What is your current "read"?

Lynne Guinne said:
Have you checked the library to see if they are available through them? Most every fiction book I read is from the library. Some are available as e-books, others are print only

I enjoy the fluffy mysteries. Far too much grit on the daily news. After a half hour of violence and anger (and that's just the sports segment) just to watch the weather guy or gal, I'm not interested in too many details about a murder in my books.
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I could try the library - a good point. But I don't know how well known she is here. When I say I like a bit of grit, all I mean is I like it to be a bit realistic. I don't really like full blown guts and gore. I'm more interested in the characters and psychology. One favourite (very famous) crime writer of mine is Partricia Highsmith. I've read all her books. And if you have never heard of her, think of 'Strangers on a Train' by Hitchcock. She is also well known for the Ripley novels and there are quite a few film versions of those. I'd say she is probably my all time favourite crime writer.
 
At present, I am reading a history of the Habsburg Monarchy by AJP Taylor. A good lesson in why any empire is doomed to futility.

I studied 19th century literature as part of my degree, so I feel slightly embarrassed that I have not read all the novels of Dickens. However, I have only two to go and will get onto the remainder ASAP.
 
Duck59 said:
At present, I am reading a history of the Habsburg Monarchy by AJP Taylor. A good lesson in why any empire is doomed to futility.

I studied 19th century literature as part of my degree, so I feel slightly embarrassed that I have not read all the novels of Dickens. However, I have only two to go and will get onto the remainder ASAP.
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I always think I should read Dickens - but I get bored so easily... maybe I should have another go. Which Dickens novel would you recommend?
 
Duck59 said:
At present, I am reading a history of the Habsburg Monarchy by AJP Taylor. A good lesson in why any empire is doomed to futility.
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A.J.P Taylor I know of as a radical thinker but I confess I haven't read any of his books
 
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Duck59 said:
For gentle amusement, Pickwick Papers is probably a good starting point. A personal choice of the best would be Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield.
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Pickwick Papers is arriving on Tuesday thanks to Amazon Prime (£2.80). I'll report back when I've read some of it.
 
The only two Dickens' novels I've yet to read are Little Dorrit and Bleak House. I have recently acquired a copy of the former. Both of these are among his later works, where the humour is blacker and the social observation more biting, too. More what we might term Dickensian, in fact.
 
Duck59 said:
The only two Dickens' novels I've yet to read are Little Dorrit and Bleak House. I have recently acquired a copy of the former. Both of these are among his later works, where the humour is blacker and the social observation more biting, too. More what we might term Dickensian, in fact.
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My Grandad had a complete set of bound partworks of Dicken's books, which my Mum and then my brother inherited. When my brother died, he left everything to my two sisters and me to divide amongst us as we wished. I said I would like his books. Of course the Dickens ones and a beautiful book about owls were not amongst them when I unpacked the box. One of my sisters had taken them - and she'd given the owl book to her [then] two year old granddaughter to colour, just to add insult to injury. I don't suppose for one second I'll ever see those books again :mad::cry:
 
Duck59 said:
The only two Dickens' novels I've yet to read are Little Dorrit and Bleak House. I have recently acquired a copy of the former. Both of these are among his later works, where the humour is blacker and the social observation more biting, too. More what we might term Dickensian, in fact.
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I should probably start with those in that case.
 
Elawin said:
Yes, I've got that one too, as an audiobook. Still reading "The Snowman" at the moment :D
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Another Scandinavian writer (who unfortunately did not live long enough to write more than a handfull of books) - Stieg Larsson I found interesting.

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Yorky said:
Another Scandinavian writer (who unfortunately did not live long enough to write more than a handfull of books) - Stieg Larsson I found interesting.

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There are quite a few Scandinavian authors who have written excellent books.

Åsa Larsson (Swedish)
Arnaldur Indridason (Icelandic)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir, (Icelandic ?)
Mari Jungstedt

and Jan Costin Wagner (German I think) plus Andrea K Höst (Cassandra series - though digital only).
 
Not much at the moment I'm afraid. I am always wary of books 'recommended' by the critics and especially ones that have won a 'prize' or 'award' of any sort however. By now I have decided that life is way too short [and I don't have enough of it left] to be too serious so the deep meaningful stuff just isn't for me. { I thought the Harry Potter books were great fun]
 
sidevalve said:
Not much at the moment I'm afraid. I am always wary of books 'recommended' by the critics and especially ones that have won a 'prize' or 'award' of any sort however. By now I have decided that life is way too short [and I don't have enough of it left] to be too serious so the deep meaningful stuff just isn't for me. { I thought the Harry Potter books were great fun]
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I started with Asa Larrson because a Swedish friend of mine gave me the book as a going away present many years ago now, nothing more. I had never heard of her and didn't read it because of any awards. I have followed the series since, whilst cycle touring... The Jan Constin Wagner series are excellent and I only found them by chance. I don't bother about awards, or much in the way of what people recommend. I usually just pick one of the books in the series if I can pick it up second hand for a penny or two and see what I think of them. The Caszandra series was slow to start but enjoyable - I got the first volume free when it was on a single day special offer on Amazon Kindle...
I've not read any of the Harry Potter books btw... The two Icelandic authors I followed from recommendations on Amazon, and simply picked up a cheap copy...
 
Halldór Laxness is - well, was - an Icelandic author who wrote (at least in my view) one of the very finest novels of the 20th century, Independent People. Imagine Gabriel Garcia Marquez several thousand miles north.
 
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