The Beast in the Red Forest by Sam Eastland.
Girlfriend got it me for me yonks ago. Only got around to reading it now and I have got to say, I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Very well written and expertly paced.
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The Beast in the Red Forest by Sam Eastland.
Girlfriend got it me for me yonks ago. Only got around to reading it now and I have got to say, I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. Very well written and expertly paced.
I'm surprised you have a girlfriend. Heh.
;)
You guys are making logging in here everyday even more worthwhile. Quality stuff!
Why did it take me nearly five years to see that SkStu logging in is a perfect Canuck pun???
I wonder if TOWK ever got round to colouring in that book he mentioned... Strange fellow...
FWIW, I finished Robert Harris' The Second Sleep a couple of weeks ago - odd concept; he more or less pulls it off. Elizabeth Strout's Olive Again is just a perfect piece of writing, as was Yuko Tsushima's Territory of Light. Next up... can't decide between Limmy's Daft Wee Stories or getting back to work and reading a load of mildly interesting journal articles for a paper I have to write...
And a few I read over the last five years of this thread's inactivity
- Haruki Murakami – Men Without Women. Just brililant - witty, fantastical, acutely observed.
- JM Coetzee – Age of Iron. Meh. Underwhelming, but to be fair I've always struggled with post-colonial or post-apartheid writing and Africa. My loss, I suppose.
- Peter Hoeg – The Susan Effect. I felt his last couple were obscure just for the sake of it, but this (while it has its moments obscurity and Hoeg showing off) is a pretty fast-paced thriller. Nowhere near Miss Smila's Feeling for Snow, but miles better than The Quiet Girl.
- Markus Zusak - The Book Thief. I finally got round to it, and really enjoyed it. Good pacing, the idea of Death speaking directly to the reader builds a sense of impending threat.
- Mike McCormack - Solar Bones. If McCormack wrote the phone book I'd hang on every word of it. I met him on a writer's course a couple of years back and had a severe case of groupie fandom!
- Donal Ryan - The Spinning Heart. Worth every word of praise it got. One story developing with a different narrator in each chapter. Clever without being overwhelming or confusing, or clever for its own sake.
And several cheap Piccadilly westerns, pulp crime fiction, more than a handful of Biggles books and a lot of short stories!
A timely reminder that I need to get back to reading on the bus rather than staring at my phone. I think the last book I read was Jo Nesbo's McBeth, it was grand if nothing overly exciting. Have a good few thing lined up including one of Donal Ryan's that I must have bout nearly a year ago and still haven't started. I got a copy of Paddy Hoolihan's Hooligan for Christmas too (before the podcast controversies), should be an interesting read, despite the stupid things he said on the podcast, he's dedicated a lot of his life since the forced retirement from MMA to working for his community in Tallaght. He's MMA career in itself was fascinating particularly given he was hiding a potentially lethal medical condition for a few years.
A collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories (so no The Raven, which is a poem)
He's very - waffly. Lots of foreign phrases - Latin, Greek, French, German - which surprised me. And most of the stories so far have been about a dead person coming back to life. On to The Murders in the Rue Morgue now though - the first ever detective story - and it's a bit more accessible.
Next in the pile is my own book! Haven't read it since the last proof read in July. Not entirely sure if I'll be able to separate business and pleasure though - I'll probably still be thinking in terms of finding weaknesses with turns of phrase or a word order... Still, something different!
Good luck reading your own work! I've two that I have to use regularly, and picking them up is equal part pleasure and grimace! Not to mention Gaiman's first law... All I want to do is leave them on the shelf and dust them off once in a while!
Poe is very good. The Cask of Amontillado is a favourite but you're right that he has a tendency to go on. Nice and gothic, though. Have you ever read Saki's stories? A bit later and lighter, but still occasionally dark behind an Edwardian facade.
I'll do a bit of a dump of my best of what I read in 2019:
- Africa: A Biography of the Continent, John Reader. It takes a while to get a sense of where this is going, because it's so crazily ambitious that it keeps changing genre. From geology to palaeontology to prehistory to history, this tells the story of the whole continent. Eventually, it settles down to the story of European colonialism (including slavery) and its devastating cultural and socio-political impact on Africa. It's an odd book, but I feel it's filled a big hole in my knowledge of the world in general.
- One Night in Dudelange, Kevin Burke. This has been discussed elsewhere, so I'll just say this zips along and is a fun and essential read for anyone on this site.
- 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople & the Clash of Islam & the West, Roger Crowley. I've read one of Crowley's each year for the past few years. He writes wonderful narrative history which seems to have reassuring scholarly underpinnings to make it feel like some of the most enjoyable education I've ever taken. He seems to particularly love sieges, and this is no different. You'll have learned in school that the Roman empire fell in the 400s, but the Eastern half, centred on Constantinople, remained a power for another thousand years until the Ottomans took it and made it Istanbul. This is the story of a pale shadow of the old city defending mighty old walls with too few men from a huge army. It takes in the historical context, the regional politics, the characters of the leading characters, the mood of the city, and weaves them into a thrilling story full of twists and turns.
- The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang. This is the story of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing (the spelling has changed) during what we call WWII. The story is vile, almost unreadable at times, but full of good people too - one of the heroes of the piece is a German nazi party member - a sort of Schindler figure who did what he could locally before smuggling film to Germany and being told by the Gestapo to stop public lectures and shut the **** up about what the Japanese were up to. The author, an American daughter of Chinese immigrants, strikes a good balance of statistics for scale and more narrative elements.
- Caesar: Life of a Colossus, Adrian Goldsworthy. I mostly knew Caesar as a figure from the Shakespeare play. (It was on the Junior Cert back in the day.) Goldsworthy really brings him to life, and paints a picture of the political structure and machinations that lead him to breaking tradition, and crossing the Rubicon to march his legions on Rome. Several key battles in his career are also described in a lively and easy to follow fashion.
No, never read Saki. My reading pile is about 3 feet tall - should keep me going for this year and a bit of next - but I'll him to a list on Amazon and might have a goo when I'm next buying.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
Managed to solve the Rue Morgue story before the big reveal; always nice when that happens. :) You can tell it's the start of a genre; the story isn't as fleshed out as a Holmes or a Poirot story, but enjoyable nonetheless.
A book that I've just finished and enjoyed greatly is Paul Rouse's, The Hurlers, which describes the early history of the GAA and particularly the first hurling final of 1888. Not too many references to the games of the "shoneen," but the text flows very well and I thought his writing was impressive. From a Wexford perspective, there are many references to Patrick Prendergast (PP) Sutton of Oulart, who was an important sports journalist with the "Sport" newspaper and more or less documented the early history of the GAA. He also became essentially the national handicapper and judge at sports events across the country. Unfortunately, he died in his mid-thirties in 1901 from pneumonia and is buried in Oulart. There was a national collection to place a memorial over his grave which was erected in 1904.
Planning to read "One Night in Dudelange" next!
I'm midway through South Of The Border, West Of The Sun by him, read Norwegian Wood & Kafka On The Shore by him recently too. Enjoyed them all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
Read the Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey recently also, Wool / Shift / Dust. For any post apocalyptic dystopia fans, this series, particularly Wool, I'd highly recommend.
Put down The Sea by Banville recently, was 30/40% through it, it hadn't gone anywhere, aimless word noodling - yeah, sublime word noodling - but no hook. Anyone else find that ?
I had to start The Sea a couple of times. I ended up enjoying it, but I think partly down to the fact it's set in Rosslare and it was a very familiar world to me. There's a nice sentimental story in there.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
I used to revere Banville. I discovered The Book of Evidence at 17, Birchwood is still the best, most blackly comic novel I’ve ever read. But The Sea… it didn’t hold me the way his writing used to. I don’t know how it got the Man Booker over Sebastian Barry’s A Long, Long Way. It felt like a novella stretched to novel length, and the thrumming energy you’d always find in his work just wasn’t there. For me, his writing began to change after Ghosts and Athena into a slower more introspective style (though The Untouchable is magnificent and The Infinities is almost as farcically impeccable as Michael Frayne). Haven’t read his last three, though – they seem like too much effort for less of the reward of his earlier stuff. (I've two books on the go now - I'll try Ancient Light next. this thread is definitely a motivator!)
If you liked the Wexford setting, PI, and you haven’t already read it, try his The Newton Letter, the comic counterpoint to his three science tragedies.
Just don’t get me started on the Benjamin Black rubbish!
Don't think I'll pick it up again, but might go to some of the earlier ones EG mentioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by passinginterest
Finally read Junky by William S Boroughs this week, think its been with me through half a dozen house moves, in the box of gonna read some day books. Should have picked it up sooner.
Started The Underground Railway by Colson Whitehead tonight, thirty pages in and hooked, could be one of those books where you're only away from it for as long as necessary while it lasts. Anyone read it ? (you probably all have, I'm usually way behind the curve on these matters, FFS I only just read Junky :) )
"Reading in the Dark" by Seamus Deane.
Book's been in the house about twenty years, only settling into it now!!
And I did, some time last year. And it was fine. Evenly-paced and the usual tropes you'd expect from late Banville. But unremarkable for all thatQuote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I read my first Raymond Chandler last month, The Long Goodbye. Really, really good. For a book that's 70 years old (and allowing for some, eh, colourful depictions of a minority or two!) it held up very well in style, rattled along at a good pace and had a good twist at the end.
Got Ian Rankin's A Heart Full of Headstones as a Christmas present and it was the biggest disappointment ever. I've devoured pretty much everything he's written, even his early Jack Harvey alter ego, and this was the worst act of sabotage on the Rebus novels you could imagine.
And after it popped into the last film thread, I reread All Quiet on the Western Front. The film is a travesty: the novel is still a work of genious.
There's a movie of it from the 70s. Directed by Robert Altman (who directed the movie MASH; the TV show came afterwards), stars Elliot Gould, and has a brief and very early cameo from Arnold Schwartzenegger in a non-speaking role. I adore it. I must read the book.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
I'm, much to my shame and very slowly, reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Lowest common denominator stuff, but I'll do anything to get reading again. My last book was Bob Mortimer's autobio And Away. I mostly read it while my lads were swimming. I think it probably took 6 months to complete, but it was my first proper book in probably a decade. Or more.
The most annoying thing about not being a reader any more is that I read to my lads every night, and have created voracious readers in the process. I'm incredibly jealous of them. :)
I've been going through a lot of books recently - mostly non-fiction which is strange for me. I will go through my recently read books tonight and bring back a list and some recommendations but this is the one I am reading at the moment. It was given to me as a birthday present - a friend of mine here (originally from Bolton), his good friend from there wrote it so I was dubious but it was a great read. Extremely detailed analysis of the origin of Northern Ireland right through the GFA up to Brexit. Only criticism is in certain chapters the timeline jumps back and forth a little bit but minor quibble. He is definitely more of a nationalist sympathizer and is extremely critical of the unionist movement and leadership over the course of the century, as well as pointing out and analyzing the long list of mistakes made by the UK government at various points (whether through ignorance or wilfully). Really recommend this for anyone who is interested in the topic.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...-awful-country
Non-fiction is just too much like work - literally - Stu. I could count on one hand the number of non-fiction books I've read for enjoyment in the last decade. Even then, it's usually a case of dipping in and out rarely reading one from cover to cover. That looks interesting all the same.
@ Adam - what's Osman like as a writer? I've riffled through his stuff in book shops but never felt all that tempted. My lowest common denominator go to is historical crime fiction like Edward Marsden's various series (available now in all good, but especially mediocre, remaindered book stores) or cheap, falling apart westerns I read fanatically in my teens. Stuff like JT Edson, Louis Lamour, George G Gilman, and Piccadilly westerns. Some truly dreadful stuff, but undeniably a pleasure at the same time. BTW, if you're tyring to get back into reading but find time is an issue have you thought of novellas or short fiction/short stories?
I'm also curious about Osman.
A few highlights of recent years.
- Termination shock - Neil Stephenson. Like many of his books, it has polarised readers, but I enjoyed it in spite of its flaws. Nearish future climate change eco-thriller; to say more is to spoil it.
- Sinomania: Writing about China from the London Review of Books. This is a mixed bag of essays, but gives some real insight into China.
- Erebus: The Story of a Ship - Michael Palin. His writing is like his presenting: warm and gently humourous. I knew the story - of the famous lost expedition for the northwest passage - from Dan Simmons book The Terror, named for the other ship in the expedition and now also a miniseries, but it doesn't really benefit from the fictionalisation. Palin's scope is wider, taking in an earlier extended antarctic voyage, but I felt I got to know the people involved better too. It's an easy read, and a fascinating story.
- Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror - Craig Murray. Intermittantly horrifying, frequently funny story of a probably naive ambassador to Uzbekistan who is less interested in British realpolitik and more in calling the local dictatorship out on its bullshirt. I've been recommending it to everyone since I read it.
- This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor - Adam Kay. Blackly funny in that way only depressed medicos can be. Kay gave it all up and got into comedy writing instead.
Funny; I'd say 80% of what I read is non-fiction. Currently reading The Great Influenza by John M Barry, the story of the Spanish Flu. About one-third of the way through it and he's still setting the scene in terms of the impact of WW1 conditions and general medical knowledge. It's...thorough. Probably a bit too thorough is my thinking at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
Also read Who Stole Our Game last month, Daire Whelan's 2006 book on the fortunes of the LoI from the 50s to the 00s. Nothing hugely revelatory in it - certainly for foot.ie posters - and some of what were then contemporary comments haven't aged well (eg describing Shels 2006 as a strong club)
But some of the comments on the new CEO, a guy called John Delaney, are amazing. One or two contributors praise him, but others – behind anonymity – describe him as “the most Machevellian character I have ever met in my life […] exactly what the FAI don’t need”, as a failed businessman (“His other interests in operations, such as a coffee-vending machine, furniture business and a bakery, have all shown accumulated losses over time - €200,000, €36,000 and €460,000 respectively”) and come very close to calling what we now know he was actually doing (“He won’t be able to hide behind in the shadows, which he was able to do as Treasurer. I believe his stewardship as Treasurer was appalling as well. […] I have no doubt that rules were being breached. I am not saying that he has been feathering his own nest. […] Delaney, you see, is not a detailed man. He is careless and he does leave trails behind him and I think he will get careless. But the problem is that means there will be another ****ing shaft and we are back to square one again. He shouldn’t be CEO […] I don’t think he has a passion for football. I think he has a passion for power and this is the only way he will get power.”)
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
Seeing as he's 89 and Nobel prizes are not awarded posthumously, he must be getting one soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Have you read The Ghost Map stu? It wasn't very thorough on the epidemic itself but had great storytelling which focused around a few key characters. An easy read but I enjoyed it.
Nope, but have added it to my to-buy list and will check it out. Makes it book number 60 on my list, in addition to the 30 in my actual reading pile!
Good gracious :) :)Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Magnificent.
An all time favourite of mine there, an absolute must read.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Read once its that unhinged they can't fathom how to make a movie out of it. No beginning, no middle, no end, no real plot & somehow the perfect read.
Agreed. Which is rich considering the amount of Wikipedia articles I read. I'm currently on serial killers having binged Mindhunter. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
It's fairly basic stuff really, nothing groundbreaking, mildly humorous which you'd expect from Osman. I'm finding it a bit slow, but then I'm reading it slowly. Just have to see how the mystery aspect plays out. I'll comment on it here when I'm finished, in 2027.Quote:
@ Adam - what's Osman like as a writer? I've riffled through his stuff in book shops but never felt all that tempted. My lowest common denominator go to is historical crime fiction like Edward Marsden's various series (available now in all good, but especially mediocre, remaindered book stores) or cheap, falling apart westerns I read fanatically in my teens. Stuff like JT Edson, Louis Lamour, George G Gilman, and Piccadilly westerns. Some truly dreadful stuff, but undeniably a pleasure at the same time. BTW, if you're tyring to get back into reading but find time is an issue have you thought of novellas or short fiction/short stories?
I'd forgotten about the dodgy westerns, I used to read them myself when I was young, I think possibly pre-teen. One of the shops in Youghal I used to visit weekly in the summer had really thin ones, but I loved them. Then I discovered Tintin and Asterisk in Midleton Books! :)
I used to adore sci-fi short stories - Asimov, Bradbury, etc - but I think I read them all because when I tried that route to get back into reading, that didn't work either. I think I actually need a novel to keep drawing me back in. But I hope I can get back into shorts at some point, perhaps with new authors.
Have you read Exhalation by Ted Chiang? Sci Fi short stories.Quote:
Originally Posted by dahamsta
I found short stories to be a decent way of getting back in the rhythm of reading but the best way for me was to just pick an easy reading novel or series of novels. Read a few light crime fiction books by Peter May (The Lewis Trilogy) and was able to start enjoying the peace and quiet of sitting down with a book again. For about a month and then I lost it in favour of the tv.....
Pretty sure it's on a shopping list somewhere, that or another book by that author, name rings a bell. I don't want to buy any more books though, I've bought so many over the last few years and not read them it's embarrassing at this point. And I've shelved and shelves full of them.
Reading Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall.
He gives a very high level overview of ten major world maps/regions including why they formed and a sort of SWOT analysis to show their position in the world and the tension it creates internally and externally.
Enjoying it so far. It puts everything into very simple terms and gives a nice perspective on why various powers are in conflict or alliance.
I just finished Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth (a British music journalist and industry guru - was instrumental with NME, Smash Hits, Q and others). The book is a great read, charts the journey of rock music through each year from the mid 50's to mid 90's (each year is a chapter and focuses on one rock star in the chapter; each chapter ends with a bit of a song list/album list for the year). Really engaging book. Loved it.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...ncommon-people
Just started reading Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton about the disastrous Belgian-led Antarctic expedition from the very late 1800's that saw the crew get lodged in ice and stranded for about a year without sufficient supplies and food. Complete sh*t show. Only about 40 pages in but it has already got me a bit hooked. As an aside, it was one of Roald Amundsen's first expeditions and it appears he was the one who ultimately ensured they got out of there alive.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54900051
Disclaimer: i tend to love almost every book i read
Quick question for the readers in here...
do you tend to read from a device (iPad, Kindle, etc) or the old fashioned paper and ink?
I exclusively read printed books.
Printed books exclusively. Kindle just isn't the same. You can't flick back to a point easily, you can't have a proper reading pile, and it just doesn't feel right.
Prisoners of Geography is very good alright. Currently halfway through Putin's People, about the rise of Putin to power in Russia, and his rule to publication (in 2020). Interesting read. What jumps out most at the moment is Putin's tendency to panicked inaction in the face of crisis - Beslan or the Kursk disasters for example. There's a point made that he was closer the start of his reign then and not as attuned to crisis response at the time - but you can imagine a similar response now given Ukraine hasn't rolled over in a week or two as expected.
Also interesting to hear some of the people who put him in power in the first place say that they thought they could control him as he had a low profile and little political experience, but they'd effectively underestimated what a psycho he is
Paper, always and only.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Having a prolonged bout of attention span struggles though, anyone had that ? & any advice on cracking it ?
I'd have always had a book on the go but the last couple of years it has slipped away & I'd like it back. Read it was smartphone use related maybe in one article but fcuk knows.
I've gone through a bit of that at times over the last ten years or so - on and off - but on a great stretch now over the last couple of years. I would put my house on it being device related ADD... (on another note, I am completely off of all social media for the last 2 months - facebook. instagram, twitter and reddit - wasnt on any others - and feel brilliant for it)
What has worked for me with reading has been a few things - my advice... to get back on the wagon, pick a book you know you will be really interested in based on the subject matter. Secondly commit to building the habit with 10-15 pages a day and stick to it. Have the next book selected and beside you before you finish the current one. Building the habit is the key for me - that and not taking a break between books. I'm a bedtime reader so I just went to bed 30 minutes early intentionally so i wouldn't be too tired to read.
Madhouse was very good although I read Endurance afterwards and it somewhat blew it away.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
And I only read paper books. Had a kindle but couldn't get into it. How do you show it off on your bookshelf afterwards?
Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
I'd blame the smartphone as well. Awful yokes.
My trick is to pick a book or series of books I've already read and enjoyed and have the nostalgia drag me along until I'm back in a rhythm.....although it must not work that well because I haven't read anything start to finish in months........
I thought he had a pretty good analysis of China and Russia, and after that it declined pretty badly. It felt like he had two good chapters and then had to flesh out a book somehow.Quote:
Originally Posted by ontheotherhand
I spend months per year abroad for work. I prefer paper books even now, but the Kindle's ability to fit a library into a pocket-sized form is invabluable to me. I also like being able to look up an unfamiliar term simply by long pressing it, and highlighting an interesting or funny passage saves it automatically to a clips file that's nice to review once in a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu