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What books are you reading?

Unsure what to buy my daughter in law at Christmas ,my son suggested as she reads a lot of medieval history, so l bought the Hilary Mantel trilogy inc the familiar Wolf Hall. Never read them myself but apparently she's hardly put them down🙂

She might like this book... :) "A Struggle for Rome" it's a relatively historically accurate but romanticized intrigue. You can look 'm all up all characters are actual documented historical persons all playing their part in ushering in the Middle Ages after the Roman empire fell apart. If i remember correctly it all happened around 545 AD.

1260 pages, and is actually a pretty good and captivating read if you like the epic writing style. Tho it's initially a 19th-century German work and I didn't read the English translation. So I have no idea how this works out in English. Also, I have no idea, if it still is reprinted and available. The one I did read decades ago was a 1968 edition from the library.


On a side note, 2 characters that play a role in the story are Theodora and Justinian 1 the rulers of Byzantium at that time. It triggered me to read also the book "Theodora by Jack Oleck".

Reportedly she was a cunning poor girl from the street using her body and intrigue to get higher up and managed to seduce Justinian to marry her and since he was a kinda sentimental weakling, she gained a lot of power. The original title says "Theodora from Curtisanes (Mistress) to Empress". Both books overlap the same time period and describe a lot of the same historical characters. A book about Girl power i guess a woman loves to read... I'm a guy and I did it's a well-written story. :thumbup:

All a bit of fiction with historical accuracy.
 
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Just started: Æthelflæd: The Lady of the Mercians by Tim Clarkson. A pleasantly academic and readable account of the life of a very remarkable women.
If you are short of time google Aethelfled Gloucester History Festival. The city commemorated her burial, (a female monarch on the throne, a female mayor of the city and a female high sheriff).

 
Just finished the latest Elly Griffiths book in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery series. If you like Norfolk this series is an evocative read where the landscape, big skies which merge with the sea, is featured as much as the characters.
She also writes The Brighton Mysteries so there is something for the Southerners.
 
just recently I have got into audio books

The first audiobook I listened to was 'The Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown. Over 16 hours of listening time. It was a long time ago and have forgotten who the narrator was could have been Paul Micheal but I'm not sure. And not sure if there is more than 1 version. But it was in English and what I really liked about him was that he portrayed the characters with different nationalities in the story with their specific correct and very recognizable accents. British, American, French, German and Italian accents. It was very well-told and very captivatingly playing with my imagination and I kept listening every evening again at bedtime for over a month.

Also
Naom Chomsky - Hegomy of survival is well worth listening to.
 
I think my first audio book experience would of been the cassette version of LOTR back in the mid 80s, it was a BBC production with a full cast and very good quality!
Now that audio books are so common, there are several styles available, most are read by a single narrator, some have two narrators and more recently, full dramatized adaptations, like the one I am listening too right now called Legends of the First Empire, that has 16 people and sound effects too!
My favorite narrator is Tim Gerard Reynolds, he is so talented!

 
Living a stone's throw away from the German border I remember the German 'Hörspiele' - 'Hearing plays' (Drama-Play usually comedy with multiple actors) on the radio from back in the day when I was a kid. That would be around and before 1970's my mother used to listen to it during household work, so I had no choice to listen also and actually one of the reasons I became fluent in German almost before I could walk. The Dutch radio didn't have it, they were rather boring with too many babbling DJs. So German radio was rather common in our area we recieved it better than Dutch radio from all the way up north.

No idea if the UK did this back then.

In 1938 H.G. Wells 'War of the worlds' was initially publically broadcasted as a Radio Play in the USA. It caused a lot of uproar and panic among listeners tuning in later without knowing it was a show and believing what they heard was actually happening in real-time. I guess that was the very first audio book ever.

 
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OOh Books, I love to read

Some Books that I will read again and again:

The Rats Trilogy by James Herbert - Have not watched the film version as it looks terrible. Really wish someone would pick this up and make the films with the justice they deserve. The Rats Trilogy (3 book series)
With a foreword by Neil Gaiman, author of Norse Mythology.
It was only when the bones of the first devoured victims were discovered that the true nature and power of these swarming black creatures with their razor sharp teeth and the taste for human blood began to be realized by a panic-stricken city. For millions of years man and rats had been natural enemies. But now for the first time – suddenly, shockingly, horribly – the balance of power had shifted . . .



One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz - One Door Away from Heaven -
One Door Away From Heaven
In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can’t find her way—until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows—or thinks she knows—forever.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - American Gods - Neil Gaiman
After three years in prison, Shadow has served his time.
But as the days and hours until his release tick away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before his release date, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances.
Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town.
But the storm is about to break ...

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini - The Inheritance Cycle

The first book in the series started when a Shade named Durza (servant of Galbatorix) ambushed three elves named Fäolin, Glewin and Arya, who was carrying a dragon egg. Only two other dragon eggs remained, in the citadel in Ilirea, renamed Urû'baen by Galbatorix. Arya attempted to send the egg to Brom, but the remaining Eldunarí, which were hidden in the Vault of Souls, a secret cave hidden on the island Vroengard, near Doru Araeba, altered the spell making the egg go to Eragon, because they believed that the egg might hatch for him (revealed in the final book), who finds the egg while on a hunting trip. A few days later, the egg hatches and Eragon touches the dragon that was inside of the egg, giving him a silver mark on his palm (the gëdwey ignasia) and making Eragon a Dragon Rider through their bond. The hatchling chooses the name Saphira from a list of dragon names Eragon recites, from Brom, to her. Eragon's cousin, Roran, leaves for a job in the next town Therinsford, to earn money so he can start a family with his beloved, Katrina. His uncle, Garrow, is killed by King Galbatorix's servants, the Ra'zac, and Eragon flees Carvahall with Brom with the intention of hunting down the Ra'zac, unaware that Brom is his father. Brom gives Morzan's sword, Zar'roc, to Eragon.



Of course the HP Books - And last summer found FanFiction - And have expanded the HP Alternate Universe and have read10 books from that. And Currently have 3 books that are going on past Chapter 480 and A 3rd Book in the Series. I like to find FF books that have over 200 Chapters that can expand and flesh out the characters and the worlds they create.
 
I am a massive fantasy fan, I read on average one book a week but, the problem when you have been doing that for 45 years, is finding new material !
just recently I have got into audio books

I’ve read David Gemmels books every year . In between historical -mainly maritime books - . I always look forward to it .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OOh Books, I love to read

Some Books that I will read again and again:

The Rats Trilogy by James Herbert - Have not watched the film version as it looks terrible. Really wish someone would pick this up and make the films with the justice they deserve. The Rats Trilogy (3 book series)
With a foreword by Neil Gaiman, author of Norse Mythology.
It was only when the bones of the first devoured victims were discovered that the true nature and power of these swarming black creatures with their razor sharp teeth and the taste for human blood began to be realized by a panic-stricken city. For millions of years man and rats had been natural enemies. But now for the first time – suddenly, shockingly, horribly – the balance of power had shifted . . .



One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz - One Door Away from Heaven -
One Door Away From Heaven
In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can’t find her way—until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows—or thinks she knows—forever.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - American Gods - Neil Gaiman
After three years in prison, Shadow has served his time.
But as the days and hours until his release tick away, he can feel a storm brewing. Two days before his release date, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in adulterous circumstances.
Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town.
But the storm is about to break ...

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini - The Inheritance Cycle

The first book in the series started when a Shade named Durza (servant of Galbatorix) ambushed three elves named Fäolin, Glewin and Arya, who was carrying a dragon egg. Only two other dragon eggs remained, in the citadel in Ilirea, renamed Urû'baen by Galbatorix. Arya attempted to send the egg to Brom, but the remaining Eldunarí, which were hidden in the Vault of Souls, a secret cave hidden on the island Vroengard, near Doru Araeba, altered the spell making the egg go to Eragon, because they believed that the egg might hatch for him (revealed in the final book), who finds the egg while on a hunting trip. A few days later, the egg hatches and Eragon touches the dragon that was inside of the egg, giving him a silver mark on his palm (the gëdwey ignasia) and making Eragon a Dragon Rider through their bond. The hatchling chooses the name Saphira from a list of dragon names Eragon recites, from Brom, to her. Eragon's cousin, Roran, leaves for a job in the next town Therinsford, to earn money so he can start a family with his beloved, Katrina. His uncle, Garrow, is killed by King Galbatorix's servants, the Ra'zac, and Eragon flees Carvahall with Brom with the intention of hunting down the Ra'zac, unaware that Brom is his father. Brom gives Morzan's sword, Zar'roc, to Eragon.



Of course the HP Books - And last summer found FanFiction - And have expanded the HP Alternate Universe and have read10 books from that. And Currently have 3 books that are going on past Chapter 480 and A 3rd Book in the Series. I like to find FF books that have over 200 Chapters that can expand and flesh out the characters and the worlds they create.

I read The Rats series whilst standing gangway watches on a ship in Portsmouth dockyard . Rats everywhere!!
Scared the living hell out of me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The best fantasy books I have read for many a year, written by Brian Lee Durfee , grim and dark, fast paced and gruesome in places, great action story.
Highly recommended if you like that sort of thing and right up there amongst the very best fantasy books available in my opinion.
All three books are available but only two on audio.
As it happens the author has a youtube channel, I wont say he is the most endearing chap, with a very dry sense of humor and a narrow minded opinion but…. he can write OK!
Amazon product ASIN B07N7JPXRS
 
  • Endurance: Shackleton's incredible voyage to the antarctic. Very easy read and I struggled to put it down!
  • Pretty much any of Randall Munros books - What if / How to - Could class these as a "toilet read" as each section is short so easy to stop/ start, great nonetheless.
 
Finished the Silmarillion a few days ago. Tolkien is a must, I re-read the main four or five titles every year. Children of Hurin, The Silmarillion, LOTR and the Fall of Gondolin. Then, Sienkiewicz is likely my favorite translated novelist, with the Teuton Knights, Quo Vadis and the Polish Hero trilogy (translated by W. S. Kuniczak, important bit there). If you know Spanish, go for Alarcon's "Narraciones Inverosímiles", it begins with a beautiful short novel/long story.

However, an aquarist's man-cave requires poetry. Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse, Ulysses by Tennyson, Las Encinas by Antonio Machado, and all the lyrics to tango and Argentine folklore. Mainly Northern and Littoral.
 
I am an avid reader and more recently also a listener with audio books.
I have found that finding really good books can be very frustrating as so many start off well and then fall to pieces after the first few chapters, or the ‘five star’ Amazon ratings are just false!

Back in the day before the internet, one would seek out books from the numerous book shops, look at the promotional posters or study the Sunday papers book review pages.

Nowadays the selection and quantity seems endless what with self publishing and suppliers like Amazon. Whereas in the good old days, each and every published book would have been subject to publishers scrutiny and proof reading!

However the best route to finding a good book has always been personal recommendation, so I am asking … what is a really good book you have read?
I have read all the 30 + David Gemmell books and slowly going through the audio versions, so I am a fan of science fantasy but, I will read any fiction that is well written and exciting.
 
I used to read a lot. But I haven’t had time over the last couple of years. Stephen Leather is an author I’ve appreciated. For fantasy novels you can’t go far wrong with Anne McCaffrey. But over the last few years, when I get chance I’ve delved in to alternative history authors such as Graham Hancock.
 
Try Goodreads - if you look up books you know you like then you can find suggestions of books people that liked those also read. It's also not selling anything so less prone to floods of fake reviews than amazon.

The graveyard book neil gaiman - that's available as an audio book. It's not something I'd usually pick to read but I enjoyed it - a video of the autor reading is online via the publisher if you want to try:
 
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