blonde poker forum

I am sure we used to have a Blonde Book thread?

I finished reading the 5th Girl With The Dragon Tattoo book, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye.

No problem, I have 5 different series of books that I read, so when i finish one I am straight on to the next one....

Not this week as there is nothing new available until Feb!

Jo Nesbo - Harry Hole
Larrson/Lagercrantz - Lisbeth Salander
Stephen Leather - Spider Shepherd
Stephen Leather - Jack Nightingale
Graham Masterton - Katie Maguire
Marnie Riches - George McKenzie

Not sure if anyone is familiar with the above, I would recommend them all highly, but does anyone have any fictional book suggestions?
Preferably a series, and in the crime/thriller genre?

Not sure if your thing but the Kathy Reich series of books is pretty good imo

Michael Connelly - harry Bosch. .Pretty good. Also Patricia Cornwell first few books in the Kay Scarpetta series probably worth a try if you never have

Mark Billingham - tom thorne
Peter James - Roy grace

Both worth a mention in this genre too

The Jack Reacher books are good, mindless fun.  Less of a crime mystery, but generally entertaining.

Papillon by Henri Charrière

This is a great story the book is far better than the film IMO.

One of Tikay's favourites.  I discovered it via blonde a few years ago.

It's not a series though, although there was a sequel to it, and not fictional (in theory, at least).  Incredible read though, and one of my ambitions is to read it in it's original language, if only to understand what word they ended up using 'charger' as the translation for (which seemed an odd choice to me, given it's purpose).

The Life and Secrets of a professional punter - Alex Bird

If your into horses and betting - Alex Bird is a legend probably the most successful punter of his time if not the best. Strongly recommend this book.

My favourite two books are:

1) the mayor of casterbride- Thomas hardy
2) I am Pilgrim - can't remember the author! Ha brilliant book though.

Stuart MacBride - Logan McRae. There's a nice touch of dark pessimistic humour running through the series.

Hardy on page one.

Verndog crushing blonde ATM.

Ha. Discharger might have been more apt.

The sequel was "Banco".

They were not fictional as such, rather, I'd say, embellished real-life.

Charrierre was a quite wonderful story-teller.

Looks like I may have to revisit Papillon. Great, great, read.

I picked up Catch 22 recently, maybe 50 years after reading it the first time. I've probably read it 10 times in my life, & every time I read it I see new nuances & humour. Doubt any book has ever been written in that style before or since.

I love catch 22.  I lent it to somebody and can no longer remember who.  I will probably just buy another copy and read it again.  I bought a couple of his other books and they weren't even close to it. 

I just read some comments in the guardian from some book club or other.  Somebody had added this tale, I thinkt it would have been a good epilogue to the book.

A guy I worked for over the summer called Henry. Joined the Army Air Corps with ambitions to become a pilot, aced every test, highest rating in his class at flight school. Was a few days away from leaving for Europe when he accidentally spent some time talking to a veteran pilot who had come to deliver a pep talk to the class while pretending to tell them “what it was really like.” He kind of did tell them, but by accident: his hands shook so much his coffee slopped everywhere and sometimes the facial tics got so bad he had to pause. Henry had a moment of clarity. On his final training flight he buzzed the tower in his B-17 and washed out: he’d taken an insane risk with a valuable aircraft! He was a disgrace and unfit to lead men into combat! He was punished by serving out the war as a mechanic. Twenty-some years later he still enjoyed reliving his deep and abiding shame.

The Charlie Parker series by John Connolly is fantastic. I really loved the first chapter of book 6 it reminded me of blonde for some reason.

You'll find it if you google "the unquiet john connolly prologue" and click on the cached version of the first result

Though not a religious person - i have read the Bible - cover to cover - and there are many versions - always an interesting read.

Definitely the Roy Grace series. Living in Brighton it's pretty much essential reading.

Poverty Safari is on my Christmas list.  A powerful tour de force from local Glasgow Activist Darren McGarvey aka LOKI. 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/15625769.Working_class_hero_or_zero______Review__Poverty_Safari__by_Darren_McGarvey/

Not sure if it's on interest to Blonde's but it might open a few peoples minds. 

Bit leftfield but if you like something as dark and wild as Jo Nesbø, you might enjoy John Webster's plays.

The Duchess of Malfi is a bleak and horrifying masterpiece.

Good potential but far too flabby - needs a really good editor to whip into shape was my analysis.

For those that enjoy Fiction - any poker book - I have read loads and I am still rubbish.

Ian Rankin's Rebus is a fascinating, Edinburgh based character. Arguably something of a prototype for Harry Hole. The TV series was a faithful adaptation by Rankin himself, I believe, and well worth catching on Dave (or wherever)

Individual books?
Shogun
Birdsong
The Wrong Boy (hilarious & wonderfully written)

Authors I invested a fair bit of time on:
HG Wells
John Steinbeck
John O'Hara

Just finished Martina Cole's Get Even so I am now on to Papillon.

I will let you know what I think.

Will try to work my way through everything suggested.

Thanks all.

Just finished This is going to hurt by ex junior doctor Adam Kay.

Literally just finished the 3rd bio by Danny Baker all 3 are brilliant.

In cold blood Truman Capote a good read.

Phillip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy are excellent books.

Why did he leave Lali and Zoraima?

 ;booboo;

No spoilers, I'm in solitary.

Great suggestion though!

Seems apt but 'Mollies game'

Ha. Daftest decision ever.

The follow up book to Papillion is called Banco - imo do not bother it is a let down.

I agree with it being a disappointment, but I'd still recommend a read at some point to 'complete' the story as such.

I wonder how many people have read Papillon based on Tikay's original post about it several years ago.  I'm one of them, as I'd never heard of it before then, but I suspect there are a few others between myself and Stuart.

Me too.

It's not as good as Papillon, no, but still well worth a read, imo.

The film is worth a watch as it is gritty and does its best to stay within the story line of the book - which is really hard as imo the book is in my top 3 favourite reads and is a complete page turner - the story just flows and sometimes you can become sceptical but I think on the whole what is in the book happened.

Over the years I have reread this book about 12 times and never got bored.

Richard Brandon Losing my virginity. Couldn't put it down. Roller coaster of a life, non stop full on.

What they dont teach you at Harvard Business School - Mark McCormack - founder of IMG - great read for budding entrepreneurs or old hands that have been in the sporting media world.

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One from my top 5.

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What are the other 4, Tom?

It sounds silly but I don't know until I think of them. There are so many.

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Siddhartha by Herman Hesse was one of my most enjoyable reads.

I much enjoyed the Lenny McLean book, with all the talk of "straighteners" & the like.

I simply could not list my Top 5, impossible task. Might be able to narrow it down to 20, but not 5.

I'm still devouring books, at least 1 every week for as many years as I can remember. An hour reading a book last thing at night every night is the best thing ever.

I bet you can name one from your top 5 though.

Yes, that's true.

Sigh....

It's like pulling teeth.

Anything by him. Such a treat when I find a new one.



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Ha. So you don't need me to tell you one of my top 5 is written by him.

It's about time his next is due, too.

Priceless info in this tomb

 ;applause; ;applause;

Don't you still get royalties - imo everything is worth a read

There are exceptions.....

Disagree all books have a value - you may not agree with the content - but opinion is opinion. Currently reading about quantum physics - i have no idea what there talking about and to be honest I  am not that interested but I have started so I will finish it. You never know when it might come in handy.

Correct

Are you talking about books or censorship.

Everything?

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You can take Knitting with dog hair off the list straight away - timeless classic

There's only nobility in this if you're prepared to find out what you are reading. At least spend some time on Wikipedia about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, when you get to it, so that you can at least follow what is going on. Or read a more basic book and come back to this one. That must be the best thing to do. Fascinating topic and deserves more love.

Not sure if it was just hyperbole, but saying you have no idea what it's on about but you'll plough on anyway is like reading a book in Klingon in the hope it suddenly becomes clear. Or watching a ten hour version of the third matrix film.

Good writing is much better than good topics. It's a true art, to be able to write well. Every page you read of Trudie from The Only Way is Love Island on Ice's autobiography is a page you miss from AA Gill or Thomas Hardy.

According to the de Broglie hypothesis, every object in the universe is a wave - on the case though I think I can only read one at a time.

Tal - Incorrect all languages can be deciphered as they are all just code so if you had the whereabouts and the time you would eventually understand Klingon.

Space The Final Frontier - probably not

Yes on languages, but it only works if you then study the language to work out what the words mean, else you're just looking at hieroglyphics.

The wave idea is fascinating, as is the notion that the more accurately you try to describe a particle's position, the harder it becomes.

People watch episodes of multiple TV shows all the time, ome after the other. No reason why we can't do multiple books. You can pick depending on your mood and fancy.

Books rock.

Books rock - agree we buy about 5 a week in our house between 3 people - several books on the go but not all on the same subject.

People can multiple information all the time - now I am on the lap top but I am also on the ipad looking at something different.

I love this reply Mr Tal, especially the last paragraph.

I never plough on with books I don't like. Life's too short.

PS- I would read the tractor one though.

Hour late with the Da Vinci Code.  Talwise scoops.

My wife has a few medical books, which only serve to worsen her hypochondria.  I'd like to include them all, but there is a set of books on alternative "medicine".  I feel a sense of shame everytime I see the one marked Homeopathy.  I tell myself it is nothing to do with me, but I still feel somehow resposible for its presence. 

My kids must look at it and think, daddy is the one who reads all the books, it must be his.  Homeopathy is like a vaccine, isn't it daddy? 

Feck, I need to burn it at the first opportunity, but then there are another 4 in the set and I will probably find a copy of the Da Vinci Code behind it... and she'll probably burn my copy of Backing the Draw for Profit in retaliation.

Looks like nirvana has a duplicate account. Sort please mods.

I was given an advance of £1,000 for this booky wook, so had to sell that many copies of the 6,000 printed. I've received zero cheques since, just the occasional bit of paperwork to show how many have been sold. No invoice yet.

Where can I be a ponce and download it for free?   ;whistle; :D

Apologies if mentioned before, but I have Flashman accompanying me on the train this morning!

Funny and generally marvellous so far. Any other fans?

This is the most beautifully written book I've ever read. That it was written by someone for whom English was a second language just blows me away.

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A little bit of Fantasy if you fancy it...

The First Law Trilogy (and spin offs) by Joe Abercrombie are brilliant, and if you don't fancy reading it, the Audiobooks are incredibly well narrated by Stephen Pacey and well worth a listen, I listened to them before reading as I'm a postie and walk 10 miles a day, have a lot of time to listen to stuff!

Half way through Banco....

Just reading 'From Soba To Moldova' by Paul Jones.

Strongly recommend this to any serious/semi-serious punterers.

Why?  Who is paul jones?

http://www.pauljoneshorseracing.com/soba-moldova-0

Nice paragraph bigging yourself up Chompy!  Love it.

Hahahaha - agree on the straight line bias tho

Haha, whoops. Honestly hadn't seen that on the website.

Knew it was in the book though obv. Wouldn't have recced it otherwise...

Actually, it's a very good read.

Finished Banco, not quite as good as the first but still a really great read.

Is the film worth watching?

Finished The Girl Who Had No Fear, number 5 in the George Mackenzie series.
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Onto Dead Men Whistling, number 9 in the Katie Maguire series.
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Been a little side tracked with the Awaken Online series;

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Was a little random with the first book being offered for free on my Kindle account, wouldn't normally read a book in the LitRPG genre.

5 stars though in my opinion! Finished the main 4 books and about to start on the side quests.

Looking forward to new Spider Shepherd, Harry Hole and Lisbeth Salander books in the next couple of months, then I will get back to all the suggestions on this thread!

Two very different books i've read recently and enjoyed (neither are new so can prob pick up cheap):

• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari - Chunky one about the history of humankind. Full of amazing info you won't be able to help telling others about.
• Kill Your Friends by John Niven - Daaaaark fiction set around 90's UK music scene. Trashier British version of American Psycho. I laughed a lot

The sequel Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow is also good but, as a warning, don't expect it to be quite so good as the first one.

I don't think it was disappointing exactly and if I'd read it first I would have thought it was great - but I don't think it quite reached the standard of Sapiens.

Downloaded Sapiens. Will report back.

Sapiens was a great shout.

It's like an anthropological ASHONE. I'm really enjoying it, the only trouble is I can't help regaling everyone with my new-found knowledge.

The right side of History - Ben Shapiro - Don't agree with all his thoughts but a well written book.

Homo Deus is excellent as well, I’d recommend moving on to it straight after, they kind of come as a pair.

I'll download a sample when I finish Sapiens.

Has anyone read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life?

I have had limited exposure to JP but don't agree with much of his political stuff and have issues with some of his more recent social commentary stuff. I do keep hearing that his self help stuff is actually really good though.

I've read it and enjoyed it but I read it as someone who had enjoyed quite a lot of his work. I don't know if it's good from a self help point of view but it did make me spend some introspective moments to reflect on who I am, what I value and how i should spend my time.

I think there is enough in there that is well argued/reasoned and shows insight in areas that I don't know much about to make it a recommend from me. It is inseparable from political (and to some extent religious) thought and so I would find it hard to imagine anybody who is completely anti religion or who has a predominantly socialist outlook finding much worth in it.

Thanks, I am not totally anti religion or a socialist so have no issue there.

I just don't agree with a lot of his stuff on political correctness, family values and some of his masculinity stuff. I think I will give it a go.

It'll be interesting to hear your thoughts after you've read it

I literally never read fiction but recently picked up Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth and thought it was mint.

First of a trilogy and quickly dusted off the other two

Guess I read a lot of fiction

Might have to try and pick a few up from here to read when I'm next off work over Xmas.

Either that, or just read sporting auto/biographies all winter.



Read a lot,  or write a lot?

:)

I enjoy thrillers, particularly with an espionage theme, so a lot of my early favourites were from Robert Ludlum, especially The Bourne Trilogy.

The following were also great reads:

David Baldacci - The Winner
Dean R Koontz - Dark Rivers Of The Heart
Gerald Seymour - A Song In The Morning
Stephen Frey - Absolute Proof

Another favourite is Frederick Forsyth's No Comebacks - this is a collection of excellent short stories, all with a twist.

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

Very limited knowledge or opinion about surfing but picked this up after it was norminated for the William Hill sports Book award. Absolutely blown away.

He writes so evocatively about the power and the beauty of the ocean, the search for the perfect wave, pre internet via word of mouth and trial and error. The danger of surfing, the risk, the stupidity and the reward and glory which nobody else will probably see or share with him.

Haven't loved a book this much for a long time.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/14/barbarian-days-surfing-life-william-finnegan-review

Slow off the mark here. 2/3 of the way through currently, after recently discovering i'd downloaded it onto my iPad but forgotten all about it.

I read just two books last year.

This year, I am going to read more. Perhaps one a month, will see how we go. I have a few lined up and holding myself accountable, will post them here with a few thoughts after reading.

Would be good to see some others do the same.

Shine: Rediscovering your Energy, Happiness and Purpose

In my mid twenties I used to be a bit of a self-help junkie. 7 steps, 5 habits, etc. etc.

As I have got older, my appetite for self improvement has waned but I do like to come back to a couple every now and then - usually when I am feeling especially glum or something is going on at work.

Shine is a really easy read, written in a relaxed conversational style without prescriptive lists to follow. The book does a good job of getting right to the point of self improvement, changing the way you perceive yourself. It is funny all the way through and doesn't take itself too seriously whilst still getting across some genuinely interesting ideas. This is a pleasant change compared to most in this genre which seem to be either too convoluted (The Chimp Paradox) or just plain dumb (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K).

It includes lots of profanities and some nice doodles but does lack depth. It has a "go and explore this yourself" type feel in parts and I would have appreciated a tad more guidance.  In general it is pretty good for getting a swift jolt of chutzpah to kick off a new year but don't expect it to turn you into a new man.

"You shine brightest when you're being your best self. Indeed, the quality of the relationship with yourself determines the quality of your relationship with everyone else."

6.5/10

Anyway, no more self help for a while. Up next, I have a couple of highly rated chunky novels that should keep me busy - A Gentleman in Moscow and The Poisonwood Bible.

Before we moved house I had a half hour on the train to work every day, which was great for reading.

The house we bought means the train journey isn't even 5 minutes now - I've clearly made a terrible mistake.

But I've been trying to still get about 20 minutes before work of reading, so I can still get through a few books.

I've just finished

War of the Wolf by Bernard Cornwell

Once you're this far into a series of books the quality can sag on occasions - and I think it did for a few books; but this one is back up to the normal Cornwell standards.

Love Bernard Cornwell, it's hard to think of many authors who do historical fiction quite so consistently well as he does.

8/10 (but on the basis you're reading the Last Kingdom series and like historical fiction).

Love Cornwell too , my favourites are the Grail trilogy and Agincourt.

The only historical fiction I have ever read is a book called Treachery.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Treachery-Giordano-Bruno-Book-4/dp/0007481225/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FO4PIFPOGV1S&keywords=treachery&qid=1578400535&smid=A1G3UP32AZJ14F&sprefix=treacher%2Caps%2C424&sr=8-1

It didn't stick in the memory.

Have added The Last Kingdom to my wishlist. Looks interesting. 12 books in the series is a bit intimidating though!

Finished reading Airhead by Emily Maitlis

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It's well written and it's got some interesting bits in it but it isn't a biography, it's written to show how what gets presented as news comes about and some of the inherent randomness involved.

The result of that is there's no over-arching narrative, you just get a series of anecdotes.

Each chapter is good but because of that lack of structure it really isn't very engaging - worth borrowing from the library and well worth reading a chapter if you come across it and that's all the time you have available but it isn't one I'd reccomend to go out and buy.

I'm halfway through the 4th and last book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and from struggling to get going  through book 1 The Shadow of The Wind and restarting it a couple of times, once I'd read the first book, I was hooked and have got to where I am now in less than a month. I can't put it down.

It's not one genre, it's a complicated relationship between historical fiction, a Gothic crime thriller with twists, love and a multitude of intermingled characters.

Set on the streets of Barcelona from 1945 onwards it goes forwards and backwards in time interlinking stories and characters.

It's a roller coaster ride of a read and an extraordinary piece of writing that I've rushed reading in places to find out what happens next that I regret so much I'm going to start again from book 1 and savour it slowly. It's the first series of books I've said that about. it is my favourite series so far.

The books in order are  The Shadow Of The Wind - 2001, The Angel's Game - 2008, The Prisoner Of Heaven - 2011, and finally The Labyrinth Of The Spirits - 2018.

It's a journey worth travelling and a set of great audiobooks on Audible too.

Thanks for this. I read Shadow of the Wind towards the end of Uni and remember enjoying it. Had no idea there had been follow-ups since though, so will check those out now.  :)up

So pleased to find a fellow reader! I hope you enjoy them, I have much shorter nails now :-)

One of my favorite series is the Sharpe set of books, have gone back to every 5 years or so and easy to complete a book over a weekend ensconced in a armchair  when wet and windy outside

i have never been much of a reader but couple of weeks ago saw Sharpe's tiger free on amazon prime to read on kindle, so downloaded kindle app for tablet and now going through the series in chronological order. on  the 4th book now and enjoying them and slotting them in with the images of different characters from the TV series 

yeah very good series, all follow the same basic construct of good vs evil (Frenchies obv being the Villains) hero wins and gets the girl to boot !! but he ties in well to historical battles.

yeah all the battles are real and Sharpe gets moved to Units just to tie in with the real facts. I knew of the books and researched the TV series just never got round to reading the books before.

Just finished book 4 and I was sad that I'd finished and happy that I could read it again. I can't remember feeling like that about a book.

I'm going to read the Prince of Mist next which is the first book in the Niebla series by the same order along with a Monty Don book and the autobiography  of Stan Ternent. I'll also begin the Cemetery books again at some point.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the series Jamier.

Couple of short but entertaining reads for you guys to try.
I am a little bias as hes a good mate of mine from school days.
Will Nett is his name and his first two book to be published are
Billy no maps and My only Boro.
Please give them a bash and let me know what you think.
Happy reading

It's been so long i decided i need to go back and read the original first! Got some travel in a couple of weeks so all set for the flights.

Been ages since I posted in here (I although I do keep a sneaky eye on you pesky kids still...)

Shadow of the Wind

I struggle to put into words how incredible this book is. The idea, the execution and, most importantly, the language. I have a weird relationship with this book though; on one hand I struggle to put it down, but on the other hand it is taking me forever to read. Why? It's too wonderful to rush. Sometimes, a paragraph grabs me so much that I just go back and read it over again.

Mr B is getting impatient with me. I have been banging on about this book for a year now but desperately don't want to get to the end to give it to him to read!

"Gustavo Barcelo was an old colleague of my farther's who now owned a cavernous establishment on Calle Fernando with a commanding position in the city's secondhand-book trade. Perpetually affixed to his mouth was an unlit pipe that impregnated his person with the aroma of a Persian market. He liked to describe himself as the last romantic, and he was not above claiming that a remote line in his ancestry led directly to Lord Byron himself.

Gustavo Barcelo was, technically speaking, loaded and his palatial bookshop was more of a passion than a business. He loved books - if someone stepped into his bookshop and fell in love with a tome he could not afford, Barcelo would lower its price of even give it away if he felt the buyer was a serious reader and not an accidental browser. He boasted an elephantine memory alied to a pedantry that matched his demeanour and the sonority of his voice.

Barcelo and his bibliophile knights of the round table gathered to discuss the finer points of decadent poets, dead languages and neglected, moth-ridden masterpieces"

Love.

Go read it.

Decided to start reading novels on train to work (rather than listening to music on my MP3).

Most recently been restricted to Jack Reacher novels, but for Christmas I requested some David Baldacci books, having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Winner & Split Second many years ago.

I received 4 paperbacks and have just got started on the first, Memory Man. It's a shame that work gets in the way of my reading otherwise I may well have finished it by now. Will update once finished.

I would heartily recommend The Winner.

If there are any Dean R Koontz fans here, Dark Rivers Of The Heart is a great read and uncharacteristically does not involve the supernatural!

Well damn, that sounds pretty good - my "too read" shelf is already getting pretty big even without getting new ideas of books to buy :)

Just finished reading

Transcription by Kate Atkinson

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and unusually I'm a bit dissapointed by it. Unusual because I tend to have pretty good judgement about what books I'll like and that I like a lot of books - in some ways  I have pretty low standards.

The book centres around an 18 year old girl and her work in WW2 for the intelligence service in Britain. Unusually the subject focusses very much on the homefront, all the groundwork is there for a good story and the writing is good.

The disappointing part is that with the good premise, the good writing and and everything going for it - the plot just fizzles out.

It technically has a climax and a resolution, but it just isn't very exciting. The author may have been hampered somewhat in only being able to write about things that broadly speaking might have happened - and this might be why you don't get a whole lot of WW2 novels focussed on the intelligence service at home; but ultimately the end just seemed pretty unsatisfying.

It also suffered a little bit because I'd read a number of the sources that the author had read for her research, so when something happened in the story I would get taken out of the narrative because I knew what real life event and which real people that actually happened to - but that's more of an unfortunate coincidence then a problem with the writing.

I might look out for other books by this author because the writing itself is great and I'd assume other books by her might not have the problem this one had - but I wouldn't recommend this book in particular of hers.

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I finally made it to the end of "A Gentleman in Moscow".

It tells the story of a Russian Count who gets put under house arrest, living his life in a grand hotel opposite the Kremlin. The story spans 40+ years as we follow Count Rostov's life in The Metropole.

The book is very good at making you feel part of Russia. I guess you would describe it as historical drama. If you have even a passing interest in the Soviet Union then this is going to fascinate you. It's really well written, at times a little too convoluted for my tastes. The main character is so well developed and likeable - there wasn't a lot of character development outside of that though. The backdrop of Russia, the Metropol Hotel and the individual restuarants and bars and almost characters themselves, they are so well fleshed out.

At it's worst, the book is plodding, lacking in any real drama, short on character development and too full of big words.

At it's best you get a truly interesting piece of historical fiction that fleshes out a world that I could describe in depth and I feel sad that I am no longer reading about.

It's a mixed bag, certainly not the critical acclaim from me that it has received almost everywhere else but interesting none the less.

6/10


I am parking The Poisonwood Bible for now and book 3 of the year, after all the reccs on here, is Shadow of the Wind (already whizzed through 130 pages this weekend).

Just finished another volume in a series so I might concentrate more on the gist of the series than this specific book

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

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This is the 8th Novel in the Rivers of London series (there are also novellas and graphic novels but they don't contain any story information that you need to keep track of, i.e. you can just read the novels and you won't get left behind on anything they reference).

It follows Peter Grant who is a policeman who witnesses some supernatural stuff, finds out the Met (and pretty much everybody) already knows that magic and the like exist but it's a bit embarassing so they try not to mention it.

This leads on to his permanent transfer to the unit of the Met police that deals with all the supernatural stuff where he learns how to do magic as well as investigate it, and the story leads from there.

There's a pretty big over arching plot to the first 7 novels but each one is a self contained book by itself. That story arc seems to be pretty much finished by this novel but the world exists now so the future of the series might be a series of stand alone stories or the author might start to create another over arching plot ... who knows.

The writing is very good, there's nothing too fancy about the plotting it's all very solid, the characters are pretty well developed and not surprisingly the more characters recur the stronger their development becomes.

It's a series which has developed a reputation for a very thorough grounding in reality - useful when you're writing about the supernatural and magic.

Every location is thoroughly scouted, every element of police procedure seems realistic and now that it has developed that reputation the author spends a lot of time checking details before committing even quite minor things to paper. Some bloopers slip through, but even the mistakes seem like they 'could' be real.

If you like police procedurals you should like it, if you like detetective stories in general you should like it, if you like magic based fantasy you're what they imagined the core demographic was going to be to start with.

All in all - highly recommended (the whole series)

This is the first book

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The lockdown has given me too a chance to take a look at my To Read shelf. Timebends - A Life is the 1987 autobiography of Arthur Miller, famously a well regarded American playwright (All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible) but probably more known for his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. He wrote the screenplay of one of her last, and arguably her best, films - The Misfits.

The son of a Polish Jew, he is a prime example of fulfilling uncapped goals in the land of opportunity that the USA has always meant to have represented. Born in the 1910s, he’s witnessed first hand all of the key events of relatively modern American history; the Great Depression, World War II, postwar Europe, McCarthyism, Vietnam and the rest, until his death in 2005.

Even if you have only the vaguest knowledge of, or interest in, American history of the last 100 years, you will be fascinated by the reality (rather than what the American media, or their average voter would have you believe) of the history, along with his personal interpretations & insights, and struck by his impressive wordsmithery. It’s not an easy read, but it’s certainly well worth the effort. Typically, he’s taken an unconventional approach to his autobiography: it’s not written as a strict chronology, as he allows himself to digress on themes and people, but always returning to the underlying timeline.

Perhaps I’m biased in my appreciation of this book, since I have always been a bit of a film nut, but there’s plenty of story-telling and social commentary in it to command a much wider appeal.

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Finished The Shadow of the Wind last night. Thank you for the recommendations on here, I loved it.

Whizzed through the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages - took a while over the middle. It's a pretty complex thriller that lost me a few times in places but really pulls everything together in a way that was really satisfying.

The setting makes the book, it is so evocative and pulls you into the time period. It's pretty loose with genre - you get big doses of romance, humour, horror etc. That is usually a good thing but it definitely left me a little bored in places as the story meanders and gets a bit convoluted. The writing is just amazing though. I will definitely need to read it again in the future knowing how the story pans out - I suspect I will appreciate it more.

Going to do the rest of the series next.

8/10

I raided Science Wife's part of the library to come up with a contemporary appropriate read.

The End of Epidemics by Jonathan Quick and Bronwyn Fryer

"AIDS. Ebola. Bird flu. SARS. These and other epidemics have wiped out millions of lives and cost the global economy billions of dollars.
Experts predict that the next big epidemic is just around the corner. But are we prepared for it? And could we actually prevent it?"

This was published in 2018 and covers the modern history of pandemics and the theory behind how to prevent them.

It's well written and makes everything easy to understand. It doesn't cover some of the situations which we now realise are important like a worldwide shortage of PPE but it is pretty interesting to see the echos of past pandemics around us in the current one.

Worth a read but their is another pandemic book for me to read which my wife says is better. I shall get on to that.

Overall 8/10 now - maybe 6/10 when you're not in the middle of a pandemic. Interesting to read but written in quite a dry manner

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This is a fantastic piece of writing, with a great intro from Marina:

 https://twitter.com/marinahyde/status/1268750361172549633?s=21 (https://twitter.com/marinahyde/status/1268750361172549633?s=21)

The sort of thing that might inspire a change of direction for a high profile blondeite, who doesn’t read fiction, although I understand he’s still incredibly busy atm.

Continuing in Science Wife's part of the library, another book about epidemics is:

Spillover by David Quammen

This book much more focuses on epidemics rather than pandemics; but a pandemic is only an epidemic that gets spread to another country so basically the same thing.

I think this is a much better book than 'The End of Epidemics'; it's written much more in the style of telling you a series of stories (a story for each epidemic it covers) but while doing so it probably covers more factual information than the other book.

If you were usually interested in reading general non-fiction I'd imagine there's a good chance you'd enjoy this book - it definitely doesn't need the addition of current relevance to make it a worthwhile read.

A solid 8/10 - packed full of information but still managing to be really very readable

EDIT: also after reading about the first SARS pandemic in 2002-2003 I can really understand a lot more why the asian countries are so big on masks and have all systems ready to go for combatting 'the next one' :o

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So pleased that you are going to read the rest of the series, fwiw it gets better and better and saves the best till last.

I read this is one sitting.

I couldn't put it down.




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Ive read every one of Irvine Welshs books Tom. My favourite author by a country mile

I'm afraid I haven't really read it eng, I just thought it was a good pun.  ;marks;

Been getting back into my reading lately, I like the SAS style fiction such as Andy Mcnab and recently read both of James Deegans books, would highly recommend if you like that type of book

Up next am thinking of starting a Jeffrey archer. Generally good? Is Kane and Abel the best place to start?

Thanks in advance, honest opinions welcome!

Read the first 50 pages tonight. Enjoying it a lot. Start to get involved with one of the characters then Archer changes back to the other and you get stuck into them again.

Clever writing.

It’s been many years since I read an Archer book, but I would agree that he writes great page turners, nor will you be forced to google words you’re unfamiliar with. The Prodigal Daughter is the next book in the Kane & Abel trilogy FYI

That's a parochial view, if you don't mind me saying so Mr Uted.
Some of the nerdier types among us love googling words we are not familiar with.
 ;topofclass;

Loved Kane and Abel. Sussed out fairly early on that Kane had been the silent investor! Finished the book last night, so didn’t do much else for 4 days getting through 500 pages!  About to start the Prodigal Daughter K4. As good as Kane and Abel in your opinion?

Really enjoyed "Not a penny more , not a penny less" by Archer.  Read it several times many years ago.

Spoiler alert.

For those who haven't read this book please avoid Verndog's post.

Hi vern

From memory (as I said, it was a long time ago!), I really enjoyed it