Last Book You Read....

[chuckles]

They're very, very mixed. The good ones are great, the going-through-the-motions ones are just rubbish.

The Sign of the Four is a masterpiece.

This is a fair comment. I recently decided to re-read( first read them quite some time ago) the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I was genuinely surprised at just how bad some of them were.

[Mak]

Mont Oriol by Guy de Maupassant

Quite enjoyed this. Maupassant is pretty readable compared to some other classic French writers.

[peasy23]

Finished Paul McGrath's autobiography and currently on Graeme Obree's, both are quite full on with what they have been through in their lives.

Read Obree's a few weeks ago, it's a tragedy that someone who was so good at what he did thought so little of himself , he was superb when his mind was in the right place. Unfortunately he was in darker places more often.

[jester]

From my hillwalking blog:

Cairngorm John: A Life in Mountain Rescue

For most of us a trip to the mountains is, on reflection, an uneventful affair. I’d go as far as to say routine in many cases, the trip there, the walk or climb, a local pub, and the journey home. A neat little package which in most cases goes to plan. And that can be the case for thousands of walkers for the entirety of their time in the hills. There will be tales to tell, always something to recount in the bar afterwards, but no white knuckle stuff. That is for the few, for other people, the unprepared, the unlucky. For some it means minor celebrity, a flirtation with newspapers or television. For some it can be life changing, a Touching The Void moment that changes the direction of their life from that moment on. For others, sadly, it means the end, and their tale can only be told by others. John Allen was a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team (CMRT) from 1972 until 2007, and its leader for around twenty years, and he has more experience in this area than most. If the old adage that you should learn from other peoples mistakes is true then this book is a must read for anyone who visits hills and mountains.

John’s tale initially reminded me of that of Tom Weir, the famous Scottish naturalist, mountaineer, and author. Hailing from Glasgow, Allen, like Weir, felt the calling of the hills as a youngster, and similarly set off from Glasgow by bicycle to explore and learn about the Highlands. John, rather than making the mountains his primary career, became a pharmacist with a string of chemist shops across the Highlands. So his stint as member and leader of CMRT is perhaps an even more impressive achievement, successfully balancing family life with business and mountain rescue, and the book provides an insight into his life other than the mountains.

It is however the mountains, and mountain rescue which is the focus of the book. When John Allen joined the CMRT, it was still, while not in infancy, early days for mountain rescue. The CMRT was formed in the early 1960s, and the book in part charts the development and funding of the teams, and their working towards gaining professional acceptance, establishing a firm position in the process of rescuing those people who get in difficulty in the mountains.

While the book covers environmental issues, as well as John’s personal life, the thread which connects everything is that of the incidents which John and the CMRT have had to deal with. These can make for grim reading, and the tales range from the inspiring and uplifting to some which are very upsetting. For the most part John refrains from passing judgement, something newspapers and the media are all too quick to do sometimes. Instead he lays the background and explains how the incident occurred, and how the team responded. It is clear from the book that even though the search for, and recovery of bodies was an experience the team were to become accustomed to, that those incidents involving children had a great effect on all of them. It does not make for pleasant reading.

At a time when the UK Government is forging ahead with its proposals to privatise the Search And Rescue helicopters, a move which CMRT have expressed great concern about, this book should also be required reading for anyone involved in that process. John rightly praises the SAR helicopter crews, and I can fully agree with the view that a privatised service could not be relied upon to provide the same level of skill, commitment and dedication that John describes here.

Once started it is hard to put down, however upsetting or uncomfortable it becomes in parts, and you will be left with a greater understanding of mountain rescue teams and the volunteers like John Allen, who are willing to drop what they are doing and head into conditions most of us would think twice about even going out in, to come to the aid of complete strangers. This is an essential book, one which anyone who ventures out on the hills should read. In fact, make that MUST read.

Edited February 1, 2013 by jester

[davie2wheels]

Germania by Simon Winder, a wee trip through german history stopping in 1933 before all the nastiness. Also A Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky. Written by this woman in the old east gemany, it's a tavelogue of places she never visited. Cracking wee book.

[jagfox]

Does anyone else have a specific subject matter they tend to read about?For me it's Soviet Russia

Just finished Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Interesting read and not too in-depth in terms of terminology. 7/10

Love football books. I tend to read them thrice as quick as novels. Like history as well as sci-fi and alt-history.

RE: Soviet Russia, I have Court of the Red Tsar in my too read book mountain. Is that a decent hoppi.g on point Bowers?

No point in me getting a kindle yet, I must have hundreds of books I haven't got around to reading. Love browsing bookshops and just keep picking up books to add if they catch my interest. I'm very well not-read

[The DA]

This is a fair comment. I recently decided to re-read( first read them quite some time ago) the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I was genuinely surprised at just how bad some of them were.

I feel like a heretic saying it but I have to agree. I'm working my way through The New Annotated edition (a pressie) and finding the annotations (that's 'notes' to plebes like you and me) more interesting than most of the stories. Sometimes I think ACD lives off the atmosphere created by the Jeremy Brett series on TV.

[Ya Bezzer!]

MIkhail Lermontsov 'A Hero Of Our Time'.

Loving this. Pechorin is one of the most amoral, foul, nasty, nihilistic characters I've read and yet you can't help but laugh, maybe even secretly admire, at how he does deeply horrible things just because he's bored and wants to amuse himself.

[1888bhoy67]

50 Shades, and i won't be bothering with the following 2,

The mrs's got them and i thought i'd give it a go, but it's poorly written and really not up to the hype it got.

[jester]

50 Shades, and i won't be bothering with the following 2,

The mrs's got them and i thought i'd give it a go, but it's poorly written and really not up to the hype it got.

I write. Oh, I mean aye, right...

[T_S_A_R]

the temple of dawn by yukio mishima. the third part of a tetralogy of japanese novels. it was very different from the first two parts and has a lot of theorising about buddhism and reincarnation. it's not quite up to the first two installments but still managed to keep me interested and was quite disturbing in parts near the end when it moves onto postwar japan and the characters become more decadent and corrupted. it's quite an odd read, especially knowing that the author was bat shit crazy.

tommorow in the battle think on me by javier marias. this is the second marias book i've read and both of them have been brilliant. a man and a married woman are about to consummate an affair but just before they do she dies of natural causes. the man leaves the flat and the body and tries to cover his tracks but becomes entangled in the affairs of the grieving family. marias is one of the best writers i've ever read and has an unbelievable ability to take you into the mind of his narrators and live their experiences.

[peasy23]

Lanced - The Shaming of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh on the Kindle, a collection of his Sunday Times articles going back to 1999, with a couple of other pieces by others including Paul Kimmage. Walsh has consistently been suspicious about Armstrong and has never waivered in his belief that there was something not quite right about his miraculous comeback from cancer, and how a rider who had ridden 4 tours prior to his cancer and hadn't looked anything special came back after illness to ride the fastest Tour ever. The Sunday Times are another one of the companies who will be chasing LA for cash after he had successfully sued them.

[footiechick]

Born Free by Laura Hird

a family living in Edinburgh and each chapter is told from their perspective.

some bits are laugh out loud funny, was a bit disappointed at the ending though

[MattBairn]

Ubik - Philip K Dick

Its now the 3rd book by this author that Ive read and Ive loved every one.

Not sure which of his books to read next.

8/10

[mighty meadow]

Finished reading The Yard by Alex Grecian

If you are enjoying 'Ripper Street' on telly at the moment then you are sure to like this. Set in London just after the 'Jack the Ripper' killings, the locals are still in fear and highly suspicious. The 'Ripper' is still haunting them and every new murder has them worrying that he is back.

Good, fast paced book for my journeys to and from work.

-

Now reading ...

Not far enough in to form even an early opinion yet but promising at least.

[Bowers]

RE: Soviet Russia, I have Court of the Red Tsar in my too read book mountain. Is that a decent hoppi.g on point Bowers?

The court of the red star is an excellent book in providing an insight into stalin (i think iv read it about 3 times). It doesn't go into detail about how stalin removed the other old bolsheviks from power (trotsky, zinoviev etc) but it does explain how he destroyed them as well as giving a detailed account of his private life and those within it.

[jagfox]

Ubik - Philip K Dick

Its now the 3rd book by this author that Ive read and Ive loved every one.

Not sure which of his books to read next.

8/10

A scanner, darkly is good, imo.

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

11:22:63 - Stephen King

Story about a teacher who goes back in time to stop Kennedy from being assassinated and the butterfly effect that it presents. Nice wee nods towards IT and a feeling of impending doom when in Derry, a fictional place in Maine that King uses in IT and this book.

8/10

Has anyone read The Stand by Stephen King? Recommended?

Edited February 11, 2013 by Andy C

[paul-r-cfc]

Been really shite with books this year - started on a few but keep jumping between them and not finishing any. ONly one I've finished was this

Basically a Canadian guys life story told with a springsteen song attached to each significant event. I loved it - Thoroughly enjoyable read even if you're not a Springsteen fan I'd say

Edited February 11, 2013 by paul-r-cfc

[morrison]

11:22:63 - Stephen King

Story about a teacher who goes back in time to stop Kennedy from being assassinated and the butterfly effect that it presents. Nice wee nods towards IT and a feeling of impending doom when in Derry, a fictional place in Maine that King uses in IT and this book.

8/10

Has anyone read The Stand by Stephen King? Recommended?

Yes, highly recommended. I don't know if it needs to be said, but the unabridged version is the way to go. Also glad you read IT before 11:22:63 for exactly that reason - I almost feel sorry for people who miss out on that connection.

Recently finished One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which was superb. This is being read as a Book Club pick and a few folk are struggling with it, something I can't understand. I was engaged throughout. Some people have told me the film's even better but I haven't seen it yet; I find that hard to believe.

Now reading Master and Margarita after reading one or two really positive reviews on this thread. I initially found it difficult to keep on top of who was who as characters have multiple names, but that aside it's been excellent so far.