what are you reading (thread 4)

[allan175]

Originally Posted by SimonI

I'm re-reading a book (well, trilogy) that I read in my youth: Titus Groan (the first volume in Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy). It is every bit as good as I remembered it - Peake's style takes a short amount of getting used to, but when you do get into the style it carries you totally into his world. His decriptive language is amazing.

I remember being somewhat obsessed by this when I was young (and with his other famous novel, the utterly charming Mr. Pye).

I also remember once reading a part in the second novel, where he describes an immense and lengthy period of rain; I looked up after reading for about an hour and was amazed to discover it was a sunny day outside

I've read Gormenghast a good few times over the years, it is brilliant.

Personally I didn't like the 3rd book, the first two ended perfectly. The 3rd just felt pointless.

[dbilsborough]

Originally Posted by dbilsborough

Finished all of Tim Weaver's David Raker series, fairly good, some books are much better than others. Quite annoying that he used the same kind of plot twist in two of the books, but will read the next one when it is out

Am now working through:

The Girl in the Box Series, Books 1-3: Alone, Untouched and Soulless



on book six now, and am thoroughly enjoying them - the first three above are currently free on Amazon

Finished the above series off - really enjoyed it

Read book 6 from LJ Ross Cragside: A DCI Ryan Mystery (The DCI Ryan Mysteries Book 6) - an OK read, not the best of the series though

Now reading Dangerous Lady Dangerous Lady by Martina Cole - seems a bit ponderous - might need to read another one of hers to see what tall the fuss is about....

Got the latest Jack Reacher book cued up next The Midnight Line: (Jack Reacher 22)

[sleep4ever]

As part of my Good Reads Challenge, I will have read 125 books this year.

In some ways its good because its encouraged me to read more books, but on the other hand I havent enjoyed it so much. Will aim to go back to 100 next year.

Recent reads -

Noel Slevin/Not Big Sam - Big Sam's guide to Life - Abhorrent and yet very funny, not too far off the real things autobiography I read this year.

Lee Child - The Midnight Line - The latest Jack Reacher is the same as the others, an entertaining read without breaking formula. Seemed more linear than previous entries.

Dan Lyons - Disrupted : My Misadventure in the Start Up Bubble - Funny and eye opening account of a middle aged man working in a 'modern' company.

Elly Griffiths - The Vanishing Box - The latest entry in one of my favourite series. Recommended.

[gjkendall]

Finished a few recently...

Joe Hill - Strange Weather
4 novellas which were all pretty good. My main issue was that the second short was so good the next two dragged a bit. Novella order should be tweaked in my opinion.

Beneath The Surface - Simon Clark & Paul Kane
Tremors meets WW2. A decent enough novella but not particularly original.

Sour Candy - Kealan Patrick Burke
A fantastic novella. Genuinly scary and some fantastic characterisation during it's 98 pages. Burke has immediately moved into my 'must read' category.


I'm just about to start Widow's Point by Richard & Billy Chizmar. Cemetery Dance were good enough to send me a physical ARC.

[dbilsborough]

Finished:

The Midnight Line: (Jack Reacher 22) - Not one of the best Jack Reacher books. Very formulaic and didn't really grab me

The Bach Manuscript (Ben Hope, Book 16) - Not the best in the series, not the worst, a good read

Limitless (Out of the Box Book 1) - read all of the first series of Robert J Crane's books, and enjoyed them. Not sure about this series as it goes into a lot of detail of how people are having their skin peeled off and being sliced up, not really my bag, but might give book 2 a chance - This one is free on amazon if you want a read

[jockosjungle]

Rereading the Kingsbridge books by Ken Follett in anticipation of reading the new one!

[Taq]

I've just read 'Killing the Immortals' by Jeff Haws, which I was quite enjoying right until the end, when it pulled the most bizarre twist that completely undermined everything that had gone before it. Weird.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Imm.../dp/B01JBNRKSG

[dbilsborough]

Reading The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Affiliated Link

Motley Crue bio, pretty good read, but what a bunch of absolute scumbags

Managed to get a new Kindle Voyage and red leather origami case for Ł80 on Facebook marketplace took a week to arrive, thought I might have been ripped off, but it was just delayed in the Christmas post. Really like it, seems a little nicer than my Paperwhite 2

[SimonI]

Reading Mark Kurlansky's The Basque History Of The World - pretty interesting so far. I have hopes for this since I really enjoyed his book about Cod

[gjkendall]

Finished Widow's Point...turned out to be a decent variant on the Haunted house tale. Richard Chizmar is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors.

I also finished Hope and Walker by Andrew Cull. A tiny novella that told a very good ghost story. Recommended.

[gjkendall]

My favourite books of 2017

[gjkendall]

Finished Bird Box by Josh Malerman. It's funny how a book where, bar a few scenes, nothing really happens can totally have you on the edge of your seat.

Also finished Ghastle & Yule by Josh Malerman. An interesting short about two feuding movie directors. Started slow but ramped up nicely. I particularly enjoyed how this story was narrated.

Just waiting on the new Sarah Pinborough to arrive. Delighted that her publishers are sending me an advance copy.

After that...Robert McCammons The Listener

[dbilsborough]

Two Kinds of Truth: The New Harry Bosch from No.1 Bestseller (Harry Bosch Series)

Read the latest Bosch book - a good read

The Late Show

Another book by Michael Connelly - introducing Detective Renee Ballard, another promising character, enjoyed this one too.

Mindstormer (Mindwalker)

Currently reading this - the jury is still out, but keeping me interested so far at 25% in
EDIT - Really enjoyed this one. Started a bit slow, but was great in the second half

[jockosjungle]

Good reminder, I'm a couple behind in the Michael C books, just ordered both from the library

[dbilsborough]

Monkey Arkwright (Wardens of the Black Heart Book 1)

Read this, and enjoyed it for what it was. Not really my sort of book, but I am probably the wrong demographic for it anyway

Rattle (Ds Fitzroy 1)

A good read, got the second book in this series cued up next

Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine

reading this at the moment, seems OK, but probably a slow burner, reading it alongside some fiction

[Rob]

Originally Posted by dbilsborough

Monkey Arkwright (Wardens of the Black Heart Book 1)

Read this, and enjoyed it for what it was. Not really my sort of book, but I am probably the wrong demographic for it anyway

Thanks! Any chance of a review on Amazon? I'm more than happy for you to be honest and say what you did and didn't like about it. Either way, thanks for reading - I know people's reading time is valuable (mine is) so to give something a go when it's not your usual thing is much appreciated.

[dbilsborough]

Originally Posted by Rob

Thanks! Any chance of a review on Amazon? I'm more than happy for you to be honest and say what you did and didn't like about it. Either way, thanks for reading - I know people's reading time is valuable (mine is) so to give something a go when it's not your usual thing is much appreciated.

I left a 4* review for you, as I reviewed it based on how a teenager would like it.

As for feedback for you (and feel free to ignore this as I haven't written a book (yet)), there were a couple of things that I didn't really like. I didn't know at the start what kind of book it was. I am not sure if that makes sense, but what I mean is, was it crime, teen angst, adventure, romance. The coincidences in the book suggested that the power of the items was real, but until we found out about those it made little sense that certain things would naturally happen.

I usually judge how good a book is by my desire to read a little bit more. I found with this book, the first 25% or so, I didn't, for the middle 50% I did want to read some more to find out what would happen in the next chapter, and then not so much in the last 25%. Not sure why that was.

It was a lot better than some of the AAA books I have read, looking at you Lee Child......

[Taq]

It was a lot better than some of the AAA books I have read, looking at you Lee Child......

Well that's one quote to put on the Twitter posts!

[Rob]

Originally Posted by dbilsborough

I left a 4* review for you, as I reviewed it based on how a teenager would like it.

As for feedback for you .....

Yep, just seen it, thanks.

I think that your comments are entirely valid; I started writing the book to entertain my kids (who are teenagers), but I find it impossible to write SOLELY for teenagers - I wanted to write a book that could be enjoyed by all ages, that I would enjoy, and I wanted it to be a challenge - I didn't want everything to be obvious and I didn't want to write in a dumbed-down language (if that makes sense).

So in doing all of this, I still find myself caught between saying it's a YA or it's a mystery. Also, when you say about the first 25% - again, fair comment. It's got a lot of set up, and when I re-read it, I thought that some of it (e.g. the cat up the tree) could be construed as a bit young for an adult audience and it takes a bit of time to get going on the meat of the story. At the end of the book, I wanted to square off a lot of the subplots, whilst setting up what comes next.

Anyway, this is all valueable feedback, and I appreciate it as much as the review, so thanks.

Originally Posted by Taq

Well that's one quote to put on the Twitter posts!

Oh yes, I'll definitely take that one.

[dbilsborough]

The Collector: The Bone-Chilling Thriller from the Bestselling Author of Rattle

2nd DI Fitzroy book 2 - really enjoyed this one, good thriller / crime fiction

The Defence: Eddie Flynn Book 1

Read 25% of this today, liking it a lot so far, hopefully the full series is as good