Brian.

Update time. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (5/5) The book begins in June 1922 where we see Count Alexander Rostov escorted out of the Kremlin and into the Hotel Metropol after a trail. He is found guilty of being an aristocrat in a Bolshevik but instead of prison of death he is put under house arrest in the hotel. Instead of being returned to his plush suite he is put in an attic room which is very small in comparison. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, the Count decides to get on with life and the trials that await him. This is another one of those strange books in which not a huge amount happens but it is captivating all the same. The characters are all really well written, none more so than the Count who you just can't help but love. The Hotel Metropol also becomes a kind of character which changes over the course of the book and reflects the world around it. Battle Ready by Ollie Ollerton (2/5) This is part self-help book, part life story, of former special forces operative Ollie Ollerton who is best known in the UK for his part in the TV show SAS: Are You Tough Enough. I haven't read his earlier book but it is well reviewed and focuses solely on his life in the special forces, I should have read that instead. Battle Ready isn't a bad book and most of the advice is backed by solid psychology and proven exercises but I just couldn't get on with how it was written. This one wasn't for me. The Plant-Based Diet Revolution by Dr Alan Desmond (4/5) I've been interested in trying out a plant based diet for a few years and although I've had a few half-hearted attempts I've never given it a fair shot. I decided to give it another go and chose this book as my guide because it has a 4 week meal plan along with recipes which sounded nice. The first half of the book looks into the modern western diet and the benefits we could all gain by eating more plants. The second half contains the recipes and meal plans along with advice for each week. This book has been a game changer for me and made the attempt both successful and easy. Over the course of February when I followed the meal plans I lost 5 kilos and it completely changed my old belief than I need to eat a form of animal based protein with almost every meal. I always feared that I would be hungry and feel tired on a plant based diet but these fears were wrong. At the start of March I decided to stick with eating mainly plant based foods and only consume eggs, meat, fish, or dairy 2-3 times a week. I've done this and the weight is still coming off so all in all for me it has been a great experience. I don't believe that certain diets work for everyone. I think we should all experiment and see what works best for each of us personally and this just happens to be mine. Next Stop Execution by Oleg Gordievsky (4/5) I decided to read this book after reading The Spy and the Traitor by Ben MacIntyre which is about Oleg Gordievsky. I really enjoyed that book and felt that it would be interesting to read the story from the point of view of the man who it was about. I was slightly worried that it would be the same story as told by Macintyre but felt it was worth a shot. Gordievsky starts with his escape from the Soviet Union and then circles back to his life and how we ended up in the KGB. I generally don't like it when autobiographies of famous people do this as I want to read about the thing that made them famous not a dreary childhood. However, this book is the exception because the whole back story is a great insight into how life was for someone growing up on the privileged side of Soviet life. We get a really detailed look into how the atmosphere of fear and suspicion of life was created and how is affected everyone regardless of where they sat in the hierarchy of society.

I haven't read it but it has been in my wishlist for a while as I'm intrigued about what it contains. I can see a book like this being worthwhile if you want to dig deep into classics etc and don't know how to go about it but I'm not sure how much value it will give a 'general reader'.

I've been working across all the days of the read-a-thon this time so I only managed about 60 pages of physical book reading but I have managed about 4 or 5 hours of audiobook consumption.

I hope you enjoy the Murakami books. Your library download scheme sounds like a great idea, a few libraries here do a similar thing but the selection can be quite limited.

I'm almost finished with the audiobook of Next Stop Execution by Oleg Gordievsky and I'm about 60 pages into The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg.

I finished A Gentleman in Moscow and although it took me a little longer to read than I’d hoped I loved it. I’ve just picked up The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg which I will start a bit later this evening.

I’ve still got A Gentleman in Moscow on the go. I had planned to finish it today but it took me the whole day to edit some photographs so it will likely be finished tomorrow. I’m also about halfway through the audiobook of Next Stop Execution, the autobiography of Oleg Gordievsky which has been very surprising in a good way.

I'm about halfway through A Gentleman in Moscow and so far I love it, the writing is superb and I love the Count. I had hoped to be finished by today but work has got in the way and I haven't managed much reading this week.

Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz (4/5) I was browsing the Audible store to decide what to use my next credit on when I spotted this. I have read all the Ian Fleming James Bond books but I think this is the first 'extended' Bond series book I have read. Apparently it is number 48 in the series but as it deals with James Bond first becoming a double 0 agent it can be read anytime. It also claims to use some of the original Fleming material that was never published which is a good thing in my eyes. I really enjoyed this one and it's nice to remind yourself that originally James Bond was 'ex military' strong and not the quasi superhero that is portrayed in the modern movies. The set-up for the book is that an agent is discovered dead in the French Riviera and a newly promoted Bond is dispatched to find out what has happened. We get a bit of background, some great characters, and an insight into where things like 'shaken not stirred' come from. Specifically to the audiobook, the narration is perfect, they picked just the right accent for the job. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch (4/5) This is the second book in the ever growing 'Rivers of London' series. I'm not a big reader of fantasy or paranormal fiction but this series so far manages to balance fantasy and reality just right for me. This time, London based police constable and apprentice magician Peter Grant has to uncover why Jazz musicians are dropping dead suddenly after playing a gig. Aaronovitch mixes magic, London, Jazz, social commentary, and intrigue really well and I just wanted to keep reading. The plot isn't massively complicated but you do need to keep on your toes or risk getting left behind as the story develops. Being set in modern day London works really well and its easy to see how much Aaronovitch loves the city through his writing. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer (2/5) Certain books constantly pop up as spiritual classics and this is one of those. The idea behind the book is that we are essentially trapped by our own neuroses and if we could learn to look at things in a different way we would be free from the limitations we put on ourselves. Ok, so I go along with the first part of that but the second, not so much. Either way, I cast my doubts aside and gave the book a chance to convince me. The initial chapters start promisingly. Singer talks about the internal dialogue we all have and how that has a big impact on how we see the world. After that however it goes down hill for me. Singer then starts to talk about how emotion distress of any kind, regardless of how minor, will block the energy flow in your body unless you confront it straight away (more on this at the end of my thoughts). He presents a set of rules including the ridiculous idea that if you want to do something, don't wait just do it. I would love to own a Nissan GTR but buying it would be extremely foolish of me, Singer says I should though, go figure that one out. The rest of the book meanders along similar lines until at the end he suddenly starts to talk about god in all his/her religious forms. This is a really bizarre turn when taken in context of the rest of the book. There is no hint of 'religious' belief throughout the preceeding chapters so it feels really out of place. I am not a religious person, I have always based my beliefs in science but if pushed it would fair to describe me as an atheist with leanings towards Buddhist philosophy. What I mean by this is that as long as something isn't over mystical, such as miracles, I am a willing listener. I find consciousness fascinating and I really enjoy reading and discussing religion of any kind with people but I draw the line at things like chi and magic. This is where this book falls down for me. It promises the former, and then delivers a lot of the later at the same time.

I think you’ll feel the same about Second Sleep. The underlying themes are something I’m very interested in but in the end I didn’t fee he did then justice. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Time for me to start my next book, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I finished Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz this morning and Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch late last night. Both very enjoyable.

There is librarything. I have an old account on there but I haven’t transferred everything across to it.

Mine seems to be working ok but in the whole Goodreads is a complete shambles. It's clear that Amazon just bought as an extra advertising platform because they have done no development to it at all. The mobile app is shambolic and their servers are painfully slow. The only thing that keeps me using it is that migrating all my books to another service would take forever.

I've got an absolutely gorgeous Folio Society eidtion on this on my bookcase that I still haven't got around to reading. I really should change that and read it some time soon.

Im on 15 at the moment which is more than I expected.

I've got 3 books on the go at the moment. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz

I have fond memories of reading a battered hardback copy of The Adventures of Brer Rabbit.

Because it was my first Murakami and I liked it so much I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't like his others as much but I need not have worried, I've liked everything so far. If I had to pick a favourite aside from Norwegian Wood it would be South of the Border, West of the Sun.

Hi Katrina, welcome to the forum. Any questions then ask away, we're a friendly bunch.

I have it on the bookcase next to me right now and I've been meaning to pick it up and read it but always choose something else. I shall push it up the list and probably read it next due to your glowing comments about it. I read one of his other books, Rules of Civility, in 2019 and loved his writing style.

Vox by Christina Dalcher (2/5) I will quote directly from the synposis on the back of the book. "Jean McClellan spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just one hundred words a day. Any more, and a thousand volts of electricity will course through her veins. Now the new government is in power, everything has changed. But only if you're a woman. Almost overnight, bakn accounts are frozen, passports are taken away and seventy million women lose their jobs. Even more terrifyingly, young girls are no longer taught to read or write. For herself, her daughter, and for ebery woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. This is only the beginning..." I bought this book as I just kept seeing it everywhere. It appeared in my Amazon suggested books feed, it was prominently displayed in bookshops I went into, and the charity bookshops I visit almost always had a copy. The cover is bright red and dark black which makes it really stand out. It instantly reminded me of The Power by Naomi Alderman as that book also had a bright red cover and is also what I guess you could term feminist-lit. They come from different publishers but I do wonder if there was a common cover designer. One thing that did concern me was the sources used for the attention grabbing promotional quotes. They all came from the likes of Heat, Prima, Bella, and the Daily Mail. In general I try not to be too sniffy about books but there were no recommendations from any source I would consider trustworthy when it comes to books. Or anything in the case of the Daily Mail. Anyway, onwards. The premise sounded very promising to me and there is a lot that could be done with it so I jumped in without reading anything about it beforehand. As you would expect, the book starts off by pretty much laying out the situation in the America detailed in the synopsis. We find out that Jean was a hugely talented scientist who specializes in aphasia experience by people who have suffered some form of brain injury like a stroke. All that changed with a political change in the USA and she now spends her time at home and limited to 100 words a day. She feels her husband is a coward for not standing up when the current situation was developing and in his general attitude towards how thing are. This comes across are a double standard as Jean readily admits that she didn't get involved either despite being encouraged to by one of her college friends. She seems to hate her eldest son because he is becoming someone who disregards women due to his teaching at school. There is also a barely disguised attack on Christianity as a whole. The political leaders are kept in power by one of these crazy TV preachers we see from time to time (think Kenneth Copeland). So Christianity is an evil force in the book but somehow this has only affected America as the Christians in every other country are the same as we know them to be today, a mixed bunch just like any other demographic. I have no real issue with questioning religion, even in a forceful way at times, but Dalcher uses such a broad brush every Christian is condemned. This attitude towards Christianity also applies to every single man in the book apart from two, one of who is a hunky Italian that she is having an affair with. Her husband Patrick is a particular target throughout. She hates him because he didn't try to change the political change that was happening. He is a governmental scientific specialist so I would imagine that to keep his position he would need to toe the line but this doesn't seem to occur to Jean. She also hates the fact that he is the kind of guy who would ignore provocation instead of 'beating the s**t out of someone'. Yeah, I'm going to judge you if that is your outlook on life. If more people learned to turn the other cheek when violence clearly isn't the solution, the world would be a better place. All of the above had me seriously conflicted while I was reading the book. Dalcher can clearly write good prose as I flew through the book in no time at all and I kept wanted to know what happened next. The ending feels very rushed compared to the rest of the book which is a shame. The conclusion feels like she didn't know where to go with it and as a result, its messy and far too convienient. The arc of one of the main characters at the end of the book is so different to the rest of the book that it really undermines what I think Dalcher was going for from the start (I'm trying to explain without spoilers and its difficult, hopefully those who have read the book will understand). Due to premise and the quality of the writing I think that 2/5 is about right despite the huge flaws. As Mark Kermode would say, it is not without merit. In the end I think Dalcher's biggest problem is that there is no nuance in her arguments. It's all black and white when shades of grey should have been present from the very beginning.

I listened to Simon Mayo’s Books of the Year podcast yesterday with Richard Osman on as guest and he confirmed that the rights have been bought by Spielberg’s company, Amblin. Someone is working on a script already.

I finished Vox by Christina Dalcher this afternoon and I have mixed feelings about it. The story rather fell apart towards the end and I found some of the politics really ham-fisted. So for my next book I have just started the second book in the Rivers of London series, Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch.

Corey Taylor - Snuff (Acoustic) Just amazing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBK6xymmKHM

Thanks for posting that, I wouldn’t have known otherwise and I’ve been thinking of buying it for a while.