Oh dear. Everyone's working their way through the Booker list.

Well, I'm reading Vincent Bugliosi's rant, Outrage, about the OJ Simpson trial.

Greenmantle. John Buchan.

Ripping tosh.

A Brief History of Time.

I have Dry by Jane Harper which I'm hoping is going to be gripping tosh.

I think the best 'deplorable' book I've ever read is Riders by Jilly Cooper.

I've never read any of Jilly Cooper's books except Class, years ago.

Rachel Johnson falls into much the same deplorable subset though, I think, and I've read all of her stuff.

What rubbish are you reading?

At the moment? JTT.

I did read Is it just me? by Miranda Hart, which was within reaching distance of the loo recently.

I've had a yearning for cold war era spy novels, and have just finished the last trilogy of the Bernard Samson saga by Len Deighton, Faith, Hope, and Charity. Not half as good as I remember the older ones to be - utter tosh actually - full of holes and nonsense red herrings that contradict the plot. I kept hoping the next book in the trilogy would get better but it never did. Good waste of time when I'm feeling unwell.

I'm going to get the Le Carre latest A Legacy of Spies, which I hope is a bit less rubbishy. In fact I hope it's good, judging by the reviews. At least his craft is getting better by all accounts, unlike Deighton's which got worse and worse.

Not reading, but listening to some fantasy guff called Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks on recommendation of a normally reliable friend. Not as bad as I feared, not as good as he suggested.

I've never read any of Jilly Cooper's books except Class, years ago.

Jilly Cooper? Here hare here:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n10/ian-patterson/miss-dior-prodigally-applied

Jilly Cooper is Jackie Collins with horses.

Have been toying with a re-read of Interview with a Vampire

Riders is THE ONE [...] Though Polo is worth a look.

Polo has always been my favourite of that series, probably because it has the nicest hero in a major storyline (in some of the later ones, I always feel that there's a nominal main couple but they take a back seat to the continued adventures of bloody Rupert).

I have read every Sven Hassell book. Probably twice.

My brother's house when he was between wives was great for rubbish reading. There were stacks of paperbacks everywhere - Douglas Reeman, Wilbur Smith, Bernard Cornwell, Sven Hassel: essentially men in historical combat situations. A weekend at his place would involve me reading chapters at random from the closest book to hand and the resultant alcohol - fuelled dreams were full of heroic yet flawed heroes, salt of the earth sergeants and the odd Stuka attack on a 19th century frigate.

Cross post Tada. I've read them so many times it's unbelievable. I cried when Porta died. There, I said it.

Those letters in the LRB are just great, Shadrack. I think I'll subscribe.

The problem with the post Riders stuff is that she rehabilitated Rupert. She needs a thorough bastard and she had one but let him go.

It's the old 'first make me care, then make me worry'. We don't have to confuse 'care' with 'like'. Hoping a villain gets his comeuppance generates just as much narrative oomph.

and the odd Stuka attack on a 19th century frigate.

I just finished a nice little book from the Dollar Store, Scent of Secrets by Jane Thynne, about an actress working in pre-War Berlin who is also (gasp!) a secret agent for the Brits. A pretty good story, the author's research is extensive. I wouldn't exactly classify it as rubbish, but I gave it away as soon as I'd finished it.