What is East Dulwich reading?

[StraferJack]

I buy books too pcg. I promise. And from my local bookshop

I hear you spoke with the missus today

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I did. The wee one is very bonny.

[StraferJack]

Surprised you could see her what with ALL THE BOOKS

[maxxi]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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> John Charles?

John Charles

[Dopamine1979]

Just finished 'Dr Sleep'. Stephen King's sequel to The Shining. Obviously not as good as the first one but he's still got it.

[El Pibe]

ooh, that's on my (very long) list. Worth it? I remeber reading Closing Time, the long-awaited sequel to Catch 22 and being very disappointed. I'll probably appreciate it more when I've lost my own teeth though thinking about it.

[Dopamine1979]

Dr Sleep is definitely worth it. It's more psychological than gruesome.

[vgrant]

.

[uncleglen]

Just finished Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin - a trip back into the far '60s/'70s. Just started 'State of Fear'- Michael Crichton -it's been hanging around on my bookshelf for years- but the debate about climate change never goes away

[Otta]

I've recently read these books and after the first one struggling with flow at times, I have loved them more and more, and now can't wait for the next installment due out in November

http://www.the-folly.com/books/

I have both read and been told by a copper friend that they are very accurate on police procedure. They tell you loads of stuff about London, and they're full of magic.

Bloody great!

But I know of a couple of people that gave up on book one, and I considered it at one point, but VERY glad I got through it (and it had a satisfying ending in it's own right, just dragged in the middle).

[numbers]

Technically, I shouldn't really be contributing to this thread but what the hell, its Friday.

Alan Johnson's memoir, 'Please, Mister Postman'. An absolutely fascinating account into what London was like back in the day, I'm reading it on recommendation by a very dear friend who grew up in the same part of London and is of similar age to him. Going to go back in time and read his childhood memoirs next. Alongside John Smith RIP he is one of the few politicians I can be arsed with.

I think I can see where the great, late Sir Pterry Pratchett found material for Going Postal too.

[Jah Lush]

Just about to finish Canal Dreams by Iain Banks then it'll be another Inspector Rebus novel by Ian Rankin, which are a series of crime thrillers that I love. Other recent reads were the Heroin Chronicles, some equally scary and wickedly funny short stories involving the poppy by an assortment of different writers, edited by Jerry Stahl, Viv Albertine's biography Clothes Music Boys, Tiger Woman (My story) by Betty May, and Fascination, another set of short stories by William Boyd.

[Otta]

I quite fancy the Alan Johnson book.

[Hawley]

I'm just about to re-read 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk', a brilliant satire on the second Gulf War by an American writer called Ben Fountain.

The Billy of the title is one of a number of men from a U.S. platoon involved in a skirmish with Iraqi insurgents, which just happened to be captured by an embedded news crew and shown coast to coast in the U.S. The Platoon are now heroes back home and have been sent back Stateside for a couple of weeks to basically fly the flag and drum up support for the war.

Most of the book centres on one day at the Dallas Cowboys football stadium as they gear up for the halftime shenanigans alongside Destiny's Child. It's all told through the eyes of Billy, who's 19, old beyond his years in some respects, achingly innocent in others. It's a truly incredible novel and beautifully written: angry, poignant, sad and uproariously funny. The best thing I've read since The Corrections. I can't recommend it highly enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/books/review/billy-lynns-long-halftime-walk-by-ben-fountain.html?_r=0

[WomblingFree]

You by Caroline Kepnes.

A guy running a New York bookshop falls for a customer and goes to increasingly disturbing lengths to win her love - stalking, hacking her phone and email, murder. Though as he?s the narrator you?re still kind of on his side.

A very twisted thriller - I really enjoyed it but probably not for everyone.

[Otta]

Anyone read "Go set a watchman"? Would be interested to compare notes.

[numbers]

I've been listening to it on book at bedtime otta but think I need to read it for myself to properly digest it. Would be good to hear what you think of it?

[Jah Lush]

Nearly finished Before She Met Me by Julian Barnes, a humourous tale of jealousy.

Before that was Miss Smilla's Feelings For Snow by Peter Hoeg, a thriller involving a child's death, political manipulation and drug trafficking.

Next up - Transition by Iain Banks.

[civilservant]

The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J Walker

i read it in a sitting. it's what 'The Road' would have been if Cormac McCarthy had had a sense of humour (or lived in Peckham with a dog!)

too late in the day for me to start waxing eloquent, so here's a link to a review that begins: "Every dog has its day? And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be." http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/2017/09/14/the-last-dog-on-earth-by-adrian-j-walker/

[LayK11]

I read 451 degrees Fahrenheit !!! I recommend !!

[WomblingFree]

Resurrecting this thread as I suddenly seem to have more reading time.

I?ve just worked my way through the Jackson Lamb spy novels (Slow Horses, Dead Lions etc) by Mick Herron and really enjoyed them. They?re based in a run-down office where MI5 sends its failed staff and gives them menial work in the hope they?ll resign. The office is run by Jackson Lamb, a cold war spy who now spends his days drinking and (hilariously) abusing his team. Despite their low status the team inevitably find themselves in a spy plot and the books work as thrillers, but also as character studies and (laugh out loud) comedies. Really well written and deserving of the rave reviews,

What?s everybody else been reading?

[Sue]

I'm re-reading Bring Up The Bodies, prior to reading The Mirror and The Light.

I've just re-read Wolf Hall.

I'm thinking maybe I could have chosen a book with a different title, under the current circumstances :(

ETA: I've been reading a lot more since I gave away my television :))

[carlafindle]

I'm reading Sue's stupid posts

[Clutterqueen]

I've bought a copy of Wolf Hall on ebay this week. I read it when it was first published and couldn't put it down and then read the sequel but gave both copies to the charity shop. Hopefully planning to read both and then Mantel's new book The Mirror and the Light when I get the time.

Also bought a copy of The Foundling by Stacey Halls in Sainsburys the other week and hope to get round to reading that. Can't wait as her first novel The Familiars was another book I couldn't put down.

[Sue]

Clutterqueen Wrote:

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> I've bought a copy of Wolf Hall on ebay this week.

> I read it when it was first published and

> couldn't put it down and then read the sequel but

> gave both copies to the charity shop. Hopefully

> planning to read both and then Mantel's new book

> The Mirror and the Light when I get the time.

>

Wolf Hall is brilliant. I always said I didn't like historical novels until I read that.

She's such a good writer.

I subsequently read most of her other books, which are completely different, eg Beyond Black.

ETA: I bought Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies from charity shops, maybe I bought yours, clutterqueen :)