What books did you read in 2022?

[Vimster]

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - not sure how this would persuade the religious to reconsider, as is his hope for the book, but this is thoroughly interesting stuff that doesn't just critique religion but touch on all sorts of interesting areas such as cosmology, morality, genetics. Audio book again (seems to be my main way of reading these days), I didn't know he had been married to Lala Ward until I heard them both reading this. 

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Emperor: The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden - 8/10

2. Back From The Brink by Paul McGrath - 9.5/10

3. Nemesis Games by James S A Corey - 9/10

4. Love as Always, Mum by Mae West

5. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge - 9/10

6. One by Peter Schmeichel - 7/10

7. Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson - 7.5/10

8. Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley - 9/10

9. Redemption by Troy Deeney - 8/10

10. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8.5/10

11. Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones - 7/10

12. Being Elvis by Ray Connolly - 7/10

13. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin - 8.5/10

14. Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden - 9/10

15. The Auschwitz Photographer: The powerful true story of Wilhelm Brasse by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis - 8/10

16. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn - 8.5/10

17. Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire by Chris Allcock - 8/10

 

18. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn

 

See Star Wars: New Canon thread

 

9/10

[Stopharage]

33. Metronome by Tom Watson. A couple have been exiled to an island for committing an offence. In their cottage is a machine that delivers them a tablet every 8 hours which is required to keep them alive; this restricts where they can explore. Then something happens to change their routine and they begin to have doubts about their lives. It's a pretty interesting premise which it doesn't quite deliver on. Quite well written and does draw you in, requiring to understand more of what is going on. 

 

34. Journeys to Impossible Places by Simon Reeve. He's just unrelentingly great to read and watch. Unlike Louis Theroux's recent autobiographies, Reeve comes across as a warm character who will be looked at on the right side of history. Rails against injustice without coming across as overly do-gooder and there's a whole heap of integrity and honesty throughout.

 

35. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This is a cracking novel with heart and soul throughout; scientific advancements allow a previously illiterate, 'slow' character to become a genius. Then begins the turmoil of realisation that his life has changed and not necessarily for the better.

 

36. One of Them by Musa Okwonga. The Eton Diaries of a black boy from a middle class household. It's an illuminating look at life in Eton from an eloquent writer who is an outsider because of race and wealth. Okwonga is a hugely interesting character, has dabbled in a career in law, as a football podcaster, as a poet etc. His commentary on how unfair the private school system is, is refreshing coming from someone who admits that they benefitted directly from it. Well worth a read. 

Spoiler

1. How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie.

2. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

3. Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera

4. The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth

5. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

6. My Last Supper by Jay Rayner

7. How to be a RockStar by Shaun Ryder

8. Putin:Prisoner of Power by Misha Glenny

9. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall

10. Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia's Remaking of the West by Luke Harding

11. Manifesto: How a Maverick Entrepreneur Took on British Energy and Won by Dale Vince

12. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

13. The Collector by John Fowles

14. Redemption by Troy Deeney

15. Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld

16. The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

17. The Damned United by David Peace

18. Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney

19. How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

20. When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope
21. The Hidden Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

22. Notorious by Raphael Rowe

23. Theroux the Keyhole by Louis Theroux

24. Cultish by Amanda Montell

25. A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins

26. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

27. The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman

28. Barca by Simon Kuper

29. The Premonition Bureau by Sam Hughes

30. Wilder Girls by Rory Power

31. Come Undone by Terri White

32. Kicking Back by Nedum Onouha

33. Metronome by Tom Watson. 

34. Journeys to Impossible Places by Simon Reeve

35. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

36. One of Them by Musa Okwonga

 

[lolly]

How High we go in the Dark

 

I know this is a forum favourite  but I thought it was very much a curates egg, and even the "best " chapter , if I was being cynical, was willfully manipulative. Lots of ideas have been lifted from other, better books  and I really struggled to get through this at times. It did pick up after a pretty serious drop in quality  but I got some serious "Emperors New Clothes" vibes from this. The final chapter was risible.Considering there's multiple different characters  they all sound like the same person,chapter to chapter.

 

On the plus side, there were some moments of  nicely realised melancholy and it's not that long a book. I can understand why it pushed a lot of people's buttons  but it just didn't work for me.

 

 

[Vimster]

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs - thoroughly enjoyed this in-depth look at Krautrock that covers all the obvious acts like Can, Kraftwerk, Cluster, etc, as well as lots of minor players. It's not a genre like reggae or punk where there's a certain sound, it's more a shared movement of musicians wanting to do things differently and explore sound. Fantastic book, a pleasure to read.

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Emperor: The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden - 8/10

2. Back From The Brink by Paul McGrath - 9.5/10

3. Nemesis Games by James S A Corey - 9/10

4. Love as Always, Mum by Mae West

5. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge - 9/10

6. One by Peter Schmeichel - 7/10

7. Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson - 7.5/10

8. Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley - 9/10

9. Redemption by Troy Deeney - 8/10

10. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8.5/10

11. Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones - 7/10

12. Being Elvis by Ray Connolly - 7/10

13. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin - 8.5/10

14. Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden - 9/10

15. The Auschwitz Photographer: The powerful true story of Wilhelm Brasse by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis - 8/10

16. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn - 8.5/10

17. Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire by Chris Allcock - 8/10

18. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn - 9/10

 

19. Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel

 

A very insightful look into how rife antisemitism is in society, which was very eye opening indeed.  I really wanted to read this because I've always been ignorant of the issues that Jews have faced.  I've never understood antisemitism and I thought it was important to educate myself.

 

You can get through this book in a single afternoon - it's more of a long essay than a book but Baddiel raises some great points throughout, and it's a very well written piece.

 

I came away from this feeling more educated and far more mindful and that's exactly what I hoped I 'd get from it.

 

8/10

[milko]

On 24/08/2022 at 13:09, RubberJohnny said:

Termination Shock - Neal Stephenson's recent output has been hit or miss for me, but this one was a return to form. It's very 2021, there's some stuff about social distancing and so on which is rather dated only a year later given we've all quietly and collectively decided to not give a shit, but it's also about the defining thing of now, the discourse. Suddenly there's a new political idea, the implications of that, the immediate polarisation into tribes around the issue with unusual bedfellows and so on, and yet this is all delivered through sort of globetrotting real-world technothriller trappings, which works well. It's shorter than his regular novels, coming in at under a thousand pages and even the ending is better than his usual ones. Would absolutely recommend.

 

 

Yeah I quite enjoyed this eventually, in a certain way. It's very much a "it's a Neal Stephenson book" so obviously all the characters explore any emotions in oddly analytical ways, very matter of fact sex scenes, and people with unusual technical innovations (in environmental science! In no-guns-allowed combat!) will generally save the day. Near the start where it was banging on about shooting feral hogs and the damned Greens objecting to everything, I thought it was laying on the twitter parodies a bit thick and turning into a full on spoof. Eventually I got along with it fine.

 

I want to re-read Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle soon, see how I feel about them nowadays.

[ZOK]

5 hours ago, Boothjan said:

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Emperor: The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden - 8/10

2. Back From The Brink by Paul McGrath - 9.5/10

3. Nemesis Games by James S A Corey - 9/10

4. Love as Always, Mum by Mae West

5. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge - 9/10

6. One by Peter Schmeichel - 7/10

7. Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson - 7.5/10

8. Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley - 9/10

9. Redemption by Troy Deeney - 8/10

10. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8.5/10

11. Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones - 7/10

12. Being Elvis by Ray Connolly - 7/10

13. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin - 8.5/10

14. Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden - 9/10

15. The Auschwitz Photographer: The powerful true story of Wilhelm Brasse by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis - 8/10

16. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn - 8.5/10

17. Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire by Chris Allcock - 8/10

18. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn - 9/10

 

19. Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel

 

A very insightful look into how rife antisemitism is in society, which was very eye opening indeed.  I really wanted to read this because I've always been ignorant of the issues that Jews have faced.  I've never understood antisemitism and I thought it was important to educate myself.

 

You can get through this book in a single afternoon - it's more of a long essay than a book but Baddiel raises some great points throughout, and it's a very well written piece.

 

I came away from this feeling more educated and far more mindful and that's exactly what I hoped I 'd get from it.

 

8/10

Hmmm…not everyone would agree it’s a book that holds together in any meaningful critical way:

 

https://www.jewdas.org/aging-liberal-confuses-self-blames-left/

[Boothjan]

13 hours ago, ZOK said:

Hmmm…not everyone would agree it’s a book that holds together in any meaningful critical way:

 

https://www.jewdas.org/aging-liberal-confuses-self-blames-left/

 

Well I did say how ignorant I was - that's a pretty comprehensive rebuke.

[ZOK]

4 hours ago, Boothjan said:

 

Well I did say how ignorant I was - that's a pretty comprehensive rebuke.

I’ve never read it so you’re far better placed than me to say how accurate it is, but I have minimal regard for Baddiel’s intelligence and can remember Jewish people on the left being pretty scathing of the coherence of what was presented at the time. 

[Miner Willy]

Haven't update for ages, so here goes a long list...

 

46. Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn. I think recommended on here, and with good reason. Really interesting premise. I particularly loved the opening sections which were heavily focused on nature's reclaiming of spaces ruined by human destruction.

45. Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson. I read this more than 10 years ago, but noticed it was free on Audible, and read by Ronson himself. Given that I LOVE his delivery, I had to listen, and yeah: it's great. I struggle to put my finger on quite why I so love him reading his books - it's something in the way he captures the dialogue, and the inflections in the reading - it just makes me laugh, and I love the contrast of ridiculous surreal hilarity and actually quite worrying or bleak stuff. Honestly, I could listen to him read his books over and over again.

44. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Yes, she of the Moomins fame. This is a slight but beautifully written book.

43. You Don't Understand Me by Tara Porter. Written for teenage girls about life growing up in the world today. As father to a 10-year old daughter, I found this fascinating and definitely helpful: it's already helped me reframe how I approached certain conversations, so I guess it's earned its keep already.

42. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Also recommended on here I think; it was pretty good.

41. Small Island by Andrea Levy. I thought this was great. Interesting to read this not too long after reading the (brilliant) Windrush Betrayal, which come at the topic from different angles.

40. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. There were aspects of this that I liked, but it was a bit dense for me I'm afraid. I appreciate that will be heresy to some round these parts, sorry.

39. The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and a Conspiracy Theory of Everything by Mike Rothschild. Realised I didn't really understand what QAnon was, so decided to listen to a book on it. I found it fascinating, though maybe I could have just read some blogs or something instead to reach the same level of understanding.

38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling. I've been reading these books to my daughter for years, but thankfully we've agreed she's old enough to read the rest on her own - which is good, as I don't think they're particularly good.

 

Previously:

 

Spoiler

46. Islands of Abandonment

45. Them: Adventures with Extremists

44. The Summer Book

43. You Don't Understand Me

42. The Mercies

41. Small Island

40. A Fire Upon the Deep

39. The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and a Conspiracy Theory of Everything

38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

37. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
36. Brave New World
35. Sea of Tranquility
34. How High We Go in the Dark
33. Pachinko
32. When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster
31. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street

30.Earth Abides

29. Featherhood

28. Great Circle

27. The Secret Commonwealth

26. La Belle Sauvage

25. The Future we Choose

24. The Amber Spyglass

23. Lonely Castle in the Mirror

22. The Subtle Knife

21. Northern Lights

20. Notes from the Burning Age

19. Spike

18. The New Jim Crow

17. Empire of Pain

16. The Brave Athlete

15. Ball Lightning

14. Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwarfare

13. The Chysalids

12. The Border

11. Inverted World

10. The Mirror & the Light

9. To Kill a Mockingbird

8. Ghost Wall

7. The Cartel

6. Bring Up the Bodies

5. The New Climate War

4. Death's End

3. The Children of Men

2. Neuromancer

1. The Sleeping Beauties

 

[ZOK]

Love The Summer Book!

[lolly]

Sandworm- basically about the  Russian GRU/FSB hacking group  who've been causing mischief  for a fair number of years, they're behind  some of the biggest  cyber incidents over the last few years, not so amusingly by using tools that the NSA have developed for years and then were hacked/leaked themselves.

 

On to the Glass Hotel  By Emily St John Mandel

[Vimster]

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein - Excellent book that discusses the way the free market has used wars, coups and disasters as a way to enforce it's ideology on various countries, from Latin America in the 70s, to south-east Asia in the 90s, the fall of communism in Russia to post-tsunami disaster relief in Sri Lanka. I like to think I'm pretty well informed but this gave me a whole new outlook on things like how the end of communism in Russia was exploited. All this did infuriate me greatly, but it really is a superbly-written and coherent book, and I wish there was an update since the original publication on things like Venezuela and Ukraine. 

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 

 

[Vimster]

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier - It certainly has an interesting SF-lite premise that makes you consider the plight of the passengers on a trans-Atlantic flight, but the apparent attempt to discuss the philosophical angle in an approachable way doesn't really work, sadly. The two big issues for me were I couldn't relate to any of the characters, and the book is dated by a very Trump-style dim US president, the lampooning of which was obvious and unfunny. At least I got this done in a relatively short space of time.

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier

 

[Stopharage]

12 hours ago, Vimster said:

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier - It certainly has an interesting SF-lite premise that makes you consider the plight of the passengers on a trans-Atlantic flight, but the apparent attempt to discuss the philosophical angle in an approachable way doesn't really work, sadly. The two big issues for me were I couldn't relate to any of the characters, and the book is dated by a very Trump-style dim US president, the lampooning of which was obvious and unfunny. At least I got this done in a relatively short space of time.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier

 

I'm about half way through that at the moment and it does read like something that will be turned into a Sky One series in the next couple of years to much fanfare and poor-to-average critical feedback. 

[Vimster]

1 hour ago, Stopharage said:

I'm about half way through that at the moment and it does read like something that will be turned into a Sky One series in the next couple of years to much fanfare and poor-to-average critical feedback. 

It has the sort of frothy popular appeal that would definitely lead to a bidding war by TV companies. 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Emperor: The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden - 8/10

2. Back From The Brink by Paul McGrath - 9.5/10

3. Nemesis Games by James S A Corey - 9/10

4. Love as Always, Mum by Mae West

5. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge - 9/10

6. One by Peter Schmeichel - 7/10

7. Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson - 7.5/10

8. Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley - 9/10

9. Redemption by Troy Deeney - 8/10

10. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8.5/10

11. Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones - 7/10

12. Being Elvis by Ray Connolly - 7/10

13. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin - 8.5/10

14. Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden - 9/10

15. The Auschwitz Photographer: The powerful true story of Wilhelm Brasse by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis - 8/10

16. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn - 8.5/10

17. Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire by Chris Allcock - 8/10

18. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn - 9/10

19. Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel - 8/10

 

20. Emperor: The Field of Swords by Conn Iggulden

 

Part 3 of Iggulden's series on Julius Caesar focuses on his campaigns in Gaul, and his rise to consul.  I didn't find this as good as the first 2 instalments - the middle 3rd in particular tends to drag on a bit.  Whilst it improves by the end and sets up the next book very well, some of the secondary characters introduced aren't as well fleshed out compared to previous books.

 

The battles are always very interestingly described, and give a good indication of the tactics the Romans used in the fields - this is still a decent read, and I look forward to the next one, but of the 3 I've read, this is probably the weakest.

 

7/10

 

21. Journeys to Impossible Places by Simon Reeve

 

This is the 2nd part of Simon Reeve's travel blogs, after the first surprisingly stopped midway through a pretty key adventure, after a very interesting and surprising account of his troubled upbringing.

 

Reeve wrote most of this during lockdown, chronicling his better known TV shows such as Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn and Indian Ocean (all of which are currently on iPlayer and well worth a watch).  It also is a very honest and at times beautifully written homage to his young son who arrived after a long battle with infertility. 

 

Reeve's writing is IMO much strong in this book compared to the first and it's a thoroughly enjoyable read, full of information, behind the scenes anecdotes (the chapter about how they managed to sneak into Burma is riveting) and contrasts well with the sections on parenthood and his life away from the camera.

 

Going to rewatch some of his stuff this week - I've always really enjoyed his shows and his two books just make him seem even more likeable.

 

8/10  

 

[lolly]

The Glass Hotel - Emily St John Mandel

 

I have an uncorrected bound proof copy that i picked up for $4 in an op shop so don't know how many changes are in the published version.Reasonably small cast of characters , different viewpoints of the collapse of a Bernie Madoff type Ponzi scheme and the impact on those directly involved and some ancillary characters. I personally loved it and thought it was as good as Station Eleven, it seems to be set in a parallel universe where the events of that book may or may not be relevant, but have read criticism that the disparate parts don't work so your mileage may vary.

 

Started iggulden's Julius Caesar series, absolute horseshit, but enjoyable horseshit nonetheless

 

[joemul]

His Ghenghis Khan series is his best that i've red, by far.

[lolly]

Emperor - The Gates of Rome- Conn Iggulden

 

1st of his Julius Caesar series, focus on his early  life, of which little is known apparently .  It's distracting enough  and follows similar beats to the 1st of the Genghis Khan opener, which as joemul mentions, is his best.Where this falls down is that Caesar ends up being a bit of a Mary Jane from the get go , which for me is ultimately boring,and a time jump in the "training" doesn't help matters nor does the deus ex machina  on a couple of occasions, characterisation has never been Iggulden's strong point but it seems especially bad here.  Moving on to the good, it's a pretty quick paced book despite clocking in at 400ish pages, Caesar isn't always the primary focus and some of the other characters are given some time to breathe  and the set pieces are pretty awesome , worth the price of admission on their own, there's  one which is especially good and up there with some of the ones in the Khan series.

 

I'm going to read some McCarthy next to cleanse the palette.

 

 

[Jamie John]

14/24 - The Help, Kathryn Stockett

 

 

The second time I've read this, this time ahead of teaching it. I enjoyed it a lot both times. I'm sure lots of people have already read it or seen the film, but it's set in Jackson, Mississippi in the years immediately prior to the signing of the Civil Rights Act and is about the relationships that the black maids have with their white employers, among lots of other things. While I wouldn't call it especially literary - it's quite on the nose in a few places, almost didactic - it's definitely a page turner, and my sixth formers are enjoying it, too.

 

15/24 - The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch

 

 

 

I was going to bin this off after the first few dozen pages as it felt like something I'd already read ten times already, but I stuck with it. It's a fantasy about a conman plying his trade in a big, bustling, Kings Landing-like city. After my initial wobble, I got into it a lot more and thought it was at its best when it was describing the various grifts that the eponymous Locke and his gang try to pull. The story ends up running away with itself, however, and it's a good two hundred pages too long, with far too many proper nouns for proper nouns' sake. Reading about the author, this is apparently his debut and he writes stories for table-top RPGs, which shows. I was going to pick up the sequel, as it's only 99p at the moment, but then I saw it was 650 pages, so I think I'll leave it.

 

Like @lolly, I'll be moving onto the new Cormac McCarthy next. Good Reads tells me I need to read a book a week for the rest of the year if I'm going to make it to 24 books read in 2022. Something tells me I probably won't make it.

[joemul]

The sequel is really good fun, i thought. The third is slightly weaker but still worth a read.

[Vimster]

16 - I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke - entertaining and engaging memoir from the "punk poet", concentrates on his formative years in the 60s, finding his footing as a performance poet in the 70s, the initial stardom and how he juggled that with his heroin addiction. Rather glosses over the last 20 years or so, and it was pretty straightforward, was expecting more wordplay and asides but there you go. He does the audiobook, natch, and who better?

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier

16 - I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke

 

[Vimster]

 

17 - 45 by Bill Drummond - I'm at that age where the KLF were a big deal in my early adulthood, their pop-pranksterism was always worth hearing about, so naturally this book was a great read. Highlights were the account of managing Echo And The Bunnymen, plus the account of the cube of high-strength lager that honestly had me in stitches. 

 

This is the only paperback I've read this year, and it makes me sad to say it because I used to get through tons back in the day. Sadly my eyesight isn't as good as it was and I find printed text harder to read, not impossible but it takes ages. Much prefer my Kindle where I can change the font to suit. 

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier

16 - I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke

17 - 45 by Bill Drummond

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Emperor: The Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden - 8/10

2. Back From The Brink by Paul McGrath - 9.5/10

3. Nemesis Games by James S A Corey - 9/10

4. Love as Always, Mum by Mae West

5. I, Partridge by Alan Partridge - 9/10

6. One by Peter Schmeichel - 7/10

7. Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson - 7.5/10

8. Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley - 9/10

9. Redemption by Troy Deeney - 8/10

10. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8.5/10

11. Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones - 7/10

12. Being Elvis by Ray Connolly - 7/10

13. 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin - 8.5/10

14. Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden - 9/10

15. The Auschwitz Photographer: The powerful true story of Wilhelm Brasse by Luca Crippa and Maurizio Onnis - 8/10

16. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn - 8.5/10

17. Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire by Chris Allcock - 8/10

18. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn - 9/10

19. Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel - 8/10

20. Emperor: The Field of Swords by Conn Iggulden - 7/10

21. Journeys to Impossible Places by Simon Reeve - 8/10

 

22. This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes

 

A delightful and in places very, very funny autobiography which packs a hell of a punch.

 

Strikingly, I found myself agreeing with pretty much every single thing Margolyes writes about here.  She comes across as a very good person who despises inequality, rudeness and the state of the UK right now.  Politically, she feels exactly the same as me, and the chapter exploring her political persuasions despite coming from a family who would always vote Tory made me warm to her even more.

 

I didn't know too much about her main career in theatre, so it was nice to read up on that - she's very honest about people she likes and those she doesn't, and has a very consistent point of view throughout.  Essentially, selfish, rude people get both barrels and caring, selfless people are spoken about with true warmth.

 

Of course, she's known nowadays for her outspoken opinions and persistent swearing and there's plenty of that in these pages.  She also managed to get herself in hilarious situations which were the absolute highlight of the whole book.  

 

She just comes across as a very interesting, funny, warm and forthright character.  Enjoyed this.

 

8/10

[Jamie John]

16/24 - The Shining, Stephen King

 

 

This was about the third or fourth time I've read this, though not for about ten years. Like lots of King's books, it starts off very well but certain aspects - the dream sequences, the clunky similes, the faux stream-of-consciousness bits - start to grate by the end. Reading it in 2022, I was also very aware of the bits written from Halloran's perspective, where everything arbitrarily links back to him being black, for some reason. The use of the N word, again, for no good reason, also got on my nerves.

 

But still, the bits with the hedge animals are good, and I inhaled this over the course of five days, so obviously it does something right.

 

And, as much as I love the Kubrick film, the entire time I was reading this I was thinking it would be great to have a lavish miniseries version that stuck more closely to the original story, with all the ghosts and other scary bits. Something more explicitly supernatural than Kubrick's version - 'Stephen King's The Shining' by HBO. That would be cool.

[Vimster]

18 - Toast On Toast by Steven Toast - autobiography and tips from famed actor or stage, screen and VO. Audio book is read by Steven Toast himself who brings his legendary voiceover skills to bear. At just over 3 hours it is short but that's in its favour, by the end you've got the point. It swings between laugh-out-loud funny and feeling a bit like Matt Berry being asked to knock something out over the weekend, like bits almost felt made up on the spot. However, the funny bits are very funny, like the chapter about his bad review and his time at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Acting) especially. 

 

Spoiler

01 - Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

02 - Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music by Matt Anniss

03 - And Away by Bob Mortimer

04 - Die Trying by Lee Child

05 - A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

06 - Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture by Simon Reynolds

07 - Who Owns England by Guy Shrubsole

08 - The Van by Roddy Doyle

09 - If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B-Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

10 - Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke

11 - Fallout: Disaster, Lies and the Legacy of the Nuclear Age by Fred Pearce

12 - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins 

13 - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs

14 - The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 

15 - The Anomaly by Hervé le Tellier

16 - I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke

17 - 45 by Bill Drummond

18 - Toast On Toast by Steven Toast

 

[Miner Willy]

51. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. This is really well written, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. It all felt a bit... nasty in terms of the treatment of the characters.

50. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. A collection of really good short stories, available for free on Audible. There's an undercurrent of malice or unsavouriness running through most of the stories, often unexplained, that I found really powerful. Recommended.

49. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Another Audible freebie, and I also thought this was excellent. It's depressing though, and depressingly repetitive as the betrayal and destruction of each tribe follows a familiar pattern over and over again.

48. Post Office by Charles Bukowski. A Kindle deal of the day that I went to buy, only to see I'd bought 2y ago alread. Recommended by @ZOK I think I recall - I found it an entertaining read.

47. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Enjoyable but I felt overlong sci-fi/time travel novel. Young woman travels back to the 14th Century and finds herself in the middle of the plague.

 

Previously:

Spoiler

51. The Sirens of Titan

50. The Lottery and Other Stories

49. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

48. Post Office

47. Doomsday Book

46. Islands of Abandonment

45. Them: Adventures with Extremists

44. The Summer Book

43. You Don't Understand Me

42. The Mercies

41. Small Island

40. A Fire Upon the Deep

39. The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and a Conspiracy Theory of Everything

38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

37. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
36. Brave New World
35. Sea of Tranquility
34. How High We Go in the Dark
33. Pachinko
32. When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster
31. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street

30.Earth Abides

29. Featherhood

28. Great Circle

27. The Secret Commonwealth

26. La Belle Sauvage

25. The Future we Choose

24. The Amber Spyglass

23. Lonely Castle in the Mirror

22. The Subtle Knife

21. Northern Lights

20. Notes from the Burning Age

19. Spike

18. The New Jim Crow

17. Empire of Pain

16. The Brave Athlete

15. Ball Lightning

14. Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwarfare

13. The Chysalids

12. The Border

11. Inverted World

10. The Mirror & the Light

9. To Kill a Mockingbird

8. Ghost Wall

7. The Cartel

6. Bring Up the Bodies

5. The New Climate War

4. Death's End

3. The Children of Men

2. Neuromancer

1. The Sleeping Beauties

[ZOK]

Nice! I also highly recommend that Shirley Jackson collection to anyone who hasn’t read it, it’s excellent stuff.