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welsh dragon

Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
Yesterday I bought the first of the Alex Cross novels by James Patterson. I have a couple already, but decided to start at the beginning, so have number 1 to read. These books are excellent reads. Would recommend to anyone.
 

Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
You might also look at Phillip Roth's The Plot Against America, in which Charles Lindbergh wins the presidency in 1940. Or Fatherland, by Robert Harris.

Yeah, both good, in fact Roth's is excellent, largely because, like Macleod's work, it is significantly concerned with the normality of life in this alternative world. Of course, there's also Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which is significantly weirder than either. In that tradition of more slippery alternatives dealing with more recent history (the present, even), I can recommend Christopher Priest's The Separation, based around WW2, but in which you aren't quite sure which version of reality is supposed to be the 'real' one, Kathleen Ann Goonan's In War Times, which explores themes around how things could be better and plays with multiple points at which the Twentieth Century could have been different, again mainly centred around WW2, neither of which are that concerned with establishing a 'realistic' method by which change actually occurs, and Lavie Tidhar's Osama and Matt Ruff's Mirage, both of which are set in worlds where the War on Terror is a significantly different thing... For a much deeper and more complex alternative, you can't beat Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt, which details a whole different history based on almost the entire European population being killed off by the Black Death rather than just 1/3... it also has a rather unique structure and way of dealing with the need for human interest on which to hang this story, using a traditional and very much non-western Buddhist framework to reincarnate a set of archetypical, but somehow also always individual and engaging characters throughout the novel. Might sound odd but it works rather beautifully. For my money, it is one of the best novels written in the 2000s in any genre.
 
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Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
Spain by Jan Morris. First published in 1964 but still one of the most evocative books on Spain. It's a book I quite regularly reread and it is fresh each time.

Wonderful book. Have you read her Last Letters from Hav? I think I like her fiction even more than her travel writing...
 

GilesM

Legendary Member
Just read Exposure by Michael Woodford, all about the Olympus fraud, bit more high brow than I'd normally go for, but really good, and the fact I've worked for a Japanese company for the last 25 years made it a tad more real.
 
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly.
Lots of detail and hard to put down. It's the second Harry Bosch story I've read.
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Just read "Barring Mechanicals" in one sitting sat out in the garden. A. because it's a great read b. cos although I've got gout in my hand, the places he rides through were similar to LEL 2013 and reminded me I do know how to ride a bike. Now it's going to be "Race through the Dark" by David Millar
 

Dark46

Veteran
The Hobbit
 

welsh dragon

Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
I have just bought book 4 in the series game of thrones. The 4th series starts next week, and as I couldn't wait for the new series, I bought the book. Can't wait to read it.
 

MrGrumpy

Huge Member
Currently reading Racing through the dark, waiting on the Dial M for Murdoch coming into the Library for a bit of conspiracy. Thats next on the list,although I reckon I could have David Millars book read by tomorrow quite decent read.
 
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