The SMB Book thread

Had a bit time off over Easter so I have read:

Jon Fosse: Septology. Loved it actually, really engrossing mood piece over 800 pages about all the big questions, life love, existence, religion, the road not travelled. Very recommended.

Richard Brautigan: Trout Fishing in America. Counter cultural classic, messing around with narrative form and so on. Only short so read it twice, but only probably a 3/5 at best for me.

Gore Vidal: Dark Green, Bright Red. I generally really love Gore Vidal, but this was a bit flimsy by his standards. Ostensibly a tale of revolution in a banana republic, reads more like a half finished film script idea.

J G Farrell: The Hill Station. Speaking of half finished, this one actually is as he was halfway through when he died accidentally. Still loved it, gotta love Farrell. The book was finished off with his diary of touring India. I'm going to Shimla later this year, so was very interested.

Robert Coover: Briar Rose and Spanking the Maid. Meh.

Next up is Kobo Abe's The Woman in the Dunes. Looks right up my strasse.
 


Shambo said:
Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan
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Any good? Mayflies was one of my favourite reads of the past couple of years, so it's high up on my wish list.

Just finished In Ascension by Martin McInnes. Cracking piece of thoughtful, emotionally rich sci-fi. The sort of thing that's just begging to be adapted by a Denis Villeneuve/Christopher Nolan type director.
 
"Small things like these" by Claire Keegan. Very short, spare, and incredibly moving at the end. Set in Ireland in the 80s, it's about complicity and redemption, and an absolute f***ing scandal that should have seen lots of people in robes go to prison.
 
Speakeasy said:
Any good? Mayflies was one of my favourite reads of the past couple of years, so it's high up on my wish list.
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I was blown away by Mayflies

I am only about 40 pages into this as I have had a hectic few days outside of work but i can say the start needs a bit of concentrating!
 
Thackeray said:
J G Farrell: The Hill Station. Speaking of half finished, this one actually is as he was halfway through when he died accidentally. Still loved it, gotta love Farrell. The book was finished off with his diary of touring India. I'm going to Shimla later this year, so was very interested.
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One of my favourite writers. Lavinia Greacen's biography of him is well worth reading. His early death was a huge loss to British literature.

 
Shambo said:
Shogun - James Clavell
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I read that recently. Quite a good story, neh?

I've also read Horror In The East by Laurence Rees, which was quite a good analysis but it rubbed me up the wrong way that it seemed to equate Japanese victims of firebombing and the A-bombs to the victims of the Japanese army when you can't compare the two.

Read a couple of the One Punch Man mangas, and they are as good as the anime is.
 
Kborom said:
Sure did, enjoyed it. The ending did wrap itself up in knots somewhat and as I recall a rule or two was tweaked which indicates that they couldn't get the logic right. Having said that I did like the book and it might be worth a re-read at some point.
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just finished his new one "Last Murder at the end of the World" Really enjoyed it. Hes a very interesting author. Wildly different stories and genres from book to book but all very compelling

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Non-fiction - currently reading The Road to Unfreedom which is an exploration of the philosophy and reasoning behind Russia's politics and actions under Putin and the invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Well worth a read if you want to understand a bit more about how the world ended up here.

Fiction - The Island by Adrian McKinty. Big fan of his so I was never not going to like this but it's a brilliant thriller, the kind you don't want to put down. Highly recommend it
 
Sven said:
Fiction - The Island by Adrian McKinty. Big fan of his so I was never not going to like this but it's a brilliant thriller, the kind you don't want to put down. Highly recommend it
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I've just started this one so I'm pleased to see that you think favourably of it. I enjoyed his Sean Duffy series and was incredibly impressed by The Chain.
 
Sven said:
Non-fiction - currently reading The Road to Unfreedom
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read that last year, was really good i thought. i followed it up with both Catherine Belton's '"Putin's People" (heavy) & Peter Pomerantsev's "This Is Not Propaganda" (his first book was better).


Belton's book is the best i've read on russia's last 30 years, but it get's very technical in the middle around the setup of russian internal core industry's and what then changed in the 00's to enrich the kgb cabal at the top.
 
Old Prestonian said:
I've just started this one so I'm pleased to see that you think favourably of it. I enjoyed his Sean Duffy series and was incredibly impressed by The Chain.
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Loved the Duffy books as well - bit sad there'll be no more. Adrian McKinty is a good old fashioned story teller and I'm surprised it's taken him so long to get a bit of of success.
errant said:
read that last year, was really good i thought. i followed it up with both Catherine Belton's '"Putin's People" (heavy) & Peter Pomerantsev's "This Is Not Propaganda" (his first book was better).


Belton's book is the best i've read on russia's last 30 years, but it get's very technical in the middle around the setup of russian internal core industry's and what then changed in the 00's to enrich the kgb cabal at the top.
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I'm about half way through Road to Unfreedom so far and it definitely makes a cogent and clear argument about the whys and hows of the way Russia is run and the way they've undermined democracy in the west
 
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