Books - What are you reading?
Discussion
j4r4lly said:
Currently reading "Stormbird" by Conn Iggulden which is part of the Wars of the Roses series.
Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I usually read a couple of books at a time, something heavy and non fiction that I can plod my way through, cross referencing and googling my way through interesting stuff it throws up, and something light and entertaining that I can drop into when tired and unable to concentrate.Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I'm currently working my way through William Alexander's 'The City of Djinns', which although it's fairly small and light hearted, needs lots of cross referencing to expand my woeful knowledge of Asian political, religious, and architectural history.
I was gifted a set of Conn Iggulden's books which are essentially historical novels based loosely on the life of Ghengis Khan and which have been sitting forlornly on a shelf for a couple of years. I think I'll give them a try as light reading and to see how my historical knowledge hold true.
Desiderata said:
j4r4lly said:
Currently reading "Stormbird" by Conn Iggulden which is part of the Wars of the Roses series.
Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I usually read a couple of books at a time, something heavy and non fiction that I can plod my way through, cross referencing and googling my way through interesting stuff it throws up, and something light and entertaining that I can drop into when tired and unable to concentrate.Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I'm currently working my way through William Alexander's 'The City of Djinns', which although it's fairly small and light hearted, needs lots of cross referencing to expand my woeful knowledge of Asian political, religious, and architectural history.
I was gifted a set of Conn Iggulden's books which are essentially historical novels based loosely on the life of Ghengis Khan and which have been sitting forlornly on a shelf for a couple of years. I think I'll give them a try as light reading and to see how my historical knowledge hold true.
Prolex-UK said:
Desiderata said:
j4r4lly said:
Currently reading "Stormbird" by Conn Iggulden which is part of the Wars of the Roses series.
Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I usually read a couple of books at a time, something heavy and non fiction that I can plod my way through, cross referencing and googling my way through interesting stuff it throws up, and something light and entertaining that I can drop into when tired and unable to concentrate.Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I'm currently working my way through William Alexander's 'The City of Djinns', which although it's fairly small and light hearted, needs lots of cross referencing to expand my woeful knowledge of Asian political, religious, and architectural history.
I was gifted a set of Conn Iggulden's books which are essentially historical novels based loosely on the life of Ghengis Khan and which have been sitting forlornly on a shelf for a couple of years. I think I'll give them a try as light reading and to see how my historical knowledge hold true.
I started on the "Emperor" series which features Gaius Julius Caesar which I also really enjoyed. It's a good balance between factual characters and events and fictional "adventures" and people.
j4r4lly said:
Prolex-UK said:
Desiderata said:
j4r4lly said:
Currently reading "Stormbird" by Conn Iggulden which is part of the Wars of the Roses series.
Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I usually read a couple of books at a time, something heavy and non fiction that I can plod my way through, cross referencing and googling my way through interesting stuff it throws up, and something light and entertaining that I can drop into when tired and unable to concentrate.Based on factual historical characters it's a really good read and I've enjoyed learning about the main players from this period in history.
I'm currently working my way through William Alexander's 'The City of Djinns', which although it's fairly small and light hearted, needs lots of cross referencing to expand my woeful knowledge of Asian political, religious, and architectural history.
I was gifted a set of Conn Iggulden's books which are essentially historical novels based loosely on the life of Ghengis Khan and which have been sitting forlornly on a shelf for a couple of years. I think I'll give them a try as light reading and to see how my historical knowledge hold true.
I started on the "Emperor" series which features Gaius Julius Caesar which I also really enjoyed. It's a good balance between factual characters and events and fictional "adventures" and people.
Just finished the first of Shona Maclean's Alexander Seaton tetralogy. New to me, she's another writer-historian (and Alistair Maclean's niece) in the style of C J Sansom. So if Shardlake's your cup of tea, I'd be very surprised if you didn't enjoy her talent.
ETA: typo
ETA: typo
Edited by IanA2 on Monday 2nd March 19:53
Ardennes1944 said:
Finished Chickenhawk last night. Written by a Vietnam Huey pilot. Normally only read books on WW1 and WW2 but this was a very good read I thought.
Working my way through that at the moment, very good so far.Recently finished Sniper One which was excellent. One of the best war related books I've read for getting a true sense of what our lads went through in Iraq.
Also recently finished both Jason Fox - Battle Scars and Ant Middleton - First Man In. Foxy has certainly been through the wringer and I was glad to read how he got through it in the end. Ant came across a bit of a cock imo.
Picked up a few more used books from ebay to work through which should keep me going for a month or so. All recommendations from this thread
Edited by Laplace on Monday 2nd March 21:01
Goaty Bill 2 said:
'Cancer Ward' Volumes one and two by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
Translation: Nicholas Bethell and David Burg
Publisher: The Bodley Head, 1968
My first editions
These excellent first edition copies have been sitting on my shelf for some time and I finally got around to them.
A semi-autobiographical novel, set in winter/spring 1954/5, based upon Solzhenitsyn's experiences while being treated for cancer, in Tashkent, following his release from Gulag / sharashka and exile to South Kazakhstan.
(Solzhenitsyn's time in the sharashka is the subject of 'In The First Circle'.)
While the principal character, Kostoglotov, is the subject of much of the story, Solzhenitsyn explores many of the novel's characters in great depth; both the patients and the medical staff and even the cleaners. The patient's cancers, and how they cope, or not, with their circumstances, the lives the staff are forced to live, many of which are hundreds miles from their original homes.
Invariably there is a fair amount of dialogue between the patients on conditions in the Soviet Union and the principles of socialism and Marxism.
It includes a remarkable amount of detail on the various forms of cancer being treated and the treatments in use at the time, but for all the divergences (of sorts) to bring in the details of the various characters' lives and the treatments, the story holds together extremely well and flows easily from page to page.
Some readers have commented that they either found part 2 to be less interesting than part 1, or that they simply "couldn't get into it", but I suspect this is more often a result of a gap between reading the two parts.
The extended conversation between Kostoglotov and Shulubin in part two is especially note worthy.
I found the second part initially held my attention almost as well as the first, and improved rapidly to equal the first part, but would definitely recommend having both parts in hand before beginning.
As always, 'The Gulag Archipelago' excepted, Solzhenitsyn manages to give a clear insight into life in Soviet Russia without preaching, and regularly presenting the views and arguments of those that were much in favour of the state as it existed.
You're a Trooper, GB2.Translation: Nicholas Bethell and David Burg
Publisher: The Bodley Head, 1968
My first editions
These excellent first edition copies have been sitting on my shelf for some time and I finally got around to them.
A semi-autobiographical novel, set in winter/spring 1954/5, based upon Solzhenitsyn's experiences while being treated for cancer, in Tashkent, following his release from Gulag / sharashka and exile to South Kazakhstan.
(Solzhenitsyn's time in the sharashka is the subject of 'In The First Circle'.)
While the principal character, Kostoglotov, is the subject of much of the story, Solzhenitsyn explores many of the novel's characters in great depth; both the patients and the medical staff and even the cleaners. The patient's cancers, and how they cope, or not, with their circumstances, the lives the staff are forced to live, many of which are hundreds miles from their original homes.
Invariably there is a fair amount of dialogue between the patients on conditions in the Soviet Union and the principles of socialism and Marxism.
It includes a remarkable amount of detail on the various forms of cancer being treated and the treatments in use at the time, but for all the divergences (of sorts) to bring in the details of the various characters' lives and the treatments, the story holds together extremely well and flows easily from page to page.
Some readers have commented that they either found part 2 to be less interesting than part 1, or that they simply "couldn't get into it", but I suspect this is more often a result of a gap between reading the two parts.
The extended conversation between Kostoglotov and Shulubin in part two is especially note worthy.
I found the second part initially held my attention almost as well as the first, and improved rapidly to equal the first part, but would definitely recommend having both parts in hand before beginning.
As always, 'The Gulag Archipelago' excepted, Solzhenitsyn manages to give a clear insight into life in Soviet Russia without preaching, and regularly presenting the views and arguments of those that were much in favour of the state as it existed.
ElectricSoup said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
You're a Trooper, GB2.If by some chance you haven't, I can only imagine how much better it would be in Russian... so get to it
Goaty Bill 2 said:
ElectricSoup said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
You're a Trooper, GB2.If by some chance you haven't, I can only imagine how much better it would be in Russian... so get to it
Edited by ElectricSoup on Tuesday 3rd March 13:20
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