Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[Scepticalscribe]

In turn I must ask if you recommend this one. There are so many books on WWI and so many recent ones because of the ongoing centenary.

I have found myself backing into reading about the first World War itself, having begun by reading Juliet Nicholson's The Great Silence: Britain from the Shadow of the First World War to the Dawn of the Jazz Age, on the two years after the guns fell silent, then also Nicholson's The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm...

...then finally was nudged by a friend saying "yes well, but.." perhaps less in reference to those books than to my fondness for Downton Abbey, who knows... meanwhile he'd read some review -- in the Weekly Standard, I think-- of a book on the run-up to the war's outbreak with a somewhat different focus on causes, and so encouraged me to take up David Fromkin's tome Europe's Last Summer. I confess it's only now coming up near top of my list. It is a tome, too, and it's not even "about the war" per se.

Meanwhile as noted earlier I backtracked over the weekend and picked up that Woodrow Wilson biography. I must think I'll live to be 200 years old.

Over the week end, I watched the 2014 movie adaptation of Vera Brittain's (excellent and powerful) "Testament of Youth"; this was an extremely good production - an excellent cast (Kit Harrington played Roland Leighton, and Alicia Vikander was superb as the young Vera Brittain), first rate production values, beautifully filmed, which called the First World War to mind.

This was a book I had read ages ago, and certainly ranks as one of the more powerful personal accounts of the war, and the first written by a woman to take the best seller lists by storm.

Another written by a woman - one which treats (authentic) sources - diaries, letters, private papers - with a deep and profound respect and uses them to get the tone absolutely spot on - is Pat Barker's superlative and simply stunning Regeneration trilogy - Regeneration, The Eye In The Door, and Ghost Road (she deservedly won the Booker Prize for this work) - a work I cannot recommend highly enough, one that easily puts Sebastian Faulk's "Birdsong" (which is very worthy and also deals with WW1) in the shade.

For a 'short' snappy, well written brisk account, you cannot go far wrong with A J P Taylor's "The First World War - An Illustrated History."

Ian Beckett's massive (and superbly researched) book treats of themes - "War and the State", "Nations in Arms", "War and Society" and so on - rather than being a strictly chronological account.

This means I find myself racing through sections - but, as I remind myself , this is not necessarily because I find it 'easy', but because I know an awful lot of this history, having taught some of it. However, in a door-stopper book of this sort, inevitably, there are things that bring you up short - the kind of things that lead to my pristine books turning into dog-eared thumbed through tomes.

Mind you, somewhere in the tottering piles of books - close to the top - on the sofa is a book called "The Longest August" (yes, 1914), which is, as yet, unread.

 

[LizKat]

Over the week end, I watched the 2014 movie adaptation of Vera Brittain's (excellent and powerful) "Testament of Youth"; this was an extremely good production - an excellent cast (Kit Harrington played Roland Leighton, and Alicia Vikander was superb as the young Vera Brittain), first rate production values, beautifully filmed, which put the First World War to mind.

This was a book I had read ages ago, and certainly ranks as one of the more powerful personal accounts of the war, and the first written by a woman to take the best sellers lists by storm.

Another written by a woman - one which treats (authentic) sources - diaries, letters, private papers - with a deep and profound respect and uses them to get the tone absolutely spot on - is Pat Barker's superlative and simply stunning Regeneration trilogy - Regeneration, The Eye In The Door, and Ghost Road (she deservedly won the Booker Prize for this work) - a work I cannot recommend highly enough, one that easily puts Sebastian Faulk's "Birdsong" (which is very worthy and also deals with WW1) in the shade.

For a 'short' snappy, well written brisk account, you cannot go far wrong with A J P Taylor's "The First World War - An Illustrated History."

Ian Beckett's massive (and superbly researched) book treats of themes - "War and the State", "Nations in Arms", "War and Society" and so on - rather than being a strictly chronological account.

This means I find myself racing through sections - but, as I remind myself , this is not necessarily because I find it 'easy', but because I know an awful lot of this history, having taught some of it. However, in a door-stopper book of this sort, inevitably, there are things that bring you up short - the kind of things that lead to my pristine books turning into dog-eared thumbed through tomes.

Mind you, somewhere in the tottering piles of books - close to the top - on the sofa is a book called "The Longest August" (yes, 1914), which is, as yet, unread.

What a great post, thank you, I just stuck the whole thing in my "book encounters" folder!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

What a great post, thank you, I just stuck the whole thing in my "book encounters" folder!

Vera Brittain was a bright young woman who had wanted an education and a life other than the traditional upper middle class life deemed desirable for young ladies to wish for in the Edwardian era. With her brother - Edward's - enthusiastic support (they were very close) and against the strenuous objections of her parents, (who were won over, mainly by Edward), she managed to obtain a place in Oxford in 1913 to study English literature and dreamed of being a writer.

Edward had also obtained a place at Oxford, and his very talented - almost clichéd in their Edwardian enthusiasm for life, and literature - group of friends from school - Victor Richardson and Roland Leighton - also gained places at university, the former in Cambridge (to study medicine), and the latter in Oxford.

Vera Brittain and Roland Leighton became very close - he seems to have found her desire for independence intriguing and strongly supported it, - and he also harboured literary ambitions - and eventually planned to marry.

Anyway, the war broke out, and the three males decided to leave university, and enlisted, - thinking it would be "a short sharp war", and thirsty for action and adventure, - planning to return to university "when it was over, probably by Christmas".

They were all commissioned - and were eventually joined by a fourth, whom Edward Brittain met and befriended while training, Geoffrey Thurlow.

All four of them died during the war, while Vera Brittain abandoned her hard won place at Oxford (returning to complete her studies only after the war ended) and took up nursing, including spending some time in France.

Trying to make sense of what she had lived through, and preserve the memory of her close friends, her fiancé, and her brother, she wrote a book. Initially, she had contemplated dealing with this by writing it as fiction, but felt that that didn't work.

Thus, she wrote "Testament of Youth" which was the story of herself and the four men who were closest to her, all of whom had been claimed by the war. It was published in 1933 and was an immediate best seller - it was the first book about the effects of the war written by a woman, and is still in print to this day.

Also sitting in a tottering pile on my sofa is a book called "The Month That Changed The World" (August 1914), by Gordon Martel, which I haven't yet read.

Pat Barker's books are brilliant.

The first book of the trilogy - Regeneration - is largely set in Craiglockhart hospital in early 1917, where Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfrid Owen were both being treated for shell-shock, or what we might nowadays call PTSD; Owen was editor of the hospital magazine - the Hydra - and both first published poems that have become timeless classics in the western literary canon in that magazine.

Anyway, the book is meticulous in its mastery of sources - having used - with respect - letters, and dairies, form the era (the tone is pitch perfect), and is an absolutely gripping story.

Most of the people who feature in it are based on real life individuals, and the character of the psychiatrist Dr Rivers, - who used his own earlier work as an anthropologist and his interest in the teachings and writing of Freud to offer compassionate help and support to his patients - existed, and in much the way that Pat Barker has portrayed him. Siegfried Sassoon revered him.

The sequel - The Eye In The Door is gripping - while Ghost Road - which brings the story up to the Armistice - is haunting. I cannot recommend this trilogy highly enough for a fiercely intelligent, brilliantly insightful treatment of war, gender, class, identity, medicine, language and society, among many other things.

 

[DhobiWanKenobi]

Just started The Hitchikers Guide for the first time, can't believe I left it this long, but the book kept getting shuffled down the pile

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Just started The Hitchikers Guide for the first time, can't believe I left it this long, but the book kept getting shuffled down the pile

A masterpiece, a timeless classic. Enjoy it - it is one of my all-time favourite reads, ever.

 

[jeremy h]

Just started The Hitchikers Guide for the first time, can't believe I left it this long, but the book kept getting shuffled down the pile

When people talk about the coming robotisation of the work place I always think of Marvin. "Brain the size of a planet and look what you've got me doing..."

 

[DhobiWanKenobi]

When people talk about the coming robotisation of the work place I always think of Marvin. "Brain the size of a planet and look what you've got me doing..."

And now I'm glad I even know what you're talking about!

 

[jeremy h]

"On the subject of talking... Don't talk to me about life... or do you want me to sit in a corner and rust, or just fall apart where I’m standing?"

 

[Scepticalscribe]

"Where God Went Wrong", "Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes"......"Well, That About Wraps It Up For God".

 

[bradl]

I love a good mystery.

BL.

 

[Jimmyss]

Currently reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Currently reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho.

Ah, I have seen this and heard about it: Do, please, let me know how you find it.

For my part, I am re-reading "Regeneration" by Pat Barker - and it is every bit as brilliant - even better, in fact, - on a revisit than it was when I first read it nearly twenty years ago.

 

[pachyderm]

Currently reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho.

never read it. interested though...

 

[Jimmyss]

You can try it. Its very interesting and full of enjoyment. You can get something from it.

 

[takao]

Ah, I have seen this and heard about it: Do, please, let me know how you find it.

Luckily my sister is an avid reader and sometimes takes the bullet before it get to read a recommendation:
She called it "esotericism/mysticism for middle aged housewifes" so i recommend to tread carefully. If you don't watch out you end of with hundreds of puppets or little porcelain angel figures on your household shelves.
I stayed well clear of Coelho... my middle aged aunt loves him though !

On the plus side:
* it's not as long as other books
* it can be found at every single used book sale in huge quanitites at low prices:
Every year they have a huge used goods sale around here (50.000-60.000 books) and you could buy multiple dozens of him and Dan Brown every year.
Trying to find a single used copy of Bulgakovs's Master and Margarita ? 5 years and no luck

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Luckily my sister is an avid reader and sometimes takes the bullet before it get to read a recommendation:
She called it "esotericism/mysticism for middle aged housewifes" so i recommend to tread carefully. If you don't watch out you end of with hundreds of puppets or little poreclain angel figures on your houshold shelves.
I stayed well clear of Coelho... my middle aged aunt loves him though !

On the plus side:
* it's not as long as other books
* it can be found at every single used book sale in huge quanitites at low prices:
Every year they have a huge used goods sale around here (50.000-60.000 books) and you could buy multiple dozens of him and Dan Brown every year.
Trying to find a single used copy of Bulgakovs's Master and Margarita ? 5 years and luck

I cannot abide Dan Brown - clichéd female characters, sloppy history and trite story telling.

Now, on the other hand, The Master and Margarita is excellent.

 

[arkitect]

Two on the go…

Enchantress of Nations: Pauline Viardot (Michael Steen)

The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, Greed, Violence and Depravity (Alexander Lee)

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Two on the go…

Enchantress of Nations: Pauline Viardot (Michael Steen)

The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, Greed, Violence and Depravity (Alexander Lee)

Have you read Pat Barker's "Rengeneration" trilogy?

Earlier this week, I recommended it to @LizKat, - and have been reading some WW1 stuff myself; last night, unable to sleep with Storm Doris, (and I normally sleep like a log), I thought I'd re-visit Renegeration for an hour or two, and it is still as bloody brilliant as it was when I first read it around twenty years ago.

 

[arkitect]

For a 'short' snappy, well written brisk account, you cannot go far wrong with A J P Taylor's "The First World War - An Illustrated History."

Amongst that avalanche of WWI books in 2014 two stand out for me:

Catastrophe: Europe goes to War 1914 (Max Hastings)

Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war 1914 (Christopher Clark)

I enjoyed them both immensely. Probably because I like to know the reasons behind actions and events… the Somme and such like has been rehashed countless times.

Also why I enjoyed the BBC's 37 Days so much…
[doublepost=1487861816][/doublepost]

Have you read Pat Barker's "Rengeneration" trilogy?

Earlier this week, I recommended it to @LizKat, - and have been reading some WW1 stuff myself; last night, unable to sleep with Storm Doris, (and I normally sleep like a log), I thought I'd re-visit Renegeration for an hour or two, and it is still as bloody brilliant as it was when I first read it around twenty years ago.

Indeed I have! Many, many years ago… alas.
I'll have to get them out of storage.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Amongst that avalanche of WWI books in 2014 two stand out for me:

Catastrophe: Europe goes to War 1914 (Max Hastings)

Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war 1914 (Christopher Clark)

I enjoyed them both immensely. Probably because I like to know the reasons behind actions and events… the Somme and such like has been rehashed countless times.

Also why I enjoyed the BBC's 37 Days so much…

Yes, I thought that 37 Days was brilliant, too - Ian McDiarmid was superb as Edward Grey, but the entire cast was first rate - and I gave my DVD set to someone - my wine merchant - two years ago, (and still haven't had it returned).

Anyway, if you haven't read Pat Barker - this is an absolutely stunning examination, exploration, and interrogation of class, values, gender, masculinity, war, pacifism, literature - and a work (the entire trilogy) I really cannot recommend highly enough.

Christopher Clark's book has been high recommended, although I haven't yet read it; as for Max Hastings, anyone who described Boris Johnson (and this was openly expressed, years ago) in the terms he did - writing that he "couldn't be trusted with women or money" meets with my full approval.

 

[AVBeatMan]

Just finished “The Invention of Nature, The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, The Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wolf.”

I found it absolutely fascinating. This is not the kind of book I usually read. I had never heard of Alexander Von Humboldt. What an extraordinary man. A man, born in Berlin in 1769 who went on to travel to south America, the US and then across Russia in his discovery of the “Cosmos”, his term for how everything is interconnected, soil, insects, plants, people, rivers, mountain etc etc.

From the cover; “Alexander Von Humboldt is the great lost scientist: more things are named after him than anyone else. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there’s a penguin, a giant squid- even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon”

Humboldt spoke openly against slavery and had a life long belief in liberty, equality, tolerance and the importance of education. In June 1804 he travelled to Washington (the roads in a terrible state) and to The White House (still being built and like a building site (full of mud, planks of wood and tools all over the place)) to meet Thomas Jefferson. There he spent a week and met the president several times, discussing crops, soil and the state of politics at the time.

Humboldt’s opposition to Slavery hindered his later plans to travel as the East India Company in the UK refused to allow him passage on their ships. Napoleon was jealous of Humboldt, Darwin was inspired by him to set sail on the Beagle. After returning from South American he embarked on another adventure across Russia and reached China.

On the whole I really enjoyed this book and would recommed to anyone interested in being taken on “a fantastic voyage, racing across anthrax-infected Russia or mapping tropical rivers alive with crocodiles” “Humboldt predicted human induced climate change as early as 1800. He wanted to know and understand everything, and his way of thinking was so far ahead of his time that it’s only now coming into it’s own. Alexander Humboldt really did invent the way we see nature”

 

[AVBeatMan]

"The Great War" by Ian Beckett.

Really fancy this but £30 hardback and £28 on kindle (£28?).

I see your revisiting Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. Excellent. Might do so myself but always feel I could be reading something new. Unlike you I am not a speed reader. Seeing you are, you might consider "Time andTime again" by Ben Elton. It's an alternative history fantasy where someone has the chance to prevent the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip and what could of happened if he did so. I really enjoyed it.

Time and Time Again https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0552779997/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qv1RybR8HA61E

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Really fancy this but £30 hardback and £28 on kindle (£28?).

I see your revisiting Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. Excellent. Might do so myself but always feel I could be reading something new. Unlike you I am not a speed reader. Seeing you are, you might consider "Time andTime again" by Ben Elton. It's an alternative history fantasy where someone has the chance to prevent the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip and what could of happened if he did so. I really enjoyed it.

Time and Time Again https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0552779997/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qv1RybR8HA61E

Thanks: I'll take a look at some reviews.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

"The Eye In The Door" by Pat Barker.

 

[AVBeatMan]

Karin Slaughter books 99p on Amazon Kindle deals today. Anyone read them before?