Books & Reading Thread 2025

I think it's been good reading everybody's comments on a book we've all read in a similar time frame.

If everybody is up for it, we'll try to do one of these a quarter so maybe we'll have a discussion about which book to read next mid-way through April.

As always, I'm open to suggestions - is 4 books a year too much or is that about right?

Also, is anybody still reading or planning to read Act of Oblivion?
 
ob said:
I really enjoyed it although like others thought parts but rushed and others repetitive. I would give it 7 out of 10 and it wouldn't put me off reading other of his work. On a side note I work at various locations in London which include Banqueting house, Tower of London and Hampton court palace. There were days I was sitting reading it in these places and could imagine them in the same room, walking round the same gardens or cobbled streets
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That's quite cool, I think it adds something when you are familiar with a setting, so to also be reading it in that setting is double bubble. I worked in Boston and Cambridge for a bit so I found that aspect of the early settlements quite interesting.
 
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threespires said:
That's quite cool, I think it adds something when you are familiar with a setting, so too also be reading it in that setting is double bubble. I worked in Boston and Cambridge for a bit so I found that aspect of the early settlements quite interesting.
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I was surprised that Harvard was mentioned in the book as being there at the time of the early settlers. I didn't realise it was that old.

The company that used to own us had headquarters in Cambridge (never went there though).
 
RobMCFC said:
I think it's been good reading everybody's comments on a book we've all read in a similar time frame.

If everybody is up for it, we'll try to do one of these a quarter so maybe we'll have a discussion about which book to read next mid-way through April.

As always, I'm open to suggestions - is 4 books a year too much or is that about right?

Also, is anybody still reading or planning to read Act of Oblivion?
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Yes, I’m definitely up for another communal read and I think 1 per quarter is about right.

I have a suggestion for the next read if you’re interested, but I’m conscious that Act of Oblivion was mine too! Let me know if and when you want it.
 
stoneblue said:
Yes, I’m definitely up for another communal read and I think 1 per quarter is about right.

I have a suggestion for the next read if you’re interested, but I’m conscious that Act of Oblivion was mine too! Let me know if and when you want it.
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I think it would be better if somebody else made the next pick, but feel free to offer the suggestion when the time comes as we may all think it's the best recommendation.
 
threespires said:
That's quite cool, I think it adds something when you are familiar with a setting, so to also be reading it in that setting is double bubble. I worked in Boston and Cambridge for a bit so I found that aspect of the early settlements quite interesting.
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My partner's brother lives in Wayland (just outside Boston) so been there as well
 
RobMCFC said:
I think it's been good reading everybody's comments on a book we've all read in a similar time frame.

If everybody is up for it, we'll try to do one of these a quarter so maybe we'll have a discussion about which book to read next mid-way through April.

As always, I'm open to suggestions - is 4 books a year too much or is that about right?

Also, is anybody still reading or planning to read Act of Oblivion?
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Happy with 4 a year myself
 
waspish said:
What’s the next book? Do we have a few then vote on which one to read?
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Looks like we'll be doing 4 books a year, so as we've recently selected and read one, we'll probably start the process for the next one after Easter.

Last time, I asked if anybody had some suggestions and there was only one - everybody was happy so we went with that.

We can have a list of suggestions next time and vote on it. That seems a reasonable idea.
 
bennyboy said:
I was thinking of reading The Stand by Stephen King for the first time in over 40 years.
One of my faves back then.I wonder if it still stands up today.
So I will nominate The Stand.
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I read the 1400-page full version - never having read the story before - after it polled so high in BlueHammer’s book poll a couple of years ago.

Great book, but due to it’s length, totally unsuitable for a group read.
Obviously I have an in-depth review ready to go, so it doesn’t affect me either way!
 
Maybe a Colleen Hoover Novel!?

I read one of her books for the first time last month called Verity loved it and a page turner..

Here are her over Novels…

Ugly Love (2014)
Confess (2015)
November 9 (2015)
Without Merit (2017)
All Your Perfects (2018)
Too Late (2018)
Verity (2018)
Regretting You (2019)
Heart Bones (2020)
Layla (2020)
Reminders of Him (2022)

Colleen Hoover

Author Colleen Hoover's complete list of books and series in order, with the latest releases, covers, descriptions and availability.
www.fantasticfiction.com
 
RobMCFC said:
That does look interesting. Should I be worried that most of the Amazon reviewers are women?
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I wondered that myself but I read a few pages of it and I don't think anyone will spontaneously grow ovaries they haven't already got :-) Was just a suggestion on the basis it looked a bit different.
 
Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker
Below is the description of the book from the inside cover.

What if the things we keep hidden say more about us than those we put on display?

We all have a random collection of the things that made us - photos, tickets, clothes, souvenirs, stuffed in a box, packed in a suitcase, crammed into a drawer. When Jarvis Cocker starts clearing out his loft, he finds a jumble of objects that catalogue his story and ask him some awkward questions:

Who do you think you are?

Are clothes important?

Why are there so many pairs of broken glasses up here?

From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget. And this accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals his creative process - writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft.

This is not a life story. It's a loft story.

First off I'm a big fan of Jarvis and Pulp but this isn't really an autobiography. It's a book of 2 halves the first being stuff he collected in his younger days so is a bit of a nostalgia trip through the late sixties and seventies. Things associated with space travel and things like marmite jars with a metal top and cussons imperial leather soap with a tiny bit of soap but the label intact. The 2nd half is more his teenage years and the formation of Pulp in school. The manifesto and look of the band and his first brushes with minor fame. Giving Peel a cassette at one of his roadshows which led to a session. They hold the record for the longest gap between sessions as well. 11 years. Plenty of awkwardness and funny stories keep the reader engaged and I don't think you need to be a Pulp fan to enjoy it. I'm sure he has a book in him regarding the fame and fortune years and his struggles to cope. The book ends with some more nostalgia in him finding a small book of tattoo's you used to get in the penny bubblegum machines. He never used the tattoos he just wanted the book as it was the treasure in the machine.
 
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