| Lockdown book thread - 14:46 - Jan 18 with 4073 views | joe90 |
I thought it might be a nice to have a book thread where we share what we've been reading and to use as reference point for anyone looking for inspiration for their next read.
To kick things off...
1: London Review of Books -
I've got a yearly subscription. It's long-form journalism, covers a broad range of topics. If you enjoy current affairs and want something more substantial than what you get in the papers go for it.
2: Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela
I've been meaning to read this for a long time. My wife bought it for me for Christmas. Despite it's length, it's very readable and seems to have been written to suit a broad range of reading abilities.
3: Waterlog - Roger Deakin
A non fiction journal about outdoor swimming in the UK. |  | | |  |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:17 - Jan 18 with 3122 views | CliveWilsonSaid |
I’ve gone back to a book I started about 6 months ago called ‘The Old Ways - A journey on Foot’ by Robert Macfarlane.
To be honest it’s not really grabbed me so far. It’s a subject I’m interested in but I find the book acts more like a reference in large parts. Instead of talking about things he’s experienced himself the author often refers to things he’s read elsewhere.
Anyway currently on a boat somewhere north of the Outer Hebrides... |  |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:23 - Jan 18 with 3100 views | Mick_S |
I found this in an old box and started to re-read it. Very seventies and blokey, but it's ok. |  |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:24 - Jan 18 with 3094 views | LimehouseR |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:17 - Jan 18 by CliveWilsonSaid |
I’ve gone back to a book I started about 6 months ago called ‘The Old Ways - A journey on Foot’ by Robert Macfarlane.
To be honest it’s not really grabbed me so far. It’s a subject I’m interested in but I find the book acts more like a reference in large parts. Instead of talking about things he’s experienced himself the author often refers to things he’s read elsewhere.
Anyway currently on a boat somewhere north of the Outer Hebrides... |
I've recently finished The Old Ways. I found it quite an escapist read in the current climate and it definitely has inspired me to be a bit more conscious of where I am wandering when I go and visit the countryside. I read it in conjunction with a book called The Hidden Life Of Trees which again will mean I will never walk through the woods or a forest without being mindful of how amazing those ecosystems actually are.
If you want a good laugh at the last few years of UK politics I just finished reading The Secret Political Advisor by Michael Spicer. Some great one liners and insults throughout! [Post edited 18 Jan 2021 15:26]
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:33 - Jan 18 with 3062 views | Metallica_Hoop |
Almost finished this very well researched. I didn't realise Hadrian was a Psychopath.
This was the book I read prior. Crowey really has a great style.
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| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:36 - Jan 18 with 3047 views | TacticalR |
To be fair that was a slightly different topic:
Books so good that you’ve read them more than once |  |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:48 - Jan 18 with 3023 views | Hayesender |
Viz |  |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 16:38 - Jan 18 with 2982 views | hantssi |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:36 - Jan 18 by TacticalR |
To be fair that was a slightly different topic:
Books so good that you’ve read them more than once |
I guess so, but lots of good recommendations in that thread. |  | | |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 13:31 - Jan 19 with 2843 views | PinnerPaul |
Gone Fishing - Whitehouse and Mortimer - only read the intro and first chapter and its just as good/poignant/funny as the 3 TV series! | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 13:45 - Jan 19 with 2816 views | R_from_afar |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:24 - Jan 18 by LimehouseR |
I've recently finished The Old Ways. I found it quite an escapist read in the current climate and it definitely has inspired me to be a bit more conscious of where I am wandering when I go and visit the countryside. I read it in conjunction with a book called The Hidden Life Of Trees which again will mean I will never walk through the woods or a forest without being mindful of how amazing those ecosystems actually are.
If you want a good laugh at the last few years of UK politics I just finished reading The Secret Political Advisor by Michael Spicer. Some great one liners and insults throughout! [Post edited 18 Jan 2021 15:26]
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I read (well, half read, I have used it more as a reference book) Macfarlane's "The wild places," a book about little frequented parts of the UK, and it inspired a really enjoyable trip to the Dengie peninsula a few years back. Obviously travel anywhere is a no no at the moment, though.
You might enjoy this, it's half a natural history book and half a cookbook. Some fascinating stuff in there and Lewis-Stempel's wonderful prose brings the natural world to life. I was gutted when I got to the end of it.
The Wild Life: A Year of Living on Wild Food
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-wild-life/john-lewis-stempel/9781784162382 |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:29 - Jan 20 with 2721 views | welwynranger |
London Born by Sidney Day.
The life and times of a real life Del Boy who found his way out of poverty by scamming his way around London.
He couldn't read or write ,came from a deprived part of London.
But he had the first car in the area, had suits and shirts tailor made, and wore Italian shoes.
He told his daughter stories and she wrote them then got them published.
Lots of humour .,very interesting an enjoyable read. | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:33 - Jan 20 with 2712 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Lockdown book thread - on 13:31 - Jan 19 by PinnerPaul |
Gone Fishing - Whitehouse and Mortimer - only read the intro and first chapter and its just as good/poignant/funny as the 3 TV series! |
Bought the audiobook yesterday, thanks to your tip-off Paul, having loved the TV series.
Agree with your comments. Excellent book.
Thanks man. |  |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 15:34 - Jan 20 with 2707 views | PinnerPaul |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:33 - Jan 20 by BrianMcCarthy |
Bought the audiobook yesterday, thanks to your tip-off Paul, having loved the TV series.
Agree with your comments. Excellent book.
Thanks man. |
No worries, just going to settle down for another couple of chapters myself - after setting the world to rights on here of course!  | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 16:36 - Jan 20 with 2663 views | dezzar |
Read all of Macfarlanes , Underland is amazing. He is exploring underground in caves and under cities sounds boring but some astonishing facts , particularly on fungi ho heh | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 17:28 - Jan 20 with 2621 views | dutch |
London Made Us by Robert Elms is a fantastic, nostalgic memoir of life growing up and coming of age in London, plenty of amazing stories with loads of QPR references of course. But then I would say that. | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 18:47 - Jan 20 with 2605 views | dezzar |
| Lockdown book thread - on 17:28 - Jan 20 by dutch |
London Made Us by Robert Elms is a fantastic, nostalgic memoir of life growing up and coming of age in London, plenty of amazing stories with loads of QPR references of course. But then I would say that. |
yea i enjoyed that too , ive read a few books with rangers refrences maybe a sperate thread , though there probably has been one | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 10:14 - Jan 26 with 2523 views | traininvain |
| Lockdown book thread - on 17:28 - Jan 20 by dutch |
London Made Us by Robert Elms is a fantastic, nostalgic memoir of life growing up and coming of age in London, plenty of amazing stories with loads of QPR references of course. But then I would say that. |
Reading this at the moment and definitely recommend to any Rangers fans with an interest in how London has changed as a city. |  | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 10:29 - Jan 26 with 2505 views | Esox_Lucius |
Just after Xmas I began re-reading Steven Erikson's Malazan: Book Of The Fallen. I have read many thousands of books in my lifetime but this ranks right up there for an absorbing escape from real life. It took me a year last time to read all 10 books but I am hoping to do it in half that time with lockdown. I can also recommend anything Stephen Donaldson has ever written. I knew they were good books when I started getting angry at the main character for his lack of decisiveness in the White Gold Wielder trilogies. |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 11:36 - Jan 26 with 2462 views | Silverfoxqpr |
Just finished 'Hells Angels' by Hunter Thompson, excellent stuff, synopsis as follows: A phalanx of motorcycles cam roaring over the hill from the west ...the noise was like a landslide, or a wing of bombers passing over. Even knowing the Angels I couldn't quite handle what I was seeing.' Huge bikes, filthy denim and an aura of barely contained violence; the Hell's Angels could paralyse whole towns with fear, so terrible was their reputation. But how much of that reputation was myth and how much was brutal reality? Only one man could discover the truth about these latter-day barbarians; Hunter Stockton Thompson, Dr Gonzo himself, the man who saw the fear and loathing in the heart of the American dream. This counter-culture classic is the hair-raising result.
Brutal but interesting stuff so now cracking on with 'when we were rich' the follow up to 'white city blue' for a bit less malevolence in my life! |  | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 11:57 - Jan 26 with 2434 views | Esox_Lucius |
| Lockdown book thread - on 11:36 - Jan 26 by Silverfoxqpr |
Just finished 'Hells Angels' by Hunter Thompson, excellent stuff, synopsis as follows: A phalanx of motorcycles cam roaring over the hill from the west ...the noise was like a landslide, or a wing of bombers passing over. Even knowing the Angels I couldn't quite handle what I was seeing.' Huge bikes, filthy denim and an aura of barely contained violence; the Hell's Angels could paralyse whole towns with fear, so terrible was their reputation. But how much of that reputation was myth and how much was brutal reality? Only one man could discover the truth about these latter-day barbarians; Hunter Stockton Thompson, Dr Gonzo himself, the man who saw the fear and loathing in the heart of the American dream. This counter-culture classic is the hair-raising result.
Brutal but interesting stuff so now cracking on with 'when we were rich' the follow up to 'white city blue' for a bit less malevolence in my life! |
Probably the best book ever written about what the Hells Angels were really like, not much in the way of glamourisation. IIRC he got badly beaten up when he left as they believed that no-one leaves the Hells Angels. | |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 13:01 - Jan 26 with 2368 views | MrSheen |
I've always promised/threatened myself I'd read Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" one day, and I ran out of excuses to put it off just after Christmas. I'm about half way through now (page 480!), and I'm just getting comfortable with it. It's the literary equivalent of test cricket, long spells when hardly anything happens (longest paragraph so far runs to 11-and-a-half pages), then it suddenly bursts into life, but the more you stick with it, the more natural the pace and flow become. The focus on religion is alienating to a modern reader, but the predictions of Russian life without it are shockingly acute. Worth a try for someone with time and patience enough to dig into it.
On that note, a nice big chewy history to get stuck into, on a subject I know very little about. I like to have a fiction and a non-fiction book on the go at the same time, and this counts as light relief from the Brothers.
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| Lockdown book thread - on 13:41 - Jan 26 with 2338 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Lockdown book thread - on 13:01 - Jan 26 by MrSheen |
I've always promised/threatened myself I'd read Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" one day, and I ran out of excuses to put it off just after Christmas. I'm about half way through now (page 480!), and I'm just getting comfortable with it. It's the literary equivalent of test cricket, long spells when hardly anything happens (longest paragraph so far runs to 11-and-a-half pages), then it suddenly bursts into life, but the more you stick with it, the more natural the pace and flow become. The focus on religion is alienating to a modern reader, but the predictions of Russian life without it are shockingly acute. Worth a try for someone with time and patience enough to dig into it.
On that note, a nice big chewy history to get stuck into, on a subject I know very little about. I like to have a fiction and a non-fiction book on the go at the same time, and this counts as light relief from the Brothers.
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I read that a few years ago. One I enjoyed as I too knew nothing about Prussia apart from Blucher and The great..
I lent it to a Swede mate at work afterwards and they enjoyed it too. | |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Lockdown book thread - on 13:43 - Jan 26 with 2336 views | Silverfoxqpr |
| Lockdown book thread - on 15:29 - Jan 20 by welwynranger |
London Born by Sidney Day.
The life and times of a real life Del Boy who found his way out of poverty by scamming his way around London.
He couldn't read or write ,came from a deprived part of London.
But he had the first car in the area, had suits and shirts tailor made, and wore Italian shoes.
He told his daughter stories and she wrote them then got them published.
Lots of humour .,very interesting an enjoyable read. |
Just ordered this off of Amazon for a couple of quid based upon your recommendation. | | | |
| Lockdown book thread - on 13:59 - Jan 26 with 2313 views | queensparker |
Been reading an absolute ton to keep me sane since March as can't really face the news anymore, here's a totally random selection of stuff I've really loved:
- The Bernie Gunther detective series by Phillip Kerr (brilliant series about a German detective going from the rise of the Nazis all the way to the 50s, absolutely loved these)
- Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (sci-fi time travel epic, in my all time top five)
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (won the Booker, f--king depressing tale of alcoholism in Glasgow but a wonderful book)
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman (nice legendary battle between old vs new religions in the US)
- A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (fictional tale of Jamaica and Bob Marley in the 70s, incredible)
- Kill Your Friends by John Niven (have read this loads of times, funny tale of a coked up arsehole A and R man in the 90s)
- The Man Who Loved Islands by David Ross (fantasy tale of a Scottish indie band and washed up Ibiza DJ,really funny if you're into the tunes)
- Joe Marler's biography (good if you're into rugby union, he's a likeable fella)
- Stephen Morris biography out of New Order (he's a great writer, quite a lot of nerdy detail about his drum machines mind you)
They're the ones that stick in the head, looking out for a few to read next so following this with interest! [Post edited 26 Jan 2021 14:02]
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| Lockdown book thread - on 14:11 - Jan 26 with 2293 views | MrSheen |
| Lockdown book thread - on 13:59 - Jan 26 by queensparker |
Been reading an absolute ton to keep me sane since March as can't really face the news anymore, here's a totally random selection of stuff I've really loved:
- The Bernie Gunther detective series by Phillip Kerr (brilliant series about a German detective going from the rise of the Nazis all the way to the 50s, absolutely loved these)
- Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (sci-fi time travel epic, in my all time top five)
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (won the Booker, f--king depressing tale of alcoholism in Glasgow but a wonderful book)
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman (nice legendary battle between old vs new religions in the US)
- A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (fictional tale of Jamaica and Bob Marley in the 70s, incredible)
- Kill Your Friends by John Niven (have read this loads of times, funny tale of a coked up arsehole A and R man in the 90s)
- The Man Who Loved Islands by David Ross (fantasy tale of a Scottish indie band and washed up Ibiza DJ,really funny if you're into the tunes)
- Joe Marler's biography (good if you're into rugby union, he's a likeable fella)
- Stephen Morris biography out of New Order (he's a great writer, quite a lot of nerdy detail about his drum machines mind you)
They're the ones that stick in the head, looking out for a few to read next so following this with interest! [Post edited 26 Jan 2021 14:02]
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Loads of overlap with me, here. Bernie Gunther books are cracking and David Mitchell is excellent...but I found "Seven Killings" really hard work and gave up with the guy sitting on the end of the bed. I might have another go. Looking forward to Shuggie Bain, I heard it was like James Kelman, who's terrific.
My daughter gave me the Joe Marler book, some very funny tales, though I wanted to know more about his family. Pre-match ritual (not JM's)? Having a poo and not wiping...
Sean Long's autobiography has some extraordinary tales. Call yourself an athlete? [Post edited 26 Jan 2021 14:14]
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