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Luke_W

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Been meaning to read Xavier de Maistre's A Journey Around My Room, for a while now...

'What do you do when you find yourself imprisoned in your room for 6 weeks? Xavier de Maistre, a 27-year-old Frenchman found himself in this uneasy situation when he was arrested in Turin after a duel, in the Spring of 1790. But with only a butler and a dog for company, Xavier de Maistre managed to fill his time by embarking on a journey around his bedroom, later writing an account of what he had seen. Whether venturing from his bed to his sofa, or even to his mirror, he wears his “traveling outfit”–his favorite pink and blue pajamas. Out of his forced reclusion comes a captivating fantasy–a novel take on travel literature that would inspire many later writers, including Marcel Proust.'

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There's a very apposite line in "The Magic Mountain" (set in a Swiss alpine TB sanatorium). Somebody asks one of the long-term patients how long it takes to get used to being incarcerated in there, and he says: "Oh, you never get used to it. But you get used to not getting used to it". 

That's us, I suspect. 

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The Middle Ages: As the title says.

A long tough read (e.g., the amazon reviews are fair), but introducing the middle ages from the central European perspective. It obliterates any notions of the "dark ages" and does a really good job revealing the long slow emergence of logic and reason. A more serious read for these viral times.

https://www.amazon.com/Middle-Ages-Johannes-Fried/dp/0674975367 

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43 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

my wife tells me that Colin Bateman is posting chapters to his unreleased Dan Starkey book on Facebook. 

I really liked the Starkey series - some brilliant tales! Must revisit them at some point. 

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21 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

I really liked the Starkey series - some brilliant tales! Must revisit them at some point. 

My wife loves Bateman especially the Starkey series. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 18/03/2020 at 21:44, Stevo985 said:

Looking for some advice form the readers.

I want to get my mom a book or two for Mother's Day seeing as we're all going to be inside a lot more for the near future!

 

Does anyone know any good books about Irish history? Even better would be specifically Cork or West Cork.
I don't want it to be like a textbook, it has to be entertaining. So even a fictionalised version of something would be right up her street.

She loves books like that so that's what I'm after. Some examples of what she's read recently would be Black 47 by Laurence Power, and "The Stolen Village"

I've been doing some Irish reading myself, with my last name going back to ancient Irish origins, and my middle name being 'Cuchulainn', I've always had an interest in her history.

Some of the Irish mythology is quite enchanting, charming and romantic. Maybe that's something you could explore. In fact, I did a quick google for you, apologies if it's not apt:

"Clíodhna was the mythical Queen of the Banshees, the female spirits of the Tuatha Dé Danannan, and forever will be associated with the southern part of Ireland and Cork in particular."

cliodhna.jpg

 

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8 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

with my last name going back to ancient Irish origins, and my middle name being 'Cuchulainn'

The Irish folk-rock band Horslips did a great album based on the Cuchulainn myth, called "The Tain", but I very much doubt if it would be your sort of thing. Speaking of names from Celtic myths and legends, our next door neighbour is called "Ossian". First one I've met. 

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I’ve finally finished Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Johan Noah Harari. 
 

I found it really interesting to explore the three main human revolutions, cognitive, agricultural and scientific. It explains how Homo sapiens survived to become the last remaining species of human, and follows our progress from roaming hunter gatherers, to the biggest threat to the planet. 
 

It’s taken me six months to read. Not because it’s complicated, it’s quite easy to follow in reality, but because I only tend to read before I go to sleep and sometimes never make it past two pages. 

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Light skim reading today, I got a copy of Rob Bishop’s excellent ‘Euros and Villans’ last month so dug it out today. There’s some great memories of Villa’s European conquests as each and every one of our European games is detailed. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, they say. I’m inclined to disagree. 

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The current situation has made me read pretty much everything I have and I realized a remarkable lack of Villa related books. 

So which Villa related books can you guys recommend? Preferably some I can get off of Amazon.

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On 09/04/2020 at 23:33, mjmooney said:

Finished The Magic Mountain. Started Don de Lillo's 'Cosmopolis'. 

Finished that, and now a re-read of Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. 

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Finished A Perfect Spy by Le Carre, of the 6 or 7 of his that I've read, this is the best I think. Really good, about the spy rather than spying, the human, bit of the memoir about it. 

Just starting Shantaram now. 

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1 hour ago, Rodders said:

Finished A Perfect Spy by Le Carre, of the 6 or 7 of his that I've read, this is the best I think. Really good, about the spy rather than spying, the human, bit of the memoir about it. 

Based on LeCarre/Cornwell's dad, I believe. 

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