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Just started reading "Legacy of violence"by Caroline Elkins. It's a history of the British empire. I'm hoping it's as informative as the reviews say.
The only parental complaint I've had in 20 years of teaching was a parent who contacted the school to say they thought I hadn't been positive enough about the British Empire.
The only comment I could think of that I'd made was that it wasn't the worst of empires but that this wasn't really saying mutch.
people were less sensitive about things like that back in the Olden Days...
well quite...I've also read some whoppers in some of his WW2 books,(he's especially fond of the Wermacht and equally disparaging about the Allies) His Vietnam book has nothing to say about Laos and Cambodia.
I think, given that there are writers doing better work these days - Saul David, Daniel Todman, Caddick Adams, I'll be leaving him on the shelf a little while longer
Just finished two audiobooks:
Promised Land by Barack Obama
This is about Obama's early politic career, including his first term in office (up to the Osama Bin Laden mission)...
Fear by Bob Woodward
The latter is about Donald Trump's first term as President. It's mostly compiled from interviews with his various senior staff members, appointees, Republican politicians and/or lobbyists at the time, and is remarkable because many of them soon realized Trump was a moron and actively worked to sabotage his policies/ramblings.
The difference between the two Presidents couldn't be more stark....(understatement of the century!)
Currently reading "Ask a Pro" by Phil Gaimon (ex-road cycling pro and current YouTuber whose specialty is stealing as many Strava KOMs as possible). Anyway, Phil has a wicked sense of humour and rips apart the "glamour" of the Peleton...
Currently on tinker, tailor, soldier, spy and smiley's people is next. Not sure of the order but they are ok must admit the descriptions of smiley aren't what I imagined him to be like.
Currently on tinker, tailor, soldier, spy and smiley's people is next. Not sure of the order but they are ok must admit the descriptions of smiley aren't what I imagined him to be like.
Merlin by Graham Hoyland. About the history of the Merlin engine.
Just finishing Nuclear War - A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. Very good and very chilling, especially the bit that points out the fate of every living thing on Earth could be left with Trump with 6 minutes to make the decision.
Similar in parts to House Of Dynamite, the film on Netflix.
Hotel Avocado ( Bob Mortimer)
and
Bless Me Father ( Kevin Rowland)
Both good .
Just finishing Nuclear War - A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen.
Just read same. Another in the same vein is Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. It's the story of the deveoplment of nuclear weapons told through the Arkansas Titan missile explosion
Felix the train station cat.
and
Ink by Ted Bishop
As usual have 2 on the go - Richard Powers "Bewilderment" which is fab and for those sleepless nights Young Skins by Colin Barrett, which I bought as a 99p Kindle book for some short stories... didn't realise until the other night that it is the origin of the fab film Calm With Horses. Which is one of the best short stories I've ever read in me loif. Absolutely fantastic.
The Mighty Micro, written in 1979 and surprisingly accurate in it's predications.
Just finished Maror by Lavie Tidhar. I picked it up as it was on my "to read" shelf, and was a bit annoyed to find it's all about Israel, given one thing and another, but it's actually pretty eye-opening, and quite gripping.
Moved on to The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett; good stuff, American gothic, not dissimilar to his (much better, I think) American Elsewhere.
And also have Empires of the Normans on the go as my non-fiction. Very interesting, giving an overview of England pre-1066 as well as a thorough history of the Normans generally, how far they got and their influence. Makes me want to find a good book on the Crusades, plus others on pre-Conquest England
. Makes me want to find a good book on the Crusades, plus others on pre-Conquest England
I'm about a third of the way through "The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land" by Thomas Asbridge (who also wrote " The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power behind Five English Thrones."
The Crusades book is very readable and has a lot of detail from both the Latin side and the Muslim side,
Reading The Young Alexander - the making of Alexander the Great - Alex Rowson - well written about to get to the big Greek fight - Charionea. i liked Stephen Tibbles Crusader Armies if you want a recommendation. Frank Mclynns 1066 the year of 3 battles is a great read too.
Retirement = more reading. Just finished
Meat Grinder - Prit Buttar - eastern front 1941-42 Rezhev battles, was Ok not enough personal accounts - probably because not many of either side who fought there were left at the end of it.
The Siege of Acre (1189 -1191) - Crusades John Hosler - looks at both sides sources, a good read - the big face off Richard Lionheart and Philip v Saladin...and the rather tricky issue of Richard execution of 2500 of the captured garrison.
On with Frank Mclynn's biography of Marcus Aurelius'
I've just finished The Lord Of The Rings. I haven't read it since I was a young teen, when I read it two or three times. I bought it in March and have read it book by book through the year, and tbh, have completely struggled with it. The pacing is all over the place, but generally glacially slow.
In the final book, Sam takes about a dozen pages to decide whether to carry on into Mordor, is then joined by Frodo, they traipse through the gloom for dozens of pages, and dispose of the Ring in about a paragraph. Then the eagles appear to whisk them away. (There are quite a lot of deus ex machinas in this story, few of them from the wizards themselves, which is weird.) After lobbing the Ring there are about 70 close typed pages of wrapping up, tediously slowly and mainly written in astonishingly biblical, reverential language.
Then the hobbits get home and celebrate Yule. Yes, they enjoy Christmas in Middle Earth. I had to look up whether Yule had an older meaning, but no, Tolkien didn't think it out of place. Such a weird book to read as an adult.
I have just read At the edge by Danny Mac Gaskill.
Quite good with an interesting take on risk
Halfway through Vietnam:The Ten Thousand Day War by Michael Maclear more high politics than personal accounts and then onto Memoirs Of A Radical Lawyer by Michael Mansfield. Charity shop finds for £1 each.
Homework A Memoir
Geoff Dyer
Throw on some rose tinted goggles for a wee bit of time travel.
Toy soldiers, conker fights, fizzy drinks, Wall’s ice-creams, chicken-in-a-basket pub lunches, swimming lessons (plus verrucas), trips in the family car to see relations, programmes on the black-and-white telly
I just finished the last book of The Empire of the Vampire trilogy by Jay Kristoff. I honestly loved these books and having recently enjoyed his Nevernight trilogy, I can't remember the last time I so eagerly awaited the publishing of a new book.
He has a wonderful knack of creating heroes and heroines who are complete arses, yet you keep rooting for them.
Brilliant books 5/5
😀
The Immortal North by Tom Stewart. It upset me. Just seen there's a sequel on Amazon, which is a bit of a spoiler tbh!
I'm currently working through Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It's very good, very engaging and really draws you in. But there's a lot to it - 500+ pages, and an awful lot happening in those pages. It can feel a bit much at times.
For an occasional breather I also have The Bad Popes by ER Chamberlin on the go. It's a history of key popery from about 700AD onwards, and it's really fascinating - did you know, for example, that from about 7000 until about 1100 it was an absolute free-for-all - if you had enough soldiers behind you, you could get yourself ordained and made pope, and then basically steal all the various trinkets and church gold for yourself. It's also weirdly tied up with the history of the (by-then deceased) western Roman Empire, and the pope had the power to deem someone the "holy roman emperor".
I keep buying books that William Dalrymple raves about in the Empire podcast, and find they're just a bit too high-brow for my simple tastes.... 🙂 Recently finished Occupational Hazards by Rory Stewart (not an Empire recommendation), about his time as a provincial governer in Iraq, interesting and eye-opening as to the realities of being an unwelcome occupying force. Then, just for a change of pace, I re-read Johnny Herbert's autobiography, much more my level. 🙂
I've just finished Mukkle Flugga by Michael Pederson, fantastic read especially if you like the wilds of Scotland. Heartly recommended by Irvine Welsh on Instagram!
I've absolutely no interest in non-fiction but am 25% of the way through Hans Rosling (& family) Factfullness, as I saw it recommended in a thread (cant find where as the search on here is beyond sh.it). I looked to see if I has the most upto date version, only to find he unfortunately died a year later (there was a thread on here [..which the fricken useless search DID located for me]). I thought it might be interesting as I heard one of the Scandinavia countries (turn out Finland) teach children about the internet false information from a young age, and yes it is very interesting and informative but not dry or boring.
Currently just finishing The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
Aside from what is forced onto us as children. I have never believed the Abrahamic God any more than the more mythological or pagan Gods out there. Dawkins clearly sees religion as being a vehicle for bad things rather than the peace and happiness it claims.
Finished Frank McGlynns - Marcus Aurelius - was a bit hard work - a bit too much on his education, stoicism, alternative philosophies and not really enough on his campaigning (for me) in Germany and the Middle east. Still I learnt a bit about Rousseau, John Stuart Mill .....etc.
Also finished the Eagle and the Hart by Helen Caster - very well written, Richard II and Henry IV - the period c 1360 - 1415. Lots of parallels with today. A narcissistic leader (Richard II) thinks everyone should be to his will ......hmmm let me think who could that be ........Although Richard does get deposed by Henry IV (his cousin) - arise the House of Lancaster.
Just finished Punk the last word - which was slightly ironic as there was a tedious amount of repetition.
Now ploughing through Andy Willmot Top Gear. It's a bit of a struggle, and I suspect big chunks are fabricated.
Just read Heat 2 by Michael Mann, which I didn't know existed until a few weeks back and wasn't expecting much of. But I thought it was great and did a good job of building on the characters in the film.
Recently finished a couple - Devils by Joe Abercrombie, was OK. Joe never totally misses but this was too much cheese for me. Good luck to him with whatever tv adaptation he is angling for, and it was definitely fun in places, but I don't need to read the screenplay.
Satantango from Lazlo K was impressive if you enjoy a black vortex of prose, atop a slow lava flow of narrative, that sort of thing. He won the Nobel prize last year and this was his first novel from 40 years ago.
Not a book to fall in love with, it is so, so bleak with not a single sentence that is hopeful, optimistic, or any other positive descriptor one could apply to humanity. Would be a ridiculous OTT story in the hands of most writers, but LK is not most writers - unique writing with a lot of tonal shift into humour and mundanity that makes it feel real. More accessible than his critical reputation would suggest, although he does like a long sentence.
I gave up on Devils, just couldn’t get into it. It was disappointing as I absolutely loved The First Law series by the same author. Currently reading The Gulag Archipelago, it’s horrifying.
I like a paper back for the bath so currently going through my Nevil Shute collection. Pied Piper last night and probably Round the Bend in a minute. Also on the go are; The Bitter Sea (the Med in WW2), Hammer Guns by Diggory Haddoke, an American A4 paper back about vintage dirt bikes, The Darkness Beckons by Martin Farr, Welsh Rock (climbing not music) and an anthology of articles about game keepers from days gone by Brian Martin.
I re-read "Dead Air" by Iain Banks. Excellent prose as ever.
But I gave up on "Obama's Wars" by Bob Woodward (Watergate journalist) about the politics behind the Afghan War that Obama inherited from Dubya Bush. I've read a couple of Woodward's books in the past but this one was just a confusing jumble of people's names and political/military positions and listing off their machinations. It needed some sort of org chart to keep on top of who was who and who had authority. Disappointing.
Long Ride Home by Nathan Millyard.
Guy riding a 110 cc post office motorbike from Sydney to London. Read it before but looking forward to another go.
I was thinking only yesterday I should look for this thread... 🙂 Recent reads have been...
No Win Race, by Derek Bardwell - a sobering, important and very accessible read, every time I read a book on the experiences of black people in the UK, I increasingly realise just how unbalanced our society is.
Koh-I-Noor, by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand - a rip-roaring telling of the dark history of the famous diamond, races along and some quite genuine OMG moments along the way. I love these pair on the Empire podcast - they write together every bit as well.
Next up - revisiting The Borribles trilogy, loved book one, just getting into Across The Dark Metropolis, loving it but my word, they're not really kids' books! 🙂
Just coming to the end of The Long Goodbye. Raymond Chandler noir classic I'd not read before.
Gonna be Immortal North part 2 by Tom Stewart next. Part 1 was a thing of beauty.
Nearly finished First Light by Geoffrey Wellum, it's probably as close as you'll get to having an idea of what it must have been like to be a fighter pilot in WW2
I had a friend who was fighter pilot in WW2, Burma.
Quite few stories told, quite an eye opener.
Check out his memoirs.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/sparkes/contents.htm
I miss Edward a great friend.
While moving I found an handwritten list of book recommendations that I gathered up about 25 years ago, mostly with teh help of the old Iain Banks fan list culture@busstop.org. Lovely thing to find, just a total flashback to a happy place and while I've read a few there's a lot I've not so I thought it'd be great to dip into that
First off is Gridlinked by Neal Asher, because it was £1. Loads of people said was exactly like Iain M Banks and I'd definitely enjoy it. Absolute pish tbf, some good ideas but it's like a culture fanfic written by a 13 year old.
Still it can only get better
Nearly finished First Light by Geoffrey Wellum, it's probably as close as you'll get to having an idea of what it must have been like to be a fighter pilot in WW2
Oddly, I read that at the end of last year on a friend's recommendation and agree. Passed it on to my dad who also loved it.
Just finished the first two Slow Horses books - haven't seen the TV series. Enjoyable but lack the moral weight and anger of Le Carre's post-Cold War books.
Also read an old copy of The Changes Trilogy, the books the mid-70s kids' TV show was based on - would now be called YA fiction. Quite interesting.
Won't bother mentioning a dodgy cli-fi book the Guardian loved.
About to start Peter F. Hamilton's new book, Hole in the Sky. Love an Ark Ship story, me...