Originally posted by ionapaul
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You are technically correct...the best kind of correct
World Record Holder for Long Distance Soul Reads: May 7th 2011
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Originally posted by Kayroo View PostThe intro sets out his historiographical approach really well and I thought I was in for a very interesting read (I love his thesis and the general topic is fascinating) but it feels like a book being written with a TV series in mind. It is a good read though.
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@Kayroo, reading Truman by David McCullough. Up to the convention of 1944 where Truman (much to his surprise) gets nominated as vice presidential running mate to the terminally ill FDR. Epic while not being as insanely forensic as Caro's study of LBJ.Last edited by Raoul Duke III; 09-04-14, 20:09."We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."
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All youse and your uppity books. I keep it real and finished Paul Kimmages Rough Ride. Worth a read i would say. Not as good as Tyler Hamiltons 'The Secret race' but a book of its day id say. Rough Ride was breaking new ground back then when the omerta code had a real choke hold on keeping tell tales down. Even though he didnt go as far as real finger pointing or outing but you get the idea about drugs in the sport. A few typical Kimmage meanderings thrown in to make it all the more worth it.
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Originally posted by rounders123 View PostAll youse and your uppity books. I keep it real and finished Paul Kimmages Rough Ride. Worth a read i would say. Not as good as Tyler Hamiltons 'The Secret race' but a book of its day id say. Rough Ride was breaking new ground back then when the omerta code had a real choke hold on keeping tell tales down. Even though he didnt go as far as real finger pointing or outing but you get the idea about drugs in the sport. A few typical Kimmage meanderings thrown in to make it all the more worth it.
fairly fucks over Roche and Kelly along the way! Good read although his writing style is tiresome.
"We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."
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Just finished:
Very easy prose with a straight narrative yet thoroughly compelling from the get go. Even if you wouldn't personally relate to the central character you'll know or have heard of the type. A wonderful book on life: all of it."Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally." - John Maynard Keynes
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Originally posted by ionapaul View PostI finally finished Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall a few days ago, it was enjoyable but hard going at times, as she used a somewhat unusual narrative structure. Will take a break before trying Bring Up The Bodies.
Then turned my attention to Daniel Keyes' Flowers For Algernon, a classic sci-fi novel originally published in 1966 but based on his short story from a couple of years previous. I always get slightly worried before tackling sci-fi from more than 30 years ago, as I'm wary that the sci-fi aspects will seem ridiculous in retrospec (like the Jetsons or whatever!) but with classics you never need to be concerned, they stand the test of time. Great novel, got through it in three sittings I think, its fairly short and a real page-turner.
Started on Iain Banks' final Culture novel last night, The Hydrogen Sonata.
I really liked The Hydrogen Sonata - so sad there won't be any more Culture books
I finished The Storm of War, a general history of WWII by Andrew Roberts, about a fortnight ago. It was pretty good, not the first WWII history I've read, and introduced some new things to me. The author was humorously biased against the French and had some cutting things to say about the speed with which they stopped fighting after the Germans invaded and the bizarre level of cooperation they gave them, both in Vichy and in the occupied territory. Plus De Gaulle comes across as an almighty twat. He smugly believes that the Brits wouldn't have rolled over so quickly if invaded, which is obviously an easy thing to say but harder to prove. He also wasn't very impressed with Ireland's neutrality, which is understandable.
Next up was Justin Cronin's The Passage:
This is a fairly well-received vampire/zombie/dystopian future novel and a real page turner! It's quite long but you can blast through it in a few days, if you're hooked you'll be happy to put in a few long shifts to find out what happens
I enjoyed that so much that, quite unlike me, I went straight onto the next novel in the series, The Twelve. I'm half-way through after two days, so am just eating it up - the third book is due out later this year so I'll have a good wait when done!
Planning to get stuck into Michael Lewis's The Big Short next - I know many will have read this, hopefully it will be enjoyable. Have read a good few of his magazine articles in the past so expect more of the same.
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After finishing The Twelve I didn't go for the Michael Lewis book (sometime soon though), I dove into this instead:
I've read a lot of Malcolm Gladwell criticism recently and can agree with much of it, but also believes he writes a great long-form article, a collection of which makes up What The Dog Saw: And Other Adventures. It was an easy read and a bit of a page turner to be honest.
I'm now reading Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China by Paul Theroux:
I previously read The Great Railway Bazaar, and loved it, so knew I'd be in for a treat here. The only thing to worry about with these type of books (similarly to worries I often have before starting a classic Sci-Fi novel) is whether or not they will be adversely impacted by being written decades ago - will a travel writer's observations of mid-80s China be worthless to someone reading the book almost three decades later? The answer, thankfully, is no - it's still great, even if the China he writes about no longer exists.
I'm also devouring this on my Nexus, Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich:
This is a hard one to describe - a fantasy novel set in the modern era, a police who-dunnit, a witty urban drama, all of the aforementioned? I'm about halfway through and will be finished in a day or so, it's a real page-turner. I think the sequel came out this week, will have to check it out if the quality keeps up!
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Originally posted by Bodybuilder View PostIt's funny about an hour after my post about Outliers I was listening to Off the Ball in the car, Derval O'Rourke and Enda McNulty were talking about the best sports book and Outliers came up. They more or less said that the 10,000 hours theory is a decent one, but of course Gladwell's underplaying the importance of good genes. They contrasted it to another book called The Sports Gene, the hypothesis of which is that genes are king, and said there were merits and flaws to both books.
There's a book very similar to Outliers called Bounce by Matthew Seyed. One of the chapters is about 3 adopted Hungarian sisters who's adopted father was a Chess Grandmaster, all 3 of the sisters went on to become Grandmasters and are considered 3 of the greatest female players of all time. Fascinating stuff.
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Anytime the wife drags me shopping I usually spend the day in the nearest book shop, I have quite the stockpile building up that I'm (probably) never going to get around to reading. I can always dream.
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
Collected Stories John McGahern
A Delicate Truth John le Carre
The Black Eyed Blonde Benjamin Black aka John Banville
For Whom The Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway
Poem For The Day One Wendy Cope
City of Bohane Kevin Barry
Cosmos Carl Sagan
The Story of the Jews Simon Schama
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Originally posted by mcnugget View PostAnytime the wife drags me shopping I usually spend the day in the nearest book shop, I have quite the stockpile building up that I'm (probably) never going to get around to reading. I can always dream.
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry
Collected Stories John McGahern
A Delicate Truth John le Carre
The Black Eyed Blonde Benjamin Black aka John Banville
For Whom The Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway
Poem For The Day One Wendy Cope
City of Bohane Kevin Barry
Cosmos Carl Sagan
The Story of the Jews Simon Schama
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Dunno is there many Jeffrey Archer fans here but I have always been a fan. Currently reading The Clifton chronicles
Love them, finished the first one in 2 days on hols and bought the second one a few days ago, currently on the third. Granted there is a love story theme but also war and inheritance stuff going on too.
The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same again.
As he enters into adulthood, Harry finally learns how his father really died, but the awful truth only leads him to question, was he even his father? Is he the son of Arthur Clifton, a stevedore who spent his whole life on the docks, or the firstborn son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line?
This introductory novel in Archer’s ambitious series The Clifton Chronicles includes a cast of colorful characters and takes us from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take up a place at Oxford or join the navy and go to war with Hitler’s Germany. From the docks of working-class England to the bustling streets of 1940 New York City, Only Time Will Tell takes readers on a journey through to future volumes, which will bring to life one hundred years of recent history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined.Her sky-ness
© 5starpool
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Been working my way through the Benjamin Black books over the last little while, well written crime fiction and Banville is a master at describing 1950's Dublin. Have spent time after each book researching where certain things used to be/what they are now.The sport that unites Catholic, Protestant and dissenter has had its day of days. Pity anybody who can't enjoy it. Some day. Gerry Thornley 23/3/09
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Right, have a read a good few since my last post:
1) The Snowman by Jo Nesbo:
My first Nesbo book, and the first detective book I've read in ages (unless Rivers of London counts?). It was quite enjoyable, an easy read, would definitely read more like it.
2) Bring Up The Bodies by Hillary Mantel:
This was great, I enjoyed it much more than Wolf Hall for some reason. Maybe I was just better acquainted with the style used! Obviously the historical period being used as a background is absolutely fascinating, we can't seem to get enough of it these days. Highly recommend this book.
3) The Big Short by Michael Lewis:
I was worried this might be a bit of a grind but nothing could be further from the truth, it was a bit of a page-turner! Basically following a group of investors who were among the first to figure out that the US subprime market would collapse towards the end of the 2000's, that massive money could be made as a result, and that the entire financial system could be in trouble as a result. Lewis does his best to make the complex financial products as straightforward as possible, though that said if you asked me to properly explain what a CDO actually is I'd be a bit hesitant! Enjoyed it but obviously you need to be aware it's written for a very wide audience and almost certainly over-simplifies things and draws a big distinction between the 'heros' and 'villains', even though they are all roughly the same when you think about it.
Did I already cover reading Dan Simmon's final two books in the Hyperion Cantos, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion? Wow, they were great, had to read them one after the other as I couldn't wait to find out what happened next!
Currently reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson - enjoying it so far, it's quite short so will be finished today or tomorrow I imagine. I've seen the Will Smith movie so am interested to see how different the book's ending will be!
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Right, thought I'd bump this with a few of the many books read since my last update:
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.
Hitch recommended this above, have to echo his recommendation, really compelling popular science book.
Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke:
Meh, not my thing at all. Plot wandered all over the place, maybe it was only meant to be fully enjoyed by those who read some of the earlier novels by the author. Got it as a Christmas present over a year ago so felt like I had to get through it!
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose:
This was great, good personal accounts of WWII training, action and memories from a company of elite US paratroopers. I had seen the mini-series years ago, and was amazed at how closely the TV series seemed to mirror the book. Now I really want to rewatch the series
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronvitch:
Not quite as good as the opening novel in the series (Rivers of London, reviewed it earlier in the thread) but still very decent. Again, it's an unusual one to categorise; it's the story of a London policeman who has falling into investigating supernatural cases, so part standard detective story and part fantasy!
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks:
My first time tackling a non-science fiction novel by the late-lamented Scottish writer (he of the Culture series and the extra "M." in his name), it was good stuff if so dark that I wanted to get through it as soon as I could. Wouldn't like to read that kind of stuff all the time, but nice to dip in now and then I suppose.
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie:
Standard fantasy fare but really good stuff; this is where British/Irish fantasy writers excel over their American cousins, when you're writing about gritty warriors in a cold, muddy and brutal world... our unique manner of speaking and earthy expressions just seem so much more appropriate The same author's First Law series (this is set in the same universe) is really great, if you like fantasy but haven't checked it out I recommend it heartily.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman:
Short, but ever so sweet. Gaimen is a story-teller extraordinaire, he really is one of the best around, whether his medium is graphic novels, dark adult tales or children's books. The story originally was written in the form of a screenplay (for the BBC I think?), later fleshed out to this cracker of a book. It's something special to read fantasy based in familiar locations, wish we had a few based in Dublin to dip into!
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke:
Another sci-fi classic that has been knocked off my list, this one was again very enjoyable - it probably wouldn't have garnered the 'classic' tag unless it was both compelling and timeless I suppose. Focusing on a near-future humankind's experience when a mysterious object enters the solar system, it's fun to see where Clarke got it right with regards future technology, and where his idea of 'advanced tech' now seems quaint to the modern reader! It's a basic tale of mystery at its core; there are no massive space opera-style battle or anything, but it's well worth a read.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman:
Yet another cracker from Gaimen - can't tell you how much I enjoy his stuff I decided to read this after catching most of the movie version of Stardust over Christmas. I had seen it before, but never read the book - and guess what? Yep, the book is much, much better (and the movie's awesome!), the story is longer, there are more characters, so there's more to love. If you liked the movie, please read this!
Am currently reading The Book of the Dead by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson... almost through it and thoroughly loving it. It's basically a book filled with short biographies of ludicrously entertaining figures from the past; whether still well-known or forgotten to history. The categories (each a chapter in the book, covering half a dozen or so people) are ones you'd never think of; people who died virgins, people who owned monkeys, etc... Two thumbs up so far!
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Just finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, recommended to me by a friend... I'm usually into the Nesbo, Pattersons, Grishams etc... Beautifully written book IMO if a bit heavy handed at times with great storyline .. I haven't read anything like it in a while... Defo worth giving a shot.Jayzus, Sheila! I forgot me feckin' trousers
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Originally posted by colm_leche View PostIMO one of the best 3 Irish novels of the 20th century. The Best of Myles is a compendium of O'Brien's writing for the Irish Times, and is more accessible, and very, very funny.
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I'll go with
- High Rise -JG Ballard -Revisiting this after 30 plus years it felt very different than it did originally, not what you would call a good read it is a quite discombobulating read. Nowadays I wouldn't only just about put it in it in Ballards top 5 but that is plenty to get it into the best 5 I've read in any year. That the physical world it envisages has been built in the meantime makes the psychosexual landscape he creates all the more scary.
- City of Bones - Michael Connelly Now this is a thumping good read! just one of qa hald dozen of the series I've flown through this year and probably the best of them. Bosch is the crack cocaine of detective fiction, I finished this one in two sittings missing the best part of a nights sleep in each.
- Nine Stories - JD Salinger I've been reading a lot of short stories recently and these exquisitely written stories from Salinger are the perfect recovery from fast paced reading like the Connelly novels. Beautiful, shocking and insightful each story is a perfectly crafted little jewel. What an amazing writer he is (was).
- American Gods - Neil Gaiman Makes my number two spot as well. This novel bears comparison with the Cline novel (ready player one) which I thought was OK but as a poorly enough written expansion of one good idea that got a bit lost as he stretched it too far it doesn't make my list at all with Gaiman the depth of imagination and the quality of storytelling is nothing short of spellbinding and it would be just as easy to have named Anansai Boys the follow up set in the same world which is every bit as good a read.
- Arcadia - Jim Crace I'm fast running out of Jim Crace novels to read, he has not been very prolific and claims to be retired from the job now... He has claimed that he had the ten novels he has published sketched out before he started writing the first of them in the mid 80's we can only hope he is as unreliable a narrator of his own career as he is of his strangely real characters and the bizarrely kinked perspectives of the worlds he has created them in. I think I have read Being Dead, Arcadia and The Pesthouse in the last year and to be picking one to put on a list ahead of the others is a very tight call. If I was start again I'd take them in chronological order, Arcadia is one of the earliest.
Honorable mention for Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace I look forward to reading more of her this year and Robert Harris's Dictator which I started out thinking was a poor work just going through the motions regurgitating all the research but turned out by the end to be he most enjoyable read of the three Cicero novels. I did enjoy his Dreyfuss novel but not that much. Also caught up with some of the Ian (not M) Banks novels that had passed me by over the years of those The Business stood out but then it was also probably the most IanMish of the ones I read.
There is nothing new not even recent, no non fiction and nothing Irish on that list I do have the new Franzen and Anne Enright in the queue and I see just now that Kevin Barry's new novel is published... WTF? how come I never heard about that, it will go straight to the top of the queue, I'll even do him the rare honour of going out and buying a hard copy to give to someone as a present and to assuage my guilt at reading a downloaded copy of it.Turning millions into thousands
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- High Rise -JG Ballard -Revisiting this after 30 plus years it felt very different than it did originally, not what you would call a good read it is a quite discombobulating read. Nowadays I wouldn't only just about put it in it in Ballards top 5 but that is plenty to get it into the best 5 I've read in any year. That the physical world it envisages has been built in the meantime makes the psychosexual landscape he creates all the more scary.
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Originally posted by NewApproach View PostI read tons as a kid. Never do now. I'd like to try read just 12 books this year - will take some inspiration from this thread!
SPOILERI'm sure there's a similar post from me to this effect around a year or two ago in this thread!
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Originally posted by FeetMagic View PostWith you on this. I miss the excitement and enjoyment I got from books in my pre-teens. Have most of Steinbeck's collection beside me (Tortilla Flats a personal favourite of those I've read) so kicking off tonight with one of his shorter offerings in The Pearl."We are not Europeans. Those people on the continent are freaks."
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Originally posted by FeetMagic View PostWith you on this. I miss the excitement and enjoyment I got from books in my pre-teens. Have most of Steinbeck's collection beside me (Tortilla Flats a personal favourite of those I've read) so kicking off tonight with one of his shorter offerings in The Pearl.
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Originally posted by colm_leche View PostCannery Row is one of my all time favourites - probably in my top ten. Slowly making my way through Travels with Charlie, in which Steinbeck documents a drive across America with his dog, Charlie...
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I've read a lot more books this year than i have in previous years, and unfortunately, it looks like i have read a lot of crap, as going through my list, i can only find 3 that i can recommend:
Temps Glaciaires by Fred Vargas: Her latest crime novel with Adamsberg. this is a great story and investigation, and Adamsberg police team are such an odd loveable bunch. would definitely recommend her books (most Adamsberg novels are translated into english at this stage, and should be read chronologically).
Mindset: the new psychology of success by Carol Dweck: Horrible title, but great book. I really didn’t read it for the success part, but for the parenting approach of using and promoting a growth mindset. It really is thought provoking, and has influenced me hugely in how i discuss things with my children.
Le lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: Enjoyable fantasy novel dealing with a group of young thieves. (stay away from the rest of the series though).
Will definitely be reading that Gaiman one though so it might be in this year's next years list!!
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Originally posted by Hitchhiker's Guide To... View PostWould love to read more non-fiction, but its hard at night when you just want a little fantasy escape.
That being said I find Farnam Street excellent for book recommendations, it's led me to buying and reading more books than I have in years.
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