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TST "Book Club" anyone?

Alix

Alix

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Evening all, I've had a search and we don't seem to have a books thread for non-Theme park books. In line with our film, tv, theatre and gigs threads, I thought there are probably other book worms out there who might like to share any good (or terrible!) reads they've had.

I am trying to expand my reading list this year, I've got stuck in a rut re-reading Discworld novels, and though I'll always love them and return to them in times of stress, now that Sir Pterry is no longer with us, I need to find new authors/genres.

To take it one geeky step further, I'm logging everything I read this year, and giving marks out of 10. Nothing too scientific, if I can't finish it it gets 0, if it's the best thing ever and I'll re-read many times it'll get 10, anything in the middle is purely subjective. I am a member of a physical book club, but they don't like fantasy, so I'm looking for others to recommend things they've loved, and just share the pleasure of curling up with a good book when the weather is too shabby for more exciting things like coasters.

I don't propose to set a book each month, but come and share what you've read, what you love/hate, and any future reading plans.

So far this year I've read and rated:

Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng, 7/10 - drama, interesting enough to finish but I wouldn't search out this author again.

Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett, 10/10 - from the Witches arc, I have read this book so often. A parody of McBeth (of sorts) it stars my favourite characters of all, Esme Weatherwax and Gytha Ogg and I'd recommend to anyone anywhere to read.

The Martian, Andy Weir, 7/10 - I'd seen the film, but so long ago I couldn't tell you how close it was to the book. Book was interesting, pure sci fi not always my thing, but it was interesting enough. Lots of potatoes.

The Black Bird, Tim Weaver, 4/10. Good dog what a long, dreary book. I'm not a fan of murder/crime stuff (my book club are) and this was almost horrendous enough for me to give up. It gets 4 because I didn't.

The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah, 7/10. Started off a bit meh but quickly improved to an interesting portrayal of the German occupation of French from the point of view of 2 French sisters. One who stays home and has to deal with having a German solider billeted with her, and the other who runs away to get involved in the Resistance.

Babel, R F Kuang, 8/10. BIG book. Long, slightly fantasy but mostly action/adventure type story with moral background. @GooseOnTheLoose recommendation.

Holding, Graham Norton, 2/10. Whoever told Graham he could write lied.

Witches Abroard, Terry Pratchett, 10/10. Another from the Witches arc, this time they're off to Genua to rescue a young girl called Cinders from a wicked witch. Plenty of jokes, lots of nods to various fairy tales, and just top notch Discworld.

Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell, 7/10. Not that David Mitchell. Another recommended by @GooseOnTheLoose quite a thick book, all about a band in the 60s. I got a bit lost in places not really following everything that was going on (one character seems to have a bit of a breakdown in the middle which involves phsycoplaning or some such) but it was interesting enough to finish.

Death of a Screenwriter, MC Beaton, 4/10. Hamish McBeth story, not my cup of tea but was finished in a couple of hours so no harm done.

Currently reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and rather liking it.

Anyone else out there with their nose in a book?
 
I have always enjoyed reading, but I haven't read any fiction books since last December, unfortunately. I will be rectifying that next month.
I would say that my favourite book is Animal Farm.
 
This year I've thus far read:

The Secret Barrister: Nothing But the Truth
The Secret Barrister
8 / 10 A follow up and further shocking insight to our deteriorating Justice system. Eye opening for many, an awful reality and every day life for others.

The Last Devil to Die
Richard Osman
4 / 10 - The latest in The Thursday Murder Club series and I'm honestly not sure why I keep coming back. The characters are two dimensional unrelatable and unlikeable cliches. The dialogue is stilted, the plots are farcical. Easy to read, drivel and nonsense.

Babel
R. F. Kuang
8 / 10 - A fantasy sci-fi alternative history of British colonialism, where might is controlled through the untranslatable meanings between language word pairs. Heartbreaking and an enjoyable modern critique against globalisation, monoculture and cultural appropriation.

Uncanny Valley
Anna Weiner
9 / 10 - Bit of a ghost walk for me, with some nostalgia driven moments, in this memoir from the familiar (and former workplace) of the San Francisco tech / app boom of the early 2010s. An insightful female perspective of a male dominated world.

The Magnificent Sons
Justin Myers
6 / 10 - Enjoyable, but frustrating. Two brothers explore their sexuality, with others, and fraternal relationship with each other. Fine, but not gripping and very 2020s.

The Whale Tattoo
Jon Robson
3 / 10 - A tragic tale of a mentally unwell gay twenty something, in a deprived East Anglian fishing village. Graphic in places. Strong language throughout. Not entirely sure what the message was. I wanted to like this, but the time jumping and narrative style really put me off.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin
9 / 10 - Two great childhood friends explore their relationship through designing and developing video games. An emotionally investible assortment of characters, journeys and an appreciation for indie game development. Beautiful.
 
The last fiction book I read was The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. I loved it, it is very Bob with a lot of humour and sureal moments but they don't distract from an engaging story, and I couldn't help but read some of it in his voice. 9/10

I'm currently on Mirriam Margolyes autobiography. She crazy.
 
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Some interesting suggestions there.
I don’t think I’ve read animal farm - I probably should add it to my list.

I also like Bob Mortimer and Miriam Margolyes so will add them to my list too,

Thanks!
 
I’m a fan of gothic and ghost stories, and had a list of classics that I had wanted to read, including Dracula and Frankenstein but was finding it hard going, particularly with the later due to the way things were written and phrased. I started using Audible to listen and read along with, which was a massive help as you could hear the tone, inflections, etc. I’ve since found quite a few books that I’ve really enjoyed, based on it’s recommendations.


The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
Probably my top read in recent memory. A real page turner but which also managed to pace itself well. Even in the moments of respite between the action, it still kept you on tenterhooks, trying to figure out what it all meant and how the story pieced together. There was a bit of a twist which I kind of saw coming, but I actually quite like that in a book. Whilst totally out of the blue twists can be very effective, I quite like the sense of accomplishment when you unravel a bit of a mystery yourself. There was still some questions left unanswered for me at the end, but I think it was right to leave some elements with a bit of mystery about them.

Off the back of this I also picked up Bone China by the same author which was also one I’d recommend.
10/10


The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert
If you’re looking for something that will make your skin crawl this one will do it. Whilst many ghost stories let the supernatural elements put your hairs on end, this one layers on top of that and delves into some truly unsettling and disturbing realms. It shows how humans themselves can be just as, if not more, evil than mysterious, unknown forces.
9/10


Rebecca by Daphnie Du Maurier
A bit of a slow burn getting going, but once it picked up momentum I really got into this. I loved the character development. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story where I found myself developing such a hatred for a character as I did with Mrs Danvers 🤣
8/10


A couple of other honorable mentions go to The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (though good god it’s a long one!), The Lost Ones by Anita Frank and The Whistling by Rebecca Netley (this one helped pass many an hour painting @khalichanan ‘s bedroom 🤣).


Current read: 1984 by George Orwell
This one had been on my list for a long time. Prior to it I read Animal Farm which I quite enjoyed. However, I’m still only part way through and I don’t know… It’s just not hooked me as much as I’d hoped. Don’t get me wrong, I can absolutely appreciate it as a book, and I am really loving the dystopian world in which it is set, but I’m not finding it quite as compelling to pick up as I have with other stories. I’m not sure if maybe it’s the characters I’m not connecting with as much?.. At the moment I’d give it about a 5 or 6/10, which feels harsh, but I dunno. It’s just not clicking with me yet…
 
Ian said:
Rebecca by Daphnie Du Maurier
A bit of a slow burn getting going, but once it picked up momentum I really got into this. I loved the character development. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story where I found myself developing such a hatred for a character as I did with Mrs Danvers 🤣
8/10
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I agree. It was very hard to carry on reading in the first half because I was bored, but it got much better in the second half, and overall, I enjoyed it.
 
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I don’t really read horror much - I am a scaredy cat - but I did read a fair bit of Stephen King when I was at school. Also read Slugs which I remember was fairly grim, and an anthology that I found lying around in school which included a story about a prisoner sticking a pin through his pupil. Delightful.

I have just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I found it incredibly moving, and her character really resonated with me. As someone who has suffered soul crushing sadness, loneliness and feeling disconnected for a long time, there were parts that had me in floods of tears. Her friendship with Raymond reminded me of the friendships I’ve now built with a couple of the members here, and the fact she got a cat who became part of her reason for keeping going was just too spooky a coincidence. The strong message of being kind and caring about the people around you really made it for me. I think everyone should be more Raymond.

A very rare 11/10 for a book with no wizzards. (Not a typo - Discworld reference)
 
Alix said:
I don’t really read horror much - I am a scaredy cat - but I did read a fair bit of Stephen King when I was at school. Also read Slugs which I remember was fairly grim, and an anthology that I found lying around in school which included a story about a prisoner sticking a pin through his pupil. Delightful.

I have just finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I found it incredibly moving, and her character really resonated with me. As someone who has suffered soul crushing sadness, loneliness and feeling disconnected for a long time, there were parts that had me in floods of tears. Her friendship with Raymond reminded me of the friendships I’ve now built with a couple of the members here, and the fact she got a cat who became part of her reason for keeping going was just too spooky a coincidence. The strong message of being kind and caring about the people around you really made it for me. I think everyone should be more Raymond.

A very rare 11/10 for a book with no wizzards. (Not a typo - Discworld reference)
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That sounds like something that I would enjoy reading. I might have to read it.
 
Zeock said:
That sounds like something that I would enjoy reading. I might have to read it.
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Which one Zeocky? I mentioned a few books.

I’ve returned to the safety of Discworld for my next read - my reservations at the library are taking an age to come through and I’m too tight to buy books. Maskerade this time, which is a parody of The Phantom of the Opera.

“Overuse of exclamation marks is the sign of a diseased mind!!!!”
 
I will confess here, I hardly ever read novels, or even short fiction.
I am a non fiction addict, biographies, history and general factual knowledge...and scour the shelves of every charity shop looking for sleepy eyed bedtime reading, the more boring the better.

Recent reads, in no particular order...
The colour red...about three hundred pages.
Ants (bestseller!),
Coal, a nice book on bridges, another on roundabouts, all the crap towns books, heroic failures, weird animal stuff, and all the conspiracy crap.
I also buy random magazines from forty/fifty years ago, old autocar, modellers world, sad canal boat owner 1978...and a lovely old magazine on how to create interesting dioramas of historical battles.

The New Scientists book of nothing was poor bedtime reading, just too bloody interesting.
 
I've been reading a lot recently, and I finished Shaun Wallace's autobiography 'Chasing the Dream' earlier today.
It tracks his life from when he was born until his 'Are you an Egghead?' audition, therefore it never mentions his participation in 'The Chase' as 'The Dark Destroyer', which was disappointing.
I found it very interesting and inspirational, considering that he never performed especially well at school and has a very average IQ of 96. Despite this, he became a lawyer and is well known in the world of quizzing.
I also liked that he included the questions asked in most of the game shows he participated in, so I could play along.
However, there are plenty of typos and spelling mistakes.
8/10.
 
Just finished Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabriella Zevin, another @GooseOnTheLoose recommendation.

Very good book following the friendship of 2 computer game developers over about 20 years. Both of them have their flaws, and their friendship does not run smoothly, however it was good study of how meaningful and enduring platonic relationships can be.

The game developer stuff is background really so don’t let that put anyone off, it is a solid story of friendship and growing up but not so smaltzy as that makes it sound. 10/10

I also finished Maskerade by Pterry. Part of the witches arc, Agnes has escaped The Chalk to be an opera singer but there’s some strange goings on. Granny and Nanny are definitely not interfering but rock up to sort things out, and Greebo gets to do his party trick again. A parody of Phantom of the Opera, full of all the usual puns and gags. As always, 10/10.
 
Ian said:
I’m a fan of gothic and ghost stories, and had a list of classics that I had wanted to read, including Dracula and Frankenstein but was finding it hard going, particularly with the later due to the way things were written and phrased. I started using Audible to listen and read along with, which was a massive help as you could hear the tone, inflections, etc. I’ve since found quite a few books that I’ve really enjoyed, based on it’s recommendations.


The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
Probably my top read in recent memory. A real page turner but which also managed to pace itself well. Even in the moments of respite between the action, it still kept you on tenterhooks, trying to figure out what it all meant and how the story pieced together. There was a bit of a twist which I kind of saw coming, but I actually quite like that in a book. Whilst totally out of the blue twists can be very effective, I quite like the sense of accomplishment when you unravel a bit of a mystery yourself. There was still some questions left unanswered for me at the end, but I think it was right to leave some elements with a bit of mystery about them.

Off the back of this I also picked up Bone China by the same author which was also one I’d recommend.
10/10


The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert
If you’re looking for something that will make your skin crawl this one will do it. Whilst many ghost stories let the supernatural elements put your hairs on end, this one layers on top of that and delves into some truly unsettling and disturbing realms. It shows how humans themselves can be just as, if not more, evil than mysterious, unknown forces.
9/10


Rebecca by Daphnie Du Maurier
A bit of a slow burn getting going, but once it picked up momentum I really got into this. I loved the character development. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story where I found myself developing such a hatred for a character as I did with Mrs Danvers 🤣
8/10


A couple of other honorable mentions go to The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (though good god it’s a long one!), The Lost Ones by Anita Frank and The Whistling by Rebecca Netley (this one helped pass many an hour painting @khalichanan ‘s bedroom 🤣).


Current read: 1984 by George Orwell
This one had been on my list for a long time. Prior to it I read Animal Farm which I quite enjoyed. However, I’m still only part way through and I don’t know… It’s just not hooked me as much as I’d hoped. Don’t get me wrong, I can absolutely appreciate it as a book, and I am really loving the dystopian world in which it is set, but I’m not finding it quite as compelling to pick up as I have with other stories. I’m not sure if maybe it’s the characters I’m not connecting with as much?.. At the moment I’d give it about a 5 or 6/10, which feels harsh, but I dunno. It’s just not clicking with me yet…
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I really enjoyed the Crickley Hall TV series. However, like Rob above, I hardly ever read fiction. Whenever I read it's always non-fiction, so I just catch these stories when they make it to the screen. Really enjoyed that one.
 
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