That's a shame, they've been getting back on track lately. Time for Jack to bite the bullet? I've liked most of the books but all of the ones which are set in the past have been poor. I guess the glory days of Bad Luck And Trouble or The Persuader are long gone...

Currently reading Qualityland from Mark Uwe Kling. Absolutely hilarious.

This is another distopian view of the future of technology conglomorates, like The Circle, Daemon etc. But this time with a lot of humour. It is also available in two versions, the light version and the dark version - the difference is the "adverts" between chapters. But the readers of one book can find the adverts for the other on the website.

The story is very well thougth out and absolutely hilarious.

Having listened to an In Our Time discussion on Herman Melville's 'classic' Moby Dick, I decided to give it a go. I'm about 15% through it and it is very hard going. Melvyn Bragg had mentioned all the digressions the story takes but this book takes the (sea) biscuit. Chapters about the meaning of the Jonah and the Whale story, and pages full of quotes about the Leviathan in history only detract from the story. I've only just got past the narrator signing on as a sailor aboard Ahab's ship. I'll see if it improves once the voyage begins but the book is so full of (to my mind) irrelevant detail that I might have to pull the plug early.

I have just finished the latest Reacher book as mentioned a few posts earlier and thought it became very run-of-the-mill after a reasonably interesting start. The story is OK but for a supposed thriller there is very little action in it.

Just finished Hologrammatica, an excellent sci-to book on a future with holograms, AI, missing persons and body swapping.

I'm now reading Mirror, which is the story of AI virtual assistants run wild.

Currently reading the first of the St. Mary's series, amusing in places, but not a riot. It is written well, the language is at times a little simple, but it really gets you hooked up in the action. One of the best page turners I've read in ages.

Finished the first book, now onto the second. Gruesome start, really atmospheric. Certainly not highbrow or award winning, but great fun to read. There are 8 books in total, plus some short stories, which I now have as audio books (1€ each). Really enjoying it.

Just finished Devil's Fruit from Tom Hillebrand, very good. The first in the Xavier Kieffer series.

Just finished the latest Dresden Files book - "Brief Cases" a collection of short stories set in the Dresden Files universe.

Most of my favourite authors seem to have gone silent. The next "Rivers Of London" book won't be out until the end of this year as the author has got himself side-tracked with graphic novels. Matt Ruff is busy turning his last book "Lovecraft Country" into a TV show, and Tom Robbins appears to have given up writing altogether it being 9 years since his last book and 15 since his last full-length novel.

Timeless (out in September).
I've finally finished the current 31 Drizzt books. Took me a couple of attempts to get past The Pirate King in the middle of the series. That one book was a very hard read.

Jack Reacher: Past Tense
Two separate plot lines that merge together at the end. Plot twists are obvious. There isn't as much Reacher action as I wanted. I did enjoy it more than Personal.

I finished Jodi Taylor's St. Mary's Chronicles, funny and easy to read.

Went through Nothing Girl and Something Girl, more books for women, but still a fun read for me.

Just started on The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. Interesting, a mix between St. Mary, Harry Potter and Sliders.

I also really like Dirk Trost's Jan De Fries detective novels, set it East Friesland.

Although I have got the latest Reacher book ready to start, I'm currently reading a few books by an author named Laurie King who writes detective stories from the point of view of Sherlock Holmes's wife. Now once one gets past that set-up the books are very good. Though they are not exactly fast-paced (Holmes is about 55 years old and retired, though his wife is about 20) they are well-written books that keep you looking forward to the next one.

Rebecca Forster came to London recently and I was lucky enough to meet her for a drink. Her husband and son were there too. Amazing family. Her husband is a judge and her son has just graduated Oxford. Can't wait to get over to LA to visit her

For those that don't know she's a best selling American author and we've been friends for over a year after we met online.

She's writing a new book in the Josie Bates series because I told her I wanted to know what happens next.

Sarah Millican's How to be Champion - only started, really funny (I like her humour but get bored with her stand-up, actually), and it's almost a self-help book, but in a good way!

The Physics of Everyday Things: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day

Nothing, like an idiot.