[SA Chris]

You could try Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre if you fancy a change.

Amusing horror, v low maintenance, and you should have lived in Scotland long enough now to appreciate some of the schoolkid's dialogue.

[Rocksteady]

 Can't help with horror. The only books that I've enjoyed in that sort of genre are Dracula, and HP Lovecraft's stuff (which I find really disturbing, if a bit overblown). Oh and Necroscope by Brian Lumley. I suspect all of this would fall foul of your archaic writing style/vague humanoid serial killer rules.

Books I've read recently that were good:

Into the Silence - Wade Davis. A history of the early attempts on Everest culminating in Mallory and Irvine's fateful attempt. The book is a study of the effect that the horrors of the First World War had on mountaineers' attitude to risk in the high places of the world. I found it very interesting although I plodded through it pretty slowly. Although I'm pretty familiar with the political and military fiascos of WW1, seeing stats of how mountaineering clubs were decimated was really shocking. Juxtapose these with quotes from generals etc and you get a feeling for this book.

Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series: I read about 6 of these in a row because once I'd started it was hard to read any other books. If you like historical novels, they're brilliant. A lot of nautical language might put off some people but I found it gave the books their distinct atmosphere. There is a fair amount of swashbuckling action but really the books are about the friendship between a career Navy man and a surgeon/natural philosopher/politico. And sort of life at sea generally. I really like them and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Moby Dick: I'd tried to read this twice before and faltered. The paperback version I had of this had really small font. Got it free on Kindle and really engaged with this. I sort of saw it as a combination between a fictionalised account of the sinking of the Essex, a story of how obsession and success and greatness are sort of intertwined in the human psyche, and the foremost scientific treatise on whales of its era. Pretty weird. I thought it was really good. Inspired me to research about whales and whaling.

American Tabloid - James Elroy. Haven't finished this yet but I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Cool, witty, violent, racy, utterly cynical.

[SA Chris]

Into the Silence - Wade Davis. A history of the early attempts on Everest culminating in Mallory and Irvine's fateful attempt. The book is a study of the effect that the horrors of the First World War had on mountaineers' attitude to risk in the high places of the world. I found it very interesting although I plodded through it pretty slowly. Although I'm pretty familiar with the political and military fiascos of WW1, seeing stats of how mountaineering clubs were decimated was really shocking. Juxtapose these with quotes from generals etc and you get a feeling for this book.

I really fancy this, but put off a bit by the sheer weight of the reading.

[Falling Down]

Rocksteady - you must read Leviathan by David Hoare.. Look it up.  It's wonderful.

[Duma]

+1, leviathan is the first thing I thought of when reading your post.

[the_dom]

American Tabloid - James Elroy. Haven't finished this yet but I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Cool, witty, violent, racy, utterly cynical.

Probably my favourite book of all time. I remember reading it for the first time when I was 17 and literally reading through the night - I read from 7pm to 7am and then had to go to school.

[Moo]

I read Moby dick recently too. Once I figured out that i'd have to read at about half my normal speed, I really enjoyed it, particularly all the anatomy stuff and of course the story about Steelkilt.

[Falling Down]

American Tabloid - James Elroy. Haven't finished this yet but I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Cool, witty, violent, racy, utterly cynical.

Probably my favourite book of all time. I remember reading it for the first time when I was 17 and literally reading through the night - I read from 7pm to 7am and then had to go to school.

I agree.  I assume you've read The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover, the last two parts of the America trilogy.

[andy popp]

About two thirds of the way through 'The Goldfinch, ' Donna Tartt's new book,  and deeply enchanted and blown away.

[moose]

Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series: I read about 6 of these in a row because once I'd started it was hard to read any other books.....

I know the feeling.  The Aubrey-Maturin series is the nearest thing I have to a guilty pleasure (though I don't feel remotely guilty).  I've only got a couple to go and feel a little sad at the prospect of losing such a reliable source of satisfaction.  That said, I'm likely not the hardest person to please as I've always loved the sea-faring milieu - that sense of an entire self-contained world with its own rituals and language.  I even find myself idly flicking through this -  and getting excited when I find that a familiar phrase has an unfamiliar nautical etymology:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Words-Lexicon-Companion-Seafaring/dp/0805066152

[the_dom]

American Tabloid - James Elroy. Haven't finished this yet but I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Cool, witty, violent, racy, utterly cynical.

Probably my favourite book of all time. I remember reading it for the first time when I was 17 and literally reading through the night - I read from 7pm to 7am and then had to go to school.

I agree.  I assume you've read The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover, the last two parts of the America trilogy.

Oh indeed, and more than once. They didn't live up to American Tabloid - but then again, I don't think that they could have.

[Fultonius]

Has anyone used worldofbooks.com?  I've just ordered a couple of classics (via amazon) but was wondering if it's best to go direct with worldofbooks? Prices seem cheaper and I'd rather amazon didn't get any more of my money...

[slackline]

Has anyone used worldofbooks.com?  I've just ordered a couple of classics (via amazon) but was wondering if it's best to go direct with worldofbooks? Prices seem cheaper and I'd rather amazon didn't get any more of my money...

No, but if you're looking for alternatives to Amazon try http://www.find-book.co.uk/ which compares multiple sites (there are also dvd and cd versions of the site if you make the appropriate substitution to the URL).

[Fultonius]

Nice one, cheers slackers.

I've just bought Madame Bovary, Hardback, translation by Lydia Davis and Inside the Whale and Other Essays by George Orwell.

Currently reading Black Swan Green by David Mitchell and co-reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten with the lass. (We read it to each other...well, she mainly reads it to me as I'm rubbish at reading out loud) Will review on completion but I like them both.

[Snoops]

Been around 30 years, just read it. Amazing book. One chap's survival in a punctured life raft.

[SA Chris]

We read it to each other...well, she mainly reads it to me as I'm rubbish at reading out loud

And it's her second language - poor show!

[Fultonius]

Oui, c'est vrai. It's funny when she gets to words that she's read "in her head" for years but has never said out loud. I hadn't realised how few rules there re in English - you need to know how to say everything and there's no way of working it out in many cases.

[SA Chris]

Yup; bushes and rushes, never and fever etc. It's a screwy language for sure.

[andy popp]

I almost never buy new fiction and never in hardback but for various reasons made an exception for Donna Tartt's new one 'The Goldfinch.' Is it as a good as The Secret History?  Probably not.  The plotting isn't completely satisfying ... but there are huge pleasures, particularly wonderful beguiling language.  I fell a bit in love.

[slackline]

Free Hunter S. Thompson biography (of questionable quality).

[DaveC]

Just finished 'The Pike', Lucy Hughes-Hallett's biography of the Italian poet, politician and serial womaniser Gabriele d'Annunzio. A seriously good book about a truly appalling character - worthy winner of the Johnson Prize this year.

[Evil]

Just finished Straight White Male by John Niven. Very enjoyable, but the concept seems like a direct rip off of the plot to Californication. A more modern book about a serial womaniser to follow on from the last post...

[Falling Down]

Just finished 'The Pike', Lucy Hughes-Hallett's biography of the Italian poet, politician and serial womaniser Gabriele d'Annunzio. A seriously good book about a truly appalling character - worthy winner of the Johnson Prize this year.

That sounds great.

[DaveC]

Just finished 'The Pike', Lucy Hughes-Hallett's biography of the Italian poet, politician and serial womaniser Gabriele d'Annunzio.

That sounds great.

My read-of-the-year so far although Barbara Tuchmann's 'A Distant Mirror' is shaping up as a late challenger.

[andy popp]

Just finished 'The Pike', Lucy Hughes-Hallett's biography of the Italian poet, politician and serial womaniser Gabriele d'Annunzio.

That sounds great.

My read-of-the-year so far although Barbara Tuchmann's 'A Distant Mirror' is shaping up as a late challenger.

I read great things about The Pike, better put it on the list. I wish I'd kept a reading diary this year; so many great books.