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Last Book You Read....


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The Mission Song, by John Le Carre. 

Illegitimate son of an Irish missionary in Africa and a local girl is packed off to England and becomes a multilingual interpreter. Recruited by British Secret Service to help interpret at a hush-hush conference between various shady forces and local warlords to thrash out the future of a small African nation. Hears more than he wants to and things all go a bits tits-up.

Amazing writing. There are twists and turns but like Tinker Tailor.. he makes men in bad suits sitting about in stuffy rooms totally gripping. 

Also, Dr Sleep will be out in cinemas soon. It's the sequel to The Shining. Looks like it will stick much closer to the book than Kubrick did with The Shining. Would definitely recommend reading it. One of the sexiest baddies ever. Would quite happily let her eat my brains.  

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Been on an Alistair MacLean binge from when he was at his peak (late 50s/early 60s). The last one was a bit iffy though and I suspect it's on the downhill from here. Apparently his drinking caught up with him in the 70s and 80s and his writing became dross.

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Been listening to some audio books while out running. Stephen Fry reading Sherlock Holmes is excellent - just finished A Study In Scarlett, have never read any of them but was really well written and Fry is good.

Also listening to Calypso by David Sedaris. I heard him on Adam Buxton's podcast and thought he was hilarious, his writing is also very entertaining.

 

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On 28/08/2019 at 09:58, yoda said:

Great fun, aged terribly in some respects (although not nearly as much as the Ian Fleming stuff I read last year), 

What Ian Fleming did you read? I worked my way through most of the Bond series when I was younger and recently decided to do them all again, in order. Made it as far as "Goldfinger" before deciding I had better things to do with my time.

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On 04/09/2019 at 04:26, Shotgun said:

What Ian Fleming did you read? I worked my way through most of the Bond series when I was younger and recently decided to do them all again, in order. Made it as far as "Goldfinger" before deciding I had better things to do with my time.

I read "Casino Royale" first, which I really enjoyed. I'd happily go back and read it again. Then I followed that up with "Live And Let Die" and "Moonraker" - I couldn't get into either of them, and the racism in the former is excruciatingly painful to read.

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1 minute ago, yoda said:

I read "Casino Royale" first, which I really enjoyed. I'd happily go back and read it again. Then I followed that up with "Live And Let Die" and "Moonraker" - I couldn't get into either of them, and the racism in the former is excruciatingly painful to read.

Then you should definitely stay away from Goldfinger. 😉

 

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Salvation by Peter F Hamilton. Top notch Sci fi nonsense, with an actual proper plot for a change. 

However, one of the main characters (in about 150 years) remembers his Dad standing on the terraces at Pittodrie with a can in each hand. The lack of Kingsford makes me doubt some of his more alieny predictions about the near future. 

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Fired up the e-reader last night and put a few Roddy Doyle books on it. Not read any of his stuff before but have seen The Commitments, which was one of the books I bought as they were on a decent deal. Anyone much to say on his work?
A Star Called Henry is really worth a read.
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Recently read all the Cosmere books currently written by Brandon Sanderson. There are about 15 or so with about 20 odd still to come. 

Tremendous high fantasy from the guy who finished the Wheel of Time after the original author Robert Jordan died.

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I’m half way through reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. He jokingly called it an African Game of Thrones but it’s not too bad a description. Reminds me a bit of some of Louis de Berniere’s trippy South American books. First part of a fantasy trilogy and I think it’s going to be roughly the same story told from three perspectives. 

Half way through listening to James Ellroy’s latest in his second American trilogy (This Storm). Pretty much as you’d expect. Lots of rude words!

 

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