*What book are you reading? (part 2)

[isvicthere?]

Just started "How Britian ends" by Gavin Esler.

"How BRITAIN ends"! That is my most common typo!

 

[bellaozzydog]

Doing a multi-book read but had to chin it off as it was getting confusing and dark.

Ernest Becker The Denial of death Versus Julian Cope 131 a Time shifting Gnostic hooligan road novel

Just picked up treasure island for a bit of light relief instead

 

[Steel Icarus]

Currently reading



Soon to be reading

 

[belboid]

Julian Cope 131 a Time shifting Gnostic hooligan road novel

this does start very shittily indeed, I wasn't sure if I wanted to read four hundred pages of that when I started it, but it does lighten up and is actually very good in places.

 

[Nikkormat]

The Beggar and Other Stories by Gaito Gazdanov.

It was, as usual for Gazdanov, excellent.

Now on Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.

 

[Badgers]

 

[sojourner]

I'm currently reading 'Breath - the new science of a lost art' by James Nestor.

It's a fascinating book about how we breathe, how the way we breathe has changed over evolution, and how impactful good breathing is on our health. Bloody brilliant. I'm only a few chapters in and already I'm like 'feck! I need to change the way I breathe!'.

One of the meditations that I keep coming back to starts and ends with gratitude for my/our breath, to feel it coming in and leaving nostrils, then to feel it coming into and out of lungs, then to feel it feeding the whole of our body, and I only have to start doing that to feel calmer and instantly more balanced (and grateful!).

 

[han]

One of the meditations that I keep coming back to starts and ends with gratitude for my/our breath, to feel it coming in and leaving nostrils, then to feel it coming into and out of lungs, then to feel it feeding the whole of our body, and I only have to start doing that to feel calmer and instantly more balanced (and grateful!).

That's lovely
I feel that good breathing is key to health and happiness. The book has made me change how I breathe and focusing the mind on our breathing is immediately calming isn't it - sure works for me!

 

[sojourner]

That's lovely
I feel that good breathing is key to health and happiness. The book has made me change how I breathe and focusing the mind on our breathing is immediately calming isn't it - sure works for me!

Absolutely. Also, doing the long breath in, holding it for 4 or 5 seconds, then long breath out - it's like a quickfix for the mind!

I love that we're finding all this out at the time when we most need to, too

 

[seeformiles]

“Small Hours” - a biography of John Martyn

 

[belboid]

Amia Srinivasan - The Right to Sex

A collection of six essays from Oxford philosophy professor Srinivasan dealing with various aspects of sex, sexism and the impact of class, race and our general attitudes upon it.

Only read two so far - on 'believing women' and the 'right to sex' itself. Both are excellent, asking powerful and important questions and giving answers that go way beyond the easy or comfortable.

Very highly recommended.

 

[belboid]

Amia Srinivasan - The Right to Sex

A collection of six essays from Oxford philosophy professor Srinivasan dealing with various aspects of sex, sexism and the impact of class, race and our general attitudes upon it.

Only read two so far - on 'believing women' and the 'right to sex' itself. Both are excellent, asking powerful and important questions and giving answers that go way beyond the easy or comfortable.

Very highly recommended.

I’ve now finished it and it just got better and better. Absolutely brilliant book, a must read.

the essay where the title comes from - https://www.lrb.co.uk/session?redir...zsMWGku54D3WNG6Wxb/MgUW2yw0qlFSXuwWgqTHIqJWkQ

 

[han]

I love that we're finding all this out at the time when we most need to, too

I love the way that can happen... in life...!

Currently I'm reading an amazing book that I haven't been able to put down. 'The Choice' by Edith Eger. She's an Auschwitz survivor who shares her story of her time in the camp and then her liberation and life afterwards, emigration, marriage, kids, work. But mainly it's about her inner work - how she is eventually able to deal with her trauma and become a psychotherapist herself and help others with their trauma. An inspiring book.

And she's still alive, in her 90s, with great grandchildren.

 

[Pickman's model]

slowly reading robert conquest's 'the great terror: a reassessment'

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

slowly reading robert conquest's 'the great terror: a reassessment'

Is it any good? (so far)

 

[Pickman's model]

Is it any good? (so far)

i read the first edition, published in 1968, many years ago and - rather perversely given the subject matter - enjoyed it. this later version is very interesting but (i'm halfway through) hasn't yet really answered my question, why the fuck did stalin think this was a good idea?

e2a: you can borrow an electronic copy at the internet archive, The great terror : a reassessment : Conquest, Robert : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - scroll down and it says you can borrow a pdf or ebook for 14 days

 

[han]

why the fuck did stalin think this was a good idea?

Maybe he was just a psychopath?

 

[Pickman's model]

Maybe he was just a psychopath?

i think it's got to be more complex than that. the communist party after the purges had almost none of the people who had been in it before 1917. all the auld bolsheviks were killed. i've seen it described as a revolution from above. but while the first lot killed were people who had at various times opposed stalin, later tranches of victims included loyal stalinists. this wasn't stalin on his own but stalin with a group of other people (themselves often later shot).

 

[chainsawjob]

I'm currently reading a book called Silence In The Age Of Noise by Erling Kagge. He's an explorer who walked to the South Pole alone. It's beautifully written, about listening, mindfulness, and our ability to be alone with no distractions....

I've bought this for my brother, thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Nikkormat]

Primo Levi's The Periodic Table. Excellent so far.

 

[han]

After reading two books by a woman who survived Auschwitz, I'm now reading Legendary Children - The First Decade of Rupaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life'. It's very good - all about the influences on the programme and how it's evolved. Nice and lighthearted . And a present from mango5, thanks mate! X

 

[belboid]

Graeme Macrae Burnet’s new novel Case Studies.

like His Bloody Project, it claims to be a collection of found documents interspersed with his own research. In this case it’s a woman ‘investigating’ the anti-psychology therapist who she blames for her sisters suicide.

I wasn’t quite drawn in immediately, the woman’s voice sounded a bit too contrived, but by fifty pages in he’d done enough for me to either have been wrong, or to not care. A fine mix of intrigue and humour, with undoubtedly horrible moments due to crop up quite soon.

 

[sojourner]

My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal. Halfway through. It's very engaging, sad, spot on with how it feels to be a kid facing hardships.

 

[Chz]

Shuggie Bain. Rare is the Booker winner that I can put up with for long periods. I consider that praise.

 

[belboid]

Graeme Macrae Burnet’s new novel Case Studies.

One of those novels which I had to keep putting down for the last thirty pages cos I didn’t want it to end and was literally holding my breath as it did.

Brilliant.

 

[Orang Utan]

One of those novels which I had to keep putting down for the last thirty pages cos I didn’t want it to end and was literally holding my breath as it did.

Brilliant.

Didn’t like his Maigret homage much, but this looks more like it

 

[shifting gears]

Albert Camus - The Plague

A comment feels superfluous

 

[Nikkormat]

Primo Levi's The Periodic Table. Excellent so far.

One of the very best books I've ever read.

Now on Pax Britannica: The Climax of Empire (part 2 of the trilogy) by Jan Morris.

 

[nottsgirl]

Shuggie Bain. Rare is the Booker winner that I can put up with for long periods. I consider that praise.

I’ve been wanting to read this, I might have it on my bookshelf. I’m reading Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor after it was recommended as along the lines of Sally Rooney. It’s fairly good.

 

[nottsgirl]

I also just read Exciting Times by Naiorse Dolan, which was Rooney-lite.