BOOKS - What are we all reading/recommendations thread?*

hertfordseasider

hertfordseasider

Well-known member
*Apologies to Mac for pinching his thread title for TV and films but it's such a great thread I thought it would be a good idea to have one for books too as we often have a thread on them so a thread dedicated to it seems like a good idea. Clearly it will be slower in posts by some distance to the TV'Films one but I read avidly and I know lots of you do on here so it's good to share recommendations. So thanks Mac, you have nailed the best non football thread on here 👍

To start us off I am currently reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Maruakami following a recommendation. Very different, 3 storylines one about a 15 year old lad who runs away from home, another set at the end of the Second World War about a mass hypnosis type episode and the third about a man who can talk to cats. Yes, it sounds weird and it is but it is also compelling and really beautifully written and very readable. I am about 200 pages in of the over 700 pages and I am looking forward to seeing how the 3 events marry up.

Prior to that I read The Stranger Times by C K McDonnell another unusual book but laugh out loud funny about a newspaper set in Manchester that reports on the paranormal and anything bonkers. The editor is a similar personality to Jackson Lamb from the Slow Horses books by Mick Herron (another great read) and the washed out journalists and staff . Of course strange things do happen and it all ends up as a fun, fantasy comedy. There are 3 books in the series at the moment.
 
Just finished 'Capitalist Realism' Mark Fisher - V Good but heavy on the old noggin. Stephen Morris - Fast Forward (Joy Divison/New Order drummer bio. Both this and the first volume 'Record, Play, Pause' are excellent honest and v witty)
Reading now 'A Fabulous Creation' David Hepworth (The History of the LP basically. Good so far for album loving old farts.)
 
Lala said:
I’ve just started Anna Karenina as never seen any of the film or tv adaptations. 800 + pages should keep me out of mischief for a while.
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I remember having to read Middlemarch by George Elliot when I was doing A Level English Lit, it was massive and I lost the will to live after about a 100 pages so I ended up chucking it in a corner and used Coles Notes to revise for it!!
 
Stuart Macbride- Dying Light.

As massive Rebus(Ian Rankin) fan and up to date with the series was missing the Scottish detective grit and came across Logan McRae books early this year.
Now on the second story it's has similarities to Rebus but based in Aberdeen not Edinburgh has plenty of humour also.
 
Don't know what genre of book you prefer @hertfordseasider, but I note that your current list includes a story during WW2.
Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books were excellent. BG is a former Berlin detective, forced to join the SS but hates them all. The SS keep calling on him to solve murders, but some are trying to kill him as well, the guy is a survivor. The books are very dark, have absolutely brilliant story lines, and are lol funny at times despite the murders and back drop of Nazi Germany. This brief overview doesn't really do the books justice, I would recommend them to anyone, regardless of their usual choice of book
 
Dave62 said:
Don't know what genre of book you prefer @hertfordseasider, but I note that your current list includes a story during WW2.
Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books were excellent. BG is a former Berlin detective, forced to join the SS but hates them all. The SS keep calling on him to solve murders, but some are trying to kill him as well, the guy is a survivor. The books are very dark, have absolutely brilliant story lines, and are lol funny at times despite the murders and back drop of Nazi Germany. This brief overview doesn't really do the books justice, I would recommend them to anyone, regardless of their usual choice of book
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Just ordered March Violets on the back of your post👍
 
poolseasider said:
Stuart Macbride- Dying Light.

As massive Rebus(Ian Rankin) fan and up to date with the series was missing the Scottish detective grit and came across Logan McRae books early this year.
Now on the second story it's has similarities to Rebus but based in Aberdeen not Edinburgh has plenty of humour also.
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Massive fan of Stuart Macbride, the Logan McRae series is brilliant as is the Ash Henderson series also by Macbride.
My collection includes all Macbrides, Rankins (Rebus), Peter James (Roy Grace series) and Peter Robinson (DCI Banks).
If you fancy something crime and Lancashire based try Nick Oldham (Henry Christie series).
 
Recent/current reads:
Chester Himes - 'The Heat's On' and 'Cotton Comes To Harlem' darkly comedic NYC crime fiction
Amy Rigby - 'Girl To City' a musical memoir of the NYC punk scene
Elif Shafak - 'The Island Of Missing Trees' sort of Romeo & Juliet set during and post Cyprus War
Eric Ambler - 'A Kind Of Anger' for me the first and best British spy thriller writer
Publius Statius - 'The Achilleid' a bit of epic mythology
 
The Secrets of Bryn Estyn by Richard Webster, a very grim story of how sex abuse accusations become witch hunts and a whole new genre of 'justice'.
 
Only recently discovered Henning Mankell & his Kurt Wallender detective.
Good read and he's written quite a few.
 
John Milton (not the poet) series by Mark Dawson. A thriller series about a former government assassin who gets out, but ends up on the run as his former employer tries to track him.
 
Dave62 said:
Don't know what genre of book you prefer @hertfordseasider, but I note that your current list includes a story during WW2.
Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books were excellent. BG is a former Berlin detective, forced to join the SS but hates them all. The SS keep calling on him to solve murders, but some are trying to kill him as well, the guy is a survivor. The books are very dark, have absolutely brilliant story lines, and are lol funny at times despite the murders and back drop of Nazi Germany. This brief overview doesn't really do the books justice, I would recommend them to anyone, regardless of their usual choice of book
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Sounds right up my street, that's what I was hoping for from this thread. 👍
 
Budgies-Budgie said:
Just finished 'Capitalist Realism' Mark Fisher - V Good but heavy on the old noggin. Stephen Morris - Fast Forward (Joy Divison/New Order drummer bio. Both this and the first volume 'Record, Play, Pause' are excellent honest and v witty)
Reading now 'A Fabulous Creation' David Hepworth (The History of the LP basically. Good so far for album loving old farts.)
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Big fan of Mark Fisher’s work - did you know he’s no longer with us (RIP) 😞
 
Bend it like Suddick said:
Defo worth a try. A bit of a Marmite series, you will either be transfixed or hate them.

Simon Pegg ( Hot Fuzz/Mission Impossible/Sean of the Dead) has just recently bought the TV rights to them.
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Great. The Stranger Times books need to be adapted for TV too, you will definitely enjoy those.

I have several go to authors, obvious ones like King, Child & Koontz but my favourite author is either C J Sansom or Robert McCammon, McCammons post apocalyptic tome, Swansong, is brilliant and his historical thrillers The Matthew Shardlake books are just ace.
 
I used to live in Bangor in the 90’s and I was a punk. I started hanging around with a few local punks who were teenagers in the height of punk and the troubles in Norther Ireland. They told me about one of their old mates they had wrote a book about being a punk in that town and how eventually they turned their life around. I’ve read the book it’s a fantastic read. It’s called “Painting the trees” by Mark Gordon. If anyone else fancy reading it you will have a right chuckle when you realise where the title comes from.
 
Victorsponge said:
Spoiler alert, they all get killed. 😉
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😩 I’m enjoying it so far but still very early on. I’m reading it because I read that it is often and mainly interpreted differently to how Tolstoy intended, so I’m going to see how I interpret it going in blind, and then see which way I’ve gone, as in with the masses or with Tolstoy.

I like playing little games with myself 🥹
 
Yarmouth Seasider said:
Massive fan of Stuart Macbride, the Logan McRae series is brilliant as is the Ash Henderson series also by Macbride.
My collection includes all Macbrides, Rankins (Rebus), Peter James (Roy Grace series) and Peter Robinson (DCI Banks).
If you fancy something crime and Lancashire based try Nick Oldham (Henry Christie series).
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Love Mcbride and if you like him try Marc Billingham Tom Thorne books
 
Budgies-Budgie said:
Just finished 'Capitalist Realism' Mark Fisher - V Good but heavy on the old noggin. Stephen Morris - Fast Forward (Joy Divison/New Order drummer bio. Both this and the first volume 'Record, Play, Pause' are excellent honest and v witty)
Reading now 'A Fabulous Creation' David Hepworth (The History of the LP basically. Good so far for album loving old farts.)
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Capitalist realism is probably the best book I've ever read.
 
Just read a book about a kid growing up and living throigh Albania's transition from Communism to capitalism. It was surprisingly good. Sounds a bit dry but Stalinism seem through the eyes of a kid was quite funny.

I think it was called 'Free'
 
“Did Ye Hear Mammy Died” - Seamus O’Reilly.

A beautifully written and very funny account of growing up in Londonderry as one of eleven children. Sailed through it. A life affirming and very reassuring book.
 
On my jollies, just motored through Cannery Row by John Steinbeck - well written with well rounded characters, makes you kinda think…. I like that….
 
Lots of John Le Carre lately. A Perfect Spy, Agent Running in the Field

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathiser — best book of recent years. Just reading the sequel now.

Emily St John Mandel for a change of pace. Not read her new one yet.
 
I tend to read thrillers to compensate for the football.
Reading Harlan Coban currently but I'm another big fan of Mick Herron mentioned in the o/p.
 
Mr Tinto said:
On my jollies, just motored through Cannery Row by John Steinbeck - well written with well rounded characters, makes you kinda think…. I like that….
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I’ve read all the Steinbeck books, they really are a great read, Cannery Row is excellent and if you liked that you should read Tortilla Flats next. He writes characters brilliantly and you really get the feel of the time and the place.
 
Just finished “I am Red” by Orhan Pamuk (set in Ottoman Istanbul)

Now starting Tidelands (trilogy) by Phillipa Gregory set in 17th century backdrop of civil war and religious issues.

Thanks for the tips. I’m tempted to re read Anna as Lala said, and also revisit Steinbeck as I did Mouse and Men at school and spent a few weeks around Monterey so it’s got me musing on that now
 
They're already well known to many, but the Jack Reacher books are always very good, and an easy read.

Also the Ben Hope book series by Scott Mariani.

Lincoln Rhyme books by Jeffrey Deaver, brilliant.
 
I know this isn’t as fast paced as the movies thread but I have just had a run of particularly good reads. I finally shed Kafka n the Shore by Hanukkah Marukami and it was amazing, like nothing I have ever read before so I heartily recommend it.

I then tried another new author to me,Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes, written in 1957 and set in post war Harlem it is the first book in the Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones detective series, tough, gritty, fast paced and laugh out loud funny in places it was a really pleasant surprise so I will be reading the rest.

House at the end of the world by Dean Koontz was next, not bad, easy read nothing great though and I have just finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King, he really is a master story teller and I devoured the over 900 pages of this in 6 nights. It was brilliant and very much linked to the Dark Tower series of his books.
 
I only really read Factual Historic stuff War stories etc Have read a couple of Colditz books Pat Reid & Airy Neave Etc But best one was by a German Officer there from their perspective https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colditz-German-Story-Reinhold-Eggers/dp/1844155366/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1176478341131892&hvadid=73530099344236&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=188&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-73530036919270:loc-188&hydadcr=24431_2219464&keywords=colditz+the+german+story&qid=1687108232&sr=8-1
For those interested in such things I'd highly recommend it . Currently reading a German Viewpoint on D Day
 
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