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    I'm in a phase I occasionally get of reading a few books at once:

    David Keenan: This is Memorial Device
    Robert Lipsyte: SportsWorld
    Jean Rhys: The Collected Short Stories

    Just finished Ijoma Mangold's brilliant memoir Das Deutsche Krokodil, about growing up half-German, half-Nigerian in Heidelberg while barely being conscious of his skin colour because his Nigerian dad left when he was a baby, and his German mum (he later found out) protected him from the few snippets of prejudice he might otherwise have encountered. Very funny, extremely honest.

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      Been given a copy of Samuel Beckett's First Love and Other Novellas...may read that before I turn to TOAFK...The Beckett is a much slimmer volume!

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        Originally posted by seand View Post
        Just finished The Kite Runner, yeh I'm just 16 years behind. Stunning book though.
        I thought the whole bit with his nemesis was contrived tbh. But it did give me a much better understanding of Afghanistan.

        I've just started Cibola Burn, book 4 of The Expanse series. I'm not expecting much as the third book wasn't great.

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          Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
          Glad to hear
          The first piece, on The Iditarod, was brilliant. On to Sumo now.

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            I just started One Of Us by Asne Seierstad. I felt sick reading the prologue, i am not sure i can continue with it.

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              Reading George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire prequel, Fire and Blood - best comparison I can make is with Tolkien's Unfinished Tales, or the appendices to LOTR, in that it's a diverting read for filling out the backstory of the mythology, but it's by no means essential for the casual reader, and the writing style imitates medieval annals, rather than a novel.

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                Well I’ve liked the GRR M novels, but fucking hate LOTR, so you’re probably warning me away there

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                  Like Brothers, by Jay and Mark Duplass. The co-autobiography of the movie-making brothers. Lovely, light, brisk read about everything from their astoundingly close relationship to their experiences writing, directing, producing, filming and starring in their own string of films and TV shows. Insightful, revealing and a lot of fun.

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                    Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                    Finished Impossible Owls by Brian Phillips. To think he once only had his blog as an outlet for his writing, where he wrote probably the best Football Manager story of all time (with some input from ursus). The British royal family essay didn't grab me, and I only skimmed that, but his Iditarod and tigers in India pieces are masterpieces of modern first-person essays.
                    Oh, and this is marvelous and you should all probably read it.

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                      I've just read Endurance (thanks to the good people on the "Travel Writing" thread, although I'm not quite sure it's travel writing as such). What a book.

                      And now I'm reading Bad Blood. Which means that I might finally understand the Theranos thread. So far, all I'm thinking is: Holy Fuck!

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                        Originally posted by WOM View Post

                        Oh, and this is marvelous and you should all probably read it.
                        Nice. Did you agree with me on the royal family one? I just couldn't get into that at all.

                        SB--have you gotten to the part with the autographed flag yet?

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                          Not yet. I've only just started on it, and I'm already astonished.

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                            There are so many jaw-dropping things in the book.

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                              Originally posted by Incandenza View Post

                              Nice. Did you agree with me on the royal family one? I just couldn't get into that at all.

                              SB--have you gotten to the part with the autographed flag yet?
                              Nah, didn't bother me. Just the horribly overwritten intro 'chapter'about the city in the rain. The rest was fine. Good book recommendation all around.

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                                Originally posted by imp View Post
                                I'm in a phase I occasionally get of reading a few books at once:
                                David Keenan: This is Memorial Device
                                Robert Lipsyte: SportsWorld
                                Jean Rhys: The Collected Short Stories
                                So - Keenan's is an absolutely bustingly brilliant book, especially if you've ever been involved in any kind of small-town music scene, but also generally as a series of loosely strung-together narratives. Loads of swearing and sex, it being Scottish. I also have his latest, 'For the Good Times', that I can barely keep my fingers off, but want to 'save'.
                                Lipsyte - this was the US hack's 1975 parting shot to the screwed up sporting environment he'd been covering for almost two decades as a writer who admitted to not liking sport. This affords him unique insight, having no interest in results, as such, and he was very close to Ali, so there are some great chapters about what it was like hanging around with Ali and his entourage. It's a stabbing indictment of professional sport, and although the 2018 re-issue still contains all the shocking typos of the original (did no fucker proof-read anything in the 70s?), it's still one of the best and most accessible socio-political analyses of sport you're likely to ever read. 'Soccer' is not mentioned once.
                                Rhys - the older she became, the better her writing. I struggled at first as the pieces seemed more like fragments than stories, then on the final third I started to lament the approaching end. Understated, loner female characters, outsiders possibly a bit nuts and failing to fit in rubbing up against stuck-up conformity and priggish idiots, set in London, Paris or the Caribbean. Will definitely look out her autobiography and her acclaimed "Wide Sargasso Sea'.

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                                  Wide Sargasso Sea contains images that have stayed with me since the day I read it. You don't have to read Jane Eyre first, but you might want to afterwards.

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                                    I'm almost at the end of Cibola Burn (book 4 of The Expanse). It's better than the third one, which got very dull towards the end.

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                                      Originally posted by imp View Post

                                      So - Keenan's is an absolutely bustingly brilliant book, especially if you've ever been involved in any kind of small-town music scene, but also generally as a series of loosely strung-together narratives. Loads of swearing and sex, it being Scottish. I also have his latest, 'For the Good Times', that I can barely keep my fingers off, but want to 'save'.
                                      Your note about music scenes had me look this one up. The focus on a post-punk band has me more interested. Gotta clear some books off the shelf first but I'm going to leave this one in the Amazon cart as a reminder.

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                                        Originally posted by RobW View Post
                                        Currently reading the Orlando Figes' "A People's Tragedy; The Russian Revolution" and trying to recall what i've forgotten since university (lots). Finished Simon Sebag-Montefiore's 'The Romanovs' before Christmas, which is a superb tome. I hope to read more this year, so should probably give up the massive non-fiction volumes for a while and concentrate on fiction once i've finished this.
                                        Ok, so I ruptured my patella tendon in mid January, and after surgery have been recuperating at my mum and dad's (fewer stairs, can listen to Lincoln games on the wireless, free meals etc). Despite the pain and nuisance of having no phone signal in mid Lincs, i've managed to read an awful lot. For some reason I didn't bring my kindle with me, but have been gifted a few books, or otherwise bought from Waterstones (usually 3 for 2).

                                        I finished reading Figes - he's a complete snide arsehole but very well researched and exhausting account of the Russian Revolution. Got a few works of fiction that I want to read from both pre and post-revolutionary times out of it.

                                        Read Milkman, which was great. Funny, distressing and at times quite absurd. Would read again. Was given both that and Coal Black Mornings by Brett Anderson as get well presents. CBM is ok, it focuses solely on Anderson's life up until Suede get signed by Nude Records. Not a must-read, one for fans only i'd say. Quite interesting about the formation of the band and his relationship with Justine. Nice little dig at Blur towards the end that made me chuckle.

                                        Bought The Colour of Magic and will now have to read a few more of the Discworld novels. I did buy this as a teenager about 25 years ago, but barely touched it. May still be in the attic, or most likely given away and i'm cursing myself for being so lazy when it came to reading.

                                        Sally Rooney's Conversation With Friends was ok, I was expecting a little more due to the reviews i'd seen and adoration of it from friends. It was perfectly decent, but not sure I can be arsed with Normal People now.

                                        I highly recommend Serhii Plokhy's account of the Chernobyl disaster. It is extensively researched, and incredible read looking at various levels of Soviet and post-Soviet society (Politburo, power plant personnel, scientific community, the local population, the emergency services reaction, etc). At times absolutely chilling and often ridiculous in terms of reaction to the tragedy, but always insightful.

                                        Not read any John Boyne before, but A Ladder to the Sky was a very good romp, about literary theft over the course of 30 years. Very much in the vein of Tom Ripley, a good page turner.

                                        Tonight I finished Samantha Harvey's The Western Wind, which is a mystery set in 15th century Somerset over the course of four days, with a local priest investigating the death of a wealthy villager, whilst under pressure from his dean to find out the circumstances and culprit. All kinds of ruminations about God and faith as well, very good read.

                                        Next on the agenda is Daisy Johnson's Everything Under, which was another gift (I must have surgery more often).

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                                          'Winter' by Ali Smith. The cover is smeared with praise from all the right places. It's fucking awful - pretentious, clunky, way too pleased with itself, and I only read it to the end because I had nothing else with me in the airport/plane the other day and got so far I thought I might as well finish it off.

                                          Now reading Joshua Ferris's short story collection 'The Dinner Party', which is proper writing. Its cover is also smeared in praise from all the right places, and some of the wrong ones, but in this case it's justified.

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                                            I'm glad I wasn't the only one underwhelmed by Conversations With Friends.

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                                              I'm halfway through Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman. It's a distillation of some of his lectures but could have done with some editing (like taking out all the comments like 'We aren't going to look at that now...' ).

                                              RobW If you want Discworld recommendations I would advise Mort and Guards! Guards! Those are two early ones. The world becomes much more concrete as the series goes on, less fantastical and more like a medieval / steampunk locale. Moving Pictures is funny too.

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                                                Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                                                There are so many jaw-dropping things in the book.
                                                Third for Bad Blood. 80% of the way through and it's just astonishing what went on. She's an utter sociopath in every respect. And the Board of Gullible Suckers that passed for responsible oversight? Fuck me...

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                                                  Also, knocked off A Serial Killer's Daughter by Kerri Rawson, daughter of BTK. Excellent insight into him and the havoc he wreaked not only on his victims, but on the lives of his extensive family.

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                                                    After finally ploughing through Le Guin’s Earthsea novels - which are finely written with enough philosophical musings to keep me interested, albeit a bit too many wizards and dragons for me - I decided to revisit a couple of Chandler’s Marlowe books for a bit of light relief. Like Wodehouse, I never tire of re-reading them.

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