The SMB Book thread

Old Prestonian said:
I do have a child and found it uncomfortable and gripping in fairly equal measures. Nowhere near as uncomfortable at a revelation within 'Fallen Angel' by Brookmyre though.
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Just finished fallen angel. Another great book by brookmyre. He just writes exceptional characters and plots. Really didn’t know where it was going until near the end.
(although the main twist I copped very early on)

nice little cameo from JP too.
 


Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell 5/10
I'm a fan of David Mitchell's work (especially Cloud Atlas and the The Bone Clocks), but in this one his worst traits - cringeworthy dialogue, a tendency to let minor characters lead him off at a tangent - are to the fore. Nearly 600 pages for an insubstantial story about a 1960s rock group. Lots of cameos by famous people, but no insights into any of them beyond their received reputation. (An appearance by Jimmy Savile comes with the inevitable 'quip' about him 'liking them young').

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Mayflies by Andrew O'Hagan 9/10
Similar territory at Utopia Avenue - young people with a passion for music - but in a different league. First half is about a bunch of Scottish teenagers heading down to Manchester to see The Smiths et al. In the second half, thirty years later, one of them is terminally ill and wants his best mate to arrange for him to go to Dignitas in Switzerland. Largely autobiographical, it's one of the best portrayals of male friendship I've read.

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Monty Pigeon said:
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell 5/10
I'm a fan of David Mitchell's work (especially Cloud Atlas and the The Bone Clocks), but in this one his worst traits - cringeworthy dialogue, a tendency to let minor characters lead him off at a tangent - are to the fore. Nearly 600 pages for an insubstantial story about a 1960s rock group. Lots of cameos by famous people, but no insights into any of them beyond their received reputation. (An appearance by Jimmy Savile comes with the inevitable 'quip' about him 'liking them young').

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Disappointed to here that about Utopia Avenue, love most of Mitchells stuff, especially like you Cloud Atlas and the Bone Clocks. Was looking forward to this one. Will still read it. Even Mitchell not at his best is better than most.

Just finished Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz which was very enjoyable. Love the book within a book mechanism
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Halfway through Peter James, Find them dead, latest in the Roy Grace series. Think I might give up on this series after this one, its become very tired, wish he'd drop the nonsense about his long lost son that adds nothing to the character. Also the main plot so far is so cliched, just hoping he pulls it out of the bag before the end with some sort of twist (which doesnt seem likely)

 
Just finished The History of Seven Killings, Booker winner and that but not for me. Far too stop/start, the finishing post just kept seeming to get further away. Annoyed at 400 pages realising I'd invested so much in it I had to finish it, but there were still 300 pages to go. 400 pages too long. I mean the characterisation is fine and that, just the endless seven or eight page chapters every one by a different narrator, many of which nothing actually happens in except "character development", then in the last 100 pages where he seems to realise he can't bring the threads together like that so reverts back to a traditional chapter structure. Supposedly about 7 killings, but as there's bloody hundreds of killings you don't get to find out which bloody 7 killings he's actually talking about until the end. Loads of characters listed in the character list at the beginning who never actually appear - what's the point of that? Just annoying, glad it's over 3*
 
Currently reading The Entrepeneurial State by Mariana Mazzucato. Quite interesting - about how most of the innovations the big 'private' tech firms today, and the pharma industry, are actually built on concerted effort and significant risk on the part of states. Particularly the USA. Private capital tends to like socialised risk and privatised reward.

Got one of the Booker nominees - Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart for my upcoming holiday, looking forward to reading that.
 
I'm reading the Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North. It's absolutely f***ing shite. If I see the term 'truth of their heart' one more time I'm going to lose my mind. Disjointed, repetitive, and very thin on coherent story development, it's definitely one to avoid. To think how excited I got when I saw it in the charity shop as well. Disappointing.
 
Lexingtongue said:
I'm reading the Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North. It's absolutely f***ing shite. If I see the term 'truth of their heart' one more time I'm going to lose my mind. Disjointed, repetitive, and very thin on coherent story development, it's definitely one to avoid. To think how excited I got when I saw it in the charity shop as well. Disappointing.
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Good review. I like it when people speak the truth of their heart.
 
Thackeray said:
Just finished The History of Seven Killings, Booker winner and that but not for me. Far too stop/start, the finishing post just kept seeming to get further away. Annoyed at 400 pages realising I'd invested so much in it I had to finish it, but there were still 300 pages to go. 400 pages too long. I mean the characterisation is fine and that, just the endless seven or eight page chapters every one by a different narrator, many of which nothing actually happens in except "character development", then in the last 100 pages where he seems to realise he can't bring the threads together like that so reverts back to a traditional chapter structure. Supposedly about 7 killings, but as there's bloody hundreds of killings you don't get to find out which bloody 7 killings he's actually talking about until the end. Loads of characters listed in the character list at the beginning who never actually appear - what's the point of that? Just annoying, glad it's over 3*
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I had a very similar experience with that book.
 
Just read Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson, as I saw somewhere an option had been taken up, and they are filming it?

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Gets into the siberian snowy freezing mood nicely and some good 'Smiley' type facets to it, as well as some excellent tension throughout.

Highly recommended if you like this genre type- cold war with a bit of 'secret genetic project' stuff.

Has not really aged at all.

Didn't realise it was published in 1994, and Lionel is now brown bread...
 
Going away in the caravan tomorrow where the rain promises to hammer down relentlessy all weekend meaning all I'll do is eat cake, drink tea and read. Got Jim Dodge's Fup and Not Fade Away dropping on the doorstep in the morning for reading redemption from Marlon James. Pretty sure I'll be on safe ground with these two, bring it on.
 
Thackeray said:
Just finished The History of Seven Killings, Booker winner and that but not for me. Far too stop/start, the finishing post just kept seeming to get further away. Annoyed at 400 pages realising I'd invested so much in it I had to finish it, but there were still 300 pages to go. 400 pages too long. I mean the characterisation is fine and that, just the endless seven or eight page chapters every one by a different narrator, many of which nothing actually happens in except "character development", then in the last 100 pages where he seems to realise he can't bring the threads together like that so reverts back to a traditional chapter structure. Supposedly about 7 killings, but as there's bloody hundreds of killings you don't get to find out which bloody 7 killings he's actually talking about until the end. Loads of characters listed in the character list at the beginning who never actually appear - what's the point of that? Just annoying, glad it's over 3*
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Well that's now just gone from the top of my reading pile back to the bottom!
 
Flash Gordon said:
Well that's now just gone from the top of my reading pile back to the bottom!
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My missus read it before me and it was one of those sat on the shelves 'is that worth reading?' books and she was like yeah sure have a go, and then as I was groaning as I read it she was like, 'yeah it is annoying isn't it?' I wonder if it's one of those books more generally, it's a Booker winner so people go yeah it's good, but secretly everyone who reads it hates it until someone speaks up.
 
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Flash Gordon said:
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - 8/10

An enjoyable book with some well written characters and an intriguing story. The backdrop of the Spanish civil war was fascinating to me (its the 2nd book I've read in that background after Winter in Madrid). I might look into more books based in or on the subject.
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Just stumbled on this post.

I used to have a bookshop in Spain and can recommend.

Gerald Brennan "South from Granada" is a classic written about 100 years ago. Excellent book.
He has a courtship with a woman he never even sees, hidden and serenaded behind the grilles of a Spanish village house.
He also wrote "The Face of Spain"


Laurie Lee's trilogy in Spain:-
As I walked out one Misummer Morning.( Pre civil war)
A moment of War ( he fought over there)
and
A Rose For Winter ( He goes back in the 50s, when Franco has an iron grip).

Bob Doyle's "Brigadista" is incredible, if you can get hold of it. His gritty account of the Civil War.

Also Orwell's classic " Homage to Catalonia" is the bmost famous.
He gets shot in the neck.
People tell him he was lucky cos he survived.
He said " I'd have been even luckier if I hadn't been shot at all".

I find Hemingway hard to read, so personally found
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" heavy going.

Whilst not too keen on the style of writing, I found "Or I'll dress you in Mourning" a brilliant biography of El Cordobes the famous and flamboyant bullfighter.
It flits between his life and the story of bullfighting.
Personally, I can't stand bullfighting, but it is a very interesting description of it. More interesting was his life, brought up in poverty in a poor Andalucian village, during the "years of hunger"after the civil war, it is really worth a read.
Written by Collins and LaPierre.
I read it in 1983, lying around somewhere and it really left an impression on me. It took me 20 years to find another out of print edition to read.


Acclaimed books I never read on the Civil War are

Blood of Spain by Ronald Fraser
And
The Spanish Civil War by Paul Preston.
He also wrote The Spanish Holocaust.

All the above are good books.
If pushed, I'd probably recommend South from Granada, as a brilliant book on Spain, and Brigadista as an outstanding Civil War account.

On a different note, the poetry of Lorca.
 
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