What are you all reading

Just thought I would start a new thread to find out what everyone is reading. I love to hear what is being read Lesley

he Reapers Are The Angels by Alden bell. got it from the library.
I started it last night in bed and couldn't put it down. It's basically the tale of one young woman who has been alone for 15 years in a post apocalyptic world. there are zombies in it too which I didn't expect I thought it would be like Cormac Mc Carthy's Walk . Anyway I'm enjoying it.
I've just finished Nameless which was a Kindle cheapy about a psychopath and that was good too.
What are you reading lesley?

sorry. the Cormac Mc carthy book is The Road -excellent stuff.

On the subject of reading, I visited the Central Library in Liverpool yesterday which reopened last year after being renovated, wow, it's certainly worth a visit.

So modern, so many people on computers. My favourite room was the Picton Reading Room, it's like going back in time. The way libraries used to be so quiet, it's round and filled with thousands of old books and newspapers. Loved it.

I have just read David Jason's autobiography,"My Life"....it was very good. I have also just read A WEEK IN WINTER" by Maeve Binchy, and really enjoyed it. I am now reading "The Water's Lovely" by Ruth Rendell and am hooked on it!

I always have one book on the go downstairs and another upstairs to read in bed. Just started Mersey View by Ruth Hamilton. Only a few pages in but it seems like it's going to be good.

re reading 'THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS' john wyndham didn't realise what a good read it is

blackrodweaver - I remember reading The Day of the Triffids at school. That was a hell of a long time ago.

Irene - I have A Week in Winter - but have not got round to reading it yet.

kathpressy - I am not reading anything at the moment. I am pondering what to read next. I have a couple of crime books waiting but I can settle down.

Lesley,you will enjoy A Week in Winter; it's really good.

Hard Twisted by C.Joseph Greaves [never heard of him. I picked it at random from the library because I liked the cover of a man and woman walking down a long road. it's set in the depression USA. A 13 yr old girl is living rough with her dad and they meet up with this guy, then the dad goes missing. Apparently it's based on a true story.

I'm reading The Traitor by Kimberley Chambers, the wife just finished reading it and talked me into it, I have to say though its good.

lesley I read the day of the triffids at school you didn't go to aspull sec school as well did you

I am revisiting 'The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan', by Paul Doherty. Historical Murder Mysteries set during the regency of John of Gaunt (1376). Although murder mysteries they also have a kind of bittersweet humor with them as Athelstan deals with his god-fearing and yet fallible congregation.

Paul Doherty wrote the first 7 books under his pseudonym Paul Harding.

Paul Harding

Paul Doherty

Thanks for that information cadfael, I think he is a fantastic writer, but I have only read his Hugh Corbett mysteries, and his Canterbury Tales of Murder and Mystery. Now I can look forward to reading more of his books.

Just downloaded 12 years a Slave onto my Kindle. it was one of their cheapies. the film was very good so I'm looking forward to reading the real account

Just started a book called Paperboy by Tony Macauley. It's about when he was a paperboy in Belfast in the seventies, during the Troubles, and I'm really enjoying it. Besides all the nostalgia from the seventies, it's very well-written and very funny! It's his first book but he is a talented writer with a natural gift. I got it from the library but am going to buy a copy to keep. Funnily enough, I have ANOTHER book called Paperboy but it's by Christopher Fowler, who is an established author, and that too was a library book that I enjoyed so much I bought a copy. DO try the Tony Macauley one, Wigan World readers!

50 Shades of Gray

Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe. A true "laugh out loud" book. Apparently Sharpe was deported from South Africa, in part because of the racist portrayal of the police?

Hi blackrodweaver - no I went to Mornington Road Sec. Mod. Hindley Green. It was probably a required reading book during a particular year and all the schools read it. It is such a long time ago.

The Frozen Dead by Bernard Minier [library but a new one]
Cracking read. It's set high in the Pyrenees. there's a murder. there's also a prison /hospital built into the mountainside which houses Europe's worst psychos and serial murderers. Scary place and a young psychiatrist has just arrived on a years placement. Go find this if you like a good page turner!

Dr Sleep by Stephen King. The boy from the Shining is now an adult "in Tune" with a young girl who has the same gift.. But the baddies are coming!!!

Regularly read The Bible.

Bedtime reading is Lee Child's The Killing Floor.
After hopping off a Greyhound bus to pursue a whim, Jack Reacher is arrested and charged with murder. After an attempt on his life while being held over the weekend in a state prison, Reacher is interested in just clearing his name and getting out.

I love jack Reacher in the books. he's so cool. Tom Cruise didn't match up in the film.
Just read Lone WoLf by Jodie Picoult. A man is left in a permanent vegetative state after a car accident and his children can't agree what to do next.All her books are good.

I agree with all that is said about the Jack Reacher novels. Pure hokum but a bloody good read IMO

I am currently busy devouring all of the John Grisham novels, and what a consistently classy and knowledgeable author he is.

I was chatting with jarvo on Saturday night and both of us agreed that however good the film/series/acting might be it all starts with the imagination of the writer.

What a gift!

Oooh. strange things afoot, builderboy.
I finished the latest Grisham , Sycamore Row a couple of weeks back having done all but a couple of his back catalogue;
and on hols last week just took my first bite of any Lee Child/ Jack Reacher novel-Tripwire - picked up from Beech Hill book exchange.

I am listening to the Jack Reacher books in audiobook form at the moment... currently listening to Running Blind (aka The Visitor), enjoying them so far.

the Plantagenets by Dan Jones-very good not a stuffy history but very readable.Prior to that 1356 by Bernard Cornwell an excellent 100 years war adventure.

My lad has just acquired 2001,2010, 2031 and 3001 for me.

For those that don't know 2001 A Space Odyssey was the Arthur C Clarke science fiction book that was turned into a pretty famous film.

2010 was a sequel that was also turned into what was an awfully less famous film that starred Roy Scheider.

The other two? I don't know so I will just have to read them!

I have just read two really good books:-

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline - a fictional story based on the "orphans" that were moved around America in the late 1800's - 1900's.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. A novel based on the true story of the last woman to be hanged in Iceland.

Both really good books. I couldn't put either of them down.

I will look for them on my kindle Lesley!
I don't read Sci Fi builderboy. I enjoy films though so I don't know why books don't appeal.

Reading books by Tony Warren, who created Coronation Street. He is excellent.

Just started Phantoms by Dean Koontz. A doctor returns to her small town home with her young sister. Everywhere is deserted apart from 2 bodies, black with bruises. She tries the phones - dead - but she feels someone is listening...it's very scary!!

I have read a fair amount of Dean Koontz, but he has an enormous body of work to get through.

I find him totally eccentric, but his books have strangely compelling quality about them.

I have about 20 on the Kindle, but as I am a John Grisham devotee for a while they will just have to wait.

Fifty Shades Darker.

oooh cindy!
I'm reading Tsunami Countdown by Boyd Morrison. it's a great thriller. A massive tsunami is heading towards Hawaii. They only have 1 hour warning. Highly recommended if you enjoy thrillers.

Not a fan of chick-lit, but I recently read PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern because someone had given me their copy, I cried from start to finish and I believe there is a film starring the gorgeous Gerard Butler....

Not really reading, listening to Bookat Bedtime radio 4.James Joyce's The Dubliners. Interesting enough to read the book.

You're Mine Now by Hans Koppel.
it's a bunny boiler about a woman who has a brief fling with a younger man then he won't take "No" when she says she loves her family. It's a good read but I can't have much sympathy for the silly woman getting herself into such a mess in the first place!

My Wife is reading A book called The Liverpool Road By Katie Flynn, Its About the Leeds Liverpool Canal it mentions Peel Hall Ince & Top Lock Aspull.

Just finished The Abominable by Dan Simmons. I bought it from Tesco - 2 books for £7. This one is 700 pages so great value. It's set in 1925 after Mallory goes missing on Everest. A group go looking for another missing climber and also hope to make an attempt on the summit.There is loads of historical facts and details of how mountaineers managed back then, and a gripping adventure thriller. Highly recommended! 10/10

I have just read Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett. I enjoyed them both so much that I thought I would invest in the DVDs of the mini-series of each, and watch them when I am on my jollies. If they prove to be half as good as the novels I will be well chuffed.

I have also just finished 2031 by Arthur C Clarke and have 3001 lined up next.

I never got around to Pillars of the Earth after it was passed to me. The size put me of because I like to read in bed but after managing to hold a 700 page-er I think I should give it a go. I've not heard a bad review about it.

Kath

Get a Kindle - they are extremely user friendly and ideal for bedtime reading.

Oddly enough you embark on a Kindle book not knowing how many pages there are.

If, after half an hour, you are still only 1% through the book you know you have picked up a weighty tome.

Both of the Ken Follett books are 700 or more pages but both are real page turners in my opinion.

I'm currently quarter of the way through Follett's Fall of Giants which I understand is the first book of a trilogy.

If it proves to be as good as it currently seems to be,no doubt I will be getting the other two installments.

I have a Kindle builderboy. if you look on the page when buying, near the bottom left it tells you how many pages. I always look after ending up with a couple of short stories or Novellettes. I had a real book of Pillars of the Earth and it ended up at the charity shop. Yes Kindles are great for bedtime reading.

Currently reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, its beginning to get a bit creepy now - a bit of a mystery going back in time.

I like creepy. I'll lok for that one beryl

I have available free of charge :-
Five hardback books in good condition.
Written by Jean M. Auel and called 'Earth's Children Series'.

The Clan of the Cave Bear
The Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone

The above is a 5 part ongoing story of a young girl Ayla who is orphaned as a child after an earthquake . She is of Cromagnon stock and is found and brought up by Neanderthals.
The story is set 35000 years ago during the interstadial, a warming trend during the Wurm glaciation of the late Pleistocene Epoch (I sound really clever don't I?) .
The subject is nothing less than what life was like then, at a time when the Earth was still a place of huge glaciers and moving land masses and mankind evolving slowly as both Neanderthal and Cromagnon Man.
There are some fairly descriptive passages of an explicit sexual nature, so not for the faint hearted

I can deliver if necessary (within reason) either to your door or to a 'meet up', or you could pick up from Chez Rays.

Good stories - someone will enjoy those. I like to share books around!

Cheers Kath .
I hope somebody takes up the offer.
I will advertise on 'The Other Place' if no takers on here.

well I can't see why people wouldn't take you up on good freebies. I would if I lived closer.

Anyone read Captain Corelli's Mandolin? I bought this when the film came out with Nicholas Cage (never seen it) over 10 years ago but have never opened it - is it worth it LOL?

never fancied it...

VG, give Captain Corelli's Mandolin a whirl . It's any easy read, light hearted with a bit of humour.

just reading the count of monte cristo , I know the story but surprisingly never read the book . just read lone survivor about that failed American seal mission , very good .

Mo Hayder's new book is out tomorrow - the latest in the Jack Caffrey series! can't wait!

just got 3 Peter Robinson books from the charity shop all in the inaspector Alan Banks series great writer good books

Fifty Shades Freed.

I only read the first one cindy. just ley me know if she ends up with him or not

Kath They are Married at the moment.

If you want a good chuckle try a Gervase Phinn book. He is an ex teacher and school inspector and his books are about his exploits when visiting junior schools. chuckle and a good few belly laughs.

I read that one and enjoyed. It is a bit like the James Herriot books.
Also read Captain Corelli, a little heavy on history to begin with.
Film poor adaption.

Tell you what - the OFSTED inspectors who came into our school never had a sense of humour and they never made me laugh!!

Try Gervase Phinn then kathpressey - you might find him an exception

well i'm sure there must be one human within that motley bunch of sadists!

I've just finished reading FIRE STRIKE 7/9 by SGT Paul 'Bommer' Grahame and Damien Lewis,
Its a true story of our forces in Afghanistan, this particular unit are the JTAC'S the guys that call in the air strikes, Its one of the best books I've read about our Forces oversea's

Stephen King's new one Mr Mercedes. A change from his usual stuff but a good read and I liked it because the hero is 60 and retired

Another one with a retired elderly hero. Major Pettigrew's last stand. A fairly gentle tale I read after hearing it on book at bedtime.

Kath they are still married with 2 children, Happy ending

I like happy endings!

Kathpressey..there is a message for you over on 'People' under the 'Wallgate'thread from B.Toohey.

OK ta x

iam just going through the SHARPE sagas,if you like gory stories then these are for you.

They always seem to appeal to men - more swashbuckling type stuff> I've never read one.

Robert Mitchum biography..then Robert de Nero when I've finished that.

Ive just finished Longy: Booze, Brawls, Sex and Scandal - The Autobiography of the Wild Man of Rugby League and really enjoyed it. Then i have moved onto The Wigan Hammer: The Autobiography by Steve Taberner, this is also proving to be a great read.

Was Longy really the Wild Man of RL? he always looked a bit soft to me

to be honest i think he just never thought through what he was doing, to much money, a certain amount of fame and to little good advice, although i don't think he would of listened to the advice bit.

Just finishing off the road to Wigan Pier

ah, a classic. I have it on my shelf and although most books get recycled to the charity shop I keep this one. I keep tlling my sond they should read it

just been given the Railwayman book got the DVD but I think I must read the book first.

I have just finished reading I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. I couldn't put it down. Even though it was over 800 pages long it was a really good read. Would definately recommend it but not if you are a bit squeemish.

I might have a look for that as an ereader because big books are awkward in bed!My library does ebooks now which is great.

Pure by Julianna baggott. It's the first of a trilogy and I'm now after the second. This is a post apocalyptic story where the lucky ones {Pure] live under a dome and the unlucky {Wretches] Do what they can to survive outside. I thought it was a cracking story and well recommended!

Just finished reading 'Of Marriageable Age' by Sharon Maas
a wonderful story placed mainly in India and Pakistan starting during the time of the British rule and on till about 1970. a story of 4 people and how they are linked with each other. I shall keep an eye out for future books by this lady. Excellent read.
Following the comments of others I also recommend Kindle (other e readers are available) for ease of reading and such a light weight

just finished the Bernard cornwell THE SHARPE SERIES
got to find another new author.

Just finished The bodyguards Story..Trevor Rees- Jones..
Diana,The crash and The Sole Survivor..and Geoffrey Shryhanes
Potted Guide to the History of Wigan..old photo's and history
dating back to the 13th century..very interesting.

the last one sounds good,

Just finished, The Wigan Hammer: The Autobiography by Steve Taberner which is truly a great book.

I'm now on Naming Jack the Ripper by Russell Edwards, which is also good.

I read about The Ripper story in the paper. it sounds good. Is it the one where he got DNA from a shawl?
momac - mum used to give me a Geoffrey Shryhane book every Xmas. I'll have to se if I have the Potted Guide or is it a new one?

Kath,I got mine from Beech Hill Library..it says inside, first published 1994..any books that you get from this library are
yours to keep if you want..I just leave a donation,and I've taken loads of my books for them.

That's a good idea momac. Our libraries haves sales every so often to clear out old books. There is a new book out about the Ripper. This guy bought a shawl found by a body and managed to get DNA from it . This was tested with the DNA of one of the supects descendants and so he thinks he's nailed who the Ripper really was.

Kath,I've read about that somewhere..didn't it turn out to be
a Polish immigrant.

Yes. it wasn't the Royal

Hi Kath yes its the one where dna allegedly proves who jack the ripper is, its so far a very good read

The Missing One by Lucy Atkins.Top read! - a woman's mother has died. She also suspects her marriage is over so on impulse she takes off for Canada to find out what she can about her mother's early years.. some things are best left..
Now reading The Strain because I'm loving the TV series!!

I've just finished the first two books in a series by the WIGAN author Paul Finch ( son of Brian Finch ) - These are 'Stalker" and "Sacrifice" - can't wait to read book three.

I've never heard of Paul Finch although the titles ring a bell.

Just finished I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. Big book but had me hooked from the first page. The Potted History of Wigan sounds good. I have some of his books from years ago so I must have a look if it on the shelf

DUST--by patricia cornwell

Not A Drop to Drink and a follow up For a Handful of Dust.By Mindy McGinnis.
Lynn is guarding her pond day and night. Times are hard! in the second book she sets off walking to California from Ohio in search of a better life. Life doesn't get any easier and it's a long walk!
2 great stories. perfect for passing a winter's afternoon.

just started Guy Martins autobiography

Currently reading Stephen Baxter's "Ultima" aftre reading "Proxima"

Pretty tasty Sci-Fi stuff

Not reading, but watching -
Scary performance from Paddy Considine in 'Dead Man's Shoes'! Would YOU mess with him?

the railway man,