Books you are reading

[Cuenca 'ammer]

WST

agreed mate.... he has the whole thing to enjoy for the first time.........

read the books umpteen times maybe 5 or 6.. seen the videos maybe about the same amount too.

shame about the Hobbit they had to stick in a female romantic lead, who I believe, said she WOULDN'T come back if there WAS a romantic lead but they mislead her..

https://screenrant.com/hobbit-differenc ... ilm-movie/

She's an original character created specifically for the screen, so represents one of the most controversial changes for Tolkien purists. However, in addition to her presence in general, a sub-plot for the character is also a huge deviation from Tolkien's Middle-earth — the romance between Tauriel and Kílí.

One of the more debated negative differences between The Hobbit book and movie was the inclusion of Legolas.

One of the most heated points of debate in the case of The Hobbit book vs movie has to do with Kíli, Fíli, and Thorin. The movies show the three being slaughtered rather brutally during a fight with Azog and his orcs. The book finds them charging into a battle that they know they won’t survive, dying as brave heroes as a result.

More scrupulous readers of Tolkien's works were a little put off by Frodo's inclusion in The Hobbit movie, as he didn't appear in the book at all. It can be argued that one of the more pointless moments in The Hobbit was Elijah Wood’s cameo appearance as Frodo Baggins. It occurred when Bilbo told him a very rough version of his original adventures. Since Tolkien would not write The Lord of the Rings until many years after The Hobbit, Frodo was not even a concept.

[Tenbury]

Back on Earth...
I've just finished 'Moby Dick' for the 4th time in recent months and , brilliant as it is (perhaps the greatest novel of all time) I've had a gut full of it.( BTW, recommend 'North Water' the novel soon to be a miniseries, for an easier read ,though several leagues below) , actually probably in a different time warp.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

there's several books that I have read time and time again. because I really like them. and a couple that I get halfway through and think, "I've read this before....."



LoTR - not sure maybe 5 or 6 could even be more
The Hobbit - again probably about the same
Les Miserables - I would guess at least 4/5 times.


but it's always a long time between reads. and each time I really enjoy them. I know what's coming, but that doesn't deter me, in fact I get excited about picking them up after all that time, sometimes a year or so between reads, maybe more....

I honestly look forward to starting them again...... and usually feel the same disappointment I did when I finished them the first time funnily enough.... weird.. I get lumpy throated when the hobbits say goodbye to Bilbo and Frodo and Gandalf and the same when Jean Valjean dies... I KNOW that's coming. but I can't stop myself from feeling so sad that the journey has ended....

yet I know sometime in the not too distant future I'll go ahead and do it all again !!!!!!!!!!!

[Colne Dynamo]

Started reading Bill Brysons 'Notes from a Small Island'.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

Started reading Bill Brysons 'Notes from a Small Island'.

if you haven't (but you probably have) read "A Walk in the Woods" do so at your earliest opportunity.

it has some of the most seriously laugh out loud moments..... don't think I laughed that much since I read a Spike Milligan book when I was a teenager, can't remember what it was, but embarrassed myself of a crowded tube more than once. I had to try to hold it in, which made it worse, as I was "jiggling" trying not to do it out loud and probably caused more people to look at me than would have done had I just laughed. honest, tears would stream down my face. I think, (can't remember 100% obviously) that I stopped taking it on the train with me to read.

not a lot of people knew the word "psychopath" back then or I might have been in serious trouble !!!!

[Tenbury]

there's several books that I have read time and time again. because I really like them. and a couple that I get halfway through and think, "I've read this before....."

but it's always a long time between reads. and each time I really enjoy them. I know what's coming, but that doesn't deter me, in fact I get excited about picking them up after all that time, sometimes a year or so between reads, maybe more....

yet I know sometime in the not too distant future I'll go ahead and do it all again !!!!!!!!!!!

Me too. [ Not 'Moby Dick ' though, (Bloody 'Ulysees ' is an easier read ), I've had to read it for some Cormac McCarthy stuff I 'm studying]

I buy a new copy of 'Suttree' every year,read it then give it away.

But obsessiveness to one side, I re read P.G. Wodhouse constantly just to reassure myself that insanity really is fun.

[Plashet Grove Pete]

But obsessiveness to one side, I re read P.G. Wodehouse constantly just to reassure myself that insanity really is fun.

Can't beat Wodehouse. I lap them up.

[Korea Hammer]

Kang Kyoung-Ae - The Underground Village

A collection of bleak short stories written in 1930s Manchuria, now N.Korea, from a feminist/communist standpoint. Another excellent release from the essential Honford Star publishing house.

[Korea Hammer]

Aldous Huxley - Eyeless In Gaza

Part-essay, part-autobiography, part-philosophy, this modernist inter-war novel jumps around between 4 or 5 different timelines in telling the main character's journey to pacifism. It's a difficult book, and I got a bit lost in places in the middle section, but overall kind of brilliant.

[old fart]

Karla's Choice out of retirement again for the spymaster George Smiley, from the pen of le Carré’s son, novelist Nick Harkaway, set after "the spy who came in from the cold " and before Tinker Tailor, Cornwells son an accomplished novelist in his own right follows in his footsteps with the usual protagonists Bill Haydon,Toby Estahase, Jim Prideaux not to mention Beryl Reid, sorry Connie Sachs. A quality novel and a tribute from a son to a very complicated father.

[old fart]

Senior moment...

[Korea Hammer]

Julien Fuks - Resistance

I read this is a day and will reread it later this week. A brilliant but short work of autofiction about a family who fled Argentina during the Dirty War, and much more.

Charco Press is another fantastic indie publisher at the moment. I've previously read stuff there by Federico Falco and others, and the books are beautifully made too.

[WHU Independent]

My father loves a western book. He loves mainly old school - Grey, Edson et al - and when I see bundles of old western books for sale on FB marketplace I buy them for him.

The last bundle I bought had a large number of "Edge" books - 1-24 by George G Gilman. My father and I both loved these when I was a teenager - they were edgy (sorry!) , vicious, gory, nasty and an easy read. We've started reading them again and I just got handed No 1 "Edge - The Loner." I finished it in two short sittings - and I really enjoyed it - as did my Father.

The Edge series are short, pulpy reads, about a stone cold killer anti-hero, with certain priciples, and is written in a non nonsense style that rattle along at a pace. I really enjoyed this book - it took me back in time to my youth - and I am determined to read the series, as well those relating to Gilman's other western antio hero - Steel. I've even got some of the books where these two anti hero's team up. I can't wait.

I am Slaughter - Dan Abnett No 1 in the Beast Within series (Warhammer 40K)

Another book devoured in two sittings. Abnett's books steams ahead and boy has it got some shocking events.

I'm still reeling at what he does to a certain chapter. Spolier Alert: He totally wipes out the Imperial Fists to an Astarte.

and the Enemy - wow! I never saw that coming. A must for WH 40K fans.

[irving boleyn]

Danny Baker Autobiog.
Going to Sea in a sieve.
Hilarious tales of his early life.

[Coops]

Danny Baker Autobiog.
Going to Sea in a sieve.
Hilarious tales of his early life.

They made a TV series of that called Cradle to Grave

[irving boleyn]

Yes, that was displayed on the cover.

Don’t know how I missed it.
So many series released,some fall under the radar.

[wolf359]

Not reading but audiobooks. Over the last few months I've work through the 190.5 hours of the Expanse series , all 9 main books followed by the 9 novella's. A fantastic series, with extensive world building and characters you can get invested in. Sort of sad it has ended now the novella's left so much more that could be covered and I want to hear more.

Back to the Dune series now - Done Frank Herbert's original 6, moving on to the newer books by his Son. Book 7 Chronicles of Dune is next up.

[The Old Man of Storr]

After not being able to settle on a book for months I started reading David Mitchell's ' Utopia Avenue ' yesterday .

[ironsonthebrain]

I've just finished Paul Lynch's 'Prophet Song', last year's Booker prizewinner - it's a good book but not an easy read.
Told from the perspective of a woman who's husband has been 'disappeared by a police state government, it's written in such a way that I actually found myself feeling increasingly anxious throughout my reading of it! I honestly can't say that I enjoyed reading it.

Next up is something hopefully lighter. I've got a copy of Michael Palin's most recently published diaries - 'There and Back' - covers the years 1999-2009. Saw him a few weeks ago at Cadogan Hall , one of these 'an evening with...' type things- a good night in an excellent venue.

[Odessa]

Just finished The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. Glad to get rid of that horrible little git Oskar.

I’m going to start David Edgerton’s The Rise and Fall of the British Nation next.