Reading Books in 2021

I’ve seen the film. What is the best one? Or is it just a case if picking up the first?

How far are you in on the History of Film Music one? I am at the start of the India section but Lockdown has stalled my reading time of physical books.

I think I just got to the start of the French chapter. I’m basically reading a chapter between novels, which is quite a nice way to do it

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I’ve only read a handful of random ones and couldn’t really pick a best, they’re just very high quality thrillers, lots of pace, lots of action, lots of Reacher being a smart, badass motherfucker. I don’t think it matters too much about order, there are some loose things which recur in different books but they’re all pretty much standalone plots.

I’m just hoping the earlier ones aren’t duds and that he later perfected the style.

The main thing to keep in mind in when reading them is that Lee Child pictures and writes Jack Reacher as looking like, and and being the size of, Lawrence Dallaglio… not like Tom Cruise.

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Ha ha yeah I recall from comments online!

Do you read a lot of romantic comedies, @1101010?

I honestly read all sorts, yeah. I generally bang around between genres a fair amount. I’ve certainly read a bunch of them though maybe not so many recently.

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Same :blush:
Any that you remember being particularly good, which you’d recommend?
The one I just finished was called Talk Bookish to Me and it started out ok but quickly became incredibly tedious.

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Yep. I love them for all the reasons you state. I started with the first, Killing Floor and did them in order. Though it doesn’t matter too much as they are all self contained.

I read a recent one The Sentinel or something with his brother. Not sure why, but I didn’t like it quite as much.

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Mate I can barely remember books from last year. My Goodreads is a boon but I only started it recently.

:grimacing:

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Just finished The Hidden Pleasures of Life by Theodore Zeldin. Bought it ages ago as it looked interesting and then put it in a cupboard and forgot about it.

Basically a book of essays about life and society. Does read like a slightly drunk, rambly old academic trying to write down every good idea he has ever had. One chapter veers off into a discussion of famous Danish people and another ends up discussing the history of Ikea for reasons that are slightly unclear.

Was hard work at times but enjoyed it overall. Particularly enjoyed reading about Thomas More and his wife’s strong banter skills!

But if we’re talking rom-coms in general I note that When Harry Met Sally is going to be 40… In eight years

tumbleweed

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Think I did similar, then noticed that the publication order differs from chronological order he assigns them. So you can certainly pick and choose.

Do enjoy dipping into the series every so often. Also for those with football interest you can play spot the Aston Villa reference with character names & places.

Hey everyone, can someone recommend a good place to buy second-hand books?

Trying to avoid the evil empire that is Amazon, so recommendations of ethically focused/less tyrannical second-hand booksellers would be much appreciated.

I’ve used world of books in the past and service was good and accurate descriptions of condition.

Hadn’t got any awareness of how they are as a company but overview in about us section seems good

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I’d used abebooks.co.uk but seemingly it’s owned by amazon. Can’t work out if that’s a platform thing or what, as in, if it’s just to allow smaller retailers to sell together.

Just finished The Secret History (have some thoughts for later) so went reading up about the Brat Pack authors and classmates of Donna Tartt. Only read American Psycho and Bright Lights Big City from that group (about 8 years back, but enjoyed got quite a lot), any of the others especially worth it?

  • Less than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis
  • Rules of Attraction - BEE
  • Slaves of New York - Tama Janowitz
  • From Rockaway - Jill Eisenstadt
  • Kiss Out - JE
  • Other

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Anything by BEE up to Glamorama is worth a read. The Informers is bleak but if you like the blankest elements of his fiction, they’re good.

Brightness Falls by Jay McI is worth a read.

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I like Less Than Zero, but I like pretty much anything set in LA

Booker Prize longlist:

A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta Books, Granta Publications)

Second Place, Rachel Cusk, (Faber)

The Promise, Damon Galgut, (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)

The Sweetness of Water , Nathan Harris (Tinder Press, Headline, Hachette Book Group)

Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)

An Island, Karen Jennings (Holland House Books)

A Town Called Solace, Mary Lawson (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)

No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)

The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed (Viking, Penguin General, PRH)

Bewilderment, Richard Powers (Hutchinson Heinemann, PRH)

China Room, Sunjeev Sahota (Harvill Secker, Vintage, PRH)

Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead (Doubleday, Transworld Publishers, PRH)

Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford (Faber)