Last Book You Read....

[topcat(The most tip top)]

According to the Wikipedia McGovern and Ken McNaught of Aston Villa are the only two Scottish players to win the European Cup but never be capped. I can't be bothered checking but does that mean that every member of the 1967 Celtic team won caps?

Yes

Although the 1967 3-2 win over Wales was Jim Craig’s only cap


https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/players/?pid=113253&lid=1

[topcat(The most tip top)]

Anyway the last book I read was “On the shortness of life” by Seneca and I’m now on the meditations of Marcus Aurelius

Given the season hearts are having Stoicism is the only sensible response

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Currently ploughing through Laurence shames' Key West series. I love a bit of Florida Fiction and, while he's no Hiaasen, Shames is a cut above Tim Dorsey, for example. I would love to know how big Bert's wardrobe is..

[Clough85]

50 dead men walking by Martin McGartland 

Had seen the film which I enjoyed so was happy to find the book in our library. 

very interesting read and good insight into the feelings towards paramilitary gangs and police during the troubles.
 

 Didn’t know the character played by Rose McGowan was a real person who was an actress and very heavily involved.

The experts on NI amongst us would benefit from reading this book. 
 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Lanark by Alasdair Gray

The third thing I've read in my life which explains me completely, and the experience doesn't get any less unsettling.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

5 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Lanark by Alasdair Gray

The third thing I've read in my life which explains me completely, and the experience doesn't get any less unsettling.

Can we guess what the other two are?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Trainspotting?

[Miguel Sanchez]

12 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Can we guess what the other two are?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Trainspotting?

I am neither a caterpillar or a junkie.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I was insinuating you were now a beautiful butterfly

[Savage Henry]

I was insinuating you were now a beautiful butterfly

... who gets violent when he drinks.

[coprolite]

55 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

I was insinuating you were now a beautiful butterfly

Erm, Spoiler alert maybe? 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

1 minute ago, coprolite said:

Erm, Spoiler alert maybe? 

If you haven't read Trainspotting by now you never will

[tongue_tied_danny]

6 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Lanark by Alasdair Gray

The third thing I've read in my life which explains me completely, and the experience doesn't get any less unsettling.

I reckon other two are Wheels of Terror by Sven Hassel and 79 Park Avenue by Harold Robbins.

[Miguel Sanchez]

34 minutes ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

I reckon other two are Wheels of Terror by Sven Hassel and 79 Park Avenue by Harold Robbins.

Betraying your own tastes there, I reckon.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Been cutting back on internet and trying to read more books.  I was a bit burned out though so I've had two weeks off.

1. 'American Dream' Norman Mailer. My first Mailer book, his writing was very consistent to his character.  His archaic masculinity is why is probably wouldn't go down very well these days and it's very of it's time but it's also, funnily enough, the reason for reading it today. It's his brawny style that's interesting rather than the story. 3/5

2. 'Notes from Underground/The Double' Fyodor Dostoevsky. Notes from Underground is prime Dostoevsky, all proto existential agony and so forth. The Double is an earlier tale with Dostoevsky trying to find his feet as a writer, it's very reminiscent of E. T. A. Hoffman, who is one of my favourite authors, and to an extent Gogol, but the fact that it's more like other people than Dostoevsky should alert you to the fact it's not his best work. Still kind of weird and freaky but other people did this sort of stuff better.  3.5/5 overall, 4 for Notes, 3 for The Double.

3.  'The Unwomanly Face of War' Svetlana Alexievich.  This is an odd one.  I've read her work going backwards chronologically and while this is an outstanding book by any criteria I think she is a better writer now than she was then.  You can definitely see a greater maturity as a writer in, say, 'Boys in Zinc' for instance.  That said this is one of those rare books that probably every one should read at some point.  It's that important.  5/5.

4. 'The Sea Wolf' Jack London. The villainous sea captain Wolf Larsen is up there in the lists of great literary characters but there a few unsatisfying plot details and overall the book drops off when the narrator falls in love.  3/5

5. 'War with the Newts'. Karel Capek.  Another novel that started off great and then sort of faded away.  The first third of the novel is excellent comic novel with a political edge but the second part is ill conceived and poorly laid out.  By the third part it had lost its comic tone and become a middling sci-fi novel.  3/5.

6.  'Siddartha'  Herman Hesse.  The best known work by one of my favourite novelists.  It's not his best though (that would be 'Narcissus and Goldmund imo) but for any semi intelligent person who has ever thought about their own existence or what life means there will be something here for you. 5/5.

7. 'Lolita' Vladimir Nabokov.  One of the most controversial novels ever and has probably become more controversial as time as gone on.  Part of that controversy is down to the fact that there is a general awareness of what the novel is about without most people actually having read it.  The topic had led me to avoid it for a long time but on reading it I was surprised as to how I interpreted it. I was led to believe it was a justification of a certain type of behaviour, with a charming narrator lulling you into accepting something that should be unacceptable.  However I did not read it in such a way at all.  To me it was about the destruction of lives through lust. Overall it's a pretty sad and tragic novel. I have a couple of problems with Nabokov's writing style but when it's good it's good.  4/5

8. 'Daisy Miller' Henry James.  I had read this before but needed a short book I could read in a day during a journey.  This is another book that I kind of disagree with the most common interpretation of.  As always with James 'new America' and 'old Europe' are contrast but in my opinion although it is set in the American emigre community in Rome this is a book that is much more about America than Europe. 4/5

9. 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning' Laurie Lee.  This is one of those books that makes you kind of sad that you weren't as adventurous when you had the chance to be.  Laurie Lee leaves his English country village to travel across Spain, on the brink of Civil War, with nothing more than a violin and a blanket to sleep under.  I mean, why didn't I do that something like that!  Part travelogue with an undertone of Socialist idealism, this is both an inspiring paen to youthful adventure and the heart breaking description of a country falling apart. 5/5

10. 'Stoner'  John Williams.  The great thing about this novel is it's complete ordinariness.  Stoner could be anyone, just an ordinary guy, from an ordinary background, living an ordinary life with a love affair here, a work dispute there, a handful of friends, a wife he quickly falls out of love with, and a  child he loses his connection with as she grows up. It's the definition of banality.  Yet the way Williams describes the story of Stoner as he passes through the various stages of his  life is simply amazing. It shouldn't be this good because nothing really happens and yet it is absolutely fantastic.  It can't not touch you in some way.  5/5

11. 'Conversations with Stalin' Milovan Djilas.  Djilas, a Yugoslavian Communist member and partisan describes his various encounters with the Soviet Union and in particular Iosef Stalin.  Historically interesting if you curious about such things.  He wasn't a fan of Joe Steel so the theme is the disconnection between ideology and reality.  Very relevant to politics today.  3/5

Next up is 'Hunger' by Knut Hamsun.  Will start tomorrow.  Happy reading!

Edited February 24, 2020 by Ya Bezzer!

[Ya Bezzer!]

23 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

 

 

Some cracking recommendations in here. While I agree with you here on Hesse, did you not think as you were reading this, "this is a lot like Narcissus and Goldmund?" I read them the other way round but felt structurally and tonally these were nearly the same book in western and eastern settings.

I'd agree to a certain extent.

I suppose just off the top of my head I'd say 'Siddhartha' is less 'hopeful' if that's how you want to phrase it.  You live, you die, nothing matters, deal with it.  All you can do is come to terms with your own insignificance and death is the real essence of who we are.

In 'Narcissus and Goldmund' there is a more hopeful conclusion in that Goldmund finds some kind of meaning from life through art and the act of creating. 

So I'd say there is some kind of development in terms of outlook.

However all the Hesse novels I've read have been of a similar tone.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Ya Bezzer!

[ICTChris]

My mate has just had his second novel published, the launch was last night in Edinburgh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gathering-Evidence-Martin-MacInnes/dp/1786493454

It's had some good reviews - 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/12/gathering-evidence-martin-macinnes-review

https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-gathering-evidence-martin-macinnes-1995767

https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/18173684.review-gathering-evidence-martin-macinnes/

[tongue_tied_danny]

On 23/02/2020 at 18:22, Ya Bezzer! said:

Been cutting back on internet and trying to read more books.  I was a bit burned out though so I've had two weeks off.

1. 'American Dream' Norman Mailer. My first Mailer book, his writing was very consistent to his character.  His archaic masculinity is why is probably wouldn't go down very well these days and it's very of it's time but it's also, funnily enough, the reason for reading it today. It's his brawny style that's interesting rather than the story. 3/5

2. 'Notes from Underground/The Double' Fyodor Dostoevsky. Notes from Underground is prime Dostoevsky, all proto existential agony and so forth. The Double is an earlier tale with Dostoevsky trying to find his feet as a writer, it's very reminiscent of E. T. A. Hoffman, who is one of my favourite authors, and to an extent Gogol, but the fact that it's more like other people than Dostoevsky should alert you to the fact it's not his best work. Still kind of weird and freaky but other people did this sort of stuff better.  3.5/5 overall, 4 for Notes, 3 for The Double.

3.  'The Unwomanly Face of War' Svetlana Alexievich.  This is an odd one.  I've read her work going backwards chronologically and while this is an outstanding book by any criteria I think she is a better writer now than she was then.  You can definitely see a greater maturity as a writer in, say, 'Boys in Zinc' for instance.  That said this is one of those rare books that probably every one should read at some point.  It's that important.  5/5.

4. 'The Sea Wolf' Jack London. The villainous sea captain Wolf Larsen is up there in the lists of great literary characters but there a few unsatisfying plot details and overall the book drops off when the narrator falls in love.  3/5

5. 'War with the Newts'. Karel Capek.  Another novel that started off great and then sort of faded away.  The first third of the novel is excellent comic novel with a political edge but the second part is ill conceived and poorly laid out.  By the third part it had lost its comic tone and become a middling sci-fi novel.  3/5.

6.  'Siddartha'  Herman Hesse.  The best known work by one of my favourite novelists.  It's not his best though (that would be 'Narcissus and Goldmund imo) but for any semi intelligent person who has ever thought about their own existence or what life means there will be something here for you. 5/5.

7. 'Lolita' Vladimir Nabokov.  One of the most controversial novels ever and has probably become more controversial as time as gone on.  Part of that controversy is down to the fact that there is a general awareness of what the novel is about without most people actually having read it.  The topic had led me to avoid it for a long time but on reading it I was surprised as to how I interpreted it. I was led to believe it was a justification of a certain type of behaviour, with a charming narrator lulling you into accepting something that should be unacceptable.  However I did not read it in such a way at all.  To me it was about the destruction of lives through lust. Overall it's a pretty sad and tragic novel. I have a couple of problems with Nabokov's writing style but when it's good it's good.  4/5

8. 'Daisy Miller' Henry James.  I had read this before but needed a short book I could read in a day during a journey.  This is another book that I kind of disagree with the most common interpretation of.  As always with James 'new America' and 'old Europe' are contrast but in my opinion although it is set in the American emigre community in Rome this is a book that is much more about America than Europe. 4/5

9. 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning' Laurie Lee.  This is one of those books that makes you kind of sad that you weren't as adventurous when you had the chance to be.  Laurie Lee leaves his English country village to travel across Spain, on the brink of Civil War, with nothing more than a violin and a blanket to sleep under.  I mean, why didn't I do that something like that!  Part travelogue with an undertone of Socialist idealism, this is both an inspiring paen to youthful adventure and the heart breaking description of a country falling apart. 5/5

10. 'Stoner'  John Williams.  The great thing about this novel is it's complete ordinariness.  Stoner could be anyone, just an ordinary guy, from an ordinary background, living an ordinary life with a love affair here, a work dispute there, a handful of friends, a wife he quickly falls out of love with, and a  child he loses his connection with as she grows up. It's the definition of banality.  Yet the way Williams describes the story of Stoner as he passes through the various stages of his  life is simply amazing. It shouldn't be this good because nothing really happens and yet it is absolutely fantastic.  It can't not touch you in some way.  5/5

11. 'Conversations with Stalin' Milovan Djilas.  Djilas, a Yugoslavian Communist member and partisan describes his various encounters with the Soviet Union and in particular Iosef Stalin.  Historically interesting if you curious about such things.  He wasn't a fan of Joe Steel so the theme is the disconnection between ideology and reality.  Very relevant to politics today.  3/5

Next up is 'Hunger' by Knut Hamsun.  Will start tomorrow.  Happy reading!

I'd recommend  The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, my favourite war novel. I've tried reading The Fight and Armies of the Night but couldn't get into them.

Good shout with Stoner. I read it a few years ago and I found it mesmerising, even though little actually happens. It reminded me if my own mortality, as pretentious as that sounds. You live then you die was the message I took from it.

[tongue_tied_danny]

I'm currently working my way through Ring of Steel by Alexander Watson. This is a non fiction history book on WW1 from the perspective of the central powers. There's a strong focus on the experiences of individual soldiers and civilians. Very interesting and well written. 

I'd strongly recommend this for any history buffs.

[M0rtonfc]

Currently half way through Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, brilliant so far. If your into post-apocalyptic adventure stuff you'd love it.

Edited February 28, 2020 by M0rtonfc

[Saigon Raider]

My mate has just had his second novel published, the launch was last night in Edinburgh.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gathering-Evidence-Martin-MacInnes/dp/1786493454
It's had some good reviews - 
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/12/gathering-evidence-martin-macinnes-review
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-gathering-evidence-martin-macinnes-1995767
https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/18173684.review-gathering-evidence-martin-macinnes/

Both of his books sound right up my street - added to the Want To Read list - cheers.