Quote from: andy popp on September 21, 2016, 09:25:40 pmI've recently finished two excellent books. First, "Independence Day, " the second of Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe books. I know some people can't get on with these; people don't like the narrator's voice, or the endless digressions and lack of plot. But I love them completely. I love the rich humanity with which Frank' character is portrayed, the pathos and humour, the wonderful prose. My sister left me with this book when she visited Canada in July. She has been a good source of book recommendations for much of my life so I have tried my hardest with this one. However ... I am definitely in your "can't get on with these" camp. My sister assured me that it picked up pace after the protagonist embarks on a road trip with his uncommunicative teenage son (perhaps as I have one of these) but it has been a tough ask to wade through 2/3rds of the book to get there, and even now the needle on my "give-a-shit-meter" is barely flickering. I am actually deriving very slightly more pleasure from reading the objectively-ghastly Percy Jackson and The Olympians book series out loud to my eight year old. Do you feel any resonance with the characters or their observations, Andy, or is it more that you admire the craftsmanship of the book?
I've recently finished two excellent books. First, "Independence Day, " the second of Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe books. I know some people can't get on with these; people don't like the narrator's voice, or the endless digressions and lack of plot. But I love them completely. I love the rich humanity with which Frank' character is portrayed, the pathos and humour, the wonderful prose.
Alan Moore's Jerusalem - anyone bought this yet?
Alan Moore's Jerusalem - anyone bought this yet? I'm a bit nervous if I'm honest, as I think it'd take my life over for a while. Obviously living in Northampton since '79 and for 15 years just down the road from him, it's something I need to read at some point.
Lowering the tone as I seem to read at a much lower brow level than most contributors to this thread (not a dig BTW) but for what it's worth, I am on book 8 of 10 of the Bernard Cornwell Saxon Stories. Enlightening for the historically challenged (me), I am fascinated by how the country must have looked having been deserted by the Romans. It seems the Saxons existed in an almost post-apocalyptic world of Roman ruins and built around them with wattle and thatch - who knew!Am looking forward to book 10 which comes out today!
Quote from: andy popp on October 06, 2016, 08:57:41 pmMore worryingly, as a historian, I didn't realise it was pointless to study things that are already "toast".Fair point. I was just being ironic, really. Bezos seems like a quite popular guy at this point in time but I feel confident that at some point in the future people will find reason to criticise him. I imagine at some point in the past the same might have applied to Sam Walton. Anyway, FWIW I think I will read this book. It does sound quite interesting.
More worryingly, as a historian, I didn't realise it was pointless to study things that are already "toast".
Second, Mikhail Sholokhov's sweeping masterpiece of war and revolution "And Quiet Flows the Don," which follows a group of Don Cossacks from one village through WWI, revolution and civil war. It's wonderful how Sholokhov is able to combine epic scale and fantastically rendered characterisation on the same page. You live every moment with these people. And there's breathtaking descriptions of the lives of the Cossacks and of the Steppes. Hard to recommend too strongly. Read with Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Vassily Grossman's "Lifeand Fate" it would comprise part of an incredible trilogy.