HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

I am an avid reader, I have enjoyed books since I first discovered my uncles (Fiesta) Ian Fleming's CCBB.

Any recommendations greatly appreciated.

Really found the Lance Armstrong books were a good read- inspirational- i did read them before the scandal

Is it a Space book.

I've got through a few light reads on holiday...

Long Road From Jarrow - Stuart Maconie
A Very British Coup - Chris Mullen
Favourite Sherlock Holmes Stories

If you like a good long read, really involving, try the Matthew Shardlake novels by C.J. Sansom. If you fancy something lighter the Louie Knight books by Malcolm Pryce are quite funny, in a quirky way.

I've just read a series of books by Philip Kerr, collectively known as the "Bernie Gunther" novels. Bernie is the lead character, and he's a German detective. The books start out in 1930s Berlin with Bernie working for the police. The time-line moves around, not always in a linear fashion, and takes in pre-war, wartime, and post-war Berlin, France, Austria, Russia, America, Havana, and Buenos Aires. A lot of famous Nazis turn up throughout the pages, not always as peripheral characters, and Bernie pretty much hates them all equally.

Some of the slang words and expressions Kerr puts in Bernie's mouth can grate a bit, to begin with, or they did with me, simply because they seem so alien I suspect, but I've read that they are historically accurate and after a time one stops noticing them. The stories themselves are great and also meticulously researched. I'm learning a Hell of a lot about the German police, and military, of the era, not to mention social and political history. Needless to say, they cover the war years, and although the author is English viewing things from the German perspective is refreshing, and quite novel.

I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of the era and goings-on, but apparently I hadn't. Even the author's notes/afterwords are required reading. It turns out that many of the characters in the books who one has never heard of are "real" too, and the author fills in the blanks, and the epitaphs, after the book is over. I've just learned about a whole new chapter on the war, and how the constituent parts of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, etc. were involved, plus a few questions over exactly how neutral Switzerland was.

Kerr published 13 Bernie novels in his lifetime, and the 14th, Metropolis, was published posthumously following his death in March last year.
I can't recommend the series highly enough.

Nearly forgot the "Inspector McLean" series, by James Oswald. The books are set in Edinburgh, where Tony McLean is a D.I. and in each one there is a hint of the supernatural, but not enough to overpower what is, at heart, a good police procedural series. They are definitely worth a read.

G.O.T.

What an absolute peach.......Makes the movie pale.

Currently reading Billy Conolly's autobiography which is entertaining. He is an avid reader and provides a list of his favourite books from a Scottish prespective.
NB, he is anti Brexit. If it goes through he could change his views on Scottish indipendence.

CATCH 22.
Heart of Darkness.


Superb .