Rail Forums Reading Recommendations

[telstarbox]

I'm sure some of us are getting through the lockdown with some good books. What is your current reading matter and is it any good?

 

[RichT54]

I'm currently reading "Great Britain's Railways : A New History"
by Colin Maggs. I'm finding it quite interesting, although it does tend to jump to completely different subjects in the middle of paragraphs, which I find confusing. Also the illustrations are all clumped together in two sections of their own, I would far rather they were spread out to be closer to the text they are related to. I would be interested to know how accurate the experts here consider it to be.

 

[scotrail158713]

I’m currently reading Dan Walker’s Football Thronkersaurus. It’s very interesting and amusing, but a fairly simple read as well.

 

[High Dyke]

This forum...

However, I get easily sidetracked and don't always bring a book to work. I have got plenty at home that haven't been read yet.

 

[MotCO]

I enjoy detective stories (or more precisely 'police procedural' stories), and I am ploughing through all of Ian Rankin's John Rebus books. He is quite a maverick, but his heart is in the right place, and he always gets his man (or woman).

 

[Ashley Hill]

Substance,the New Order story by Peter Hook.
I had Steve Morris' book for Xmas and started lockdown reading Bernard Sumners book again followed by Hookys Joy Division book,so now I'm reading re-reading his New Order book. All of these books are excellent if you like Joy Division or New Order. My only gripe with the Sumner/Hook books is that they spend too much time slagging each other off.

 

[telstarbox]

I'm (slowly) reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, having seen a couple of TV adaptations.

 

[43021HST]

I'm (slowly) reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, having seen a couple of TV adaptations.

One of my fave books, and installed a bit of a fascination with the North Kent marshes.

Currently Reading: Iain Sinclair - London Orbital

On my to-read list:
Iain Sinclair - Ghost Milk
Charles Dickens - Bleak House
Andre Breton - Manifestoes(sic) of Surrealism
John Repsch - The Legendary Joe Meek

 

[Calthrop]

Have just finished The Sunne In Splendour -- historical novel by Sharon Penman, of the life of King Richard III. This author's premise is that Richard was a good guy, traduced and slandered after his death by propaganda from those of the rival faction who supplanted him, involving his death in battle. Found it a grand -- moving and absorbing -- read; and a very substantial one -- some 900 pages in paperback. Some slight irritation owing to the author's seeing and depicting Richard as the next thing to a saint -- prompting the occasional eye-roll. Also, over the language which she uses being frequently a mixture, to my eyes incongruous, of medieval; and highly modern, sometimes verging on "psychobabble" jargon -- a bit along the lines of "Verily, my liege, I wot that ye be honourable and puissant; natheless this man accuses you of sabotaging his hopes to marry... on that subject, he seems truly obsessed". I kept wanting to say to the author, "Oh please, pick one mode or the other, and stick to it !"

 

[TheBigD]

Just finished reading Douglas Murray's excellent Madness of Crowds. Would recommend it, a real insight in to a number of today's issues.
Next up is The Diversity Delusion by Heather MacDonald. Got The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan after that.

 

[nidave]

Before the lockdown I barely had time to get through a book in a month but now I'm finishing a book every couple of days. I'm in the middle of reading one of my old university textbooks, Dinosaur Paleobiology...

 

[Calthrop]

Have been re-reading Patrick Leigh Fermor's Between the Woods and the Water : middle volume of a trilogy by this author, recounting an expedition which he made as a very young man, chiefly on foot, from Hook of Holland to Istanbul -- it essentially took him the whole of 1934. This volume covers his, relatively leisurely, progress from the Slovakian / Hungarian border, to the Iron Gates of the Danube -- the majority of the time spent in the region of Transylvania, bone-of-contention between Hungary and Romania -- that stuff ever in the background of the book; but (as is the tendency with our perverse species): general picture given, "in theory, the two groups hated each other; but they made exceptions for those individuals on the other side, with whom they were personally acquainted and who they found perfectly likeable".

The author paints things re this journey as, chiefly, idyllic -- which I can thoroughly buy into, and get a heavy dose of the "bliss was it in that dawn to be alive" syndrome. If I had been the author, there in 1934, I would of course have given most of my attention to railway matters; but "as it wasn't, it weren't". There is the occasional incidental rail-related reference by the author. Sometimes accidentally: he recounts a car-borne excursion with local nobles with whom he was staying, which passed through the towns nowadays known as Sighisoara, and Sibiu -- linked in those days and "way into the future", by a narrow-gauge line whose mid-point was Agnita: as at the 1960s / 70s, the section Agnita -- Sighisoara had been abandoned, but Sibiu -- Agnita long remained active, worked by wondrously ancient steam locos. Fermor makes no mention of the railway; but he writes of a stop, and a look at the impressive church, in Agnita -- which he calls "Agnetheln": as expatiated on by him in the book -- what with the often-unfriendly mix of ethnic groups in this part of the world, every community bore at least three different names.

I can heartily recommend all three of these books: A Time of Gifts , Between the Woods and the Water , and The Broken Road .

 

[Ashley Hill]

Future Days - Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany by David Stubbs. An excellent book about the emergence of post war musicians who wanted to create a "new" German music. It features the likes of Faust,Xhol Caravan,Amon Duul,Amon Duul 2,The Cosmic Jokers,Kluster and many others.

 

[PG]

I'm usually reading a copy of Modern Railways, life events meant I got behind in my reading last year and I'm still catching up! Currently on the February issue.

Actual bookwise its The Network SouthEast Story 1982-2014 by Chris Green & (the late) Mike Vincent.

 

[Bungle158]

Darn! I imagined this thread to be about a compilation album featuring bands from a town in Berkshire

 

[Calthrop]

Nearly at end of a novel by Harry Turtledove, very prolific American author of fantasy / alternative history / novelised real history. The one concerned here -- Give Me Back My Legions ! -- is in the third category: about the battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D., and the events which led up to it; with three Roman legions being annihilated by the German tribes, ending forever Rome's plans to bring Germany into its empire. The author -- as is his usual way -- alternates between writing from the point of view of one side, and the other: seeing the good qualities, and defects, of both.

Turtledove is an author whom people tend either to love or hate; I usually find his works decidedly readable -- as I did this one -- but can see why for some, the reaction is "hate". His aim is to mix in with the serious political / historical / military material, a good deal of gentle humour and wry commentary on the odd ways in which humans think and behave; but this "humour" side of his (a side which I like, in moderation) is apt to be somewhat heavy-handed, and at times crashingly self-repetitious -- drives some readers mad, and turns them into ex-readers. For me personally, the "good" in Turtledove usually outweighs the "bad".

 

[Jamesrob637]

Now Reading...

Were you coming from London or the country?

***grabs his coat***

DCI Bsnks books by Peter Robinson. Still haven't seen the TV series yet though I'm led to believe it's worth a watch.

 

[Teleros]

Just finished the original trilogy of Mistborn and have just started The Alloy of Law.

The first three were as good as everyone who recommended them to me claimed, especially the first one. If you’re thinking about reading them, do it!

 

[Drsatan]

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

 

[telstarbox]

I've started on An Inspector Recalls by former BTP officer Graham Satchwell (who I believe is on the forum). Very interesting and atmospheric so far!

 

[telstarbox]

I enjoyed His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a crime story set in the Scottish Highlands during the crofting era.

 

[g.satchwell]

I've started on An Inspector Recalls by former BTP officer Graham Satchwell (who I believe is on the forum). Very interesting and atmospheric so far!

Hi 'Tel', I was pleased to see you started it. But how did you get on?

 

[Peter C]

If we're counting non-railway books, then Let's do it, the authorised biography of Victoria Wood by Jasper Rees is my entry. I've not got that far in but it's really interesting so far. The GWR Stars, Castles & Kings, by O.S. Nock, is another book which I've been reading (on-and-off for a while). It's quite good but the author does take a long time to explain certain things. I'm trying to learn more about the intricacies of steam locos and it's proving useful!

-Peter

 

[deltic14]

The Bernie Gunther novels by Phillip Kerr are superb.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Currently have two on the go. Steve Morris's 2nd autobiography Fast Forward. This time about his life in New Order. Just like his first book about Joy Division it is an excellent read.
The other book is The Area Managers Diary,The Prequel by John Heaton. This is his 5th book and is about the start of his railway career up north in the late 60s and through the 70s. Just like his first four books it's very well written and very interesting.

 

[S&CLER]

While libraries and bookshops were closed I re-read a lot of old favourites, e.g. all the novels of Angela Thirkell, loads of Arnold Bennett, 4 or 5 by Dickens, and am currently reading all of Thackeray again. For light relief I greatly enjoyed the latest John Grisham, A Time for Mercy.

 

[Albaman]

"May at 10 - The Verdict " by Anthony Selsdon and Richard Newell ( paper back edition ).

 

[Calthrop]

The Bernie Gunther novels by Phillip Kerr are superb.

I'm confused -- please, is this the series of mystery / spy / political ugly stuff novels: where the main character is a police detective in Nazi Germany; and his doings and predicaments there and then, and subsequently in sundry places post-war -- or those with a Cold War setting, whose main character is an agent for the West, inside East Germany?

 

[deltic14]

I'm confused -- please, is this the series of mystery / spy / political ugly stuff novels: where the main character is a police detective in Nazi Germany; and his doings and predicaments there and then, and subsequently in sundry places post-war -- or those with a Cold War setting, whose main character is an agent for the West, inside East Germany?

It is all of these things. Bernie Gunther is a detective in the murder squad in Berlin in the 1930's. The novels cover aspects of his life and the author interweaves a current story with some aspect of his past. In simple terms the early novels cover Berlin in the 1930's and the late 40's. Later ones cover his escape to Argentina, then Cuba before being forced to work for the American CIA and latterly the Stasi. I won't say too much because that would spoil Kerr's excellent story telling. You learn a bit more about Bernie's life in each novel. Sadly he died in 2019 and the last novel (can't remember the title) was about his very early days as a detective. We will never find out what happened to him after the late 50's. You can start with any novel but they are probably best read in order. My favourite is 'Field Grey' for what its worth.

 

[Calthrop]

Thanks. The stuff certainly sounds well-imagined; and I'm pretty sure I have -- a fair number of years ago -- read at least at one of the Bernie Gunther ones as you describe; and one about the other bloke -- Western agent in East Germany: and I think that is his only role, but for a succession of novels (I take it, a different author from Phillip Kerr). To be frank, this kind of fiction is not really "my bag": hence maybe, my scanty and confused memories of the material read. The spy-in-East-Germany guy has a name which is rather like "Bernie Gunther" -- two two-syllable words, same rhythm / cadence: I can't remember whether he's German or otherwise (he passes for an East German, anyway) -- like "BG", the name sounds German-ish, but need not necessarily be; if that makes sense.

Some elements of the author's style in the "spy in East Germany" novels, got on my nerves, to the point that I only read one novel in the series; am not sure whether I even finished it. Author was forever referring to his hero as "big" Freddy Kruger or whatever his name was (I saw no reason to feel particularly interested in the fellow's physical size), and he was repetitively referred to as "building himself a drink": a sort of thing which has me wanting to yell at the author, "OK, we get it ! Please, lay off this ever-recurring form of words, which is a rather daft one anyway !"