The SMB Book thread

Slipless in Settle - Harry Pearson
The Far Corner is one of my favourite books of all time and this is in a similar vein. It's lurked about on my kindle for years and only just rediscovered it whilst being housebound and in a bad mood so it promised to cheer me up.
Some great laugh out loud moments although maybe not as many as The Far Corner and whilst I enjoy cricket, I don't have the in depth knowledge to know who most of the players discussed are.
Still a very good read, making the mundane and everyday interesting, and I imagine even better if you are a cricket anorak. 7/10
 


Arkle said:
Robert Rankin - The Antipope

Just finished reading this after a recommendation on here )not sure if this thread or not). Part 1 of his Brentford trilogy. An excellent introduction to the otherworldliness of life in Brentford. I'll read through the other 9 (I think) in the trilogy gradually. 9/10
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Would that not be a tri-trilogy plus one?
 
With golf and beer garden season upon us, my reading has slowed:

The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America, Timothy Snyder - 8/10
very good analysis of the post-Cold War era, and the changing relationships between the 3 prominent powers in world politics. Interesting insight into how a potentially "blossoming" relationship between Russia and the West turned sour in the last decade.

Science of the Soul, Richard Dawkins - 6/10
Collection of essays and speeches from Dawkins' career. The main problem is that it covered various wide-ranging topics, and frankly I wouldn't have sought insight from an evolutionary biologist on many of the issues covered.

A higher Loyalty, James Comey - 7/10
Pretty interesting overall, and I was keen to understand his thinking behind the decisions he took in and around the US election. But he continually pushes his holier-than-thou persona and it gets a bit grating - yea we get it Jim, you're honest and honourable. I would also have liked for him to have spent longer covering his time bringing down the mafia.

Who Rules the World?, Noam Chomsky - 6/10
My second Chomsky book, and while he has brought things to my attention which I simply hadn't been aware of, his writing is very "matter of fact" and upon closer inspection not always fairly presented. For example, he describes the EDL and BNP as a "major force" in England which is nothing short of absolute nonsense. He also isn't a very good writer, and he's extremely repetitive - like literally copy and pasting entire sentences and paragraphs that leave you wondering if you're suffering from deja-vu.

The Roar of the Lion: the Untold Story of Churchill's WWII speeches, Richard Toye - 7/10
We all assume that Churchill's famous speeches went down like a house on fire and spurred the nation onto victory, but this book delves a little deeper and shows that the reality was not quite like that. The author investigates the reaction at the time, not just amongst the British population but also abroad (particularly the US) and within the axis countries. He also delves into Churchill's notes and drafts to analyse the process that went into writing them, and I thought it was particularly interesting how he tried to coax the USA into joining the war, without making it look to Americans like he was trying to manufacture their entry into the war. Oh and apparently we shouldn't be surprised that he lost the election straight after victory, it was near-inevitable.
 
Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov 10/10
This one has never got much love among Nabokov fans, and I wasn't expecting much. Loved it. A famous professor in a totalitarian regime went to school with the absolute ruler....unfortunately, while there the professor bullied the future leader. Funny and profound, and some of the most heartbreaking descriptions of grief I've ever read.

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Monty Pigeon said:
Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov 10/10
Short but brilliant. It's instantly one of my favourite Nabokov novels, up there with Lolita and Pale Fire. Plenty of people will be repulsed by a couple of paragraphs in the middle of the book graphically describing photos of a naked girl, but as a review in The Guardian pointed out the description is there for a reason. A phrase within the sequence "the flame of his interest" assumes crucial meaning once you reach the end of his book.

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Lolita is a tremendous book. Easily the funniest, wittiest thing I've ever read despite the subject matter.

I'll definitely read that. Cheers.
 
richyrich said:
Lolita is a tremendous book. Easily the funniest, wittiest thing I've ever read despite the subject matter.

I'll definitely read that. Cheers.
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I read The Enchanter today - very short, doesn't take long - the forerunner to Lolita. Also very good. Interesting to encounter the themes developed in Lolita at an earlier stage.

Pale Fire is my undisputed favourite. Lolita second. After that, so many brilliant books....I've still got one or two to go, but at the moment: Laughter in the Dark, Transparent Things, Bend Sinister and King, Queen, Knave tie for third.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
I read The Enchanter today - very short, doesn't take long - the forerunner to Lolita. Also very good. Interesting to encounter the themes developed in Lolita at an earlier stage.

Pale Fire is my undisputed favourite. Lolita second. After that, so many brilliant books....I've still got one or two to go, but at the moment: Laughter in the Dark, Transparent Things, Bend Sinister and King, Queen, Knave tie for third.
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If Nabokov's other books are anything like Lolita I'll read them all. Never heard of Pale Fire either, cheers.
 
richyrich said:
If Nabokov's other books are anything like Lolita I'll read them all. Never heard of Pale Fire either, cheers.
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Pale Fire is a challenge. It starts with a long poem and then you get the footnotes to the poem in which the story is told. It's not for everyone, but if you're on its wavelength it's gripping, and funny, and tragic - all at the same time.

Nabokov's books split into two periods: the books written in Russian (later translated by him and his son into English), and those written in English. Of the Russian books, Martin Amis (one of his biggest fans) swears by King, Queen, Knave; Laughter in the Dark; and Despair as being the core trio. I can't argue with that.

But having read almost all of his books, I still haven't found a dud.
 
Destined for War: can America and China escape Thucydides’s Trap? , Graham Allison - 9/10
Book taken from a Harvard study into the "Thucydides Trap" - the trap is basically set when an existing dominant power feels threatened by a rising power, which leads to war between them. In the last half millenia, Harvard have identified 16 of these, 12 of which resulted in war (e.g. UK and revolutionary France), and 4 which managed to avoid war (e.g. UK and USA at the end of the 19th century). The author considers China to be well on its way to challenging and superseding the USA and believes that history would show that they are on course for war, unless the lessons from history are learnt. I thought it was excellent to be honest. Well written and I like non-fiction which is fast paced and doesn't waste pages labouring a point.

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Christopher Brookmyre - Want You Gone
The eighth of Brookmyre's Jack Parlabane novels and probably the third in a row in which Parlabane is arguably not the lead character with a large focus being on strong female leads. This time the focus is on hacking and tech industry espionage with the central character being Parlabane's occasional hacker helper, Buzzkill, who doesn't conform to the geeky white boy stereotype for hackers (well, she has the geeky). It's a good read as usual with a number of plot twists. 8/10
 
Old Prestonian said:
It was the Brookmyre that I have enjoyed the most for a while.
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I've often wondered whether authors lose their way because they try and be different to what made them popular or whether it's just the focus on getting a book out every year.
I've found Don Winslow's latests books to be overblown, self indulgent and cliched and I think it is because he is so popular, publishers and editors are less likely to reign him in.
 

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