Books - What are you reading?

enjoying this at the moment:

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Autumns-Jacob-Zoet/dp/0340921587/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top"]The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet: Amazon.co.uk: David Mitchell: Books[/ame]

hard work at the beginning but then gets in to it's groove.

I believe the world needs more lists. [not serious]

And what is better than the 100 BEST BOOKS lists?

BBC - The Big Read

Guardian - 100 Greatest Novels

Telegraph - 100 Novels Everyone Should Read

I've read quite a few on the BBC list, but need to seek more out.

GA2G - Lfgss Chairman of the List Department. :-D

Halfway through the Wodehouse Blandings omnibus. Life seems better when you're reading Wodehouse.

Also - have only read 23 of the Guardian list (which is fairly quixotic), 29 of the Telegraph, feel like an utter philistine (36 of the BBC list, but it's got a load of shite in it).

Just started re-reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, such a good book, stands head and shoulders above the rest of the discworld novels imo.

Just started re-reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, such a good book, stands head and shoulders above the rest of the discworld novels imo.

Thief of Time is great (I refuse to be a snob about Pratchett, the man is one of the finest moralists working today) but imo there are more complete novels in the Discworld series. Things like Jingo, Unseen Academicals, Making Money, and that one about when fast communication comes to the city (can't remember the damn name) are every bit as imaginative and entertaining and funny as Thief of Time, but also have this massively important contemporary social commentary running through it.

End of Thief of Time is utterly beautiful tho, matched only by Hogfather imo.

Can't wait to get my hands on the new collection of William Burroughs letters..

^I didn't like Hogfather at all. It's all about Nanny Ogg, surely. Or Sereant Colon.

I think small gods is my favourite Terry Pratchett

just started this.

had tempered expectation after ""the mysterious flame..." but enjoying it so far.

just getting to the end of Sirens of Titan. have not read it since i was a teenager and it has stood the test of time well. lean on pete next.

^I didn't like Hogfather at all. It's all about Nanny Ogg, surely. Or Sereant Colon.

I do like those characters but I think Pratchett is at his best when he gives the off colour jokes a miss and really lets loose with the satire. That end speech in Hogfather about how the whole mythos of father xmas is a small lie to prepare children for the big lies, like honour and duty and morality - I thought it was utterly beautiful. Horses for courses tho innit.

just started this.

had tempered expectation after ""the mysterious flame..." but enjoying it so far.

I was tempted by that the other day - only read Foucaults Pendulum and Name of the Rose so far. Be interested to know how it turns out.

i'll lend it yer afterwards bro. must warn you i'm a slow reader.

fancy a pint next week? want to chat gigs etc.

just started this.

had tempered expectation after ""the mysterious flame..." but enjoying it so far.

Was also tempted with this. Give a review dooks whenever you finish.
I'm reading a spate off sociology-type books. finish 'being wrong' which was so insightful and now onto 'Traffic' by Tom Vandebilt.

Eagleton is a total bad-ass, and as committed a Leftist as there is.

Picked this up today. Getting quite fascinated with brushing up on the history of pro-cycling and this seems like a decent place to start adding to the various youtube videos I've been hoovering up. Needs a better editor though, somebody like me maybe, as it's immediately quite repetitive. Can't help but read with a critical eye.

Been after a cheap copy of this for ages and finally relented and bought the pricey 'collectable' copy that everyone advertises.......Drummond and Manning

i'll lend it yer afterwards bro. must warn you i'm a slow reader.

fancy a pint next week? want to chat gigs etc.

Argh, just saw this. PM incoming.

Picked this up today. Getting quite fascinated with brushing up on the history of pro-cycling and this seems like a decent place to start adding to the various youtube videos I've been hoovering up. Needs a better editor though, somebody like me maybe, as it's immediately quite repetitive. Can't help but read with a critical eye.

Just finished Fotheringham's biography of Fausto Coppi and enjoyed it hugely. That one seemed quite well structured to my untrained eye.

I'm finding I prefer autobiographies when it comes to cycling books - the insight they offer into the relationships within the teams and the elbow to elbow action in the peloton is fascinating. Millar's racing through the dark is one of the best books I've read full stop.

Just started to read Jarhead by Anthony Swofford

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Jarhead-Marines-Chronicle-Other-Battles/dp/0743235355"]Amazon.com: Jarhead : A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles (9780743235358): Anthony Swofford: Books[/ame]

So far, 75 pages in, it's great! It's an interesting mixture of fragile emotions and war fuelled hardness. His writing is great, been a while since I read something having it's own language like this does. Really look forward to the rest of it

I'm getting through the collected Judge Dredd case files.

I'm 38 this week. christ.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seven-Pillars-Wisdom-Triumph-Complete/dp/1463587376/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333367710&sr=1-4"]Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph: The Complete 1922 Text: Amazon.co.uk: T. E. Lawrence: Books[/ame]

An absolute masterpiece. A portrait of the characters involved in the Arab Revolt. As relevant now as it was then. Western powers fighting over and ultimately betraying the arabs, who were riven with tribal and religious differences.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph: The Complete 1922 Text: Amazon.co.uk: T. E. Lawrence: Books

An absolute masterpiece. A portrait of the characters involved in the Arab Revolt. As relevant now as it was then. Western powers fighting over and ultimately betraying the arabs, who were riven with tribal and religious differences.

I loved that... It is such a good book and a fascinating read and I think should be on everyone's reading list. I used to have access to a copy of the original edition which was around A4 size and had a number of drawings in, lined with paper. I did ask for it as a leaving present but it wasn't to be.

I loved that... It is such a good book and a fascinating read and I think should be on everyone's reading list. I used to have access to a copy of the original edition which was around A4 size and had a number of drawings in, lined with paper. I did ask for it as a leaving present but it wasn't to be.

Agreed.

TE Lawrence was such a complex and interesting character. I think its true to say that the book was mostly written as a manifesto for arab independence, with an eye to the future, more than a dry account of the revolt. He was torn between serving his country and guilt over betraying people he genuinely cared for.....an amazing book.

Just finished the 7th Horus Heresy novel; Legion, the story of the Imperial Army's compliance war on Nurth, and the Alpha Legions involvement in it.

Next up: Battle for the Abyss