What are you reading right now?

[kookaburra75]

After reading Cormac McCarthy had passed away recently I decided to return to reading more of his books. I read The Road several years ago, and to be honest, I was exhausted after finishing it. Great book, but his writing draws the soul from you.

I've finished the first two books of The Border Trilogy - All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing - and like The Road, exhausting to read, but the stories and his characters are so engaging. Just one to go.

 

[Cossie]

Canberra, Kingston, Book Cow say they have a copy.

$70 in Canberra, had a quick look, my favourite shop doesn’t get a mention, https://www.foyles.co.uk/ but Berkelouw Book Barn in Berrima does. Berkelouw Book Barn Bookshop & Cafe

Think I‘ll wait a while.

Meanwhile, I saw this place mentioned in todays Traveller section (SMH), looks good for when next in London. Daunt Books - Independent Booksellers. Buy books, bags and gifts online and in store.

 

[VPS]

$70 in Canberra, had a quick look, my favourite shop doesn’t get a mention, https://www.foyles.co.uk/ but Berkelouw Book Barn in Berrima does. Berkelouw Book Barn Bookshop & Cafe

Think I‘ll wait a while.

Meanwhile, I saw this place mentioned in todays Traveller section (SMH), looks good for when next in London. Daunt Books - Independent Booksellers. Buy books, bags and gifts online and in store.

I love Daunt Books and also Berkelouw but haven't been there for years.

Foyles is another favourite

 

[Drakecula]

NLA bookshop has a copy, but also $70. I get a staff discount though!
Maybe I can find a copy while I'm in the states next week? If you'd like, Cossie?

 

[drron]

Thanks to @drron I became aware of the fact that life in Bhutan wasn’t allegedly one of the happiest countries on earth for some Bhutanese, regardless of what the government and some travel agencies tried to portray.

Anyway, just ordered this book: Bhutan to Blacktown by Om Dhungel after reading a review in todays smh.

”I lost my possessions, my salary, my status, my career, my country. And in that fall, I gained everything.”

And in a coincidence , though maybe because Facebook spies upon us , this organisation came up in my feed. In Launceston I did go to a couple of their meetings in the Inveresk hotel in Invermay Launceston. The food was rather good and all cooked by the Bhutanese.

http://www.bkbat.org.au/?fbclid=IwAR3NHtnp2d3CFLL_R2AHC38VLjjYNjzDSsvs5SV1Ms7jc7e1Om-081O3t7w

This also was on their Facebook feed. I did hear many worse stories than this from the refugees. It is a bit long and not exciting but does portray the inhumanity of the Bhutanese authorities.

 

[Cossie]

NLA bookshop has a copy, but also $70. I get a staff discount though!
Maybe I can find a copy while I'm in the states next week? If you'd like, Cossie?

Hi, pm sent, thanks.

 

[TheRealTMA]

This is a wonderful piece of work.

The Phoenician Sonnets - Mediterranean Mysteries along Ancient Trading Routes

Phoenicians are amazing. Sea farers, artisans and entrepreneurs from Lebanon around 1000 BCE, they had bit parts in the Bible, Homer and Egyptian and Roman history then pop out of ancient books on great adventures, spreading trade and ideas across the Mediterranean and contributing to the...

www.avidreader.com.au

 

[VPS]

To help you reading, may have a look at this:

150 Bookstores You Need to Visit Before You Die

One of my local favourites made the list! The Book Cellar at Foxhunters Return

@Cossie @Drakecula I've just put in a request for my local library to purchase it

 

[VPS]

And this morning an email from the library

Hello VPS,

We have ordered 150 bookstores you need to visit before you die by Elizabeth Stamp, we are uncertain when it will arrive from the publisher but we will request it for you once it does.

Kind regards,

I should also post this in the things I like thread

 

[Drakecula]

Okay, so yes, I made it to some bookshops on this trip, including The Last Bookstore in LA.

I did not find 150 bookstores you need to visit before you die (sorry Cossie), but I bet this one is featured in that book. VPS you'll have to report back once you borrow it from your library.

 

[Drakecula]

I recently read Tom Felton's book - Beyond the Wand, which shares his experiences as a young actor focusing of course on his Harry Potter experiences. I was very close to taking it with me on my recent trip to the US, where I ended up bumping into Tom at the Qantas First lounge in Sydney. If only I had! I could have got it signed!

But now I'm currently reading The Tropic of Serpents, the second book in the Lady Trent memoir series. It's fantasy fiction, from the perspective of a woman from what feels like Victorian London. As a young girl she was fascinated with dragons and natural history, two things distinctly not lady like. Nonetheless, she manages to pursue her dreams and the books are a look back at her adventures. Lots of fun so far!

 

[drron]

Rereading my Japanese texts with 4 trips to Japan in the next 8 months.

 

[VPS]

Just found this list

The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

From Agatha Christie's ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ to Gillian Flynn's ‘Gone Girl'

time.com

I've probably read over a third of them and Gone Girl is one of those books that I resent the time spent on it

 

[Drakecula]

Just found this list

The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

From Agatha Christie's ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ to Gillian Flynn's ‘Gone Girl'

time.com

I've probably read over a third of them and Gone Girl is one of those books that I resent the time spent on it

I've only read one on that list - Rebecca. But that could be because mystery isn't my usual genre. I've seen a few movie adaptations of the books listed there though

 

[VPS]

I've only read one on that list - Rebecca. But that could be because mystery isn't my usual genre. I've seen a few movie adaptations of the books listed there though

Wow only one but you chose a great one - I love all of Daphne Du Maurier's books

 

[VPS]

This is me

 

[kookaburra75]

I just finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North. A fascinating sci-fi/alternative history book.

 

[ellen10]

Just discovered this thread.
So much catching up!

 

[Drakecula]

I am still reading my series about dragon naturalist historian - but I recently got Matthew Reilly's latest, Mr Einstein's Secretary and I'm keen to read that. But I know I gotta stick to the one series and finish before I get stuck in to the new book. I'm looking forward to the Christmas break where I can catch up on my reading

 

[Cossie]

Now reading this:

Server Busy

IN SEARCH OF FATIMA: A Palestinian Story by Ghada Karmi

Karmi, a doctor and founding member of the British political group Palestine Action, relates her quest for cultural identity aft...

www.publishersweekly.com

In Search of Fatima

Born in Jerusalem, Ghada Karmi and her family were forced out of their home in 1948. They shared the fate of the thousands of Palestinians who, in the Nakba, were dispossessed and driven from land lived on for generations. In this moving memoir, Karmi charts their journey from Jerusalem to...

www.versobooks.com