Book suggestions

[blue aura]

Always outnumbered, Always outgunned - Walter Mosley. A fantastic book!!

 

[allblackcitizen]

Recently read "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen - really enjoyed it. It's all about relationships and how to be a grown-up. And cerulean warblers. Very well written - it's a long book, but an easy read.

Enjoyed "The Corrections" a few years ago.

 

[BLS]

This was one of my daughters strong recommendations but when I got the premise of the story , I was dubious to say the least .
On your say so , I shall give it a go .

Didn't the Stones use part of that for the basis of the song gimme shelter,or have I got that fucked up with something else ?

 

[allblackcitizen]

Must get round to reading a good history of the Vietnamese wars

A great book about the policy decisions and personalities behind the US war in Vietnam is "The Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam. Even though JFK assembled supposedly the finest minds and most dynamic administrators in his foreign policy cabinet they still fucked it up. It's a dissection of the power, arrogance and hubris of US foreign policy.

 

[Gelsons Dad]

I hadn't heard of landmark books, but I like the sound of it. I might try the Xenophon's Helenika one. Not heard of your Vietnam suggestion either I'll have a look.

Mine are all penguin classics :-)

 

[BLS]

Since you two are interested, do you know the Landmark editions of these books (Landmark Herodotus, Landmark Thucydides)? I've got the Landmark Herodotus, but not yet bought the Landmark Thucydides. They're great, because they give all the modern equivalents for the cities and regions mentioned by the two. That's particularly important where Herodotus is concerned, where you often don't have the faintest idea where you are. They also have maps. They're also, incidentally, very pretty hardbacks, but not cheap, of course.

Must get round to reading a good history of the Vietnamese wars, including the French aspect of it, in the 50s. Do you know a book called A Bright Shining Lie, by Neil Sheehan? It made a big splash when it came out. But Max Hastings is a good historian. Must give that a go.

I finished it last month and it's well worth the time, excellent book

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Any book by Camilla Lackberg - she is 'Fit as F.ck' and maybe living next door to someone on here?

Hope there's not too much text to distract from the illustrations?

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Didn't the Stones use part of that for the basis of the song gimme shelter,or have I got that fucked up with something else ?

Haha, you must be thinking of “Sympathy for the Devil”! Yes, the devil does play a quite significant role in the novel, but I don't know whether the philosopher Jagger ever read it.

 

[TINY]

IT by Stephen King. Brilliant

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Just finished the Book of Dust (first one)

mess published after the Dark Materials series but takes place in a time before the first one

very nostalgic, hadn’t read Dark Materials for years so re read them first, good read

I'm a bit worried about reading the Book of Dust series because I was so hugely impressed by His Dark Materials that I'm worried that he's cashing in and will mess it up somehow. Although I was jarred, as never before, by the way The Amber Spyglass ends — I didn't cry(!) but I took days to get over it — I was finally reconciled to that ending to the whole trilogy. It has to be that way.
What do you think? Does it feel as though he's exploiting the success of the earlier trilogy, or do the Book of Dust novels stand on their own merits?