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Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

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Today, I have bought a few books to arm me through the Christmas period.

The first is by Tom Holland, a writer of classical history I have long admired. Several years ago, he wrote two excellent books, 'Persian Fire' (about the Greek Persian rivalry in antiquity), and 'Rubicon', about the fall of the Roman Republic, one of my own personal favourites, and a book I have bought on many occasions for friends who pleaded for a gripping, well-written history book. Not only are the subjects covered by his books exceptionally interesting, but - a huge plus to my mind - he has a wonderfully engaging prose style. His latest book is a fresh translation of 'The Histories - by Herodutus'.

In addition, I have also bought 'Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt, which received excellent reviews - her earlier book 'The Secret History' of a decade or so ago was excellent.

And I have also treated myself to a book that I have long pondered buying: 'The Times Atlas of the World'.
 
pachyderm said:
another all time fave
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Oh, yes. I couldn't agree more. An excellent, original, disturbing and thought-provoking book.

Others I have put aside - having bought them during the past week - with the intention of curling up over the next few days, the dog days of the year, include Tom Sharpe's 1960s classic "Riotous Assembly" (which comes strongly recommended by a colleague, nay friend, who had served in SA Back In Those Days), Martin Cruz Smith's most recent book "Tatiana" (the latest in his excellent Arkady Renko series), and "Danubia: A Personal History Of Habsburg Europe" by Simon Winter.
 
While I listed some books I have bought (and put aside with the intention of reading them - or, some of them - in the near future), the one I am actually reading today is called 'El Classico' by Richard Fitzpatrick, a history of the rivalry (if that word can describe it adequately) between the football club Barcelona and that of Real Madrid.

This is the sort of book about sports I enjoy (accounts of sporting events or triumphs hold no interest for me); a book which looks at the nexus where power, politics, culture, memory and sport all collide, and a very interesting perspective from which to examine a country's (in this instance, Spain's) recent history.
 
Just finished !

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Love this one!

Wish I'd read this one as thoroughly when i had to back in high school.

Without giving too much away absolutely had my heart broken when ******* ******* *****. =(
 
pachyderm said:
Just finished !

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Love this one!

Wish I'd read this one as thoroughly when i had to back in high school.

Without giving too much away absolutely had my heart broken when ******* ******* *****. =(
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A terrific, superbly written and politically, an extraordinarily insightful book.

For my part, I have just finished reading Martin Cruz Smith's latest book, 'Tatiana', the seventh in his excellent Arkady Renko series.

As his last book ('Three Stations') was something of a disappointment, being thin in plot, development and lacking depth, (a rare problem in what is, for the most part, an excellent, well-written and historically and politically accurate, nuanced and very politically & historically informed & aware series), I am very pleased to be able to report that this is a very welcome return to form.

The book is sharp, clever, funny, politically pointed, with an excellent plot, very good character development, and very nicely paced. I have long been a fan of the Arkady Renko series, ever since the first book, 'Gorky Park' came out around 30 years ago.

For anyone wishing to read an intelligent, informed and nuanced account of the changes which the political body that used to be called the Soviet Union - (nowadays transformed into the core of a shrunken empire, meaning, mostly, Russia) has undergone in the past thirty years (as viewed through the prism of intelligent, well-written fiction) they could do a lot worse than read the entire Arkady Renko series from beginning to end.
 
Anyone here reads The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher? I've read a lot of positive reviews regarding the series. Wondering if I should check it out.
 
Just now, I am reading 'Riotous Assembly' by Tom Sharpe. Brilliant, superbly written, sharply observed, savagely hilarious, a cross between black farce and searing satire, but deeper than anything penned by P. G. Wodehouse and far kinder, and much more empathetic, than anything written by Evelyn Waugh. This is laugh-out-loud funny, crossed with extraordinary political satire. Sheer class.
 
Just started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. I've watched all the films in the series but never read the books. Finished the first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, about a month ago.
 
Happybunny said:
Got this from the French Amazon site.
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What are your thoughts on it? Is it worth reading? In any case, it is great to see a book which takes a serious look at a battle of monumental historical importance for the French.

With the centenary of the First World War rapidly approaching, I am certain that there will be a veritable avalanche of books published to commemorate this; obviously, not all will be worth reading, but some, inevitably, will be excellent and may contain new research or new perspectives. I have no doubt that - within a relatively short period - I'll have succumbed and bought an awful lot of the newly published material......


LadyX said:
Just started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. I've watched all the films in the series but never read the books. Finished the first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, about a month ago.
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It is a terrific series, which gets better and better as it goes along. Actually, to my mind, Chamber of Secrets (despite some very funny bits and some important exposition) is probably the weakest book, (or, put another way, the book I liked least) in what transpired to be a series which simply got better and better.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
It is a terrific series, which gets better and better as it goes along. Actually, to my mind, Chamber of Secrets (despite some very funny bits and some important exposition) is probably the weakest book, (or, put another way, the book I liked least) in what transpired to be a series which simply got better and better.
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I just finished it and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I will be starting the third book shortly, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm glad to know the series gets better as it goes along because the second book, like the first, was an immensely entertaining read.
 
LadyX said:
I just finished it and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I will be starting the third book shortly, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm glad to know the series gets better as it goes along because the second book, like the first, was an immensely entertaining read.
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The Prisoner of Azkaban is an excellent book - one of the best in the series to my mind, beautifully balanced and very well told. That is the book where J K Rowling really found her true voice, and is the start of the really very good stuff.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
The Prisoner of Azkaban is an excellent book - one of the best in the series to my mind, beautifully balanced and very well told. That is the book where J K Rowling really found her true voice, and is the start of the really very good stuff.
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Ooh. I'm very looking forward to it. I really wanted to read a few chapters yesterday but I didn't have time as I had a report to work on. I'm in university now and have brought the book with me, I will be starting it during my break 😀
 
It's behind you: the making of a computer game, by Bob Pape.

Twenty five years ago I wrote a computer game for the ZX Spectrum called R-Type, a home computer port of an arcade game which a lot of people then, and since, seemed to like. Jump forward to a couple of years ago (ouch, sorry) and I found myself starting to write down what I could remember about those early game years - not through any need to see my name in print but just because I thought it best to record for myself what I could while I could. I did think that if I was lucky I'd remember a few pages worth of material and come up with an interesting essay I could read back to myself when I'm an OAP (only eleven years away now!) but the more I started to think about things the more the details came back to me and the more and more pages I started to fill. Since I've always wanted to write a book and Rule Number One is "write about what you know" I decided to go for it and do things properly and write down every part of the process of creating one of those early computer games I could remember. IT'S BEHIND YOU is the result.
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It's free as a .PDF and .mobi for the Kindle and it's proving to be a highly entertaining view into the world of early day 8-bit computer games and bedroom coders. Well worth a read.

Also on reading Steven Erikson's Reape's Gale. Just about the best Fantasy author out there at the moment.

Up next though, Ringworld, by Larry Niven.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
What are your thoughts on it? Is it worth reading? In any case, it is great to see a book which takes a serious look at a battle of monumental historical importance for the French.

With the centenary of the First World War rapidly approaching, I am certain that there will be a veritable avalanche of books published to commemorate this; obviously, not all will be worth reading, but some, inevitably, will be excellent and may contain new research or new perspectives. I have no doubt that - within a relatively short period - I'll have succumbed and bought an awful lot of the newly published material......
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Paul Jankowski really does write with a passion for the subject, you can feel the empathy he has with the common soldier, mostly peasant farmers thrown into a war that was an industrial hell.

The book really lays bear the trauma that Verdun was for the French army and Nation. The impact of this battle on the men who went through it, explains a lot about the mind set of the French in the events leading up to May 1940.

Where as only a part of the German army was exposed to this battle. The French because of General Petain’s rotation (Noria orders), 80% of the French Army spent a least some time at the front.

The Losses are staggering. In 10 months.

The French lost 500,000 men of which 156,000 were directly killed.

The Germans lost 430,000 men of which 140,000 were directly killed.

I do think that this book has been translated, I do hope that with the translation, that nothing gets in the way of the sense of feeling that the writer gets across.

I know it’s not a book, but IMO still one of the great works about the period.

I bought this BBC series last year, it really does give a good introduction to the period.

ScreenShot2014-01-06at105722_zps585e7cc0.png
 
Just finished 'The Voyage to the End of the Dark' by Céline. Despite being an horrible person himself this book is a true masterpiece.

Now starting 'Dialogue in the Dark' by Akutagawa. Late essays and prose.
 
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