Read any good books this holiday?

[MTBeer]

Favourites

 

Non-Fiction - Into Thin Air (see above) & Endurance by Alfred Lansing(about Ernest Shackleton's  failed Antarctic trip)

 

Fiction - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

 

Fiction (thriller type) - The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

[GrumpyOldGuy]

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.

Yah, I know what you mean but I wasn't a big fan of Louis l'Amour, there was too much "padding" in my opinion, but I really enjoyed the EDGE series, as you say they were "brutal" but then again I think life was kinda tough back then as well. 

 

JT Edison........Yah, forgot about him, I enjoyed his writing as well but it was a very "Vanilla West" he wrote about, dancing girls and mild mannered saloon owners is my recollection of his books. 

 

I dont read a lot of fiction these days so haven't really read a fiction Western for many years, but I have read quite a bit of non fiction on the times, especially around General Custers life and the slow colonization or some would say "eradication" of many of the indigenous Indian tribes.

 

One of the books I enjoyed is "The Life of General George Armstrong Custer" I thought particularly good, of course he was no saint, but it was a vicious time, and many a peaceful settler were been murdered by the Apaches the Comanche and the Pawnee's and mostly, Custer and the cavalry saw themselves as the only force that stood to protect the settlers.

 

If you enjoy that sort of history it may be worth a read for you.     

[GrumpyOldGuy]

 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.

Great, I am glad you enjoyed it, agree fully on "Into thin air" probably the best book on Everest.

[mazambaan]

I don't want to quibble but Into Thin Air isn't really a climbing book. The Everest books I enjoyed were the Hunt, Bonnington, Messner (imagine him on an MTB!  ) books.  Hardcore was Boukreev in the Krakauer book (the Eiger Dreams was also good), then Joe SImpson (Touching the Void) and Peter Hillary getting down after falls.

 

The old books by Buhl, Rebuffat, Harrer, Patey, Whillans, Diemberger, Unsworth and more recently Viesturs are good value.

 

Big death toll though. Even the mad Swede (Goran Kropp) who cycled to the Himalaya to climb Everest, solo, without bottled O. 4king sad.

 

Lucky I never pushed on in climbing; one mountain rescue was enough.

[Vetseun]

Any of you read these books? Thouroughly enjoyable. Easy to read.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Vetseun

[hboli4]

I don't want to quibble but Into Thin Air isn't really a climbing book. The Everest books I enjoyed were the Hunt, Bonnington, Messner (imagine him on an MTB!  ) books.  Hardcore was Boukreev in the Krakauer book (the Eiger Dreams was also good), then Joe SImpson (Touching the Void) and Peter Hillary getting down after falls.

 

The old books by Buhl, Rebuffat, Harrer, Patey, Whillans, Diemberger, Unsworth and more recently Viesturs are good value.

 

Big death toll though. Even the mad Swede (Goran Kropp) who cycled to the Himalaya to climb Everest, solo, without bottled O. 4king sad.

 

Lucky I never pushed on in climbing; one mountain rescue was enough.

 

What happened and where? No worries if you don't want to talk about it. Have had some moments on high mountains myself.

[Readsalot]

Any of you read these books? Thouroughly enjoyable. Easy to read.

images-8.jpeg

 

Not my cup of Irish coffee. I just don't enjoy YA books anymore. 

[mtbgirlz]

I read an author new to me last weekend, and enjoyed it enough to get the next book in the series.  

 

The author is Mick Herron and the first book I read was "Slow Horses".

 

Slough house is where MI5 send their misfits and screw-ups to be bored by mindless tasks in the hope that they would rather quit the service, thus saving Her Majesty's Government having to boot them out and running the risk of an employment tribunal.

 

It is neither a house nor is it in Slough. It consists of 4 threadbare floors sandwiched between a  grimy Chinese restaurant and a convenience store in a very unfashionable part of Finsbury,  London. It is  named as the inhabitants who have been  dismissed as "the Slow Horses" by the rest of MI5, who all operate out of glitzy high tech offices overlooking Regent's park.

 

They are tormented by their fat, farting, dismissive, rude, slob of a boss Jackson Lamb,  who lives in semi darkness on the top floor and who hands out the punishment of tedium with undisguised relish.  Lamb has unfettered control over their lives and seeks to make it as uncomfortable as possible. He is quite possibly the worst boss I have encountered and the only thing that the other inhabitants have in common is their hatred of him.

 

Once he was a respected and feared operative who ran assets behind the iron curtain playing by "Moscow rules" i.e. watch your back. But now he is an anachronism in the modern world of high tech spying where everyone else is playing by "London rules" i.e.  cover your arse. Most that knew him are out of the service, and those who didn't, underestimate him at their peril.

 

Of course a MI5 operation goes wrong and Lamb and his slow horses are set up by the suits to take the blame. But Lamb knows where the "bodies are buried" and bullies, blackmails and cheats his way through the bureaucracy as his motley bunch take on the baddies as well as their illustrious colleagues.

 

It is funny, clever, suspenseful and Lamb is the best drawn spy master since George Smiley. I read it compulsively in two sittings and  am reading the next one this weekend. 

 

$1.99 on kindle

[Readsalot]

If you're a scifi lover you might enjoy this. Described by an obvious fan as “THREE feels like the result of tossing Mad Max, Neuromancer and Metal Gear Solid into a blender. If you don’t find that combination appealing, then I do not understand you as a human being.”

 

Personally, I enjoyed it. I posted about his other book Outriders a couple of pages ago and since I liked it, I thought I would try something else by him. Set in a post-apocalyptic world it doesn't really bother with a lot of explanations, which you will either love or hate. I found it intriguing and preferred it, since that meant there was more focus on the action and the character development.

 

http://angryrobotbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Three-144dpi.jpg

[SlowManiac]

Reading 'Dune' by Frank Herbert.

 

A sci-fi book that I have wanted to read for AGES but it's always managed to avoid crossing paths with me.

 

It's a funny one - took me some time to get into it but I am enjoying it. It's very much a book of it's time (1965 I believe) with quite a heavy mystic/spiritual element rather than the full on techno based themes of my usual sci-fi diet.

 

One thing that really annoyed me early on in the book is the fairly frequent use of made up words with not much clue to their meaning. 

[Tumbleweed]

Got a Sin City book- Family Values - over the weekend. Was paging through it on the platform this morning, and it made me think of that old joke: what's black and white, and red all over?

 

Edited June 27, 2016 by Tumbleweed

[Gen]

War and Peace.

 

Okay no I lie, I am taking the short cut and watching the series.

 

I did attempt Tolstoy once, started reading Anna Karenina..got about halfway and then the movie came out [emoji85]

Edited July 11, 2016 by Gen

[Readsalot]

Re-reading the Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton and every now and again I am reminded why I loved the books so much growing up.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

If you're a scifi lover you might enjoy this. Described by an obvious fan as “THREE feels like the result of tossing Mad Max, Neuromancer and Metal Gear Solid into a blender. If you don’t find that combination appealing, then I do not understand you as a human being.”

 

Personally, I enjoyed it. I posted about his other book Outriders a couple of pages ago and since I liked it, I thought I would try something else by him. Set in a post-apocalyptic world it doesn't really bother with a lot of explanations, which you will either love or hate. I found it intriguing and preferred it, since that meant there was more focus on the action and the character development.

 

http://angryrobotbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Three-144dpi.jpg

 

 

Re-reading the Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton and every now and again I am reminded why I loved the books so much growing up.

Thanks and thanks! Bought and sent to the kindle. 

[Tumbleweed]

Bought this a fortnight or so ago in Durbs. A most entertaining read. Read in it bits on the train...

 

[Uni]

I used to read a Stephen King book within 2 - 3 days tops , and I thought I'd read all his works (bar a few of the sci-fi ones) - I recently discovered his book '11/22/63' that I hadn't read - got so excited - but I just can't get into it. King used to be one of my favorite authors

 

I've had it on kindle for over a month now - i'm about 13% into the book - either it's crap or I'm just not into it and other things are more interesting.

 

Need one of those books that you stay up to read and lose track of time in ...