the great urban75 2016 reading challenge thread

[billy_bob]

Best book ever written ever.

I don't know if I'd go that far but it was certainly very, very good and likely to stay with me. The reason I asked for recommendations for his science fiction work is that he writes with real insight into human emotion and interaction, something that even the best SF writers too often subordinate to the Big Ideas (looking at you, Philip K. Dick...)

 

[Orang Utan]

1/60: Misha Glenny - McMafia
2/60: Chris Hadfield - An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
3/60 Peter Goes - Timeline
4/60 Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation
5/60 Ben Crystal - Shakespeare On Toast

not doing very well so far

 

[May Kasahara]

1/50 Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation
2/50 Justin Cronin - The Twelve
3/50 Neil Oliver - A History of Ancient Britain

4/50 Jeff Vandermeer - Authority

Totally gripped by this - a black comedy of workplace manners, a study of personal failure, and a completely terrifying Lovecraftian nightmare all in one. Can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

1/50 The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Provence -- Martin Gayford
2/50 The Boxcar Children -- Gertrude Warner
3/50 The Delizia!: The Epic History of the Italians and their Food -- John Dickie
4/50 Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X -- Deborah Davis.

5/50 White Trash Zombie Gone Wild - Diana Rowland
6/50 Dead to Me - Anton Strout

 

[Pickman's model]

3/50 a.j. smith, 'the red prince'

4/50 giles milton, 'russian roulette'

 

[Orang Utan]

1/50 Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation
2/50 Justin Cronin - The Twelve
3/50 Neil Oliver - A History of Ancient Britain

4/50 Jeff Vandermeer - Authority

Totally gripped by this - a black comedy of workplace manners, a study of personal failure, and a completely terrifying Lovecraftian nightmare all in one. Can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy.

Just read Annihilation - it's well creepy - i'm not sure i have the imagination to imagine what happened in it though

 

[May Kasahara]

Just read Annihilation - it's well creepy - i'm not sure i have the imagination to imagine what happened in it though

Lots is made clearer in book 2 and P tells me more answers appear in book 3.

I love that I haven't been able to second guess the plot at all.

 

[Voley]

1/10 My Story - Steven Gerrard
2/10 Ancient Sites In West Penwith -Cheryl Straffon
3/10 Execution Sites Of Devon And Cornwall - Richard Peirce
4/10 Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights - Salman Rushdie
5/10 Pegasus Descending - James Lee Burke
6/10 The Story Of Kullervo - J.R.R. Tolkein
7/10 Walking The Himalayas - Levison Wood

 

[yield]

1/10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - Beautiful melancholia

 

[D'wards]

1/20 - Peter Straub - Ghost Story
2/20 - Duncan Falcolner - First Into Action
3/20 - William Gibson - Neuromancer

 

[boohoo]

1/30: Hard Work by Polly Toynbee

I aim low as I just don't get the time.

2/30 Growing Up In Hollywood - Robert Parrish

Interesting read. (I do have about three other books on the go too!)

 

[boohoo]

1/50 Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation
2/50 Justin Cronin - The Twelve
3/50 Neil Oliver - A History of Ancient Britain

How was the Neil Oliver? Was tempted to get that.

 

[May Kasahara]

How was the Neil Oliver? Was tempted to get that.

I really enjoyed it Very accessible, lots of moments of wonder but a real sense of connection to the history and the landscape.

 

[Pickman's model]

4/50 giles milton, 'russian roulette'

5/50 jo nesbo, 'blood on the snow'

 

[Pickman's model]

lots of moments of wonder

 

[May Kasahara]

Yes, like the opening credits of that - swelling music, awestruck face etc. But with real knowledge as well.

 

[marty21]

1/60 The Lost Starship - Vaughn Heppner.
2/60 The Lost Command - Vaughn Heppner
3/60 The Lost Destroyer - Vaughn Heppner
4/60 The Lost Colony - Vaughan Heppner
5/60 Why it is still Kicking Off Everywhere - Paul Mason
6/60 The Lady From Zagreb - Philip Kerr

 

[boohoo]

I really enjoyed it Very accessible, lots of moments of wonder but a real sense of connection to the history and the landscape.

Cool - I think I will get a copy.

 

[Voley]

Cool - I think I will get a copy.

I like the sound of that too. Stuck it on my library list. I know he comes across as a bit of a prat with his fucking hair and all that but I usually learn some interesting stuff from his telly programmes.

 

[May Kasahara]

The book is enlivened by his obvious passion for ancient history - it's made me warm to him a lot more.

 

[Voley]

The book is enlivened by his obvious passion for ancient history - it's made me warm to him a lot more.

Yeah I get that from his programmes too. Will give this one go, May, ta. I've just really got into exploring all the antiquities around my way and I could do with some historical context.

 

[inva]

1/51 - Multiculturalism and Its Discontents by Kenan Malik
2/51 - Slade House by David Mitchell
3/51 - The True History of Merlin the Magician by Anne Lawrence-Mathers
4/51 - SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

 

[iona]

1/15 Foundation - Isaac Asimov
2/15 Edge of Infinity - ed. Jonathan Strahan
3/15 The Suicide Club - Robert Louis Stevenson
4/15 The Lurking Fear - H. P. Lovecraft
5/15 The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack - various
6/15 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
7/15 Midnight Sun - Jo Nesbo
8/15 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill
9/15 The First Science Fiction Megapack - various
10/15 The Death of Grass - John Christopher
11/15 Descent - Ken MacLeod
12/15 Butch is a Noun - S. Bear Bergman
13/15 Wolf - Mo Hayder

 

[chainsawjob]

1/35 Elizabeth is Missing – Emma Healy
2/35 Demetia Essentials – Jan Hall

3/35 The Moonlit Garden – Corina Bomann

 

[crossthebreeze]

1/12 - The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

2/12 Communal Luxury: The Political Imaginary of the Paris Commune by Kristin Ross
Gave me a much better understanding of the Paris Commune - what the participants thought about it, and how the struggle influenced political thought by both the survivors and Marx, Kroptkin, and Morris.

3/12 Eric by Shaun Tan
Quirky picture book

 

[ringo]

The book is enlivened by his obvious passion for ancient history - it's made me warm to him a lot more.

Never read anything by him because I find his TV presenting style so annoying, but if this is worth a look I might have to give him another chance.

 

[inva]

1/51 - Multiculturalism and Its Discontents by Kenan Malik
2/51 - Slade House by David Mitchell
3/51 - The True History of Merlin the Magician by Anne Lawrence-Mathers
4/51 - SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
5/51 - Double Bind: The Muslim Right, the Anglo-American Left, and Universal Human Rights by Meredith Tax
6/51 - The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck

 

[braindancer]

1/30 - In the Shadow of Crows - David Charles Manners
2/30 - The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K Le Guin
3/30 - The Word for World is Forest - Ursula K Le Guin
4/30 - The Wind Up Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
5/30 - Plainsong - Kent Haruf (Lovely stuff - bought after seeing some love for it on here - will have to read the others in the trilogy)

 

[Pickman's model]

5/50 jo nesbo, 'blood on the snow'

6/50 david kilcullen, 'blood year'

 

[Orang Utan]

1/60: Misha Glenny - McMafia
2/60: Chris Hadfield - An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
3/60 Peter Goes - Timeline
4/60 Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation
5/60 Ben Crystal - Shakespeare On Toast
6/60 Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wall-Paper