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Last Book You Read....


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On 17/09/2020 at 00:34, WhiteRoseKillie said:

The Big Show, by Pierre Clostermann. Basically a blow by blow account of the famous Free French WWII ace pilot.one of the best examples of the type I've read.
Was inspired to complete my latest build as his "Grand Charles":
(No,I haven't weathered it and yes, the cockpit is still masked)20200906_163355.jpeg

A couple of points. Firstly, congrats on your model making skills. It's been many years since I last attempted a model but my planes usually looked like it was the day after they'd been flown by a kamikaze pilot. Secondly; I'm digging your tablecloth/modelling mat/what actually is it? under the plane. Can you tell me more about it?

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1 minute ago, Shotgun said:

A couple of points. Firstly, congrats on your model making skills. It's been many years since I last attempted a model but my planes usually looked like it was the day after they'd been flown by a kamikaze pilot. Secondly; I'm digging your tablecloth/modelling mat/what actually is it? under the plane. Can you tell me more about it?

That would be Mrs WRK's department, so I'll speak to her later today. It's a kind of synthetic oilcloth type of thing as far as I know. Thanks for the compliment by the way.

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I thought I knew everything about book 6 of Knausgaard's My Struggle going into it but it's still unreal the ability he has to go off on a tangent. I've got to the part of the book where he spends roughly 400 pages examining the psyche of Hitler through the lens of his early life and yet he still finds time within the pages of those to take 30-40 page digressions into Leonardo da Vinci's painting ability, musings on Cain and Abel and the role of sacrifice in primitive societies, and speculating on what the Bible would sound like if it was written in rural Norway.

He's some boy even if I've spent nearly 6 months reading this on and off.

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Scott Lynch has been promising the 4th book of Gentlemen b*****ds for ages now - will believe it when I see it. Probably my favourite fantasy series so I really hope it doesn't disappoint. I think the guy has been suffering with writer's block and possibly some other mental health issues.
Will have a look at Joe Abercrombie.
True, going by the below he completed a draft of the book in May last year. Not heard anything further.

https://mobile.twitter.com/scottlynch78/status/1131471275212320769?lang=en

Just finished The Trouble with Peace was an excellent book. Last book in the trilogy is out next Sep and Abercrombie does at least release on time.
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I thought I knew everything about book 6 of Knausgaard's My Struggle going into it but it's still unreal the ability he has to go off on a tangent. I've got to the part of the book where he spends roughly 400 pages examining the psyche of Hitler through the lens of his early life and yet he still finds time within the pages of those to take 30-40 page digressions into Leonardo da Vinci's painting ability, musings on Cain and Abel and the role of sacrifice in primitive societies, and speculating on what the Bible would sound like if it was written in rural Norway.
He's some boy even if I've spent nearly 6 months reading this on and off.
I read the first when it came out but for some reason never bought the following volumes.

W.G. Sebald is another writer whose writing is often 90% tangential and 100% excellent.
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14 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

I read the first when it came out but for some reason never bought the following volumes.

W.G. Sebald is another writer whose writing is often 90% tangential and 100% excellent.

Tbh you could probably get most of what you need from reading one or two I just enjoyed the rhythm of the books and his musings on the really banal. The death of his dad, meeting his second wife and the year he spends teaching and at the writing course are the periods that stick out the most for me on reflection. I'll give Sebald a look as well in the future, I'm definitely more of a mark for this sort of stuff than I expected and the only writer I've heard repeatedly referenced to Knausgaard's writing is obviously Proust.

It's genuinely really funny to have got to the final book where he's reflecting on the previous five (this one is written right as he's finishing up the manuscript for the full series and having the initial press attention (and minor backlash) to the series) and writing long muses on topic given how I've read multiple books of him repeatedly talking about how little he knows about anything and how cliched his writing is. 

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Sebald is good but he's still more of a traditional fiction author than Karl Ove who is just mercilessly dissecting himself and his family. The final few hundred pages of book 6 are brutal. 

I had never really thought about pre WW1 Hitler so it was really interesting to read about that especially the homelessness. I also liked the bit where owns Ian Kershaw who i've never read but gets cited as definitive by every Spectator/Times/Guardian/Telegraph/TLS twat I don't like.

 

Edited by Detournement
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Sebald is good but he's still more of a traditional fiction author than Karl Ove who is just mercilessly dissecting himself and his family. The final few hundred pages of book 6 are brutal. 
I had never really thought about pre WW1 Hitler so it was really interesting to read about that especially the homelessness. I also liked the bit where owns Ian Kershaw who i've never read but gets cited as definitive by every Spectator/Times/Guardian/Telegraph/TLS twat I don't like.
 


I only know Kershaw from Advanced Higher History where he’s pretty much the default historian for Nazi Germany. What Knausgaard writes about him seems to confirm that he’s a bit of a typical old conservative.

I think the best part about Knausgaard is despite how well written it all is and how easy the flow of the writing is, I get the feeling like I could do the same even though I have zero natural writing ability. It all feels very effortless and absorbing even though he goes to great pains to elaborate on why it isn’t or shouldn’t be. Great stuff.

Have heard his football writing is atrocious right enough.
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Carnets de la drôle de guerre, Jean-Paul Sartre

it’s the WW2 diary he kept from when he was sent up to (near) the front lines in 1939 until the Germans overran the place.

Really interesting read. A mix of observations about army life (he gets really irritated by the noise someone makes when eating, or the way someone sits in a chair), philosophical musing (sketching out the theme of Being and Nothingness), literary criticism and reminiscing.

a truly exceptional dude.

 

 

 

 

668B56FC-4A54-43AE-8C74-2BA9EFA0227C.jpeg

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50 minutes ago, Duszek said:

Carnets de la drôle de guerre, Jean-Paul Sartre

it’s the WW2 diary he kept from when he was sent up to (near) the front lines in 1939 until the Germans overran the place.

Really interesting read. A mix of observations about army life (he gets really irritated by the noise someone makes when eating, or the way someone sits in a chair), philosophical musing (sketching out the theme of Being and Nothingness), literary criticism and reminiscing.

a truly exceptional dude.

His trilogy of novels Roads to Freedom set in the period leading up to WW2 until the fall of France are brilliant.

There was also a BBC adaptation in the 70s which is supposedly blacklisted from ever being broadcast again because it's too left wing.

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2 minutes ago, Detournement said:

His trilogy of novels Roads to Freedom set in the period leading up to WW2 until the fall of France are brilliant.

Yep, his autobiography (Les Mots) is brilliant too, as is Nausea, as are the plays...
it’s his philosophy I struggle with. There are whole passages which I’ll read carefully, then realise I’ve understood f**k all.

guy was an ubermensch.

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1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:
5 hours ago, Duszek said:
Do you know he shagged twelve year olds?

Sorry, should have read my post before sending. He was up for folk shagging twelve year olds.

Hang on, so you're saying he advocated shagging twelve year-olds? Can you provide a reference?

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On 24/09/2020 at 12:17, ThatBoyRonaldo said:

Have moved onto The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford which is the third in the Frank Bascombe series, enjoying it very much so far. 

That's one I'm saving for 2021. The first two are great.

You might like Updike's Rabbit books.

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