| July book thread 14:00 - Jul 1 with 949 views | footers |
Phew. It's all gone off today about these players coming and going, ain't it? But onto more serious matters, away from def infos, Twitter posts and talking about cakes, what have the resident TWTD book-botherers been reading recently?
For me, I'm halway through Zizek's 'First as Tragedy, Then as Farce' - his take on the death of liberalism as an ideology in the post-credit crunch, Trump and 9/11 landscape. Would recommend to those of a more LBF persuasion and even, maybe, to those who aren't.
And now also re-reading Malcolm Lowry's 'Under the Volcano' - a book so well-written I want to cry at times. That being said, I found his other novel 'In Ballast to the White Sea', which I read last year, to be overwrought and all too flowery, even for my pretentious tastes.
So TWTD, what pages have you been thumbing of late? Any recommendations? |  |
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| July book thread on 14:03 - Jul 1 with 927 views | WeWereZombies |
'The Weatherhouse' by Nan Shepherd, but I'm not getting in to it like I did her first novel ('The Quarry Wood'), quite a lot of Scots dialect and the odd bit of Doric as well. She's on our bank notes y'know, and has been since well before your Jane Austen... |  |
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| July book thread on 14:07 - Jul 1 with 916 views | footers |
| July book thread on 14:03 - Jul 1 by WeWereZombies |
'The Weatherhouse' by Nan Shepherd, but I'm not getting in to it like I did her first novel ('The Quarry Wood'), quite a lot of Scots dialect and the odd bit of Doric as well. She's on our bank notes y'know, and has been since well before your Jane Austen... |
Interesting. Hadn't heard of her before - might check out some of her work based on your write-up. | |
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| July book thread on 14:12 - Jul 1 with 903 views | Ewan_Oozami |
"The Holocaust" - Laurence Rees
"Educated" Tara Westover
Two examples of what terrible things human beings can do to each other, one large-scale, one small-scale.... |  |
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| July book thread on 14:34 - Jul 1 with 873 views | Steve_M |
I'm currently reading, The Moth and the Mountain. A slim book but interesting on a slightly esoteric attempt to climb Everest in the 1903s by one Maurice Wilson who had flown from the UK despite being barely able to fly.
It captures some of the interaction between the experience of war and need for a sense of adventure and, perhaps, some more personal motivations for a man unable to settle. It is perhaps a tangential addition to Wade Davis's 'Into the Silence' which covers similar themes and which I really need to read,
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/08/the-moth-and-the-mountain-a-true-s
Before that:
Into the Tangled Bank which is a fairly light, slightly whimsical look at nature and the British public's attitude towards it:
That needed to be light because I read Catherine Belton's 'Putin's People' before that. It is very good on the state-level kleptocracy that is modern Russia. Thoroughly depressing and a bit heavy going in places, even with a lot of prior knowledge of some of those involved but very important and not really a surprise that it has prompted libel suits from some of those named (including Abramovich) especially as the book details how oligarchs have used British courts to fight battles and shut down criticism.
All three worth reading for very different reasons. |  |
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| July book thread on 14:39 - Jul 1 with 852 views | Darkblue |
I'm currently reading "The Devil's Alternative" by Frederick Forsyth which is fairly enjoyable. By far the best book I've read recently is "Man's search for meaning" by Viktor Frankl - possibly one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. |  | | |
| July book thread on 15:00 - Jul 1 with 812 views | midastouch |
I'm currently reading Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics. It's written by Tim Marshall. Enjoying it so far. |  |
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| July book thread on 15:02 - Jul 1 with 805 views | WeWereZombies |
| July book thread on 14:07 - Jul 1 by footers |
Interesting. Hadn't heard of her before - might check out some of her work based on your write-up. |
Her best known book is 'The Living Mountain', which is non-fiction (in as much as a series of quite straightforward meditations on being out in the Cairngorms and then having the reader experience some form of transcendence can be non-fiction.) My copy sits on the shelf with a Nan Shepherd fiver tucked inside the front cover. The book is also remarkable for being written between the wars and then stuffed in a drawer because Shepherd didn't have enough confidence in it to put it forward to her publisher, so it wasn't until the 1980s that it saw the light of day. Much championed now by Cambridge Academic and mountaineer Robert Macfarlane (who gets involved in so much, see 'The Lost Words' project for example. Even I know someone who has received help and advice from him...) [Post edited 1 Jul 2021 15:09]
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| July book thread on 15:49 - Jul 1 with 727 views | MerseyBlue |
I just finished Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari. It's a pretty heavy read and goes off in all sorts of tangents but has been very interesting, if at times a bit laborious.
I'm probably going to re-read The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton next as its a short book and one that I really enjoy. I'll probably race through that before the weekend is done and then move on to Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany. I bought it some time ago and have been putting off reading it because it's reputation is quite intimidating and I am anxious about having my expectations shattered. [Post edited 1 Jul 2021 15:50]
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| July book thread on 16:08 - Jul 1 with 696 views | Moriarty |
Murder at Roaringwater by Nick Foster. |  |
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| July book thread on 16:09 - Jul 1 with 693 views | BlueBlueBluex2 |
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson.
Its about time I read some classics and this seems like a nice gentle introduction and has started quite well. |  | | |
| July book thread on 16:10 - Jul 1 with 691 views | RobTheMonk |
Still working my way through Wheel of Time and currently about a quarter of the way through book 9. Considering the fan-proclaimed slog is meant to be books 7-10, I've oddly been enjoying them.
I've also been reading some of Andy McDermott's Chase and Wilde series. Basically trash action books that are perfect for reading on the bus to work.
Going to start The Day It Rained Blood, part of the Bourbon Kid series by Annoymous. The author writes like he's off his face on drugs lol, but it's good fun. |  | | |
| July book thread on 16:12 - Jul 1 with 682 views | WeWereZombies |
| July book thread on 16:09 - Jul 1 by BlueBlueBluex2 |
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson.
Its about time I read some classics and this seems like a nice gentle introduction and has started quite well. |
I read that a few months ago (because I was in a writer's workshop given by Louise Welsh a few years back and she gave a bit of advice that boiled down to 'if you want to know how to tell a story then read Robert Louis Stevenson and see how he does it'), cracking read. | |
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| July book thread on 16:17 - Jul 1 with 674 views | Coastalblue |
| July book thread on 16:10 - Jul 1 by RobTheMonk |
Still working my way through Wheel of Time and currently about a quarter of the way through book 9. Considering the fan-proclaimed slog is meant to be books 7-10, I've oddly been enjoying them.
I've also been reading some of Andy McDermott's Chase and Wilde series. Basically trash action books that are perfect for reading on the bus to work.
Going to start The Day It Rained Blood, part of the Bourbon Kid series by Annoymous. The author writes like he's off his face on drugs lol, but it's good fun. |
Ha, I think we exchanged this last time there was a book thread. I'm doing the same, think I'm now about halfway through book 10 but have slowed down a lot recently, not because of the slog as suggested by you, like you I've really enjoyed them too, more a case of life getting in the way.
I have the James Holland Normandy book lined up to read and have also been dipping in and out of Peter Stone's The History Of The Port Of London, one of my subjects as I used to run tours around it. |  |
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| July book thread on 12:08 - Jul 2 with 558 views | RobTheMonk |
| July book thread on 16:17 - Jul 1 by Coastalblue |
Ha, I think we exchanged this last time there was a book thread. I'm doing the same, think I'm now about halfway through book 10 but have slowed down a lot recently, not because of the slog as suggested by you, like you I've really enjoyed them too, more a case of life getting in the way.
I have the James Holland Normandy book lined up to read and have also been dipping in and out of Peter Stone's The History Of The Port Of London, one of my subjects as I used to run tours around it. |
Yeah, same with the speed. Summer hit and lockdown eased a little meant less time for intense reading (which I find WOT requires lol). | | | |
| July book thread on 15:00 - Jul 2 with 514 views | eastangliaisblue |
| July book thread on 15:00 - Jul 1 by midastouch |
I'm currently reading Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics. It's written by Tim Marshall. Enjoying it so far. |
Finished reading that a few weeks ago. It's a very good read. |  | | |
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