UKC

As per the topic title, what are you reading at the moment (as in books, rather than this UKC forum post)?

In reply to Tall Clare:
Bill Bryson - Road to Little Dribbling.

Glad I got it out the library, it is trying my patience at the moment.

Did recently finish the Hunger Games trilogy which I found quite enjoyable having never seen the hollywood adaptations.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Re reading Tim Pat Coogan's history of Ireland, what with it being almost the centenary of a " terrible beauty" being born. Just as good on the second reading.

In reply to Tall Clare:

A science fiction shoot-em-up (that actually has some quite good politics and military history in it) - Doom Star by Vaughn Heppner

I'm slightly embarrassed by this as I likely should be reading something a little more edifying, but there you go.

In reply to pneame:

Vaughn Heppner ? What a great porn name !

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Attwood. It's quite intriguing - I'm half way through and I have no idea what kind of resolutions there might be to the various strands of the story in the second half.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Nothing at the moment having recently finished Norwegian Wood (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/how-a-book-a...

I'm thinking of getting H is for Hawk next, anyone read it? Care to share your thoughts?

In reply to Tall Clare:

Just started on Eric Jones' autobiography after finishing Paul Merton's. I suppose its a bit voyeuristic, but I've found both fascinating so far. I especially like hearing more about events I already know something about, and being completely surprised by another part of someone's life that I had absolutely no clue about previously.

In reply to Tony the Blade:

I *loved* H is for Hawk - in fact I'd add it to my 'favourite books ever' shelf, if I had one. The way she combines the tale of her grief with the training of the goshawk, and juxtaposes it with T H White's experience, completely enthralled me.

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester. It's been around for a while but I've only just discovered it.

In reply to Tall Clare:


A ringing endorsement if ever I read one... right, I'm out of here, got to get to my local bookstore pronto.

Thanks Clare

In reply to Tall Clare:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/213092/the-man-who-made-things-out-of-trees/

With my having been doing a Forest Schools course recently, my auntie and cousins on my mum's side of the family thoughtfully got me The Man Who Made Things Out Of Trees by Robert Penn for Christmas, and I've just finished reading it.

I found it quite fascinating. In it he searches for an ash tree which would be suitable to be made into furniture and other smaller items, and he goes into the history of the use of ash during different phases in history - expanding on it's properties as a wood, and what it's been used to make (the section where he meets a bow making still using traditional skills, and goes into the laws passed during the middle ages relating to males in the country having to practice each week and the cultivation of ash trees I found especially engaging), and compares other woods and says a little bit about their properties. He also goes into how ash is a part of place names in England in different forms and what the meanings are, and travels to different parts of England, and America and Europe to have different things made from his ash, and talks about other cultural connections to the wood as well as the emotional ones which the craftsmen communicate having to their work with the wood.

I think it's a very pleasant and interesting book, I'd recommend reading it if you have the time and a little bit of interest in nature and trees, in practical things and in history too.

In reply to Timmd:

This has been on my list to read since Christmas, so thanks for the recommendation.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Hyperion - Dan Simmons.

Not really in to fiction or sci-fi, but thus far the book has been spectacular!

In reply to Tall Clare:
You're welcome, did you ever find a link for the piece of research you asked about a while ago by the way, to do with marketing an area? It stuck in my head as sounding quite interesting.

I'm vaguely obsessive, which means it's been bugging me not remembering the name of it. Thanks.

In reply to Timmd:

Yeah, that particular paper turned out to be not that relevant to my research at that stage - but there's loads out there on place marketing. What particular area of investigation are you interested in?

In reply to Tall Clare:

"Chasing the Scream" by Johan Hari

The history of the War on Drugs. Written a bit over-emotionally at times, but gets better with each chapter, very compelling and even handed.

In reply to Shani:

The hyperion trilogy is one of my favourite sci fi books ever and im quite a fan but do yourself a favour and dont read the endymion books. they have all the bad bits and none of the good bits of the hyperion books.

In reply to Tall Clare:
I'm still figuring out what direction I'm trying to go in, but something about that paper made me want to read more, so I'm just after the name of it and things really, as I sometimes think about it and wonder what it said.

I probably want to go more into what's known as 'community engagement' and 'community development', and involving interacting with nature into the mix, so it might be that you've been reading up on different things.

Back to books and things...

In reply to Tall Clare:

The collector's Bag (R.V.Vernede)
Poem for the Day
The all color book of Greek Mythology

All for different reasons and picked fairly randomly from my bookshelf.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Just finished Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle and about to start Cannery Row by Steinbeck.

Liked the style of Paddy Clarke but wasn't gripped due to a lack of plot structure (which is part of the point). Took me back to my younger self very effectively. Almost a rite of passage book, certainly about beginning to enter the adult world from childhood.

In reply to ebdon:


Thanks for the tip.

I only got suckered in to reading it because a non-climbing mate was talking about The Shrike - which is obviously a route on Cloggy.

I asked him what he was on about and he handed me Hyperion saying, "Read this!".

Once I've read them I'm going to thrust the Cloggy guide in to his hands and say, "Climb this!".

In reply to Shani:

Ha ha I'd never made the connection! You've made me want to go climb shrike now (but not do battle with mysterious knife welding monsters).

In reply to Tall Clare:

Currently got three on the go: -

Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes.
Examining the themes of presence and absence, the relationship between photography and theatre, history and death, these 'reflections on photography' begin as an investigation into the nature of photographs. Then, as Barthes contemplates a photograph of his mother as a child, the book becomes an exposition of his own mind.

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Boy's Life is a richly imagined, spellbinding portrait of the magical worldview of the young -- and of innocence lost.
Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson -- a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him. From an ancient mystic who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown -- for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the balance...

Big Tits Monthly - April 2016
Not much reading to be honest, but Kirsty from Cheltenham has got a cracking set of top bollocks.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I am reading the six mountain travel books by Eric Shipton - again!
I love reading historical mountaineering literature and in my experience great climbers write fantastically good stories.

I just got back from a couple of days working in the Czech Republic and bought a couple of books at the airport on the way out.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis.
The Revenant by Michael Punke.

I haven't started the Revenant yet but the Big Short is an outrageous true story about the massive US credit bubble in the noughties and the shorters who bet that it would all go bad.
Highly recommended!

In reply to Tall Clare:

I’m reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. He is this wonderfully gifted prose writer but his stories fly so far and range so widely that sometimes they lose me. I adored Black Swan Green and Cloud Atlas, couldn’t even finish Number9Dream or Ghostwritten. This one is similar in format to Cloud Atlas – a series of interlocking stories spanning a long time period. The problem with this type of novel is that it has to repeatedly work to draw you into a number of different stories and characters, and in this instance some of the characters aren’t particularly likeable. The thread running through them all is so far rather obscured (I’m about two thirds of the way through) so we know something odd is going on but not what it is. I’m sticking with it so the big denouement had better be worth my dedication!

(H is for Hawk is waiting on top of a pile by my bed)

In reply to Timmd and Tall Clare:

I'm reading 'Wildwood: A journey through trees' by Roger Deakin. It's not a new book (published in 2008) but I've only just come across it. It's gentle, detailed nature-writing of the sort that makes you realise that you're rushing through life without appreciating it properly.

In reply to Alyson:

That's interesting - I couldn't get into Cloud Atlas and hated Black Swan Green, but loved Number9Dream and Ghostwritten. Mind you, it's a long time since I read them - I'm not sure that Number9Dream in particular would age well. I do find Mitchell's ability to hold all these strings simultaneously pretty remarkable.

In reply to tony:

I can't remember the ending now (old age), but I can recall my wife rushing off to a quiet place to have a cry when she was reaching the conclusion.

Currently reading War and Peace for the third time - prompted by everything the recent BBC version rushed/missed out.

In reply to ebdon:


Well I have to say I was a bit shocked to hear my mate talking about 'Shrike'. If you knew him you'd realise he isn't built for gravity sports. So I was wondering why the heck he was talking about classic Cloggy routes!

I suppose he could have been talking about birds!

In reply to Tall Clare:

John Macnab - John Buchan

A fun Victorian style adventure where three bored upper class men decide to spice up their lives by trying to poach a deer or salmon from three Scottish Estates. They warn the Estate owners of their intentions and when they plan to do it to add to the challenge/sport. Took a little while to get my head around the Scottish dialect in written form but really enjoying it.

In reply to upordown:

Try "Waterlog" by Rogert Deakin. Superlative stuff.

If you like outdoorsy nature stuff I'd also recommend a couple of books by Tristan Gooley, including "The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs", or the much more accessible "The Natural Navigator" which is also available as a cut down pocket-guide.

In reply to Shani:

Yes, reading Wildwood has made me want to read Waterlog too. And thanks for the other recommendations

In reply to Gone for good:

If you enjoyed the Big Short, then you will enjoy Flashboys (a subject close to my heart...in a working sense) and probably Liars poker as well (more autobiography)

In reply to Shani:

Another vote for Waterlog.

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. It's getting better as I get further in, but I did struggle with a bit of it.

T.

In reply to Alyson:

Lordy; snap. I posted a reply to the question Tall Clare posed without first reading the thread.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Narconomics - How to Run a Drug Cartel. A journalist from the Economist sees what lessons drug cartels have learned from conventional businesses.

In reply to John2:


There is a good section on 'narconomics' in the most excellent 'Freakonomics'.

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:



As a follow-up, you could do worse than read The Return of John McNab, by Andrew Greig. It's an updated take on the story and is a bit of a Boys Own romp for the 1990s. The ending is a bit rubbish, but the rest is good fun, and rumour has it that if you know your Scottish climbers, you can recognise one or two 'names'. (Andrew Grieg was introduced to climbing by the late Mal Duff.)

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

Have you got as far as Crispin Hershey? He really annoys me! But by this point I'm suitably intrigued to want to know how it all comes together.

In reply to Shani:



I think Shrike must have been named after the bird, because Joe Brown climbed the route on Cloggy in 1958, and the first Hyperion book was published in 1989

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Yep, I reckon you are right.

ExcelleIn reply to tony:


Excellent - I also recommend The Handmaid"s Tale": clever, scary and well-written. And very thought-provoking.

In reply to Tall Clare:

The 5th Wave - which I've recently found out is coming out as a film.

Would be getting rather further along if my daughter didn't keep playing with the book mark

Keep trying to read Tom Clancy - The Bear and the Dragon, but keep getting distracted and have to start again to remember what's going on, as it's complex.

In reply to Tall Clare:
SPQR by Mary Beard - not light reading, but very good indeed.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Finished Bone Clocks last week and enjoyed it

Agree about his holding threads together being remarkable, but I'm maybe less critical than some as I've liked all his book so far

In reply to Alyson:

Having finished it, I couldn't possibly comment

In reply to Tall Clare:

I'm reading A brief history of seven killings by Marlon James, ive got to admit I'm struggling with it, I may take a break from it. Ive also been dipping in to Fragile Things, a collection of Neil Gaiman short stories. Enjoyed sort more than others, but generally very good.

I've also been reading Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat by Chris Cooper a laymans guide to the science behind drugs in sport, which is extremely interesting.

In reply to Alyson:
I'm just in that section. Hugo Lamb annoyed me.

This is the first book of David Mitchell's that I've read. Thus far, I think it's like what you'd get if you crossed some of Iain Banks' novels with Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (that's the only book of hers which I've read and I enjoyed it, though my wife thought it not so good). Like you, I'm expecting a good ending to reward me for having put the effort in to reading a book that I've had to work at, at times.

T.

In reply to tony:

Thx, it's now on the list!

In reply to Tall Clare:

I agree. There are whole paragraphs I just went back and read again because they were written so beautifully. Her description of how people react when they see 'a bloody great hawk murdering a pigeon' in their garden is brilliant.

It really resonated for me, maybe because I lost my father very young, and definitely because I do occasionally see a bloody great hawk murdering something in my garden (and yes, it is always a sparrowhawk and will never be a gos).

In reply to Tall Clare:

I haven't gone through the thread to check if its been mentioned already, but I have just read 'Stoner' and would wholeheartedly recommend it. The life of a university lecturer. Parts of it had the hairs on my neck standing on end. I read it cover to cover with little difficulty.

In reply to Phil1919:

I keep meaning to read that and thus far haven't got round to it. I'm beginning to think this might be a mistake.

In reply to Phil1919:


I must admit I was thoroughly underwhelmed by Stoner. I won't say why, for fear of spoiling it for anyone yet to read it, but it certainly didn't live up to the hype.

As for what I'm reading, I'm a bit all over the place because of university reading - I tend to keep picking things up and not getting very far, but two things that have stood out recently:

The Outrun, by Amy Liptrot - twentysomething woman goes off the rails in London, develops a spectacular drink problem, returns home to Orkney to sort herself out. Put like that, it sounds like a narcissistic memoir, but it's loads more than that - her natural history observations are fantastic, and a lot of her descriptions of isolation in the middle of what should be the most sociable time, rang very true for me. I raced through it and wanted to start it all over again.

I'm currently about halfway through Blake Morrison's 'Things my mother never told me', after reading his 'And when did you last see your father?' a couple of years ago. I think he's a brilliant writer, both in his prose style and in his forensic approach to his family. 'And when did you last see your father?' is, I think, particularly worth reading for anyone who has a fractious relationship with a parent.

In reply to Skyfall:

about to start Cannery Row by Steinbeck.

great book, can almost read it in a day as well! Enjoy

In reply to BusyLizzie:
You mean Sentus Populusque Romanus?

In reply to Tall Clare:

Just finished Shark by Will Self, the follow-up to Umbrella and equally brilliant in my opinion. Mind you, Self is my favourite contemporary British writer: someone who's really faced up to the challenge of modernism. How neither of these outstanding novels won the Man Booker is beyond me. When the trilogy is complete it's going to stand as a mighty achievement.

I'm also a big David Mitchell fan and to those in the middle of Bone Clocks I'd say it's well worth sticking with for the final section, which I think is the best written and most moving part of the novel.

Now about to start Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge.

In reply to Tall Clare:


Got it... really looking forward to this now. Thanks again

In reply to Tony the Blade:

No problem - hope you enjoy it!

In reply to Tall Clare:

A book about the break-up of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, which is interesting and surprisingly easy reading.

I've also just started City of Thieves by David Benioff, recommended by a friend. I lent her The Secret History today and I'll be interested how she gets on with it.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:


oo - what's it called?

In reply to Tall Clare:

Bloody hell, I've got to go upstairs now!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Revolution 1989 The Fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen

I was surprised to find out how much money the eastern bloc countries borrowed from western banks, underwritten by the Soviet Union!

In reply to Tall Clare:

Have recently read William MacIlvanney's Laidlaw trilogy. I'd forgotten how good they were and expected them to be a wee bit dated.

Thoroughly enjoyed them and you can certainly see what Brookmyre, McDermott, Welsh and Banks were reading in their formative years.

In reply to David Martin:



I've seen articles he's written about it - he really knows his stuff and is a deep thinker on the subject.

In reply to Tall Clare:

How to live with a huge penis -Richard Jacob.

I'm finding it enlightening.

Good that someone has actually written a book about the subject

In reply to andymac:




I thought Richard Strain wrote that...

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

You may be thinking of Dickie Longfellow

In reply to The New NickB:


I'm reading this too. I have just about managed to programme myself to read in Jamaican dialect now, but it is quite hard to recall each of the separate stories so far, as you start each new chapter.
I just keep going and assume that this does not matter and somewhere along the way each story will turn in a way which reminds you what you already read.
I think it intriguing how Bob Marley's name has not been mentioned yet in the story? (About a third of the way in I think?) but surely that's who The Singer is?

Andy.

In reply to Tall Clare:

69 Things to Do With a Dead Princess, by Stewart Home. Hard to categorise: experimental literary fiction is probably the nearest. Quite amusing.

In reply to BusyLizzie:

SPQR by Mary Beard

thank you, I'll order it this weekend

In reply to Tall Clare:

recently started "one for every sleeper" about the Burma railway

not everyones cup of tea but my uncle was there, it's really interesting so far

also struggling through Tom Hollands Millennium it's a bit too wordy if a book can be too wordy

In reply to Tall Clare:

Currently reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and (because I can never stick to one book at a time) Gemma Bovery by Post Simmonds. Both are great reads so far, and it's nice to be back on fiction after a non-ficfion and biography phase.

In reply to Tall Clare: I couldn't get into Cloud Atlas either but really enjoyed The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

In reply to Sean Kelly:


Er, no, it's actually called SPQR.

I love the fact that things like drain-pipes and manhole covers in Rome today have the inscription SPQR.

In reply to yeti:

Enjoy.

AND I should have mentioned Robert Harris' trilogy: Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - three novels about the life of Cicero. I finished them just before starting SPQR and they go together beautifully, if you happen to like things Roman.

In reply to Tall Clare:
The Outrun, by Amy Liptrot - twentysomething woman goes off the rails in London, develops a spectacular drink problem, returns home to Orkney to sort herself out. Put like that, it sounds like a narcissistic memoir, but it's loads more than that - her natural history observations are fantastic, and a lot of her descriptions of isolation in the middle of what should be the most sociable time, rang very true for me. I raced through it and wanted to start it all over again.


I had thought I was going to get a copy of this for my birthday, so didn't buy one when it came out. Must get round to reading it soon. Amy is a sea swimming friend of mine - very switched on woman, in a somewhat fragile kinda way.

Edited to ask - how do I quote someone in a post?

In reply to Yanis Nayu:


I'd challenge anyone to support the war on drugs after reading his book. Politician, policeman, prison officer, junkie...except for the gangster, for whom it works.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Hi Clare,
One not to overlook is The Guest Cat. It's very unusual: just Tokyo qualia and stray cats. We have a guest cat of our own at present and I found it deeply and uniquely pleasing. Maybe you would too - it's short so it won't take long to find out.
J.

In reply to Alyson:

What was that book you recommended to me? IIRC it might have had a single word title, something about a bloke whose wife was having an affair, involving a train journey (or maybe you read it in a train). You started a thread about it.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Good memory. It's 'Us' by David Nicholls. I LOVED IT!

In reply to Alyson:

Cheers. I'm on it like moss on a Mississippi tree stump!

In reply to David Martin:

Just googled it and read a connected piece by him about the treatment of Billie Holliday.
Shameful.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:


Well that's now my new favourite phrase. Love it!

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Outrun by Amy Liptrot. A bit young for me but finding a surprisingly erudite exploration of the consequences of alcohol misuse and one women’s determination to live a productive life and stay off the sauce. The fact that much of the rehab takes palace on a sparsely populated Orkney isle got my attention but there’s plenty to interest those who enjoy nature writing. Think I’ll be reading more of her offerings in the future.

In reply to Alyson:

I can't claim credit - my friend uses it and I think she nicked it from the American version of The Office. It's a cracker though)))

In reply to ebdon:

Just saw this about shrikes (the birds). Gruesome.

https://t.co/adD1QKt2qh

In reply to BusyLizzie:

what am i like

I've read Imperium on the kindle, will have to get the other 2

thankee kindly ma'am

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Yeah, the Holliday stuff is pretty harrowing. But much of the book is like that - he interviews individuals from Zeta hitmen, prisoners on chain-gangs in the US, ex drug-cops, and politicians....the stories are almost without exception horrifying.

In reply to Tall Clare:
I am currently reading
-Andy Pollit's autobiography: Punk in the Gym
-John Redhead's brilliant: ...and one for the crow

In reply to Tall Clare:

I was thinking last week that this is the quietest time I can remember for reading. Often I have more than 10 books on the go at at Easter including at least one serious and one fun fiction novel, often a non- fiction (usually climbing biography), the latest climbing guidebook I'm helping edit (where I've not done anything since Aldery for Limestone North) and all the usual work stuff, which peaks around now.

So in fiction terms I'm over half way in both Hyperion and Lanark, which are both really enjoyable so far, great ideas and unusual and intelligent writing for Sci-Fi related stuff (a genre I normally read for light relief)

Recommendations for which of my queued recent VP climbing biographies to start next would be good.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Different Seasons by Stephen King, short stories including Shawshank. It's nice to switch my brain off and read good stories sometimes.

In reply to Mooncat:

The story that became the film Stand By Me is in that collection, if I remember rightly.

In reply to Tall Clare:


Is that the film with Corey Feldman and Keifer Sutherland? Outstanding story and fantastic cinema.

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. A sort of medieval dective story. Really enjoying it.

In reply to Tall Clare:

'Sherlock Homes Ultimate Collection' ( not sure why I so enjoy these stories, I've read them all several times before) and also 'Alone on the Wall', by Alex Honnold.

I like the sound of SPQR.

In reply to Tall Clare:

You do remember rightly, it's called The Body in the book. They also made a fil of another story from the book called Apt Pupil, I think it was a flop though.

In reply to hokkyokusei:

It's a while since I read that but I do recall enjoying it. Foucalt's Pendulum, however...

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

I must admit I loved that, as clever clever and dense as it was. Eco seems to have a window on the darker parts of the soul as well as an implike sense of fun and an ability to juggle an almost impossible number of grand ideas in one book. He is also is one of the few successful novelists who is a proper scientist (The Periodic Table is one of the must reads of non-fiction). Ever since being inspired by the possibilities in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance I've longed for works in this culture spanning area.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I've just finished Fast and Free - Pete Livesey: Stories of a Rock Climbing Legend

A great read about one of the game's great personalities and a brilliant climber out on his own at the start of the 70's and led the way for harder bolder routes.

Well worth a read

In reply to Offwidth:


Aren't you thinking of Primo Levi?

In reply to Andy Clarke:


I tried (again) to read a Will Self novel a few weeks back. Yet again, I couldn't get through the first chapter. All the words appeared to be in the wrong order. Years ago I read some short stories which ranged between utterly brilliant and incomprehensible nonsense (to me, anyway), so 'get to the end [of the first chapter] of a Will Self novel' has been on my list of things to do for years. Maybe I'll try again next decade.

I'm reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, (non-fiction, psychology) which is excellent and has been recommended to me for years. If everyone understood the content of this book, the world would be a much, much better place. If my boss understood only a tiny fraction of it, my life would be far better. As such, it's actually quite an infuriating read as it exposes just how much significant human behaviour - the type that affects others, like management and policy - is totally irrational and counter-productive. Frankly, that's obvious, but the detailed reasons why are fascinating.

The last novel (well not really, novella?) I read was When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes, who I'm a fan of. It's quite amusing, but not his best. I think Timoleon Vita Come Home is the best thing he'll write. I haven't read a good 'serious' novel in a little while, perhaps this thread will throw something up (as the non-fiction one needs breaking up a bit, there's only so much stats you can be interested in at bedtime).

In reply to Dave Garnett:

My goodness yes,..... not sure how I managed to muddle that??

In reply to Jon Stewart:
I have to confess I do love complex literature. A few months ago I achieved a long-standing ambition and finally completed Joyce's Finnegans Wake, after almost a year of fairly hard work and constant thumbing through reference works, concordances and guides... which I realise isn't going to be most people's idea of a good read! I was an English Literature student and it's left me with tastes some probably think pretentious. I don't know which Self novels you've tried, but it might be worth giving Great Apes a whirl: his distinctive take on the Planet of the Apes concept, which I think is his most accessible. And it's very funny.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I read Hello magazine in the spa yesterday but it was January 2016 so a bit annoying.

Alex Honnolds Alone on the Wall is the bed time reading if I'm not too tired. I almost exclusively read climbing books - sometimes just guide books........bit narrow I agree, but everyone's different.

In reply to Andy Clarke:


I've read Tolstoy in Russian with less bafflement than I experienced trying to read Joyce.

In reply to Babika:

I think I went about 3 years when I started climbing where every sit down job was accomplished while reading a guidebook and lusting after routes I was too shit to climb.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Anyone read anyDavid Sedaris? I read one of his recently and thought he had a lovely writing style.

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

Big David Sedaris fan here - I've been known to actually snort with laughter at times. I saw him live last year and laughed til I wept.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Lubert Stryer, Biochemistry.

Never would have thought that I would ever have to get back up to speed on the enzymes of the sugar and energy metabolism....

CB

TheTIn reply to yeti:




They are so good! I read classics at Uni and the 1st century BC was "my" period, but I never really understood what was going on - Harris' novels + Mary Beard have sorted a lot out for mw.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:


Anyone who writes in the names of yet-to-be-discovered sub-atomic particles does not get my vote.

In reply to Tony the Blade:
Read H is for Hawk recently on recommendation from a friend - brilliant writing.

In reply to keith-ratcliffe:


Excellent - Thank you Keith

In reply to cb294:

That was recommended as our text book in 2nd year, 30 years ago. I also had a text book by Mahler and Cordes which was more academic and much less readable.

Meantime, I, like Babika and Yanis Nayu, read guide books in the day dream world that exists prior to the true dream world. I always think that I can do the routes that are just out of reach in reality, if I just focus and concentrate.

I'm also reading a new (Jan 2016) Orthopaedics book. I hope to read all 800 or so pages in the next few months.(Sad eh?)

I hope to feel free enough to read an Iain Rankin book in the near future-I'm gradually working through them in chronological order over a very long period of time. I like the fact that you don't have to think too much in reading them.

In reply to veteye:

My Stryer copy is 25 year old, as I heard biochemistry in year two as well. Never had a look at the topic again, until I found about 25 metabolic enzymes, from sugar transporters down to TCA cycle enzymes in a list of target genes of a process I am studying, which is too big an enrichment to safely ignore.

CB

In reply to Alyson:


I've just read the first few pages. It's brilliant! I've done that annoying thing of reading vast passages aloud to my wife, which owing to the brilliance of the writing was less annoying than it normally is.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I am reading 'Icefall: The True Story of a Teenager on a Mission to the Top of The World' by Alex Staniforth.

So far its a great read!

In reply to ebdon:

Sound advice!

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Alison Hargreaves biography. It's made me very sad.

In reply to Tall Clare:
Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan. Great book, recommended in a TED article I read recently, that highlights a lot of parallels with the climbing life. I loved the way Finnegan describes small, inconsequential details of his trips and his work life...giving a great picture of the balance between family, enjoyable employment and surf. I wouldn't call myself a surfer, and the book gets quite technical at times about waves. I found it really fascinating how much of a "science" there is behind it for many. Certainly made me ponder how to find a way to spend a lot more time climbing and a lot less working! Highly recommended for surfers and non-surfers alike.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Norwegian wood chopping, stacking and drying wood the Scandinavian way, by Lars Mytting. Essential reading for all would be backwoodsmen.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Several on the go at the moment (I have a low attention span!!).

Harry Potter (first one, in French - as an aid to learning).

Les Fourmis (The Ants) by Bernard Werber - another French book - just started it - was recommended by a friend, but kind of sci-fi told from the perspective of both the ants and the humans.

Runner by Lizzy Hawker - an awesome ultra runner writing about her experiences alternately decimating the field at UTMB, and running for fun in Nepal.

Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein - I overheard an interview with the author on the radio about his time as a crime journalist in Toyko, and how he crossed paths with the Yakuza. The first third of the book was very interesting and eye-opening, has gone a bit stale in the middle but hoping it picks up again.

In reply to ebdon:

I'm reading 'The Rise of Endymion' at the moment and enjoying it. Certainly nowhere near as good as 'Hyperion', but they're worthwhile sequels and by no means bad books.

In reply to Only a hill:

all that 'love will save the universe' nonsense - Bah humbug!
but no there ok - I just really enjoyed the first 3 and was disjointed by the sequels.

In reply to ebdon:


Not going to disagree with you on that one

In reply to Tall Clare:

I just finished 'The Long Road to the Deep North' by Richard Flanagan which I really enjoyed. It's gruelling in parts (it turns out that working on the 'death railway' was a bit grim) but beautifully written and haunting in others. It's a really interesting companion piece to 'A God in Ruins' by Kate Atkinson, which I read last summer and left me in pieces.

I'd also second the 'Station Eleven' recommendation - loved it - a sort of literary SF novel.

Currently back on vol.3 of Robert Caro's Lyndon Johnson biography. It's a truly epic and standard setting piece of work. I have to say that this is not the most exciting bit though - short on colour and long on the machinations of the senate.

In reply to SuperstarDJ:

I've got "A God in Ruins" lined-up next to read. I love her writing.

In reply :

The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia by Tim Judah...Next up will be Adventures in the Anthropocene by Gaia Vince

In reply to Tall Clare:

Prelude to Space, Arthur C Clarke's first novel, on loan from my dad. I read 2001 and the Rama novels years ago and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Also just finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel after watching the film not so long back.

Next on the reading list is American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (alot of controversy surrounding this - described by many now as a modern classic, plus I enjoyed the film with Christian Bale so thought would give it a go).

After something a little different next - I love escaping into a good novel.

May give Patrick O'Brian seafaring tales a go

In reply to olliehales:

The book of American Psycho is much better than the film, in my opinion.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Good stuff, as is usually the case I find - the version I have just purchased has a very good preface/review from Irvine Welsh which leads me to give it a go.

Will make my own mind up upon completion, if I can stomach some of the scenes that is.

Ollie.

In reply to Tall Clare:
>"The book of American Psycho is much better than the film, in my opinion."


I came out the cinema ( 2000) and the guy in the chair in front of me said (I heard him just as it finished) :-

"What a load of shite.."

( I can only guess ,in my judgement, the guy did not get it....i.e. what I got from it.. or he was bored ...found it boring.....which was a tongue- in-cheek comment on society and
ego and it's darker more sinister elements....it is a bit gratuitous but then that is what it is meant to be- it is a certain type of...black... humour even if it is twisted and self-indulgent)

I thoroughly enjoyed it.And the director was a woman which was even more surprising.I think she did a great job of it.I had read the book beforehand.

And I always enjoy anything with Christian Bale in it- who I do hear seems to have earned some kind of a reputation as an extreme "method- actor".....
..... see here his body in 'The Machinist'(2004) where he looks like an auschwitz survivor, or a more beefed-up muscle-bound hunk in other roles, ( https://twitter.com/keedee/status/325197751925231616/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%... )

I ordered recently - Walter Bonnati 'The Mountains of My Life' but I have'nt touched it.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I finished The Bone Clocks last night. Though I found it interesting enough, it doesn't make me wish to seek out more by the author. I thought the ending a bit of a let down, but maybe that's just me.

T.

In reply to Skyfall:


Love Steinbeck, and loved Cannery Row. Must dig it out of the book / box / spare / cat / junk room and read it again...

A Time of Gifts by Paddy Leigh Fermor. An account of the author's walk across Europe in the 1930s. One of those quietly erudite books that makes you realise how little you know about the world, and with a few really stunning passages of descriptive writing.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Following the recent death of Barry Hines, I decided to re-read A Kestrel For A Knave.

It is such a beautifully written account of one young man's struggle growing up in 70's Yorkshire. Hines captures the time with aplomb, some of his descriptive passages I had to read twice.

Next up: Britannia Obscura: Mapping Hidden Britain by Joanne Parker

In reply to Tall Clare:

Haven't seen the film, but if they made a realistic graphic version of the book, I doubt it would get a certificate to show anywhere. Was the film full blown gore horror in sections?

In reply to Tall Clare:

On the back of the ITV series 'the Durrells', I've dug Gerald's Corfu trilogy out of a box in the loft. Halfway through My family and other animals and I'm having flashbacks to when I was about 10 or 12, wanting to be a naturalist having met the great man at his jersey zoo.
I'm also working my way through 'Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way' having acquired a log burning stove with my new house. Some interesting, almost zen like information along the same lines as Richard's bicycle book.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Just finished "Blindsight" by Peter Watts which was superb, as much for the detailed references as the intriguing plot.

And so, I am getting stuck into the sequel, "Echopraxia" which is also looking like a winner.

The first book certainly makes you wonder "what is reality? is my brain just completely BS-ing me?" - the topic of another thread on here as I recall, that I'm too lazy to dig up....

In reply to Tall Clare:

Chasing the Scream - The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

An entertaining read so far!

In reply to Tall Clare:

How to perform a Lobotomy.

It isn't very entertaining.

In reply to BusyLizzie:

I enjoyed SPQR too. A very easy-to-read account of an absolutely fascinating period of history. I also recommend Tom Holland's 'Rubicon'.

I'm reading 'War and Peace' at the moment (slowly - it could take a while), having enjoyed the BBC version and realised that my knowledge of the classics is pathetic.

In reply to moac:

A good read, but a very sad tale.

In reply to Tall Clare:

A C Grayling, "The God Argument - the Case Against Religion and for Humanism". Grayling is a philosopher with an impressive talent for clarity of idea and expression. Even a layman like me can easily follow along.

Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man". A formidable intellect and an eloquent writer, but it's not exactly a gripping read so I keep putting it down. I should keep at it, though, because Paine's ideas (and "The Rights of Man" in particular) were a huge influence on secular thought in Europe, and on the foundation of the US constitution. The man thought big.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Quicksand - Henning Mankell.

Autobiographical musings on what it means to be human in response to a diagnosis of terminal cancer.

An entirely serendipitous find- scan reading the shelves and spines in the local public library, mind elsewhere. I don't normally bother with the biog' section, and didn't realise the subject matter until I began to read it several days later. That was the same day I'd been given the histology results after an op for cancer, which left me pondering an uncertain future.

I'm about half way through the book. It's neither scandi miserablist or 'carpe diem'. Just full of a kind of transparent humanity. He asks at one point, 'what do you say to someone who has cancer', following this by asking 'what does a person who has cancer say to themselves'. But the book isn't really about cancer at all, its about life and human nature.

In reply to Tony the Blade:

I was disappointed by H is for Hawk. it was good - but the hype led me to expect more.

I didn't realise there were two Norwegian Woods - I was assuming you were referring to the Murakami.

Anyway, I'm re-reading Docherty, by way of a belated memorial to William McIlvaney. The obituaries played up the 'tartan noir'/Laidlaw theme, but Docherty was his finest work by far.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It was a huge mistake to start reading it but I sweared not to give it up

In reply to Tall Clare:

Viktor Frankl's 'Man's search for meaning'
I've been recommended this many times and glad I've finally got my hands on it.
Obviously it's not pretty reading, but a timely reminder considering the retrograde slide towards xenophobia currently taking place in Europe.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I'm reading The Fall of the House of Usher to Mrs. Num Num as a bedtime story, she's enjoying hearing me stumble over all the convoluted gloomy adjectives, and then makes me start the sentence again.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I thought this was gonna be a simple reply but the more i thought about it, the longer it got!

I've just finished George Orwell's Down and Out In Paris and London - started reading the French bit at home in the UK and then finished off the London section while in Font - but before that, my girlfriend had thrust me F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. Orwell was immense, i couldn't put it down, Gatsby i found took a bit more effort. That followed a book about Miles Davis classic album Kind of Blue (which i couldn't finish) and before that, a book about Northern Soul (which i couldn't finish either).

As soon as i finished Down and Out (and everyone who ever feels hard done by in life should read this book and makes Jerry Moffat's exploits look like the aforementioned Gatsby), i started on Jon Ronson's amazing So You've Been Publicly Shamed. I'm a very slow reader. I started Ronson about a week ago. I'm about two thirds through, it's that good.

Then yesterday, my mum got me a copy of Hitman Anders And The Meaning Of It All by Jonas Jonasson - the genius behind The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared, which every single person should read. Looking forward to starting that!

In reply to Tall Clare:

The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flannagan
I do not always like Booker Prize winners but this was beautifully written.

In reply to Tall Clare:
I've just finished reading "Living on the Edge: The Winter Ascent of Kanchenjunga" by Cherie Bremer-Kamp. SPOILER WARNING: I thought it would be interesting as it's both concerning a winter ascent, and because it might give a different POV as it's written by a female climber. It's a rather odd thing, and is mainly about her relationship, set among climbing, with her late partner Chris Chandler who died in the attempt.

Currently I'm reading "Round the world on a wheel" by John Foster Fraser which is an account of a Victorian era cycle trip around the world.

Next up is "Kamet Conquered" by F S Smythe.