RagsRight, I've run out of unread books so I need to stock up. Had some excellent recommendations last time, of which these were the absolute bees knees:
Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead
Station 11 - Emily St John Mandel
Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe
East West Street - Philippe Sands
Spy & The Traitor - Ben McIntyre
Feast Of The Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa
Anyone with any recommendations - either of similar ilk or vastly different - please let me know. All I would ask is that I'm not overly interested in Sports or Music books at the minute as I have read a shed load of them over the last few years, unless it's a belter/unsung book which I should try/may have missed.
Cheers for any (moderately sensible) replies.
Scepticism Inc. ... Bo Fowler
[www.goodreads.com] (every single review is positive - but don't read too many - there are some spoilers in there)
My second favourite book of all time - loved by those who have read it, looks of puzzlement from those who haven't when you talk about it
I'm gonna have to read this Rags, thanks for the tip
Daniel ... you'll love it - i laughed so many times and yet it was incredibly clever at the same time. Takes a few pages to get into it though as it turns a lot of expectations and writing styles and other books on their head
Hitler , Stalin and Mom and Dad by Daniel Finklestein. Truly amazing story . How his mum and dad went through the war through Gulags and Concentration camps.
El MayorHoldsworth_MaraSonnerEl MayorCongo Diary - Che Guevara
The Wonga Coup - Adam Roberts
I've been reading about war and stuff in Africa, these were decent.
If you're into African political stuff, I'd highly recommend all of Michaela Wrong's books, especially "In the footsteps of Mr Kutz". She's superb.
I'll add them to my list. I'm just trying to educate myself a bit at the moment
It’s deeply distressing (as the title indicates) but there is also a book by Philip Gourevitch about Rwanda called “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families”. It’s an astonishing piece of work. I’d recommend highly.
And if you’re interested at all in the Congo then ‘Dancing in the Glory of Monsters’ by Jason Stearns is exceptionally well researched.
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus.
Wife convinced me to read it. Glad she did.
If you enjoy your high fantasy/ world building type series, then I am reading the blade itself part of the First Law trilogy.
Highly recommend.
Squeaky Clean by Callum McSorley…..foul mouthed Glasgow noir. Great fun
One night New York byLara Thompson
A Line In The Sand by Kevin Powers plus his previous book Yellow Birds
A Lesson n Violence by Jordan Harper
Without Warning and Only Sometimes by Kit de Waal
Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara
Climbers by M John Harrison
Also, sorry it’s sports, but it is poetry, mostly about boxing…Crisis Actor by Declan Ryan
More sport, soz…1923 by Ned Boulting
..El MayorCongo Diary - Che Guevara
The Wonga Coup - Adam Roberts
I've been reading about war and stuff in Africa, these were decent.
If you're into African political stuff, I'd highly recommend all of Michaela Wrong's books, especially "In the footsteps of Mr Kutz". She's superb.
Might want to try Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Trust - Hernan Diaz
This Other Eden - Paul Harding
To Paradise - Hanya Yanagihara
All quite solid literary fiction, but excellent novels.
Trust is brilliant. I’ve got his other one too but haven’t read it….it looks difficult
Think I recommended the Ben Macintyre book, Agent Zig Zag is another one written by him that's definitely worth reading if you haven't already.
And the SAS one, which was made into a telly series by Steven Knight
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo. About the Vietnam war. Great read.
Been really trying to improve the quality of what I read over the last couple of years.
My wife and I have both had this 'Reading Gift Subscription' thing from a place called Mr B's Bookstore in Bath. You can do it online.
You fill in a pretty weighty questionnaire or have a phone consultation and they send you a mystery book each month based on your tastes and profile.
Nice little bonus is that it comes wrapped in brown paper, big red wax seal and a little card telling you why it's a good match. I loved it and 95% of what they sent me was bang on.
Works as a really nice Christmas present. You can pay for 6 or 12 months.
Anyway, my recommendations based on the past year:
Little Eyes
Shuggie Bain
A Little Life
House of the spirits
The Devil All The Time
Satsuma Complex (proper easy going fun)
I'm currently working my way through the Slow Horses series, on book 6. They're excellent.
I've also recently read the first three Tom Ripley books by Patricia Highsmith, they were great. Really like the setting too.
I have Spy and the Traitor on my shelf ready to go after so many good recommendations.
Count of Montechristo is next up I think, wish me luck 😬
If you liked that Pollock one I can give you loads of recommendations of a similar ilk
My nippers have complained, just today,that the Satsuma Complex is a rip off of The Vinyl Detective
Edit I can’t recommend it coz I haven’t read it yet but the new Benjamin Myers looks absolutely belting