Reading Challenge 2024

[threespires]

After a bit of a reading hiatus I eventually got round to On Eagles Wings.

Like everyone else I found it a very enjoyable read. The fact I'm broadly familiar with EDS, albeit not in that era (though their industry position and rep never really changed that much) made it a bit more interesting too and maybe increased the empathy with various protagonists. It might also have made me a bit cynical about how some aspects were portrayed especially in light of the fact Perot had approached Follet to write the book. Beyond my fleeting encounter, a few people I knew, mostly from Perot Systems rather than EDS, had a view of Ross Snr that didn't always chime with Follet's portrayal but there's little doubt he was a fairly extraordinary guy. This is undoubtedly an extraordinary story too and very well told/written by Follet. Whether it's 90% or 99% accurate matters not because it still would read like a fiction thriller. In theory the detail and time that he takes could have made it drag a bit but I actually found it to be quite a page turner.

Great suggestion 8/10.

 

[threespires]

1. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch. 7/10.
2. The Racketeer - John Grisham. 5/10.
3. Orphan X - Gregg Hurwitz. 9/10.
4. The Longest Kill - Craig Harrison. 8/10.
5. Notes on an Execution - Danya Kukafka. 8/10.
6. The Satsuma Complex - Bob Mortimer. 7/10.
7. The Garderobe of Death - Howard of Warwick - 6/10.
8. A Village in the Third Reich - Julia Boyd, Angelina Patel - 9/10.
9. Three Days in June - James O'Connell - 9/10.
10. The Guv'nor - Lenny McLean - 10/10.
11. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - 7/10.
12. The Rescue - Andy McNab - 7/10.
13. Hunting the Hangman - Howard Linskey - 8/10.
14. The Easy Day was Yesterday: The extreme life of an SAS soldier - Paul Jordan - 4/10.
15. The Visitor - Lee Child - 7/10.
16. Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier - 8/10.

I made a start on this two years ago, before embarking on a four day campervan holiday to Cornwall which included a visit to the eponymous hostelry. The holiday was pretty full on, and I didn't get past the first chapter, so I decided to start afresh this week.

Following the death of her mother, Mary Yellan takes residence with her aunt, at Jamaica Inn on the desolate Bodmin Moor. Her uncle, Joss Merlyn is the landlord of the inn. He has a reputation as a drunkard, a dangerous villain, such that nobody visits the inn any more, except the landlord's criminal associates.

Mary meets Joss's younger brother Jem, also a villain, and falls in love with him.

Within a few months of her arrival at the inn, Joss becomes involved in one final desperate act that has devastating consequences on him and his gang. But who is the criminal mastermind behind all the nefarious activity? Could it be the drunkard, Joss himself? Could it be his younger, more astute brother, Jem? Or could it be another?

Written in 1936, set in the 1820s, the book has definitely stood the test of time as a significant gothic thriller. It has danger, suspense, some unexpected plot twists and turns, and a romantic element. It's one of those books you need to read before you die that actually justifies being in such a list.

Agree an excellent read (the pub itself I was a bit less impressed with!) I also enjoyed Rebecca too, though I think there's controversy over whether she ripped that off from someone else; keeping meaning to find the book in question and have a look. The book of short stories that Don't Look Now comes from is a bit hit and miss but a couple of them were decent I thought.

 

[threespires]

Philistine! I tried and didn't complete 1984 and Tom Sawyer. I thought Dracula was ok. Thomas Hardy tends to have sad endings, so I gave up on him after The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

@stoneblue Barnaby Rudge is one Dickens novel I've not read.

Oliver Twist is a great book to start with IMO. Not too long, and contrary to any musicals and screen versions you may have witnessed, it is full of social comment, villainy, melancholy, and wonderfully colourful characterisation.

Bleak House might be the only novel ever written to contain the death of a character by spontaneous combustion.

Bleak House is the next one to read on my Dickens list. Prior to that I'm thinking of possibly a more modern classic in Revolutionary Road though depending on my general mood I might cop out and go for something lighter like Three Men In A Boat.

 

[Paladin]

Bleak House is the next one to read on my Dickens list. Prior to that I'm thinking of possibly a more modern classic in Revolutionary Road though depending on my general mood I might cop out and go for something lighter like Three Men In A Boat.

I've made a start on The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens died well before completing it, so it will be interesting to see if the ending to the version I'm reading is close to Dickens' style.

 

[RobMCFC]

threespires' review of On Wings of Eagles reminded me that I hadn't posted mine.

It also made me wonder about the value of having a group read (or not). The issue is that whilst it's good that several of us are reading the same thing, we are all worried about posting our reviews for fear of spoiling it for others. As a result, we don't actuallypost the review when we've read it and there isn't really any discussion!

Not a criticism - just and observation, and to be honest, we can probably get as much out of this by just recommending stuff to each other as we have been.

On Wings of Eagles – Ken Follett

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while. My Dad read it in the 80s, and he recommended it to me. But the paperback remained unread on my shelf for many years until it eventually got discarded during a clear out.

It was worth the wait. Outside of sport, the Iranian Revolution was one of the first major world events that I remember being reported on the TV. I read Mark Bowden’s excellent Guests of the Ayatollah years ago, so it was good to finally read this account of another international incident that took place a few months before the US hostage crisis.

The nuts and bolts of the story are that two executives of the US firm EDS were arrested for unspecified crimes, and whilst diplomatic attempts to free the men were ongoing, EDS founder and billionaire Ross Perot also began considering whether a hostage rescue would be necessary or even possible.

The thing that struck me about this account was the lengths that Perot was prepared to go to secure the release of his employees. This is definitely the kind of boss you want on your side! On the other hand, what he was asking from a bunch of other employees was huge, and yet they seemed to have no problem accepting the risks. Author Ken Follett claims that everything he has written is true – or at least true as far as his interviews with the key members of the story are concerned. The book was released in 1983, just four years after the actual events, so you’d expect memories to still be fresh, but you don’t know how much of the story is embellishment on their part.

There was a TV mini-series made based on the book. I haven’t seen it, but apparently it’s a more Rambo-esque version of events that includes a lot of gunfire and an armed assault on the prison in Tehran. It seems that this TV version is what led to a lot of people to question Perot’s version of events, and I’d like to believe that the book is far closer to the truth.

But even then, there are questions. The man who planned the rescue, a retired Green Beret named Arthur “Bull” Simons, describes the escape over land as mundane, yet reading the book, it felt like there was one problem after another with various local tribes and you got the feeling that the team didn’t feel truly safe until they were back in the US.

Either way, it’s a very good book that describes a group of ordinary people operating under extraordinary circumstances. The opening chapters, setting the scene in Tehran and ramping up the tension for Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord as they are first questioned and then arrested and imprisoned, are superb. I also enjoyed learning a bit about Ross Perot and his involvement with searching for POWs in Vietnam. Similarly, learning the background of Bull Simons and the Son Tay Raid was equally fascinating. I found that the book did drag a little in the closing stages, but if all of those events happened on the land route out, then I suppose they had to be included.

The US government don’t come out of this too well, and it seems amazing that they maintained their presence at the embassy given the events that were overtaking the country in the early months of 1979. In defence of the government, their Iranian counterparts were not the easiest people to deal with, and as we know from recent events, forty years later they are still happy to take Western hostages for the purposes of political leverage.

Even if some of Ross Perot’s account is embellished, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. To put himself in harm’s way both in Vietnam and later on in Iran, must have taken some doing. To fly into Tehran with anti-Western feeling –and in particular anti-American feeling – reaching fever pitch, is probably not something you’d expect of a rich businessman.

All in all, a worthwhile read, and one of those books where you come away having learned a lot but with a whole new series of things to Google about to find out more.

 

[threespires]

threespires' review of On Wings of Eagles reminded me that I hadn't posted mine.

It also made me wonder about the value of having a group read (or not). The issue is that whilst it's good that several of us are reading the same thing, we are all worried about posting our reviews for fear of spoiling it for others. As a result, we don't actuallypost the review when we've read it and there isn't really any discussion!

Not a criticism - just and observation, and to be honest, we can probably get as much out of this by just recommending stuff to each other as we have been.

On Wings of Eagles – Ken Follett

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while. My Dad read it in the 80s, and he recommended it to me. But the paperback remained unread on my shelf for many years until it eventually got discarded during a clear out.

It was worth the wait. Outside of sport, the Iranian Revolution was one of the first major world events that I remember being reported on the TV. I read Mark Bowden’s excellent Guests of the Ayatollah years ago, so it was good to finally read this account of another international incident that took place a few months before the US hostage crisis.

The nuts and bolts of the story are that two executives of the US firm EDS were arrested for unspecified crimes, and whilst diplomatic attempts to free the men were ongoing, EDS founder and billionaire Ross Perot also began considering whether a hostage rescue would be necessary or even possible.

The thing that struck me about this account was the lengths that Perot was prepared to go to secure the release of his employees. This is definitely the kind of boss you want on your side! On the other hand, what he was asking from a bunch of other employees was huge, and yet they seemed to have no problem accepting the risks. Author Ken Follett claims that everything he has written is true – or at least true as far as his interviews with the key members of the story are concerned. The book was released in 1983, just four years after the actual events, so you’d expect memories to still be fresh, but you don’t know how much of the story is embellishment on their part.

There was a TV mini-series made based on the book. I haven’t seen it, but apparently it’s a more Rambo-esque version of events that includes a lot of gunfire and an armed assault on the prison in Tehran. It seems that this TV version is what led to a lot of people to question Perot’s version of events, and I’d like to believe that the book is far closer to the truth.

But even then, there are questions. The man who planned the rescue, a retired Green Beret named Arthur “Bull” Simons, describes the escape over land as mundane, yet reading the book, it felt like there was one problem after another with various local tribes and you got the feeling that the team didn’t feel truly safe until they were back in the US.

Either way, it’s a very good book that describes a group of ordinary people operating under extraordinary circumstances. The opening chapters, setting the scene in Tehran and ramping up the tension for Paul Chiapparone and Bill Gaylord as they are first questioned and then arrested and imprisoned, are superb. I also enjoyed learning a bit about Ross Perot and his involvement with searching for POWs in Vietnam. Similarly, learning the background of Bull Simons and the Son Tay Raid was equally fascinating. I found that the book did drag a little in the closing stages, but if all of those events happened on the land route out, then I suppose they had to be included.

The US government don’t come out of this too well, and it seems amazing that they maintained their presence at the embassy given the events that were overtaking the country in the early months of 1979. In defence of the government, their Iranian counterparts were not the easiest people to deal with, and as we know from recent events, forty years later they are still happy to take Western hostages for the purposes of political leverage.

Even if some of Ross Perot’s account is embellished, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. To put himself in harm’s way both in Vietnam and later on in Iran, must have taken some doing. To fly into Tehran with anti-Western feeling –and in particular anti-American feeling – reaching fever pitch, is probably not something you’d expect of a rich businessman.

All in all, a worthwhile read, and one of those books where you come away having learned a lot but with a whole new series of things to Google about to find out more.

Perot's presidential campaign was probably a good reflection of both his strengths and weaknesses. At one point he was polling very well for an independent and despite ultimately cocking up his campaign I think he still got a decent chunk of the popular vote.

EDS was a fairly singular company in terms of it's culture and management style. If you were a fit to that culture I think it was a good place to work but if not you'd not last long or more likely not be hired in the first place. Some of its culture had slightly military undertones to it so if any IT services company was going to undertake an operation like this then it's not surprising it was them.

As for the group read I think the spoiler button is useful but the key is can enough of us read it in approximately the same window? We can either try and be more disciplined about that (or explicitly opt out of that qtr timeframe as I should have here) or as you say treat more as recommendations.

 

[Paladin]

Regarding the group read. I have enjoyed the books recommended for the group read, and for me it was a worthy exercise because it made me pick up titles I wouldn't have otherwise have read, taking me out of my comfort zone, so to speak.

At least half my reading is actually listening to audiobooks, whilst I'm out running. This has been restricted this year due to injury, but I'm now picking up again with the running, and also the listening. That's one of the reasons I didn't join in with all the group reads this year. If we do continue next year, I promise to try to keep up with the group reads. Scouts honour! If others would prefer to drop it, that's fine too.

When thinking of titles for the group read, I would prefer a medium length book. Then if it's a book someone doesn't really get into, is not too difficult to see it through. Also, no Jeffrey Archer. I started a book written by "the world's greatest storyteller" recently, and the dialog was so unrealistic, I didn't get past the second chapter. Luckily it was an Audible purchase, and I could return it for another title.

I thought maybe one of the books shortlisted for the Booker Prize, or a similar award might be worth considering.

 

[RobMCFC]

Fair enough. If there's enough appetite for a group read, people can recommend one for the remainder of this year (as we haven't had a Q4 group read yet).

 

[Paladin]

Group read?

The Midnight Library

Between life and death there is a library. When Nora S…

www.goodreads.com

 

[RobMCFC]

Group read?

The Midnight Library

Between life and death there is a library. When Nora S…

www.goodreads.com

Already read that, but happy if everybody else wants to read it.

(I can’t remember much about it but it was probably a 6/10 or so).