Read any good books this holiday?

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I interrupted my usual reading this weekend to read a book my wife just finished, "The Penguin Lessons"  by Tom Mitchell and I pronounce it brilliant.

 

Unique, captivating and human, its about a young man who rescues an oil covered Penguin, he takes it home washes it and tries to set the penguin free, however it refuses to leave.......if you dont read anything else this year, read this!  

[Mr Legs]

I interrupted my usual reading this weekend to read a book my wife just finished, "The Penguin Lessons"  by Tom Mitchell and I pronounce it brilliant.

 

Unique, captivating and human, its about a young man who rescues an oil covered Penguin, he takes it home washes it and tries to set the penguin free, however it refuses to leave.......if you dont read anything else this year, read this!  

 OK Grumps, I accepted (took?) your recommendation and bought the book, will start reading tonight.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

 OK Grumps, I accepted (took?) your recommendation and bought the book, will start reading tonight.

Great, its easy light reading, a feel good book, its not a Tolstoy classic by any means but I am almost convinced I want a penguin now. 

[Gen]

Great, its easy light reading, a feel good book, its not a Tolstoy classic by any means but I am almost convinced I want a penguin now.

Lol.. just what I will need after this book I am reading.. I have now resorted to eating popcorn while reading.. wow.. who needs movies.

 

 

Edit.

 

Update..finished it..and breathe.. what a brilliant book.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Gen

[Mr Legs]

Great, its easy light reading, a feel good book, its not a Tolstoy classic by any means but I am almost convinced I want a penguin now. 

 

I can also (strongly) recommend The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. A dog, Enzo, tells his life story with his owner, an amateur racing driver. After reading the book, I now look at my own two labradors and wish I knew what they are thinking and more importantly : What do they think of me?  

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Thanks, I shall download it onto my Kindle today. Yip, sometimes I also wonder, actually I think our pets and probably all our fellow animal friends are a lot more intuitive than we give them credit for. 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Lol.. just what I will need after this book I am reading.. I have now resorted to eating popcorn while reading.. wow.. who needs movies.

 

 

Edit.

 

Update..finished it..and breathe.. what a brilliant book.

Indeed, just looking at the cover was scary enough for me. 

[Popit]

I have just finished reading ALONE  - the search for Brett Archibald .

 

Flippin awesome .

 

That Brett is one seriously tough MOFO ....

 

Absolutely insipring .

Edited June 21, 2016 by Popit

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I have just finished reading ALONE  - the search for Brett Archibald .

 

Flippin awesome .

 

That Brett is one seriously tough MOFO ....

 

Absolutely insipring .

Yah, I forgot about it, I read it a while back, it must have been hell on earth, something like that is definitely going to change you one way or another, agreed, very good book, 

Edited June 21, 2016 by GrumpyOldGuy

[Gen]

Indeed, just looking at the cover was scary enough for me.

Sigh.. my bargain books didn't have it [emoji53] so I bought 2 Jo Nesbo Books.. into the dark place I go again[emoji85]

 

 

Yes I still like paper books [emoji16] .plus my son asked me to go and have a look if they had any more of the Persey Jackson books.. so I had an excuse to pop in while he was at tennis practice.. came out with no other Persey Jackson books (we will have to buy online) but 2 books for me.. oopsie

Edited June 21, 2016 by Gen

[Rapunzel]

Anyone read the Louis Zamperini story by Laura Hillenbrand called Unbroken? Got it for my wife and couldn't wait for her to finish so that I could read it. One of the best I've ever read!  

Sorry to only read this thread now but that is the best book I've ever read too (and I go through about 30-40 a year)

Other authors I have enjoyed in non-fiction are:

• Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker (you'll never look at pharmaceuticals the same way again)
• The Elephant Whisperer and Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony (what an interesting character with even more interesting stories)
• Ascent and Dissent by Ken Vernon (and if you really like to put it into context, you can read the other side of the south africans' role on the ill fated everest expedition of '96 in the book "Free to Decide" by Ian Woodall and Cathy O'Dowd)
• Speak Swahili Dammit! by James Penhaligon (I think he may have embellished the stories a bit but I haven't laughed as much in years).

Fiction authors (mostly suspense)

• Michael Robotham
• Ian Rankin
• Val McDermid
• Michael Connelly
• Ken Follet
• Deon Meyer

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Sigh.. my bargain books didn't have it [emoji53] so I bought 2 Jo Nesbo Books.. into the dark place I go again[emoji85]

 

 

Yes I still like paper books [emoji16] .plus my son asked me to go and have a look if they had any more of the Persey Jackson books.. so I had an excuse to pop in while he was at tennis practice.. came out with no other Persey Jackson books (we will have to buy online) but 2 books for me.. oopsie

Actually, so do I given the choice, but a Kindle is very convenient and I read a lot on it mainly because if I see an interesting book its a quick download and I can be reading.

 

I still buy paperback books, there is something old school about them that just feels right, plus I like spending time browsing shelves and here we have excellent book shops, its a great way to spend a few hours in my opinion.

 

Those two books for you?.............light reading I hope. 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

 

Sorry to only read this thread now but that is the best book I've ever read too (and I go through about 30-40 a year)

Other authors I have enjoyed in non-fiction are:

• Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker (you'll never look at pharmaceuticals the same way again)
• The Elephant Whisperer and Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony (what an interesting character with even more interesting stories)
• Ascent and Dissent by Ken Vernon (and if you really like to put it into context, you can read the other side of the south africans' role on the ill fated everest expedition of '96 in the book "Free to Decide" by Ian Woodall and Cathy O'Dowd)
• Speak Swahili Dammit! by James Penhaligon (I think he may have embellished the stories a bit but I haven't laughed as much in years).

Fiction authors (mostly suspense)

• Michael Robotham
• Ian Rankin
• Val McDermid
• Michael Connelly
• Ken Follet
• Deon Meyer

 

If you liked that book you may enjoy Panic Nation by Stanley Feldman, its a similar type of book, I dont really buy many of the theories but its an interesting read none the less.

 

I think I will file Ascent and Descent in my to read books, I enjoy those kind of books and Cathy O Dowd is an incredible woman.

By the way, have you read Jon Krakauer's book "Into thin air".. about the same expedition.? One of the better Everest books I have read.    

[Mr Legs]

If you liked that book you may enjoy Panic Nation by Stanley Feldman, its a similar type of book, I dont really buy many of the theories but its an interesting read none the less.

 

I think I will file Ascent and Descent in my to read books, I enjoy those kind of books and Cathy O Dowd is an incredible woman.

By the way, have you read Jon Krakauer's book "Into thin air".. about the same expedition.? One of the better Everest books I have read.    

 I have read every single book on Everest and K2 that I could lay my hands on. Into thin Air is one of the best. Krakauer has his fair share of critics and detractors, but that book had me reading through the night.

 

Grumps, I finished The Penguin Lessons last night, thanks, I really enjoyed the book.

[Readsalot]

Here ya go.......

 

 

edge.jpg

 

Books about cowboys

 

I was never a big fan of the Edge books. My brother was, he devoured them, so I ended up reading a few here and there when I didn't have anything else to read. They reminded me a bit of the Angel books by Frederick H Christian - too violent without a purpose, too sadistic, too cruel for my tastes. Mr Christian also spoiled the Sudden series for me - I used to enjoy the books when Oliver Strange wrote them because he wrote his characters with a twinkle in the eye, but when Christian took over it all went very dark very fast.

 

My favourite author as a boy was probably Louis L'Amour. I think I still have a copy of just about every one of his books and I've read most of them so many times that I know the stories like I know my favourite songs. He, like Robert B Parker (who also wrote some decent Westerns), wrote about the kind of man that I wanted to become when I grew up.

 

I also read most of the JT Edson books, but they would probably be classified as Westerns for YA nowadays. Edson tended to over-explain and simplify his plots too much - but boy howdy, did he like to give a lot of detail when the women in his books got into catfights. Perfect for a teenage boy growing up 

 

Other Westerns I enjoyed were of course Jack Schaefer's Shane and Monte Walsh (Monte Walsh is difficult to get, but one of my all-time favourite novels about cowboys and the Wild West and has a very deserved rating of nearly 85% on Goodreads) and his Heroes Without Glory should be required reading for anybody with an interest in the characters whose actions and deeds became legends.

 

I quite liked the Larry & Stretch books by Marshall Grover as they were fun, easy reading and light entertainment. They read almost like the Lucky Luke graphic novels, in the sense that the main characters were more like superheroes than anything else. The Joe Millard Dollar books about the Man with No Name were decent too, but also lacked substance, in my opinion.

 

Finally, for more modern Western books, I just finished the Longmire series by Craig Johnson and have to say I enjoyed them (much more than the TV series). I ended up reading all 11 books in just less than a week and love the fact that he is also a great admirer of Robert B Parker, one of my all-time favourite authors.

[MTBeer]

 I have read every single book on Everest and K2 that I could lay my hands on. Into thin Air is one of the best. Krakauer has his fair share of critics and detractors, but that book had me reading through the night.

 

Grumps, I finished The Penguin Lessons last night, thanks, I really enjoyed the book.

that's one of the best books of any type that I have read.