What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Vorpal »

Psamathe wrote:As a compliment to the "What Are You Currently Listening To" thread I thought might be interesting similar thread but about books being read.

For me (as a bit of a complete Science Fiction Geek) "Foreigner by C J Cherryh"
Actually not particularly Science Fiction as the technology level is just where they have just "released" technology to the jet aircraft level, bullets using gunpowder cartridges, etc., trying to avoid too much road building, etc. and it's more of exploration of cultural contamination (rather than possible futures) plus some good adventure.

It is science fiction because humans have travelled extensively in space and met other beings. I've just finished the latest book in the Foreigner series. I quite like them. Though, I do think that last couple haven't been quite as good as the rest in the series. My favourite books by Cherryh are the Morgaine books, but I like pretty much anything she has ever written.

The other book I've read recently was The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear. That's fantasy, but she also writes SF. Karen Memory is a nice bit of Steampunk. Other books by her I like are the Jenny Casey trilogy and the Jacob's Ladder trilogy. I haven't read the Promethean Age books, yet.

I'm now reading a trilogy by Rhiannon Held, Silver, Tarnished, and Reflected which are urban fantasies about werewolves. A friend gave them to me for Xmas. I like the stories. There are a couple of aspects I'm not completely impressed with, but I'd give them 3 out of 5 stars so far.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Psamathe »

Vorpal wrote:
Psamathe wrote:As a compliment to the "What Are You Currently Listening To" thread I thought might be interesting similar thread but about books being read.

For me (as a bit of a complete Science Fiction Geek) "Foreigner by C J Cherryh"
Actually not particularly Science Fiction as the technology level is just where they have just "released" technology to the jet aircraft level, bullets using gunpowder cartridges, etc., trying to avoid too much road building, etc. and it's more of exploration of cultural contamination (rather than possible futures) plus some good adventure.

It is science fiction because humans have travelled extensively in space and met other beings. I've just finished the latest book in the Foreigner series. I quite like them. Though, I do think that last couple haven't been quite as good as the rest in the series. My favourite books by Cherryh are the Morgaine books, but I like pretty much anything she has ever written.

The other book I've read recently was The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear. That's fantasy, but she also writes SF. Karen Memory/i] is a nice bit of Steampunk. Other books by her I like are the Jenny Casey trilogy and the Jacob's Ladder trilogy. I haven't read the Promethean Age books, yet.

I'm now reading a trilogy by Rhiannon Held, [i]Silver
, Tarnished, and Reflected which are urban fantasies about werewolves. A friend gave them to me for Xmas. I like the stories. There are a couple of aspects I'm not completely impressed with, but I'd give them 3 out of 5 stars so far.

I've not yet got the latest Foreigner book - published in UK 2nd Jan but Amazon now saying 1-2 months delivery! I recently re-read the Foreigner Series and enjoyed them a 2nd time round (didn't take long as I can get through books quite quickly).

I read but didn't get on as well with her Alliance/Union books. OK but not as good as the Foreigner series.

I've never got on with fantasy genre books, just SF. Currently reading The Expanse series (James S.A. Corey) - highly rate the ones I've read so far.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Bonefishblues »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0078XHBEA/ ... TF8&btkr=1

...being of a fishy persuasion, and fascinated by this ancient fish since childhood.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Ben@Forest »

Appositely I'm reading 'Higher Calling - Road Cycling's Obsession with the Mountains'... but the books I leaf through most often are the two 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, wondering which ones I'm going to do next and how I'm going to get there!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

bovlomov wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:We are so lucky, there are so many books published in English and many more translated from other languages. Numerous books are translated from German into English for example but relatively few from E to G

For the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square, they should put up a permanent statue to celebrate the Unknown Translator.

Those forgotten people have brought the world to us, and often I suspect that they have done a better job than the original author. I've always preferred reading translated books. Obviously that's because I'm pretentious. But I have settled on the excuse that I enjoy reading them because translators take more care over the words than do the authors. They convey ideas with brevity and clarity, where authors often get bogged down in stylistic devices.


Pretentious? You are from London I think :wink:

Some translators are very good and they are being recognised a bit more now

I am not pretentious :wink: but I can read German as well as English, have read books by W G Sebald in both languages, the original is the real thing but the translations of these are good, if a book is good enough to read again I read it in the other language, that adds a bit

I learnt German by reading cycling and railway magazines

Mind, being bilingual is a bit difficult sometimes, the languages get mixed up in the brain :?
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Vorpal »

Psamathe wrote:I read but didn't get on as well with her Alliance/Union books. OK but not as good as the Foreigner series.

I agree about the Alliance / Union books. The SF books by Cherryh that I like best all involve alien species. My favourites are The Faded Sun trilogy, but I also like the Chanur books. IMO, The Faded Sun trilogy is as good as the best of the Foreigner books.

I go the new Foreigner book on my Kindle. I had pre-ordered it, so it downloaded as soon as it was available 8)
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by bovlomov »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Pretentious? You are from London I think :wink:

It's true. As I was saying to Julian Barnes only the other day, when we met in Hampstead to share a pot of green tea: "I won't read your books unless you have them translated into Makaton, via Old French, and then back into English".
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Psamathe »

Vorpal wrote:.....IMO, The Faded Sun trilogy is as good as the best of the Foreigner books.
....

Not come across it; now it's ordered and hopefully on it's way (10p+p&p 2nd hand). Thanks for the recommendation.

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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by ferrit worrier »

Ask an astronought by Tim Peak, a christmas gift and very interesting. Lots of things you wouldnt think of associated with space flight.

I've also just finished a book about the Landrover by Ben Fogel couldn't put it down . Well recomend it for any landy enthusiasts.

Ive also got a little recipe book for Arbroath smokies that needs some studying :lol:
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by hondated »

Just got back from town and I am about to start reading;
Road Racer its in my blood Michael Dunlop who is the son of Robert Dunlop who was the brother of the great Joey Dunlop all IOM TT Racers all part of a legendary motorcycle road racing dynasty.
This will be followed by Racing Through the Dark The fall and rise of David Millar read lots about it so I will be interested in learning from it how remorseful he is about his past misdemeanours.
After I have read this it will be Ascent Chris Bonnington a life spent climbing on the edge. The first book I ever read all the way through as a child was about climbing Everest and it is a pursuit that ever since has always fascinated me. Ironically its also I have never wanted to do.
And finally after I have read these it will be Pathfinder a special forces mission behind enemy lines described as by Frederick Forsyth Real Life Black Ops - a must - have.
So hopefully this will get me through the Winter till Spring.
They may be convenient but give me a proper book over a Kindle any day.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I used to enjoy reading telephone directories, it is fascinating for example to see what foreign names occur in London or Berlin
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by bovlomov »

One of my favourite books is The Elephant and the Bad Baby, written by Elfrida Vipont and illustrated by Raymond Briggs.

It's described by the publisher:
The Elephant takes the Bad Baby for a ride and they go 'rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta down the road.' They help themselves to ice creams, pies, buns, crisps, biscuits, lollipops and apples, and the shopkeepers follow them down the road shouting and waving. All ends well as the Bad Baby learns to say 'Please' and his mother makes pancakes for everyone.


Most reviewers suggest that the moral of the story is that we should always say please, but my reading of the story is quite different. It seems to me that the moral is: grown ups are more worried about superficial manners than they are about theft. Indeed the thief himself (the elephant) only ceases his rampage because of the baby's lack of manners. I can't believe the author intended such a simplistic message as 'always say please!'.

Briggs' illustrations are a great piece of social history, showing a way of shopping that hardly exists now. Tellingly, in the background of one picture is the end of a shop sign that ominously reads 'esco'. Quite literally a sign of things to come.

I've met parents who omit 'Bad' every time the Bad Baby is mentioned, as they feel the term is too judgemental. But it's part of the story, that he is introduced as a bad baby even though we know nothing else about him.
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by ket »

Admissions by Henry Marsh.

Fascinating insight into the workings, good and bad, of our health service from a perspective most of us will not ever know. Its also amazing how such surgeons are skilled craftsmen even in their private lives whether building some furniture or their own house extensions!
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I am afraid I spend a lot of time reading these fora :) instead of books, besides I like to read old OS one-inch maps

I possess nearly all the books I have read in the last twenty years, I have forgotten some of them, many are worth reading again so I might have enough to see me out

Besides, I know several places where one may get books for nothing, +1
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Re: What Book Are You Currently Reading ... (And Why)?

Post by Spinners »

Spinners wrote:My book reading is confined to about 15-20 minutes at bedtime - usually a biography or sometimes a military aviation history book but I do enjoy a good novel whilst on holiday and the last one was 'Trigger Mortis' a James Bond book by Anthony Horowitz. Very good, very Fleming.



Last half-term hols I read the first non-Fleming James Bond novel 'Colonel Sun' by Robert Markham (Kingsley Amis) and that was good and fits right in with Fleming's Bond books but did include a gruesome torture scene that nobody could possibly have recovered from.

This February half-term I'll be reading '1984' by George Orwell about 40+ years after last reading it at school - a nice Christmas prezzie off my daughter. I like revisiting the curriculum books that I read at school such as 'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee and 'Out of the Silent Planet' by CS Lewis. Regarding the latter, I can't believe that this has never been made into a film especially in this era of CGI.
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