The Book Thread 2020

Reading one book is like eating one potato chip...

Discuss books here.

Moderators: kiore, Blip, The_Metatron

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#161  Postby Blip » May 31, 2020 9:26 am

It's good to see new contributors here: for me this isn't a competition, if it ever was, but a resource. Other people's choices often inspire and always interest, so please keep posting, both of you!

I've just read a book recommended by don't get me started, for example, as you'll have seen, and I'm currently reading one that may appeal to UncertainSloth, a tentative opinion which I'll confirm or otherwise in due course.
Evolving wrote:Blip, intrepid pilot of light aircraft and wrangler with alligators.
User avatar
Blip
Moderator
 
Posts: 21737
Female

Country: This septic isle...
Jolly Roger (arr)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#162  Postby UncertainSloth » May 31, 2020 1:05 pm

welcome all - agreed, i think that's why i've tried to morph it somewhat over the years i've started it - i just love seeing what people are reading and what they think of it..as you say, more of a resource and i've always found it more worthwhile once people have finished the book (mainly because a decent ending is often hard to find) which is why i've aways seen this thread as different from the what'cha reading thread...i look forward to seeing what you've been reading, blip
surr - have you read ivan denisovich by solzhenitsyn? that one of his has stuck with me since my teens...
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Tolkein
User avatar
UncertainSloth
THREAD STARTER
 
Posts: 3665
Age: 50
Male

United Kingdom (uk)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#163  Postby don't get me started » May 31, 2020 1:51 pm

surreptitious57 wrote:I also avoid posting in this thread since I am a slow reader who only reads
about twenty or so books a year but anyway for one time only this is mine

David Brin / Existence
Iain Banks / Inversions
Ayn Rand / Atlas Shrugged
Alastair Reynolds / Terminal World
Christopher Priest / Inverted World
Alexander Solzhenitsyn / The Gulag Archipelago
Peter Hamilton / Pandoras Star [ Current Read ]


I'll second what Evolving said- some good choices there.
I really enjoyed Pandora's Star by Hamilton. The second book in the series 'Judas Unchained' brought the story to a nice crescendo. I didn't really enjoy the other books that followed a new story arc but set in the same universe (The Void series) and they put me off Hamilton for a while.
But I got into his latest series (Salvation). Crazyfitter also read them and I guess we will both be picking up the series finale when it is released later this year...

I also agree with the general sentiment that this isn't a competition. I enjoy reading about what others are reading and feeling part of a loosely affiliated and casual book club.

I know that most people will never read some of the specialist books that I have a go at, but writing up a brief outline here serves the double function of trying to record some of the take-aways that I glean from a book and also pass on a bit of knowledge to others while I am at it.

One thing that I have found myself doing during the current pandemic is watching TV and craning my neck to an uncomfortable angle to see what the talking heads on news and current affairs programs have behind them on their bookshelves. Fascinating thing, to be able to look at people's bookshelves.

Sorry to ramble..I just had a nice meal and a few (!) beers over at the in-laws to mark the 25th anniversary of my arrival in Japan. How the years pass. Where is that fresh-faced young fella from yesteryear?
don't get me started
 
Posts: 1469

Country: Japan
Japan (jp)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#164  Postby surreptitious57 » Jun 01, 2020 10:50 am

In view of what the Sloth has said above with regard to seeing what others have read here are books I have read previously that made a positive impression on me at the time - I say at the time because a rereading can provoke a different response

This is more an indication of where my mind is book wise rather than a recommended reading list as such because what any one likes is entirely subjective but if you wanted to know what makes me tick then this list is a good primer - although it is relatively loose because I dont actually read books to confirm my prejudices but to challenge me and make me think outside the box of my own mind even if I may not always agree with what the author in question is trying to say

I like fiction and non fiction that is serious and only refuse genres that to my mind generally lack this attribute
Such as fantasy and romance and celebrity autobiography - they do nothing for me - I am too old for all of them
I will also not read horror unless it is psychological or crime unless it is non fiction

On a very informal level I am a student of psychology and so very interested in the thought processes of human beings
Why they think the way that they do and all good fiction and non fiction to a greater or lesser extent examines this
All books are ultimately the products of human minds so I try and learn as much as I can about said minds from them

Good books of course because bad ones are entirely superfluous to requirement for someone as old as me
Bad as in boring not bad as in controversial - those books are always worth reading whatever any one says

Anyway that is enough rambling from me for now so here they are :


Classic Fiction :

I984 - George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
American Pastoral - Philip Roth


General Fiction :

Filth - Irvine Welsh
2666 - Roberto Bolano
Hannibal - Thomas Harris
The Human Stain - Philip Roth
Wheels Of Terror - Sven Hassel
Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons
The Books Of Blood - Clive Barker
The Damnation Game - Clive Barker
Something Happened - Joseph Heller
The Legion Of The Damned - Sven Hassel
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
The Bachman Books - Richard Bachman [ Stephen King ]


Science Fiction :

Diaspora - Greg Egan
Excession - Iain Banks
The Dispossessed - Ursula Le Guin
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds


Classic Non Fiction :

The Female Eunuch - Germaine Greer
The Executioners Song - Norman Mailer
The Gulag Archipelago - Alexander Solzhenitsyn


General Non Fiction :

Dark Alliance - Gary Webb
You Cant Read This Book - Nick Cohen
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb


Biography :

Hitler - Ian Kershaw
Stalin - Robert Service
Churchill - Roy Jenkins
Mandela - Anthony Sampson
Helen Of Troy - Bettany Hughes


History :

White Heat - Dominic Sandbrook
Seasons In The Sun - Dominic Sandbrook
State Of Emergency - Dominic Sandbrook


Science :

The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin
The Beginning Of Infinity - David Deutsch
I3 Things That Dont Make Sense - Michael Brooks
A MIND IS LIKE A PARACHUTE : IT DOES NOT WORK UNLESS IT IS OPEN
surreptitious57
 
Posts: 10203

Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#165  Postby surreptitious57 » Jun 01, 2020 11:14 am

Quora have an excellent literature section devoted to both bibliophiles and bibliophages and readers in general
Some have listed the best books they have ever read and so it is an excellent source for fresh reading material
Every book site does this but I prefer Quoras approach because I like the layout and it is also more interactive
I dont have enough years left to read everything I want to but as long there is enough to read I wont complain
A MIND IS LIKE A PARACHUTE : IT DOES NOT WORK UNLESS IT IS OPEN
surreptitious57
 
Posts: 10203

Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#166  Postby crazyfitter » Jun 01, 2020 12:00 pm

That’s an interesting list surr. I’d be very interested if in reading Iain M Banks you were tempted to read his other sci-fi books? I couldn’t resist. Same for Stieg Larson, there are two other follow on books which I found irresistible.
I read several Sven Hassel Books a long time ago, I think I was living in bed sit land at the time where I also read most of Agatha Christie’s books from the library. Also had a spell reading historical exploration books like the search for the source of the Blue Nile but they were of the Rule Britannia type.
Anyway I’m not studying anything so it’s escapism plus a light sprinkle of something academic while I sit in the sunshine.
The slap in the face that is offered by anti-rationalist, pseudo-scientists and anti-intellectuals that infest much of public discourse is a sad coda to what has been achieved these centuries past by the scientific method - don’t get me started
crazyfitter
 
Posts: 899
Male

Country: Northumbria
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#167  Postby surreptitious57 » Jun 01, 2020 1:36 pm

I have read most of the Culture novels and they do vary quite significantly in my opinion
Excession is easily my favourite and second or third best science fiction I have ever read
Consider Phlebas was better the first time round but somewhat less so 23 years on
Surface Detail was very good in places but not so in others so bit inconsistent there
Inversions was overall quite good even though it was still inferior to Excession

I rate Alastair Reynolds a better writer as he is more consistent than Banks
And for me all of the following are excellent science fiction / space opera :

Novellas : Diamond Dogs / Turquoise Days
Novels : Chasm City / Pushing Ice / The Prefect / House Of Suns
The Revelation Space Trilogy : Revelation Space / Redemption Ark / Absolution Gap
The Poseidon Childrens Trilogy : Blue Remembered Earth / On The Steel Breeze / Poseidons Wake

I have everything by Sven Hassel and I initially thought that he was writing from experience but apparently not so
I have forty year old copies of his books in quite good condition - his writing is very realistic even if it is fabricated

I have read the Larsson trilogy - the first novel is the best - the attention to detail is absolutely sublime
The trilogy is easily one of the very best of the last forty years - a great talent taken way before his time
A MIND IS LIKE A PARACHUTE : IT DOES NOT WORK UNLESS IT IS OPEN
surreptitious57
 
Posts: 10203

Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#168  Postby Evolving » Jun 01, 2020 1:58 pm

crazyfitter wrote:That’s an interesting list surr.


It is. The Female Eunuch, well well.

What did you think of it, surr?

I read it a long time ago, as you do, and I read it again (or about half of it) recently. This time round, something struck me forcibly that I couldn't believe I had missed the first time.

It's when Greer is describing how girls and women are indoctrinated by societal pressures to aspire to a certain kind of femininity - pretty, frilly, fluffy, harmless, conformist, appealing, subservient, and denying their raw physicality, replacing it with an artificial, sterile kind of sweetness. Who, reading that as a female, doesn't instantly recognise the truth of all that?

But what jolted me this time around was the real life example that she chose to illustrate her point. April Ashley was one of the first in the UK to transition from male to female: it was in the early sixties, I think, she had to go to Casablanca (!) for her medical interventions, and when she came back she had a career as a model in sixties London, she married an aristocrat, who knew about her history, but his family didn't, and there was a big scandal culminating in a court case, which she lost, about whether her marriage was legally possible, given that she was "really" a man. A sad and outrageous story, but also an inspiring one about a brave pioneer of a woman.

That's not why Greer chose her as an example, though. Greer thinks that Ashley, too, was deluded by those same societal pressures to aspire to that bloodless artificiality that we're supposed to believe is the ideal of femininity. Look at April Ashley (says Greer to cis women): if you follow society's path, that's who you'll turn into. You'll be, in effect, April Ashley. Yuk!

Greer's transphobia is not a new development.
How extremely stupid not to have thought of that - T.H. Huxley
User avatar
Evolving
 
Name: Serafina Pekkala
Posts: 12533
Female

Country: Luxembourg
Luxembourg (lu)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#169  Postby surreptitious57 » Jun 01, 2020 3:03 pm

I found it to be a wonderfully ranty polemic on the state of modern woman in I97I

What I most remember about it is how women who were employed as secretaries had to do lots of additional work which was not actually specified in their job description and for no extra pay too . Any woman who complained could get the sack which would mean no job and no reference either so not many did complain

Regarding April Ashley : the public was not aware of trans issues back then and because it was the first case
of its kind then it had no frame of reference for it and so for a pioneer like her it was never going to be easy

Greer has fallen out of favour with the sisterhood in recent years but that should not be reason to throw the baby out with
the bathwater - the Female Eunuch was a book of its time that had to be written - and I will certainly be rereading it again
A MIND IS LIKE A PARACHUTE : IT DOES NOT WORK UNLESS IT IS OPEN
surreptitious57
 
Posts: 10203

Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#170  Postby UncertainSloth » Jun 01, 2020 4:31 pm

surreptitious57 wrote:In view of what the Sloth has said above with regard to seeing what others have read...


1) i rather meant within the spirit of the thread, ie 2020 - i've just reduced the 'competition' tally aspect but it's still always just been a list thread that occasionally becomes a brief discussion or a q&a over a book/author...the other book thread is where people tend to ramble on more....i'm fascinated by what dgms reads and his mini-reviews but i'm not that sparked by wondering what he read years ago

2) how can you say you don't like horror apart from psychological then cite the books of blood? and the dark depths of damnation game, come to that...don't get me wrong, barker is awesome but you've chosen some of his rawest books...that's all rheotorical, btw, just my mental musings on the matter...
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Tolkein
User avatar
UncertainSloth
THREAD STARTER
 
Posts: 3665
Age: 50
Male

United Kingdom (uk)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#171  Postby Fallible » Jun 01, 2020 4:45 pm

Back to lists...

1. The Wych Elm - Tana French.
2. Starve Acre - Andrew Michael Hurley.
3. Assassin’s Apprentice - Robin Hobb. Re-read.
4. Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb.
5. Assassin’s Quest - Robin Hobb.
6. Swan Song - Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott.
7. Pine - Francine Toon.
8. Ship of Magic: Liveship Traders vol.1 - Robin Hobb.
9. The Mad Ship: Liveship Traders vol. 2 - Robin Hobb.
10. Ship of Destiny: Liveship Traders vol. 3 - Robin Hobb.
11. The Pursuit of William Abbey - Claire North.
12. The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden.
13. The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden.
14. The Winter of the Witch - Kathrine Arden.

I stayed away from this series for a long time, as it looked rather too young adult, magicky and altogether frothy for me. However life being what it is at present, I found myself wanting something light and an easy read for a while. These books fit the bill. They edge dangerously close to romance towards the end (I hate romance novels as a rule), but there is enough Russian folklore and history in there to save the trilogy. Some of the writing is rather evocative.
She battled through in every kind of tribulation,
She revelled in adventure and imagination.
She never listened to no hater, liar,
Breaking boundaries and chasing fire.
Oh, my my! Oh my, she flies!
User avatar
Fallible
RS Donator
 
Name: Alice Pooper
Posts: 51607
Age: 51
Female

Country: Engerland na na
Canada (ca)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#172  Postby Blip » Jun 02, 2020 10:51 am

1. Daughters of Jerusalem by Charlotte Mendelson
2. The Melody by Jim Crace
3. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
4. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
5. Last Friends by Jane Gardam
6. Corridor Dance by Peter Preston
7. Quarantine by Jim Crace
8. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
9. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
10. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
11. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
12. The Pesthouse by Jim Crace
13. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
14. The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Sciolino
15. Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson
16. Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell
17. The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
18. Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
19. How to be Right in a World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien
20. Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
21. The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke
22. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
23. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières
24. How to be Human by New Scientist
25. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James*

*This was the one I mentioned a few days ago, that I thought initially I might recommend to UncertainSloth, but having completed it, I don't think I would particularly. It was reviewed on my other book club as being a combination of ghost story and murder(s) mystery, and so it is, but my hopes that it would be up there with Dark Matter or Thin Air were rather dashed.

For me, it was less about the ghosts and more about the two protagonists' amateur sleuthing; my co-reviewer said it gave her 'genuine shivers' though, so your mileage may vary. There were also a couple of continuity errors that grated a little, but that being said, it was an entertaining diversion.
Evolving wrote:Blip, intrepid pilot of light aircraft and wrangler with alligators.
User avatar
Blip
Moderator
 
Posts: 21737
Female

Country: This septic isle...
Jolly Roger (arr)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#173  Postby Fallible » Jun 02, 2020 3:33 pm

1. The Wych Elm - Tana French.
2. Starve Acre - Andrew Michael Hurley.
3. Assassin’s Apprentice - Robin Hobb. Re-read.
4. Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb.
5. Assassin’s Quest - Robin Hobb.
6. Swan Song - Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott.
7. Pine - Francine Toon.
8. Ship of Magic: Liveship Traders vol.1 - Robin Hobb.
9. The Mad Ship: Liveship Traders vol. 2 - Robin Hobb.
10. Ship of Destiny: Liveship Traders vol. 3 - Robin Hobb.
11. The Pursuit of William Abbey - Claire North.
12. The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden.
13. The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden.
14. The Winter of the Witch - Kathrine Arden.
15. Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams.
She battled through in every kind of tribulation,
She revelled in adventure and imagination.
She never listened to no hater, liar,
Breaking boundaries and chasing fire.
Oh, my my! Oh my, she flies!
User avatar
Fallible
RS Donator
 
Name: Alice Pooper
Posts: 51607
Age: 51
Female

Country: Engerland na na
Canada (ca)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#174  Postby UncertainSloth » Jun 02, 2020 5:48 pm

Blip wrote:1. Daughters of Jerusalem by Charlotte Mendelson
2. The Melody by Jim Crace
3. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
4. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
5. Last Friends by Jane Gardam
6. Corridor Dance by Peter Preston
7. Quarantine by Jim Crace
8. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
9. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
10. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
11. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
12. The Pesthouse by Jim Crace
13. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
14. The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Sciolino
15. Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson
16. Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell
17. The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
18. Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
19. How to be Right in a World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien
20. Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
21. The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke
22. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
23. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières
24. How to be Human by New Scientist
25. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James*

*This was the one I mentioned a few days ago, that I thought initially I might recommend to UncertainSloth, but having completed it, I don't think I would particularly. It was reviewed on my other book club as being a combination of ghost story and murder(s) mystery, and so it is, but my hopes that it would be up there with Dark Matter or Thin Air were rather dashed.

For me, it was less about the ghosts and more about the two protagonists' amateur sleuthing; my co-reviewer said it gave her 'genuine shivers' though, so your mileage may vary. There were also a couple of continuity errors that grated a little, but that being said, it was an entertaining diversion.



intriguing - thanks, bip, i'll have a look
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Tolkein
User avatar
UncertainSloth
THREAD STARTER
 
Posts: 3665
Age: 50
Male

United Kingdom (uk)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#175  Postby Blip » Jun 03, 2020 9:23 am

1. Daughters of Jerusalem by Charlotte Mendelson
2. The Melody by Jim Crace
3. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
4. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
5. Last Friends by Jane Gardam
6. Corridor Dance by Peter Preston
7. Quarantine by Jim Crace
8. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
9. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
10. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
11. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
12. The Pesthouse by Jim Crace
13. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
14. The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Sciolino
15. Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson
16. Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell
17. The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
18. Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
19. How to be Right in a World Gone Wrong by James O'Brien
20. Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
21. The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke
22. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
23. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières
24. How to be Human by New Scientist
25. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
26. Stonyground: The Making of a Canadian Garden by Douglas Chambers*

*I didn't read this book in a day: I was reading it slowly, alongside my previous entry. Douglas Chambers died last month of COVID-19. He was a friend and mentor of our own felltoearth, a sample of whose work appears in the text and who sent me this copy shortly after Douglas' death. Thank you, fellto.
Evolving wrote:Blip, intrepid pilot of light aircraft and wrangler with alligators.
User avatar
Blip
Moderator
 
Posts: 21737
Female

Country: This septic isle...
Jolly Roger (arr)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#176  Postby Blip » Jun 03, 2020 9:30 am


!
GENERAL MODNOTE
surreptitious57, I've moved your commentary on horror to the Whatcha Reading? thread as it's a better fit there. This thread aims to be more of a reading record. :cheers:
Evolving wrote:Blip, intrepid pilot of light aircraft and wrangler with alligators.
User avatar
Blip
Moderator
 
Posts: 21737
Female

Country: This septic isle...
Jolly Roger (arr)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#177  Postby crazyfitter » Jun 04, 2020 11:09 am

1. Knife - Jo Nesbo
2. Unnatural Causes - Dr Richard Shepherd
3. Pravda Ha Ha - Rory MacLean. Great book, I’ve written a review in What’cha Readin.
4. Triplanetary - EE “Doc” Smith
5. The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
6. Standing in Another Mans Grave - Ian Rankin
7. Bury My Heart At Wounded knee - Dee Brown
8. A Silent Death - Peter May
9. Letters from an Astrophysicist - Neil de Grasse Tyson
10. The Story of the British Isles - Neil Oliver
11. How To Argue With A Racist - Adam Rutherford
12. Salvation - Peter F. Hamilton
13. Salvation Lost - Peter F. Hamilton
14. Days Without End - Sebastian Barry
15. A Long Long Way - Sebastian Barry
16. Lennox - Craig Russell
17. The Tenth Chamber - Glen Cooper
18. The Racketeer - John Grisham
19. The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
20. the power of the dog - Don Winslow. A reread on my kindle about the ‘war on drugs’
21. Catastrophe - Max Hastings
22. Complicity - Iain Banks
23. Satori - Don Winslow
24. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
25. The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler
26. Shibumi - Trevanian
27. Blade Runner2 The Edge of Human - K. W. Jeter
28. Walking on Glass - Iain Banks
The slap in the face that is offered by anti-rationalist, pseudo-scientists and anti-intellectuals that infest much of public discourse is a sad coda to what has been achieved these centuries past by the scientific method - don’t get me started
crazyfitter
 
Posts: 899
Male

Country: Northumbria
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#178  Postby UncertainSloth » Jun 04, 2020 7:47 pm

1. new orleans vampires: history and legend - marita woywod crandle - 7/10
2. the darkest part of the woods - ramsey campbell - 8/10
3. paranormal encounters on Britain's roads - peter a mccue - 6/10
4. ten thousand doors of January - alix e harrow - 6/10
5. dead mountain - donnie eichar - 9/10
6. weird words - susie dent - 6/10
7. those across the river - christopher buelman - 8/10
8. odditorium - david bramwell & chum - 9/10
9. busy monsters - william giraldi - 6/10
10. parsnips, buttered - joe lycett - 7/10
11. the pursuit of william abbey - claire north 10/10
12. the horologicon - mark forsyth - 8/10
13. mr mercedes - stephen king 10/10 - 'nuff said, i love his stuff

Image
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Tolkein
User avatar
UncertainSloth
THREAD STARTER
 
Posts: 3665
Age: 50
Male

United Kingdom (uk)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#179  Postby UncertainSloth » Jun 04, 2020 8:17 pm

don't get me started wrote:1. The Bilingual Mind and What it Tells us About language and Thought - Aneta Pavlenko
2. Social Interaction and L2 Classroom Discourse - Olcay Sert
3. The Grammar of Knowledge: A Cross-Linguistic Typology - Alexandra Aikhenvald and R.M.W. Dixon (Eds.)
4. Rethinking Language, Mind, and World Dialogically : Interactional and Contextual Theories of Human Sense-Making – Per Linnel
5. Salvation - Peter F Hamilton
6. The Expression of Negation - Laurence R. Horn (Ed.)
7. Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind - Arthur Zajon
8. Bad Words and What They Say About Us - Philip Gooden
9 & 10. Tintin on the Moon - Herge
11. The East, the West and Sex: A History = Richard Bernstein
12. A Pragmatic Approach to English Language Teaching and Production - Lala U. Takeda and Megumi Okugiri (Eds.)
13. Salvation Lost - Peter F. Hamilton
14. The Written Language Bias in Linguistics: Its Nature, Origins and Transformations- Per Linnel
15. Who Cut the Cheese? A Cultural History of the Fart - Jim Dawson
16. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue - John McWhorter
17. The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us – Adam Rutherford
18. The Secret Lives of Colour - Kassia St CLair
19. Number - Greville G. Corbett
20. The Land of Black Gold -Herge
21. Universals of Human Language (Vol 3) - Joseph Greenberg (Ed).
22. Survivors of Stalingrad: Eyewitness Accounts from the Sixth Army, 1942-1943 - Reinhold Busch
23. How to be Human: The Ultimate Guide to Your Amazing Existence - New Scientist

24. The Odditorium: The Tricksters, Eccentrics, Deviants and Inventors Whose Obsessions Changed the World - David Bramwell & Jo Keeling

I picked this up after seeing it on Uncertainsloth's list (post no. 76 above)
A funny and assorted collection of mini-biographies of persons who stepped outside the mainstream. The list runs from harmless eccentrics, to visionaries born before their time whose ideas have now become mainstream, to resolute souls who tried to change the world for the better in the face of often severe opposition. There are also crackpots and fringe thinkers whose input has been far from benign. Ayn Rand gets a mention as does Thomas Midgeley who pioneered not one but two catastrophic technological 'innovations' - leaded petrol and CFCs for cooling.

There is a strange underlying tension behind some of these accounts. On the one hand we have the lone visionary, convinced that change must happen or that society can be forced to change, a revolutionary pitted against inertia and tradition.
Admirable in many ways.
But the downside of this is the cult of individualism, the conviction that 'me' is the center of all things and my concerns are paramount and that everyone else is a deluded simpleton.
Overturning the old order may sound attractive, but be careful what you wish for.
Good, funny and in many cases quite moving read.

Image


sorry, only just seen this - glad you enjoyed it! :cheers:
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Tolkein
User avatar
UncertainSloth
THREAD STARTER
 
Posts: 3665
Age: 50
Male

United Kingdom (uk)
Print view this post

Re: The Book Thread 2020

#180  Postby Fallible » Jun 05, 2020 8:44 pm

1. The Wych Elm - Tana French.
2. Starve Acre - Andrew Michael Hurley.
3. Assassin’s Apprentice - Robin Hobb. Re-read.
4. Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb.
5. Assassin’s Quest - Robin Hobb.
6. Swan Song - Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott.
7. Pine - Francine Toon.
8. Ship of Magic: Liveship Traders vol.1 - Robin Hobb.
9. The Mad Ship: Liveship Traders vol. 2 - Robin Hobb.
10. Ship of Destiny: Liveship Traders vol. 3 - Robin Hobb.
11. The Pursuit of William Abbey - Claire North.
12. The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden.
13. The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden.
14. The Winter of the Witch - Kathrine Arden.
15. Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams.
16. The Confessions of Frannie Langton - Sara Collins.
She battled through in every kind of tribulation,
She revelled in adventure and imagination.
She never listened to no hater, liar,
Breaking boundaries and chasing fire.
Oh, my my! Oh my, she flies!
User avatar
Fallible
RS Donator
 
Name: Alice Pooper
Posts: 51607
Age: 51
Female

Country: Engerland na na
Canada (ca)
Print view this post

PreviousNext

Return to Books

Who is online

Users viewing this topic: No registered users and 0 guests