What is East Dulwich reading?

[maxxi]

Just finished 'Penguins Stopped Play' - by Harry Thompson and about to start reading the Jo Nesbo books on OH's recommendation... and in which I am hoping for lots of snow and frozen vistas because It's so.. so... exhaustingly... hot...

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

How did you find Ps stopped play? I started it but didn't get very far.

[maxxi]

It meanders but has a lot of charm and the end is quite moving, I suppose it helps if you like cricket and/or Thompson.

[Marmora Man]

The Smiley trilogy (again) after watching Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last week.

[RosieH]

mockney piers Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you've ever considered getting into sci-fi

> /fantasy or horror but don't know where to start

> (or are afraid to ask you saddo!!) then this handy

> flow chart might help

> http://www.box.net/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3

> o8m.jpg

>

> http://flowingdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/

> Books-partial-954x624.png

That's all well and good Mockers, but do any of them come with the kind of dust jacket that don't make you look like a 45 year old computer programmer who lives in his mum's basement?

[Huguenot]

Piersy is a 45 year old computer programmer... well, very almost ;-)

This one makes Le Carre look like Sebastian Faulks

http://www.johnlecarre.com/images/94t.jpg

[maxxi]

Simple, take the fly leaf cover from this...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bq5axqTAy_4/ThGY-OEJ_eI/AAAAAAAAC0Y/_MYrMsEyPd4/s1600/odyssey1.jpg

...wrap it around your novelette of choice and you can read anything unobserved - including modern fantasy classics like this...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/166/346052293_66cd5ce765.jpg

[StraferJack]

I too wondered what was wrong with being 45 or a computer programmer

[Frankito]

I am reading The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz.

[RosieH]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I too wondered what was wrong with being 45 or a

> computer programmer

Nowt wrong with that young 'un - it's the combination of both of the above with living in your mum's basement...

[maxxi]

ohhh... see, I thought "your mum's basement" meant something different altogether...

[RosieH]

Actually maxxi, have just noticed (how could I have missed?) the very fabulous Killer Dyke book cover, and believe me, if I owned a copy of that, I'd turn it into a dust jacket to cover my every read. It's ossom.

However, I am reading Skippy Dies, which I am loving. Although the stuff on M theory means little to me, rather like same on the science thread. The hwever book made me want to go away and read about M theory, as it sounded interesting. The science thread has made me not want to.

[El Pibe]

Have just finished The Psycopath Test by Jon Ronson, a very personal, if typically lighthearted and self-deprecating, journey into madness.

It kicks off with the interesting idea that maybe society is so awful because it's psycopaths who inevitable rise to the top and they don't give a shit about anyone but their own egos.

Instantly compellingly plausible but never satisfactorily pursued.

Regardless it was very enjoyable, and that rare thing actually unputdownable as I ripped through it in two sessions!

Ping for borrowage if it sounds your thing.

[Jah Lush]

I've gone mad for Christopher Brookmeyer. Love his work. Zipped through Boiling A Frog recently and now on Country Of The Blind. As the blurb says: "High octane political thriller doused in stinging satire." Great stuff.

[bon3yard]

Enjoying The Sisters Brothers immensely at the Moment. Sparse, flowing prose and a nicer pairing of Psychopaths you couldnt wish to be executed by. Darkly funny.

[El Pibe]

Random capitalisations Bon3yard.

Are you Justin Cronin?

Incidentally, I quite enjoyed Cronin's overlong, stephenking-a-like, vampire novel with failed literary pretentions (and random italics and Capitals), in a sort of throwaway fashion.

[bon3yard]

Theres Certainly Nothing Random About Your Pedantry. My Apologies Sire.

[El Pibe]

it was really just a bad link, apologies, no offence intended (plus i'l give that book a go, sounds good).

Mind you, I could warm to being called sire ......

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Stayed up ridiculously late last night to finish The Black House by Peter May in one sitting. Crime novel set on Lewis with gaelic for beginners glossary. I felt like I was in an Alba thriller.

[katie1997]

Thanks for that PGC, I am going to try that book out (tu)

Has anyone read the Kite Runner by Khaled Hossaini (yes, yes I know it was also a film - I haven't seen that either)

This book has been sitting around my house for ages and I finally got around to reading it. It begins in 1970s Afghanistan and is a fascinating insight into the people and culture although the story is more about universal themes of friendship/betrayal. I really enjoyed it although it was incredibly sad too.

[Jah Lush]

Kite Runner is brilliant and so is the follow up A Thousand Splendid Sons. Both books could have you in tears though.

Currently reading Irvine Welsh's The Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs. Not his best by a long shot but still very funny.

[Townleygreen]

>>Has anyone read the Kite Runner by Khaled Hossaini?

Yes, I enjoyed that hugely when I read it years ago.

Currently am enjoying Great Expectations (Dickens) - this will be my first ever reading of a Dickens book, I am ashamed to say. But it is good, without pages of description!

[maxxi]

As it's the bicentennial of his birth I too am just about to read a Dickens, (not read one for ages)..Hard Times (seems somehow apt).

Just finished 'Morning Everyone' by Simon Hughes - a good read if you like cricket/cricket commentators.

[Jah Lush]

Charles Dickens. Now you're talking. I didn't really get into him until I was into my late 30s early 40s. Still only read half of his stuff but have really enjoyed all of it. Hard Times and the aforementioned Great Expectations are great little reads.

[El Pibe]

I've only read Great Expectations of his, a little while back (we never did Dickens at school), and was amazed by how fresh and modern it felt compared to the fustiness of other victorian /pre war writers. Great Stuff.

Am just finishing Just My Type, a history and commentary on Fonts, the whys and wherefores and how they pervade our lives.

Surprisingly interesting stuff and done lightheartedly enough that it only veers occasionally into design freak onanism.

And now I notice fonts EVERYWHERE!!!!!