*What book are you reading? (part 2)
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Ĝasper
Well-Known Member
What was the verdict?
Nikkormat
Well-Known Member
Worth reading. It clearly influenced brave New World and 1984. It is less polished than either, but it has a different quality. I recommend it.
BigMoaner
What A Load of Old Bollocks
occasionally like page turning true crime and took a punt on this. glad i wasn't put off by the shitty cover. i've read most of the major Manson books and this one is one of the best. Pretty much filled with quotes from the main family members. Page turning, fascinating. The swinging sixties turning horrifically sour builds up in teh mind.
The Manson Family: More to the Story eBook : Lansing, H. Allegra: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
The Manson Family: More to the Story eBook : Lansing, H. Allegra: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
www.amazon.co.uk
Me too. Very good if very grim.
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
A Brighton set cop thriller by one Peter James. Not sure am liking it. Apparently, this Peter James is a big seller but had never heard of him before.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
Veteran hood, rage and hope in British ex military life. Joe Glenton
Mr Glenton paints a really good picture of types of veteran, issues with soldiers and politics ploughs through a bit of socialist/activist military history.
Predictably he is scornful the officer class which can potentially devalue his message as being a bit “chippie”
As a late entry socialist I did learn a lot of interesting military/political history but it was all fairly superficial
Book is worth its cover price alone for his scathing in-depth dismantling of MP Jonnie Mercer which is brutally on the ball
He’s never going to wade into the mire of be-blazered, medal jangling beret wearing ex forces gammons and come out with a bunch of newly converted socialist shock troops but a decent snapshot of where we are in regard to the current jingoistic flag waggling troop love
6/10
Mr Glenton paints a really good picture of types of veteran, issues with soldiers and politics ploughs through a bit of socialist/activist military history.
Predictably he is scornful the officer class which can potentially devalue his message as being a bit “chippie”
As a late entry socialist I did learn a lot of interesting military/political history but it was all fairly superficial
Book is worth its cover price alone for his scathing in-depth dismantling of MP Jonnie Mercer which is brutally on the ball
He’s never going to wade into the mire of be-blazered, medal jangling beret wearing ex forces gammons and come out with a bunch of newly converted socialist shock troops but a decent snapshot of where we are in regard to the current jingoistic flag waggling troop love
6/10
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I was thinking of posting this to the Urban reading list thread, but can't find it. I've really been enjoying reading my physical copy of With the Peasants of Aragon by Augustin Souchy Bauer - which is also available free online : theanarchistlibrary.org/library/augustin-souchy-with-the-peasants-of-aragon I finished reading it before Christmas.
I find it very interesting and nice to be transported to that time and place. It is ofcourse debatable wether libertario Communismo was actually achieved in Aragon and a Romanian comrade I chat to sometimes on facebook is not a fan of the voucher system they had - he says that it's not ideal coz vouchers are still a form of exchange, which got me interested in anarchist economics. He recommended I read The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics, and he agreed that Fields, Factories and Workshops is a good starting point about the subject.
Ofcourse, things were not ideal and are not likely to be in any revolutionary situation. During the Spanish revolution the war certainly affected things (shortages, including a labour shortage - many workers were at the front fighting the fascists), as did other factors. But it seems to me that the Spanish anarchists and peasants really did achieve something positive, especially in Aragon, a way of living that was certainly better than what came before and afterwards and it's good to read of the imrpovements to the lives of the people. Also nice to read about the churches being put to various good uses. One of the end parts of this publication (the Road to Catalonia) is also an interesting read, as is all of it. And it was interesting to read about how the minority of individualists lived and were treated. The part about the FAI 'concentration camp' was also fascinating and powerful.
Anyway, I don't know who has read this and who hasn't, some of you may have read it. But here is an extract which gives an example of life in anarchist Aragon, though things did differ a bit from place to place :
theanarchistlibrary.org
I am particularly interested in the Spanish revolution at the moment and intend to read more on it, aswell as other topics.
I find it very interesting and nice to be transported to that time and place. It is ofcourse debatable wether libertario Communismo was actually achieved in Aragon and a Romanian comrade I chat to sometimes on facebook is not a fan of the voucher system they had - he says that it's not ideal coz vouchers are still a form of exchange, which got me interested in anarchist economics. He recommended I read The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics, and he agreed that Fields, Factories and Workshops is a good starting point about the subject.
Ofcourse, things were not ideal and are not likely to be in any revolutionary situation. During the Spanish revolution the war certainly affected things (shortages, including a labour shortage - many workers were at the front fighting the fascists), as did other factors. But it seems to me that the Spanish anarchists and peasants really did achieve something positive, especially in Aragon, a way of living that was certainly better than what came before and afterwards and it's good to read of the imrpovements to the lives of the people. Also nice to read about the churches being put to various good uses. One of the end parts of this publication (the Road to Catalonia) is also an interesting read, as is all of it. And it was interesting to read about how the minority of individualists lived and were treated. The part about the FAI 'concentration camp' was also fascinating and powerful.
Anyway, I don't know who has read this and who hasn't, some of you may have read it. But here is an extract which gives an example of life in anarchist Aragon, though things did differ a bit from place to place :
With the Peasants of Aragon
Augustin Souchy With the Peasants of Aragon Libertarian Communism in the Liberated Areas 1982 With the Peasants of Aragon: Libertarian Communism in the...
theanarchistlibrary.org
I am particularly interested in the Spanish revolution at the moment and intend to read more on it, aswell as other topics.
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DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
I read the Diary of Peter Hagendorf, a mercenary in the 30 years war. Baking bread and burying his children in between sacking strongholds and switching sides twice. The cruel wars in high germany. Its part of 'The 30 years War: A documentary history', which is what I'm reading atm.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
I enjoyed it a lot. Incredibly how little confidence he seems to have had.
Reading it flew by
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy.
50 pages in and enjoying it so far.
50 pages in and enjoying it so far.
BristolEcho
Well-Known Member
Finished Captilism Realism book which I mentioned in the Mark Fisher thread.
Listened to Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwell which was good and now I'm on to the final book of the Last Kingdom series. I will buy it and read it next.
Listening to Master of War by David Gilman now. I am working through the series audiobooks as I've already read the books. Looking forward to it.
Listened to Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwell which was good and now I'm on to the final book of the Last Kingdom series. I will buy it and read it next.
Listening to Master of War by David Gilman now. I am working through the series audiobooks as I've already read the books. Looking forward to it.
Just finished this - really excellent, I thought.
Hinterland by Phil A Neel. Had bought it for daughter but idly turning the pages, I was pulled in. Lyrical yet dour. Saw the term 'fulfillment centre' for the first time in the UK (a ghastly DPD logistics hub on the edge of a dreary Snettisham industrial estate). Felt chastened and somewhat dreary myself.
Nikkormat
Well-Known Member
It was excellent. I really recommend Gazdanov to anyone who has not tried him. His pure fiction is good, but he is better at fiction drawn from his own experience as a soldier in the Russian Civil War and as an emigre in Paris: Night Roads, The Spectre of Alexander Wolf, and An Evening With Claire.
Now on Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.
The Amur River- Colin Thubron
Here's an extract which I read a few months ago and then it turned up for Xmas...
Forbidden territory: on horseback to the source of one of Earth’s most formidable rivers
Here's an extract which I read a few months ago and then it turned up for Xmas...
Forbidden territory: on horseback to the source of one of Earth’s most formidable rivers
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
I loved it. Grim as fuck, but authenticity rings through it like a big bright bell.
flypanam
Sausage to fortune
Lea Ypi’s Free: coming of age at the end of history.
A very good memoir, paints a picture of the Hoxha regime that is terrifying as is the rise of free markets that replaced Hoxhaism. The epilogue is good and pretty political in that it centres a left case for freedom.
Stuart Jeffries’s Everything all the time, everywhere: how we became post modern. S’alright so far, I like the idea of looking at post modernism through all its works.
Finally my last Xmas voucher went on The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen. A very very funny novel…worth hunting down a loan or buying. Beautifully written fictional account of a horrid family.
ETA fucking autocorrect
A very good memoir, paints a picture of the Hoxha regime that is terrifying as is the rise of free markets that replaced Hoxhaism. The epilogue is good and pretty political in that it centres a left case for freedom.
Stuart Jeffries’s Everything all the time, everywhere: how we became post modern. S’alright so far, I like the idea of looking at post modernism through all its works.
Finally my last Xmas voucher went on The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen. A very very funny novel…worth hunting down a loan or buying. Beautifully written fictional account of a horrid family.
ETA fucking autocorrect
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BristolEcho
Well-Known Member
Going to check out the first book.
I read it about twenty years ago. It didn’t blow me away. It’s a bit slow, from memory. I go by the theory that life is too short to read a book you don’t enjoy. Maybe I’d get more out of it now.
I’m currently reading The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. It’s pretty good so far.
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