Books

[pullhard]

Fancy reading a book about Grifters/Con man, in the same vein as The Hustle / Oceans 11.

Did you ever read the old Simon Templar books?

No, any decent?

[LeoMc]

Fancy reading a book about Grifters/Con man, in the same vein as The Hustle / Oceans 11.

Did you ever read the old Simon Templar books?

No, any decent?

They are a bit dated but an easy read of the good guy cons bad guy type.

[Main Street]

I'm at nr 6 in the Serge A Storm series  by Tim Dorsey.
Mad stuff altogether, biting social satire and funny as hell, though it took me until the 3rd book before I got my head around Serge.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/41742-serge-a-storms

[ziggy90]

Fancy reading a book about Grifters/Con man, in the same vein as The Hustle / Oceans 11.

There's one out there called Yellow Kid Weil. About a real life character who's supposed to be the inspiration behind the film "The Sting". Sorry, can't remember the author's name.

[Dinny Breen]

Have revisited the Fantasy series Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan after 12 years.

Fairly epic series but really enjoying and looking forward to how it all finishes up. Jordan had died before he completed the series but left notes for his wife and a novelist Brandon Sanderson to complete.

Hmmm. Let us know what you think when you're done.

It will be after Christmas I suspect only starting Book 8 today, the 'Hmmm' has me worried but I am committed to finishing it.

Well that was a commitment and a half 11,916 pages containing 4,410,036 words. I will miss it. Brilliant, tedious, annoying and epic. That Dragon Reborn eh!

[StephenC]

Have revisited the Fantasy series Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan after 12 years.

Fairly epic series but really enjoying and looking forward to how it all finishes up. Jordan had died before he completed the series but left notes for his wife and a novelist Brandon Sanderson to complete.

Hmmm. Let us know what you think when you're done.

It will be after Christmas I suspect only starting Book 8 today, the 'Hmmm' has me worried but I am committed to finishing it.

Well that was a commitment and a half 11,916 pages containing 4,410,036 words. I will miss it. Brilliant, tedious, annoying and epic. That Dragon Reborn eh!

Good man Dinny. Glad you got through it. I was a bit disappointed with how it ended but it was always going to be hard to close all of the stories that were opened.

I've read a bit of Sanderson's stuff since. The Stormlight Archive is as good as I've read in a long time.

[Dinny Breen]

Have revisited the Fantasy series Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan after 12 years.

Fairly epic series but really enjoying and looking forward to how it all finishes up. Jordan had died before he completed the series but left notes for his wife and a novelist Brandon Sanderson to complete.

Hmmm. Let us know what you think when you're done.

It will be after Christmas I suspect only starting Book 8 today, the 'Hmmm' has me worried but I am committed to finishing it.

Well that was a commitment and a half 11,916 pages containing 4,410,036 words. I will miss it. Brilliant, tedious, annoying and epic. That Dragon Reborn eh!

Good man Dinny. Glad you got through it. I was a bit disappointed with how it ended but it was always going to be hard to close all of the stories that were opened.

I've read a bit of Sanderson's stuff since. The Stormlight Archive is as good as I've read in a long time.

The ending was somewhat romantic but enough death to keep me happy

Yea I will check out that book, I thought Sanderson brought a sense of humour that was missing in the previous books and his style was very quick if perhaps a bit rushed.

[lurganblue]

I've been ready quite a lot of historical fiction of late and most of them have been pretty decent.  I started with a few of the Sharpe books (liked the TV series years ago) but continued with "Two Brothers" by Ben Elton (set in Nazi Germany). I also just finished two John Boyne books, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain, and The House of Special Purpose.

The boy at the top of the mountain is a little like the Boy in the Striped Pyjama's in that it is WW2 seen from the eyes of a child. Excellent book.

The House of Special purpose is set during the Russian revolution.  The love story aspect can be annoying but as an insight into Russia at that time I enjoyed it.
Anyone any recommended books in this genre?   

[Billys Boots]

Philip Kerr's series of novels in relation to Bernie Winters are set before and after WW2 - noir in outlook, Bernie is a police detective in Berlin who falls foul of the Nazi regime, loses his job and sets about becoming a private detective (sort of ...) in Nazi Germany.  Brutal and funny - I loved them. 

Amazon links, might be more descriptive. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_4?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=philip+kerr&sprefix=phil%2Cdigital-text%2C185

[seafoid]

Amusing ourselves to death by Neil Postman.
Written 30 years ago and prophetic

[Harold Disgracey]

Will echo BB's recommendation and also suggest the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin, set in the 19th century imperial court.

[Canalman]

Give the Sherlock Holmes books a go. A while since I read them, a bit dated in its writing but excellent books/ stories all the same.

[Tony Baloney]

Philip Kerr's series of novels in relation to Bernie Winters are set before and after WW2 - noir in outlook, Bernie is a police detective in Berlin who falls foul of the Nazi regime, loses his job and sets about becoming a private detective (sort of ...) in Nazi Germany.  Brutal and funny - I loved them. 

Amazon links, might be more descriptive. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_4?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=philip+kerr&sprefix=phil%2Cdigital-text%2C185

Does Schnorbitz feature heavily?

[Billys Boots]

Will echo BB's recommendation and also suggest the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin, set in the 19th century imperial court.

Yes, indeed - brilliant craic. 

[Billys Boots]

Philip Kerr's series of novels in relation to Bernie Winters are set before and after WW2 - noir in outlook, Bernie is a police detective in Berlin who falls foul of the Nazi regime, loses his job and sets about becoming a private detective (sort of ...) in Nazi Germany.  Brutal and funny - I loved them. 

Amazon links, might be more descriptive. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_4?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=philip+kerr&sprefix=phil%2Cdigital-text%2C185

Does Schnorbitz feature heavily?

Absolutely.