On this subject, there's been uproar on both sides regarding the suggestion of Idris Elba as the next James Bond.



To me, James Bond is the quintessential white British secret agent as has been portrayed since Dr No. That's not racist, it comes from years of watching white British men playing him. I'm fairly open to a black man playing Bond, but by moving away from the established vision of the character it could become just another action film. Fleming certainly visualised him as white. As it happens I think Elba could probably do a very good job but for me Bond is what Bond has always been.



Anyway, on books - has anyone tried Iain M Banks' Culture series? Some are a bit long-winded and a self-indulgent but the concept behind the Culture universe is superb, fairly hard sci-fi but with plenty of humour and twists. Think I've got through most of them. The idea of The Minds is fascinating.



Finally, anyone else browse the 'cheap' sections of Amazon from time to time? Plenty of unknown authors flogging their works for less than a pound, or even for free, who have kept me entertained on many trains and planes. Doubt many would be considered literary classics and I've abandoned more than a few but also come across some very entertaining reads - the sort of books or series you can plough through in a few hours.

I agree re Bond. It's not racist it's just I've always visualised Bond as white. It's the same as if he were to be American rather than British.



Having said that I think it'd be quite good with Elba as Bond. A big change but maybe that's what it'd need when Daniel Craig finishes.



I also think Fleming meant him to be white but that's just because there wouldn't have been a black MI6 officer at the time he was writing.

I'm back having a revisit at the Karl Malantes novel of the Vietnam War,[iMatterhorn.[/i

Did a hundred pages or so of it in previously but gave it up due to extra-curricular at the time.

Was enjoying it as well so here goes with another attempt.

Just finished porno very predictable obvious Renton was far too clever for sick boy, didn't see Begbie's demise coming though.



Now reading "last night a DJ saved my life" bringing back a few memories

Just finished Eltons latest ' Time and time again ' as usual it sets an interesting conundrum



" If you had one chance to change history ...



Were would you go?



What would you do?



Who would you kill? "



Gives thought to current world events , and where we are headed

Well, I gave in and put away the first six Reacher books last week. It's trash and about as superficial as a layer of frost in September. But the lunacy is so enthusiastic you find it hard not to like it. I junked the book on the ranch in Texas but the rest are ok.

If you want a good sci-fi which is contemporary, in the post-apocalypse genre without conforming to the usual stereotypes, has great characters, plenty of laughs and unlike 99 percent of all sci-fi is beautifully written try "Tales From The Radiation Age" by Jason Sheehan.

Just started One man, one murder by Jakob Arjouni - first two chapters are promising.

After going to the "pictures" to see "The Theory of Everything" at the weekend I am re-reading that old popular classic "The Brief History of Time". I'll let you know if I get to the end of it.

If you like physics books, I'd recommend Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos.



Speaking of science-y books, Science: A History by John Gribbin is brilliant. Covers basically everything from the Renaissance onwards across all fields of science.

Nearly finished my eighth Reacher book in eleven days (The Enemy).



A couple of observations:



1. Jack Reacher is addicted to sex with beautiful women.

2. If you count up the number of times Lee Child uses the sentence "I said nothing", cut and then paste them side by side, you could probably fill book one out of the fifteen-or-so book series cover to cover. That's a hell of a lot of nothing.

Never heard of this [iJack Reacher[/i character so just done a little research.



Height 6-5".

Played by Tom Cruise in a movie.



Naaaah!!!

Not having it.

We'll leave it there.

I tend to agree. Whilst I don't find the idea of a black Bond objectionable, it's just never how I've pictured him and would seem to veer a little from the original idea of the character. Appearance-wise, Fleming's vision of Bond was Hoagy Carmichael.



With Elba in particular, I'd have a different concern, though. I'm more questioning of whether or not he could do the smooth, middle-class operator kind of thing, he's tended to be more of rough diamond from the streets in the things in which I've seen him. Would he look at home at the opera for example, or an embassy function? Another thing is that I'd also like to see them cast a bit younger, personally. I'm not a fan of late 40s/early 50s secret agents, it just looks a bit ridiculous.



I think Tom Hiddleston could possibly do a good job of it.

Echo Burning? I didn't particularly like that one, either.

Has anyone on here read the Gormenghast trilogy?



I've had Titus Groan on the go for a few months and finding it really hard going, my reading progress has actually slowed to a crawl as I'd rather do other things. I think it's the fact that it doesn't really seem to have a true focus, instead just sort of meandering through various characters' stories/lives. Are the second and third books any different once Titus is older?

I put it down thirty pages into book one.

Will Brucie give him the time off?

I reckon Elba could do the middle class thing but yeah Id be concerned about his age. Maybe Tom Hardy?

Yeah, I reckon he's another who could play the role well.

A quarter of the way through A Thousand Splendid Suns at the moment, great read

Not Cider with Rosie?

Nah, that's a god awful read

Thoroughly gutted by today's news, goodbye Sir Pterry.

Currently reading We Are Not Ourselves by Mathew Thomas which is about an academics decline into Alzheimer’s and how it affects the people close to him. I’m breezing through the pages because the writing style is just wonderful to process. An easy read to a difficult subject but this doesn’t mean it isn’t sad. I’m someone who loves the American thriller genre so whilst this is different altogether, I certainly recommend it to others on here who like Harlan Coben etc.

Reading 'Player One Ready' at the moment, for no other reason than the cover looked interesting. Enjoying it so far, it's a 1980's culture celebration with a fantasy story built into it. Apparently going to be made into a film shortly by Spielberg.