Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
I finished ‘Passchendaele 1917’ by Robert J. Parker a few days ago. It is a decent primer on the overall campaign for the Passchendaele Ridge with ample sources. Parker’s work begins with an overview of the militaries involved and some explanation of how the war progressed, before delving into the individual battles that created the overarching Third Battle of Ypres (Gheluvelt Ridge, Menin Road, etc.)
All in all, an agreeable assessment and a perfect starting point for learning more about Passchendaele. I feel that Parker follows the belief General Sir Douglas Haig was something of an unthinking butcher, ramming many thousands of his men into German defences in a war of attrition. Many other people do, too, but it reminded me that I’d like to try and find a more sympathetic biography of Haig for a spot of devil’s advocacy. Similarly I got the impression Parker approaches WWI as an avoidable, needless war. Not necessarily the impression I’ve gathered so far but, again, I’d like to read something written with that as its leading theory.
Now I’m reading Len Deighton’s ‘The Ipcress File’, his first published novel. My local library seems very keen on Deighton coming into the summer months, with a nearly-full range of his works.
All in all, an agreeable assessment and a perfect starting point for learning more about Passchendaele. I feel that Parker follows the belief General Sir Douglas Haig was something of an unthinking butcher, ramming many thousands of his men into German defences in a war of attrition. Many other people do, too, but it reminded me that I’d like to try and find a more sympathetic biography of Haig for a spot of devil’s advocacy. Similarly I got the impression Parker approaches WWI as an avoidable, needless war. Not necessarily the impression I’ve gathered so far but, again, I’d like to read something written with that as its leading theory.
Now I’m reading Len Deighton’s ‘The Ipcress File’, his first published novel. My local library seems very keen on Deighton coming into the summer months, with a nearly-full range of his works.
irememberyou said:
Reading A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert - set in Ukraine 1941 and about the round up of Jews in a small town by the SS.
Have also read one of her other books The Dark Room which was also about the War and Nazis.
I think she's said in interviews that her grandparents were Nazis.
Recommend both.
Seiffert sounds like just the kind of author I'd like to read. Thanks for letting me know her books exist!Have also read one of her other books The Dark Room which was also about the War and Nazis.
I think she's said in interviews that her grandparents were Nazis.
Recommend both.
I've just finished "Magic Terror", a collection of short stories by Peter Straub. What a pile of rubbish. Nothing really happens (at all, in several of them), there's a bit of ghost-y stuff but no terror that I could find. It's badly written, the final story is written in such a way that it's very difficult to follow what's going on - for example the author uses that sixties way of blanking out certain names and places with a line, which given that it's a work of fiction I don't really understand, but doesn't make it flow well. He'll refer to characters who have multi-word nicknames in full every time, as if he's trying to push the word count up.
I can only assume this was cheap (it's an ex-library book) as I don't normally pick any kind of ghost / horror related stuff up, maybe I picked this just to see whether it was worth getting. No. Maybe it's unrepresentative of his stuff in general (I've read books of short stories by some authors I do like which haven't been all that good) but I don't think I'll be finding out. I am fairly smug that I didn't just give up on it after the first story.
Next to come is either the Tim Weaver book mentioned above, I am missing, or a cheap Jeffery Deaver I picked up now the car boot sale season has started again, Solitude Creek.
I can only assume this was cheap (it's an ex-library book) as I don't normally pick any kind of ghost / horror related stuff up, maybe I picked this just to see whether it was worth getting. No. Maybe it's unrepresentative of his stuff in general (I've read books of short stories by some authors I do like which haven't been all that good) but I don't think I'll be finding out. I am fairly smug that I didn't just give up on it after the first story.
Next to come is either the Tim Weaver book mentioned above, I am missing, or a cheap Jeffery Deaver I picked up now the car boot sale season has started again, Solitude Creek.
I just finished the entire Drizzt Do'Urden series ( published) after reading Hero.
I am a hardcore Drizzt fan and I have read all of his 31 books and was very sad to hear the Wizards of the Coast stopped publishing new novels.
But another publisher is releasing a new Drizzt book in September and I couldn't be more excited.
I must have read over 100 books about Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenholdt etc.
I am a hardcore Drizzt fan and I have read all of his 31 books and was very sad to hear the Wizards of the Coast stopped publishing new novels.
But another publisher is releasing a new Drizzt book in September and I couldn't be more excited.
I must have read over 100 books about Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenholdt etc.
I thought something intellectual was called for.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Foulbowels-Bedtim...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Foulbowels-Bedtim...
Having completed Jordan Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' last month (which has it's own thread), I finally dived back into some Dostoevsky with 'The House of the Dead'.
In 1859 Dostoevsky was arrested and charged with being a member of socialist revolutionary group, and was identified as being one of the ringleaders. Rather difficult to imagine given his later works, most specifically 'The Brothers Karamazov' and 'The possessed' (Demons).
Having been found guilty, he was, along with his colleagues, sentenced to death by firing squad. It was a cruel hoax and the Emperor commuted their sentences to four years hard labour at the very moment they were theoretically to be shot (yes, tied to the posts, blindfolded and awaiting to hear the order to fire).
This is claimed to have been a major turning point for Dostoevsky, in both his thinking and his literary direction.
'The House of the Dead' is seen as an essential read in order to properly understand Dostoevsky and the conclusions he drew about life following this experience. Written as a fictional account, told in the first person, as related to the author, it is said that Dostoevsky told family members in correspondence that conditions were somewhat worse than related in the book.
Interestingly, as bad as it seems, it is an absolute picnic when compared to Solzhenitsyn's accounts of life in the Gulag in 'The Gulag Archipelago' or even than the much easier time that Ivan has as told in his 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'.
It seems that in both 'The House' and 'Ivan Denisovich' the stories were watered down somewhat for identical reasons; to enable the books to get past the censors and be published in the first place, and to avoid retaliation by their respective governments.
Solzhenitsyn makes reference to 'The House of the Dead' in 'The Gulag Archipelago' in making his point that things were so much more cruel and destructive under the Marxist-Stalinists than the emperors they had overthrown.
My particular translation was by H. Sutherland Edwards, and was in part purchased in an effort to further complete my collection of 'The Greatest Masterpieces of Russian Literature' series published by Heron books.
I may well be looking for a Garnet translation of this as well now, as I found what appeared to be obvious contradictions in the text on a several occasions, and that the story did not flow with Dostoevsky's usual essay like precision.
Based upon this translation alone; while I consider it an important read in classic Russian literature, it was less than his best work, and was far surpassed by his later novels and stories. Perhaps a reading of Garnet will alter that conclusion.
All said and done, the stark differences between Solzhenitsyn's Gulag, and Dostoevsky's prison term make this the principal motivation for reading. As awful as life for many would have been under the Tsars, Stalin showed that things could be made much worse in the quest for egalitarianism and 'correct' social order.
In 1859 Dostoevsky was arrested and charged with being a member of socialist revolutionary group, and was identified as being one of the ringleaders. Rather difficult to imagine given his later works, most specifically 'The Brothers Karamazov' and 'The possessed' (Demons).
Having been found guilty, he was, along with his colleagues, sentenced to death by firing squad. It was a cruel hoax and the Emperor commuted their sentences to four years hard labour at the very moment they were theoretically to be shot (yes, tied to the posts, blindfolded and awaiting to hear the order to fire).
This is claimed to have been a major turning point for Dostoevsky, in both his thinking and his literary direction.
'The House of the Dead' is seen as an essential read in order to properly understand Dostoevsky and the conclusions he drew about life following this experience. Written as a fictional account, told in the first person, as related to the author, it is said that Dostoevsky told family members in correspondence that conditions were somewhat worse than related in the book.
Interestingly, as bad as it seems, it is an absolute picnic when compared to Solzhenitsyn's accounts of life in the Gulag in 'The Gulag Archipelago' or even than the much easier time that Ivan has as told in his 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'.
It seems that in both 'The House' and 'Ivan Denisovich' the stories were watered down somewhat for identical reasons; to enable the books to get past the censors and be published in the first place, and to avoid retaliation by their respective governments.
Solzhenitsyn makes reference to 'The House of the Dead' in 'The Gulag Archipelago' in making his point that things were so much more cruel and destructive under the Marxist-Stalinists than the emperors they had overthrown.
My particular translation was by H. Sutherland Edwards, and was in part purchased in an effort to further complete my collection of 'The Greatest Masterpieces of Russian Literature' series published by Heron books.
I may well be looking for a Garnet translation of this as well now, as I found what appeared to be obvious contradictions in the text on a several occasions, and that the story did not flow with Dostoevsky's usual essay like precision.
Based upon this translation alone; while I consider it an important read in classic Russian literature, it was less than his best work, and was far surpassed by his later novels and stories. Perhaps a reading of Garnet will alter that conclusion.
All said and done, the stark differences between Solzhenitsyn's Gulag, and Dostoevsky's prison term make this the principal motivation for reading. As awful as life for many would have been under the Tsars, Stalin showed that things could be made much worse in the quest for egalitarianism and 'correct' social order.
mattyn1 said:
I thought something intellectual was called for.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Foulbowels-Bedtim...
This is the "Books - What are you reading?" thread, so (as you have obviously read the book), give us your review?https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Foulbowels-Bedtim...
Currently working my way through "East West Street" by Philippe Sands. Basically tracing the history of his family who are from a town called Lemberg, which has been Austrian, Polish, Ukranian, and Russian depending sometimes on which week it was! It traces the history of the Jews and their persecution, how one lady missionary saved a baby by going to Vienna and bringing her back under false papers, and of all things, it reveals that Adolph's sister, Paula, was a governess of a dormitory for Jewish university students. She changed her name to Wolff after losing her job in the 30s and worked for a military hospital during the war, all the time having a monthly allowance from Adolph. The book covers such things as the invention, for sake of a better word, of words such as "genocide" and "crimes against humanity"
As you might guess, this isn't easy reading, but it is incredibly well researched and I will plod on to the end. Sometimes, knowledge is all, and you feel better for it.
As you might guess, this isn't easy reading, but it is incredibly well researched and I will plod on to the end. Sometimes, knowledge is all, and you feel better for it.
lowdrag said:
Currently working my way through "East West Street" by Philippe Sands.
How strange it is, that you're reading 'East West Street' at the same time as I pick up David Cesarani's 'Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews, 1933-49'. The very first Amazon review for my book recommends yours as a continuation of the research following 1945. I suppose it's just a coincidence, but an interesting one all the same.Cesarani's book is nearly 1000 pages long, so don't expect many posts from me in this thread for some time.
Well, I am half way through and we are still in the middle of the war. We are following the history of Raphael Lemkin (1900/59) as he flees from Poland, crossing east, not west, through Russia to Japan to the USA where he has been offered a professorship. The book is basically about the evolution of international law and focuses on Lemkin and Lauterpacht. Quite engrossing.
just finished darkest day by christopher fowler-good bit of supernatural detective with an early appearance by Bryant and may
also just read duellists by Gordon Williams based on film which was based on short story by joseph Conrad very enjoyable with film being one of my uni favourites
also just read duellists by Gordon Williams based on film which was based on short story by joseph Conrad very enjoyable with film being one of my uni favourites
Halfway through:
Hadn’t heard of this book until it was mentioned on “A Good Read” when it was brought to the table by Robin Ince.
Written in Soviet 1971 times, it sounded fascinating.
Some of it has been not so easy to read at the start but now I’ve got half way into it has become a bit more of a page turner.
Still struggling to understand some of the concepts, like the intriguing “full empties” they retrieve, but the overall concept is aliens passed by earth some years ago, took no interest whatsoever in the inconsequential life on earth and basically, just left some of their trash - like dumping the content of their ashtrays out of the car doors.....
Hadn’t heard of this book until it was mentioned on “A Good Read” when it was brought to the table by Robin Ince.
Written in Soviet 1971 times, it sounded fascinating.
Some of it has been not so easy to read at the start but now I’ve got half way into it has become a bit more of a page turner.
Still struggling to understand some of the concepts, like the intriguing “full empties” they retrieve, but the overall concept is aliens passed by earth some years ago, took no interest whatsoever in the inconsequential life on earth and basically, just left some of their trash - like dumping the content of their ashtrays out of the car doors.....
Sebring440 said:
mattyn1 said:
I thought something intellectual was called for.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Foulbowels-Bedtim...
This is the "Books - What are you reading?" thread, so (as you have obviously read the book), give us your review?https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frankie-Foulbowels-Bedtim...
K12beano said:
Halfway through:
Hadn’t heard of this book until it was mentioned on “A Good Read” when it was brought to the table by Robin Ince.
Written in Soviet 1971 times, it sounded fascinating.
Some of it has been not so easy to read at the start but now I’ve got half way into it has become a bit more of a page turner.
Still struggling to understand some of the concepts, like the intriguing “full empties” they retrieve, but the overall concept is aliens passed by earth some years ago, took no interest whatsoever in the inconsequential life on earth and basically, just left some of their trash - like dumping the content of their ashtrays out of the car doors.....
Hi K12, I can't see images on this website from behind the firewall which surrounds me, would you mind typing out the title and author please? Sounds interesting.Hadn’t heard of this book until it was mentioned on “A Good Read” when it was brought to the table by Robin Ince.
Written in Soviet 1971 times, it sounded fascinating.
Some of it has been not so easy to read at the start but now I’ve got half way into it has become a bit more of a page turner.
Still struggling to understand some of the concepts, like the intriguing “full empties” they retrieve, but the overall concept is aliens passed by earth some years ago, took no interest whatsoever in the inconsequential life on earth and basically, just left some of their trash - like dumping the content of their ashtrays out of the car doors.....
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