Spoilers What Book Are You Reading?

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Just finished The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey.

It's a follow up to The Girl With All The Gifts, which is one of my favourite books ever.

The new one wasn't quite up there with its predecessor, but still adds to it.

Highly recommend both.

 

[Mac Face]

Az Erő Titkai ( Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars )

For two years, he's been watching me from the shelf to start reading.
I'm finally starting today.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Just finished (yesterday) "A Treachery of Spies" by Manda Scott.

If you like (or find interesting) works that explore the SOE, the French Resistance, the Jedburghs, this is an exceedingly well written, gripping (and very well researched) complex (in terms of both plot, and character) and intelligent thriller.

 

[chmania]

A New World by Whitley Strieber, half way through

 

[AVBeatMan]

Just finished the second of the Shardlake books, Dark Fire by CJ Sansom.

 

[chmania]

Quite an interesting study.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Just finished the second of the Shardlake books, Dark Fire by CJ Sansom.

While I haven't read them all, I did read some of the earlier works in the series, and found them excellent.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As Time Goes By - Ted Allbeury, an interesting and well-written (it is clear that the author is more than familiar - personally - with his subject matter) book set during the Second World War, about a number of individuals who worked with the SOE in Occupied France.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Have just started one of the books that awaited me at the library yesterday:

Oliver Bullough - Butler To The World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats, and Criminals.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Have just started one of the books that awaited me at the library yesterday:

Oliver Bullough - Butler To The World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats, and Criminals.

Yes, @KaliYoni, believe it or not, that is the actual title of the book.

And, when one notes the rave reviews it received from several serious publications, such as The FT, the Economist, the Observer, the Independent, the Guardian, the New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement etc, I knew it was a very necessary read.

I won't deny the bizarre seeming paradox between the terrifying topic, outlandish title, and the rave reviews it received from several serious publications; nevertheless, it is a book I have long wanted to read (it was first published in 2022, then in paperback in 2023).

Anyway, I had placed a request (an order, a reservation) for it in the library, several months ago, and it - finally - arrived this week.

 

[SalisburySam]

Yes, @KaliYoni, believe it or not, that is the actual title of the book.

And, when one notes the rave reviews it received from several serious publications, such as The FT, the Economist, the Observer, the Independent, the Guardian, the New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement etc, I knew it was a very necessary read.

I won't deny the bizarre seeming paradox between the terrifying topic, outlandish title, and the rave reviews it received from several serious publications; nevertheless, it is a book I have long wanted to read (it was first published in 2022, then in paperback in 2023).

Anyway, I had placed a request (and an order) for it in the library, several months ago, and it - finally - arrived this week.

Sounds fascinating, but sadly neither in my local library nor online state-wide digital library. Trying to get the locals to buy a copy, might have to unleash wampum in the Amazon to get this.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sounds fascinating,

It is.

but sadly neither in my local library nor online state-wide digital library. Trying to get the locals to buy a copy, might have to unleash wampum in the Amazon to get this.

I'm almost a hundred pages in - I spent the morning reading it, and now need a bit of a break: To my mind, this is a must-read, - I highly recommend it - and is a terrifying (and occasionally, horrifyingly hilarious) read - and is beautifully written, with a deceptively clear, and an almost plain, prose style.

Actually, it takes a serious gift for language, not to mention a complete understanding of your subject matter (economically and ethically) to be able to describe it in such accessible and readable and comprehensible prose.

In fact, it is so good, that I plan to request my local bookshop to order it for me, as I wish to have it permanently to hand.

 

[chmania]

Gives something to ponder about, especially how global warming, and/or volcanic eruption, or something like that could create or recreate a religion. Or, how emperor(s) changed everything to suit their own self, hold onto their empire. I never gave enough thought to European history of 1st to 6th century A.D., I should have. We learnt history as kids, just to pass through exams.

 

[KaliYoni]

Recently finished:
Real Americans (Khong)
Starts off like a rom-com. Then when Khong has you lulled into stylistic complacency, she gradually turns the tables and transforms the story into a series of bizarre and unsettling revelations. The (lazy) Hollywood pitch for the movie probably is "Amy Tan crossed with Michael Crichton".

Conquerors (Crowley)
Spice (Crowley)
(mentioned earlier here)
Both are interesting and well-written but I think Conquerors is the better book because it is more focused. Spice is a bit too broad so the text has a rushed and somewhat cursory feel.

Starting:
Sorrowful Mysteries
When you visit Portugal and go outside of the urban areas of Lisbon and Porto, it's hard to miss all the shrines to Our Lady of Fatima. Plus the Catholic Church has been top-of-mind lately.

Sorrowful Mysteries by Stephen Harrigan: 9780593534281 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Part memoir, part mystery: a powerful exploration of the three secrets of Fatima and a man’s journey grappling with his own faith In 1917, in Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children claimed that...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

----------
@Scepticalscribe
I just reserved Butler to the World at my public library, based on your posts. Have you read Bullough's earlier book Moneyland?

 

[scubachap]

Gives something to ponder about, especially how global warming, and/or volcanic eruption, or something like that could create or recreate a religion. Or, how emperor(s) changed everything to suit their own self, hold onto their empire. I never gave enough thought to European history of 1st to 6th century A.D., I should have. We learnt history as kids, just to pass through exams.

Just plugging through the one... You might like it...

The publishers (or perhaps the Guardian's) pitch is that it's a challenge to Western chauvinism, not sure she manages that at all but it is actually quite outstanding in the way she runs through and connects various histories in 'Europe' from around 2,500BC to I think the 1300's (I'm only three quarters of the way through so that last date is a bit TBC).

I'd recommend it.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Recently finished:
Real Americans (Khong)
Starts off like a rom-com. Then when Khong has you lulled into stylistic complacency, she gradually turns the tables and transforms the story into a series of bizarre and unsettling revelations. The (lazy) Hollywood pitch for the movie probably is "Amy Tan crossed with Michael Crichton".

Conquerors (Crowley)
Spice (Crowley)
(mentioned earlier here)
Both are interesting and well-written but I think Conquerors is the better book because it is more focused. Spice is a bit too broad so the text has a rushed and somewhat cursory feel.

Starting:
Sorrowful Mysteries
When you visit Portugal and go outside of the urban areas of Lisbon and Porto, it's hard to miss all the shrines to Our Lady of Fatima. Plus the Catholic Church has been top-of-mind lately.

Sorrowful Mysteries by Stephen Harrigan: 9780593534281 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Part memoir, part mystery: a powerful exploration of the three secrets of Fatima and a man’s journey grappling with his own faith In 1917, in Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children claimed that...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

----------
@Scepticalscribe
I just reserved Butler to the World at my public library, based on your posts. Have you read Bullough's earlier book Moneyland?

Last night, having read the first chapter of Butler To The World, I placed a reservation on Moneyland in my local library, and I look forward to receiving it (and reading it).

 

[VisceralRealist]

Currently reading:

The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima. This is the third in Mishima's "Sea of Fertility" quartet, in which the main character, Honda, believes his childhood friend Kiyoaki (who died at the end of the first novel) has been reincarnated for the second time, in a young Thai princess. Unlike the first two novels, which are set in Japan, this one is mostly set in Thailand.

Lorca: A Dream of Life by Leslie Stainton. A biography of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. I read and wrote about a number of Lorca's poems for a Spanish literature course I took, but am only now reading his full biography. I'm only 50 pages in so far, but I'm already hooked on his (ultimately tragic) story.

 

[chmania]

Started reading this, but not sure whether I should continue. Pretty bad future to look for, if such a situation might occur. It can be started by anyone, even though the action is happening in a small US community. The US could be the culprit and some country outside the US could be the victim.

 

[chmania]

Regarding the book above, One Second After, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue reading it, but curiosity took over. I'm already half way through. It appears that there are three more books. One Year after, The Final Day and 5 Years After. This book had been filmed, but I think it should be read, just to feel the tension. I also think everyone should read it.

 

[ucfgrad93]

View attachment 2508107
Started reading this, but not sure whether I should continue. Pretty bad future to look for, if such a situation might occur. It can be started by anyone, even though the action is happening in a small US community. The US could be the culprit and some country outside the US could be the victim.

An excellent book. Very realistic telling of what could happen.

 

[chmania]

Reading this now, I have just finished the 15th chapter. I saw the film a few years ago, but the book provides the feeling. In any case, Strieber is correct, whether or not he received the information from "others." The last time I experienced a real winter was about a decade ago in our city. Now, it consists of just a few days of snow, and that is in January or February, rather than as it used to be at the end of November, lasting all the way to March, with genuine two-digit minus temperatures. Global warming is a fact!

 

[AVBeatMan]

Precipice by Robert Harris.

 

[chmania]

Now reading,

Starting Chapter 9... After that, there'd be two more books in this series...Watch and Wonder

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The Spice Route - John Keay.

 

[chmania]

After finishing the WWW series, I began reading The Neanderthal Parallax series by Robert J. Sawyer. While reading the final words of the WWW series, it struck me that the world we inhabit exists only as long as we continue to live in it; that is, once we die, everything is over for us. All our yearnings, achievements, wealth, and so on would come to an end with that. Our childhood is the best thing there is, as during that time, we are not truly conscious of our eventual death.