welshbairn Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 No probs. His books are BIG so I thought that it had to be a mis-price but 'something' has been dispatched already.Arrived this morning, not often next day delivery actually works in the Highlands! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar P Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Recently read a book called "Black Box Thinking" by Matthew Syed (who is also described as the top Table Tennis player in the UK).It is all about attitude to failure (including "we learn from our mistakes")It starts off comparing the aviation industry and the health service. Basically, flying is the safest way to travel because all accidents are investigated - not so much to apportion blame, but to ensure the same thing does not happen again.It then goes on to subjects like the manufacturer of washing powder, dyson cleaners, the British Tour de France team, marginal gains, Mercedes Benz team in Formula 1, David Beckham as a footballer who practised thousands of free kicks and so on.Interesting readWould recommend Syed's previous book called Bounce.Based on theory of practice makes perfect, there is much to disagree with, but some of the scenarios and experiments described in it are fascinating. Enjoyed the chapters on him playing Michael Stich at tennis, and his flop at the Sydney Olympics. It covers lots of sports, and even chess is included. Well worth the read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dindeleux Posted May 1, 2016 Share Posted May 1, 2016 I've been reading this book today: Its not our Jim from deadline day/Rangers tears fame. Its also not "Shearer scored a great goal" but it goes into the background to a lot of the games. For example Man Utd beating Sheffield Wednesday in injury time 1993 to win their first title in 26 years and the difference in fortune of the two clubs since then. Would recommend. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortar Bored Posted May 1, 2016 Share Posted May 1, 2016 Fiesta, oor willie, crime & punishment, the broons, to kill a mockingbird, fiesta. In that order. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madwullie Posted May 1, 2016 Share Posted May 1, 2016 Half way through Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. Probably the most accessible of his stuff I've read, but still find myself wondering wtf is going on most of the time 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Been on a bit of a book binge - can't have much of a social life just now. Atomised - Michel Houellebecq Reads a bit like Grimbo's accounts of MILF stalking in the Sainbury's cafe, albeit in more exotic locations I Dream of Hell - Malcolm Mackay Decent Scottish crime stuff - my second favourite behind Rankin. Perfidia - James Ellroy The start of a prequel series to The LA Quartet. More of the same - and that's a very good thing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Mark Edwards, The Magpies. Best novel I've read in absolutely ages. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Also just about finished Malcolm Mackay's Glasgow Trilogy (The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, How A Gunman Says Goodbye and The Sudden Arrival of Violence). Concise writing style that unsettles with the casual approach of the characters to life and death. Worth getting hold of them if you're a fan of Rebus or other Scottish crime novels. There's no big personalities like Rebus or Cafferty - more of a study of the grubby workings of underworld figures. Bought the 3 of them on Monday, started the first yesterday morning. Very impressed so far. I like the style they are written in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Bought the 3 of them on Monday, started the first yesterday morning. Very impressed so far. I like the style they are written in. The follow-on (I Dream of Hell) centres on Nate Colgan. The plot gets a bit far fetched but still enjoyable. Started reading Irvine Welsh's The Blade Artist. He nails some standard Edinburgh lowlife characters very well - feels like he's writing about various people I know. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRuffian Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 (edited) Reading Ilan Pappe's, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Also into Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke. Next one will be I Find That Offensive by Claire Fox which was delivered to the kindle the other day. Edited May 7, 2016 by McRuffian 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 The follow-on (I Dream of Hell) centres on Nate Colgan. The plot gets a bit far fetched but still enjoyable. Started reading Irvine Welsh's The Blade Artist. He nails some standard Edinburgh lowlife characters very well - feels like he's writing about various people I know. Finished the 3rd of the Glasgow Trilogy on my lunch break. All 3 books were very enjoyable, though the first 2 were better than the final installment. Ending was sufficiently open to further installments on several of the characters, so will be interesting to see if Mackay decides to do something more with them. Next up is Bounce, by Matthew Syed. Another bought based on a recommendation here, though only because I couldn't get hold of Black Box Thinking, which sounded better. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duszek Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Some since the start of the year: Raymond Carver, Cathedral (amazing short stories) Albert Camus, Le Premier Homme (the novel he was writing at the time of his death, really nice, autobiographical) John Fante, Ask the Dust (a great love story set in 1930s Los Angeles. Fante was Charles Bukowski's literary hero) Blaise Cendrars, Moravagine (novel set in Russia and South America, a top yarn from a maestro who scrawled left-handed after losing his arm in WW1) Henry Miller, Sexus, Nexus (brilliant, funny, autobiographical novels) tbh, anything any of those people wrote is worth checking out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mental Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 The Campaigns of Napoleon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy It's quite bleak. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Just finished "56" by Martin Fletcher He survived the Bradford City fire - but his brother, father, uncle and grandfather did not He was also at Hillsborough when that happened (albeit as a fan of Nottingham Forest) Interesting to note attitudes to football fans then compared to now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_K_97 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 This City Now by Ian R. Mitchell - an excellent look into the working-class history of Glasgow. Decent-sized, managable chapters with good anecdotes, facts and even ideas for taking a walk around districts to look at some stuff that's often ignored. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Finished the 3rd of the Glasgow Trilogy on my lunch break. All 3 books were very enjoyable, though the first 2 were better than the final installment. Ending was sufficiently open to further installments on several of the characters, so will be interesting to see if Mackay decides to do something more with them. Next up is Bounce, by Matthew Syed. Another bought based on a recommendation here, though only because I couldn't get hold of Black Box Thinking, which sounded better. I saw black box thinking in Waterstones - paperback (red cover) - Buy 1 Get 1 half price. That is in Inverness but there is probably a Waterstones closer to you. It is an excellent book. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRuffian Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Ended up putting Ilan Pappe's book down and forgetting about. Finished Childhood's End. First sci-fi novel I have read and it was cracking. Really enoyed it. Finished Claire Fox's book as well and it was decent. Off the back of that book, as mentioned during it, I am going to start on Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publically Shamed next and try to get back into the Ilan Pappe's. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Rum Punch, by Elmore Leonard It's the book Tarantino turned into Jackie Brown. Reminded me of Carl Hiaasen's stuff - Florida scumbags, black humour, OTT characters. Gripping but really funny. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Ended up putting Ilan Pappe's book down and forgetting about. Finished Childhood's End. First sci-fi novel I have read and it was cracking. Really enoyed it. Turned into a mini series with Charles Dance and Colm Meaney Not available on Region 2 DVD though 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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