Read any good books lately?

[Paul Whybrow]

I'm an avid reader, ringing the changes and tackling different genres and forms, including non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels and Y.A.

Life is too short to read novels that I dislike, but it's always a thrill to find a story that moves me and which I don't want to end. Often, these are page-turners, and it's interesting to cast my writerly eye over the author's technique to see why this is so.

Of the novels I've read recently, three stand out for the quality of writing and how they grabbed my attention. They're very different in style:

1) Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. The first part of The Farsee Trilogy, and a gripping tale of how a young abandoned child, a bastard linked to the reigning royal family, grows to manhood. He learns secret magical powers along the way, becoming an assassin to oppose the sinister piratical Red Ships who are raiding coastal villages.

I'm eager to read the Parts 2 & 3.

2) Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. I'm normally suspicious of novels that are praised to the skies, and which win lots of literary prizes, waiting a couple of years before I tackle them, but this was in my local library so I grabbed it. It's a rousing yarn set in 18th-century New York and follows the adventures of a young, handsome stranger who comes in on a ship from England, and who is rumoured to be wealthy. Misunderstandings abound, and the story reminded me of the frolics in Charles Dickens and Thomas Sterne.

Spufford wrote mainly historical non-fiction before Golden Hill, and he really knows his stuff creating a wholly believable backdrop for his hero Mr Smith to stumble through. The ending of the novel sets things up for a sequel.

3) All Involved by Ryan Gattis. I was initially put-off this novel when I read the author's bio, which listed wacky YA novels. I'm glad that I ignored my doubts. This was his first adult novel, ten years in the writing, and is a gruesome, exciting and compelling depiction of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. Told through the eyes of a dozen different characters, it's an impressive piece of work. I was gripped to find out what happened to people I'd bonded with.

A dystopian world is a popular theme in sc-fi and fantasy writing, but this crime novel shows how terrifying it can be when it happens on your doorstep.

So, have any of you read any good books lately?

Praise be my local library!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Most recently read My Name Is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout, talking here about a long struggle to get published,

and

Grief Is The Thing With Feathers, by Max Porter. A widowed father grieves; he is a scholar of Ted Hughes; a crow has come to stay, poetic prose.

Quiet books, but with plenty to think about. I liked and respected them both.

I have a young pupil, freelance tutoring her in support of her English GCSE. I set her to read 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night', Mark Haddon, and she enjoyed that and wrote me a very creditable review. This week, she's gone away with 'Skellig', David Almond, a magical book far sadder than it seems, given the truth behind the story. In the story, the angel? saves the baby, in real life, she didn't make it. She was the author's own baby sister. The angel? has agonizing arthritis, so did his mother, and was left a widow with young children.

I have lately re-read them both, natch, so as to have them fresh in discussions with my little student.

ADD: Gawd. this reviewer...did they actually read the book?

'Early in Elizabeth Strout’s new novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, the narrator, a doctor, after wishing his patient good night and leaving her hospital bedside, “made a fist and kissed it, then held it in the air as he unswished the curtain and left the room”

No. The narrator is the patient.

 

[David Newrick]

Just last night I finished Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith, more famously known for his novel Gorky Park. Set in Russia they are fascinating crime novels and, interestingly, are classed as literary.

Before the above novel I read Pompeii by Robert Harris which I thoroughly enjoyed and which someone had given to me as a recommended read. Clearly a deeply researched work filled with fascinating insights into ancient Roman civilisation. I especially enjoyed the depiction of Pliny who recorded the eruption for posterity.

Today I have that joy of deciding what to read next...

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I saw Gorky Park when it first came out...it terrified me.

Cruz Smith...I'd agree he is a literary writer: Night Wing. Tribal spirits, clothed as bats. Dying drowned in bat shit.....horror on horror ...ugggghhhhh

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I jut finished Ken Liu's collection of short stories, The Paper Menagerie. Beautiful stories--most are geekily sci-fi, but with a level of humanity and introspection I've not seen in a long time. And many are alternate history, playing on real events and twisting them in weird ways. It's one of those collections where you finish a story and have to put the book down for a few days to process what you've read. I highly recommend it.

 

[Luciferette]

I'm an avid reader, ringing the changes and tackling different genres and forms, including non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels and Y.A.

Life is too short to read novels that I dislike, but it's always a thrill to find a story that moves me and which I don't want to end. Often, these are page-turners, and it's interesting to cast my writerly eye over the author's technique to see why this is so.

Of the novels I've read recently, three stand out for the quality of writing and how they grabbed my attention. They're very different in style:

1) Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. The first part of The Farsee Trilogy, and a gripping tale of how a young abandoned child, a bastard linked to the reigning royal family, grows to manhood. He learns secret magical powers along the way, becoming an assassin to oppose the sinister piratical Red Ships who are raiding coastal villages.

I'm eager to read the Parts 2 & 3.

2) Golden Hill by Francis Spufford. I'm normally suspicious of novels that are praised to the skies, and which win lots of literary prizes, waiting a couple of years before I tackle them, but this was in my local library so I grabbed it. It's a rousing yarn set in 18th-century New York and follows the adventures of a young, handsome stranger who comes in on a ship from England, and who is rumoured to be wealthy. Misunderstandings abound, and the story reminded me of the frolics in Charles Dickens and Thomas Sterne.

Spufford wrote mainly historical non-fiction before Golden Hill, and he really knows his stuff creating a wholly believable backdrop for his hero Mr Smith to stumble through. The ending of the novel sets things up for a sequel.

3) All Involved by Ryan Gattis. I was initially put-off this novel when I read the author's bio, which listed wacky YA novels. I'm glad that I ignored my doubts. This was his first adult novel, ten years in the writing, and is a gruesome, exciting and compelling depiction of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. Told through the eyes of a dozen different characters, it's an impressive piece of work. I was gripped to find out what happened to people I'd bonded with.

A dystopian world is a popular theme in sc-fi and fantasy writing, but this crime novel shows how terrifying it can be when it happens on your doorstep.

So, have any of you read any good books lately?

Praise be my local library!

Glad you mentioned Spufford. The Times have been drooling over it for ages, but I've not read it yet. On your recommendation, I will!
Speaking of much-lauded novels, I'm finally reading Ian McEwan's Atonement. Call me a philistine, but it's just not doing it for me. I get the "twist" re: narrative voice etc, and it strikes me as tricksy, and the loooooong descriptive passages start to wear thin quite quickly. I've given up for the minute...
...and returned to the new edition of Slightly Foxed. What a joy this quarterly is! Packed with wonderful writing, obscure gems to hunt down, and a lovely, easy read for when you want to escape from the world (perfect for this awfully sad week).

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Just last night I finished Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith, more famously known for his novel Gorky Park. Set in Russia they are fascinating crime novels and, interestingly, are classed as literary.

Before the above novel I read Pompeii by Robert Harris which I thoroughly enjoyed and which someone had given to me as a recommended read. Clearly a deeply researched work filled with fascinating insights into ancient Roman civilisation. I especially enjoyed the depiction of Pliny who recorded the eruption for posterity.

Today I have that joy of deciding what to read next...

As you like historical novels, have you tried the Elizabethan stories by C J Sansom? Featuring hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, they're compelling tales that draw you in. I prefer them to Hilary Mantel's novels, as Sansom has a way of making you care what happens to his characters. It pays to read them in order, as there are story arcs that carry over from one book to the next.

C. J. Sansom: The Official Website - Shardlake

 

[David Newrick]

As you like historical novels, have you tried the Elizabethan stories by C J Sansom? Featuring hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, they're compelling tales that draw you in. I prefer them to Hilary Mantel's novels, as Sansom has a way of making you care what happens to his characters. It pays to read them in order, as there are story arcs that carry over from one book to the next.

C. J. Sansom: The Official Website - Shardlake

Thank you Paul, I will take a look at Sansome's novels. Definitely sounds interesting.

 

[James Marinero]

Last night I finished Resurrection Day (Glenn Meade). He finished it just before 9/11 and it was remarkably prescient.

Gorky Park is a super book, but I also recommend those set in Cuba (same MC afair). Very atmospheric and illuminating.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

As you like historical novels, have you tried the Elizabethan stories by C J Sansom? Featuring hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, they're compelling tales that draw you in. I prefer them to Hilary Mantel's novels, as Sansom has a way of making you care what happens to his characters. It pays to read them in order, as there are story arcs that carry over from one book to the next.

C. J. Sansom: The Official Website - Shardlake

My pa is partial to C.J Sansom and sent me Shardlake. I've read one one two and enjoyed them without getting gripped. I love Mantel's novels; I was into the history beforehand, had been for a long time, and to get to know the fearsome Cromwell from this new angle...well, I found I did care.
What a time, and what a viper's pit the court.

 

[KG Christopher]

Love Wolfe Hall. Unfortunately, I am reading technical books, about 15 so far since January, I enjoy a few of them.

ng-book 2
meteor design patterns
node.js
express MVC architecture patterns
mongodb
android programmming
google compute engine
chrome yellow.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Love Wolfe Hall. Unfortunately, I am reading technical books, about 15 so far since January, I enjoy a few of them.

ng-book 2
meteor design patterns
node.js
express MVC architecture patterns
mongodb
android programmming
google compute engine
chrome yellow.

I am in awe of your reading list, as I don't even understand the titles! On one flight across the Atlantic, I sat next to a very intense young man who had a huge and weighty book spread on his lap, while he made notes on a tablet computer. The book was literally one foot thick and must have weighed several pounds. I had to know what he was doing, and it turned out he was a Microsoft employee who was writing code. More than anything, it made me realise that the concept of a paperless society, which was once heralded, is, in fact, impossible.

 

[KG Christopher]

A microsoft employee writing code on an airplane explains a lot that is wrong with the world !

IT solutions architects have to read through a lot of material, mostly to reject 50% of the content. New technologies are always promoted as 'the next big thing' in technology which will solve all of your problems. Unfortunately you have to read and experiment before you can come to a reasonable opinion.

Although with my geek hat on, I do love the idea of ECMA script / V8 being a decent language and lingua franca at the front middle and back.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I

Just last night I finished Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith, more famously known for his novel Gorky Park. Set in Russia they are fascinating crime novels and, interestingly, are classed as literary.

Before the above novel I read Pompeii by Robert Harris which I thoroughly enjoyed and which someone had given to me as a recommended read. Clearly a deeply researched work filled with fascinating insights into ancient Roman civilisation. I especially enjoyed the depiction of Pliny who recorded the eruption for posterity.

Today I have that joy of deciding what to read next...

I enjoyed Pompeii, as well as the Cicero trilogy that Robert Harris wrote. By chance, I came across an observation that Cicero made, sometime in his life from 106BC-43BC, which struck me as eerily prescient of modern times!

Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book.

 

[moonsage]

*furiously scribbles down the titles*

Wow, there's a lot here to take in

The last book I've read is Ashok Ferrey's 'Ceaseless Chatter of Demons'. I loved Ferrey's style of writing. It's fast and witty and makes you read his books in one sitting. It's full of self deprecating humor, tackles the intricacies of human nature and makes you laugh on a regular basis.
Here's the link to it if anyone wants to take a peak :
The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons

His collection of short stories 'Colpetty People' was another interesting find. Loved how he takes you on a journey with every story and makes you understand the mindset and culture of the people you wouldn't normally understand observing on your own.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I've just finished reading Dennis Lehane's latest novel, 'Since We Fell'. He's one of my favourite authors, and this book doesn't disappoint, for the plot has more twists that a snake with epilepsy!

It's a brilliant example of the commonly given advice about putting the protagonist in danger, then ratcheting up the emotional stakes even more by increasing the level of the threat. Several times, while reading, I thought 'How is she going to get out of this?'

He also starts his story with an attention-grabbing paragraph:

'On a Tuesday in May, in her thirty-fifth year, Rachel shot her husband dead. He stumbled backward with an odd look of confirmation on his face, as if some part of him had always known she'd do it.'

 

[Robinne Weiss]

That is a brilliant first line!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I have to recommend the first novel by a Norwegian author, Lars Mytting. In 2016, he achieved unexpected success worldwide, with his guide to chopping and stacking firewood—Norwegian Wood.

His novel The Sixteen Trees of the Somme is one of the most compelling stories I've read this year. Featuring the author's love of wood, which becomes a key ingredient of the plot with some valuable walnut, the narrative contemplates love, lust, family loyalties and feuds, wealth versus poverty and how tragedy strikes good people. I was enthralled.

It's supremely well written, and you wouldn't know that it's been translated from original Norwegian. Try to read it, before Hollywood turns it into a movie that's relocated to Maine, most probably, and starring someone wildly inappropriate. Hopefully, the Scandinavians will film it first, maybe as a television series.

 

[James Marinero]

Try to read it, before Hollywood turns it into a movie that's relocated to Maine, most probably, and starring someone wildly inappropriate.

... and the real wood becomes chipboard.

 

[MaryA]

Noting recommendations here.

On my bedside table Jessie Burton's The Muse, Vies Minuscules by Pierre Michon ( I'm obsessed with him at the moment), Patience Gray's Honey from a Weed (a new biography of her is out and I have never read this classic cookbook/memoir), Henry James' The Altar of the Dead (because Henry James), Claire Tomalin's moving and stoic A Life of My Own. John Le Carre's A Legacy of Spies on order.

 

[SueRoe]

I'm always on the look-out for good books to read. I've read loads this year but three have made it onto my true favourite list:

1. Conclave by Robert Harris
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk
3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (and I haven't seen the TV series)

 

[James Marinero]

I'm always on the look-out for good books to read. I've read loads this year but three have made it onto my true favourite list:

1. Conclave by Robert Harris
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk
3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (and I haven't seen the TV series)

I really enjoyed 'Conclave'. Robert Harris is a great 'professional author' - I think a 1st in Eng Lit from Oxford and then straight into writing novels. His research is superb - whether hi-tech or ecclesiastical.

 

[SueRoe]

I really enjoyed 'Conclave'. Robert Harris is a great 'professional author' - I think a 1st in Eng Lit from Oxford and then straight into writing novels. His research is superb - whether hi-tech or ecclesiastical.

Yes, every book of his is amazing.

 

[Howard]

Recent reading by me:
- The Hunger Games. Bloody hell! Did not expect to like that book as I dislike first person and thought the movies were crap, but I loved it! Read it in one sitting (unheard of for me - I read at the pace of concussed snail).
- The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger. Never been so bored in my life. I know its sacrilege, but I just do not rate King as a writer at all, and this book is a particularly bad example. Consigned to the charity pile immediately.
- Foundation, Asimov. SQUEE! Such wonderful Sci-Fi, and it is still fresh as a daisy, nearly 70 years later!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

John Connolly is best known as a writer of crime stories with an eerie supernatural element. His Charlie Parker mysteries have kept me on the edge of my seat more than a few times. He also wrote a brilliant fantasy novel The Book of Lost Things that follows a disturbed young boy's journey into maturity in a world where fairy tales characters are real.

Recently, John Connolly has changed direction again, with a lovely fictional imagining of the life of pioneer comedian Stan Laurel—best known as part of Laurel and Hardy. It's called 'he'.

I was captivated by Laurel's story, with his affection for 'Babe' Hardy, his own indiscretions with women and the scurrilous behaviour of Hollywood studio bosses.

As a reminder of Laurel & Hardy's brilliance, watch this clip of them performing On The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. This was released as a 45 single in 1975, unexpectedly making it to number 2 in the Top 20—kept off the top spot by Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It makes me smile every time I watch it: