The SMB Book thread



Grumpy old rock star by Rick Wakeman is very good and Yes fan or not, you'll find yourself pissing yourself laughing at his tales of life on the road etc.
 
The Only Story by Julian Barnes 8/10
I've read several books by Julian Barnes, always enjoyed them, but can never remember much about them after a week or two. This one might stick. A 19-year-old boy embarks on a long love affair with a 48-year-old married woman. Neatly constructed in three parts, and told in the first-person, second-person and third-person.

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Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb by
Michael Joseloff
9-10

Read this book in 2 days flat, once started just couldn't put it down. The story of the scientists who split the atom and then the race to turn it into an atomic bomb. It has a good mix of technical stuff and also some of the riskier missions of world war 2. Brilliant book.
 
Just started In The Woods by Tana French , nice cheery story bout 2 detectives investigating a 12 year old who disappears

It's a bit of an oddball book in some ways, not least that her writing style changes markedly from the beginning to the end. I liked it well enough, although I thought one aspect of the solution was pretty obvious from early on. I'd give it a 7 or 7.5/10. Hope you like it too.
 
It's a bit of an oddball book in some ways, not least that her writing style changes markedly from the beginning to the end. I liked it well enough, although I thought one aspect of the solution was pretty obvious from early on. I'd give it a 7 or 7.5/10. Hope you like it too.
Put me off , just threw it in the log burner
 
The Prestige. Such a good book. Differs greatly from the film which I also really like. Second time I've read it and was just as enjoyable as the first.
 
Salt, one of the UK's best independent publishers, is in danger of going under. Help them out, buy a book from their website. There's plenty of good stuff there.

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Dear readers, we need your help. Sadly, we're facing a very challenging time and need your custom to get our publishing back on track. Please buy #JustOneBook from our shop right now https://www.saltpublishing.com/

 
Now reading Magic Army by Leslie Thomas, adsolutely brilliant and a great laugh,

One wonderful episode when a U.S. general meets up with a weird old upper class biddy, whose delapidated mansion he intends to requisition for HQ.

Followed by two hilarious confrontations between a newly arrived U.S.Division and two local villager convoys travelling down a narrow Devon country lane, headed by an ancient Steam Traction Engine.

Needless to say the locals come out on top and the US Army is forced to retreat on both occasions.:lol:
 
Now reading Magic Army by Leslie Thomas, adsolutely brilliant and a great laugh,

One wonderful episode when a U.S. general meets up with a weird old upper class biddy, whose delapidated mansion he intends to requisition for HQ.

Followed by two hilarious confrontations between a newly arrived U.S.Division and two local villager convoys travelling down a narrow Devon country lane, headed by an ancient Steam Traction Engine.

Needless to say the locals come out on top and the US Army is forced to retreat on both occasions.:lol:

He was a lovely man. When I was starting out as a journalist in the late 1980s, I interviewed him and he gave me his telephone number - told me to call him if I ever needed advice. On and off for a couple of years we used to chat regularly. I couldn't have wished for a better mentor.
 
My pace is slowing as the weather gets better, but just finished my 23rd book of the year this morning.

Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, Stephen Kinzer - 9/10


So after Chomsky and a few other books brought incidents to my attention that I'd never known about previously - US intervention in Guatemala and Nicaragua - I decided to learn more about the USA and the CIA's interference in the world. And wow. I'd always assumed that most of this stuff was a large part conspiracy-theory and over-egged for Hollywood films, but it seems that the information is publicly available and undeniable. And with some pretty gruesome consequences for an awful lot of people. 14 countries have had governments overthrown by the USA, and of those 14 only really Hawaii and Grenada could argue that they benefitted. This book does a pretty good job of going through most of them and explaining the reasons behind them. **Spoiler alert** the reasons are almost always: Big business, communist paranoia, and bloodymindedness.

So if you ever want to know why most of the world hates the USA (and to a slightly lesser extent also the UK) then this book will lay it all out for you.


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The Shadow District - Arnaldur Indridason

The first of a new series from the Icelandic scandi-noir author. This one flits between the current(ish) day and 1944, when Iceland was occupied by US forces. In the current day, retired police detective Konrad pieces together the clues to find the killer of an old man. In 1944, an Icelandic police detective, Flovent, and a US army liaison, Thorson, try to find the killer of a young woman found strangled behind the Iceland National Theatre. How are the cases connected?

Indridasson is a solid writer of detective fiction and this is pretty much up to standard. The twin storylines are well handled and Konrad looks to be a good successor to Indridason's previous focal point, Erlandur. 8/10
 
He was a lovely man. When I was starting out as a journalist in the late 1980s, I interviewed him and he gave me his telephone number - told me to call him if I ever needed advice. On and off for a couple of years we used to chat regularly. I couldn't have wished for a better mentor.

I’m now into Ormerod’s Landing. True story of a strange WW2 adventure in France that very few will even be aware of.
It would never have been written but for a chance meeting by Leslie Thomas on the other side of the World.
The story fascinated him so much that he went to a great deal of trouble to unearth as many details as possible and agreed eventual publication subject to certain conditions.
So far, very good and the usual big dollop of Leslie Thomas humour already had me chuckling merrily away.
 

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