Read any good books this holiday?

[Help.Me.]

Busy with My friend the Mercenary by James Brabazon. It is scary stuff you only hear/see in movies.

[Readsalot]

Catharsis by Travis Bagwell.

 

It's fantasy, dark magic, anime and gaming, all combined to make one of the most adrenaline-filled and enjoyable debut novels I've ever read.

[nox1111]

I read 'I am Pilgrim' - moerdyk, good book!

[Readsalot]

Reading The Greatcoats series. Quite enjoyable, bit like Alexandre Dumas meets David Gemmell.

 

http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389310293l/18947303.jpg

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Started American Gods. Liking it more than the tv series. 

[Readsalot]

Started American Gods. Liking it more than the tv series. 

 

I read it ages ago, since I've been a Neil Gaiman fan forever. Specifically decided not to read it again when I heard the series was coming out. I remember the main story and players, but can't remember all the details, so I'm enjoying the series quite a lot.

[Uni]

Just finished reading The Secret Life Of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd, I know there was a movie made of it that I never watched. It's been a while since I've started a book and completed it, my kindle is also filled with half read books, this is a gentle poignant read. Not particularly girly, strong characters that you can't help getting stuck into their lives.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Just finished reading The Secret Life Of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd, I know there was a movie made of it that I never watched. It's been a while since I've started a book and completed it, my kindle is also filled with half read books, this is a gentle poignant read. Not particularly girly, strong characters that you can't help getting stuck into their lives.

I think you will like "The Penguin Lessons" by Tom Mitchell, its excellent and an easy, positive, upbeat read, you can download it on Kindle for a few bucks, I have yet to meet anyone who disliked it.

[Uni]

I think you will like "The Penguin Lessons" by Tom Mitchell, its excellent and an easy, positive, upbeat read, you can download it on Kindle for a few bucks, I have yet to meet anyone who disliked it.

I'll check it out, thanks Grumpy

[Readsalot]

Any recommendations for good books about boxing? Fiction or non-fiction, does not matter. I've been watching Hajime no Ippo again, the best show about boxing ever made(!) and my brother and I have been debating the Mayweather-McGregor fight, but neither of us really know that much about boxing.

 

Books I've seen that are highly praised are:

The Professional by W.C Heinz

Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran by George Kimball

The Fight by Norman Mailer

 

I know Robert B. Parker and Louis L'Amour used to box themselves and wrote about it a lot, but I've read all their books. Apparently Robert E Howard also used to box and has a book called Boxing Stories, but it's ridiculously expensive (about R2,000 on Amazon).

[Blokman]

I think you will like "The Penguin Lessons" by Tom Mitchell, its excellent and an easy, positive, upbeat read, you can download it on Kindle for a few bucks, I have yet to meet anyone who disliked it.

Grumps, I was telling my son about this book and the plucky penguin. My granddaughters aged 9 and 7 were sleeping over and demanded that I read it as a bedtime story. So whenever they sleep over we are reading, I edit chunks and explain things at the same time. We are now at the part where the rescued penguin , Juan Salvador is being smuggled through customs . They love it.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Blokman

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Grumps, I was telling my son about this book and the plucky penguin. My granddaughters aged 9 and 7 were sleeping over and demanded that I read it as a bedtime story. So whenever they sleep over we are reading, I edit chunks and explain things at the same time. We are now at the part where the rescued penguin , Juan Salvador is being smuggled through customs . They love it.

Hee, Hee, thats great Blokman, its just such a heartwarming story isnt it, as I said I havent met anyone who didn't enjoy it,....it almost made me want to go get a penguin.     

[johannrissik]

USA by John dos Passos. 

 

Hard work at times, but worth it in the end.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

 

Any recommendations for good books about boxing? Fiction or non-fiction, does not matter. I've been watching Hajime no Ippo again, the best show about boxing ever made(!) and my brother and I have been debating the Mayweather-McGregor fight, but neither of us really know that much about boxing.

 

Books I've seen that are highly praised are:

The Professional by W.C Heinz

Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran by George Kimball

The Fight by Norman Mailer

 

I know Robert B. Parker and Louis L'Amour used to box themselves and wrote about it a lot, but I've read all their books. Apparently Robert E Howard also used to box and has a book called Boxing Stories, but it's ridiculously expensive (about R2,000 on Amazon).

 

I didn't know Louis L'Amour was a boxer.? Interesting.

 

I liked some of his early westerns, but he lost the plot in my opinion (much like Stephen King) with his later science fiction stuff, read one and that was it, I thought it was rubbish.

 

I remember reading quite a bit of George Gilman's "Edge" series of westerns as well, I actually preferred them to Louis, a lot more raw and gritty as I would have imagined the old west to be.

 

But I digress.....Sorry I dont know any boxing books. 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I am busy with "Endurance - Shackleton's incredible voyage" by Alfred Lansing - one of the best researched books I have read on this fateful expedition, if like me you have an intense interest in ships, the ocean, wrecks and human endevour and fortitude this is a good book to read. How they survived even a few days with what they had in that savage environment is beyond me, a real survival story. 

[Readsalot]

I didn't know Louis L'Amour was a boxer.? Interesting.

 

I liked some of his early westerns, but he lost the plot in my opinion (much like Stephen King) with his later science fiction stuff, read one and that was it, I thought it was rubbish.

 

I remember reading quite a bit of George Gilman's "Edge" series of westerns as well, I actually preferred them to Louis, a lot more raw and gritty as I would have imagined the old west to be.

 

But I digress.....Sorry I dont know any boxing books. 

 

Yebo, according to Louis L'Amour himself he was a professional boxer who won something like 51 out of 59 matches. However, his son, who researched his career in order to publish a biography, found it difficult to verify his claims. He has found that Louis fought under various names and that he sometimes fought for money simply to eat. This, of course, is technically a professional match, but since so many of these matches were fought in small towns all over the world no official records were ever kept. 

 

I think you read the only sci-fi book LL ever wrote - I quite forgot he wrote Haunted Mesa, as it wasn't one of my favourite books. But I loved his books growing up, spent all my time in secondhand bookshops and read them all to pieces. 

 

I wasn't a big a fan of the Edge books - they felt too forced, with every chapter needing to end on some kind of pun and a world that was quite bleak and nihilistic. Plus, since Harknett (Gilman's real name) had never actually been to the West it was difficult to find his books convincing, especially compared to LL who not only grew up in the West, but had met many of the characters he wrote about and lived a life that would (and was) perfectly at home in any of his books.

 

I do concede that, especially with there being so many of them, his books and stories could become somewhat repetitious and predictable - but when he was good, he was VERY good.

 

Although, my favourite Western novel of all time is and always will be Shane, by Jack Schaefer.