What are you reading?

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  • LicenseToWillLicenseToWill Western Cape, South Africa
    Posts: 4
    Shot! I'll buy them online. I got back into the habit of reading just over a year ago and started with Casino Royale and a few other titles from various authors. I always considered myself to be a big Bond fan, but not a true one unless I read the books. I like books with good humor too, any suggestions. Has anyone read The Papers of A.J. Wentworth, Ba and did you enjoy it (thoughts)?
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 4,622
    OHMSS69 wrote: »
    @timmer
    I thought Salem's Lot was one of the two scariest books I ever read. (Peter Staub's Ghost Story being the other one).
    It is by far the scariest book Stephen King ever wrote (sorry you fans of "The Shining" but Salem's Lot trumps all in terms of sheer horror. )
    @timmer and @OHMSS69, I think I will have to dig out my copy of 'Salem's Lot and have a re-read sometime soon. Loved it on first reading many, many moons ago now.
    I think what makes this book so scary, is we know something is very wrong in this town. There is a pervasive sense of dread and impending calamity. Something evil is afoot, but its nature is not clear. Town life goes on.
    This build-up goes on for half a book, and then suddenly it all comes together and we are right in the middle of the worst of it. The terror and suspense builds dramatically from there.
    King's brilliance I think, is that he really knows how to tell the tale with maxium impact.

    100 pages into Dr. Sleep (2013).
    Another page turner, and I haven't even read The Shining (did see the film though).
    This book is really creepy.
    I may have to take a King break, and go back to regular mystery and espionage fare.
    Too many Kings in succession is almost sensory overload. Man is he a good writer though.

  • Posts: 154
    Just finished Mr. Mercedes -- King did a nice job with that too. Have moved on to Barker's The Scarlet Gospels -- which is supposed to end the Hellraiser story. Barker hasn't written a winner (in my opinion) in a while, but 60 pages into this one and it seems he's back at the top of his game (a la Books of Blood).
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited June 2015 Posts: 13,999
    Death Of A Citizen - Donald Hamilton
    Finished. Normally I don't like books written in the 1st person (bios are exempt), but I found this an easy read, as if Helm was recounting the story to us in a pub. The end didn't come as that much of a surprise, as I stumbled across it while reading up about the series. Still an enjoyable read though. And i'm curious to see where Helm goes from here.
    I have 'The Wrecking Crew' ready, and 'The Removers' & 'The Silencers' on order.
  • Just bought two DCI Banks Novels +Hurricane Gold +Patriot Games.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Oddly enough hurricane good was the only young Bond book, I read. Couldn't
    accept the whole young Bond idea. I like Bond smoking, drinking and shagging. :)
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 503
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  • JohnHammond73JohnHammond73 Lancashire, UK
    edited June 2015 Posts: 4,151
    Just starting a re-read of "My Word Is My Bond", the great autobiography of Sir Roger Moore. The reason I'm reading this again is that I've just bought his "Last Man Standing......." book and bought a second copy of "Bond On Bond" to read. Bought the second copy as I don't want to spoil my beloved, signed by the man himself, copy.
  • edited June 2015 Posts: 2,081
    I'm close to finishing The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom by Alexander McCall Smith. It's "The von Igelfeld trilogy"; the book contains Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, and At The Villa of Reduced Circumstances - I'm now halfway through the last one of those. The main character is Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld - in his own mind highly cultured and special, but actually quite pompous and hapless. He's from Germany, from the Institute of Romance Philology in Regensburg, and has had adventures in various foreign places, where he has travelled mostly due to academic reasons - Arkansas, Ireland, Venice, Cambridge... and found the natives peculiar. It's been amusing.

    I guess I'll need to decide after tonight what I'll start next. Probably one of the two I took home from London almost two months ago - they've been calling for attention from behind a closet door ever since. Not that they're alone in there... several other books waiting, too...
  • About 420 pages into persuader by lee child.
  • Posts: 15,218
    Shame the Devil by George Pelecanos.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Am finishing a Robert B Parker trilogy with One Jesse Stone novel, Appaloosa a western and finishing with Sixkill, his official last Spenser novel before he died.
    Robert B Parker was an interesting US writer with interesting insights on certain situations,
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Just started Scott Mariani's 11th Ben Hope thriller, The Martyr's Curse. Only a hundred pages in and already looking like classic Hope!
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited July 2015 Posts: 13,999
    The Wrecking Crew - Donald Hamilton
    Finished. Set a year after 'Death Of A Citizen', and with his civilian life over, Helm returns to his old life as a government sanctioned Assassin.
    Though I didn't quite like this one as much as 'Death Of A Citizen', I still really enjoyed Hamiltons relaxed way of telling the story.

    Next up, 'The Removers'.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,339
    The Wrecking Crew - Donald Hamilton
    Finished. Set a year after 'Death Of A Citizen', and with his civilian life over, Helm returns to his old life as a government sanctioned Assassin.
    Though I didn't quite like this one as much as 'Death Of A Citizen', I still really enjoyed Hamiltons relaxed way of telling the story.

    Next up, 'The Removers'.

    I understand that they're a far cry from the spoofery of the films.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,999
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    The Wrecking Crew - Donald Hamilton
    Finished. Set a year after 'Death Of A Citizen', and with his civilian life over, Helm returns to his old life as a government sanctioned Assassin.
    Though I didn't quite like this one as much as 'Death Of A Citizen', I still really enjoyed Hamiltons relaxed way of telling the story.

    Next up, 'The Removers'.

    I understand that they're a far cry from the spoofery of the films.

    I have only read the first two, but they are a far cry from the films. But at the same time, they are not deadly serious, as there is a sliver of dark humour running through them,
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,339
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    The Wrecking Crew - Donald Hamilton
    Finished. Set a year after 'Death Of A Citizen', and with his civilian life over, Helm returns to his old life as a government sanctioned Assassin.
    Though I didn't quite like this one as much as 'Death Of A Citizen', I still really enjoyed Hamiltons relaxed way of telling the story.

    Next up, 'The Removers'.

    I understand that they're a far cry from the spoofery of the films.

    I have only read the first two, but they are a far cry from the films. But at the same time, they are not deadly serious, as there is a sliver of dark humour running through them,

    Yes, you don't mind dark humour so much. In fact, there's a little bit of that in the Fleming Bond novels too. I really must make a point of collecting and reading the Matt Helm books (and the films).
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited July 2015 Posts: 13,999
    Titan books have been re-printing them since 2013:

    http://titanbooks.com/creators/donald-hamilton/?p=1&=&order_by=date&Filter=
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,339
    Titan books have been re-printing them since 2013:

    http://titanbooks.com/creators/donald-hamilton/?p=1&=&order_by=date&Filter=

    Thanks for the link, Major! :)
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,599
    Carte Blanche. So far so good
  • Posts: 7,653
    Just finished "The Odessa File" by Forsyth [easily on of the best thriller writers of all time based on his brilliant: Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs of War & the fourth protocol].
    "The Lady from Zagreb" being the tenth Bernie Gunther novel by Phillip Kerr about a Berlin detective/policeman in his exploits of WWII which paints a very dark picture of the massacres of that time and how people lived with that.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Just bought Solo......I'll report back once read in full.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,250
    The Long Walk
    By Richard Bachman a.k.a. Stephen King

    the-long-walk.jpg

    I did it! I finally did it. I finally read my first Stephen King book and this time I actually finished it. After a couple of failed attempts, including Salem's Lot (twice!), I had lost all hope of ever getting through a King novel but The Long Walk, incidentally the first story King claims he ever wrote, was a definite page turner!

    The premise should be enough to get you interested. Hundred boys start walking. Just walking. They cannot slow down or stop for that will get them warned and three warnings will get them 'a ticket'. The last boy still walking is the winner - of course.

    Voila, as the French say. Perfectly simple but King keeps this thing exciting for about 370 pages (in my edition). I felt myself unable to put the book down so I really spent a big portion of yesterday and today reading King. But it was worth it. One might say this book pre-dates its famous copycats like The Hunger Games by a few decades. But back when it was first published, the 'light novel' for teens hadn't had its explosion into success yet so I guess The Long Walk missed out on the same money and film adaptation interest that more recent book series have been honoured with. Frank Darabont apparently has some interest in turning the novel into a self-contained film. We'll see if that ever happens.

    But for sure, I recommend The Long Walk.
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    edited July 2015 Posts: 1,874
    @DarthDimi - so your first King was a Bachman! The four early Bachman's (before Bachman was outted as King with Thinner) are all well worth a read, though these days you can't get Rage because of its subject matter. You'll find The Running Man is way different (and better) than the film. You've got a lot of catching up to do! Enjoy.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Carte Blanche. So far so good

    You'll be disspointed compared against Devil May Care I bet. I was.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited July 2015 Posts: 24,250
    @Lancaster007

    I'm not sure I actually want to read all of King's bibliography. IT is the only one I have lined up next. ;-)
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    @DarthDimi - IT is a cracking read, especially the stuff with the kids set in the 50s. And may I point you in the direction of Different Seasons a collection of four novellas, two of which have been turned into quite successful films and one interesting failure (Apt Pupil) by Bryan Singer of X-Men fame. A damn good (non horror) anthology that anyone interested in reading should have on their bookshelf!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Just started " Zero minus Ten", by R Benson. It's been years since I've
    read it.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,250
    @Lancaster007

    Point is that IT may very well have been de first true horror film I sat through and without the critical voice of a grown-up, I thought it was the scariest thing ever! That film baptised me as a life-long horror fan. So I figure the least I do is read the book. ;-)

    Is one of those Singer films you refer to Apt Pupil?
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    @DartDimi - yes it was (and only that one is a BS film - sorry post didn't read right), and the other two little films from the anthology are: The Shawshank Redemtion (Rita Hawyorth and The Shawshank Redemtion) and Stand By Me (The Body). The fourth story is a sort of follow up/homage to Peter Straub's excellent Ghost Story, can't remember the name of that one.
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