What book are you reading atm??

gutenberg

Custardpi wrote: »

Have read many of his books & have to say that "Neither Here Nor There" remains my own favourite. An account of travelling in Europe shortly after the fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc. Absolutely fascinating snapshot of that period of great transition in the continent's history, told with his usual humourous eye for detail.

That is probably my second favourite. His description of French versus Italian drivers still makes me howl with laughter.

Custardpi

gutenberg wrote: »

That is probably my second favourite. His description of French versus Italian drivers still makes me howl with laughter.

When I visited Italy for the first time a few years ago, having read NHNT some years prior to that, I was immediately struck by the amount of haphazard, all over the place car parking there was. The phrase "parking like they just spilt acid in their laps" immediately popped into my head. Good man Bill!

Wichita Lineman

'Then Again' by Diane Keaton. The famed Hollywood actress writes her memoirs from 2 angles, her own and her mothers. Their lives and how they intertwined in particular. No juicy gossip on her many love affairs which for me was a plus but there are wonderful nuggets from her life and career. Interestingly she doesn't come across as strong as her acting. Seemingly quite insecure.

brinty

Fakediamond wrote: »

I just finished I am Pilgrim. If you like a fast paced thriller, packed full of information, I'd recommend it, couldn't put it down actually.

Great book, looking forward to his next book already, have the sample on my kindle

Aongus Von Bismarck

Deleted User wrote: »

Pompeii Robert Harris. I'm enjoying more than I thought I would. Interesting to see where the storyline goes from roughly 100 pages in.

His Cicero trilogy is very enjoyable as well. It's a well-written work of popular historical fiction. Numerous historical inaccuracies, but as the writer himself mentions in his notes, he never lets historical accuracy get in the way of a good story. He delivers a good story in spades.

Shenshen

"Eichmann in Jerusalem" by Hannah Arendt.

I watched the film "Hannah Arendt" recently, which describes her attending the trial, writing the book and the public outrage it sparked at the time. It made me want to read the book and find out for myself. So far, it's a very good read and rather insightful.

Custardpi

Shenshen wrote: »

"Eichmann in Jerusalem" by Hannah Arendt.

I watched the film "Hannah Arendt" recently, which describes her attending the trial, writing the book and the public outrage it sparked at the time. It made me want to read the book and find out for myself. So far, it's a very good read and rather insightful.

Read it a few years ago & enjoyed it (to the extent that one can enjoy a book on this subject matter anyway). The really interesting aspect that comes out of it is how Eichmann was not really that motivated by ideology, at least compared to the likes of say Reynhard Heydrich but rather by a drive for efficiency & the desire to get better at his job, however ghastly the end product was. The book illustrates that sometimes the most effectively evil people in a society are not the flag waving fanatics, but the respectable & dilligent office toilers. In another time & place Eichmann would have been lauded as the ideal example of the dedicated "company man".

IvyTheTerrible

Shenshen wrote: »

"Eichmann in Jerusalem" by Hannah Arendt.

I watched the film "Hannah Arendt" recently, which describes her attending the trial, writing the book and the public outrage it sparked at the time. It made me want to read the book and find out for myself. So far, it's a very good read and rather insightful.

I think I would prefer the book. I saw the film and while the story in itself was very interesting, the film was really badly acted in parts.

Shenshen

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I think I would prefer the book. I saw the film and while the story in itself was very interesting, the film was really badly acted in parts.

I don't know, there was something about the film that really drew me in.
Being German myself, the Holocaust itself has been a constant presence in my growing-up, and like my parent's generation I too have asked how it could have happened, how people I knew to be decent and moral human beings could completely ignore their own conscience, and not only excuse their actions but actually regard them as the right thing to do.

Arendt wrote this book before the results of the Milgram experiment were published, which did shed a little light on the psychology of authority, but I think her own insights into the mental mechanisms that will turn an "utterly mediocre man" into a willing and happy administrator of mass-murder.
I'm only a quarter through the book at the moment, though, but there are some interesting insights, and I enjoy her scathing, black-humoured descriptions.

Fakediamond

I know this forum is for books, but can I recommend a magazine article called The Peekaboo Paradox, from the Washington Post. It's a great read, if you have 15 minutes to spare.

Merkin

Read a couple of great books in the last week or so. Firstly The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. A semi factual story about slavery in South Carolina which was gripping and like all of her other books, beautifully written.

Following on from that theme I read Twelve Years a Slaveby Solomon Northrup. It's harrowing, brutal and thought provoking, I'm now completely obsessed with finding out as much as possible about slavery in the United States so if anyone has any further recommendations I'd appreciate it.

Have now started Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. While the subject matter is disturbing it is beautifully written and I'm enjoying it.

madmaggie

I am reading The Other Queen, by Phillipa Gregory. I am hooked on her Tudor series. Also dipping in and out of The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton, and for light entertainment, The World of Jeeves by P G Wodehouse. Not all at the one time!!

stannis

"Lords and Ladies" by Terry Pratchett.

brinty

Finished book 2 of the Century Trilogy Winter of the World by Ken Follett
Into the final book in the series Edge of Eternity 1,100+ pages from early 1960's to date
It'll be intriguing...

Some great reading in it

gutenberg

I finished Bill Bryson's new book The Road to Little Dribbling last week and have to say I was disappointed. It simply wasn't funny (at least for me), and instead was littered with mini political rants, and complaints about restaurant and bar staff, with frankly unpleasant remarks about them on his part. Those two things spoiled it for me, as there were also factual gems and one or two witty moments.

I've now moved on to Willa Cather's The Professor's House.

shaunn

Just finished reading the Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and Of Mice and Men by the legendary John Steinbeck.

py2006

shaunn wrote: »

Just finished reading the Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and Of Mice and Men by the legendary John Steinbeck.

Surely they are both legendary lol

shaunn

py2006 wrote: »

Surely they are both legendary lol

lol, true that. Thought I said it for both of them, could hardly say Shakespeare isn't legendary!!

Hugo Stiglitz

Anyone else get really sad when you finish reading a book?

shaunn

Definitely, all the time then I just want to read it again and act as it's the first time I've ever read it.

New Home

Hugo Stiglitz wrote: »

Anyone else get really sad when you finish reading a book?

Absolutely..... I realise it's embarrassing to admit it, but a little voice inside me screams to the characters 'Nooo... please don't go, don't leave meeeee'

Turtyturd

Hugo Stiglitz wrote: »

Anyone else get really sad when you finish reading a book?

Yep. People always say you can re read it but I find with a lot of stuff it's impossible to evoke the same feelings after the original read.

Same applies for watching certain films and listening to certain albums.

JohnMearsheimer

I started No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy recently. I'm enjoying it so far.

Hugo Stiglitz

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

I started No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy recently. I'm enjoying it so far.

I read The Road a few years back. I enjoyed it immensely I must say.

JohnMearsheimer

Hugo Stiglitz wrote: »

I read The Road a few years back. I enjoyed it immensely I must say.

I read The Road a few years ago as well and really enjoyed it. I really should have gotten around to another Cormac McCarthy book before now.

BlaasForRafa

Just read To Have and Have Not by Hemingway. I wasn't too impressed tbh.

Barna77

I just started Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

blue note

I finished to kill a mockingbird last night. The amount of people who saw me reading it and told me it brings back memories - they didn't for their junior cert was staggering. Particularly because some of them were strangers!

Great book though, really enjoyed it. There was great humanity in it.

Shenshen

Hugo Stiglitz wrote: »

Anyone else get really sad when you finish reading a book?

Everytime I finish The Lord of the Rings. I always have the impulse to start it over again right away, cause I don't want it to be over.

That doesn't happen with the films, though.

Qualitymark

Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. So funny and so great. Savouring it, chuckling along and going ping at his incisive insights.