What We Reading ?

[Winrew]

Off for a weeks holiday shortly , just wondering if any one can reccomend a few books to take along.

Ive just finished the following books in the last week...

Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings: A Miserable Yank Discovers the Secret of Happiness in Britain

Not a bad book , its about a yank who moves over here to take a job on the magazine Maxim...

This from Amazon...

Although his American TV show seems to have a large--if morbidly humoured--fan base, I have read, I only knew of Greg Gutfeld from Maxim. He was entertaining in his TV appearances, but I otherwise thought of him as a blustery Yank who amused himself by being clever and shocking but had few other tricks to offer. Reading this book changed that appraisal. It's deadly funny and reads fast. It will make you laugh aloud at things you've seen your entire life but never properly processed--or at minimum never processed in the mentally disturbed yet spot-on manner Gutfeld did during his time here. Highly recommended.

Nice read , fun to see what an American thinks about the culture and lifestyle while living in the UK..

Next up.....

A Quiet Belief in Angels (Paperback)
As recommended by Richard and Judy

Lets not hold that against the poor lad...

Amazon again....

Well, I sat up until somewhere past 4.00 this morning, and I finished this book in one sitting. About halfway through I went and made some tea, and I sat quietly for a moment and wondered whether this was in fact the best book I'd ever read. It made me feel how I felt when I read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' for the first time. It made me feel like I'd learned the whereabouts of an old, old friend who I thought I'd lost. It made me feel a lot of things, and now I'm done I want to leave it a little while and then read it again. I don't want to read anything else in between, because at this point I think that anything else would be a disappointment and an anticlimax. I don't know how many emotions I've gone through while reading 'A Quiet Belief In Angels', but even though the book was heartbreaking in places it feels like experiencing all those emotions was necessary. This is just an extraordinarily beautiful and moving book, sometimes violent, sometimes a little disturbing, but overall a magnificent read. It comes with the very highest recommendation.

My thoughts , well a great book , one of those that starts slowly and then just takes off , i had worked out who the killer was by half way through , but that didnt spoil the book to be honest.
Well worth the 3.99 most places are charging....

Next up....

Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North (Paperback)
by stuart Maconie ( BBC Radio 2 )

Amazon...

'My name is Stuart Maconie, and I am from the North Of England. Some time ago, I was standing in my kitchen, rustling up a Sunday brunch for some very hungover, very Northern mates who were 'down' for the weekend. One of them was helping me out and, recipe book in hand, asked "where are the sun-dried tomatoes?" "They're behind the cappuccino maker," I replied. Silence fell. We slowly met each other's gaze. We did not say anything. We did not need to. Each read the other's unspoken thought: we had become those kinds of people, the kind of people who had sun-dried tomatoes and cappuccino makers, the kind of people who did Sunday brunch. In other words: southerners.' A northerner in exile, stateless and confused, hearing rumours of Harvey Nichols in Leeds and Maseratis in Wilmslow, Stuart goes in search of The North. Delving into his own past, it is a riotously funny journey in search of where the cliches end and the truth begins. He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower, the Bigg Market in Newcastle to the daffodil-laden Lake District in search of his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of Scousers, Scallies, pie-eating Woolly-backs, topless Geordies, mad-for-it Mancs, Yorkshire nationalists and brothers in southern exile.

Better than his last book which was funny as hell ( Cider with Roadies ).
Probably more of a book for a northerner i suppose.
Nicely written and my hometown gets a mention...

Workington is a town where if you dont like Oasis you are classed as gay, all the bouncers are on steroids and the towns main bukser drinks petrol in the main streets .....

Anyway , what you reading ?

[ONEDUNME]

Lessons from the land of pork scratchings?


Sounds like a Bill Bryson wannabe to me. If you enjoyed that, why not read the real Bryson.

[Winrew]

Because i already have

[ONEDUNME]

It wasn't suppose to be a criticism. It was supposed to be a suggestion.

[Swooperman]

Might give that @belief in Angels' a go I think, you cant much of a better review than the one you posted up Win

Currently reading 'Sign of the Cross' by Chris Kuzneski which is ok although if I was being extremely harsh I'd say the author thinks hes funnier than he is occasionally, but it moves along & is a decent read.
Got a few books in the pipeline including a few from one of those discount places which means some tend to be mediocre but you get the odd gem....I've picked a few up of George Pelecanos's in there & I think the blokes quality You'd enjoy him actually Win as he grew up in the 80's & is a real music fan & his tastes come through in all his books. For a crime fan in his 30's/40's I couldnt reccomend Pelecanos enough tbh.
Had a bit of a Scarrow trend on lately. I came across the one brother as he writes roman legionnaire stuff & I can be in the mood for that & Conn Iggulden now & again, although Bernard Cornwell tends to be a bit fuddy duddy for me but hes had his moments......anyway I digress Scarrow has a brother called Alex whos written a couple of books, one of which name escapes me but its about a foiled WW2 plot which is ok. His better book though is called 'Last Light', & you can tell by reading it thats its his lifes work. Its about a family drifting apart, grown up kids, husband & wife walking their own road etc etc......when something happens called 'Peak Oil Syndrome' which effectively means the oil flow is broken & within days it all gos 'Lord of the Flies'.....or New Orleans, whichever you prefer Hubbie knows his shit but he just happens to be in Afghanistan which is unlucky & he battles his way home as the world falls apart. I thought it was superb & would highly reccomend it.
What worried me was that I read that in the middle of a real 'apocalyptic' spell.......Michael McBrides 'Gods End, The Fall' (1st in a trilogy, very good but fcuking worrying) Cormac McCarthys 'The Road' (almost like a very long poem about 5 years after the bombs dropped off, could easily be read in one sitting if not drinking or on drugs, stunning) a couple of books called 'Monster Nation' & 'Monster Planet' which was effectively zombies taking over the world (yeah, they were cheap) watching 'I am Legend' on copy & possibly the strangest book I ever read, 'Cold Skin' by Albert Sanchez Pinol.......which has to be read to be believed. Something about some far flung island & a lighthouse keeper & a strange aquatic race which either kills you, fcuks you or dances for you.......madness

After that little lot I decided a break was required & read Paul MacGraths book.....only to realise there were more demons in that than the others put together

[Winrew]

George Pelecanos sounds like a goodun , just read a few reviews on Amazon.
The Night Gardener sounds excellent btw....

Anyone else reading anything at the moment ?

[Napoleon Solo]

Just this one at the moment.

Spring Snow - Yukio Mishima

While the last three books of Mishima's Sea of Fertility cycle tend to get bogged down in somewhat convoluted philosophical arguments, which may hold interest for some (Temple of Dawn), or by uninspired writing (Runaway Horses), Spring Snow, the first, displays no such weakness. It is a novel of immensely beautiful imagery and lyricism and overall perfection.

Read a few of his other books and was captivated. Got told that a tetralogy of books called the "Sea of Fertility" were his masterpiece and his legacy. This is the first book of that tetralogy and I've not been disappointed, it's a beautifully told story so far.

Tragically, after finishing the manuscript for the final book, he committed Seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment) as he thought his puropse in life had been completed.

[Wittmann 44]

Pelecanos is brilliant. I've read almost all his books. Probably my favorite American crime writer next to Walter Mosley (Easy Rawlins creator) and James Ellroy (La Confidential).

Don't tend to read much fiction but have read a few recently

Liked

Documents concerning Rubashov the Gambler - Carl Johan Vallgren

Picked this up cheap in Germany recently mainly because I liked the title. Out in the UK soon. About half way through, Fantasy set in the last 100 years of Europe about a compulsive gambler who loses his soul to the Devil at poker and who is condemned to never die. Cue numberous suicide attempts and crossed paths with many of the major historical events in Europe.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

2nd in the Dexter series about a serial killer working for the police. Very gory this one as Dexter stalks a serial torturer who used kill people for the US government during the drug wars in South America. Short and very readable. Funny for all the gore.


Liked an awful lot

The Winter of FRankie Machine

3rd?? book from Don Winslow whose first book was the brilliant durgs war book "THe Power of the Dog". This is even better. Frank Machianno former mob hitman and enforcer is trying to go straight after a lifetime of crime. He has vowed to go straight but he gets an old favor called in and he gets sucked back into his old life. Long but a real page turner. Robert De Niro has bought the film rights and will play Frankie Machine.


Didn't like

Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson

This got great write ups and comparisons to Ellroy and I was really looking forward to it. Interlinked story of various fcuk ups advetures in the CIA around the Vietnam era. Really long and very slow. Didn't manage to finish.

[Wittmann 44]

The McCArthy book is brilliant (The Road) like Swooperman said. I saw film rights have been bought but worryingly saw two major actresses lined up for parts - without giving too much away there is only one real female character and she is strcitly flashback. Hope the temptation to Hollywood it up is resisted like the Coen Brothers did for the film version of "No Country for Old Men".

[Swooperman]

Picked up a copy dvd of 'No Country for Old Men' & was umming & aahing whether to read the book first after seeing it was McCarthy.
I tend to diversify a bit, alongside Pelecanos I think Dennis Lehane is superb but he hasnt written anything really for a while. I've got 'Gone Baby Gone' on dvd to watch as well which I'm looking forward to but its been shelved here with similarities to the Madeleine McCann case.
Nelson DeMille is always worth a gander but none of them are short but I've never been disappointed, & I always return to James Lee Burke every 2 or 3 years & I've heard very good reviews of his latest.
Ellroy is an acquired taste I fiond & I've enjoyed a few of his but I've just not been in the mood for him lately. 'The Cold Six Thousand' is still sitting on the shelf waiting to be read after being out a good 5 years.
I also enjoy Henning Mankell which came as a surprise as when you think about his books they should be as boring as fcuk, but I've always enjoyed him

[Winrew]

Henning Mankell

Mmm , ive read a few of his , not dissapointed by any of them , although im sure some Hollywood actor has bought the rites to his books , god knows what they will do to them , its not exactly car chases and explosions is it ?

Shop in our local town called The Works ( might be a national chain ) got some great stuff out of it including several Mankells and a few Peter Robinsons , three for a fiver usually...

Should we start a book club forum and forget about all this betting malarkey ?

[ONEDUNME]

You lot are losing me now.

Forget Peter Robinson and try Derek Robinson Winrew. Come back and tell me it's shit and I'll buy you a pint.

[Winrew]

If you do indeed buy me a pint , its got to be at yours because im stopping going in my local , they are doing my f**king head in ....

Isnt he the RAF bloke ? Im sure you have mentioned him before , i`ll check him out this time....

[ONEDUNME]

I have mentioned him before. Piece of cake was serialised on TV but it was shit so forget it

Derek Robinson, author of Goshawk Squadron and novels about air warfare and espionage and books about playing rugby, refereeing rugby and rugby laws

[ONEDUNME]

Start with Goshawk Squadron. You would appreciate it more than most Winrew.

Nuff said.