What are you reading? 2019

With all the travelling I'm reading a few books now. I can recommend;

1. Dominion by C.J.Sansom (he of the Shardlake series of books). It's one of those what if Germany won WWII books but much better than any of the others that I've tried to read.
2. Blind Faith by Ben Elton - very silly, rather dark and great fun!
3. The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Johanson. A Swedish novel that survived its translation intact and is worth the read. Totally silly, really absurd, very dark and onec again great fun!

I've just started Crime and Punishment by G.F.Newman. 650 pages long I already know the plot as I was an avid listener of the Radio4 adaptatio (called The Corrupted). It's a saga that spans several decades and tells the story of the rise to power of Joseph Oldman, and the criminal deeds of him and his family. It mixes up this fictional story with real life characters from the London underworld and the higher echelons of the nations leaders. Despite being familiar with the story it is a rivetting read (I was last off the plane this morning as I squeezed another chapter in!) and I definitaly recommend seeking this one out.

 

@longk just in case you are interested, there is a sequel to that book that carries on from where it left off. The title directly translated from Swedish is "The 101 year old that thought he thought too much and disappeared." Probably called something else in English though....

 

Crime and Punishment was a big read but it was a quality read.

There have been a few books since I finished it but three standouts are;

• The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguru. Although I am familiar with the film the novel is an essential read.
• Titmuss Regained by John Mortimer. Worth seeking out.
• The Abundance by Amit Majmudar. I don't read American fiction very often but this novel is outstanding!

 

I just finished The Vanishing Point by W.O. Mitchell - it is an older book from the 80's and quite illuminating about our aboriginals of the 50's and amazingly many of the truths are still unchanged.
I also re-read Foundation, Asimov - the first time I read it I thought it was stupid and childish but it turns out there was a glitsch in the download and so now I have the full, correct version, I was amazed that the man could envision the emergence of using algorithms even then!

 

A couple of books situated in the South Africa of apartheid times;

A Separate Development by Christopher Hope and Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe. Both were good reads but the Tom Sharpe book was laugh out loud funny - a classic!

 

There's a sequel too....Indecent Exposure.

 

Tom Sharpe also wrote Wilt, Porterhouse Blue and Blott on the Landscape; the last two have been on television.

 

My favourite author until he started substituting bad language for wit, and went all 'American'.

 

On my list to get!

The two Piemburg novels would make great TV. Kommandant van Heerden and Konstabel Els are great comic characters!

I have a couple of the books but I need to get them all first, or at least start at the first book so that I can read them in order.

 

I accidentally packed a book I’d already read, but I read it again, anyway.
Joanne Harris’ Blackberry Wine. A lovely gentle book, with characters who grow and develop, and the perfect book to take on hols to your french Gite!

 

Strange but true. I often feel that I read myself out of reading. Strange perhaps, but true. I could easily read a book in a day. My taste in reading is a mixed one. I still have a copy of The Coral Island. A boys book. Then I have. In Quest of the Sun, by Alain Gerbrault. I have the Inspector Morse books, Clive Cussler, and many biographical books of Top police officers.

My library really is quite extensive. Of course many of my books are plant related. Just recently. I have purchased a couple of books by Peter Thoday. I have on order an encyclopedia of Roses. So a whole lot or reading to be going on with.

 

I'm reading more than ever now as I'm travelling to and from London a lot to see my new lady and I also tend to read whilst she is doing her uni work. Recently standouts that I've read;

• England Made Me by Graham Green. This is a gem of a novel, full of moral ambiguity and it even hints at incestuous love which was rather bold in the 1930's.
• Dark Fire by C J Sansom. This is the second of the Shardlake books whic are set in the period of Henry 8th and whilst it is unusual for me to read historical novels I always make an exception for C J Sansom.