Reading: The Book Thread

[Taipan]

David Canter - Criminal Shadows, Inside the Minds of a Serial Killer

It's about investigative psychology but actually reads (almost) like a novel.

[rodbargee]

Erebus by Michael Palin.

a fascinating read about the life of this ship and the Terror that was in the forefront of discovering Antartica. as well latterly its Re- discovery at the bottom of the Arctic ocean where it came to rest during its attempt to find the NW PASSAGE.



Palin writes very well and you can almost hear him as you read. Paperback often bundled with another of your choice on those tables you get in bookshops...dont let that put you off.

[slowsider]

Ideal way to out the intellectuals, so that, post the Covid-19 apocalypse, they can be rounded up and terminated with extreme prejudice?

I've just taken delivery of a new biog of C de G by Julian Jackson.

[Horse]

Erebus by Michael Palin.

a fascinating read about the life of this ship and the Terror that was in the forefront of discovering Antartica. as well latterly its Re- discovery at the bottom of the Arctic ocean where it came to rest during its attempt to find the NW PASSAGE.

Yes, excellent, I read it fairly recently.

[harum-scarum]

The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst. Fantastic account of four generations of Stevensons building ridiculously difficult engineering projects on offshore rocks only above water half the time. Skerryvore will be engraved on your soul...

[Yorick]

Beano

[Potter]

Left for Dead - Nick Ward
About the 1979 Fastnet race, I think it's a very one-sided version but it reads well, I finished it in two sittings.

Before that it was The Devils Guard - George Robert Elford, about Nazi soldiers in the Foreign Legion during the Indochina Wars, also a good read.

[Horse]

Beano

That explains the 'jokes' thread

[rodbargee]

A Poem

Thought for Today
or lift up your hearts

The Radio saws up God in
four minute, 45 second chunks
With some music and a voice
More solemn than the dawn.

Men from high rise flats
float down, if the lift is working,
or walk: much thought
is given to the prelates warning.

When you use machines, or kill
your chickens, farming,
No doubt all workers bend
A meditative mind

On ditches full of blood
in far off places
As the politician flies
(The holy word unheard)
between the slum and sun
impervious and self satisfied.

[Treadeager]

I'm far from being an avid reader , but I've had this itch I've been meaning to scratch for half a blooming century ! I went to a good Grammar School but struggled with " Maffs " . In the final year ( 5th form ) , we had a great Maths Teacher who made up some of the lost ground but didn't really have enough time to help me with a decent insight into............Calculus............ I sort off accidentally bought this book off Amazon .

Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz

Haven't quite finished it yet , but it's extremely readable , with lots of maths history and loads of examples from first principles . Marcus du Sautoy's job is still quite safe . If your good old fashioned maths is ok , but falls at Calculus , you might enjoy it.......... ( I actually intend to read it through again to try and absorb a bit more ! )

[Fruity]

Two books on the go over the weekend - I've just finished reading Spitfire Pilot by David Crook, DFC and first published in 1942 - it's based on his quite personal wartime diaries in 609 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force during the Battle Of Britain. Some of his combat reports are included. It's quite sad to read his thoughts for the future, knowing (from the introduction) that he was killed in 1944 during a training op off the Scottish coast in a photographic reconnaissance Spitfire. He left a widow and three children.

It's currently 99p for the Kindle version on Amazon.co.uk.

I've just started re-reading Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber, for the first time in a few years. Collected tales of Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser, classic sword-and-sorcery, if you like that sort of thing.

[wheelnut]

Skyfaring by Mark Vanhoneacker.

A day in the life of a long haul airline pilot. Not what you would expect; almost poetic.

A little hard going in the middle but well worth a read.

[Rockburner]

Currently trying to remember who's who in The Three Body Problem.

[Skub]

Not long finished The Expanse by James S.A.Corey series of books for the second time.

Just finished The Insitute by Stephen King.

Currently A Conspiracy of Bones by Kathy Reichs.

[Lutin]

Currently trying to remember who's who in The Three Body Problem.

Yeah, that was a bit of a problem. Good read though.

[Falcoholic]

SAS Italian Job: The Secret Mission to Storm a Forbidden Nazi Fortress by Damien Lewis. My first go at one of his books.

The initial interest was that it contains details of a local (to me) war hero, and the grandfather of a work colleague of my wife, David Kirkpatrick who died in 2016. He played the pipes for a rag tag bunch of resistance fighters led by the SAS in Italy in WW2. You can read his story in this link https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish ... 2499561720
He's recently had a memorial erected to him in the town.

Just started it so I don't have a review yet.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I'm a voracious reader, I can read a book in a day if I like it, but I prefer a lot lower brow reading material to you lot.

But just to throw something in, try The Black Bats series by Ochil Kinnaird

[Skub]

I'm a voracious reader, I can read a book in a day if I like it, but I prefer a lot lower brow reading material to you lot.

Not me. I love a good story and don't give a flying spanner which prize it didn't win or which critic I've never heard of rates it highly.

[hilldweller]

I've got quite a few bike touring books from Amazon Kindle. All for little money and usually a good read on the basis of read about it don't do it.

The feature that runs through most of them is "leap off bike grabbing the bog roll and hide behind the nearest bush". Somehow I really can't get excited about that.

[Druid]

Left for Dead - Nick Ward
About the 1979 Fastnet race, I think it's a very one-sided version but it reads well, I finished it in two sittings.

Before that it was The Devils Guard - George Robert Elford, about Nazi soldiers in the Foreign Legion during the Indochina Wars, also a good read.

I remember reading that when I was in school, probably 45 years ago

I'm currently struggling through Frank Herbert's Dune series. I'm on the third of five books but I'm losing interest rapidly. Time for a change I think.