[andy popp]

Also finally got stuck into Thomas Mann and his short stories. Summary - Little Herr Friedemann was a very melancholic story.
I'm glad it wasn't strung out over any more pages but was impressed by Mann's ability to condense a narrative without appearing overly abrupt. 

Read Buddenbrooks - not short though.

[Rocksteady]

Any good recommendations? I like fairly darkish fantasy with good world-building and a strong sense of place (both of which are usually very weak in fantasy compared to sci-fi)

Fiend, have you read The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson and the accompanying series of Malazan books by Ian Cameron Esselmont? Some of the darkest and best fantasy I know.

You've probably read Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books? These are very dark/bleak to me - I don't like them too much, but they're well-regarded.

In darkish fantasy vein I also liked 'The Name of the Wind' and the sequel whose name I can't remember by Patrick Rothfuss.

As Andy mentioned above Gormenghast was very good, dark and densely layered (and densely written - not a light read).

In terms of my personal fantasy favourites (maybe more 'high fantasy' than dark): the aforementioned Malazan books, anything by Guy Gavriel Kay but particularly Tigana and the Lions of Al Rassan and the Fionavar Tapestry, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, Katherine Kerr's Deverry series, George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. Aside from Tolkein.

[Monolith]

Also finally got stuck into Thomas Mann and his short stories. Summary - Little Herr Friedemann was a very melancholic story.
I'm glad it wasn't strung out over any more pages but was impressed by Mann's ability to condense a narrative without appearing overly abrupt. 

Read Buddenbrooks - not short though.

Thanks Andy, I'll take a look.

[andy popp]

Its with mixed feelings I realize I've read 10 books this month - a lot of time I could've been doing other things.

Anyway finished the Patrick Melrose quintet the other day - one of the most remarkable series I've read, I know I've been banging on about them but can't recommend them highly enough. My son gave me Ban This Filth! Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive. Thought this was just going to be a bit of entertainment but it promises something a bit more meaty and interesting.

[DaveC]

Just finished an excellent book on Monday: Debt, The First 5000 Years, by David Graeber. Looks at the history of debt, credit and money from an anthropological point-of-view. Some will find it a bit leftie in its stance but it is an excellent read regardless of your political views and offers an original and highly alternative view of the world we live in.

I'm now taking a week off reading altogether as the old eyes have been starting to find things a bit tiring and after testing on Saturday some suitable eyewear is called for. Should be back up and running this coming weekend.

[Jaspersharpe]

This sounds rather good:

http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/4061?preview=4A0EED60

[a dense loner]

I know it's not a weighty tome for which I apologise but "shit my dad says" by Justin halpern is a good funny read

[Mike Tyson]

Just a quick on, but HMV have some very cheap deals on, well everything really, but books in particular. I picked up Mr Nice by Howard Marks and Michael Caine's autobiography for the pricely sum of £4.20. There are loads more to be had, that is if your local store is still open obviously.

[Falling Down]

a banker's management consultants stay-at-home wife with a monstrous entitlement complex ... I've observed a lot of these down the years and the stereotype is nailed perfectly.

 

[JackAus]

Currently reading "Sled Driver" by Brian Shul.

Absolutely amazing book all about the experiences of an SR-71 Blackbird pilot during the 80s.
So far one of the best books I've ever read.

[andy popp]

Stags Leap by Sharon Olds.  I've been to the winery and have a bottle of the Cabernet that the poet named this anthology after in my limited wine collection.  It was the favourite wine of Old's and her husband until their separation which this collection describes in excruciating and moving details.  Very, erm, relevant for me but equally as rewarding I suspect for the casual reader.

Been meaning to say for ages just how good this is.

[rich d]

Just finished reading The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher about a set of neighbours in sheffield from the 70's through to early 90s. Very good book irrespective of whether you knew Sheffield during that time. (Even better if you did though)

[butters]

Sure it has been mentioned on this thread somewhere but have just finished Murakami's 1Q84 - Book 1 starts off very slowly but the pace improves over Books 2 & 3 and the end result I thought was a pretty good read. Be warned though that it you buy it in collected format it is feels about the same size as an old school phone directory.

Now back on the start of the Gunslinger series by Stephen King again - the new "standalone" book in the series "Wind through the Keyhole" has prompted re-reading them all and had forgotten how good a writer he can be at times.

[Paul B]

 Has anyone made much use of Proj. Gutenberg?

We're loading books onto the kindle and I'm finding myself overwhelmed with choice as well as a list of classic titles the length of my arm!

[account_inactive]

I'd heard that there are huge sets on the torrent sites......though again the choice is a little bit too bewildering. Do you have access to the repo http://xsellize.com/ on cydia? They have plenty of books on there (not all great)

[Paul B]

I was looking at the free/opensource offerings rather than torrents etc.

[account_inactive]

Why?

[Percy B]

I finally got around to finishing a book - quite glad it was such a good one, and surprised that nobody on here has mentioned it yet (unless they have and I missed it). The 100 year old man who fell out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson has been passed around my family and has quickly been devoured the wife, my mum and my dad who all loved it.

[Falling Down]

My Mum loved it too, it's on THE LIST (which gets ever longer as each week passes).

Stuff of note from January to April.

The Beautiful Indifference - Sarah Hall: A collection of really good short stories about women at different stages in their life.  I'm guilty, if that's the right word, of reading too many books written by men, about men, doing man things like killing people, crime, flying space ships, writing books, being depressed, fucking things up and very occasionally doing something good that works out for everyone so reading a book by a woman about women is a bit of a jolt.

City of Djinns - William Dalrymple:  The company I work for got taken over by a big US company that has a massive Indian demographic and it's embarrassing how little I know about the culture and history of India so this was part education, part pleasure.  Dalrymple moved to Delhi and ended up writing a history of the nation refracted through the lense of the City.  Really good. Makes me want to don a fine cotton suit, drink gin and hang out with Sufis.

Gun Machine - Warren Ellis: Comic book writer turns his hand to novel that works really well. Kind of weird and a bit creepy.  Good horror noir.

Unearthing - Alan Moore: This is a strange one, a massive oversized hardback reworking of an essay that featured in Iain Sinclair's London, City of Disappearances and subsequent performances by Moore.  It's the tale of Stephen Moore (no relation) Moore's occult mentor and fellow traveller of the wyrd, Shooters Hill, plumbing the depths of history and how Stephen ended up channelling Endymion, the Ancient Greek shepard and ultimately manifesting Celene the Moon goddess culminating the in the novel Somnium. 

Wiki-Man - Rory Sutherland: He's the vice chairman of Ogilvy and Mather, the creative agency and he writes regularly about technology and business for the Spectator and other publications like Wired.  He's smart as hell and funny too.  This is a series of interviews, articles and blog posts collected into a book.  Very entertaining and a great source of other writers to read in future, particularly about behavioural economics, technology and business.

Other stuff: Peter Redgrove's poetry; Persopolis; A big book on Caspar David Freidrich.

Must get out more..... 

[andy popp]

Carson McCullers. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Why has no-one told me about this book before? Why isn't it tens times better known and a hundred times better loved that To Kill a Mockingbird? How did McCullers produce it as her debut novel at the age of 23? Moving, beautiful, devastating portrait of small town life in the American south in the late 30s.

[Falling Down]

From what I hear, he's a good guy  who just doesn't suffer fools gladly.  He loves Northampton; wrote a great, difficult novel called Voice of the Fire (which I leant to someone and never got back...) some years ago about the town told through a series of characters from the Stone Age to the present day.

Andy - that sounds good.  Yet another on THE LIST.

[fried]

If you liked 'City of djinns' you'll love 'Age of Kali' and 'white mughals' by the same author.

[seankenny]

If you liked 'City of djinns' you'll love 'Age of Kali' and 'white mughals' by the same author.

Both excellent. Ben, if you're looking for any more India/subcontinental books...

Maximum City, by Suketa Mehta, all about the high and low life of India's commercial capital.
A Million Mutinies Now, VS Naipaul. Grumpy English novelist interviews a huge variety of Indians. Everything Naipaul writes is good, mind, and his novel A House for Mr Biswas, tho set in Trinidad, is deeply Indian.
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry, a novel set in 1970s Bombay. Excellent.
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Danial Mueenuddin. Short stories set in Pakistan.
Midnight's Children and Shame by Rushdie. Bursting with life and linguistic fireworks - just like the subcontinent.

[SA Chris]

Looks like Iain (M) Banks has been given months to live.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22021298

An amazing mind.

[jmews]

I finally got around to finishing a book - quite glad it was such a good one, and surprised that nobody on here has mentioned it yet (unless they have and I missed it). The 100 year old man who fell out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson has been passed around my family and has quickly been devoured the wife, my mum and my dad who all loved it.

I was given that for Christmas. I also loved it. He really captured the humour of a life well lived.