UKC

What are you reading at the moment? (Not at this second in time, so no smart arse "UKC" answers, please!)
What have you last finished reading?
What is next on your list?

Mine:

1) Shantaram by G.D. Roberts and I'm also reading The Linguistics of British Sign Language, an introduction. Oh I also have Boy in the striped pyjamas on the go (it's a good size for bath time reading, the other two are too large!)
2) Psycho Vertical, Andy K
3) A few Thomas Hardy books, Thin White line by Andy C, a few other library books

How about you?

In reply to Flicka: Your post

In reply to Flicka:

1) Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
2) Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
3) Pavel & I by Dan Vyleta

In reply to Flicka: an email from rocktalk : (

In reply to Flicka:

Coda by Simon Gray
Devil may care by Sebastian Faulks
Waiting for the final Katherine Kerr Deverry cycle book/thinking about getting the DS lite book thing, with 100 classics on it.

In reply to Flicka:
Learning to breathe

In reply to Flicka:

Shantaram is one of the best books i've ever read...thoroughly enjoyed it and looking forward to the film.

Just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Unsure where to go next:

easy - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
funny (hopefully) - Me:Moir by Vic Reeves
v.sad - Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
inspirational - Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Ranuplh Fiennes

In reply to Flicka:

The Book of the Bivvy by Ronald Turnbull

and

James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet

In reply to Flicka:
Thats a 3rd thumbs up for Shantaram !

Just finished Blaze by Stephen King this morning and am now reading Wit'ch Fire by James Clemens

In reply to Flicka:

How Genius Failed - The story of the rise and downfall of Long Term Capital Management

Very good book about how a hedge fund that couldn't fail did

In reply to PDL:



Ditto!

Also Chronicles - Bob Dylan, The Xmas Judge Dredd Megazine and several Peak Guide books from the 60's

;0)

In reply to Flicka:

Reading:

Beinn Eighe: The Mountain Above the Wood (Laughton-Johnston & Balharry)

and I'm looking (and drooling) at the pictures in

Scotland's Coast: A Photographer's Journey (Joe Cornish)

In reply to Flicka: i just started eiger direct by haston and gilman, also been reading hermann buhl climbing without compromise by messner and hofler. i started boardmans shinning mountain after reading savage arena but had was going away fot a month and BT omni was too bulky for going away so had to put it down and just havnt picked it up again

In reply to Flicka: book about Chris Hoy and the success of the olympic team is good if you like cycling, andrew morton's 'history of britain' is being read over a period of about 8 months now, as is 'spiritual compass' by satish kumar. waffles a bit but it is a reasonable philosophy to have in life.

I'm terrible with fiction as most stories fail to grab me, but maybe I'm just reading the wrong fiction.

In reply to PDL:

thought that was a great read mixing climbing and life really well. in fact the miner stuff was probably what I got most from it.

In reply to Flicka:

"A student of Weather" - Elizabeth hay

Just finished "Through Black Spruce" - Joseph Boyden

Will go on to "A thousand spledid suns" - Khaled Ohmed

In reply to Flicka:

Not long finished Let my people go surfing by Yvon God Chouinard. Very inspiring if a bit like a manual and re-reading every patagonia catalogue I've collected over the past 20 years (yes I still have them). I'm going to give it to my boss for the director's bookshelves, then nick it back when I leave.

Now reading The Discovery of France by Graham Robb. Enjoying it enormously. I like the popular provincial prayer, in common use 'til the early 20th century: "(God), grant us deliverance from Satan, sorcerers, rabid dogs and 'justice'."

I must make an effort to read more. I went on a book buying binge before xmas (I'm like a reformed alcoholic when in bookshops) and have a long queue now.

In reply to Flicka:
Thinking about starting Alain Robert's book.

In reply to Removed User:


you've reminded me that I was going to make a reading list. i made a new year's resolution not to buy any books this year and had broken it by January 6th with a copy of the Lonely Planet New Zealand guide...

In reply to Flicka: Short answer, a selection of climbing guides Novels and Skills books from trad through winter and the first everest ascent.

One of the guides has ticks in it from 1952!

In reply to Flicka:

Findings by Kathleen Jamie, which seems good so far.

In reply to Queequeg:

oh I loved that! I remember a slightly odd moment on an aeroplane earlier this year, reading the chapter about when she went to the medical museum outside Edinburgh (?), about little foetuses in jars, and meanwhile these twin toddlers on the plane just wouldn't stop crying no matter what their parents did. It was one of those strange moments of parallels.

In reply to Flicka:

Beevor's history of the Spanish Civil War (if ever there were a conflict that both sides deserved to lose...) and something by (mutter) Bernard Cornwell. I can't help but feel like I ought to read some serious fiction again, but haven't the attention span.

In reply to Tall Clare:

That's a bit unnerving! I haven't reached that bit yet, but I'll try to read it away from spooky children

In reply to Flicka:

The Scar by China Mieville (sp). Taking me ages (started it 2 months ago and maybe 3/4 of way through) but enjoying it.

Also a couple of back issues at climber (read those at lunchtime, read the novel in bed).

In reply to Sarah_Clough:

One of my favourites, make sure you read Perdido St. Station as well if you haven't already.

In reply to Flicka:

Reading;
mountains of the mind
a short walk in the hindu cush
the who's who in british climbing
engleby

just read;
stop!in the name of pants

next;
memories of a chemical boyhood

exiting stuff!

In reply to Flicka: Britain 3000 BC
Hiding from the Light by Barbara Erskine
an herbal gardening book

In reply to Flicka: Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky. Bit of a downer at the moment, so I'm hoping it lightens up a little.

Last book I read was Jude's wank-pamphlet, Mother in Law Son in Law (because I was proof-reading it for her).

Next book I'll read is probably gonna be Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr, although if Crime and Punishment leaves me depressed I may not be able to handle it, so might opt for the lightweight kiddie-froth of The Hobbit.

In reply to Flicka:

'Lovely She Goes' by William Mitford - story about an Arctic sea trawler and sent to me by Daithi who posts on here.

'Classic Rock' - Got it for £20 from Leakeys in Inverness and it's in really good condition.

In reply to Flicka:

Just finished:
'The Wild Trees' by Robert Preston and
'The Spiral Staircase' by Karen Armstrong

now reading
'Learning to Breathe' by Andy Cave (how original).I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected to and I cannot put my finger on why. I think it might be something to do with his style of writing, but I don't know. It is interesting, and I will certainly finish it, but...

Possible next read:
'Mountaineering in Scotland' and 'Undiscovered Scotland' by WH Murray or 'The Northern Lights' by someone whose name I cannot remember (not Phillp Pullman) - the rest of my Christmas books - or Nick Clarke's biography of Alistair Cooke which I aquired from a colleague who was giving books away!

Or I might go back to trying to learn German. (I read on the train to and from work and at no other time, more or less. So if I want to learn more German I have to stop reading books.)

In reply to Flicka:

At the moment Doris Lessing's autobiog part 1. Also just finished reading Psychovertical. Next is Doris Lessing part 2.

In reply to Flicka: Just finished 'Learning to Breathe' by Andy Cave - good read, I'd recommend it.

In reply to Flicka:

"The Inner Skier" - seems to be making a difference too

In reply to Flicka: just finished What was lost by Catherine O'Flynn, not sure what to start next

In reply to Flicka:

Current: The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Last: The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Next: hmmmmmm tried Jeromes autobiography, but apart from the early stuff in poverty in the East end, the rest is name dropping. *Might* have another go or possibly a history of Agincourt.

In reply to fimm:
I was thoroughly underwhelmed by 'Learning to Breathe' I suspect I was over-influenced by the hype and it fell some way short of expectations.

My current reads are 'The Ministry of Special Cases', by Nathan Englander, and 'Alasdair Gray - A Secretary's Biography' by Rodge Glass.

The former is a gloomy and doomy tale of the Argentinian junta, and the latter is a delightfully affectionate portrait of Scotland's finest living novelist.

In reply to Flicka:
Been on holiday so I've just finished reading:
Red Dog by the captain correli chap.
The earth and sky of Jacques Dorme by Andrei Makine
The pigeon by Suskind
Waiting for the barbarians by Coetzee
The Toyminator by Robert Rankin
The great transformation by everyone's third favourite old nun, Karen Armstrong
The long tail, by some eejit.
If on a winter's night a traveller by Italo Calvino
No country for old men by Cormac McCarthy
Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin.

Which is a lot of different things to have happening in your head all at the same time. The prize definitely goes to Rankin, although the toyminator wasn't quite as good as Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

In reply to Flicka:

Just finished Psychovertical, I guess I am not alone in it being a Christmas present, best climbing book I have read in a while.

I am just about to start Affluenza by Oliver James.

I have been trying to read a few different novels, but struggled to get into any of them, these include Tokyo Year One by David Peace and The Book Thief. The last novel I read and enjoyed was The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

In reply to Flicka:

The Silent World - Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Only just started. It is charmingly written with a real sense of wonder and discovery and enthusiasm, infused with a dry wit. Lovely second edition from 1954, 99p in a charity shop!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My parents have a copy of that and I'll quite often dip into bits of it when I'm home, and look at the photos. I love going into charity shops for books - you never know what you might find.

In reply to Flicka: Just last night finished Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - brilliant.
Started some Tobias Wolff short stories, but may go onto a book of modern India history.

In reply to Flicka: 'White Spider' at the moment with 'The Beckoning Silence' waiting in the wings.

In reply to Flicka: Tyndale's Old Testament Commentry on Genesis...

In reply to Flicka:

This Game of Ghosts, Joe Simpson

Next on the list are:

Higher than the Eagle Soars (Path to Everest), Stephen Venables

A thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

In reply to Flicka:

Just finished reading :

The Shack - William P.Young
It's actually a really good book, more philisophical than religious.

I'm now reading:

Return to Tibet - Heinrich Harrer

In reply to Flicka: the ukc forum

In reply to Flicka:

'The Talking Ape- How Language Evolved'. Given how nasty, brutish and short life was, I can't help thinking that the first human words ever uttered were almost certainly 'Oh shit'.

In reply to Flicka:
Just read "Engleby" by Sebastian Faulks (I think), really good, and "Cloud Atlas" by erm, his name escapes me, also enjoyed it. Both incidentally donated (posted from Wales to Spain) by UKC member Superted.
A great gesture, thanks a million.

In reply to 999thAndy:

Is this a good book? Its been on my bookshelf for a year and still not read it as others always seem to take precedence?

In reply to Leelogs:

I enjoyed it. Its not your usual whodunnit, and is a good advert for Botswana and her people. One thing that did grate after a while was the authors formality regarding names: hardly ever is anyone addressed by their forename, its usually Mrs x or Mr y. Funny, and touching in parts too. it

In reply to Flicka:

From project gutenberg:

Sherlock Holmes

and have just read The 39 Steps, after watching the recent BBC version...

In reply to Flicka:

About 100 pages into "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill.
An impulse buy but proving pretty good so far.

In reply to Flicka: Just finished "Vessel of Sadness" by William Woodruff, very thought provoking and beautifully written.

Now getting stuck into "a slender Thread" by Stephen Venables

......Well i have to do something at work!!!

In reply to Flicka:
1) nemisis: the battle for japan 1944-45 (max hastings) it's just getting to the interesting bit with the B-29's
2) seven ancient wonders (matthew reilly) - fiction about a treasure hunt for a golden capstone that once was atop the great pyramid, across the world to stop 1000 years of power/rule by one nation.
3) the next in the matthew reilly ones

In reply to Flicka: Just finished Psychovertical, braking into Philosophy of risk (jeff connor) about Dougal Haston interesting so far. the rock warriors way (ilgner) just as a bit of aditional reading for course.

got lots on the shelf that need to be read so the aim is to dig into those next.

In reply to Flicka:

Skinners Festival by Quentin Jardine. Like a posh Taggart. Bomb goes off at Edinburgh Festival. Scottish terrorist group who want a free and seperate Scotland are responsible. Not my usual kind of book but started reading it at the cottage we were staying at and got quite engrossed. I shall post it back when finished.

Last read a book on NW Scotland.

Don't know. There are a few I fancy. One new one on the history of St Kilda written by an islander, one on the life of a famous Scottish monk and sort of Betsy Whyte style ones written by another traveller documenting their lives in the first half of the 1900's.

Nation by Terry Pratchett for the 4th time and Omerta by Mario Puzo

In reply to Flicka:
Just started reading the 39 steps.
The Heart of Darkness was the last book I've finished, but that was a while ago, and there has been a failed attempt at For Whom the Bell Tolls since (which I don't get, as it's so easy to read but keeps getting interrupted). Next, I have no idea, but Charlie Wilson's War has been on my shelf unread for ages so maybe that.

In reply to caseyfather:
It is good isn't it? And quite unlike anything else he's written.

In reply to Flicka:

(Not at this second in time, so no smart arse "UKC" answers, please!) you got me so I'll be sensible:

Mainly: a collection of Articles by John Sherman (the american climbing columist) and the draft prospective BMC Froggatt to Black Rocks Guide, in between time finishing Tom Jones.
Last read Psychovertical (last novel The Blind Assassin).
Next not sure yet.

In reply to Flicka: I'm slowly ploding my way through the Boardman Tasker Omnibus, inspirational stuff!

In reply to Flicka: Just finished (thanks to long bout of flu) 'Hell & High Water' by Alastair MacIntosh ('the personal is political' analysis of global warming), 'Maps of My Life' by Guy Browning (a witty account of childhood), and am halfway through 'A Book of Silence' by Sara Maitland (an exploration of wh it means to live a less noisy more contemplative life). And today I couldn't resist buying Salman Rushdie's 'The Enchantress of Florence' half-price from the WH Smiths at Sheffield train station (where I went to pick my bike up from lost property).

In reply to Flicka:

1) Lee Smolin 'The Trouble with Physics'
2) Jim Perrin 'The Villan'
3) lots of browsing about how to remove chromatic aberation from digital pictures if you DON'T own a copy of Photoshop this that and the other!

I always have the standbys of:
x) Roger Penrose 'The Road to Reality' (1168+ pages of maths that really would go at about E12!)
y) D Hofstader 'Godel, Escher, Bach...' (singularly brilliant mind bender)

PP.

In reply to Flicka:

Just finished "This thing of Darkness - Harry Thompson" which is closely based on the real events of 1828-65 and follows the life of Admiral FitzRoy and Charles Darwin. It's a novel rather than a biography. I found it partictularly good and very much appreciated the end notes which describe some of the uncertainties, license and assumptions made by the author.

No idea what to read next.

In reply to Flicka:

"World Without End" Ken Follett. It's the sequal to "The Pillars of the Earth"

Light and thoroughly enjoyable reading and much easier than "Mein Kampf"

In reply to Flicka:

Recently read The Shack
Also the whole of the Twilight series
Currently reading Brisingr
then will be reading The Host by Stephanie Meyer

In reply to Pauline:

What color is your jockstrap? edited by Jennifer L.Leo

(Travel tales to cure any winter wanderlust and appreciate the humdrum of the daily routine..)

In reply to Mooncat:


Cheers, I think I will do!

In reply to Flicka:

I tried reading the first biography by Richard Hammond but couldnt get into it, so have binned that and have now started on Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman



So far in, only a few pages, and it's lookin good! :oD

In reply to Flicka:

Notionally I'm currently reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, but I'm slowly losing the will to listen to any more 'compelling arguments against god' which essentially consist of long deconstructions of the relationship between the Russian church and state in the 19th Century, and people going "bad stuff happens to children, ergo there is no god". Hmmm, I think me and Dostoyevsky are just destined not to get on.
I'm also slowly reading Jim Perrin's biography of Menlove Edwards when I can't face any more Russians.

The last book I finished was Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks. It was very good.

Once I finish/abandon Dostoyevsky I have a wide selection of mountainy books to go at: Feeding The Rat, Conquistadors Of The Useless etc etc.

In reply to victim of mathematics:

Currently reading Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut and have just started the first book in the Lifeship series by Robin Hobb.

Recently finished Andy K's Psychovertical (which was good, but I've read other mountaineering stuff I prefer).

Other books currently awaiting my attention are American Psycho, To The Poles Without a Beard, and Chris Bonningtons Everest.

Also want to try and get hold of a copy of Savage Arena by Joe Tasker and Conquistadors of the Useless (thanks for the reminder VOM) - but my local library is crap. So need to remember to keep an eye out for them online.

Si

In reply to victim of mathematics:

Hmmm!!!! I was thinking of having a go at Dostoyevsky once I reached a break in my book line-up, am now not so sure! I have enjoyed the Russian literature I've read so far. Oh, that's another book I'm in the middle of: Doctor Zhivago. Picked it up because some history lectures on the Russian Revolution etc sparked my interest...am about half way through but got side-tracked. Also, I own it (it was turfed at me by a Great Uncle) so keeps getting shoved aside in favour of more pressing library books.

Feeding the Rat I really enjoyed back when I read it.

In reply to Leelogs:

There's going to be a film?
Anyway, am enjoying it the more I read...

In reply to Flicka:

Crime and Punishment is a brilliant brilliant book. I've got The Brothers Karamazov and the Idiot on my bookshelf, and I'm thinking about taking one of them for my forthcoming farcically long flight.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Yeah, read C and P, had to for my degree. I was in the secondhand book shop recently and nearly bought The Brothers Karamazov. So I suppose "a return to Dostoyevsky" would have been more accurate in my previous post!

I might be going away for the summer, to work in the Dolomites, if I do I will need to sort myself out some books to take with me. Really long ones so I don't have to take so many!!

Hmmm all this book talk, I'm now tempted to head secondhand bookshop-wards... must resist the temptation....!

In reply to Flicka:
just started Psychovertical (last night!),
also got Two caravans on the go by that Ukranian tractor woman

Just finsihed The Northern Clemancy and thought it was far too long, unconvincing and a bit dull

In reply to Flicka:

'3 cups of tea' by Greg Mortenson - true story about a guy who fails to summit K2, wanders into a village off the Baltoro glacier and ends up building schools in northern Pakistan, promoting the education of girls. Amazing read.

In reply to Flicka:

I saw Doctor Zhivago as a re-run at the cinema a few months back, and enjoyed it. Saw it once, years ago, and forgot what an epic it was! We went to the cinema straight from work and didn't get out until about 11pm, lol.

In reply to Removed User:


Got it delivered from Amazon today. Looks great!

I'm reading The Next Horizon by Chris Bonnington.

Its inspirational and motivates me to get out climbing.

In reply to Flicka:

Just finished your copy of This Game of Ghosts
also reading Amazon (Bruce Parry), Andy Cave's 2nd book (at hte mo in teh car so will have to start again I think), and a few thriller novels donated by my father.

In reply to Flicka: the villain the life of don whillans

In reply to Flicka: err, your post

In reply to Flicka: I'm reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky (doesn't give his first name). Just got to the bit where he cracks the old gal over the nut with the axe.

Bit downbeat so far.

In reply to Flicka:

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami.

More accessible (so far) than Kafka on the Shore (which I enjoyed but felt I was missing something).

In reply to BrianT:

Fyodor. He used to knock about with loons as a kid and his old man was an angry old piss'ead. Right miserable bugger.

In reply to Cerulean:

Imperial Life in the Emerald City : Inside Baghdad`s Green Zone.

Quick precis : Bush and his absolute shower of cnuts really screwed up Iraq, post invasion.

In reply to Flicka:

Currently reading - Jodi Picoult - Second Glance,

On my to be read list,

Dawn French - Dear Fatty,
Charlie Boorman - By Any Means
John Boyne - Boy in the striped Pajamas
Searching for Schindler - Thomas Keneally

Jess.x

In reply to Flicka:

I am reading Psycho Vertical. apart from the family break up, it is comically reminiscent of my own childhood. How we managed to survive is beyond me.

I am also nose into:

Paradise Lost - hard work but rewarding

Tomaz Humar by Bernadette Nolan or somesuch,. A bit dry but interesting getting in to the psyche of an east European climber

Descent into Chaos: Pakistani politics and west - Ahmed Rashid. A really intriguing insight into the Taliban, Islamism, the West and the ISI by someone who is considered to be outsdie the Pakistani "elite" and a rogue journalist i.e. - he tells it straight.


Next in line is Liberal Fascism by Joanh Goldberg

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

I know women are the king of kings (or queen of queens) when it comes to multi-tasking and the like, but how can anyone read more than one book at a time?!?!

If I get any distraction from another book, it causes all sorts of confusion and cross book shenanigins/story line mix ups!!

In reply to Bingly Bong:

it's easy - just takes a bit of practice

In reply to Flicka:

1) Psycho Vertical
2) The Selfish Gene
3) The White Spider

In reply to Flicka:

If I roll a 1 or 6 I'll tell you, if however I roll a 2 or a 5 I'll not tell, if on the other hand I roll either a 3 or a 4 then I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you...

...

...

...

...

...

...

You're in luck, sort of.. it's a 5!!!

In reply to Flicka:
"Thanksgiving" by Michael Dibdin. He is such a marvellous writer that I am going to start reading his Aurelio Zen sories, even though I am not really inspired by the thought of Italian police procedurals.

In reply to Flicka:

Well, I read Nick Clarke on Alistair Cooke, which was interesting, and I'm now reading "Four Ways to Forgivness" by Ursula le Guin.