[TobyD]

Rebel Ideas
Just read Matthew Syed's most recent book, a worthwhile,  interesting read with some valuable insight into what diversity should mean and why it's so valuable. 

The Shadow of the Wind
The first of a trilogy by Carlos Zafon. An exciting story somewhere between magical realism, fantasy and a standard thriller. I'm really surprised that no one has made a film of it.

[SA Chris]

I really liked all 3 of the "..Forgotten Books Trilogy", but think Shadow the Wind is the best of the 3, followed by Angels Game (which I finished a month or so ago), then the Prisoner of Heaven. They are fantastically written, and credit to the translator too.

In keeping with the forgotten books theme, I've not deliberately bought any of the books new, but found them in bookshelves on holidays or charity shops.

[TobyD]

In keeping with the forgotten books theme, I've not deliberately bought any of the books new, but found them in bookshelves on holidays or charity shops.

My copy of Shadow of the Wind is an immaculate hard back I found in a tiny second hand shop I happened on after a walk.

I've read loads of the culture books, but really can't remember which ( a bit like Terry Pratchett).

Glad I'm not the only one, although I did really like Player of Games (good sort of homage to Hesse's Glass Bead Game), Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons. After that I really can't remember what I have and haven't read.

[TobyD]

Enjoying the adventure pop classic Papillon at the moment; skillfully written,  gloriously dated sixties political incorrectness drama of imprisonment and escape.

[Fultonius]

One Day as a Tiger, John Porter.
The story of mountaineer Alex MacIntyre, who died in 1982 aged 28, hit by a stone on the south face of Annapurna. He certainly crammed a lot into those few years of life, not just hard routes in the Alps and Himalayas but also designing gear, shaping the BMC and forging links with Polish climbers. Porter was one of his climbing partners and this book is as much about the milieu of 70s and 80s British Alpinism as it is MacIntrye himself. It's all reasonably rock and roll as you'd expect, with some truly hair raising moments: a gem deal gone wrong in Afghanistan is one of the more frightening tales in the book. He captures how wild the Himalaya must have been in those days.

Porter plays it totally straight until the final few days of the Annapurna trip, when the paranormal and premonitions of fate loom large. MacIntyre is being pulled into a vortex he cannot escape from, it seems, or is this just Porter's hindsight speaking? Either way, I'm glad he waited 30 years to write the book as it gives it a heft of maturity and insight that most mountaineering books lack. Definitely one of the best of the genre.

Read this last year and thought this was excellent. I'd agree it was one of the best in the genre - up there with Echoes (Nick Bullock).

That one's on the reading pile, looking forward to it. Recently read:

Eiger Extreme which, while no classic, was engaging and interesting for the insights it gave into the madness of alpinism in those days.

Conquistadors of the Useless or Les Conquérants de l'inutlile if you have a preference for reading the French original by Lionel Terray. Again, at times not the most well edited/written, but many good passages and a wealth of interest on the golden age of Alpine exploration.

[spidermonkey09]

The Shadow of the Wind
The first of a trilogy by Carlos Zafon. An exciting story somewhere between magical realism, fantasy and a standard thriller. I'm really surprised that no one has made a film of it.

Interesting that a few people have enjoyed this. I read the prequel, The Angels Game, a few years ago and thought it was utter guff. Maybe the series proper is worth another look.

Another vote for One Day as A Tiger, the best of that genre I have read.

[SA Chris]

I liked Angel's Game up until the last chapter, where the only way to resolve it was for it to stray into pure nonsense.

[AMorris]

Thought I would dip into this thread for the first time since I have been doing some reading recently.

The Name of the Wind & Wise Mans Fear - Reread these for maybe the 5th time. Still love them (though have a few problems with some of WMF), but it always feels a little bitter sweet knowing that the chances of us getting the third instalment any time soon is slim! Great books though.

Flowers for Algernon - Finished this a couple of weeks ago. Such a great story, and fascinating start to finish. Tragic and wonderfully written.

The Forever War - I read this many years ago so decided to reread it back in April. I have not found a book quite as lonely as this one. Really interesting take on what can sometimes be a bit of a "war in space" sci-fi trope.

Dune - It has been a good 5 years since my last read so I was due another one.

As you can see I am a bit of a rereader, so any suggestions for others which the above suggest I may enjoy are welcomed!

[SA Chris]

See my comment of Forever War on the previous page.

[Rocksteady]

Yep a book review blog would be a good idea rocksteady

Well I've been brewing this for a long time (at least since 2016 I can see from above) but I did finally manage to stand up a book reviews blog/website!
http://bookslike.co.uk/home/ (better on desktop/not mobile optimized at the moment).

Mainly fantasy and historical fiction so far but I will build it out as I go along. Tries to identify books that are similar to other books to help you find others to read. Also supports a massive personal YYFY of publishing my own novel last week. Has been a side project of mine for over 15 years.

If you like epic fantasy it could be up your street.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hand-Fire-epic-fantasy-adventure-ebook/dp/B08BG1CFMW/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

[andy popp]

That is a truly massive YYFY! Very many congratulations and all best wishes for a great success with it. It must feel very good. Great work on the blog too, though I've not had a chance to explore it yet.

I've been neglecting this page, even though I've been reading at a steady pace all year. I've taken to using the "Tips, Links, and Suggestions" book blog over at the Guardian to talk about books and my reading. I'll try and update here more often.

[slab_happy]

As you can see I am a bit of a rereader, so any suggestions for others which the above suggest I may enjoy are welcomed!

Ninefox Gambit (and sequels) by Yoon Ha Lee? Military sf, war in space, maths as magic -- drops you in at the deep end with a densely-built and complex world, might hit the Dune spot a bit.

A not-too-spoilery review:

https://www.npr.org/2016/06/25/482023715/beautifully-alien-ninefox-gambit-mixes-math-and-magic?t=1599725296420

[Lopez]

As you can see I am a bit of a rereader, so any suggestions for others which the above suggest I may enjoy are welcomed!

Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawny Man series are comparable to Rothfuss' books in many ways. If you liked TNOTW you will really get into Hobb's books. They are within only a handful of books i re-read as i'm not much of a re-reader (i opened 1 at a random page to kill some time and before i realised i re-read all 6 books again), along with TNOTW and the whole Malazan Book of the Fallen series which i'd also recommend even though the last 3 or 4 books get increasingly tough to follow.

On the sci-fi front Richard Morgan's books of Altered Carbon fame are excellent, as are his Fantasy books. I never been into sci-fi but his books got me into it, and though they may be a bit plot twist prone they still make for good re-reads.

[Rocksteady]

As you can see I am a bit of a rereader, so any suggestions for others which the above suggest I may enjoy are welcomed!

Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawny Man series are comparable to Rothfuss' books in many ways. If you liked TNOTW you will really get into Hobb's books. They are within only a handful of books i re-read as i'm not much of a re-reader (i opened 1 at a random page to kill some time and before i realised i re-read all 6 books again), along with TNOTW and the whole Malazan Book of the Fallen series which i'd also recommend even though the last 3 or 4 books get increasingly tough to follow.

On the sci-fi front Richard Morgan's books of Altered Carbon fame are excellent, as are his Fantasy books. I never been into sci-fi but his books got me into it, and though they may be a bit plot twist prone they still make for good re-reads.

Good recommendations.

I totally agree with Malazan books, they are excellent but a bit densely written. Also the Ian Cameron Esselmont spinoffs in the Malazan world are pretty good, especially the most recent ones with the birth of the Malazan empire.

I am an inveterate re-reader, my worst culprits are in the double figures of re-reads. I've read TNOTW 3 times I think, I didn't know there was a risk that he wouldn't finish the series?

[Falling Down]

Also supports a massive personal YYFY of publishing my own novel last week. Has been a side project of mine for over 15 years.

Wow! Congratulations Rocksteady, what a fantastic achievement.

[Plattsy]

I really enjoyed the Robin Hobbs books.

It's a long time since I read them but I remember enjoying half a dozen of Brian Lumley's Necroscope series. Kind of sci-fi / fantasy mix.

[fatneck]

Also supports a massive personal YYFY of publishing my own novel last week. Has been a side project of mine for over 15 years.

If you like epic fantasy it could be up your street.

Brilliant!! Sounds right up my street so deffo going to get me a copy - good to see some really positive reviews on Amazon too! Waddage...

[slab_happy]

Also supports a massive personal YYFY of publishing my own novel last week. Has been a side project of mine for over 15 years.

Holy shit, congrats!

[Lopez]

Also the Ian Cameron Esselmont spinoffs in the Malazan world are pretty good, especially the most recent ones with the birth of the Malazan empire.

I did read Return of the Crimson Guard slotted in between the MBOTF chronologically (between the 6th and 7th or so i think it was) as it can be seen as an 11th book in the series and really works to fill in blanks when adding it in.

Was meant to go back to read Esselmont's books but i wanted to read Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company series first (excellent btw), as they were kind of the books that set the genre in motion, and that led me astray into a neverending list of books to read and still haven't got round to go back to them.

Congrats on publishing your book btw. That's an outstanding achievement. I'll be sure to check it out

[moose]

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but for fantasy, I've recently liked Joe Abercromie (First Law trilogy and the spin-offs).  They fall into the "grimdark" category - i.e. everyone's a bastard, except for the nice ones, who are all killed by their naivety.  Not read much fantasy for ages (as a teenager I devoured the likes of Eddings, Gemmil, Robert Jordan (never made it to the end of TWOT... ), Stephen Donaldson etc... hell I even liked the Silmarillion) but Abercrombie's books fit my current mood (a bit nasty but also a separate, imagined world - a reasonable response to the present day).

[Falling Down]

I loved all the Culture novels but wouldn't be able to say which ones or indeed much about them.   My favourite was about a bunch of intelligent and peaceful gas clouds that when roused, laid waste to a massive intergalactic fleet of tyrants.  A bit like the Ents.

A few from the Summer.

M. John Harrison, The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again. 

A brilliant and unsettling (as always) novel following Shaw, a displaced loner recovering from a breakdown who winds up with an odd job on a moored barge in London and Victoria, another unsettled soul who moves to her recently deceased mother’s house in Shropshire.   Shaw becomes tangled up in a strange job that he doesn’t quite understand. Victoria obsesses over doing up the house.   Dislocation, confusion and a sense of collapse pervades throughout with a strange, atavistic, aquatic theme.  Odd, funny and flint sharp. I loved it.

Justin Hopper, The Old Weird Albion.  Hopper takes a series of Sebald’esque walks around the Sussex and Hampshire downs where his grandparent’s lived.  An attempt to resolve an unknown secret about his Grandmother provides the backbone to the travels which explore old Albion, myth and landscape.  My kind of thing.

Alastair McIntosh, Riders on the Storm.  A brilliant, scholarly exploration of the climate crisis in three parts.  The first neatly unpicking the denialist positions, then holding XR and Jem Bendell’s methods and philosophy under scrutiny.  The final part is a soaring piece of compassion and hope.  Really worthwhile.

[teestub]

I loved all the Culture novels but wouldn't be able to say which ones or indeed much about them.   My favourite was about a bunch of intelligent and peaceful gas clouds that when roused, laid waste to a massive intergalactic fleet of tyrants.  A bit like the Ents.

That’s The Algebraist, also worth reading for the hilariously overblown pantomime style warlord villain.

[andy popp]

Justin Hopper[/b], The Old Weird Albion.  Hopper takes a series of Sebald’esque walks around the Sussex and Hampshire downs where his grandparent’s lived.  An attempt to resolve an unknown secret about his Grandmother provides the backbone to the travels which explore old Albion, myth and landscape.  My kind of thing.

Sounds like my kind of thing too. You might also enjoy something I read a month or two ago; George Bourne, Memoirs of a Surrey Labourer. Between 1892 and 1905 Bourne noted down fragments of conversation he had with his gardener, Fred Bettesworth, an aged agricultural labourer, then in the final years of his life. This book recounts those fragments, stitched together by Bourne observing the passage of time (often months elapse between recorded conversations). With one exception the conversations, and Bettesworth's tales and memories, are entirely mundane, if idiosyncratically told. Gardening, crops, weather, and village gossip dominate. The world encompassed is tiny: Farnham and its environs. Bettesworth barely ever strays more than a mile or so from his home.

I found it immensely moving. Bourne treats an extraordinarily ordinary life with dignity and respect, without sentimentalising, never brushing away the flaws in a sometimes cantankerous and - literally - dirty old man.

Most interestingly, Bourne's purpose is not the telling of the tales, but the listening to them.

"For my theme is not this or that recollection of his, but the way in which the old man lived out these last of his years, whilst the memories passed across his mind. It is of small consequence what he remembered ... it would have all been one, by that wet afternoon of May 1902. He would have sat on his block dandling his chopper just the same, and the raindrops from the trees outside would have come slanting into the shed doorway and splashed on my hand as I listened to him."

And ...

"That is all. But precisely because there is nothing in it, because it is a piece of normal instead of exceptional talk, it has the accent of the season. Bettesworth's voice reaches me; the light falls warm through the vine-leaves."

In it's determination just to observe and to listen it has an almost phenomenological quality. Bourne also produces some absolutely tremendous place writing, with many wonderful descriptions of landscape and weather (always described together, as one).

And as social history it is a powerful and damning picture of the realities of being poor before the welfare state. Bettesworth was living in mortal fear of the workhouse not much more than a hundred years ago.

[Falling Down]

That sounds magical Andy, thanks for taking the time to write such a lovely review and share those sections.  I've been sat at my computer all day (and the last few weekends) writing this year's big theory essay that I've just finished, bar the spell checking and reference checking so I will be enjoying some quality reading time over the coming weeks.  That kind of place writing when the author gets out of the way and lets the experience speak for itself is to be much admired.

[andy popp]

Thanks Ben. Bourne also published as George Sturt, his real name. I've read Change in the Village (also about Farnham) and his best know, The Wheelwright's Shop. As a young man hoping to be a teacher, the sudden death of his father forced him to take over the centuries old family wheelwrighting business. This was his penultimate book (1923) and another marvellous piece of socio-cultural and economic history.