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What are you reading these days?

Darkagesound said:
I started Ulysses by James Joyce on Friday. Planning to read one chapter a day. Reading it alongside Harry Blamires' The New Bloomsday Book. Pretentious, I know, but it has sat on my shelves for many years and this year marks the centenary of its publication, so it's now or never!
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I must have read Ulysses over 50 times, first as a (rather baffled) teenager with a paperback copy from Queen's university bookshop, then at university with a bit more understanding (in David Lodge's seminars), and subsequently numerous times. I'd like to be able to read it again as though it was the first time.

By the way, RTE have a very good spoken version, freely available here, which is a good companion to reading the text.
 
I gave up on Danny Orbach’s Fugitives as being too dull to continue. This is shaping up better:

 
Venice, the Lion, the City and the Water by Cees Nooteboom.
A superb dip into Venetian history, culture and art.
Written in a style that is almost poetry.
 
narabdela said:
Why does it say ''England in the Early 21st Century'' on the cover, while also showing the British flag several times? o_O
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I’ll have better idea when I’m deeper into it but on closer examination, two are worn/carried by English athletes at the London Olympics and two are carried by BJ hanging from a zip-line.
I’ll report further when I’ve read more.
 
Tantris said:
By the way, RTE have a very good spoken version, freely available here, which is a good companion to reading the text.
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Thanks for the link. I've had a quick listen and I might revisit it. I have to confess though that I'm much happier reading the text than listening to it read, I become impatient as I can read it far more quickly than it is read on the podcast.
 
This:

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is hilarious. Or it would be if it weren't so worrying. Andy Borowitz, resident satirist at The New Yorker, expertly skewers US politicians, with many wonderful quotes (my favourite so far, by a professor on Dan Quayle - "When I looked into his eyes, I could see the back of his head"). He starts with ignorant pollies trying to sound intelligent, and is progressing to the present day, when intelligent pollies try to sound ignorant, a necessity for Republicans in the age of Trump.
 
Vintage Port, by James Suckling

Well researched and written. Extensive and detailed tasting notes. Have read only 65 pages so far of this thick volume, and it already looks like this will be the best in my library on the topic, despite it being dated (1992, 1st ed). But, then, most of the V. port that ends up inside me is fairly ancient.

The book is a mine of info and insight. I can't imagine why it has been downgraded in G.B. as something of a joke. The joke is on us, not on Mr. Suckling.
 
Guitar Beard said:
Just finished reading 1984
One of those books I never got round to reading until now. I found the book chilling in its use of 'fake news', manipulation, threat and fear of others, all put together in a society designed solely to give power to a small elite with no accountability.
I never realised it was actually the Brexit manifesto - albeit written 67 years before the vote.
Well worth a read although I found the writing style a bit ponderous at times and would skim the odd page of waffle, flashback and overly described concepts. For those reasons I did find it hard going and would probably have stopped reading it half way through if it wasn't for the fact British politics seem to be currently modelled on it, and I wanted to get to the end
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If you like books which are eerily prescient regarding present day politics try Robert Harris's Cicero series, described by some as the best historical fiction out there.
 
Bootleg!: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Recording Industry.

Just started on this - I've got as far as the early opera bootlegs and the first Dylan bootlegs in 1969. Lots of interesting stories from the people involved.

Amazon
 
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mjw said:
The Bernhardt Gunther character has got the hook in me so straight on to no.5.
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Yes, I too enjoy the Gunther character. Philip Kerr was a great storyteller - I've read most of his books. The mood/settings he created were very special.
I also rate Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" series - particularly the early novels.
 
@mellow_yellow, I’m very late to the party and only discovered Gunther this year, and then only because I got the first three as a 99p kindle deal and I enjoy the irreverent cop in a city writing prob as much as I did Rebus.
If you enjoy these grubby characters try also Luke Mccallin’s Gregor Reinhardt.
In the Smiley vein Charles Cumming writes well.
 
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