What are you reading?

[maskaggs]

Foundation by Peter Akroyd. The history of England from the beginning to the Tudors.

I've heard Akroyd is good, though I've never read anything by him. My favorite reads on English history have been Rutherfurd's semi-fictional Sarum and London.

[Dexterous]

Foundation by Peter Akroyd. The history of England from the beginning to the Tudors.

I've heard Akroyd is good, though I've never read anything by him. My favorite reads on English history have been Rutherfurd's semi-fictional Sarum and London.

I hold a degree in history and find Akroyd to be a fine writer of historical narrative. I am sometimes leery of journalists who write history because they frequently treat the past as a news story. Akroyd demonstrates a command of the material and a desire to produce a complete, understandable record of the times he is presenting. He gives us not only the deeds of notable people but their personalities and their significance to English history. He spends time detailing the daily life of the ordinary Englishman which was usually not a happly lot. Foundation is a very good and valuable read for anyone interested in the early history of England.

[paddy]

i am reading and very much enjoying two books at present:

dostoevsky's 'the idiot' and 'perfume' by patrick suskind

[Araner]

Title: A Historical Guide To Yokohama
Sub-title: Sketches of the Twice-Risen Phoenix
Auther: Burritt Sabin

Regards,
Mike

[brothers]

Dark Watch by Clive Cussler

[churchilllafemme]

I've just started the latest Gabriel Allon novel by Daniel Silva, The English Girl.

[jww]

Foundation by Peter Akroyd. The history of England from the beginning to the Tudors.

I've heard Akroyd is good, though I've never read anything by him. My favorite reads on English history have been Rutherfurd's semi-fictional Sarum and London.

Loved both Sarum and London -- really good reads.

I think my favourite historical writers (whose works I have read) are David Starkey and Simon Schama ... I haven't read a bad book from either of these authors.

I'll have to look into Akroyd ..... I have been floundering trying to find something interesting to read of late, and just can't get into anything -- fiction or non-fiction.

I thought about some more McCullough, but the epub versions are all currently checked out at our local library. This borrowing epubs to read on my Kobo or iPad mini is great.

[brothers]

I'm glad I found a good book to read during this cold and dreary part of the year. The weather was getting me down. I tried to start a book earlier, but after a few pages, it was just as depressing as the weather. Then I searched around and found a book I really like, and it's been a big help getting through these gray days.

[jww]

I picked up Death Comes to Pemberley again over the weekend. We had started to watch the mini-series and are quite enjoying it. I was quite chuffed to see them use Chatsworth House -- which was Austin's inspiration for the county seat of Fitzwilliam D'Arcy. Now I get some of the push behind the recent re-fit that the Duke and Duchess went through a couple of years ago -- it was in part, I am sure, to allow the property to be used for the series.

I like Austin -- yes, seriously I do. And I quite appreciate P.D. James' tribute to one of her favourite authors. Not a replacement for Austin, but it is a very sympathetic tribute indeed and a rather fun read.

[ThePossum]

I'm glad I found a good book to read during this cold and dreary part of the year. The weather was getting me down. I tried to start a book earlier, but after a few pages, it was just as depressing as the weather. Then I searched around and found a book I really like, and it's been a big help getting through these gray days.

Gary,

I too like Cussler novels. Have read most of the Dirk Pitt series although I have not picked one up in several years. Have some other authors that I also like and have been reading those. Like Lee Child and the Jack Reacher books, Joel Goldman and his Lou Mason series and his Jack Davis series, Scott Pratt and his Joe Dillard series and finally to my surprise Wm F. Buckley Jr and his novels featuring Blackford Oakes. All good reads and feature detective type thrillers. Was really surprised by the Buckley books.

[brothers]

The Comedy is Finished by Donald E. Westlake

[brothers]

I'm liking the characters in this book (The Comedy is Finished) by Westlake. It's very refreshing to be able to laugh out loud spontaneously as the story unfolds. Westlake has written a lot of books, and so far the only series of his (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark) that I've read and enjoyed very much is the Parker series. (Parker is a no-nonsense criminal and this series tells the stories of his many crimes in a serious attempt to tell the story from the ongoing viewpoint of how the mind of a career criminal living in the '50s and '60s might have worked. Surprisingly, Parker's attitude isn't evil or depraved, but more just totally self-centered and devoid of compassion and concern for others.)

[brothers]

Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn. So far, one of his best in this series. I'm going to be sad when this one's finished, and it's one of those books I hate to have to stop reading it. (I love my Kindle and my smart phone Kindle app by the way.)

[jww]

Finished Death Comes to Pemberley. Decided to crack open Dune again. I haven't read it in at least 10 years. I really have enjoyed this book many times over the years. Great writing and a classic si-fi read.

[JRTASTER]

Another Jack Reacher fan here. Recently finished The Persuader and nearly done with One Shot.
Also started Ops Centre by the late Tom Clancy. Not so good as some of Clancy's other works, but
not bad on a cold winter's night!

[fallingwickets]

gary, how many books do you read a month or do you just go in spurts?.....every other day you seem to be burning through another book.......a giant for you

with reading envy

clive

[brothers]

Clive I go in huge spurts. My daughter gave me a Kindle for my birthday a few months ago, and I'm just making up for lost time, I suppose.

As of yesterday, I'm reading Killing Floor by Lee Child. This is the first in the Jack Reacher series, I believe. I'm only one or two chapters into it.

[JRTASTER]

Gary,
Please let me know how you like Killing Floor. Am looking for a new read, light, not serious.
Reacher is becoming a favorite.
How do you picture him...? Certainly not anything like Tom Cruz, right??
Thanks,
John

[jww]

We started borrowing epub files from our local library to read on Kobo ereaders and apps. It's a perfect no-cost solution for us as the epub files are device agnostic --- so reading is easy on anything from the Kobo itself to smartphone, iPad and PC. Yay for device agnostic 'stuff'.

[Gene]

Big Reacher fan, too! I just finished World War Z by Max Brooks.

I haven't read through this whole thread - so sorry if this has been mentioned before - but the book was good, I enjoyed it, but it had nothing in common with the film.

Amazon, or somebody working through them, has a service called Book Bub - and I get an Email every day with free or deeply discounted EBooks for my iPad. You can set up the genre's you prefer, it's pretty cool. A lot of no-name authors, maybe some self published, but some good reads. And every so often some good stuff goes by:

1984
Lost Horizon
Strand Case of Dr. Jekyll
Moby Dick
The DaVinci Code