Good reads

[morepork]

Gomorrah by Roberto saviano, superb 5/5

Cheery fucker aren't you?

Nothing like a bit of misery morepork, I'm balancing it out with the art of meditation by matthieu ricard

Just drink bro.

[paddy no 11]

The wayward bus - Steinbeck

Very similar book to the winter of our discontent and that is a better book imo, still the wayward bus was well worth a read and needed something not over challenging in these ridiculous times

[Donny osmond]

Couple of decent rugby books lately.

Mud, Mauls and Mascara by Catherine Spencer is an excellent and, dare I say, important book about determination, courage, achievement and failure. Spencer was Captain of England and took them to unheard-of heights, winning grand slams, beating the best in the world, and two consecutive, losing, WC finals in 2006 and 2010. The book opens with a painfully honest account of her emotions as she watched England finally win the WC in 2014; anger and bitterness that she hadn't lifted the trophy herself were her overwhelming feelings and she is brutally honest about that. The book is a gallop thru her rugby career but at all points it details her battles with self-confidence, imposter syndrome, everyday sexism. She wrote the book herself and is an engaging character and this comes thru in spades. Eventually, having left rugby behind and struggled mightily with that, before watching England lift the WC and being plunged back into the maelstrom of emotions, she comes thru it all and the book ends on a real positive. It's a great read and one that I will be encouraging my daughters to read when they are a bit older.


Fringes by Ben Mercer is another excellent rugby book, about life as an 'almost made it' pro player. Mercer joins French club Rouen as they are taken over by two business men with designs on taking the club from the lower divisions of French rugby up to the big time. Over his four seasons there, under the guidance of Richard Hill ex England scrum half, the club climb thru the leagues gaining promotion. Mercer charts how he came to grips with French life, professional sports life, rugby life and the many clashes of culture he experienced along the way. Another enthralling book, full of character and characters, the book isn't so much about the details of life as a pro rugby player, it's more just observations of life in France from a pro rugby player. But it's well written and engaging, open and honest and I imagine will appeal to most club rugby players.

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[OnlyMonikerRemaining]

Couple of decent rugby books lately.




Fringes by Ben Mercer is another excellent rugby book, about life as an 'almost made it' pro player. Mercer joins French club Rouen as they are taken over by two business men with designs on taking the club from the lower divisions of French rugby up to the big time. Over his four seasons there, under the guidance of Richard Hill ex England scrum half, the club climb thru the leagues gaining promotion. Mercer charts how he came to grips with French life, professional sports life, rugby life and the many clashes of culture he experienced along the way. Another enthralling book, full of character and characters, the book isn't so much about the details of life as a pro rugby player, it's more just observations of life in France from a pro rugby player. But it's well written and engaging, open and honest and I imagine will appeal to most club rugby players.

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I am reading Fringes at the moment and quite enjoying it. I'd agree with your assessment so far.

[Numbers]

The Fuck it List by John Niven, good stuff.

I like all of Niven's books so far, always entertaining.

[paddy no 11]

Gave up on norwegian wood after 120 pages - though it was ridiculous

[Son of Mathonwy]

The Gunslinger has always been part of a fantasy series.

It's like saying "I really enjoyed Lord of the Rings as a travellogue, but the fantasy stuff really lost me."

Not what I said really, the first 2/3 of book 1 is a western

The Gunslinger is the best of the 7 books. The quality of each book is inversely proportional to its length. And some of them are very very long. Which means that the 4th and 5th books are particularly unrewarding. I recommend you just read a synopsis of those two books, they're a thankless read.

But if you're looking for a western, stop at book 1.

[paddy no 11]

Revisited the start of this thread and read Crossing to safety (4/5) and the narrow road to the deep north (5/5), will thrawl the thread for more.....shame the old threads were gone far more contributors and veriety.....serj eventually just went on a norn iron tour

[francoisfou]

Setting the Desert on Fire by James Barr is an account of the British (particularly TE Lawrence) in the Middle East from 1916-18, and their support and encouragement for an Arab revolt against the pro-German Ottoman Empire.

If the history of the struggles in the Middle East interests you, then this book is unmissable.

[paddy no 11]

Lonesome dove

A great read but not sure I'd be handing out a Pulitzer prize for this

4/5

[Zhivago]

-Clay Machine Gun by Victor Pelevin
-Stamboul Train by Graham Greene
-Mask for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler

[francoisfou]

I’m half way through « The Time for Singing », by Richard Powers. It’s about a mixed race family who are extremely gifted musicians having to deal with the race problem in the USA. Compelling reading so far.

[Donny osmond]

Just finished a couple:

Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan. Critics go mad about this book but it wasn't for me. It's about boys who grow into men together and face the ups and downs of life. It's about the love found in friendships and how it both changes and stays the same over the years.
Trouble is, I thought all the protagonists were arseholes so it was difficult to appreciate the themes when I'm wondering why anyone would have a deep and lasting friendship with any of the main characters. I felt it was pretentious and preachy and not nearly as deep or meaningful as it wanted to be. Plenty of others disagree with me though.

The Power Of Geography by Tim Marshall. Quite interesting, but also quite samey. Every chapter can be summed up the same way.... "This country can/can't be invaded from this direction and this impacts the history and politics thusly...". Interesting analysis of history and geography and what makes a country the way it is, but also there must be something more to the power of geography. Having said that, he's an engaging author, succinct and humorous and I am planning on reading the book he wrote before, Prisoners of Geography, so he's clearly doing ok.

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[Donny osmond]

Been absorbed by the Ben Aaronovitch Rivers Of London series, don't know if it's been mentioned on here yet. He's very very good at building a world. The books are all murder mysteries but set in a world of magic, goddesses, wizards, ghosts etc. It's a not high literature by any means, but these books are a very very enjoyable way to kill a few hours or an evening immersed in an amusing and intriguing world.

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[Puja]

Fantastic news yesterday:




If anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about, "The Lies of Locke Lamora," may be one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read and the series has been abandoned after book 3 came out in 2013 (Book 4 got as far as pre-orders and a month before the release date before it came out that Lynch had been unable to complete it due to anxiety and mental health or to inform his editors or publishers that he wasn't going to make the deadline). I am very glad that he's feeling better, but I am super-glad to have more Gentlemen Bastards.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

Yeah, they're supposedly some time-filling short stories, rather than Thorn of Emberlain; but still, really good news that he's got his anxiety under some sort of control.

[Zhivago]

Riddle of the Sands - set around 1903, bit espionage, bit advenure, sailing heavy, set mostly around East Frisia. First half was slow burning, but now I don't want it to end.

[Donny osmond]

Shuggie Bain

JFC.

J. F. C.

If you want to get your heart broken on every single page of a book, read Shuggie Bain. Easily the best book I've ever read, the author has a real talent for drawing a picture using simple but evocative phrases; the characters and conversations are realistic and sympathetic to the reader; the characters are written with sympathy, even the nasty ones. If it's true that you can see what's coming in the plot, it's also true that it's so well written, you are so immersed in the lives of the main characters, you have no choice but read through, tension mounting, pathos inexorably building until the inevitable happens, and your poor shredded heart is once again torn apart.

All I will say about the plot is that it's about a family in 80s Glasgow dealing with poverty, alcoholism, internal demons, abuse of all kinds. Think Billy Elliot meets Les Miserables, in broad Glaswegian, and minus all the joy.

With my favourite books, likes of Trainspotting or High Fidelity, I like to go back to them time after time, even years later, as I take a real pleasure in how differently the plot and the characters seem to me as I grow older. I don't think I'll be going back to Shuggie Bain. Not for years and years and years. There's not much that's going to change, when the story is that stark, there's no room for change. But it is a beautiful book, and you should read it. Once.

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[Donny osmond]

Read a few good books over the summer.

The Devil You Know by Dr Gwen Adshead is a really thoughtful exploration of the type of criminals we all love to fear. The author is a forensic psychiatrist who deals with offenders who have committed the sort of crimes that should see them locked up for life, but somehow she is able to lead them on a path to redemption. She finds the hope in hopeless cases, she seems to make her patients recognise their failings and also recognise how they can overcome their failings. The book doesn't complete the stories tho, so we never find out if her patients actually complete their journey to becoming responsible members of society, which is a shame but also understandable. It's a good book, full of hope, and that's probably a good and very necessary thing in these times.


The Salt Path by Raynor Winn is a lovely little book, an autobiographical account of how the author and her husband lost everything, becoming homeless just as he got diagnosed with a terminal illness. They decided to walk the South Coast path, around Devon and Cornwall, wild camping all the way, as they had literally no other way of dealing with their situation. It turns into a life saving and life affirming trip, that invites the reader into their lives and their experiences and leaves you grinning as wide as possible while also worrying for their future....

Which brings me onto....

Landlines by Raynor Winn. Yes, the same author and her same husband. They have, courtesy of the monies earned from The Salt Path, got themselves settled and safe but life is not good, his illness is progressing, he's dying and there's nothing they can do about it. Except do more walking, bizzarely it seems to alleviate his symptoms. So they decide to walk, wild camping all the way, about the toughest path they can, starting in Cape Wrath in the far north west of Scotland; they initially plan on walking just to Fort William, in the not quite far north west of Scotland. They end up walking all the home to Cornwall, and it's even more life affirming than their first trip.

I would highly recommend all 3 books, individually and together they are interesting, engaging and full of hope.

[Numbers]

Shuggie Bain

JFC.

J. F. C.

If you want to get your heart broken on every single page of a book, read Shuggie Bain. Easily the best book I've ever read, the author has a real talent for drawing a picture using simple but evocative phrases; the characters and conversations are realistic and sympathetic to the reader; the characters are written with sympathy, even the nasty ones. If it's true that you can see what's coming in the plot, it's also true that it's so well written, you are so immersed in the lives of the main characters, you have no choice but read through, tension mounting, pathos inexorably building until the inevitable happens, and your poor shredded heart is once again torn apart.

All I will say about the plot is that it's about a family in 80s Glasgow dealing with poverty, alcoholism, internal demons, abuse of all kinds. Think Billy Elliot meets Les Miserables, in broad Glaswegian, and minus all the joy.

With my favourite books, likes of Trainspotting or High Fidelity, I like to go back to them time after time, even years later, as I take a real pleasure in how differently the plot and the characters seem to me as I grow older. I don't think I'll be going back to Shuggie Bain. Not for years and years and years. There's not much that's going to change, when the story is that stark, there's no room for change. But it is a beautiful book, and you should read it. Once.

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I'm reading this at the moment upon your recommendation and it's pretty much as you describe, bleak as hell and a familiar story thread but with excellent characterisation.

Thanks

[Which Tyler]

How's this for a rabbit hole - and what would your suggestions be?

If authors 'covered' novels, the way musicians cover songs, which covered novel would you be most excited to read?

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - by Terry Pratchett?
Watership Down by Neil Gaiman?
A Song of Ice and Fire by... someone who actually finishes what they start? (Joe Abercrombie would probably get my vote here)
Harry Potter by... a competent author (actually, Gaiman again would be brilliant there)

[Puja]

How's this for a rabbit hole - and what would your suggestions be?

If authors 'covered' novels, the way musicians cover songs, which covered novel would you be most excited to read?

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - by Terry Pratchett?
Watership Down by Neil Gaiman?
A Song of Ice and Fire by... someone who actually finishes what they start? (Joe Abercrombie would probably get my vote here)
Harry Potter by... a competent author (actually, Gaiman again would be brilliant there)

I'd want the Xanth novels, because I loved them as a kid before realising just how interested Piers Antony was in 12 year olds having sex. Pratchett would be a great choice for that too (ETA - covering the Xanth books, not being interested in 12 year olds. Realised on a rereading that I wasn't clear), although I suspect he could've turned his hand to most things.

Have you read 'A Deadly Education' by Naomi Novik? It takes the 'magical boarding school for young wizards and witches' idea but makes it a place where there are monsters that hunt magicians while they're young and weak and the only hope of survival is locking them all up in an automated underground school for 5 years to try and cram enough magical skills into them that they can survive, while also presenting one unified target that's under regular assault, rather than leaving them to get picked off one-by-one. Also, the school is constantly breaking and may hate them all, and there's a chosen one hero who's mostly pissing off the main character who just wants to survive rather than be caught in the turmoil and danger stirred up by him trying to save everybody.

It is Harry Potter by a competent and far less problematic author, but also told from the perspective of a misanthropic possibly-evil Hermione. Very recommended.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

Have you read 'A Deadly Education' by Naomi Novik? It takes the 'magical boarding school for young wizards and witches' idea but makes it a place where there are monsters that hunt magicians while they're young and weak and the only hope of survival is locking them all up in an automated underground school for 5 years to try and cram enough magical skills into them that they can survive, while also presenting one unified target that's under regular assault, rather than leaving them to get picked off one-by-one. Also, the school is constantly breaking and may hate them all, and there's a chosen one hero who's mostly pissing off the main character who just wants to survive rather than be caught in the turmoil and danger stirred up by him trying to save everybody.

That sounds really interesting - especially the author being competent and not-problematic.
It's gone straight into the Amazon basket.

[Son of Mathonwy]

How's this for a rabbit hole - and what would your suggestions be?

If authors 'covered' novels, the way musicians cover songs, which covered novel would you be most excited to read?

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - by Terry Pratchett?
Watership Down by Neil Gaiman?
A Song of Ice and Fire by... someone who actually finishes what they start? (Joe Abercrombie would probably get my vote here)
Harry Potter by... a competent author (actually, Gaiman again would be brilliant there)

That's a really interesting idea.

Loads of 19th century English-language novels could do with this treatment: Frankenstein, Moby Dick, Middle march, an decent modern writer would be an improvement.

For me, 20th and 21st century novels are more competently written than they are conceived, so there are not necessarily that many which fit the bill. (Eg Harry Potter for me isn't badly written, it's just derivative and therefore a waste of a lot of words, whoever was doing the writing).

One I'd like to read would be the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (probably best to ignore the final set) rewritten by a writer who didn't bore the crap out of me 75% of the time . . . maybe Clive Barker or Philip Pullman. Or Michael Moorcock, who'd cut their length by at least 90%.

Franz Kafka's a remarkably tedious read considering how short the novels are. Christopher Priest would be perfect. In fact I'd nominate Priest for a lot of this.

For the rest, I'm not saying the originals are at all bad, but a different take would be great:

The complete works of Shakespeare by Arthur Miller.

Dune and Lord of the Rings by Tolstoy. And Mervyn Peake.

Crime and Punishment by Stephen King.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by Kurt Vonnegut.

Salem's Lot by M R James.

[Puja]

Have you read 'A Deadly Education' by Naomi Novik? It takes the 'magical boarding school for young wizards and witches' idea but makes it a place where there are monsters that hunt magicians while they're young and weak and the only hope of survival is locking them all up in an automated underground school for 5 years to try and cram enough magical skills into them that they can survive, while also presenting one unified target that's under regular assault, rather than leaving them to get picked off one-by-one. Also, the school is constantly breaking and may hate them all, and there's a chosen one hero who's mostly pissing off the main character who just wants to survive rather than be caught in the turmoil and danger stirred up by him trying to save everybody.

That sounds really interesting - especially the author being competent and not-problematic.
It's gone straight into the Amazon basket.

In fact, the best bit about Novik is that she actually was a touch problematic on one bit of Deadly Education with a paragraph that invoked the trope that dreadlocks were a dirty hairstyle (there was context, but still) but, when called out upon it, publically apologised, showed understanding, and arranged for the paragraph to be changed in the ebook and in future printings. Gotta love someone who is willing to acknowledge and learn from fucking up.

Puja