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Just finished this first book of the Dublin Trilogy although book four (a prequel) is also available. Only an Irishman could get away with that one. It was a thoroughly enjoyable crime caper with very similar writing to Colin Bateman but set in Dublin rather than Belfast. Plenty of slapstick and black humour mixed in with the crime storyline which itself was decent enough. A solid 8/10.
 
Old Prestonian said:
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Just finished this first book of the Dublin Trilogy although book four (a prequel) is also available. Only an Irishman could get away with that one. It was a thoroughly enjoyable crime caper with very similar writing to Colin Bateman but set in Dublin rather than Belfast. Plenty of slapstick and black humour mixed in with the crime storyline which itself was decent enough. A solid 8/10.
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Never seen Caimh used as a name before.
 
Teed said:
Just read, Paul Morley - the age of Bowie, not bad, not great, once you get over Morley's re invention of history.

and "I talk too much" - Francis Rossi, loaned from a friend, never got into Quo, but this book is pretty good.

And I'm half way through reading "The ragged trousered philanthropist" for the umpteenth time
and it gets better every time I read it, a masterpiece.
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Think it was you that recommended that to me years ago. Still makes me angry and more relevant now than it ever was.
 
Old Prestonian said:
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Just finished this first book of the Dublin Trilogy although book four (a prequel) is also available. Only an Irishman could get away with that one. It was a thoroughly enjoyable crime caper with very similar writing to Colin Bateman but set in Dublin rather than Belfast. Plenty of slapstick and black humour mixed in with the crime storyline which itself was decent enough. A solid 8/10.
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I'm a relatively new convert but love his books. Comes across as a decent bloke as well.
Old Prestonian said:
Nor me. Nee idea how it would be pronounced. Cave?
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I'm on his mailing list and he explained it once but I've forgotten. Don't think it was that though.
 
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TartanMackem said:
Overthrowing Mossadegh because he nationalised the oil? Yea, that’s there.

There’s a book I’ve had a while specifically on that which is meant to be excellent - All the Shah’s Men.


I actually bought it on kindle as well because the book is so thick I was getting cramp in my hands holding the damn thing.
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So since it was rather topical, I finally got round to reading this.


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All the Shah's Men, Stephen Kinzer - 10/10

So if you want to know why the Iranians hate the yanks so much, this book will tell you. Up until 1953 most Iranians hated the British after years of meddling and colonialism, but they were rather fond of the Americans who at the time were seen as promoting freedom and self-rule. That changed after Britain (reeling from Iran nationalising its oil industry) managed to coax the Americans into organising the overthrow of the very popular, democratically elected (and rather liberal, secular and reformist) Mohammed Mossadegh. In time honoured fashion, they put an autocratic tyrant in power instead. Obviously that didn't turn out well for anyone, and 25 years later we had an Islamic revolution to get rid of him and a stand-off between Iran and the West ever since.

It's a pretty gripping story that is well told by Kinzer. What is particularly good is that the author doesn't get bogged down in needless information and keeps the whole book to under 300 pages, giving it a nice pace.

The preface was written for the 2008 release and includes a full explanation about why going to war with Iran now (i.e. in 2008) would be a really bad idea. It could have been writing this month, and 99% would still be applicable.
 
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Stonewall - 8/10

very interesting read on the lead up to and aftermath of the stonewall riots in New York that kickstarted the gay rights movement in the states. Told from the point of view of 5 individuals involved you get their life story Upto and after the riots. Huge courage from those involved to start the marches with the inevitable abuse they knew they were going to receive from both the public and the police.
 
jacko100 said:
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Stonewall - 8/10

very interesting read on the lead up to and aftermath of the stonewall riots in New York that kickstarted the gay rights movement in the states. Told from the point of view of 5 individuals involved you get their life story Upto and after the riots. Huge courage from those involved to start the marches with the inevitable abuse they knew they were going to receive from both the public and the police.
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Looks good, I will add it to my ever expanding list to read.
 
I'm currently reading these, all highly recommended

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Mindf*ck

For the first time, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tells the inside story of the data mining and psychological manipulation behind the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum, connecting Facebook, WikiLeaks, Russian intelligence, and international hackers.“Mindf*ck demonstrates...
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(Trump and Brexit were just a trial run.)

books.google.com

That Will Never Work

In the tradition of Phil Knight's Shoe Dog comes the incredible untold story of how Netflix went from concept to company-all revealed by co-founder and first CEO Marc Randolph.Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard was of...
books.google.com
 
SYB_DC said:
Three Seconds (Roslund & Hellström)

If you like crime novels with morally ambiguous protagonists, this is one for you. Piet Hoffman is a Swedish police informant, a family man, and also a drug dealer for his own account. Ewert Grens is the detective in this series and is the tortured old male detective that has become almost stock in Swedish crime through the Kurt Wallander series. Through a mess mostly of his own making and the corrupt machinations of politicians, Hoffman finds himself in an unenviable pickle with violence on all sides, with Grens trying to sort out the mess before it's too late for everyone. It's a little more hardboiled than a lot of Scandi crime (think Jens Lapidus, not Henning Mankell). 8/10.

The Black Swan (Nassim Taleb)

Taleb is a smart man who repeats the ideas of smarter men while thinking that he is adding something. He is not. It is subtraction by addition, and he accomplishes it in an arrogant, sarcastic tone as if that somehow validates him. If you're interested in reading this book, just read something by Daniel Kahnemann instead. You'll get all the ideas there straight from the Nobel winner without the hot air. 3/10.

The Blackhouse (Peter May)

This is the best crime novel I've read in years, and I read a lot of crime novels. It's set mostly on the Isle of Lewis, and May brings out the bleak winter of the Hebrides both in narrative and in plot. It's won or been shortlisted for several major prizes, and deservedly so. 10/10.

The Lewis Man (Peter May)

Second book in the Lewis Trilogy. It's not The Blackhouse, but it's still very good. Don't read it first, though: it'd be awkward as a standalone and also contains spoilers of the first one. 8.5/10.

The Depths (Henning Mankell)

Mankell wrote both crime fiction and literary fiction. This one is halfway between and fails to tick the boxes in either bucket or in none at all. If you like short chapters, you'll like it, but that's most of what it's got going for it. This is the type of book that gets published because the author is famous, rather than because it is any good. It's not. 4/10.



Updating this, the shortlist on this one came out. I made it, and the gender ratio is exactly the same as the longlist was. @Monty Pigeon @RestlessNatives
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I started on the Lewis Trilogy but stupidly read the 3rd one first without realising it, actually an excellent read but without the backstory from the other 2 it seemed to have a few odd plot holes. Read the first one now and have the second one but not got round to reading it yet as it got screwed up somehow and wouldn't open on the Kindle. Excellent books mind.
 
citizen clem 5/5

john bew's biography of clement attlee, one of the best political books i've read in a very long time. fascinating to read when viewed against the current plight of the labour movement. i need empathy with the subject matter which probably helps elevate this to a 5 out 5 read for me. kinda more a history of the labour party up to the end of the 50s too.


identity crisis 4/5

i don't do fiction books, but made an exception for ben elton's satire of the world as we currently know it - or certainly places like this forum. its a take on the post trump\brexit world of twitter outrage pitting the public against itself in assumed rage... whilst the story is that of a murder hunt the books real subject is the state of the nation currently and how easily influenced it is.
 
T S Garp said:
49p on Kindle Books. At that price I’m in!
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Aye, I've got an hardback copy, but I bought the Kindle version for bed time reading, well worth it at that price, I've been reading quite a few of the classic lately, you can get them for nothing for the kindle or pennies like that.
Lexingtongue said:
I thought it was an overlong, poorly constructed mess despite its meaningful message.
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Well Orwell didn't seem to think so, I'm gonna go with his opinion over yours like.
 
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