The "I am currently reading" thread

[Phanerothyme]

Boy Wonder, by James Robert Baker.

 

A forgotten classic, an absolute belter of a book.

 

A story about a gifted, crazy film director and producer, told in interviews with people who knew him, but never a word from the character himself.

 

It's laugh out loud funny, sick, demented and imaginatively depraved. Often all on the same page.

 

 

Not that many copies in print hence the silly 2nd hand price.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1857024702/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=

[Scozzie]

Hunger: Last Man Standing

Book #1 by Keith Taylor

 

It's a zombie story that starts in Bangkok.

Very good and very well written.

[taxman]

Buried by Mark Billingham. First one of his I've read and it's a pretty decent crime novel apart from the annoying and cliched tensions between the main policeman and his superiors. That idea really has been done to death.

Edited November 16, 2016 by taxman

[petemcewan]

Philip .K. Dick. The Man In The High Castle.

Stanley. G. Weinbaum. A Martian Odyssey.

Joeseph .Needham. History, Philosophy And Sociology Of Science.

[Guest]

Just finished The Moonstone, and The Mistletoe Murders by PD James. Half way through Pride and Prejudice.

"My dear Jane!'' exclaimed Elizabeth, "you are too good. Your sweetness and disinterestedness are really angelic; I do not know what to say to you. I feel as if I had never done you justice, or loved you as you deserve.''

 

Miss Bennet eagerly disclaimed all extraordinary merit, and threw back the praise on her sister's warm affection.

 

"Nay,'' said Elizabeth, "this is not fair. You wish to think all the world respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of anybody. I only want to think you perfect, and you set yourself against it. Do not be afraid of my running into any excess, of my encroaching on your privilege of universal good will. You need not. There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense."

[taxman]

Gave up on Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham, just so many annoying niggles in the plot and characters that I turned to the last page, found out who'd done it, shrugged and posted it through the door of the charity shop.

[metalman]

Just finished Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer, which wasn't bad in a Mark Haddon meets Ruth Rendell sort of way. The way it was talked up on the cover though made me expect something a lot more original.

 

Now on to the rather more traditional Death by Request by Romilly and Katherine John.

[joinerisme]

How To Live To Be 22 by Keith Waterhouse.

A collection of his writings which culminated in his classic Billy Liar.

[taxman]

Just finished Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer, which wasn't bad in a Mark Haddon meets Ruth Rendell sort of way. The way it was talked up on the cover though made me expect something a lot more original.

 

Now on to the rather more traditional Death by Request by Romilly and Katherine John.

 

Ahh, just picked up a Belinda Bauer from the book trolley at work, Blacklands, was a bit unsure whether it would be up my street or not. I've kept it in reserve for that nanosecond during my lifetime when I don't have anything to read.

[lindylou53]

Anyone read Chris Packham's autobiography - Fingers In the Sparkle Jar? I don't normally read autobiographies but this one - WOW! It's brutal, honest and very moving. Says it all that I reserved it from library when it came out 6 months ago and have only just managed to get my hands on it. Read it - you will not be disappointed!