aspects as we go along or are we waiting till everyone is done?

I'd like to wait as everyone will be at different parts of the book. I'm quite slow as some days busy and don't get to read

 

[Paladin]

I’m aiming for 26 books in total this year after being inspired by this thread, watch far too much tv late in the evening and going back to reading instead.

Just finished #1 ‘A time to Kill’ by John Grisham.
Started #2 ‘fire & blood’ by George Martin.

With this and my running it’ll be a busy year.

Do audiobooks count….

Sure do. Half my books are audiobooks I listen to whilst running. I'm behind this year though, due to injury. I'm back running again, and hoping to report on my first two books of the year very soon.

 

[Paladin]

Got through 39 books last year and two so far this month.

Currently have these on order.

Excellent interview with Chang here:

Economist Ha-Joon Chang: the Tory mini-budget was like trying to bring back terrible Tex-Mex

In a mouth-watering new book, the South Korean academic fuses his twin passions of food and economics to interrogate capitalism

www.theguardian.com

This above is a philosophical take on conspiracy theorising but written in a very readable style.

I've seen some of your reading reports in other threads. I'm pleased you are sharing here too.

 

[Paladin]

Downloaded and started reading Act of Oblivion

I started on this last year, but didn't get far with it. I'll pick up with it after I finish my current two books.

 

[PragueBlue]

Mistakenly put this in the 2022 thread, so just moving it here:

Got 6 of Agatha Christie's plays for Christmas, we well as a biography on her and her autobiography. Have so far read The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution. Both excellent stories but I have seen them already so pretty much knew the story. Just started on Spider's Web, which is a story I don't know.

I read mainly in Czech to keep my language level up, so don't mind reading books that I have already read in English, or ones that I know the story of. Looking forward to getting to the autobiography but will work my way through the plays first.

Finished all the AC plays. Really interesting as I have never read the plays before and they are quite quick reads without all the descriptive text. Pretty much just the dialogues and stage instructions.

Started the AC biography but gave up about a quarter of the way through. Very dull. Not sure if it was the author's writing style or the translation. The autobiography was an excellent read though but perhaps not quite what I expected. Well worth a read if you're a fan of hers.

In-between the plays and autobiography I read Prague Murders. Basically an in depth look at the notable murders in the city from the 1860s to 1945. It was in 2 quite substantial volumes (hopefully there will be further volumes bringing it to the present time) and both were excellent. Plenty of clippings from the newspapers at the time and photos of crimes scenes etc. A very engaging read.

Just starting 5 Dead dogs by Michael Sykora. I have seen the film and read most of his other stuff, so expecting to enjoy this.

 

[bennyboy]

Act of Oblivion.
Will join in with others when they are ready but i really liked it.8/10.Maybe even a 9.

Valdez is Coming.Elmore Leonard
Loved it as well
I love a good Western book and if you loved the movie you should read the book.
Tale of morality and justice in which a simple, honest man is transformed into a killer - and begins a long journey of revenge against those who scarred his soul for ever.

Brilliantly written and you can imagine the scenery in which this is based to make it one of the best Western novels I have read.9/10.

 

[JRockBlues]

Act of Oblivion.
Will join in with others when they are ready but i really liked it.8/10.Maybe even a 9.

Valdez is Coming.Elmore Leonard
Loved it as well
I love a good Western book and if you loved the movie you should read the book.
Tale of morality and justice in which a simple, honest man is transformed into a killer - and begins a long journey of revenge against those who scarred his soul for ever.

Brilliantly written and you can imagine the scenery in which this is based to make it one of the best Western novels I have read.9/10.

I've only read 1 of his westerns (Hombre) but do like his crime books, lots of which have been made into films or TV shows. He's one of the best writers I know for dialogue which helps create memorable characters.

 

[mac]

Given that there's only been one nomination, somebody is already reading it , and a few more seem keen, I think we can name Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris as our first group read.

We'll see how this goes, but maybe we should aim to nominate one read every quarter. I'll add this to the thread title so that people can see it easily.

What's the jist of the novel Rob.