Book thread: what are you reading?

[Irish Saint]

https://www.waterstones.com/book/wild-colonial-boys/thomas-paul-burgess/9781526173379

I'm a year older than Paul he lived around the corner from me.  The Three other members of the band Jackie lived 5 doors below me we were friends since childhood still see him occasionally. Tom was in my class in secondary school  and Clarkey lived about a mile away

Enjoyable, for Paul's story about meeting Bono before U2 became famous.

Edited February 8 by Irish Saint

[The Hallucinating Goose]

A funny thing happened yesterday;

I went to my local secondhand bookshop as i do every week. By the door they have a table with the latest stock they've got in on it. On said table was a book I quite fancied, the book in question being Map of a Nation: a biography of the Ordinance Survey. 

I decided I would have the book and saw it was £4. There was a couple of breaks in the spine and the cover was a bit tatty but that didn't matter. After a couple of minutes I changed my mind and decided I wouldn't buy the book on account of having about 50 books on my shelf at home that I am yet to read. 

As I keep looking round the shop I come to the history section. On the history section I notice another copy of that same book. This copy looks basically brand new and when I take it off the shelf I see that it is only £2. I decide straight away that I am having the book now!

So just because it was on a different section it seems, I got the book basically brand new for half the price of a tatty copy! I would hazard a guess that the bookshop don't really know what stock they've got in.

[JonM]

On 11/02/2024 at 00:39, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Decided I wouldn't buy the book on account of having about 50 books on my shelf at home that I am yet to read. 

This is not a valid reason...

[The Hallucinating Goose]

35 minutes ago, JonM said:

This is not a valid reason...

I fully understand. As I said though, I did buy it in the end!

[Route66]

Reading Bourneville by Jonathan Coe, as I get older I’m more and more intrigued by the speed and changes of time, family,relationships, nostalgia ,regret and who we are. This state of the nation story from VE Day to present, makes you think of how fast time passes and how we need to embrace our lives , highly recommended 

[marklaspalmas]

On 11/02/2024 at 08:39, The Hallucinating Goose said:

A funny thing happened yesterday;

I went to my local secondhand bookshop as i do every week. By the door they have a table with the latest stock they've got in on it. On said table was a book I quite fancied, the book in question being Map of a Nation: a biography of the Ordinance Survey. 

I decided I would have the book and saw it was £4. There was a couple of breaks in the spine and the cover was a bit tatty but that didn't matter. After a couple of minutes I changed my mind and decided I wouldn't buy the book on account of having about 50 books on my shelf at home that I am yet to read. 

As I keep looking round the shop I come to the history section. On the history section I notice another copy of that same book. This copy looks basically brand new and when I take it off the shelf I see that it is only £2. I decide straight away that I am having the book now!

So just because it was on a different section it seems, I got the book basically brand new for half the price of a tatty copy! I would hazard a guess that the bookshop don't really know what stock they've got in.

I've got that book on my Amazon 'to buy' list. Let me know what you think of it.

If it's 51st in your 'to read' list, I'll wait........

[The Hallucinating Goose]

7 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

I've got that book on my Amazon 'to buy' list. Let me know what you think of it.

If it's 51st in your 'to read' list, I'll wait........

I've got the whole Poldark series to read, half of Edward Marston's Domesday series, a couple of Ken Follett's, the latest Sharpe novel and then these 3 non-fiction books I've mentioned recently on this thread but I am actually reading the non-fiction first so hopefully you won't have to wait too long!

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Has anyone read Simon Scarrow's Eagles of Empire series? Was wondering what it was like. I see them a lot in second hand bookshops, wondered if they were worth getting. 

[Bostik Bailey]

On 06/03/2024 at 06:37, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Has anyone read Simon Scarrow's Eagles of Empire series? Was wondering what it was like. I see them a lot in second hand bookshops, wondered if they were worth getting. 

Read the first two, they are basically a Roman Sharpe, nice narrative, nice story lots of battles. Don't know why I didn't continue the series, probably because at the the time I was all Cornwelled out and needed a change of genre

[The Hallucinating Goose]

9 minutes ago, Bostik Bailey said:

Read the first two, they are basically a Roman Sharpe, nice narrative, nice story lots of battles. Don't know why I didn't continue the series, probably because at the the time I was all Cornwelled out and needed a change of genre

Well I love Sharpe, Cornwell one of my favourite authors, and the reason I'd been thinking about reading Simon Scarrow is because I'm interested in learning a bit about Ancient Rome and I thought reading this series would really immerse me in that world. I first got really into Napoleonic history after reading the Sharpe novels so sounds like the same thing should happen here. I think I'll start collecting them. Thanks for the reply mate!

[Bostik Bailey]

On 07/03/2024 at 15:11, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Well I love Sharpe, Cornwell one of my favourite authors, and the reason I'd been thinking about reading Simon Scarrow is because I'm interested in learning a bit about Ancient Rome and I thought reading this series would really immerse me in that world. I first got really into Napoleonic history after reading the Sharpe novels so sounds like the same thing should happen here. I think I'll start collecting them. Thanks for the reply mate!

Can I suggest Con Iggledon then, he has wrote historical series covering Ceaser, also very good series on Ghengis Khan and the War of the Roses (Ravenspur)

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Tonight I've started reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories series. I've only read the prologue so far but as ever, Cornwell's writing is so pleasurable to read; his writing is always so smooth and flows so easily. It is a really relaxing experience to read his stories. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 19/03/2024 at 22:27, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Tonight I've started reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories series. I've only read the prologue so far but as ever, Cornwell's writing is so pleasurable to read; his writing is always so smooth and flows so easily. It is a really relaxing experience to read his stories. 

This morning I finished book one in the series, The Last Kingdom, and so it's onto The Pale Horseman tonight. I love the first person style Cornwell used in this first book, not just a first person with the main character narrating the events but actually knowingly narrating the events to the reader, with little sections added every so often where the narrator points out that he is now an old man speaking about his younger self, and even referring to yourself, the reader, at a couple of points. Great style! 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 28/03/2024 at 13:49, The Hallucinating Goose said:

This morning I finished book one in the series, The Last Kingdom, and so it's onto The Pale Horseman tonight. I love the first person style Cornwell used in this first book, not just a first person with the main character narrating the events but actually knowingly narrating the events to the reader, with little sections added every so often where the narrator points out that he is now an old man speaking about his younger self, and even referring to yourself, the reader, at a couple of points. Great style! 

Yesterday I finished book two in the series and so it's onto number 3: Lords of the North. Can't wait to find out what Uhtred gets up to in this one!

I must say, I've never been that interested in Saxon or Viking history but this series is really enthusing me towards it and wanting me to delve much deeper into it. It's a large part of our history and the foundations for our country were laid during this period. I love England so I'm definitely going to have to find out more! 

Edited April 8 by The Hallucinating Goose

[Futtocks]

An audiobook this time - With Nails, Richard E.Grant's film-making diaries.

[DavidM]

Andrew Roberts Churchill biography . I think I’ll be as old as Churchill lived to be by the time I’ve finished it . I’ve only got to 1915 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Logical chess, Move by Move (1957)

(Irving Chernev)

The mother of all chess books aimed at beginners.  He illustrates using 33 classical chess matches from the 1880s to 1945 from exotic places like Vienna, Buenos Aires and, erm, Weston-super-mare.

The format is standard for a chess book except Chernev attempts to demystify the thought processes of the great players for the novice.  He provides a detailed commentary around every single move, why it was made and what it later means.

The idea of course is to set up a board and work through the games in the book to reinforce concepts and introduce new ideas in your chess.  Doing this kind of training exercise can really help you improve just as coaching drills and physical prep can improve you in sport as well as just playing matches of rugby, football etc.

 

 

 

[Route66]

8 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Yesterday I finished book two in the series and so it's onto number 3: Lords of the North. Can't wait to find out what Uhtred gets up to in this one!

I must say, I've never been that interested in Saxon or Viking history but this series is really enthusing me towards it and wanting me to delve much deeper into it. It's a large part of our history and the foundations for our country were laid during this period. I love England so I'm definitely going to have to find out more! 

Had a run to the second hand book Mecca of Bookcase in Carlisle this morning, plenty of Cornwells books in there, that series is fantastic with quite a few references to my native county which always pleases me .

im on a historical fiction break and enjoying Pig Iron by Benjamin Myers and also picked up GB84 today by David Peace at the oxfam book shop

[Lowdesert]

On 08/04/2024 at 19:47, DavidM said:

Andrew Roberts Churchill biography . I think I’ll be as old as Churchill lived to be by the time I’ve finished it . I’ve only got to 1915 

He had quite a life!

[Lowdesert]

Always been interested in the Enigma machine/codebreakers story so we went down to visit and learn more Bletchley Park.  I’d certainly recommend it but I bought the Alan Turin, the Enigma book. Fantastic story though which ends in a very sad way, unfortunately, but it’s been bloody hard reading!

[DavidM]

1 hour ago, Lowdesert said:

He had quite a life!

Totally unbelievable . Great book mind 

[Lowdesert]

5 hours ago, DavidM said:

Totally unbelievable . Great book mind 

I heard a story about Churchill.  
 

One night in Winter at 2pm he was in the War rooms pouring over his plans for the D Day offensive and one his Military guards came in to report that one of Churchills own personal bodyguards had been caught in St.James Park in a compromising position with another man.  
 

‘This is very serious Mr.Churchill. Neither was clothed from the waist down.  Highly irregular and illegal.  What do you want me to do?’ the Guard said.

“In the park in bloody Winter?, said Winston.  What temperature is it out there?”  
“10 degrees below freezing Sir”.

”10 degrees below, you say?  Hmmm.  Makes you proud to be British!”

“Carry on”.

 

[Futtocks]

After finishing the History of RL in New Zealand book, I'm dipping back into Simon Sebag Montefiore's excellent The World: A Family History of Humanity.

I've reached the part concerning the wars between Greece and Persia, and have just got past the very messy fall-out of Alexander the Great's death. It's all pretty bloody, and I have discovered some really nasty execution methods of the time like Scaphism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaphism#Historical_descriptions 

Edited April 10 by Futtocks

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 08/04/2024 at 14:13, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Yesterday I finished book two in the series and so it's onto number 3: Lords of the North. Can't wait to find out what Uhtred gets up to in this one!

I must say, I've never been that interested in Saxon or Viking history but this series is really enthusing me towards it and wanting me to delve much deeper into it. It's a large part of our history and the foundations for our country were laid during this period. I love England so I'm definitely going to have to find out more! 

I'm halfway through The Lords of the North and I have to say the series just keeps getting better and better. I won't let on too much but I've just been punched in the face by a massive plot twist at the halfway stage that no one could possibly see coming! So exciting!

[The Hallucinating Goose]

On 12/04/2024 at 23:08, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I'm halfway through The Lords of the North and I have to say the series just keeps getting better and better. I won't let on too much but I've just been punched in the face by a massive plot twist at the halfway stage that no one could possibly see coming! So exciting!

3 down, 10 to go. Sword Song next! I love Bernard Cornwell!