What are you reading at the moment?

Jfingers

@Offset could you please tell me if a band called Chaser are mentioned in that book?

A friend of mine played bass and it seems they were pretty popular.

They've just had a re release of their album, fans in Europe etc, I'm sure he'd love to know if they were in the book. Thanks.

Offset

Jfingers said:

@Offset could you please tell me if a band called Chaser are mentioned in that book?

A friend of mine played bass and it seems they were pretty popular.

They've just had a re release of their album, fans in Europe etc, I'm sure he'd love to know if they were in the book. Thanks.

If I come across them I'll holler.  Unfortunately (and slightly unforgivably) there is no index, so you're going to have to wait for me to wade through all 462 pages before delivering my verdict! 

Jfingers

Offset said:

Jfingers said:

@Offset could you please tell me if a band called Chaser are mentioned in that book?

A friend of mine played bass and it seems they were pretty popular.

They've just had a re release of their album, fans in Europe etc, I'm sure he'd love to know if they were in the book. Thanks.

If I come across them I'll holler.  Unfortunately (and slightly unforgivably) there is no index, so you're going to have to wait for me to wade through all 462 pages before delivering my verdict! 

Thanks a lot. Enjoy your read!

Blueingreen

Just finished The Map and The Territory and started on Submission, both by Michel Houellebecq. I haven’t read anything by him for many years.  He's marmite, and not the sort of writer I generally like - he's not  much of a stylist, and I'm not normally attracted  to wilful controversy or attempts to epater les bourgeois.  But Houellebecq is a one-off, an unpleasantly astringent but in my opinion necessary injection of one version of the truth.  And a surprisingly compelling and at times even exhilarating read.

Offset

After the NWOBHM tome, I have this to titillate me:

RocknRollDave

Halfway through Kings of a Dead World - Jamie Mollart.
Post-apocalyptic stuff. Not massively original, but well done.

SteveRobinson

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.

It's about one woman's battle with late 50s/early 60s patriarchy and it's very funny.

CaseOfAce

Vietnam - Max Hastings.
The sheer amount of ordnance the US dropped in South East Asia - mind blowing.
I didn't know that if you were within the vicinity of a B-52 strike - and survived - you stood the very real chance of being rendered permanently deaf.

CE1

Red Tarancon, a history of the attacks on the hospitals in Tarancon during the Spanish Civil war. Translated from Spanish and a little awkward in places but worth a read for anyone interested in the SCW.

Springywheel

Weaveworld by Clive Barker 

EricTheWeary

I did some reading when I was on holiday, pretty much the only time I pick up a book/ kindle. 

The Wall by John Lanchester. Chosen as it was a highbrow question answer on House of Games. Bit disappointing but if you like a dystopian novel it might work for you.   

Klopp Actually by Laura Lexx. It’s dated quite quickly (lockdown and the Debenhams blue cross sale) and it doesn’t really go anywhere but for a short, quite funny read I liked it.

Tickling the English by Dara Obriain. My low level addiction to books by comedians continues. Has it’s moments but Lexx was funnier.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not as bad as his last one but disappointing novel from such a literary great. 

And halfway through the Stewart Copeland memoir. Probably can’t be arsed to finish it as I don’t give a flying **** about his polo horses. It’s a book in search of an editor. 

RocknRollDave

@EricTheWeary I enjoyed Copeland’s book but, yeah, just like Ginger Baker’s it veers into tedious polo waffle. I seem to remember he expresses the feelings of listening to and making music really well. Preferred Andy Summers’ book but both were way more satisfying  than Sting’s.

EricTheWeary

RocknRollDave said:

@EricTheWeary I enjoyed Copeland’s book but, yeah, just like Ginger Baker’s it veers into tedious polo waffle. I seem to remember he expresses the feelings of listening to and making music really well. Preferred Andy Summers’ book but both were way more satisfying  than Sting’s.

I enjoy his enthusiasm for music and drumming but pages and pages about polo and other stuff just doesn’t engage me at all. 

boogieman

CaseOfAce said:

Vietnam - Max Hastings.
The sheer amount of ordnance the US dropped in South East Asia - mind blowing.
I didn't know that if you were within the vicinity of a B-52 strike - and survived - you stood the very real chance of being rendered permanently deaf.

That’s in my to-read pile. 

I’m half way through Ken Follett’s latest book Never. Not sure what to make of it so far, it’s supposedly a contemporary international political thriller, but it’s like it’s written for 12 year olds. His historical books are way better.  

CoolCat

Just finished with Still Life by Val McDermid.

It is an excellent read.

HAL9000

ICBM said:

Nitefly said:

That's interesting @ICBM - when I read them half a century ago (!) I found Titus Alone felt like it had been written by someone else, the style was so different.

Perhaps it's time for me to follow your example and re-read them...

It’s true that it was heavily edited after Peake’s death because there were a lot of inconsistencies in the manuscript which made some of it difficult to follow - and I think there’s more than one edited version. But although very different in content, I think it’s recognisably the same work.

Definitely re-read it, it’s an astounding work of genius. I’d been meaning to for years and finally got around to it in the first lockdown - I’m actually pleased I waited so long and was able to do it with less distraction.

I’m re-reading Titus Alone at the moment. Better than I’d remembered but still doesn’t really do it for me. As I previously said it lacks the epic sweep and the cast of grotesque characters (Flay, Steerpike, Dr and Irma Prunesqualour etc) of the earlier books. The characters in Titus Alone seem one-dimensional in comparison.

Matt_McG

I'm reading:

• John M. Ford's Scholars of Night  (reissue of an 80s cold war/academic thriller)

• several books on computer vision / ML (for work)

and I have

• the latest Rivers of London book by Ben Aaronovitch (Amongst out Weapons) queued up for after.

I'm finding the Ford a little hard going. It's perfectly fine, but my reading has been interrupted and I haven't quite gelled with it yet. The last thing I read before it was Jack Grimwood's Island Reich which was a quick entertaining read.