Books & Reading Thread 2026

ob said:
Got bought 5 book set by Louise Penny (who I've never heard of) for Christmas so next read will be number 1 in the set called Still Life
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That series has very good reviews and came up in a search recently when I searched for "books set in Quebec City" (as I'll be going to Canada in May). I might take the outrageous decision to jump in at book #6 as I don't feel like committing to 20 books and whilst you may miss out on some of the character backstory stuff, all books are self-contained. I will look forward to hearing what you think about them.

Have you seen the Three Pines TV series on Amazon starring Alfred Molina? It's only 3 episodes, but it's is based on some of these books and it's very good.
 
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RobMCFC said:
That series has very good reviews and came up in a search recently when I searched for "books set in Quebec City" (as I'll be going to Canada in May). I might take the outrageous decision to jump in at book #6 as I don't feel like committing to 20 books and whilst you may miss out on some of the character backstory stuff, all books are self-contained. I will look forward to hearing what you think about them.

Have you seen the Three Pines TV series on Amazon starring Alfred Molina? It's only 3 episodes, but it's is based on some of these books and it's very good.
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It sounds familiar
 
2026 Books
  1. Ice Town – Will Dean - 7/10
Ice Town.jpg

This is book #6 in the Tuva Moodyson series

Tuva is a newspaper reporter in the small Swedish town of Gavrik, and she’s deaf, so that always comes with complications that are well thought out in these books.

Like the previous book, this story sees Tuva move beyond the town of Gavrik, travelling north to Esseberg that is only accessible by a one-way road tunnel that closes every night. She’s travelled to “Ice Town” to follow up on reports that a deaf teenager has gone missing. Soon after her arrival, the body starts to pile up and it’s obvious that a killer is on the loose. Could the very teenager that she’d hoped to save be responsible?

As ever, the locations play a great part in the story, and the isolation of Esseberg means that there are plenty of suspects. The deacon at the local church? The bikers in the metal bar? A former killer who now just happens to be an expert in serial and spree killers who now maintains the ski-lift in town? The runner of a podcast that specialises in killers? Or maybe the enigmatic owner of a struggling hotel perched on a lofty peak looking down on the town.

Another good book in a great setting, and I’ll be back for book #7 when it arrives and it’s fallen in price.
 
Just finished why are you here Mrs Hamilton The post office scandal . How she kept going through everything that happened to her and her family. The tv drama was just a taste of what she went through. Makes you hate the post office organisation even more so .
 
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After his switch from psychological thrillers to historical fiction I’ve not really been that enamoured by the author’s other offerings to date. Until now. This homage to Dumas’ Monte Cristo tale of revenge is set in France between the two great wars. It sees Madeleine Pericourt, heiress to a family banking firm, lose almost everything but it’s not until she discovers the reason behind her son’s act that saw him paralysed that she decides to punish those responsible.

It’s a slow start as the story takes time to introduce the characters and socio-political events of the time. While this is a sequel of sorts to The Great Swindle it is also a fully stand-alone tale and it is not necessary to have read the previous prior to this one. The author’s note at the conclusion of the story relates how real events and people have been adapted to provide this tale.
 
Ive just finished ‘the five people you meet in heaven’ by Mitch Albom.

Story of a fella who dies and in the afterlife has his life explained to him by five people he effected or who effected him

It was excellent, I’ve ordered another 2 books from the same author straight away as I enjoyed it so much
 
Eoin McNamee is a Northern Irish writer who's writing has been described as being similar to Ellroy, McCarthy and DeLillo.
Less dialogue and more descriptive narrative is his style and his books are normally less than 300 pages but nothing is wasted.
Here's the synopsis for his latest.

Lorraine would say afterwards that she was smitten straight off with Paddy Farrell. You could tell that he was occupying the room in a different way, he found the spaces that fitted him. She was the kind of girl the papers called vivacious, always a bit of dazzle to her.

Could she not see there was death about him? Could he not see there was death about her?
Paddy worked the border, a place of road closures, hijackings, sudden death. Everything bootleg and tawdry, nobody is saying that the law is paid off but it is. This is strange terrain, unsolid, ghosted through.

There's illicit cash coming across the border and Brendan's backstreet Bureau de Change is the place to launder it. Brendan knows the rogue lawyers, the nerve shot policemen, the alcoholic judges and he doesn't care about getting caught. For the Bureau crew getting caught is only the start of the game.

Paddy and his associates were a ragged band and honourless and their worth to themselves was measured in thievery and fraud. But Lorraine was not a girl to be treated lightly. She's cast as a minx, a criminal's moll but she's bought a shotgun. And she's bought a grave.

This was a great book. I may not read a better one all year but just in case I do I would give it 8.5 out of 10. Well worth checking this one out and all his previous.
 
Went on a reading spree over January trying to make a dent on the TBR shelf.

Run - Blake Crouch
I believe this was the first book he had published. You can tell. The story is good, the pace is fast, but its not a patch on his more recent work (Recursion, Dark Matter).

I, Robot - Asimov
Short stories, each of them providing a different scenario in how the Laws of Robots are interpreted by the robots. Really enjoyed it.

The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau - HG Wells
I like HG Wells stuff. Its very easy to read and quite thought provoking. A Wells novel is usually around 100 pages so these took no time to get through and I'd read each of them again.

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
This has been my favourite read of the year so far. Action, time dilation, forced conscription and basically being owned by the armed forces. Don't want to elaborate further in case I reveal a spoiler of some sort.
 
ballbag said:
Went on a reading spree over January trying to make a dent on the TBR shelf.

Run - Blake Crouch
I believe this was the first book he had published. You can tell. The story is good, the pace is fast, but its not a patch on his more recent work (Recursion, Dark Matter).

I, Robot - Asimov
Short stories, each of them providing a different scenario in how the Laws of Robots are interpreted by the robots. Really enjoyed it.

The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau - HG Wells
I like HG Wells stuff. Its very easy to read and quite thought provoking. A Wells novel is usually around 100 pages so these took no time to get through and I'd read each of them again.

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
This has been my favourite read of the year so far. Action, time dilation, forced conscription and basically being owned by the armed forces. Don't want to elaborate further in case I reveal a spoiler of some sort.
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I've read some of Blake Crouch's early books and I remember Run as being a good read.
 
ballbag said:
Went on a reading spree over January trying to make a dent on the TBR shelf.

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
This has been my favourite read of the year so far. Action, time dilation, forced conscription and basically being owned by the armed forces. Don't want to elaborate further in case I reveal a spoiler of some sort.
Click to expand...
If you like this then I would suggest also tracking down a copy of Armor by John Steakley and Old Man's War by John Scalzi if you've not read them.
 
JRockBlues said:
If you like this then I would suggest also tracking down a copy of Armor by John Steakley and Old Man's War by John Scalzi if you've not read them.
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Currently reading Old Man's War! It's very good!
I'll definitely check out Armor. Many thanks, mate :}
 
4. The Wolf - Samuel Bjork. 4th in the Munch and Kruger series. A prequel explaining how Kruger became a member of the serious crime unit. Some parts reminded me of The Silence Of The Lambs. I am a sucker for Nordic Crime so this ticked all the boxes. 5/5
 
Greetings fellow Bibliophiles.

Only a very minor thing but if anyone on here buys used books online from WOB (World of Books) don’t do so direct from their website. Their customer service for those who take this route is nonexistent. The chatbot doesn’t pass you on to a human if the query can’t be resolved, and emails go unanswered.

I found this out when they sent me books with an abbreviated form of my address (I had entered it correctly when making the purchase), which the Post Office couldn’t figure out when it came to delivery.

Fortunately, I was able to retrieve them from the local sorting office.

It’s still perfectly fine to use an intermediary like Amazon or eBay, though. Both will refund you if something goes wrong.
 
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