Book thread: what are you reading?

[Futtocks]

2 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Thanks for the thanks!

I thought it was someone on here.

Simak's a name I've known of for years, but hadn't got round to reading his books before.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I thought it was someone on here.

Simak's a name I've known of for years, but hadn't got round to reading his books before.

Yeah, brilliant writer, one of my all time favourites, I love just about everything written in that era of science fiction and yet Simak still manages to jump out of the crowd. 

So many of his books have a very similar feel to 'City', isolation, loneliness, silence being key themes as you'll have noticed. Another similar to 'City' is 'Cemetery World' about an abandoned earth that has been turned into a massive cemetery with just a few people still wandering. The first I read is 'Shakespeare's Planet' which is a bloody weird one, again about just a couple of characters stranded on a planet with an alien that talks about a previous human that travelled there called Shakespeare who the alien made friends with. His most famous book is probably 'Time and Again' and I would also recommend 'Way Station'. 

Its a toss up between City and Way Station for my favourite but I would say just read any of his you come across.

[Oxford]

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Edited January 13, 2021 by Oxford

[Jeff Stein]

Why the Germans do it Better: Notes from a Grown Up Country by John Kampfner. The title is a little misleading in that it is not really a comparison with anywhere, although Johnson's UK does get mentioned on occasion, more in sadness than anything. Instead the book covers the political development of Germany from the second war world to the present liberal democracy. It is safe to say that the author is a fan of Angela Merkel, but it is remarkable how there has not really been a poor post-war chancellor. Only Gerhard Schroder gets a bit of a kicking and that is because of his post-chancellorship crawling to Putin. The book reads like a long form magazine article, but it is none the worse for that as it provides real clarity to issues such as the economic miracle, grundgesetz, reunification, foreign policy and the 2015 opening of borders rather than being of a more academic bent. Although I last lived in Germany over 27 years ago, it chimed with my impressions from that time.

[Oxford]

The Austerity Politics of White Supremacy  by Vanessa Williamson      

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-austerity-politics-of-white-supremacy                      

Article which illustrates how the USA throughout it's post civil war reconstruction right up to Trump was one long road.            

[JonM]

On 12/01/2021 at 18:34, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Yeah, brilliant writer, one of my all time favourites, I love just about everything written in that era of science fiction and yet Simak still manages to jump out of the crowd. 

Several thousand books in the house, which I've decided is too many, so I'm slowly working my way through the shelves trying to decide which books will never be read again. Quite a bit of science fiction & fantasy that I haven't looked at since I was a teenager, and I've been re-reading before they go to the charity shop, post-lockdown. Asimov & Heinlein era stuff has held up better than I expected, couple of Simak books coming up soon. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

Several thousand books in the house, which I've decided is too many, so I'm slowly working my way through the shelves trying to decide which books will never be read again. Quite a bit of science fiction & fantasy that I haven't looked at since I was a teenager, and I've been re-reading before they go to the charity shop, post-lockdown. Asimov & Heinlein era stuff has held up better than I expected, couple of Simak books coming up soon. 

I'd be interested to know what other sci-fi books you've read or will be reading. 

[John Drake]

I was given a copy of 'Politically Homeless' by Matt Forde, by a friend for Christmas.

Just finished reading it.

Let's just say my friend knows me well, given the sub-heading of the book is 'How a love of politics turned into a nightmare. Then got worse'

It's very good, light hearted in tone but still making some serious points.

[fieldofclothofgold]

" The words I Never Wrote " by Jane Thynne 

Thynne writes a lot about this period . She has quite a grasp on Nazi Germany 

[Oxford]

True and Barbaric History of the Benighted States of America

and

the 1619 project from the NY Times

https://www.nytimes.com/column/1619-project

[graveyard johnny]

Rand Paul - The case against socialism 

[Futtocks]

I'm about to start Woody Allen's autobiography, Apropos of Nothing.

[Oxford]

Fascinating book this.

[Futtocks]

21 hours ago, Futtocks said:

I'm about to start Woody Allen's autobiography, Apropos of Nothing.

A quote that proves that Woody Allen was born to be a Rugby League fan: "Some people see the glass half empty, some see it half full. I always saw the coffin half full."

[Oxford]

Thought it was time

[Oxford]

I normally read two to three books at a time and included this one I had never heard of

Not only does it show what a fine writer CD could be, inspite of being paid by the yard, but some of the characters could be caricatures of the present day government, quite spooky and prescient of him.

[Jeff Stein]

Running the World by Nick Butter. I saw this chap being interviewed on TV. He seemed an amiable cove and I like travel books so I got this. It is a diary of his successful attempt to run a marathon in each of the world's countries totalling 196. It certainly isn't great literature but does bounce along. It doesn't change my mind that running is intrinsically dull and it certainly didn't make me want to visit anywhere in Africa.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just ordered three books to try and chase away the lockdown blues:

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Mixer by Michael Cox

######, Yeah, Video Games by Daniel Hardcastle 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Gerrumonside ref

[Futtocks]

1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Currently being serialised on Radio 4.

[Bearman]

I have just finished The Time Ravellers guide to Recency Britain by Ian Mortimer.

Now I am onto The Time Travellers guide to Medieval England. Highly recommend  the Recency one.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

2 hours ago, Bearman said:

I have just finished The Time Ravellers guide to Recency Britain by Ian Mortimer.

Now I am onto The Time Travellers guide to Medieval England. Highly recommend  the Recency one.

The medieval one is the only one I've read though I am planning on reading the others. The medieval one is one of my favourite books, absolutely fascinating. 

[The Future is League]

I have just read, Last bus to woodstock again. The first book in the Inspector Morse serious written by Colin Dexter

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, The Future is League said:

I have just read, Last bus to woodstock again. The first book in the Inspector Morse serious written by Colin Dexter

Funnily enough I've got the Morse books in my queue of books to read, don't know when I'm gonna get round to them. I've got a few Napoleonic Wars books coming up next, the first being, 'The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier'. 

[Bleep1673]

whoops, wrong thread.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Bleep1673

[Futtocks]

2 hours ago, Bleep1673 said:

whoops, wrong thread.

Was it this book?