What are you reading?

Pross

So what are you lot reading? I'm half way through the Red Riding series by David Peace (just starting 1980) - very grim but interesting reads with coppers like Gene Hunt without the humour, just can't wait to get to the end to try to make sense of it all. Was Yorkshire really that grim in the 70's and 80's :shock:

A bit more thought needed than most of the fiction I read (run out of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series and Andy McNab's novels).

STEFANOS4784

Finished all the death worlds,, now reading ' The Last Kingdom'(Bernard Cornwell). Would definately recommend it if you like Sharpe, nice and brutal 8)




Oh yes and the Razzle christmas special

disgruntledgoat

I have a pile by the side of the bed of stuff that is "in flight", curretnly stands at

The Great War for Civilisation- Robert Fisk
A History of Venice- John Julius Norwich
The Falklands War, 1982- Martin Middlebrook
The English Civil War- Trevor Royle
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence- Norman Dixon
The Junior Officers Reading Club- Patrick Hennessy.

Would particularly recommend the last one as being informative, thought provoking and (at times) laugh out loud hilarious.

GavH

disgruntledgoat wrote:

I have a pile by the side of the bed of stuff that is "in flight", curretnly stands at

The Great War for Civilisation- Robert Fisk
A History of Venice- John Julius Norwich
The Falklands War, 1982- Martin Middlebrook
The English Civil War- Trevor Royle
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence- Norman Dixon
The Junior Officers Reading Club- Patrick Hennessy.

Would particularly recommend the last one as being informative, thought provoking and (at times) laugh out loud hilarious.

As an aside, he was on the same intake as me at Sandhurst, different Company though so I didn't know him, although a couple of friends were in his Platoon and are mentioned in the book.

Pross

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Finished all the death worlds,, now reading ' The Last Kingdom'(Bernard Cornwell). Would definately recommend it if you like Sharpe, nice and brutal 8) !

I tried the Winter King in the Arthur series but couldn't get into it, also read one of the Starbuck Chronicles which was pretty good.

DG, I also tend to have a few military history books to dip into although I haven't read any for a while. I find it hit and miss on those that are readable and those that are really intended more in an academic roll. I also enjoy the military autobiographies that seem to be everywhere these days. Followed up McNabs 7 Troop with Frank Collins' Baptism of Fire. Also tried to get hold of Freefall but it is out of print and expensive second hand.

bigmat

Pross wrote:

So what are you lot reading? I'm half way through the Red Riding series by David Peace (just starting 1980) - very grim but interesting reads with coppers like Gene Hunt without the humour, just can't wait to get to the end to try to make sense of it all. Was Yorkshire really that grim in the 70's and 80's :shock:

A bit more thought needed than most of the fiction I read (run out of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series and Andy McNab's novels).

If you like David Peace, check out James Ellroy - awesome stuff. American Tabloid or The Black Dahlia would be good places to start (The Black Dahlia is about a million times better than the awful film they made a couple of years ago).

Chip \'oyler

Pross wrote:

So what are you lot reading? I'm half way through the Red Riding series by David Peace (just starting 1980) - very grim but interesting reads with coppers like Gene Hunt without the humour, just can't wait to get to the end to try to make sense of it all. Was Yorkshire really that grim in the 70's and 80's :shock:

A bit more thought needed than most of the fiction I read (run out of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series and Andy McNab's novels).

Yes it was

I'm reading the Rough Guide to Norway. I've just finished reading this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buyology-Everyt ... 139&sr=8-1

An excellent read that really explains why we are suckers for buying things!

disgruntledgoat

Pross wrote:

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Finished all the death worlds,, now reading ' The Last Kingdom'(Bernard Cornwell). Would definately recommend it if you like Sharpe, nice and brutal 8) !

I tried the Winter King in the Arthur series but couldn't get into it, also read one of the Starbuck Chronicles which was pretty good.

DG, I also tend to have a few military history books to dip into although I haven't read any for a while. I find it hit and miss on those that are readable and those that are really intended more in an academic roll. I also enjoy the military autobiographies that seem to be everywhere these days. Followed up McNabs 7 Troop with Frank Collins' Baptism of Fire. Also tried to get hold of Freefall but it is out of print and expensive second hand.

In the "readable" military history (I really enjoy the academc stuff too, saddo taht I am!) Juleitte Barker's "Agincourt" is the best book on medieval military history i've read in ages. And theres a collection of writings down the centuries called "The Autobiography of the British Soldier" that's really good too.

Porgy

Chronicles volume 1 by Bob Dylan 8)

Chip \'oyler

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Pross wrote:

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Finished all the death worlds,, now reading ' The Last Kingdom'(Bernard Cornwell). Would definately recommend it if you like Sharpe, nice and brutal 8) !

I tried the Winter King in the Arthur series but couldn't get into it, also read one of the Starbuck Chronicles which was pretty good.

DG, I also tend to have a few military history books to dip into although I haven't read any for a while. I find it hit and miss on those that are readable and those that are really intended more in an academic roll. I also enjoy the military autobiographies that seem to be everywhere these days. Followed up McNabs 7 Troop with Frank Collins' Baptism of Fire. Also tried to get hold of Freefall but it is out of print and expensive second hand.

In the "readable" military history (I really enjoy the academc stuff too, saddo taht I am!) Juleitte Barker's "Agincourt" is the best book on medieval military history i've read in ages. And theres a collection of writings down the centuries called "The Autobiography of the British Soldier" that's really good too.

That is a good book

teagar

I grew out of reading military history when I was 17. 8)


Thoroughly enjoying The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

Should have got round to reading it sooner.

thomasmc

Just finished “Birdsong” by Sebastian Faulks and am now reading “A Soldier of the Great War” by Mark Helprin. Both books are based around the First World War, the first at the Somme and the second focusing on an Italian soldier in the Italian Campaign against Austria in Northern Italy. Both very powerful books!

Porgy

I've got biographies of Captain Beefheart and Douglas Adams lined up for reading next.

disgruntledgoat

teagar wrote:

I grew out of reading military history when I was 17. 8)


Thoroughly enjoying The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

Should have got round to reading it sooner.

I'm sorry, when my tastes become as refined as your own what should I be reading?

northernneil

I have only just recently found the original James Bond books by Ian Fleming, always loved the films but the books are a complete masterpiece, the writing and detail is in another league - no wonder they were such hits.

teagar

disgruntledgoat wrote:

teagar wrote:

I grew out of reading military history when I was 17. 8)


Thoroughly enjoying The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

Should have got round to reading it sooner.

I'm sorry, when my tastes become as refined as your own what should I be reading?

Haha I'm only teasing. Read what you want.

I got very into military history in my teens and read an awful lot - a lot of it stunningly dry. But then, like most things you get into in your teens, you grow out of them when you're older. A bit like stella I guess?

disgruntledgoat

Fair does, I thought you were being awfully patronising.

My dad got me into military history and we still share a lift into work. On of the great things about those drives is the opportunity it gievs us to debate history and talk about stuff we've read.

balthazar

Here's my by-the-bed pile at the moment (either just finished, in the middle of, being flicked through, or about to start, seem to be my unplanned rules of by-the-bed entry):



And it added some colour to a literary thread as well!

teagar

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Fair does, I thought you were being awfully patronising.

My dad got me into military history and we still share a lift into work. On of the great things about those drives is the opportunity it gievs us to debate history and talk about stuff we've read.

Have to remember - I was a teen when private ryan and BoB and all that came out, which, as you can imagine, is quality stuff when you're 14-15.

There's plenty of snobbery amongst normal historians about military history, which has rubbed off on me, i'll be honest.

Doesn't mean I can't see the attraction - I've got a horribly encyclopaedic knowlege of the German Eastern front in world war two.

disgruntledgoat

teagar wrote:

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Fair does, I thought you were being awfully patronising.

My dad got me into military history and we still share a lift into work. On of the great things about those drives is the opportunity it gievs us to debate history and talk about stuff we've read.

Have to remember - I was a teen when private ryan and BoB and all that came out, which, as you can imagine, is quality stuff when you're 14-15.

There's plenty of snobbery amongst normal historians about military history, which has rubbed off on me, i'll be honest.

Doesn't mean I can't see the attraction - I've got a horribly encyclopaedic knowlege of the German Eastern front in world war two.

We must be about the same age the, or you perhaps a little younger.

I was always a battle of the Atlantic man.

teagar

disgruntledgoat wrote:

teagar wrote:

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Fair does, I thought you were being awfully patronising.

My dad got me into military history and we still share a lift into work. On of the great things about those drives is the opportunity it gievs us to debate history and talk about stuff we've read.

Have to remember - I was a teen when private ryan and BoB and all that came out, which, as you can imagine, is quality stuff when you're 14-15.

There's plenty of snobbery amongst normal historians about military history, which has rubbed off on me, i'll be honest.

Doesn't mean I can't see the attraction - I've got a horribly encyclopaedic knowlege of the German Eastern front in world war two.

We must be about the same age the, or you perhaps a little younger.

I was always a battle of the Atlantic man.

Take it you're a big Das Boot fan then?

disgruntledgoat

I've seen it a few times yeah!

finchy

I'm reading a Very Short Introduction to Mathematics.

Soon to pick up Terry Buckley's Ancient Greece again.

And studying Slovene from the Colloquial Slovene book.

Unfortunately fiction is going to be a very rare treat for me over the next few years.

teagar

johnfinch wrote:

I'm reading a Very Short Introduction to Mathematics.

Soon to pick up Terry Buckley's Ancient Greece again.

And studying Slovene from the Colloquial Slovene book.

Unfortunately fiction is going to be a very rare treat for me over the next few years.

No time for both?

passout

I'm reading Place and Placelessness by Relph as part of some research I'm conducting and Moby Dick by Melville for fun which is a suprisingly easy read & a good story.

MadammeMarie

Pross wrote:

So what are you lot reading?

The Private Patient, by PD James. Not her best (a bit slow), but not bad either.

Anonymous

Just finished The Fountainhead. A bit heavu going. Also finished Meditations in Green which is a book you have to re-visit. Currently reading Stone City which is more addictive than a tube of Pringles.

finchy

teagar wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

I'm reading a Very Short Introduction to Mathematics.

Soon to pick up Terry Buckley's Ancient Greece again.

And studying Slovene from the Colloquial Slovene book.

Unfortunately fiction is going to be a very rare treat for me over the next few years.

No time for both?

Sadly not. I'm moving to Slovenia for 6 months in January, so I'll be busy with teaching, learning the language and my Open University studies.

I want to get my degree as quickly as possible, so I'm going to be dedicating most of my time to that.

My girlfriend and I are also planning on having a baby in a couple of years time, so maybe in about 7 years I can pick up a novel again.

Anonymous

teagar wrote:

disgruntledgoat wrote:

Fair does, I thought you were being awfully patronising.

My dad got me into military history and we still share a lift into work. On of the great things about those drives is the opportunity it gievs us to debate history and talk about stuff we've read.

Have to remember - I was a teen when private ryan and BoB and all that came out, which, as you can imagine, is quality stuff when you're 14-15.
There's plenty of snobbery amongst normal historians about military history, which has rubbed off on me, i'll be honest.

Doesn't mean I can't see the attraction - I've got a horribly encyclopaedic knowlege of the German Eastern front in world war two.

What you were a "teen" in 1944, no wonder your posts are so old sounding.
HaHa only teasing. 8)

Porgy

johnfinch wrote:

teagar wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

I'm reading a Very Short Introduction to Mathematics.

Soon to pick up Terry Buckley's Ancient Greece again.

And studying Slovene from the Colloquial Slovene book.

Unfortunately fiction is going to be a very rare treat for me over the next few years.

No time for both?

Sadly not. I'm moving to Slovenia for 6 months in January, so I'll be busy with teaching, learning the language and my Open University studies.

I want to get my degree as quickly as possible, so I'm going to be dedicating most of my time to that.

My girlfriend and I are also planning on having a baby in a couple of years time, so maybe in about 7 years I can pick up a novel again.

You will get the chance to read lots of good children's books though :P

wiffachip

Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike

Bought for a quid in a charity shop in Gateshead, great place if you like 2nd hand shops and Greggs, which I do