Current reading - Page 98

Well, here I am at age 44, and just now reading THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN for the first time.  Only about halfway through, but I gotta say, Huck's father may be one of the most hateful pieces of shit in literature.  

Well, The City and the City was just amazing.  Aside from the style it's just the ideas, the whole idea of Beszel and Ul Qoma was just astounding.  And at no point did he betray that idea, it all stuck and hung together.  It's like some really weird trip, especially when Borlu changes cities and has to "unsee" a whole different side. Astounding.

 

Then moved onto Peace's 1974.  Holy shit.  As hard boiled as they come and unrelentingly grim.  Absolutely could not put this down.  Very firmly in Ellroy territory, but in the grim North of the 70s.

 

Onto 1977.

If you're digging Peace, and you need a break from that exceptionally well-written unrelenting morass of grey, Yorkshire crime, check out Charlie Owen's quartet of police novels - Horses' Arse, Charlie Foxtrot, Bravo Jubilee, and Two Tribes.  Set in 1970s Manchester, they are hilarious and brutal, and I cannot think of any better cop novels.  Without hyperbole. 
 

Edited by Subotai - 3/28/13 at 8:25pm

Finished '77.  Jesus.  I would not want know Peace's dreams or waking thoughts.  My god.

 

I've decided to just keep myself immersed in this nightmarish, labyrinthine Yorkshire police dominated world until the bitter end.  5 Chapters into 1980 now.  I can't see any way out for any of these people.  Mesmeric stuff, but so dark.

I agree, I have to be in a certain state of mind to read some of Peace's stuff.  His Japan trilogy is no less brutal.

 

I just saw Cameron's post above.  I missed this bit of drama, and I guess it's been deleted, so hard to have a take on it.  As Letterman said during the Comedy Store strike in 1979, I hope everyone will be OK.

The first part of The Lords of Salem contains pretty graphic content. The writing style is serviceable and I sort of enjoy it. Kinda.

Still working my way through the Repairman Jack series. Of the last three I read - Hosts, The Haunted Air and Gateways - I liked Gateways the most. Enjoyed seeing Jack out of New York for a book. Can't make it back to the used book store to pick up the next few so I'm delving into Mario Acevedo for the next couple of books  - read Nymphos of Rocky Flats so I'm up for the next two in the series.

There are something like 20 Repairman Jack novels in the series? Man alive! I did, however, get a couple of his YA novels for the classroom, and they were enjoyed.
 

My book on CD from the UK just arrived: Jeremy Northam reads John Gardner's Bond novel, License Renewed!

I read Licence Renewed a few years ago at the height of my Bond mania. Gardner could spin a pretty good Bond novel, although I was offended that Bond was drinking more Perrier, smoking fewer cigarettes and driving an Audi. Even so, the book introduces a female Q. Progress! Bond calls her Q'ute! Lack of progress!

I've heard about "Q'ute". Ugh! Haha.

Bond drank Perrier in Fleming. He said expensive soda water was the cheapest way to improve a shitty drink. I'm certain he never drank it without alcohol though!

Oh, he also trades in his Walter PPK for a Browning!

I've definitely heard mixed things about the book but Jeremy Northam did an amazing job reading the audiobook version of Devil May Care, so I m excited to hear him take another crack at audio Bond.

Finished the Red Riding books.

 

Holy shit that's some dark, bleak stuff.  Completely compelling but bleak, bleak, bleak.

 

Picked up GB84 in a second hand book store but I need to decompress first.

 

Esslemont's next Malazan book is up next.  Followed by The Iron Jackal, on the recommendation of this very thread.  Then Occupied City (another David Peace one), then the finale of the Gap Cycle (This Day All Gods Die) which I also go second hand, then GB84.

 

Tried to get some of the other recommendations in this thread, but NZ Book Shops aren't the best.  Need to pay off the credit card and stock up from Book Depository I think.

Glad to hear you got through Red Riding.  There aren't too many series which make me pull the covers over my head, but man, it even makes the TV adaptation look positively cheery by comparison.

 

I reread GB84 a few weeks ago as here in Canada we are headed down that same dark path...

 

I also shop from the Depository quite a bit.  I used it recently to fill out my Dredd collection.  Once you clear that Visa bill, I suggest Charlie Owen's series about Manchester beat cops, a refreshing change from Peace's gloomy narrative.
 

I'm very disappointed in myself. I've been enjoying the Game of Thrones show so much I started to read the first book  in the series, again. It's interesting to see nothing but the actors in my mind's eye, but otherwise, I probably would have been better off sticking with the show. That said, I know I'll finish the first one at least, and possibly pick up Clash of Kings before too long.

Yup - already on the watchlist :)  Looked in several shops in Wellington but found nowt.

A few years ago I took a chance on a thriller called 'Devil's Keep', written by a fella named Philip Finch. It was about an ex-SF guy who happens to be a millionaire who gets caught up in rescuing his children in the Philippines.  Sounds like crap, right? But against my better judgement I took a shot at it, and very glad I did.  It was pretty clear Finch was a good author who was taking a crack at the genre which had been elevated by Barry Eisler and a few others in recent years.  Finch uses his considerable skills to explore the growing disparate social straification of the world in a way more authors should. 

 

Anyhow, I googled him and came across the news that he passed away last year.  Very sorry to hear it; but as with any author his books remain.  Devil's Keep by Philip Finch - if you come across it, perhaps take a chance on it.        
 

 

 

They had Horses Arse and Foxtrot Oscar by Charlie Owen in the Library :)  And Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill.  Both recommendations from el thread.  They're next.

 

Esselemont's Blood and Bone was good.  His writing style is coming into it;s own and I do like the yarns he spins.  

 

Currently on The Iron Jackal which I'm liking for it's pulpy glory.  It's also laugh out loud funny in parts which I do appreciate.

Nevill is a great writer. Certainly my favourite writer of horror at the moment but that seems to be underselling him quite a bit. If my next Chud gift swapee is a reader I'll probably put a Nevill in there.

 

A massive thank you for this post, which first put Adam Nevill on my radar.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

Iron Jackal was great, really got into it at the end, need to find the first two, and then read the next one (thanks to Cameron Hughes for that one).

 

Horse's Arse and Foxtrot Oscar were laugh out loud funny and a nice antidote to Peace's Red Riding Trilogy (thanks to Subotai for those)  

 

Then I read Apartment 16.  Holy crap.  It was like reading the Damnation Game for the first time and being bathed in beautiful, horrific prose.  I knew after reading the Damnation Game that I'd be a Barker fan, and this confirmed that I need to read the rest of Nevill's as soon as I can get my mitts on them.

 

Now I've started GB84 and my god am I loving it.  WHile I love Ellroy's stuff, the framework is all stuff I only know through history (JFK, MLK, RFK).  What I'm loving about GB84 is it's the same type of thing but a) British and b) about a time I lived through and was very aware of.

Reading Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon.

Reading Russell Brand's Booky Wook 2 on the strength of the piece he wrote on Thatcher last month.  Pretty good read.

Our Occulted History by Jim Marrs.

 

He really should have named this book The Secret History of the World.

GB84, great but again so not cheery.  Relentless in its griminess.

 

Then followed that up with Banquet of the Damned by Adam Nevill, wihch was again great but not a light book.

So after immersing myself in relentless grimness I needed a palate cleanser and went to Pratchett.  Thankfully Snuff was a great return to form after being a bit dissapointed by Unseen Academicals.

 

Good haul from the library this week.

 

Bravo Jubilee and Two Tribes by Charlie OWen.  Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding and Flashback by Dan Simmons.

I'm reading right now "Bugsy" the real story of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, the gangster who put Las Vagas on the map.

 

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Dockers, shorts, pants

Am reading Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. So far it's justifying all the good word I've heard about it: basing a fantasy series on Feudal Japan instead of the usual Medieval European inspirations is a really cool premise, and it has a teenage protagonist who's so far been surprisingly tolerable. So far, so good.  

Trying out The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, finally. I need more Murakami in my life.