OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Thankfully I have not been asked to do that...what a terrible task!
horace- Number of posts : 42573
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
The sex scenes were particularly painful and as the main character was so obviously him, and I known his wife (now ex-wife) longer than him, all I did was say it was obvious it had been written by an emgineer and probably needed a good editor.
Bradman- Number of posts : 17402
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Bradman wrote:Anyone ever read a self published book written by a friend and then been asked to critique it?
Several times. Not on a subject as difficult to restrain myself about as that you describe, though.
lardbucket- Number of posts : 38071
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Bradman wrote:The sex scenes were particularly painful and as the main character was so obviously him, and I known his wife (now ex-wife) longer than him, all I did was say it was obvious it had been written by an emgineer and probably needed a good editor.
What a hoot!
You should have been a diplomat. The bloke sounds like a stereotypical engineer.
horace- Number of posts : 42573
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
I read a fairish bit but don't recall when a book last got me going enough to come here and mention it. Not sure it it's been mentioned here already.
The Three- Body Problem by Liu Cixin. Sci Fi Trilogy, translated from the Chinese. I've read two of the three books so far.
Laborious in parts, and as with most sci-fi, characterization and dialogue aren't too well written. Slow going at times.
But it's still by far the best Sci Fi series I've read in a decade or more. Amazing descriptions of hard science in action. The gigantic scale of the 'settings' blew me way. The book has engaging plot twists and also reads very well as just a story. Cixin has a phenomenal imagination. A very dark view of life as well, which suits me just fine.
I've never really liked Asimov, despite reading a lot of his stuff. I find most Sci Fi gets boring fast and/ or you can predict what's going to happen, as if the writer exhausted themselves describing credible science. But this one was totally worth the read. I can't wait to read the third and last book.
The Three- Body Problem by Liu Cixin. Sci Fi Trilogy, translated from the Chinese. I've read two of the three books so far.
Laborious in parts, and as with most sci-fi, characterization and dialogue aren't too well written. Slow going at times.
But it's still by far the best Sci Fi series I've read in a decade or more. Amazing descriptions of hard science in action. The gigantic scale of the 'settings' blew me way. The book has engaging plot twists and also reads very well as just a story. Cixin has a phenomenal imagination. A very dark view of life as well, which suits me just fine.
I've never really liked Asimov, despite reading a lot of his stuff. I find most Sci Fi gets boring fast and/ or you can predict what's going to happen, as if the writer exhausted themselves describing credible science. But this one was totally worth the read. I can't wait to read the third and last book.
furriner- Number of posts : 12507
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
New Rebus out next week.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Yay, just got it.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Top read as always
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Looks interesting.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1785311166/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3UUI1YRTVFRDX&coliid=IQ330664Q9NLV
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1785311166/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3UUI1YRTVFRDX&coliid=IQ330664Q9NLV
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Bought it late last year... Started reading before being completely swamped with work. Should get back to it next month or so.
tricycle- Number of posts : 13349
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Interesting read. Not much doubt that Boycott was the main problem, but with Illingworth, Close and Trueman also in the mix There were never going to me easy solutions.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Just started Mankell's, "The Troubled Man".... had been saving it up for the right time. Have declared this to be the right time.
horace- Number of posts : 42573
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
How's Mankell?
So, that latest Rebus from November.
Only just got down to it around Christmas, steamed through second half this week.
Some thoughts FWTW (as ever). With no spoilers. But STOP if you'd rather not!
Four stars out of five. Maybe 4.5. Would recommend strongly. My own impressions were just personal. Depends what you are looking for.
So, that latest Rebus from November.
Only just got down to it around Christmas, steamed through second half this week.
Some thoughts FWTW (as ever). With no spoilers. But STOP if you'd rather not!
- Blah no spoilers:
- The really odd thing is that I didn't think the overall plot was great. The PLOT, of all things, when such novels are categorically nicknamed Whodunnits.
Exactly that bit wasn't the draw, for me.
Maybe going too far to say I didn't much care who ended up as the dunniter (killer or -s). And any crime plot is likely to be far-fetched to a greater or lesser extent, which you have to let play to an extent (Coleridge had a nice phrase: "that willing suspension of disbelief ..., which constitutes poetic faith ..."). But the main plot seemed as if a set of skeins pulled hard over a set of pegs on a board. ... not very "compelling" in itself.
On the other hand: the characterisations were great. Moving individualised portraits, sharply observed, and well drawn.
A lot of the attraction for me was in detail like that, also the subplots and byplay between characters. The close observation of points of real life, that make you (or at least me) smile. Even the points that aren't consciously witty. The recognitions.
Mind you, Rankin has always been good at that well-expressed observation of the detail in faces, rooms, behaviour, tics, working out motivations ... and smart dialogue, smart lines and sharp repartee.
What's new and has been developing in the Rebuses is the heavily seasoned experience of the habits of especially the main characters: "over the shoulder" (sometimes misleadingly, deceitfully) or seen entirely "from outside".
Rebus, like Rankin, is a dodgy but wise old owl at this stage.
It's the personal and local detail, the subplots and byplay, the hows rather than the whatthehells, that were the pageturners for me. Whoever had wielded the actual weapons.
Four stars out of five. Maybe 4.5. Would recommend strongly. My own impressions were just personal. Depends what you are looking for.
PeterCS- Number of posts : 43743
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
Red- Number of posts : 17071
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Red wrote:Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
I've had that on my "to read" list since March 2 last year.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
taipan wrote:Red wrote:Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
I've had that on my "to read" list since March 2 last year.
Read it then; you will probably enjoy it. It makes one want to do further research. You realise all the names mentioned are real people.
Red- Number of posts : 17071
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Red wrote:taipan wrote:Red wrote:Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
I've had that on my "to read" list since March 2 last year.
Read it then; you will probably enjoy it. It makes one want to do further research. You realise all the names mentioned are real people.
Still have to buy it. I would assume they are real people. There is still debate about the last song played by the band.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
taipan wrote:Red wrote:taipan wrote:Red wrote:Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
I've had that on my "to read" list since March 2 last year.
Read it then; you will probably enjoy it. It makes one want to do further research. You realise all the names mentioned are real people.
Still have to buy it. I would assume they are real people. There is still debate about the last song played by the band.
So it wasn't Status Quo's "Down Down"?
JGK- Number of posts : 41790
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
JGK wrote:taipan wrote:Red wrote:taipan wrote:Red wrote:Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
I've had that on my "to read" list since March 2 last year.
Read it then; you will probably enjoy it. It makes one want to do further research. You realise all the names mentioned are real people.
Still have to buy it. I would assume they are real people. There is still debate about the last song played by the band.
So it wasn't Status Quo's "Down Down"?
Fool. Quo were well past it by 1912.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Anyway, to me the most interesting Titanic story is about Violet Jessop
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
I've mentioned this before, but the really cracking twist on Titanic was this: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rms-titanic-evidence-fire-senan-molony-belfast-new-york-southampton-sink-april-1912-a7504236.html
Not sure if the prog works internationally: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/titanic-the-new-evidence/on-demand/64665-001
Senan Molony (unusual name) seems to have spent his life "on" Titanic. But despite that and his DM connections, the weight of different sorts of evidence seemed compelling to me. THAT's the book he should write.
Not sure if the prog works internationally: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/titanic-the-new-evidence/on-demand/64665-001
Senan Molony (unusual name) seems to have spent his life "on" Titanic. But despite that and his DM connections, the weight of different sorts of evidence seemed compelling to me. THAT's the book he should write.
PeterCS- Number of posts : 43743
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
taipan wrote:JGK wrote:taipan wrote:Red wrote:taipan wrote:Red wrote:Am really enjoying David Dyer's 'The Midnight Watch', which is thoroughly researched and covers the Titanic disaster from a fresh angle.
I've had that on my "to read" list since March 2 last year.
Read it then; you will probably enjoy it. It makes one want to do further research. You realise all the names mentioned are real people.
Still have to buy it. I would assume they are real people. There is still debate about the last song played by the band.
So it wasn't Status Quo's "Down Down"?
Fool. Quo were well past it by 1912.
No, it was definitely The Boss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO5kEqJdRxA
And I always thought it was just that he was cunning with language.
PeterCS- Number of posts : 43743
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
PeterCS wrote:I've mentioned this before, but the really cracking twist on Titanic was this: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rms-titanic-evidence-fire-senan-molony-belfast-new-york-southampton-sink-april-1912-a7504236.html
Not sure if the prog works internationally: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/titanic-the-new-evidence/on-demand/64665-001
Senan Molony (unusual name) seems to have spent his life "on" Titanic. But despite that and his DM connections, the weight of different sorts of evidence seemed compelling to me. THAT's the book he should write.
Interesting.
In the book, there is a reference to a family by the name of Sage from Peterborough who were off to America to start a new life. The parents and all nine children perished.
The focus in this book, is the role played by the crew of 'The Californian', in not responding to the rockets fired, with emphasis on Stanley Lord the captain and second officer Herbert Stone.
I notice there are also conspiracy theories that it is the Titanic's sister ship Olympic which is actually at the bottom of the sea.
https://theunredacted.com/titanic-conspiracy-the-ship-that-never-sank/
Red- Number of posts : 17071
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
Still reading it, Quite amusing.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25492/25492-h/25492-h.htm
Gutenberg has any number of gems.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25492/25492-h/25492-h.htm
Gutenberg has any number of gems.
furriner- Number of posts : 12507
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Re: OT: What book are you reading at the moment?
And they are cheapfurriner wrote:Still reading it, Quite amusing.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25492/25492-h/25492-h.htm
Gutenberg has any number of gems.
taipan- Number of posts : 48416
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» What book are you reading at the moment - revisited
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» Reading through the threads it seems a lot has changed
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