Do you read?

[mjmooney]

The mentions of Patrick O'Brian and Cormac McCarthy on the same page made me smile. They've both written 'historical' fiction, but two more diametrically opposite writing styles you could not imagine. During the 1990s I was on the O'Brian email discussion list, and for a laugh had a go at writing a couple of parodies - Aubrey/Maturin in the style of McCarthy, and Border Trilogy a la O'Brian. Haven't seen it for years, must do a bit of internet archaeology and see if it still exists.

Edited June 5, 2015 by mjmooney

[coda]

 

Just finished this and really enjoyed it. Pretty much every page made me realise how ignorant I am about history and culture.

[MrDuck]

 

Unfortunately i have only ever read one book in my life and i finished that 2 months ago (apart from the shitty school books they force you to read in class). Cant believe what i was missing. However i have no idea what book to start reading next. The book was 'Shantaram', true story about a guy who escaped max security prison, went to india and become a pretty important man in the mafia there. Really enjoyed it. No idea what genre of books i would like but i love thrillers for films and loved shantaram so if anyone gives me a recommendation or two, much appreciate.

I dont think i would like to read a book which has been turned into a well known film. Ta

 

Blimey. That's a hell of a first place to start - Shantaram is in my top five books of all time. An absolutely incredible read, and one made all the more amazing that he had to write the bloody thing three times after the prison guards destroyed it.

 

 

Ha, I was gonna say the same, what a place to start!  Yes, brilliant read, great story.

[Rodders]

Just finished this - having been dipping in and out for a while, but very entertaining - although it suffers as most broad histories do from packing too much in - I suppose it depends what you're after. Full of fascinating anecdotes and scraps from history but not focussed on any one subject area particular - although it is clearly impeccably researched:

 

 

However it has done it's job in making me want to read further books which have more detail on various periods it covers ( roughly northern Europe from c.600 through to the 17th century

[MakemineVanilla]

Just finished this - having been dipping in and out for a while, but very entertaining - although it suffers as most broad histories do from packing too much in - I suppose it depends what you're after. Full of fascinating anecdotes and scraps from history but not focussed on any one subject area particular - although it is clearly impeccably researched:

 

 

However it has done it's job in making me want to read further books which have more detail on various periods it covers ( roughly northern Europe from c.600 through to the 17th century

 

Is that the book which explains how British ascendency arose from geographic advantage?

[Rodders]

No, not this one - it's focus is generally arguing more prominence ought to be given for Europe today stemming from sources more modern than ancient Rome- the cumulative influences of Viking invasion and settling, Frisian trade developing the concept of money more so than Roman coinage, markets and towns deserving more attention than the Renaissance normally suggests.

 

review bit here sums it up better than me:

 

The Edge of the World does several things at once. It tells some of the history of the North Sea and its peoples. It traces the development of several things that came out of that sea, among them the idea that one could shape the world to one’s needs, that women could make key choices in their lives, that law was power and, by extension, that lawmakers and practitioners were powerful. And it challenges the notion that we owe our world to the ancients and the Renaissance. “We are not on the margins of history any more,” Pye concludes after looking at the golden age of cities such as Antwerp and Amsterdam, pointing to “the changes of mind that made our world possible”.

 

All of which invites the question: are we the heirs of ancient Rome, of the Mediterranean world, or of not-so-ancient Frisia and the North Sea? The argument here is clearly the latter and if there is a problem with the assertion it is that it has been made too loudly, too eloquently. Pye draws on an extraordinary range of sources, from an essay on the emergence of bathing culture in Scarborough to a study of Viking references in medieval Irish literature. The Venerable Bede has a walk-on part, as too do Charlemagne and Cosimo de’ Medici, whose Renaissance rooms were “wrapped in Flemish taste”. More fascinating are the voices of less-known characters and Pye delights in bringing them back to the light, among them Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, and Katelijne Vedelaer, a pretty Beguine from 14th-century Bruges who fought off wealthy abductors and insisted on her rights. Doubts remain about the argument – it would be good to know more about how these developments clashed with or complemented the achievements of the Arabs – but in spite of that the result is more lasagne than pickled herring, a multilayered, complicated, dense book that demands time to read and be digested but rewards by giving one plenty to chew on.

 

It's definitely an enjoyable read, mind.

[MakemineVanilla]

No, not this one - it's focus is generally arguing more prominence ought to be given for Europe today stemming from sources more modern than ancient Rome- the cumulative influences of Viking invasion and settling, Frisian trade developing the concept of money more so than Roman coinage, markets and towns deserving more attention than the Renaissance normally suggests.

 

review bit here sums it up better than me:

 

 

The Edge of the World does several things at once. It tells some of the history of the North Sea and its peoples. It traces the development of several things that came out of that sea, among them the idea that one could shape the world to one’s needs, that women could make key choices in their lives, that law was power and, by extension, that lawmakers and practitioners were powerful. And it challenges the notion that we owe our world to the ancients and the Renaissance. “We are not on the margins of history any more,” Pye concludes after looking at the golden age of cities such as Antwerp and Amsterdam, pointing to “the changes of mind that made our world possible”.

 

 

All of which invites the question: are we the heirs of ancient Rome, of the Mediterranean world, or of not-so-ancient Frisia and the North Sea? The argument here is clearly the latter and if there is a problem with the assertion it is that it has been made too loudly, too eloquently. Pye draws on an extraordinary range of sources, from an essay on the emergence of bathing culture in Scarborough to a study of Viking references in medieval Irish literature. The Venerable Bede has a walk-on part, as too do Charlemagne and Cosimo de’ Medici, whose Renaissance rooms were “wrapped in Flemish taste”. More fascinating are the voices of less-known characters and Pye delights in bringing them back to the light, among them Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, and Katelijne Vedelaer, a pretty Beguine from 14th-century Bruges who fought off wealthy abductors and insisted on her rights. Doubts remain about the argument – it would be good to know more about how these developments clashed with or complemented the achievements of the Arabs – but in spite of that the result is more lasagne than pickled herring, a multilayered, complicated, dense book that demands time to read and be digested but rewards by giving one plenty to chew on.

 

It's definitely an enjoyable read, mind.

 

That sounds interesting.

 

It certainly seems a decent attempt at broadening the analysis.

[mjmooney]

I may read that.

[The_Rev]

Just started The Silo series by Hugh Howey - only a couple of chapters in and it's pretty interesting so far.

 

Heard very good things about them.

 

 

AKA "Wool" (which is really just the first story, but it's used as a collective term for the entire run).  A little bit disjointed if truth be told, but I bloody loved it. 

[theboyangel]

Just started The Silo series by Hugh Howey - only a couple of chapters in and it's pretty interesting so far.

Heard very good things about them.

AKA "Wool" (which is really just the first story, but it's used as a collective term for the entire run). A little bit disjointed if truth be told, but I bloody loved it.

Yes, that's the series, wool, dust and shift. Good to hear another endorsement.

[leviramsey]

I may read that.

Starting it now.

[maqroll]

 

I may read that.

Starting it now.

 

I may have to look for that.

[maqroll]

Got me thinking about the great book "Cod"-

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64895.Cod

[mjmooney]

Never actually read Cod, although I did once buy a copy as a present for a mate who's obsessed with deep-sea fishing.

[maqroll]

Never actually read Cod, although I did once buy a copy as a present for a mate who's obsessed with deep-sea fishing.

It's a much more interesting read than it's title suggests. Good summertime read you can finish in a weekend.

[mjmooney]

Never actually read Cod, although I did once buy a copy as a present for a mate who's obsessed with deep-sea fishing.

It's a much more interesting read than it's title suggests. Good summertime read you can finish in a weekend.

I'm sure it is. Rather like 'Longitude', which I HAVE read.

[mjmooney]

Just read two different novels set in exactly the same place and time (the New Zealand Gold rush, 1866) - Eleanor Catton's "The Luminaries" and Rose Tremain's "The Colour". The former won the Booker in 2013, the latter is the much better book.

Now starting on Aldous Huxley's "Eyeless in Gaza".

[RunRickyRun]

A surprisingly positive review for Richard Desmond's new autobiography

[Stevo985]

Blood Meridian is brutal.

Indeed it was.

 

But what an incredible book. I absolutely loved it and I've been thinking about the ending for the past week.

 

Horrible, shocking, terrible stuff. But it was wonderful.

[Rodders]

Just finished a couple of short ones:

 

Camus' The Fall - a parable / dialogue on the question of moral responsibility in world without religious authority.  As usual, well written from Albert, though unsure how he acted surprised at being lumped in as an existentialist with the likes of Sartre - a lot of what he's read more than touches on the theme in his works. Still think The Plague is his most effective novel that combines philosophical and story-telling qualities equally well.

 

JM Coetzee - Disgrace

 

After years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town, David Lurie, middle-aged and twice divorced, has an impulsive affair with a student. The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry. Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding.

 

For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. He and Lucy become victims of a savage and disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faultlines in their relationship.

 

Not bad, very efficiently written: it's only 200 odd pages long but it's sufficiently fleshed out in terms of themes, no flabby padding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently on this:

 

 

Which is very good for a fairly innumerate chap like me.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Rodders