What are you reading ?

MaC

MaC

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Re-reading, Essential Substances: A Cultural History of Intoxicants in Society, Richard Rudgely.
It's in my give away pile, and well, it's there on my desk.

It is sort of interesting, but he's another one where you have to really take on board his mindset to appreciate what he's saying.
I think I'd rather read a cook book :rolleyes:
 
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Templogin

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Finding Hildasay deserves a recommendation. It got a bit samey, but the last few chapters were very good, leading to the recommendation.
 
Nice65

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Was watching the Netflix series, ‘Encounters’, and one bloke interviewed stood out as having a bit of a handle on the whole thing. His name is Matthew Robert’s and he was a cryptographer for the USN and on board USS Roosevelt when this famous footage was recorded.


He is a sane and intelligent man, who gave up his forthcoming retirement and its comfortable pension, to talk not of threats and invasion, nuts and bolts UFOs of shining metal and propulsion systems, but of its place in our consciousness. As it always has been, elves and goblins, myths and legend.

His manner during his documentary interview piqued my interest enough to download his book, ‘Initiated’. Plato is quoted right at the beginning, The Allegory of the Cave.

Only just started it, but it’s going to be a thought provoking read, and I suspect it’s intended to be just that, like a pair of sunglasses for those blinded by the sun upon leaving Platos cave
 
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The Fourth Wing, not a literary masterpiece but an engaging easy read YA fantasy novel.
 
ElThomsono

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Just started on The Wasp Factory, it's good; it just sort of starts and keeps going.

I was planning to start on The Expanse but when I was selecting from the bookcase I forgot and this one piqued my interest, it's only short in any case.
 
Saint-Just

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Call me Ishmael

Fabulous book. Jean Giono not only took it with him on his walks for years but also translated it in French. He also wrote "Pour saluer Melville" (Melville: a novel), an essay on the image he had of HM as he read Moby Dick.
(about Giono: He is, with Pagnol, the most celebrated writer from and about Provence in the 20th century. I highly recommend the "Hussard sur le toit", translated as the Horseman on the roof)
 
ElThomsono

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Saint-Just said:
Fabulous book.
Click to expand...

Quite.

Hopefully this helps:

5451cdf9b8302af179f9bb99e2eb0744.jpg
 
MaC

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Planning to read Depth Charge again in anticipation of getting the sequel, Sweetwater, for Christmas.
 
ElThomsono

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E. By Gum said:
I read the wasp factory donkeys years ago. Grim.
Click to expand...

But so relatable!

"I had decided I would try to murder Esmerelda before she and her parents even arrived for their holiday. Eric was away on a school cruise, so there would only be me and her. It would be risky, so soon after Paul's death, but I had to do something to even up the balance. I could feel it in my guts, in my bones; I had to. It was like an itch, something I had no way of resisting, like when I walk along a pavement in Porteneil and I accidentally scuff one heel on a paving stone. I have to scuff the other foot as well, with as near as possible the same weight, to feel good again. The same if I brush one arm against a wall or a lamp-post; I must brush the other one as well, soon, or at the very least scratch it with the other hand. In a whole range of ways like that I try to keep balanced, though I have no idea why. It is simply something that must be done; and, in the same way, I had to get rid of some woman, tip the scales back in the other direction."
 
MaC

MaC

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Paddle Steamers at War, 1914 -18, Edited by Russell Plummer.

From one end of the country to the other, they rounded up paddle steamers and used them mostly as minesweepers.
For crews used to Sunday Excursions and day trippers, it must have been an incredible change.
Thirty steamers from the Clyde alone went to war.....even the ones from the Isle of Man ended up in the effort.

Small book, full of photos and easy reading. Interesting in it's own niche way :)

Anyone want it when I'm done ?

M
 
Nice65

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ElThomsono said:
But so relatable!

"I had decided I would try to murder Esmerelda before she and her parents even arrived for their holiday. Eric was away on a school cruise, so there would only be me and her. It would be risky, so soon after Paul's death, but I had to do something to even up the balance. I could feel it in my guts, in my bones; I had to. It was like an itch, something I had no way of resisting, like when I walk along a pavement in Porteneil and I accidentally scuff one heel on a paving stone. I have to scuff the other foot as well, with as near as possible the same weight, to feel good again. The same if I brush one arm against a wall or a lamp-post; I must brush the other one as well, soon, or at the very least scratch it with the other hand. In a whole range of ways like that I try to keep balanced, though I have no idea why. It is simply something that must be done; and, in the same way, I had to get rid of some woman, tip the scales back in the other direction."
Click to expand...
Careful now, it’s not the weather for laying patios.
 
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Templogin

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ElThomsono said:
I went through the records today and in the last 24 months I've bought 44 books and read 23. TBH not as bad as I was expecting, and eBay has made it quite affordable. But one a month? Geez.
Click to expand...
My other half has done 50-ish each of paperbacks and audio books this year! She reads every morning in bed before she gets and at night before she goes to sleep. She listens to the audio books whilst she is at work in the afternoon, cleaning for 2 hours at a local school.
 
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