[Misc] What Book are you Currently Reading?

[wunt be druv]

"The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories" fascinating read, some very strange others compulsive reading, three authors in particular, Ōta Yōko, Seira Yūichi and Kawabata Yasunari, stand out for their recollections of the Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the aftermath of what had happened, brings a whole new perspective, thoroughly recommend it.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe.

 

[keaton]

Just finished The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Decent sci-fi,romance. The BBC are making a series of it apparently, it's very Dr Who meets the Sunday 9pm slot

 

[Beach Hut]

Patrick Leigh Fermor An Adventure - Artemis Cooper

 

[Beach Hut]

Gunpowder & Geometry - Benjamin Wardhaugh

 

[CHAPPERS]

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
by C.S. Forester

 

[Beach Hut]

The Water Road - Paul Gogarty

 

[Ding Dong !]

In To Thin Air - Jon Krakauer

Great read about the disastrous ascent of Everest in 1996

 

[Peteinblack]

Beastings - my 3rd Ben Myers novel of February, and my 7th book of 2025 (taking a break from The Bible, and Anna Karenina!)

 

[cheshunt seagull]

Crack-Up Capitalism by Quinn Slobodian
'Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy'

 

[Home and Away]

 

[North of Robertsbridge]

Londres, by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, published posthumously. A bit torn by this one. Céline’s best writing is superb (examples: Voyage au Bout de la Nuit, Guignol’s Band), using working-class speech to convey serious social themes. However, you can’t get over the fact that he was a notorious anti-semitic fascist, who took refuge in Germany with the Vichy leaders in 1944.

The novel is based on rediscovered drafts, so clearly lacks a proper edit, which detracts somewhat

I’m told by friends that I should have read the previous rediscovered novel Guerre first, but that it makes for difficult reading

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Beastings - my 3rd Ben Myers novel of February, and my 7th book of 2025 (taking a break from The Bible, and Anna Karenina!)

Sounds like you're a big fan. I've not read him, presumably you'd recommend?

 

[Professor Plum]

I'm tackling 'Get In' by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund. It’s about Sir Keir, his back office team and the path to power. I’m only 3 chapters in but it’s pretty jaw-dropping already. Politicos are such conniving gits, regardless of which bit of the political landscape they occupy, and how holy they profess to be. Good fun though.

 

[Peteinblack]

I'm tackling 'Get In' by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund. It’s about Sir Keir, his back office team and the path to power. I’m only 3 chapters in but it’s pretty jaw-dropping already. Politicos are such conniving gits, regardless of which bit of the political landscape they occupy, and how holy they profess to be. Good fun though.

I can imagine. Endless backstabbing, bitching, cliques, conspiracies, who's 'in' and who's 'out', jockeying for position or currying favour, plotting, rumours, whispered conversations in corridors, etc, whilst everyone insists that they are motivated by the greater good.

Sounds like academia!

 

[Peteinblack]

Sounds like you're a big fan. I've not read him, presumably you'd recommend?

I'm finding him 'variable'! Would certainly recommend The Offing, and The Perfect Golden Circle. I've just started Beastings, which I'm really enjoying so far, and for which 82% of readers on Goodreads have awarded it 4 or 5 (out of 5).

 

[Trust Me I’m A Stomach]

Dr Fischer of Geneva - Graham Greene

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

 

[CHAPPERS]

Beastings - my 3rd Ben Myers novel of February, and my 7th book of 2025 (taking a break from The Bible, and Anna Karenina!)

Did the Ben Myers lot last year. Found Cuddy hard work and haven’t finished it. Beastings is excellent, pretty full on though!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Sounds like you're a big fan. I've not read him, presumably you'd recommend?

I’d start with The Gallows Pole personally. The Offing is great also.