What are you reading right now?

[Drakecula]

I've finished the book I was reading, and am going to switch to one a friend wrote. It's romance, so definitely not something I normally read, but always happy to support a friend when it comes to books.

 

[Drakecula]

Currently reading the Devil's Diadem by Sara Douglass. A medieval alternate history/fantasy novel. It's been a while since I've read any of Sara's work and I'm keen to re-read her stuff again.

 

[Skyring]

My current read is "Breakthrough Advertising" by Eugene Schwartz, a classic and penetrating look at copywriting.

I note references to Napoleonic naval fiction above, in particular the works of Patrick O'Brian. I have spent the past twenty-five years of my life in an online discussion forum - The Gunroom - where we have examined every aspect of these books in some detail, but there are always new and interesting insights to be found. I cannot recommend these books too highly, as examples of battle narratives, "man-against-the-sea" type stories, an examination of relationships especially that between the two leading characters Captain Jack Aubrey and his surgeon Doctor Stephen Maturin, an evocative description of life aboard sailing line-of-battleships, and best of all a stunning example of glorious use of the English language. These books are treasures, to be read over and over again. In audiobook format they are laugh-out-loud funny and always entertaining.

The Mote in God's Eye (also mentioned above) is another story of naval operations, this time a future space navy dealing with a first alien contact. One of several collaborations between Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, both excellent science fiction writers in their own right, this book is perhaps the best hard SF book I have ever read - and that's saying a lot.

Like others here, I have pretty much given up on hardcopy books, preferring to read them on my iPad. Not to say I don't enjoy visiting a bookshop and occasionally buying something, but nowadays it has to be something special. I have a weakness for the products of the Folio Society.

 

[Cossie]

Like others here, I have pretty much given up on hardcopy books, preferring to read them on my iPad. Not to say I don't enjoy visiting a bookshop and occasionally buying something, but nowadays it has to be something special. I have a weakness for the products of the Folio Society.

I much prefer hardcopy, something pleasurable in seeing rows of books in either a library or even a bookshop.
Whenever I visit London, the first shops I go to are Waterstones, Foyles and Stanfords books and maps.
SWMBO prefers online and I will admit it annoys me when I see receipts for kindle on the credit card statement with imo nothing to show for it!
Magazines are the same, I have had online versions, but tend to forget about them, seeing hardcopy reminds me to read them. Club magazines are the same, I’m happy to pay extra for something solid.
I often think that if I had my time again, I would have quite happily been a librarian, something nice and ordered and quiet!

Now back on topic, I’ve just bought a second hand copy of Light and Shadow, Memoirs of a Spy’s Son by Mark Colvin to add to the pile I‘m slowly, very slowly working through!

 

[Foreigner]

Catching up my readings on Tort law. I look forward to the full reasoning in the defamation case by Ben Roberts-Smith, to be delivered next week.

For anyone interested in the judgment summary delivered yesterday, it's here:

Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 41) [2023] FCA 555 (Summary)

www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au

 

[Skyring]

I much prefer hardcopy, something pleasurable in seeing rows of books in either a library or even a bookshop.

Weeel, I like a good hardcopy, especially when there are images or maps, but I spent most of my life buying increasingly bigger houses to store my books in and let's face it most of them get read once and then set on the shelf.

Reading to a child pretty much demands a hardcopy and my daughter and I have a stock of good books for that purpose

My reasons for moving toward tablets for reading are:
1. Storage. Especially when travelling.
2. Cost. I source my ebooks from places like Library Genesis.

Having said that, I'll be lugging a dozen kilos of books over to Europe in a little while. BookCrossing.com hasn't quite embraced the notion of non-physical books!

 

[mrsterryn]

eReader all the way.
Love them. I can read and promptly download another. Borrow from my local libraries. I still have so many paperbacks (Dr Who, Star trek, Torchwood ) and they are never read anymore.

 

[Katie]

Finished L Plates by Madonna King on my way home from the US. Highly recommend to parents, family, or carers of teen girls in Australia, 15-18yos especially.

 

[VPS]

I much prefer hardcopy, something pleasurable in seeing rows of books in either a library or even a bookshop.
Whenever I visit London, the first shops I go to are Waterstones, Foyles and Stanfords books and maps.
SWMBO prefers online and I will admit it annoys me when I see receipts for kindle on the credit card statement with imo nothing to show for it!
Magazines are the same, I have had online versions, but tend to forget about them, seeing hardcopy reminds me to read them. Club magazines are the same, I’m happy to pay extra for something solid.
I often think that if I had my time again, I would have quite happily been a librarian, something nice and ordered and quiet!

Now back on topic, I’ve just bought a second hand copy of Light and Shadow, Memoirs of a Spy’s Son by Mark Colvin to add to the pile I‘m slowly, very slowly working through!

I did enjoy the Mark Colvin book Ebooks are ok for travelling but prefer hard copy. I’m a big library user

 

[love_the_life]

I did enjoy the Mark Colvin book Ebooks are ok for travelling but prefer hard copy. I’m a big library user

People are different - my books are all eBooks now and I have seriously cut down. Mark Colvin's Light and Shadow was an interesting read but knowing of his death was quite sad.
I like to read before sleep (and I know the light from an iPad is supposed to be bad but stiff). My mini iPad is much easier to handle in bed than a hard copy book. I have tried off and on recently but it just doesn't work. That said, I am very stingy and have a large collection of free books from the past - many 'light' ones like Dorothy Sayers and Earl Biggers but also Hemingway and the like - before sleep don't need anything heavy.

 

[Cossie]

People are different - my books are all eBooks now and I have seriously cut down. Mark Colvin's Light and Shadow was an interesting read but knowing of his death was quite sad.
I like to read before sleep (and I know the light from an iPad is supposed to be bad but stiff). My mini iPad is much easier to handle in bed than a hard copy book. I have tried off and on recently but it just doesn't work. That said, I am very stingy and have a large collection of free books from the past - many 'light' ones like Dorothy Sayers and Earl Biggers but also Hemingway and the like - before sleep don't need anything heavy.

Ah yes, I had forgotten the details of the last few years of his life, very sad, I do have a good memory of his voice though and remember him from the JJ years in the seventies.

Also on my bedside table is Njinga by Kate Leeming, she rode a pushbike through a lot of Africa. Kate Leeming - Wikipedia

Dunko, about Ross Dunkerton, an Australian rally driver, I even get a mention, but it is factually incorrect.

Elephant Complex, John Gimlette, travels in Sri Lanka. John Gimlette - Wikipedia

Readme.txt, think most people will know who wrote that.

Plus Growing Grapes Might Be Fun, Deidre Macken.

I will get through them all, one day………

Problem is I keep getting sidetracked by this forum and others…….

 

[LostRedditor]

Currently reading The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch. Not far enough in yet to make a recommendation but I do enjoy his work generally

 

[VPS]

People are different - my books are all eBooks now and I have seriously cut down. Mark Colvin's Light and Shadow was an interesting read but knowing of his death was quite sad.
I like to read before sleep (and I know the light from an iPad is supposed to be bad but stiff). My mini iPad is much easier to handle in bed than a hard copy book. I have tried off and on recently but it just doesn't work. That said, I am very stingy and have a large collection of free books from the past - many 'light' ones like Dorothy Sayers and Earl Biggers but also Hemingway and the like - before sleep don't need anything heavy.

Dorothy Sayers are always great to go back to

 

[Drakecula]

I too prefer hard copy, as the photo of my library will attest, but I do also have a collection of e-books as they are so handy when travelling. Much easier to lug a tablet around than a suitcase full of books.
I like the idea of book-crossing. I often swap books in and out of the little street libraries near me if it's a book I want to read but don't necessarily want to keep. I try and keep to my collection development policy (heh) for what I keep and what I don't. It's very hard to weed though.

 

[RooFlyer]

Just landed ... Birds of Tasmania. A sumptuous book containing paintings by Sue Lester and text by Bob Green. Amazing story behind it.

Sue Lester was an amateur natural history artist. In the 1980s she was commissioned (on a retainer) by Tasmanian businessman and minor media mogul Edmund Rouse to paint 200 watercolours of Tas birds for some milestone of his company. He then got put in the clink for attempting to bribe a politician but she finished the job while she was in jail. Gave them to him/his family.

Media empire collapsed of course, and the paintings got lost. Devastation to the artist.

There were found by accident 10 years or so later (just before Sue Lester died) and a local group has just published it. Large format, hard cover, 320pp, $125!!! (its now post-publication and almost sold out) Birds of Tasmania / Susan Lester | Projects | OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights

 

[Drakecula]

Oooh that's gorgeous!!

 

[RooFlyer]

just noticed the streaking over it all. That’s an artifact of the photographs, not in the book

 

[Foreigner]

Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 41) [2023] FCA 555

2,618 paragraphs to read:

https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/media/tearout-excerpt/17234/BRSjudgment.pdf

 

[Drakecula]

I've had a flurry of busy work with work, which somehow translates to me not wanting to read for pleasure as much. (I don't know how my brain works either). But I'm on book three of the trilogy now, slowly making progress. One of the locations within the book is LA, which I will be visiting soon so I'm paying closer attention! Though admittedly the book is urban fantasy, so I'm unlikely to see demons and faeries on my visit...

 

[Cossie]

Stopped at Berkelouw Book Barn near Berrima this afternoon, picked up some more books on Broome and pearling to add to the reading list.
Could spend days in there.