What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

growleaves

Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Really enjoying it so far

Two great books from the opposite ends of the scale. Endurance, by Alfred Lansing. It is a cracking read about how much people went through to discover new lands.

Bright Lights, Big City. Probably one of the funniest things ever put to paper.

ClaudeVercetti

A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles.

Picked this up over a year ago but it got forgotten about in my backlog, started it on Friday and am halfway through now. Really enjoying it and so far it's a very charming read despite the period it's .

Tauriel

Murder at Roaringwater: The inside story of the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier by Nick Foster.

Nick Foster is a journalist the spend 6 years investigating the case of Sophie Toscan du Plantier and in particular got to know the sole suspect in her murder, Ian Bailey, very well. This book covers his conversations with Bailey over the years, his review of the Garda evidence and DPP decision not to prosecute to the French trial and subsequent attempts by the French to get Bailey extradited to France to serve his 25 year sentence.

I Blame Sheeple

1984, George Orwell.

Got sick of Twitter weirdos saying we're living in Orwellian times so I read it to find out for myself.

What a terrible book after like page 150. It goes from introducing this brilliant world that our protagonist is surviving in, to the musings of a lunatic trapped in his own mind. Fairly bland and our lives today are nothing like it unless of course the Gardai have cameras in your house rolling 24/7 with full audio.

Some themes could be related to today's situation but it's nowhere near as bad as the book.

appledrop

Just finished Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

Very disappointed with this book as I loved underground railway + nickel boys.

This one was very poor in comparison.

Just starting the 3 sisters by Heather Morris now do this looks a lot more interesting.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118478683#Comment_118478683

When I hear people say things are like 1984, I assume they haven’t read it.

i think you’re being harsh on it, I read i a few years ago and wasn’t expecting to enjoy it but I liked it more than I thought I would.

To me the way it brought up good points about tribalism, mob thought and propaganda/lies. And no one group is exempt from the points.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480863#Comment_118480863

I'd agree with this. I found the end of the book electrifying.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481385#Comment_118481385

It does really drag in the middle though when the book kinda switches focus

growleaves

The pastiche of Trotsky's writings when Winston reads "The Book" is one of the cleverest things about 1984.

The main parallels with today all involve the intellectual and emotional manipulation of people's perception of "reality" by the state, media and institutions but without lethal violence.

The violence, war, concentration camps, purges, torture, and poverty in 1984 are a future continuation of the National Socialism and Bolshevism that Orwell lived through.

Orwell didn't live to see the late Soviet Brehznev era and beyond (the Era of Stagnation) which was a real example of a totalitarian society which was manipulative but relatively non-violent.

bnt

I read Dune and Dune Messiah almost back-to-back, and am a few pages in to Children of Dune. I'm assured that reading the 3rd book is kind-of necessary to round out Frank Herbert's first saga, and I hope it is, since I have some problems with the world-building of the first two books. A lot seems to be randomness that just adds complexity, while more seems to be lifted wholesale from Arabian / Muslim culture via Lawrence of Arabia. The notion of a jihad conquering the galaxy isn't as Romantic (in some Occidentalist / Byronic sense) as it was before 2001 AD. The Eugenics is also potentially problematic, but (mild spoiler) it's not simply accepted without criticism and consequences.

I'm going to start The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons at lunch today. I read the first book before Christmas and loved it, I'm hoping the second part is as good.

razorblunt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118483297#Comment_118483297

I think you missed the joke there.

I remember reading it and thinking "at least truthspeak isn't that evident", then lo and behold Downing Street Garden Parties and BoJo's Govt rock up!!

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118405711#Comment_118405711

It only gets better from there, you can easily tell it wasn't written originally in English because the translation is a bit rough at times but what a story, it'll stay with you long after you've read it way more than other books.

Arghus

Recent reads:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Flashman and The Redskins by George Mcdonald Fraser

In The Forest by Edna O' Brien

A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

Fathom

How To Lie With Statistics by Huff. Rereads. Dated examples. But good content. Short but sweet. Free at library.

Vicxas

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Read both books years ago and with the anticipation of the third book of the series im going back over them

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118491609#Comment_118491609

Never heard of these before but just bought the first book to fill an "Expanse" shaped hole not that both books and TV are finished.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118495918#Comment_118495918

Have you read all of Peter F Hamiltons stuff? The Nights Dawn trilogy and the Commonwealth saga would be 2 of my favourite sci-fi series of all time, absolutely amazing in places. Im saving his Salvation sequence for my next big holiday.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118495761#Comment_118495761

Why is there new news?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118496484#Comment_118496484

I've actually read very little sci-fi despite it always being my favourite TV genre. The Star Trek books are poor but I did enjoy so of the Star Wars stuff when I was younger. An ex got me into the Expanse due to us being stuck in a tent with not much else to do (in a SFW sense) and I just read Dune before the movie came out so now I am belatedly hooked.

So I have a lot of catching up to do.

Thargor

Ah good you have some great things to read ahead of you then, when you read an all time classic sci-fi I think it stays with you a lot longer than other books and you find yourself thinking about them for the rest of your life. Have a look at the Hyperion Cantos or have a read of the version of this thread in the sci-fi/fantasy forum:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055312740/what-are-you-reading/p1

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118496526#Comment_118496526

Ah good you have some great things to read ahead of you then, when you read an all time classic sci-fi I think it stays with you a lot longer than other books and you find yourself thinking about them for the rest of your life. Have a look at the Hyperion Cantos or have a read of the version of this thread in the sci-fi/fantasy forum:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055312740/what-are-you-reading/p1

HalloweenJack

I read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe a while back. Its about the beginning of colonialism in Nigeria and the loss of tradition. I loved it so went and got the other books in the trilogy: No Longer At Ease and Arrows of God.

I read Arrows of God first, despite being the third book. It isn't a major problem as each book has different characters and AOG is actually set between TFA and NLAE. An interesting look at Christianity and colonialism overpowering the African traditions innthe early 20th centuru.

On to NLAE now which is set in the 50s and is about the first generation of English-educated Nigerians forming part of the colonial administration. The writing is tighter than the other two and it moves a lot faster, though I'm only about fifty pages in.

Dial Hard

I'm stuck hard on book three of Neil Gaiman/Michael Reeves' Interworld series. I quite enjoyed the first two but this is one is like pulling teeth. Years ago I made the (very freeing!) decision not to feel obliged to finish books I wasn't enjoying, but as this is the last in a trilogy, I really do feel like I can't abandon it. The issue is I can't seem to read more than one or two pages at a time either.

I only have about 30 pages left, I need to just get the head down and get it over with. Then I can reward myself with John Connolly's Shadow Voices, which I got for Christmas.

bejeezus

Why has nobody told me this before? Dr Julie Smith. Psychology. Very readable and has great, bite size tips for surviving everyday life and depression too. I have read some good books that help with depression but this is by far the most accessible.

bejeezus

Also the testaments by Margaret Atwood

Tauriel

Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front Volume 1: From the Moscow Winter Offensive to Operation Zitadelle by Dr. Hans Heinz Rehfeldt

This is part 1 of the daily diary maintained by Rehfeldt from his joining of the Grossdeutschland regiment in October 1941 up to August 1943. It is a fairly interesting read.

I Blame Sheeple

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480863#Comment_118480863

The highlighting of the issues you mentioned is a saving grace but I felt the way it was written just didn't appeal to me all that much. I felt like I was speeding through the last 100 pages just to be done reading. I ought to give it another bash in a different mindset.

EmmetSpiceland

Finished ‘A Carol for the Dead’ by Patrick Dunne. Was hoping to read it over Christmas but didn’t get the chance so January had to do.

Decent story, a mystery with history and archaeology throughout. Not going to lie, I thought it was horror/ghost story when I picked it up. Still, it was worth a read.

One thing that can be a little jarring, when a man is writing a female lead, is when it’s like they sort of forgot she’s a woman so they panic and throw in “thoughts” they think a woman would have about what to wear tonight or some such.

Anyway, I’m not onto ‘The Inverted World’ by Christopher Priest now. Enjoying it so far.