Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
I have only just learned that the Metropolitan Police have a wizardry unit called Falcon. A most weird book by Ben Aaronovitch called "The Hanging Tree", full of spells, all mixed up with the power of the London rivers and bog-standard policing thrown in. It irks to read "me and Guleed" all the way through, and I think I might have enjoyed this when I was about 13, but it is at least another book out of circulation never to be seen again. Nor will I read another by this man either.
Hammered through this in a few days having borrowed it from the library. It's a good book but slightly different to what I had expected on account of my own failure to read a few pages first. I had thought it would be split to follow the lives of women who lived through war and its resultant peace as individual chapters, but each chapter focused more on a range of people. Good, but not quite what I had expected and I have nobody to blame for that but myself.
One interesting assertion made early in the book was that the women were calmer than the men during the earliest bombing raids; it reminded me of a line in Sarah Helm's If This is a Woman which suggested Soviet women were harder than the men during their time as prisoners of war. I don't know how true it is, but clearly it was notable enough for me to link the two occasions.
Levin said:
I intend to buy a copy of Rogan's The Fall of the Ottomans to provide some extra context, but I may read another few books beforehand.
This never actually happened as I found a copy in the library instead. Based on the first 100 pages it does make for an excellent companion to Andrew Mango's Atatürk, a man it has thus far only referenced. There's a much greater focus on the war than on the individual but it seems exquisitely researched. I hope it continues that way.
The Places In Between - Rory Stewart. The now Borders MP . full time eccentric , all round polymath and Good Egg writes about his astonishing solo walk between Herat and Kabul only a few months after 911. Very much Patrick Leigh Fermor territory , and the book gives real insight into the tribal politics of Afghanistan , the hospitality of very poor people , random violence between different factions , the amazing history of conquering and reconquering of the country and its extraordinary countryside , through which he strolled in native clothes , no phone , no backup , as winter ended but through snow drifts and at up to 10, 000 feet . If only more politicians could read this book before yet another ill fated adventure into the MIddle East and beyond ...
Darke by Rick Gekowski. Debut novel about a reclusive academic coping with tragedy and loss. Sounds dull ? Not a bit of it- think of a more literary Ed Reardon in full rant mode. Very funny, superbly written and deeply moving .
Darke by Rick Gekowski. Debut novel about a reclusive academic coping with tragedy and loss. Sounds dull ? Not a bit of it- think of a more literary Ed Reardon in full rant mode. Very funny, superbly written and deeply moving .
Sadly I found 'The Crusades - A Short History' by Jonathan Riley-Smith, to be quite difficult to maintain interest in.
I suspect that it being 'A Short History' had some influence on that. It is an academic work, not a story, however;
Historical 'characters' seemed to appear without any explanation as to who they were, how or when they'd arrived in the ME, or what happened to them after they fulfilled their purpose in the narrative.
I suspect a much greater knowledge of the people involved would be required to gain anything from this.
Got bored. Stopped reading.
'Devils' by Dostoevsky
Having made a good start on this I can say; as with all things Dostoevsky; enter at your peril.
I suspect that it being 'A Short History' had some influence on that. It is an academic work, not a story, however;
Historical 'characters' seemed to appear without any explanation as to who they were, how or when they'd arrived in the ME, or what happened to them after they fulfilled their purpose in the narrative.
I suspect a much greater knowledge of the people involved would be required to gain anything from this.
Got bored. Stopped reading.
'Devils' by Dostoevsky
Having made a good start on this I can say; as with all things Dostoevsky; enter at your peril.
Eugene Rogan's The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920 has proven as good as I had hoped it might. I came away from the book with respect for the tenacity of the Ottoman fighters, while Rogan casts the Near Eastern theatre in a modern light with evidence of Central Power hopes for an Ottoman-led jihad paralysing parts of the Empire. Coupled with Mango's Atatürk the two provide a solid foundation for learning more, but I found Mango's writing the less approachable of the two.
Either today or tomorrow I'll start into this, Katyn, 1940: The Documentary Evidence of the West's Betrayal, by Eugenia Maresch. If there are any well-regarded books on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, I'd like your recommendations, for my to-read list of books isn't getting any shorter anyway.
Either today or tomorrow I'll start into this, Katyn, 1940: The Documentary Evidence of the West's Betrayal, by Eugenia Maresch. If there are any well-regarded books on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, I'd like your recommendations, for my to-read list of books isn't getting any shorter anyway.
Just finished Philipp Meyer's 'The Son'.
I quite enjoyed it , a bit like Cormac Mccarthy crossed with James A Michener. A multigenerational look at American history through one family's story. Better than Annie Proux's 'Barkskins', an attempt to do the same thing last year.
I'll be moving onto his previous novel 'American Rust' next, hope it compares.
I quite enjoyed it , a bit like Cormac Mccarthy crossed with James A Michener. A multigenerational look at American history through one family's story. Better than Annie Proux's 'Barkskins', an attempt to do the same thing last year.
I'll be moving onto his previous novel 'American Rust' next, hope it compares.
I'm currently working my way through the Reacher back catalogue, they're a bit samey but quite readable. I don't think they're the sort of book I'll go back and reread in the way I do some of my favourites though.
must be luck of the die lolI thought the sequel was ok but not a patch on the original.
p1doc said:
Laurel Green said:
I'd agree with that, poor in comparison.
lucky escape then, amazon marketplace run out so refundedmust be luck of the die lol
on book 3 dresden files easy but good reading only 12 more to go and i see he plans to do 21 in total!
just finished lestat chronicles-mennoch the devil interesting and just got blade artist by irvine welsh so should be busy for a while
i see amazon rates search for diceman quite poorly so lucky escape
just finished lestat chronicles-mennoch the devil interesting and just got blade artist by irvine welsh so should be busy for a while
i see amazon rates search for diceman quite poorly so lucky escape
I've just finished "Two Evils" by Mark Sennen, after a couple by James Nally. All were pretty good, the former is part of a series featuring a cop called Charlotte Savage, it's not the first one but that didn't really detract from anything. The James Nally ones feature an insomniac cop who gets inspiration from visions while drunk, but aren't quite as bad as that makes them sound. I'd read more by either author. Currently reading another Mark Billingham Tom Thorne book, "Lifeless".
p1doc said:
on book 3 dresden files easy but good reading only 12 more to go and i see he plans to do 21 in total!
just finished lestat chronicles-mennoch the devil interesting and just got blade artist by irvine welsh so should be busy for a while
i see amazon rates search for diceman quite poorly so lucky escape
I really should go and re-read the series from the beginning. Problem is, the later books are so epic, I end up reading those instead just finished lestat chronicles-mennoch the devil interesting and just got blade artist by irvine welsh so should be busy for a while
i see amazon rates search for diceman quite poorly so lucky escape
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