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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2017 20:45:57 GMT
I'm not a reader of the blockbuster action novels despite them being easy holiday reading. I prefer books which are softer and more philosophical (almost chick-lit) or science based stories like Longitude by Dava Sobel.
I found on our bookshelves last week a novel written by a French professor or science history called the Parrot Theorum. It's a novel set in about 1993 which explores the history of mathematics up to and including the solving of Fermat's Last Theorum. So it got me thinking and now I am reading the book by Simon Singh about the history of and the solving of that theorum. So far so good but I can feel brain freeze coming on. Some of the concepts are frankly bizarre and I can't help wondering if Fermat's solution (which we will never know) was an awful lot easier to understand.
No idea how the parrot book appeared on our shelves, but I like where it has taken me. Less stressful than worrying about what the next car should be.
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Post by Alanović on Jun 21, 2017 9:07:14 GMT
Reading your post I think you'd like the series of novels called 'The Long Earth' by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. There are 5 of them, the final one being one of the last written before Pratchett's sad demise. They were released one per year up until last year, and I took the new one on holiday each year as they came out. Really enjoyable and I'm a bit sad there isn't another one for this summer. Nothing at all to do with Pratchett's usual oeuvre, the Discworld stuff. totally different.
But my holiday reading pile has just arrived from Amazon and is thus:
On the Beach - Nevile Shute Brave New World - Huxley Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari Seveneves - Neal Stephenson I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell The Crow Road - Iain Banks John Birmingham - Weapons of Choice
Should be enough there to occupy me for two weeks by the pool in the Vendee.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jun 21, 2017 10:00:44 GMT
I read The Crow Road the other week. As tends to happen with Banks (and, indeed, M. Banks) it had me cursing him for introducing the story in multiple, non-contemporaneous strands, then admiring his ingenuity in bringing them all together, then afterwards wondering whether I'd have enjoyed it more if he'd just told the bloody story rather than having to be so literary about it. Didn't stop me buying The Bridge for my holiday stack, though.
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Post by Alanović on Jun 21, 2017 10:12:35 GMT
It's my first Banks. I'll let you know if I have a similar problem. I expect I will, given what you've said. Pulp Fiction annoys me as a film due to that kind of poncing about with the story line. I'll leave it to the end of the holiday, and read it if I've finished all the others. I'm looking forward to the Birmingham most, it's the first of a series and I hope I enjoy it enough to warrant ordering the sequels.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2017 12:34:17 GMT
Banks did a great road trip book a few years ago. About driving around the distilleries of Scotland. Something I must do in the company of a couple of whisky drinking mates and a teetotal driver.
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Post by bromptonaut on Jun 21, 2017 21:53:58 GMT
But my holiday reading pile has just arrived from Amazon and is thus: On the Beach - Nevile Shute While On the Beach is perhaps Nevil Shute's most famous work lot of his other stuff is worth a read. Personal favourites are: The Rainbow and the Rose; In the Wet; Round the Bend; The Far Country No Highway; and Pastorale His early novels like Marazan were in the crime/thriller genre, only later did he progress to his real form of romance (but always with flying and Australia to the fore). The tragic 'Requiem for a Wren' is perhaps his best but too tragic for some minds. My other reccomendation is Peter May's Lewis Trilogy: The Blackhouse The Lewis Man The Chess Men and the stand alone Coffin Road Well written yarns but with an extra zing for those who know the islands of Harris and Lewis and can place the action to a few hundred yards; and identify the 'Easter Egg' historical/geographical glitches too
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Post by Hofmeister on Jun 22, 2017 7:52:10 GMT
I'm on holiday as it happens. I don't want to read anything thought provoking or educational on holiday, so trashy novel is my holiday mantra.
So to that end my reads are, Conclave by Robert Harris, and two Stasis novels, Wolf and Child by David Young. Normally I like to go away with a Bosch or Reacher novel but I am up to date with those, or the latest from Ben Aaronovich but he is losing it with too much output.
As for Pulp Fiction, the film was a QT work, so any relationship with the original source was in name only. Still QTs best though can watch it as many times as you will throw it at me
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Post by bromptonaut on Jun 27, 2017 17:22:17 GMT
We're tugging caravan to France as soon as schools, and Mrs B's research in them, finish. Auvergne (again) and Jura.
Started my reading list with journalist Hannah Pool's My Father's Daughter. She was adopted from an orphanage in Eritrea, book describes her discovery of her roots and birth family.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jun 28, 2017 8:00:13 GMT
We really liked Auvergne last year, Bromp. Great cycling country, and a really beautiful spot to stay in - even if our gîte was a little bare and short of home comforts. After the previous summer in the oh-so-English Pays de Duras, it was refreshing to go nearly two weeks without hearing another British voice, or even seeing a UK-plated car (or caravan!) And when we eventually did, at the tourist attraction of Puy-de-Dôme, it was a Scottish one, which somehow didn't seem so bad.
Jura-ish for us too in July-August. No caravan - obviously 🙄 - but a spot between Lyon and Geneva, with good options for walking, biking and cheese. Lots of cheese.
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Post by bromptonaut on Jun 28, 2017 8:25:23 GMT
We're regular returnees to same campsite on the Col de Croix de St Robert, overlooking Le Mont Dore and the Puy de Sancy, since 1990. Clear air, lovely views, not too warm and lots of local walks. Some like, the 'horseshoe' round the head of Dordogne valley are strenuous, a walk in the woods and nearby bilberry meadows is not. Other attractions within 30 mins drive.
Flip side of not too warm is it can be cold at night and sometimes mountain mist envelopes the whole thing.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jun 28, 2017 8:40:03 GMT
Ah. Well south of where we were, near Montmarault, which certainly wasn't cold, even at night.
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