Silverton End Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 I liked James Ellroy, hard-boiled L.A. noir spanning the 1940s-60s. He can be pretty intense at times though. William McIllvaney's Laidlaw trilogy for a bit of Scottish crime writing. Andrea Camilleri for his Inspector Montalbano series. Antony Beevor or Laurence Rees for their excellent WWII military stuff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 3 hours ago, Silverton End said: Antony Beevor or Laurence Rees for their excellent WWII military stuff. If I end up having to self quarantine then I look forward to being tucked up in bed for two weeks with a nice Beevor... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverton End Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 3 hours ago, tamthebam said: If I end up having to self quarantine then I look forward to being tucked up in bed for two weeks with a nice Beevor... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northboy Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 I've just finished Ben MacIntyre's "The Spy and the Traitor" about KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky - great true story of cold war espionage. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
++Ammo - Airdrie++ Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 On 15/03/2020 at 12:15, 8MileBU said: Met up with yer boy Lovey last weekend. He was telling me about being at the book launch the previous night and was gave me a brief insight to the book. Sounds good, will need to get a copy, see what trouble you ruffians caused running amok in Glenmavis and the like. Loveys a good c*nt, again used to be an absolute balloon like most of us and is the same age as Graeme the author. Aye get involved with it, right good story. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 Given it's the end of the world, why not take a chance on The Scottish Book of the Dead, by me!? You'll get through it in a day and if you don't like it, I guarantee I'll say something nice about you anyway on here. FWIW, I get about $1 per sale, so this doesn't even feel like a plug. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kincardine Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 25 minutes ago, MSU said: Given it's the end of the world, why not take a chance on The Scottish Book of the Dead, by me!? You'll get through it in a day and if you don't like it, I guarantee I'll say something nice about you anyway on here. FWIW, I get about $1 per sale, so this doesn't even feel like a plug. That's me in. Amazon's delivery date is 27th March which, given that I'm old and vulnerable, may mean I never get to read it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 4 hours ago, The_Kincardine said: That's me in. Amazon's delivery date is 27th March which, given that I'm old and vulnerable, may mean I never get to read it... Hope you make it to April, Kincy. Well, hope you make it far beyond that. And thank you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 The next book I'll read will be The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel, for my money, the best novelist writing today. It's out in a couple of weeks, end of the world notwithstanding. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kincardine Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 5 minutes ago, MSU said: Hope you make it to April, Kincy. Well, hope you make it far beyond that. And thank you! You are third on the list. My wee yin bought me 'The Big Sleep' for my birthday in December and my son's A Level course-work on Slaughterhouse-Five was mentioned as 'exceptional' in the marking notes back from his English A level but I still have to read both books. So the running order is: Raymond Chandler Kurt Vonnegut Gavin Broom You clearly keep august company. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 I hated Slaughterhouse Five. But I loved The Big Sleep. My book? Meh. Enjoy them all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kincardine Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 6 minutes ago, MSU said: I hated Slaughterhouse Five. I think I will too - which is why I am reluctant to start reading it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Just now, The_Kincardine said: I think I will too - which is why I am reluctant to start reading it. It's a book that should be able to be consumed in an afternoon. A week later, I kinda gave up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Capital Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Anyone ever read Infinite Jest? I've considered reading it if we all have to go into lockdown but I don't know if I have the guts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blootoon87 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Anyone ever read Infinite Jest? I've considered reading it if we all have to go into lockdown but I don't know if I have the guts.I've got it in the house but it's too intimidating to start. It's on my lockdown list also. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kincardine Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 A book adaptation rather than a book per se but Radio 4 has an adaptation of Call of the Wild by Jack London up at the moment. About 50 years since I read it but this is a good listen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gf0z 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 On 17/03/2020 at 03:14, MSU said: It's a book that should be able to be consumed in an afternoon. A week later, I kinda gave up. I loved it as a teenager and devoured everything he wrote. You're probably too old Daddio.. If I read it now I'd maybe find it annoying. So it goes.* *geddit? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 (edited) 21 minutes ago, welshbairn said: I loved it as a teenager and devoured everything he wrote. You're probably too old Daddio.. If I read it now I'd maybe find it annoying. So it goes.* *geddit? I gave up on it after about 10 pages. The "so it goes" thing was really getting on my moobs. Edited March 18, 2020 by tongue_tied_danny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 22 minutes ago, ThatBoyRonaldo said: Infinite Jest is really good in places but by f**k it takes some working out wtf is going on at times. It's almost more like a collection of really good set pieces than a great book in itself, if that makes sense? Worth reading if you have the time to devote to it I suppose but personally I prefer the author's non fiction writing. DFW seemed like such a good bloke, going by his always entertaining interviews. I tried reading the book about infinity, but gave up half way through as it was going way over my head by that point. I'd always quite fancied trying Infinite Jest. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomCat Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 I am dynamite!/Sue Prideaux. Superbly written biography of Friedrich Nietzsche, not only of himself and family but of late 19th century German culture. Raced through it. An officer and a spy/Robert Harris. Retelling of the Dreyfuss affair from the view of George Picquart trying to free Dreyfuss after uncovering evidence he was innocent. Stays mostly true to the real affair. Not sure Harris can write a bad thriller tbh. Not as great as his Cicero trilogy but still gripping. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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