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Post by Hereward the Wake ᛊᛏᛟᚲᛖ on Aug 9, 2022 20:47:52 GMT
Almost finished reading "Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness" by Edward Abbey, very interesting read
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Post by partickpotter on Aug 9, 2022 20:54:55 GMT
Steve Job’s biography.
An amazing man - genius no doubt, but an arsehole too.
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Post by thebasfordhedgehog on Aug 9, 2022 21:34:53 GMT
Billy Connolly’s - Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography
The book is hilarious whilst also being a fascinating account of Billy’s life and career. It’s written as if he’s speaking which adds to its brilliance.
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Post by maxplonk on Aug 9, 2022 21:38:58 GMT
Starship Troopers. Interesting view of the future, especially politically.
And never judge a book by its movie.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Aug 10, 2022 8:34:20 GMT
Halfway through 'Love and War in the Apennines' by Eric Newby. How the author escaped from an Italian prison camp in 1943. Fascinating, part escape story and romance. Beautiful girl helps him escape, teaches him the language and 2 years later get married. Incredible adventure stuff.
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Post by Kpsje on Aug 12, 2022 20:52:01 GMT
just finished reading ‘the spy and the traitor’ by ben macintyre.
i’ve always found the cold war fascinating, so this was an obvious choice for me. the incredible details and research from the author, as well as the real life bravery of so many of the protagonists, made this a thrilling read.
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Post by longdistancekiddie on Aug 12, 2022 21:02:05 GMT
The Oatcake
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Post by Hereward the Wake ᛊᛏᛟᚲᛖ on Aug 12, 2022 22:04:39 GMT
Just about to start "The English Rebel: One Thousand Years of Trouble-making from the Normans to the Nineties" by David Horspool
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Post by raythesailor on Aug 13, 2022 10:59:14 GMT
Out of curiosity has anybody a actually read Salmond Rushdie “Satanic Verses”, and if so is it worth reading ?
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Post by lordb on Aug 13, 2022 13:25:41 GMT
Out of curiosity has anybody a actually read Salmond Rushdie “Satanic Verses”, and if so is it worth reading ? Decades ago, couldn't get into it Very rare I don't finish a book
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Post by raythesailor on Aug 13, 2022 13:51:30 GMT
Out of curiosity has anybody a actually read Salmond Rushdie “Satanic Verses”, and if so is it worth reading ? Decades ago, couldn't get into it Very rare I don't finish a book Looked it up on google and read the Wikipedia revue. Does not sound like my kind of read. It would be interesting to know how many of the religious zealots who have condemned the author, including the nutter who stabbed him, have actually read it.
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Post by cerebralstokie on Aug 13, 2022 13:52:28 GMT
At the other end of the spectrum from War and Peace, but "How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers won the F.A.Cup" by J.L.Carr is a short novel, very well written and very funny. If you are feeling depressed by the Energy Crisis, War in Ukraine, Drought or U.K. Politics etc etc. give it a read. It will lift your spirits.
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Post by supersimonstainrod on Aug 13, 2022 19:29:38 GMT
'Moneyland' by Oliver Bullough.
The political caste in this country is one of the worst in my living memory,but when you read about the extent of high-level corruption,pilfering and literal daylight robbery in the likes of pre-revolution Ukraine,Angola etc it boggles the mind to think we're actually quite lucky in this country....
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Post by Goonie on Aug 13, 2022 19:55:52 GMT
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon Doc Sportello is a hippy private eye in 70s LA
Enjoyed the film so thought I'd read it
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Post by musik on Aug 14, 2022 14:50:55 GMT
This summer I started to borrow audio books for the first time in my life. Most people up here would probably say "read" and "they have read..." when they actually haven't, but listened to it.
All five crime books. The first two were written by a former police man called Martin Melin. I noticed how important the voice of the person reading it is. They were ok.
The third book was by author Dag Öhrlund and it's about chief inspector Truut, a moaning and not always political correct man in his 50ies. Too many repeating expressions. I found it a bit unfocused as well, like an attempt to do a crossover to feelgood literature.
The remaining two crime books are written by Tove Alsterdal and Åke Edwardsson. The former book's story is said to take part in the cold northern parts of Sweden. I have just begun to listen to it. The book by Edwardsson is as always about chief inspector Erik Winter. I have seen some good films about him on TV, and it presents the face for you in advance obviously. I haven't listened to that book yet.
Do you see audio books as books? Do you use the word "read" when listening to it? Any pros and cons?
Finally, can you find these authors in english bookstores? Melin, Öhrlund, Alsterdal, Edwardsson?
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Post by Rednwhitenblue on Aug 14, 2022 15:10:25 GMT
Decades ago, couldn't get into it Very rare I don't finish a book Looked it up on google and read the Wikipedia revue. Does not sound like my kind of read. It would be interesting to know how many of the religious zealots who have condemned the author, including the nutter who stabbed him, have actually read it. I would estimate that at being the tiniest of percentages. It was much the same when another batch of religious zealots went off on one over Stewart Lee's Jerry Springer The Opera. I can remember a few being asked whether they'd even seen it before making up their minds. It was always a no. I tried reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children, since it is supposed to be the best of all the Booker prize winning novels. Did nothing for me. Watched the film version, thinking I must have missed the point of the book and hoping that the film would make it clearer. Again, meh.
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Post by toppercorner on Aug 14, 2022 15:16:37 GMT
The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain. by Tristram Hunt.
It's actually quite good and an incredible insight into North Staffordshire over the centuries.
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Post by musik on Aug 14, 2022 15:24:57 GMT
Looked it up on google and read the Wikipedia revue. Does not sound like my kind of read. It would be interesting to know how many of the religious zealots who have condemned the author, including the nutter who stabbed him, have actually read it. I would estimate that at being the tiniest of percentages. It was much the same when another batch of religious zealots went off on one over Stewart Lee's Jerry Springer The Opera. I can remember a few being asked whether they'd even seen it before making up their minds. It was always a no. I tried reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children, since it is supposed to be the best of all the Booker prize winning novels. Did nothing for me. Watched the film version, thinking I must have missed the point of the book and hoping that the film would make it clearer. Again, meh. I saw the three hours long film Angels and Demons yesterday from the novel by Dan Brown. To me it was like watching a marathon, all this hunt and running all the time. I wonder if the book really is like that? The only other thing happening was when prof Langdon saw connections in numbers or pictures of some kind, symbolism. Personally, normally I see them as random events and don't appreciate the thoughts.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2022 15:30:21 GMT
C.S Lewis was creatively lightyears ahead of anything coming out in the past 100 years easy. Give him a chance, TLTW&TW isn't his best creation, but try the Magicians Nephew, it's philosophically robust and creatively vast whilst still being suitable for kids and adults. IMO Gulliver's Travels has got to be one of the best books for kids and adults. Worst guide book I ever read.
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Post by AlliG on Aug 14, 2022 19:18:18 GMT
I would estimate that at being the tiniest of percentages. It was much the same when another batch of religious zealots went off on one over Stewart Lee's Jerry Springer The Opera. I can remember a few being asked whether they'd even seen it before making up their minds. It was always a no. I tried reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children, since it is supposed to be the best of all the Booker prize winning novels. Did nothing for me. Watched the film version, thinking I must have missed the point of the book and hoping that the film would make it clearer. Again, meh. I saw the three hours long film Angels and Demons yesterday from the novel by Dan Brown. To me it was like watching a marathon, all this hunt and running all the time. I wonder if the book really is like that? The only other thing happening was when prof Langdon saw connections in numbers or pictures of some kind, symbolism. Personally, normally I see them as random events and don't appreciate the thoughts. Musik. The book is even more ridiculous than the film. There are a number of things that the film left out, presumably on the basis that even the filmmakers thought they were beyond ludicrous. For example, in the film Robert Langdon doesn't go up in the helicopter, but in the book he does and jumps out of it at 10,000 feet without a parachute. He uses a large handkerchief and his jacket as a parachute to steer himself to land in the Tiber; is found unconscious on the riverbank that night but next morning is racing around the Vatican with just a bit of a headache. They are not meant to be comedies (I think), but with the pomposity of Dan Brown's writing and the unbelievable turn of events in all his books, they are quite funny. You also mentioned audiobooks in an earlier post. Now I am retired I go for a 2 hour walk every morning to make up for the loss of exercise I would have got from my daily commute and climbing the office stairs etc. Audiobooks are brilliant to listen to on those walks. I have probably listened to about 300 now (downloaded from my local library). I read "real" books at home, have a Kindle for when I am out and need to pass the time of day in a waiting room etc, and audiobooks are perfect for when I am walking or on trains, planes and automobiles. I wouldn't worry about whether audiobooks are "real" books. Provided you get the unabridged versions, you hear every word the author wrote with the added bonus that someone else has worked out the pronunciation. For example I never read the Elvish poetry in Lord of the Rings (if you have to try and work out how to pronounce each word in a poem it loses the beauty of poetry), but I will listen to it in the audiobook. It is pure snobbery that audiobooks aren't "real" books, usually perpetrated by the kind of people rich enough to have enough room for a library at home. Plus if I tried reading a "real" book walking along a canal towpath, I would probably fall in.
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Post by Hereward the Wake ᛊᛏᛟᚲᛖ on Aug 22, 2022 17:06:30 GMT
Just finished 'Muhammad Ali - My own story'.
Brilliant book from an absolute icon
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Aug 22, 2022 17:22:49 GMT
The Oatcake
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Post by robdog on Aug 22, 2022 19:56:36 GMT
The KLF: Chaos,Magic And The Band Who Burned A Million Pounds
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Post by mossleypotter on Aug 22, 2022 20:49:04 GMT
Halfway through "Shuggie Bain" by Douglas Stuart & its a brutal but brilliant read so far. Anyone who liked Irvine Welsh's early Edinburgh based books ie Trainspotting /Porno/Filth etc, should enjoy this Glasgow based tale.
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Post by FbrgVaStkFan on Aug 22, 2022 20:56:00 GMT
Re-reading "A Confederacy of Dunces"
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Post by lordb on Aug 22, 2022 21:37:53 GMT
Re-reading "A Confederacy of Dunces" The story behind the books publication, years after the author's death is worth looking up Both the book itself and that story would make good films
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