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Last Book You Read....


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I was just coming on to post about Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, funnily enough.

I really enjoyed it.  The book was published in 2014, but the whole pandemic thing obviously lends it a certain resonance now.

It's cleverly plotted and doesn't hide too much behind post-apocalypse staples, instead dealing with the world and some of its characters, on either side of the catastrophe.  

I'll read some more of her stuff.

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Just finished The Young Team.

Based on a young gang member from somewhere in North Lanarkshire and his growing up around his mates and surroundings, focusing on their struggles. 

 

Enjoyed it but found the midbook jumps in time a little hard to accept, would rather taken more time following some of the school times. Also, some of the chapters really seemed to be set plays to simply mention stuff like Orange Walks, Old Firm day and others without them being meaningful to the plot. 

Still, was able to enjoy it and saw a little of my own growing up in it from time to time. 

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Charles Stross - Invisible Sun

Final book in the Empire Games trilogy. Nominally sci fi but with limited sci content, more spy thriller with bits of action. 

There's a multiverse which is used in quite a restrained way. The way it's used gives the feel of a cold war. The intrigue is done really well. 

I was going to complain about the time gap between this and the preceding books which meant i'd lost a lot of the threads but there's a postscript where he apologises for that due to multiple bereavements. 

Some good ideas and bits of the story are pageturners but overall a bit disjointed. A decent finale, but not great. 

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Just finished Ukraine Diaries by Andrey Kurkov. Written and published in 2014 after the Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine, and scary how much of what is happening now was predicted by Kurkov.

A decent read for those interested.

Edited by lau03143
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I'm on an autobiography binge. The Path to Power by Margaret Thatcher. 

Chose to read this after discussing Boris Johnson with my son. Not sure how we got onto the topic but I was explaining that Johnson is spineless scum and Thatcher was, er, spineful scum. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a read. 

Very interesting, if a touch heavy on economics stuff. More enjoyable than Churchill's books, and loads of lovely spite and venom for folk like Ted Heath. Interesting reading through her stuff about devolution. It was in the Tory manifesto in the early 70s, but she wasn't a fan and ditched the idea even though it meant many Scottish MPs quitting as shadow ministers. Unbelievable nowadays to thank that Scottish Tories were trying to convince her that "an assembly" was a good thing and she was against it on the grounds that it threatened the union (which, I guess, it has). 

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On 10/06/2022 at 16:31, scottsdad said:

Very interesting, if a touch heavy on economics stuff. More enjoyable than Churchill's books, and loads of lovely spite and venom for folk like Ted Heath. Interesting reading through her stuff about devolution. It was in the Tory manifesto in the early 70s, but she wasn't a fan and ditched the idea even though it meant many Scottish MPs quitting as shadow ministers. Unbelievable nowadays to thank that Scottish Tories were trying to convince her that "an assembly" was a good thing and she was against it on the grounds that it threatened the union (which, I guess, it has). 

I seem to recall that Heath's views on her were similar.

By all accounts, he'd almost turn purple at mention of her name.

 

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Just finished off the millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Fairly enjoyed it whilst not being utterly gripped by it like some other series but was a nice step back into fiction after having a few months of solely n/f reading.  

(God Delusion and Magic of Reality - both Richard Dawkins , The Beginning of Infinity - David Deutsch , The Grand Design - Stephen Hawking.) 

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2 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Half way through Moby Dick.

Pleased to say, lacking in dicks at this stage. 

I must have read the first half of that book three or four times, and never made it to the end. Bored me ragged.

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