Tom Blomfield recommended Churchill biography…
I’ve recently started reading Michelle Obama’s book and I’m sadly struggling.
If I’m honest I’m wanting to get to the part with Obama and the campaign trail rather than her life as a 12 year old. But I’m ploughing through!
Feel the same about Philip K Dick. I wanted to get into his books, but even found the initial buzz in the TV series faded somewhat. Maybe me, however.
On the other hand I did get through “His Dark Materials”, my first, and probably last, venture into Philip Pullman’s work. A whole new experience, but three’s enough 
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I’ve got 36 books sitting on my Kindle that I have not read. Two options for my New Year’s Resolution…
a) Stop buying books I won’t read
b) Start reading the books I buy
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If only one resolution, go for the former. The latter will follow naturally.
Get-out clause for when there’s a book you really want to read but haven’t get bought - request it through your local library instead.
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I’ve just read The World Is (Not) A Cold Dead Place, after a colleague recommended it to me.
It’s fairly short, got through it in about 4 and a half hours. Not sure if I could recommend it, at times it’s laugh out loud funny, other times it’s face screwing-ly awkward.
A recent read I can however recommend Rutger Bregman’s Utopia For Realists. A real eye opener and page turner discussing Universal Basic Income, Migration and Free Money etc, backed up with tons of historical references and witticisms.
A taste of what’s in the book can be seen here: https://youtu.be/ydKcaIE6O1k
As someone who sees themselves as left politically, it was great to add some meat to my thinking. My old man (Blairite) agreed saying he thought it was full of great ideas and would love to see them adopted.
Next I’m going to read James O’Brien’s - How to be right in a world gone wrong, then Matt Haig’s - Notes on a Nervous Planet.
Then I’ve got a couple of other Matt Haig books to read and Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You.
Writing this has made me realise how far behind I’ve actually got!
Tonight I started a book that has been sat untouched on my Kindle for some time: Lost Conections by Johann Hari
Seems to be an extremely interesting read, from what I’ve read so far.
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My New Year resolution was to read books I have on my unread shelf. But then I moved and they are all in a box (somewhere!) so I’m nipping out to get myself something new today.
But what?
Shortlist:
- The Outsider - Stephen King
- The Nightinggale - Kristin Hannah
- Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
What are the odds I come back with none of those but another three that were on offer? 
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Because my daughter is studying them for her GCSE’s, I’m currently reading Lord of the Flies and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
After that, I will probably pick up where I left off with the Jason Bourne books.
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Hannah Green and her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith. I’ve read some of his other books and they’ve all been a pretty entertaining read for something a bit different that you just read to chill out. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the title, but it’s been a good read so far (I’m about two-thirds of the way through).
Under the Dome and Ready Player One.
Stephen King novels are always better than the movies/TV shows.
Ready Player One seems to have been filmed almost meticulously to the standards of the book.
Outsider is brilliant! Be sure to read the Mr Mercedes trilogy too.
Yeah I’ve read those ones already. Fab books!
Just finished off H.I.V.E Deadlock, rounding off the entire H.I.V.E series, last night 
There’s only 8 books but they’re so fascinating 
I can’t quite imagine a world of teenage villains being taught inside an active volcano actually existing 
so I think it’s a fiction
They’re all an excellent read, I wish Mark Walden would hurry up and release a 9th book! 
There’s soooo many cliff hangers & unanswered questions… 
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/superpage/hive-hub
It’s been 4 years since Deadlock came out but I’m holding out hope for ‘book 9’ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.I.V.E._(series)#H.I.V.E._Books
TBH I’m just waiting for the next book in Fire & Ice to come out…
Pretty sure the TV show and several other spin-offs will have been seen by then though… 
Ready Player One is by far the best story I’ve ever read, however to say I was disappointed by the screenplay would be a gross understatement. I hated it. They completely ignored the story and timeline of the book and Spielberg tuned it into an action movie with a love plot. Of course, they can’t write a movie about gaming references and 80’s music, but I didn’t expect them to take away from the whole premise of the book to that extent.
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My friend lend me Ready Player One to read for my birthday. Genuinely lent me it…
It was awesome and I was so looking forward to the film and it just fizzled, nowhere near the book.
Just finished Watership Down. Found it really slow going for the first 50 or so pages but once they got to Cowslip’s Warren it really picked up and then I couldn’t out it down.
Next up, Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell.
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For those who like a juicy thriller, can recommend Thirteen which I finished at the weekend. Nice clever plot, and whilst it’s part of a series (book 2 of 3 maybe?) I didn’t miss anything by not reading the previous book.
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Currently reading Age Of Anger by Pankaj Mishra. History/ political philosophy/ economics.
All about how democracy is giving way to authoritarianism and chauvinism tracing it back to the englightenment. It’s the kind of book that has a 27 page bibliographic essay instead of a bibliography at the end, so you know it’s not going to be an easy read 
Saying that it is very enjoyable and I like his writing style