Off Topic What books are you reading?

I thought I’d start this as a way of taking our minds off the head coach thread and as a way of recommending some reading material to others.
I love reading and I’m never without a book, hard copy or electronic. I’m certainly not highbrow although I’ve read a few books in my time that are considered classics.
At the moment though I’m reading Fairy Tale by Stephen King. A typical SK offering if you like that sort of thing (which I do).

 

I'm currently on The First Man by Albert Camus. It was published after his death from a draft manuscript so it kind of reads like an author's first stab at a book. Notes made to himself and suggestions / ideas in the margins.

My sister was the big reader and she's put me onto some cool stuff.

Iain M. Banks's sci-fi books are great. Ahead of his time in regard to all-powerful AI or 'minds' and post-scarcity cultures.

 

"How to stop flapping", by K Speakman

 

Currently reading Jonathan Wilson's novel about Eduard Streltsov. It's OK. I'm hoping it will get going soon. I like Wilson's non-fiction books on football so I thought I'd give this a go.

I'm quite interested in how football translates to art. It doesn't really, at least in the English language. Quite an interesting philosophical debate to be had as to why something as awful as war has been translated to great films, TV, poetry, and literature but sport doesn't.

 

I'm half way through Frankenstein and a quarter of the way through lord of the rings, both rereads.

Slow progress on both.

 

Tolkien can be a bit long winded.

 

I’m reading the David Baldacci books about Agent Pine. I’m through 2 and a half. 1 and a half to go.

 

Shadowlands: A journey through lost Britain.

The Ancient Paths: Discovering the lost map of Celtic Europe.

Malazan books - re-read.

 

Fell off a Cliff by Eileen Dover

 

I'm reading the head coach thread a composite of numerous authors. There are a lot of twists and turns some fictional characters, a whole load of dead end leads but a very good read for those of a non nervous disposition.

 

I read 115 pages of the fellowship the other day, gobbled it right up.

Just struggled to settle into reading with a toddler in the house. By the time she is down, I am a mess and unfit for anything but mindlessness.

 

Fair enough. I struggle with him a bit.

 

Reading, for the second time, The Signature Of All Things, absolute snorter of a book, by Elizabeth Gilbert, one of the best books I have read (and I have read an awful lot of books)

 

I forgot to get books to take on holiday, so ended up taking 2 of the wife's on holiday "The Family Upstairs" and "The Family Remains", which were ok, but not great, then swapped them on the free bookshelf for a couple of old Rebus novels, which were better.

 

I have a copy of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas waiting for me, might start it this weekend. It's a beautiful leather bound book published in 1954. Got it in a charity shop for £3.

 

I can see it. Is it because he meanders with his writing? Lots of little asides and such?

 

To some extent, but also not really. I don't mind that kind of story telling. I find some of the asides a bit twee and he puts a lot of effort into that. It's the combination of that and the fact that they don't add to the story. If I found them more enjoyable, I wouldn’t mind that they added nothing.

 

Yeah, that's fair. He had an odd quirky, fluffy, cosy thing going for him at times.

 

Try his other classics. "The art of negotiation" and "patience is a virtue"

His next book is out tomorrow, or next week. Maybe next month, or sometime this year.