Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
towser said:
Notice there's a few fans of Russian literature in this thread. Recently been reading a fiction set in and around the Russian revolution. Was looking for some good non-fiction stuff on the Russian Revolution and the Romanovs....any recommendations.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peoples-Tragedy-Russian-R...
Legend83 said:
2/3rds of the way through Soldier Spy by Tom Marcus, his account of working as a surveillance operator in MI5.
+ assuming no embellishments, it's a fascinating and scary insight into a world most don't even realise exists
- I can't warm to the guy. I know it takes a certain type of confidence and person to do a job like that but his constant bleating about his "special set of skills" and inference that all non-direct MI5 employees, plod, special branch etc. are beneath him wears a bit thin.
That looks interesting to me I have to say, assuming that it's not actually mostly fiction. Is he really that bad ? I've a feeling I'd end up annoyed too+ assuming no embellishments, it's a fascinating and scary insight into a world most don't even realise exists
- I can't warm to the guy. I know it takes a certain type of confidence and person to do a job like that but his constant bleating about his "special set of skills" and inference that all non-direct MI5 employees, plod, special branch etc. are beneath him wears a bit thin.
Legend83 said:
Fantastic that looks just the job...question is....Kindle or Hardcopy...? Kindle ( IMHO ) doesn't do photos very well....so if this has a lot of photos might go hardcopy....towser said:
Fantastic that looks just the job...question is....Kindle or Hardcopy...? Kindle ( IMHO ) doesn't do photos very well....so if this has a lot of photos might go hardcopy....
I'd get a paper-copy of some description as it does have 4 or 5 photo sections.It's a fantastic book - studied it for A Level history.
epom said:
That looks interesting to me I have to say, assuming that it's not actually mostly fiction. Is he really that bad ? I've a feeling I'd end up annoyed too
I would say it is worth a read just for the insight into what actually goes on in what is effectively a parallel world to 99% of us.As I say, I can understand why he would have the psyche he does but it gets a bit repetitive - on the one hand we are to listen to how good he is at saving the people of the UK, on the other we are to be sympathetic to his mental issues.
towser said:
Notice there's a few fans of Russian literature in this thread. Recently been reading a fiction set in and around the Russian revolution. Was looking for some good non-fiction stuff on the Russian Revolution and the Romanovs....any recommendations.
I can't give an unreserved recommendation, as I haven't got around to reading it yet, but two of Solzhenitsyn's 'Red Wheel' series have so far been translated 'August 1914' and 'November 1916' and are billed as novels based upon the historical facts.Sadly the final two 'March 1917' and 'April 1917' await translation from Russian.
Even more sadly, both the author and his preferred translator have also passed from the mortal coil.
I guess I am living in some hope of reading they have been translated.
Just checked after writing that last...
Solzhenitsyn on facebook
Linked to Announcement in the Guardian
It appears that there will be a six volume release of 'The Red Wheel'.
I am just going to run over, smash my piggy bank and count the pennies!
That has made my week.
It's all a bit weird.
The first book to be released is listed as 'March 1917'
I understood there were four books with 'March 1917' being the third volume.
This will require some research to ensure continuity I think.
ETA
Another Guardian link
Top 10 books about the Russian Revolution which might be useful.
ETA(2)
From University of Notre Dame Press
"The first two nodes— August 1914 and November 1916— [already published] focus on Russia’s crises and recovery, on revolutionary terrorism and its suppression, on the missed opportunity of Pyotr Stolypin’s reforms, and how the surge of patriotism in August 1914 soured as Russia bled in World War I.
March 1917—the third node—tells the story of the Russian Revolution itself,..."
my italics
@SilverSixer
Looks like you missed your chance buddy. Looks like there was a market.
You should have taken the money when I offered
As you sit there smugly thinking to yourself "yeah, but I don't need the translation".
ETA(3)
'March 1917' hardback pre-ordered for 30th November release.
Edited by Goaty Bill 2 on Wednesday 6th September 22:00
Newc said:
Popped in to bring the conversation down from the Russian masters to something more lowbrow: Michael Connelly's new one, The Late Show.
It introduces a new lead character, Rene Ballard. It is though in every way a Bosch book, including the bordering on dull over-descriptive passages of operational minutiae.
Clearly Bosch is running out of road as he gets to 70, so Ballard in her 30's restarts the franchise in today's timeline.
Like Bosch? You'll like this.
Wasn't bad. Bosch still has plenty of life in him, though. As does his daughter, perhaps?It introduces a new lead character, Rene Ballard. It is though in every way a Bosch book, including the bordering on dull over-descriptive passages of operational minutiae.
Clearly Bosch is running out of road as he gets to 70, so Ballard in her 30's restarts the franchise in today's timeline.
Like Bosch? You'll like this.
Newc said:
Popped in to bring the conversation down from the Russian masters...
Sorry, me again 
Forgot to mention I'd completed 'The Insulted and Injured' by Dostoevsky a couple of days ago.
Quite a different experience to read a Dostoevsky novel that is finished in under 350 pages, rather than just having completed the introduction of his characters at this point (such as 'The Possessed', 'The Brothers Karamazov'), but somehow he manages to fit in a very complete tragic tale of family rifts, dogged adherence to destructive pride, a pathetic and dangerous fool, an unlikely saviour, and an evil doer of classic proportions. Hints at portions of his own life are not too well hidden within the story.
While some of his prose is of a very old style, and one tends to sniff a little at the occasional bit of swooning, fainting and 'brain fever', his deep understanding of human nature and it's representations in his characters remains remarkable, while there is very little that is in 'black and white'; always shades of grey, to keep one questioning.
Friedrich Nietzsche is quoted as saying about Dostoyevsky; "the only psychologist ... from whom I had something to learn; he ranks among the most beautiful strokes of fortune in my life"
Legend83 said:
I would say it is worth a read just for the insight into what actually goes on in what is effectively a parallel world to 99% of us.
As I say, I can understand why he would have the psyche he does but it gets a bit repetitive - on the one hand we are to listen to how good he is at saving the people of the UK, on the other we are to be sympathetic to his mental issues.
Meh, it got a bit embarassing in the final few pages TBH - lines like when talking about walking out on his psych doctor "He was a professional and an expert in his field but he had no idea what it takes to keep the people of this country safe"...blah blah blah.As I say, I can understand why he would have the psyche he does but it gets a bit repetitive - on the one hand we are to listen to how good he is at saving the people of the UK, on the other we are to be sympathetic to his mental issues.
Another trip to the library today after having finished 'American Psycho'. Honestly, it's not that great a book. Bateman's narrative manages to swing between reviews of Whitney Houston albums, assessing the brands worn by his associates, and murdering the homeless in depraved ways, but it simply isn't that awe-inspiring. I, for one, preferred the film with Christian Bale.
Next on the reading list is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Having not read any Steinbeck since having to dissect 'Of Mice and Men' for GCSEs, I am reminded just how vividly he captures the landscapes of that bygone period in American history. Few authors I have read have displayed Steinbeck's knack for description, nor his ability to transfer an accent to written text.
Next on the reading list is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Having not read any Steinbeck since having to dissect 'Of Mice and Men' for GCSEs, I am reminded just how vividly he captures the landscapes of that bygone period in American history. Few authors I have read have displayed Steinbeck's knack for description, nor his ability to transfer an accent to written text.
Levin said:
Another trip to the library today after having finished 'American Psycho'. Honestly, it's not that great a book. Bateman's narrative manages to swing between reviews of Whitney Houston albums, assessing the brands worn by his associates, and murdering the homeless in depraved ways, but it simply isn't that awe-inspiring. I, for one, preferred the film with Christian Bale.
Next on the reading list is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Having not read any Steinbeck since having to dissect 'Of Mice and Men' for GCSEs, I am reminded just how vividly he captures the landscapes of that bygone period in American history. Few authors I have read have displayed Steinbeck's knack for description, nor his ability to transfer an accent to written text.
'The Grapes of Wrath'Next on the reading list is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Having not read any Steinbeck since having to dissect 'Of Mice and Men' for GCSEs, I am reminded just how vividly he captures the landscapes of that bygone period in American history. Few authors I have read have displayed Steinbeck's knack for description, nor his ability to transfer an accent to written text.
As depressing as 'Crime and Punishment' magnified across multiple families and multiple generations.
An excellent book and a frightening vision of how bad things can get in reality.
Levin said:
Another trip to the library today after having finished 'American Psycho'. Honestly, it's not that great a book. Bateman's narrative manages to swing between reviews of Whitney Houston albums, assessing the brands worn by his associates, and murdering the homeless in depraved ways, but it simply isn't that awe-inspiring. I, for one, preferred the film with Christian Bale.
Next on the reading list is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Having not read any Steinbeck since having to dissect 'Of Mice and Men' for GCSEs, I am reminded just how vividly he captures the landscapes of that bygone period in American history. Few authors I have read have displayed Steinbeck's knack for description, nor his ability to transfer an accent to written text.
'American Psycho' is on the same list as 'Catcher in the Rye' for me - wtf is all the fuss about? Found it all a bit tedious in the end.Next on the reading list is John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Having not read any Steinbeck since having to dissect 'Of Mice and Men' for GCSEs, I am reminded just how vividly he captures the landscapes of that bygone period in American history. Few authors I have read have displayed Steinbeck's knack for description, nor his ability to transfer an accent to written text.
Anyway, currently have the not-incompatible pair of 'It Couldn't Happen Here' by Sinclair Lewis and the 2016 reprint of 'Bowie: Album by Album' by Paolo Hewitt and Robert Elms on the go at the mo. Only a few chapters into each, but enjoying the slow drawing-in style of Lewis, and the life story background of each of Bowie's albums.
I know this is the "books you are reading" thread, but the customer comments delightfully push this one into the "books you shouldn't be reading" pile.
www.amazon.co.uk/Charles-Darwin-Victorian-Mythmake...
www.amazon.co.uk/Charles-Darwin-Victorian-Mythmake...
Newc said:
I know this is the "books you are reading" thread, but the customer comments delightfully push this one into the "books you shouldn't be reading" pile.
www.amazon.co.uk/Charles-Darwin-Victorian-Mythmake...
Astonishing.www.amazon.co.uk/Charles-Darwin-Victorian-Mythmake...
The promotional blurb could/should be enough to send even a religious fundamentalist running for the hills.
The professional review by Adrian Woolfson in The Standard is quoted as;
"A lucid, elegantly written and thought-provoking social and intellectual history"
What the review actually said;
"Wilson’s Charles Darwin, published by John Murray — the original publisher of On the Origin of Species — is for the greater part a lucid, elegantly written and thought-provoking social and intellectual history. His extensive use of the Cambridge Darwin project archives enables him to detail Darwin’s life, and reconstruct the origins of “Darwin’s dangerous idea”, in a fascinating and scholarly manner.
When it comes to the author’s speculations on evolutionary theory, however, the book is fatally flawed, mischievous, and ultimately misleading. It leaves the reader as the unfortunate witness to the uncomfortable spectacle of a magnificent social biographer being consumed by the alluring quicksand of hubris and scientific ignorance. In so doing, Wilson opens himself up to some of the very same criticisms with which he taints the ghost of Darwin.
By the false lights of Wilson’s selectively tutored imagination..."
You get the picture.
Shame on you Mr. Wilson.
Well blow me down!
Just finished Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" this morning....
....only for it to be an answer on Mastermind tonight!!!!
Did I jump around the room, whooping!?!
Now moved onto the second John Milton novel by Mark Dawson - still not quite sure about this series, but he seems to suck you into a good romp of a story - and it's pretty current.
Just finished Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" this morning....
....only for it to be an answer on Mastermind tonight!!!!
Did I jump around the room, whooping!?!
Now moved onto the second John Milton novel by Mark Dawson - still not quite sure about this series, but he seems to suck you into a good romp of a story - and it's pretty current.
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