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      Something Wicked This Way Comes...   10/09/2019

      The Autumn Supporter Giveaway!       Welcome to the very first of the seasonal BCF supporter giveaways! This month also marks one year since I took on the forum, so I want to say an extra huge thank you to all of you for keeping this place going. I have a little bit more to say about that later but, for now, let's get to the giveaway!     The Autumn Giveaway winner will be getting two Penguin Little Black Classics, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and To Be Read At Dusk by Charles Dickens. Both of these little books contain three atmospheric short stories, perfect for autumnal evenings. The winner will also get Mary Shelley tea (a lavender and vanilla black tea) from Rosie Lea Tea's Literary Tea Collection (https://www.rosieleatea.co.uk/collections/literary-tea-collection) and a chocolate skull, to really get that spooky atmosphere .   and...   A special treat for a special month. The winner will choose one of the following recent paperback releases from the independent bookshop Big Green Bookshop:       The Wych Elm by Tana French A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan Melmoth by Sarah Perry The Familiars by Stacey Halls  The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White   The winner will be chosen via the usual random selection process in one week. Patreon supporters are entered automatically. If you aren't a patreon supporter but you'd like to join in with this giveaway, you can support here: https://www.patreon.com/bookclubforum.   I really hope you're all going to like this introduction to the seasonal giveaways. It's been a lot of fun to put together. Other chocolate skulls may have been harmed during the selection process…     
Brian.

Brian's Book Log - Ongoing

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2016 was the worst reading year I have had since I joined this site back in 2010. I've been incredibility busy this year both at work and at home and struggled to get into any book at times. Despite this, I still should have managed more than 27 books for the year. I have set myself a target for 2017 of 30 books and if I don't manage to make that landmark I will be very disappointed. I'm not going to set any other targets, I just want to read more and enjoy doing it.

 

My ebook TBR is around the 300 mark and the physical one is around 150 at the moment so I really shouldn't buy any more books until I have read some of what I have. As usual though, I will allow myself grace when it comes to using the library and not set any limits on that.

Edited by Brian.

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Have a great reading year in 2017, Brian. Your TBR is of a similar size to mine, though I think you have slightly more physical books. Here's to both of us reducing our pile!! :D

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Happy Reading in 2017. :)

 

Gosh, I haven`t even thought of adding up my e-book TBR. :hide:  My Tree book TBR is scary enough. ;)

Edited by Little Pixie

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I hope 2017 is a much better year for you reading-wise than 2016 was!  :empathy:  I wish you will find many wonderful literary gems this year :smile2: 

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FIrst book finished this year, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. In this book Duhigg looks into the science behind habits, how they form, how they affect the brain, how new habits develop and how they are changed. I went into the book hoping for a guide on how to change bad habits but as it turns out this is a very complicated matter. There is a general guide towards the end of the book but its more a case of personal experimentation than a hard and fast 'to do' guide.

 

I found the book to be fascinating and a really enjoyable read.

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FIrst book finished this year, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. In this book Duhigg looks into the science behind habits, how they form, how they affect the brain, how new habits develop and how they are changed. I went into the book hoping for a guide on how to change bad habits but as it turns out this is a very complicated matter. There is a general guide towards the end of the book but its more a case of personal experimentation than a hard and fast 'to do' guide.

 

I found the book to be fascinating and a really enjoyable read.

 

Off to take a look at that one. :)

 

I read Gretchen Rubin`s Better than Before last year, which I`d recommend for habits. :)

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FIrst book finished this year, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. In this book Duhigg looks into the science behind habits, how they form, how they affect the brain, how new habits develop and how they are changed. I went into the book hoping for a guide on how to change bad habits but as it turns out this is a very complicated matter. There is a general guide towards the end of the book but its more a case of personal experimentation than a hard and fast 'to do' guide.

 

I bought this one over Christmas, so I look forward to reading it. Sounds like there's no quick solution for breaking habits though.

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Finished book numder 2 for the year last night on my flight home. It was another Len Deighton, this time The Ipcress File which was adapted into a movie starring Michael Caine. I haven't seen the movie but now that I have read the book I will be searching it out.I think this was the first book written by Deighton and although it was an enjoyable read I didn't think it was as good as the others I have read which are the first 2 in the Bernard Samson series.

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Great review!

 

I really must go back to Len Deighton. My dad had the "Game, set and Match" trilogy, and they were some of the first "adult" books I attempted to read.

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Finished book numder 2 for the year last night on my flight home. It was another Len Deighton, this time The Ipcress File which was adapted into a movie starring Michael Caine. I haven't seen the movie but now that I have read the book I will be searching it out.I think this was the first book written by Deighton and although it was an enjoyable read I didn't think it was as good as the others I have read which are the first 2 in the Bernard Samson series.

 

Hi Brian, good luck with your 30 book goal, I am sure you will manage that. 

I haven't read The Ipcress File but i have quite recently watched the Michael Caine film and Funeral In Berlin and The Billion Dollar Brain all in order. I love Caine as Harry Palmer, he such a sullen but resigned insolence to his superiors about him.

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Wow, I didn't realise I hadn't updated this since the start of the year, time seems to go far too quickly these days. I haven't managed to read a whole load this year but this is what I have managed so far.

 

1) The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg (NF)

2) The Ipcress File - Len Deighton (F)

3) Empire of Fear - Andrew Hosken (NF)

4) The Nakano Thrift Shop - Hiromi Kawakami (F)

5) Hunting the Hooligans - Michael Layton (NF)

6) Enigma - Hugh Sebag-Montefiore (NF)

7) Running Free- Richard Askwith (NF)

8) Blood Relative - David Thomas (F)

9) The Boys from Baghdad - Simon Low (NF)

10) Sidetracked - Henning Mankell (F)

11) Cambridge Blue - Alison Bruce (F)

12) The Siren - Alison Bruce (F)

13) Into the Black - Rowland White (NF)

14) The Infiltrator - Robert Mazur (NF)

15) The Life and Death of St Kilda - Tom Steel (NF)

 

Most of the books have been non-fiction because for some reason I am struggling to get into fiction this year. The best book I've read so far was Enigma which is a fantastic history of the Enigma code and how it was broken.

 

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I started to read Ringworld by Larry Niven but after about 40 pages I gave up on it as it just wasn't working for me. I was a bit unsure about where to go next fiction wise but I found a copy of Last Human by Doug Naylor in a charity shop. As it's a Red Dwarf book it felt like slipping into a comfortable pair of slippers and I flew through it in no time.

 

Not sure what fiction I will move onto next but with non-fiction I am about halfway through British History for Dummies which I am really enjoying.

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Last night I finished Two Hours by Ed Caesar. It is a non-fiction book about the possibility/probability of someone running a 2 hour marathon at some point in the future. It concentrates on athletes from east Africa as this is the region where the best endurance runners come from. The book looks at a range of topics from physiology, evolutionary biology, and tactics, all way through to the elephant in the room, doping.

 

I found the book to be quite interesting but I doubt it would interest people who weren't runners or had an existing interest in distance running.

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38 minutes ago, Brian. said:

Last night I finished Two Hours by Ed Caesar. It is a non-fiction book about the possibility/probability of someone running a 2 hour marathon at some point in the future. It concentrates on athletes from east Africa as this is the region where the best endurance runners come from. The book looks at a range of topics from physiology, evolutionary biology, and tactics, all way through to the elephant in the room, doping.

 

I found the book to be quite interesting but I doubt it would interest people who weren't runners or had an existing interest in distance running.

 

This sounds like a very interesting book, especially in light of the recent attempt at breaking that record! I'm going to look if I can find it anywhere around here.

 

Have you read other interesting books on running?

Edited by Alexander the Great

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2 hours ago, Alexander the Great said:

 

This sounds like a very interesting book, especially in light of the recent attempt at breaking that record! I'm going to look if I can find it anywhere around here.

 

Have you read other interesting books on running?

 

I've read quite a few interesting books on running over the last few years.

 

Relentless Forward Progress by Byron Powel. This is a book about ultra marathon running and is part a collection of writing on the subject and part training guide. I personally haven't run anything beyond a half marathon but ultra running fascinates me.

 

Eat and Run by Scott Jurek. This is another book about ultra running, written by a veteran ultra runner, Scott Jurek. This book focuses a lot on his Vegan diet but doesn't come across as preachy.

 

Run! by Dean Karnazes. This is a collection of writing about running all based around the experiences of Dean Karnazes. It isn't a great book but there are some interesting stories in the book.

 

The Art of Running Faster by Julian Goater. This is a great book detailing training strategies for improving your running speed. Although I don't actually train as such with my running there is one vitally important message from the book. Too many people run at the same pace all the time and this leads to stagnation. After struggling to improve my 5K time for years this one piece of info lead me to knock almost 3 minutes off it.

 

Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes. The life story of Dean Karnazes and his attempts at running the Western States 100 event. The book is pretty good but you do need to get past Dean's constant ego stroking. Reading the book you would think he was the best ultra runner of his generation, he was not.

 

Can't Swim, Can't Ride, Can't Run by Andy Holgate. Not strictly a running book, this is a triathlon book. It evolved from a blog about a guys transition from unfit couch potato to completing and iron man race. Pretty inspiring stuff.

 

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. Murakami is one of my favourite writers and I never knew he was a runner until I picked this book up. Distance running is quite popular in Japan and this book is a collection of Murakami's meditations on running.

 

Running Free by Richard Askwith. This book is all about running without any of the other things that go along with it like GPS tracking and timing. Askwith runs on trails, the muddier the better.

 

 

 

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Finished another book last night bringing my total for the year to 20. The book in question was Conclave by Robert Harris, a book based around the election of a new pope. I've really enjoyed the Robert Harris books I've read in the past and like those other books, I found this hard to put down. The plot twist at the end was pretty good even if I did pick up on it much earlier in the book.

 

I'm not sure what to read next.

 

 

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I've done quite well this week, I have managed to finish 2 books. The first was Better Than Life, a Red Dwarf book by Grant Naylor and the second was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I quite enjoyed both books and again I am not sure what to read next, I'll have to browse the bookcase and see what takes my fancy.

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Yesterday I finished Under the Radar by James Hamilton-Paterson and thought I would post a few thoughts about it. The book is set predominately on around a cold war era Vulcan bomber base in Lincolnshire. The main character, Amos, is the captain of one of the Vulcan crews and is battling a few personal issues along with the tension related to being responsible for the nuclear deterrent. The writing isn't great but passable and apart from the main character, we don't get much in the way of character development. The book does tackle an important issue and that is the saving grace come the end (it's a spoiler so I won't reveal it). Although I thought the book was ok, anyone who doesn't understand or know military aviation terminology will probably struggle to get on with this book.

 

I'm now halfway through You Sent Me a Letter by Lucy Dawson. I'm really enjoying it and I think I'll end up taking it on holiday with me.

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