*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[LeytonCatLady]

Thief Of Time by John Boyne.

 

[belboid]

Black Spartacus - the epic life of Toussaint Louverture, by Sudhir Hazareesingh

Excellent biography of the great Caribbean revolutionary. The eighty years since CLR James wrote Black Jacobins has unearthed lots of detail on Louvertures early life which the author uses to create a picture of the great man as, essentially, always a brilliant man to whom genius came naturally. It is too well written to be called hagiographic, but it does say everything he did was inspired by his cunning and brilliance with a healthy dose of love of nature thrown in too). He makes Louverture more of his own man than James does, in that he isn’t simply applying french revolutionary ideas to his locality, he was creating a unique combination of African, creole and European beliefs to forge a new society.

Not without its faults, but an excellent read.

 

[sojourner]

Ecce Homo - Nietzsche. It's unintentionally funny, and almost complete gibberish.

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer. A German soldier's first-hand account of being on the Eastern Front in WW2.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Just finished Of Human Bondage, by Somerset Maugham. Absolutely fantastic book, recommended for everyone to read.

 

[planetgeli]

Horizon by Barry Lopez

I'll admit I'd never heard of him. Bought on a whim (and because it's got 500 pages) it's interesting so far. Mixture of autobiography and travel, taking in six (quite extreme) regions of the world and some history I didn't know, about the occasional person mainstream history doesn't care much about. Searched him on here and I see chilango is a fan of one of his books. This is the first he's written for over 10 years.

This turned dull btw.

 

[LeytonCatLady]

Black Cabs by John McLaren.

 

[rubbershoes]

Ah didn't know Glenn Close was on it. So reluctant to watch it after reading the book. It reminded me of where the crawdads sing in as much as the feelings. I might watch it, did you actually enjoy the film? Compared to the book ?

Haven't read the book so can't compare. But the film is OK. I'd it's a favourite book, and you don't want your view of it sullied on anyway, or if you're prone to shouting at the TV about in consistencies in adaptations, then don't watch it

 

[Orang Utan]

I've read the book and lasted about half an hour with the film. Just awful - Glenn Close comes off as an overacting BoSelecta character.

 

[Nikkormat]

Just finished Umbert Eco's Baudolino. Hard to get into, but worth persevering with.

Now started Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson. Seems promising.

 

[D'wards]

Hi everyone, hope you don't mind me joining in, just finished Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, I loved this book and have seen it's been turned into a film but I'm scared to watch it because the book was so good, anyone seen it?
Sorry for jumping in, I couldn't find a say hello thread x

Put it on me to read list

 

[D'wards]

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane.

Have about a quarter left and am loving it. Very easy to read style, a bit like Stephen King.
I saw the film years ago and unfortunately think I can vaguely remember the ending which is a shame as I'd love to find out what happened cold.
I've read Shutter Island but think I'll probably read a lot more Lehane now

 

[Nikkormat]

Now started Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson. Seems promising.

It took me until last week to finish this. Last week I got through Sergei Dovlatov's Pushkin Hills, Philip Kerr's March Violets, and then started Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth. I should finish that in a couple of days, and next will be The Buddha's Return by Gaito Gazdanov.

 

[BigMoaner]

Decoding Jung's Metaphysics

Brilliant, heart pounding at times stuff

Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The archetypal semantics of an experiential universe: Amazon.co.uk: Bernardo Kastrup: 9781789045659: Books

Buy Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The archetypal semantics of an experiential universe by Bernardo Kastrup (ISBN: 9781789045659) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[stockwelljonny]

Just finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, loved it, gripping and original. Hadn’t heard of the author before but apparently it won the Booker a few years ago. Story of an Australian soldier in ww2 and after.

 

[kropotkin]

That's a very moving book

 

[stockwelljonny]

That's a very moving book

Yes impressively handled. Made me want to read other books of his. Read an interview with him and he sounds like an interesting bloke, living in Tasmania.

 

[rubbershoes]

An impeccable spy by Owen Matthews.

Biography of a top level Soviet spy on Japan in WW2

 

[Elpenor]

Would that be Richard Sorge? I've heard about him, he featured in a few other books I've read.

 

[Zabo]

Recently finished reading all the published translated works of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky - some twice over. If you like Gogol or Bulgakov you will appreciate his work. Some of his stories are very funny but most are pointedly anti-Bolshevik. All I have to do now is wait for NYRB to release whatever works of his they can find to get translated.

He is sadly known for saying: "I am known for being unknown".

 

[rubbershoes]

Would that be Richard Sorge? I've heard about him, he featured in a few other books I've read.

Yes. There's quite a few books and a few films as well.

Despite the excellent and accurate information he was sending to Moscow, Stalin didn't belive him, due to being a paranoid maniac

 

[Orang Utan]

This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health - Nathan Filer
Chernobyl: The History Of A Nuclear Catastrophe - Sergei Plokhy

 

[rubbershoes]

Restless by William Boyd. One of the ones I picked up on a local phone box book exchange.

It's a rather unengaging spy tale. I haven't read any other William Boyd for twenty years and remember he was better than this

 

[Elpenor]

I think a reference to your man Sorge in this one too

 

[bellaozzydog]

Albert Camus, The Plague

 

[D'wards]

Chernobyl: The History Of A Nuclear Catastrophe - Sergei Plokhy

Whilst I enjoyed this i found it a bit heavy on politics and a little light on human interest stories for my tastes.
I think there is another book of interviews with the men there and the people living in the town so I should probably read that.

 

[Sprocket.]

Just started,
Travels With Charley : In Search of America by John Steinbeck.

 

[DotCommunist]

The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodward. Its good yarr. theres a rubbishy netflix docu covering the same ground at the mo which makes the bold reach that 'the pirate republic influenced the american revolution'. The book does not make this claim as yet.

 

[rubbershoes]

I think a reference to your man Sorge in this one too

Typical. You wait ages for a tale of Soviet espionage etc..

I've got Ben Macintyre's Agent Sonja waiting to be read and he's going to be in that too. That'll have to wait for another year. There's only so many dead letter drops you can take.

Restless featured the Venlo incident, which also appeared in another book I read recently. I can't remember what it is though. It had a young woman infiltrating British fascists

 

[rubbershoes]

Many of my current books are ones from phone box book exchanges so the quality is variable. By far the worst book I've read this year is Girls' Night Out. I can't remember who it's by and can't be bothered to look. Despite the title it's not chick lit fluff, but would like to be a thriller.

It irritated me greatly for several reasons. The two main characters had no self awareness at all, and no understanding of each other, despite having been friends for 20 years and worked closely together all that time. They seemed surprised how they and their friend reacted to events, even though it seemed to be completely in keeping with how they are. Even worse, it seemed that the author shared that lack of awareness of their natures .

And the the ending was meant to be a big twist. Yes it was a twist and no, I doubt anyone would see it coming, because it's completely out of character

 

[flypanam]

Stewart Edwards - The Paris Commune, 1871.

150th anniversary of the commune. Seemed like a good time to find out more. Just through the first chapter but it’s fascinating.