*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[Artaxerxes]

Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal

It's weird reading someone else's family history, especially from a perspective where they've clearly been middle or upper class for well over a century and can talk of houses in the French countryside to escape Paris.

 

[Voley]

Just started 'Don't You Leave Me Here,' Wilko Johnson's autobiography. Fantastic so far - he writes like he plays guitar. Fast, blunt, choppy, in yer face. Difficult to put down; great book.

 

[DotCommunist]

Gotham by Gaslight, an Elsewhere DC comic that imagines a turn of the 19th century gotham where Jack the Ripper pays a visit. Cracking art.

 

[krtek a houby]

Moby Dick; a helluva read but got bogged down in a chapter detailing various species of whales. I'm quite taken with the humour in it so far, although I imagine it gets very dramatic as it goes om.
Botchan (Master Darling) - early 20th century novel by Soseki Natsume. A schoolteacher encounters odd folk out in the sticks.

 

[Voley]

What Planet Am I On? by Shaun Ryder.

In-depth analysis of the phenomenon of aliens/UFO's by the world's most accomplished space case. If it doesn't solve all the mysteries of the universe by chapter 3 I'll be most disappointed.

 

[sojourner]

Went into Liverpool to put out flyers, and made the mistake of looking down whilst in News from Nowhere. £40 odd quid later...

Anyway, I am currently reading this Review | Protest! Stories of Resistance, Ra Page (ed.) | Book of the Week - BookBlast® Diary and loving it.

I also started the first book in the St Clare's series. Slight contrast! With distance, I can see now what I loved in them. There's stability, inclusion, and boundaries, and if you fuck up, authority figures treat you with fairness and kindness, not dire and unjust or cruel punishments. There's a camaraderie between the pupils too. This was the total opposite of my life as a child. I was worried I'd hate them, but I remember the stories soooo well, that it's actually been a proper wallowing experience

There was a change of a word though, a word I especially remember because I had to look it up in the dictionary as a kid. 'Wont' has been replaced with 'way'

 

[catinthehat]

Im reading The Hearing Trumpet by Leononara Harrington alongside her biography. She was a surrealist artist and the Hearing Trumpet is described as a surrealist novel and was written in the 1960s. She is a fascinating artist and the book is really unusual, funny and she writes like she paints - you can discern her style iyswim. Thoroughly recommend either novel or biography or better still both.

 

[BoatieBird]

Went into Liverpool to put out flyers, and made the mistake of looking down whilst in News from Nowhere. £40 odd quid later...

Anyway, I am currently reading this Review | Protest! Stories of Resistance, Ra Page (ed.) | Book of the Week - BookBlast® Diary and loving it.

I also started the first book in the St Clare's series. Slight contrast! With distance, I can see now what I loved in them. There's stability, inclusion, and boundaries, and if you fuck up, authority figures treat you with fairness and kindness, not dire and unjust or cruel punishments. There's a camaraderie between the pupils too. This was the total opposite of my life as a child. I was worried I'd hate them, but I remember the stories soooo well, that it's actually been a proper wallowing experience

There was a change of a word though, a word I especially remember because I had to look it up in the dictionary as a kid. 'Wont' has been replaced with 'way'

There was a move a few years ago to update the language in Blyton's books, but it obviously didn't work as most of the changes have since been reversed
Famous Five go back to original language after update flops

 

[Artaxerxes]

There was a move a few years ago to update the language in Blyton's books, but it obviously didn't work as most of the changes have since been reversed
Famous Five go back to original language after update flops

Gosh!

 

[bookaddict]

Hi again and a bit of news. The Belle Fields by Lora Adams above has now had the promised sequel published. I've been waiting for ages for answers to how certain characters turned out and the Ashes of Roses certainly does that and more. Got it in e.book form and read it in just a couple of 'sittings'. Glad one of the main characters got just what they deserved and surprised how some of the others got on? Fast moving and again well written with obvious loads of research - I can thoroughly recommend this one to you! Would suggest though that having a look at Belle Fields first and then Ashes of Roses has been more enjoyable for me but suppose with the prologue it's not essential? Would love to see anyone's comments on here who wants to give either a try? Good reading - now for a second look at Ashes!!

 

[campanula]

Orfeo - Richard Powers - another one of his which references music (composing). Loved 'In the Time of Our Singing' and enjoying this one.

 

[DotCommunist]

James S. A. Corey, 'Leviathan Wakes'

first book in the Expanse sequence. The prog was that good I had to give the books a go.

 

[sojourner]

One Day In December: Celia Sanchez and the Cuban Revolution, by Nancy Stout

Only 3 chapters in and gobsmacked already at her level of involvement and organisation. I had no idea it was her who scouted out the potential landing points for the Granma and recruited all the farmers

 

[ringo]

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Quite slow, and its still not clear what purpose the sci-fi story serves, but the writing is so strong and interesting it doesn't matter at this point.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Quite slow, and its still not clear what purpose the sci-fi story serves, but the writing is so strong and interesting it doesn't matter at this point.

Have you read Alias Grace? It's excellent

 

[ringo]

Have you read Alias Grace? It's excellent

No, I've only read a short story by her before but will definitely be reading more.

 

[sojourner]

No, I've only read a short story by her before but will definitely be reading more.

I can't think of anything she's written that I haven't enjoyed

 

[Orang Utan]

I can't think of anything she's written that I haven't enjoyed

alias grace has been adapted for tv - can't wait to see it

 

[sojourner]

alias grace has been adapted for tv - can't wait to see it

Ooo interesting. Is it gonna be on terrestrial then?

 

[Orang Utan]

Ooo interesting. Is it gonna be on terrestrial then?

Not sure what terrestrial means anymore, but it's going to be on Netflix

 

[sojourner]

Not sure what terrestrial means anymore, but it's going to be on Netflix

1,2,3 or 4 is what I mean by it.

Anyway, I have Netflix so that's good.

 

[D'wards]

Just finished Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. Fantastic. It's pretty short and easy to read, but is so thought provoking and carries some pretty heavy themes including aging, and the difficulties of being a liberal in modern day S.A.

 

[David Clapson]

I'm about to reread Riddley Walker, for the 3rd or 4th time. I've bought a nearly new hardback copy of the Expanded Edition for £23 Riddley Walker: The Expanded Edition. Very excited. It's arriving next week. I think I'll be reading it every year for the rest of my life so the hardback seemed justified. My paperback is v tatty and I'm always lending it to people. What I really want is the new illustrated Folio edition, but at £295 it's a bit steep. Apocalyptic masterpiece Riddley Walker gets stunning Folio Society re-release

They offered me £30 off and I couldn't resist...it's such a beautiful thing to own, and I'm getting a better understanding of the language with the huge pages and the illustrations...it's mesmeric. Already one of my favourite possessions. Hard to describe the bond I feel with it.

 

[D'wards]

Read 16% of Master and Commander. Abandoned. Was awfully boring with too much maritime jargon

 

[ringo]

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Quite slow, and its still not clear what purpose the sci-fi story serves, but the writing is so strong and interesting it doesn't matter at this point.

That was great

 

[sojourner]

Still reading the Celia Sanchez book and the Protest one, and the Enid Blyton ones, and now also reading Travels Into Bokhara by Alexander Burnes. If I just read one book at a time I might finish the fucking things faster

 

[krtek a houby]

Still on Moby Dick and finsished The Devil in the White City by Eril Larson. Nothing to do with W12; it tells the true story of the 1893 World Fair about the architects who managed to build it and a serial killer on the loose. Would make a decent film, I reckons.
Now reading John Man's Samurai - the Last Warrior. Accessible look at Saigo's deeds and the end of the samurai.

 

[weltweit]

Read 16% of Master and Commander. Abandoned. Was awfully boring with too much maritime jargon

You get used to the maritime jargon if you stick to them.

I am now on The Thirteen Gun Salute, Patrick O'Brian. Which is the 13th of the series. I find them nicely paced bed time reading, just before I drift off.

 

[flypanam]

Ismail Kadare - The palace of dreams.

Slowly making my way through all his works. Great writing and great stories.

 

[krtek a houby]

Mark Kurlansky's Non-Violence - The History of a Dangerous Idea.

Got this years back from a mate, started it. Left it. Back in it. Very accessible; more now than the first time I tried it.