TBR pile?

[Diane CBPFC]

What books have you squirreled away to read this winter?

[Roger Kettle]

I thoroughly enjoyed the "Slow Horses" series of books by Mick Herron (now on TV with the wonderful Gary Oldman in the lead role). I read all eight in the space of about three weeks. VERY funny and gripping at the same time. If you don't mind some spectacular swearing, I heartily recommend them.
I've just started a book called "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" which looks very promising indeed.
All this sounds like I've been doing nothing but read for the last month but, in fact, things have been a bit hectic. We've been looking after our granddaughter  quite a lot and my sister (you may remember her on this site as Diamond Lil) has broken her hip and is currently recovering in hospital. My son and his lovely partner are expecting their first child in a couple of weeks.
It's all go.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Delighted to hear you have another grandchild on the way, Roger. Congratulations to all!

Very sorry to hear about Diamond Lil though. I've actually been putting off calling you to enquire about her for the past few days, simply because she and I are the only two left playing the Beau Peep Quiz regularly in recent years, and whereas I do occasionally forget to play, Lil very rarely misses a day. So, I was beginning to worry that all may not be well, but hoping the reason was more down to her taking a few weeks' vacation in some bandwidth-poor location, hence my delaying the phone call. Please pass on my best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery. I really miss the competition and look forward to crossing swords again soon.

As for books, I can't read them. Okay, that's a ridiculous statement, but it is also true. I used to be an avid reader in my childhood up until my mid teens, when I found so many other more interesting things to do with my spare time and hormones. By the time I got around to picking up another book however, I discovered my attention span for doing so had diminished to that of a gnat's (apologies to any gnats with exceptional focus). I found my thoughts constantly drifting after a page or two, and only able to get back on track by reading the same paragraph half a dozen times or more before it sank in.

My theory is that the fault lies in the fact most books for grown-ups don't have pictures. I tend to keep the untested theory to myself though, because any time I've tried to explain it people laugh. Mostly, because of my occupation, their first thought is that I should be able to draw my own, even if only in my mind. But that is actually the problem - I spend too much time doing just that, and my focus drifts off, as it does when I'm physically drawing anything in autopilot, so it doesn't actually matter then. Holding a story line in my head is a completely different matter.

If the books had pictures, like they did when I was a kid, I wouldn't have to spend time imagining what the characters looked like as I'd have ready-made references for that. So I don't/can't read them. But that's okay. I get by.

[Roger Kettle]

Thanks, Tarqs---will pass on your kind wishes to my sister.

[Diane CBPFC]

First off, poor Diamond Lil – that must have hurt a lot – please send her my get well soon wishes.

Second, congrats on the new grandbaby!

Tarqs – have you tried an audio book when you are doing other things such as dish washing or playing games on your phone?

Good news for you Roger “Clown Town” is book #9 – there are also I think 5 short stories – I absolutely love the humour in them, some of it can’t be translated to the screen as it is often thoughts.  I also read the 4 earlier books, the Zoë Boehm series that is now also a TV series.

Tarqs – could you link to the game – maybe we could all have another go?

[Roger Kettle]

Diane. I'm so glad you also enjoy the "Slow Horses" series. I find them an absolute joy and the latest book is already promised as a Christmas present.
Many thanks for your kind wishes regarding Diamond Lil. I will, of course, pass them on. I really appreciate it.

[Diane CBPFC]

I hope you are given the book early. Bad choice for Christmas day when you are supposed to be visiting with people and helping with the cooking etc - when all you will want to do is sneak off and read a chapter or two lol

I tried to get all my family to read this series, can't even get them to watch the TV series. Nice to know that you are a fan :-)

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

I have binge-watched the first series of Slow Horses over the past three days and am utterly hooked. Thank you both for the heads up - pushed me over the edge after being curious about the title for a while now. Terrific cast and riveting viewing. I'm off to watch Season 2 once I've posted this.

I tend to listen to either talk radio, podcasts, or music during the day while I'm working, Diane. Not sure if I can squeeze audio books into all that, but I'll give it some thought. My daughter recently recommended the audio version of Nicola Sturgeon's latest book, narrated by the lady herself, so that might be a good start for me. A few years back, that same daughter (my eldest) gave me a CD compilation of an autobiography by Chris Evans (the ginger one), also narrated by the eponymous hero, which I thoroughly enjoyed, albeit in well-spaced-out segments (or chapters as I think books used to call them). Maybe that is the way forward for me? I'll let you know if so.

The quiz link is https://www.funtrivia.com/private/main.cfm?tid=79189 - everyone welcome! :-)

[ZestyWhite]

That really is all go, Roger. Hope Lil recovers swiftly - and the same for your son's partner when the time comes. Christmas babies are an interesting thing. My youngest was born on the 20th of December (he'll be ten this year). We hosted the family for Christmas dinner five days after his birth, so that my wife could escape to her bed without us having to physically leave somewhere and travel first. Turned out that in pity, everybody left early, Ruth went to bed five minutes after they departed and I spent the rest of Christmas evening doing dishes.

I read the first Slow Horses book years ago and returned to the second one which I found on my kindle library. I must have snaffled it on some kind of deal that I don't remember.
I am also halfway through Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels. They are fantastic. If you've never read them, I can highly recommend. I believe they are being adapted for TV and Jack Lowden will be starring.

I've also found myself listening to a fair bit of comedy on BBC Sounds (some of it turns out not to be overly comedic). Cabin Pressure would be a highlight. John Finnemore's writing is really tight and laugh out loud funny.

What are you reading Diane?

[Diane CBPFC]

Autobiographies read by the authors are the best. I enjoyed the first half of Patrick Stewart's book for instance. I have never followed a podcast, I did watch those three ladies do a Derry Girls review but it was visual on YouTube so not really a pod cast. So glad you love Slow Horses too Tarqs. I can't get anyone in my family to like the show at all which I can't understand LOL

I had a go at the quiz - very hard - I got 7 right but would only have bet money on one of my answers.

Thanks for asking Zesty - I asked the question because I would really like to find another series that I could really get into. I thought Beau Peep fans may have some leads.

I read quite a mix of authors. New to me this year is Louise Penny with her inspector Gamache of Three Pines, Quebec; M.C. Beaton’s Hamish MacBeth of Scotland, and Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley. These have all been from the library and unusual for me is that I have not cared that I have not been reading any of them in print order.

The Mick Herron series is hard to beat. 

I just looked, Philip Kerr does not have a big presence in our Alberta online library so it would be a case of buying the books. But they do look interesting.

I am reading the Thomas King Thumps DreadfulWater series in order and was on book 5 (out of when I made this post – lots of funny bits and places named in southern Alberta that I know. My son is buying me the last two books in the series for Christmas. But then right after I started this thread – the shit hit the fan – at 82 years old, the author Thomas King discovered that he is not in fact part Cherokee at all and boy were the critics hard on him, the Edmonton Opera even pulled a version of his Indians on Vacation they had planned for this season.  So instead of being lost in the story as I usually am, I ended up the book feeling sorry for the author who says he feels ripped in two.