READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Tripps]

This arrived this morning. Little Germany - A History of Bradford's Germans

Interest in the subject was 'piqued' (just found that's the right word apparently) from looking at a video from Sarah's Graveyard where she mentioned several German Jewish names, and the use of the word 'stuff' on a tombstone. I knew there was a district there called Little Germany, now I will know a lot more. Seems 'stuff' was used to indicate particularly textiles, and 'stoffe' in German means the same.

First went there when my young lad was at the University, and my initial impression was "like Oldham on steroids".

The unintended consequences of surfing the Interweb thingy.

I got another book as well - I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

PS. had to go back a way to find this thread. What a site this is - eclectic doesn't even come close.

[Stanley]

I finished Samson's 'Dominion'[, a pedestrian read and not very cheerful. I decided to re-read Hilary Mantel's 'The Mirror and the light' as I almost certainly didn't get all the juice out of it when I first read it.
But then I got a surprise, I was looking in the 50p box at the bookshop in Town Square and found an A J Cronin book I didn't know, 'The Minstrel Boy'. All books half price so 25p changed hands and I have put Mantel on one side and dived straight into Cronin. Very similar to his other books, not great literature but very autobiographical and readable.

[Stanley]

I've finished 'The Minstrel Boy' and like all of Cronin's books, it wasn't great literature but was an entertaining read. Back to Hilary Mantel now and a serious re-read of 'The mirror and the Light'.

[plaques]

Stalingrad by Grossman finished. Normally I'm not a fan of historical novels where they tend to stretch the facts too thin to be meaningless. Grossman's book is not a blow by blow of the Stalingrad conflict as per Anthony Beevor but adds a lot of human interest at almost diary level. Very well written and well translated with both the army and civil sections woven to give continuity. Enjoyed the read.

[Stanley]

Glad you liked it Ken. That was my opinion as well, I learned lots from it I had never seen anywhere else.
Now for Life and Fate.... I enjoyed that just as much but like Stalingrad, you have to work at it. I hope you have the same experience Ken....

[Tripps]

The Germans in Bradford book was OK but perhaps a bit too much detail.

I said I'd show you the other book. Well here it is Blitz Britain

Mistitled (is that a word?) really - as it should be Blitz Manchester. Again incredibly detailed. I was curious since I was born not much more than a mile from the AVRO factory, "birth place of the Lancaster bomber" , yet there was no famly talk of bombing or near misses etc. Avro Chadderton

Not many V2 rockets either as it was at the limit of their range and to get there they had to be air launched.

Too cheap to not own it. . . .

[plaques]

Life and Fate by Grossman. A long read 850 pages. Set in the background of the battle of Stalingrad but concentrating more on peoples lives within the battle zone often switching from one family to another describing their lives and hardships. Some very detailed descriptions taking the reader into their personal thoughts and dilemmas. Certainly not written as propaganda for Communism but highlights the collective successes but also the drift into state dictatorship.
A lot of very descriptive narrative and not without a good sprinkling of philosophy but all-in-all gives the reader a better understanding of what makes Russia tick.

[Stanley]

That's a very good description of the book. It's been in my mind a lot of late of course. My hatred is not directed at the Russians but at the brutes they allow to control the country.
My reading is still a very careful re-read of Mantel, 'The Mirror and the Light', I feel the need to read Diarmaid MacCulloch on Cranmer again......

[Tripps]

I've been tempted by the phone box book collection in the next village. I've driven past it a couple of times recently and today stopped for a nosey. It wasn't in a very tidy state, but I came away with three books - and the price is right.

They fought in the Fields. History of the Womens land Army in WW11

Living Dangerously Autobiography of Sir Rannulph Twistleton-Wykeham- Fiennes Bt.
He's an eejit - sawed of the frostbitten ends of his fingers when he was in England and could have gone to A&E - but let's see. . . .

Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. Let's see what all the fuss is about.

It could do with a fresh curator - but I'm not volunteering.

[Stanley]

I agree with you about the adrenalin junky. I hope Hitch hiker's guide clicks with you. If it does you're in for a treat. Look on YouTube for clips from the BBC series, always nice to have the voices in your head while you're reading.

[PanBiker]

I hope Hitch hiker's guide clicks with you. If it does you're in for a treat.

Make sure you bring a towel for the journey.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Ken called this morning but I was in bed! That's a shame. I always enjoy his visits!
He rang me and came back so we have had a natter. Good man, he brought my Grossman books back (I had been losing sleep over them.....) and two pieces of square mild steel bar, 3/8" and 5/8". Gifts like that always welcome.....

[Tripps]

A consequence of the recent Omar Khayyam thing is that I've bought a book which was supposed to explain things. No such luck- it's made it worse. The whole 101 quattrains of the Rubai'yat are at the back, and frankly I dont 'get' most of them.

The Wine of Wisdom

Needless to say - I didn't pay that much - £3.71 delivered. I'm barely past the introduction and I find much has been lost 'in the mists of time' so to speak. It isn't even sure that there wasn't more than one person of the same name who has been combined into one polymath.

He was a Sufi - who I have some time for - I've got a few Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (and Party) CD's and the fact that they allow music at all is fundamental to life I'd say. He's sound on wine ( and dying). I'm trying to work out how the religion has changed so much for the worse, since then.

Quattrain Number 74

Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;
To-Morrows Silence Triumph or Despair:
Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
Drink! for you know not why you go nor where.

Amen to that. . .

[Stanley]

I furtled...... and found
“Eat drink and be merry” in the Bible: The closest in wording to “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die” comes from 1 Corinthians 15:32: “What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Or perhaps this one from Isaiah 22:33: “And behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Then the sources wander off into Epicurus, no mention of Omar Khayam!
I have little time for books like these that do nothing but pose questions and give no answers. I was sent a book anonymously a few years ago entitled "The Kundalini Mistake" which is a classic of the genre, completely impenetrable as far as I am concerned and a waste of good paper. I see it is on Bookfinder, a snip at £26. You can have mine if you want it David. Said to be a thought provoking read and published in 2016.

As for proper reading.... I read very little now as I find that my eyes can't cope with too much concentration. I am on the last chapters of Mantel "The Mirror and the light" and have some books on low carb to study that Wendy lent me.
I use what sight I have in the shed and on crap TV in the evening......

[plaques]

In Greek mythology, Sisyphos was the man who Zeus punished for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity. Apparently on the promise that if he ever got it to the top he would be a free man. A bit like the funding of the NHS.
May as well go when your times up.

[Stanley]

That image will be in my head for a long time Ken.....

[Gloria]

I’ve just read Richard Osmans first book in the Thursday Murder Club series, and am now on with his second one, very easy to read and difficult to put down. The third one in the series is due out in September, I’m sure there will be a rush for that. A highly recommended easy read.

[Wendyf]

I loved them Gloria.

[Gloria]

I loved them Gloria.

I find them very difficult to put down.

[Stanley]

I shall have to have a look at them after I have finished the re-read of 'The Mirror and the Light' (On the last chapters, Tom Cromwell is about to get topped...) and the low-carb books that Wendy has dropped in for me.

[Stanley]

Thomas Cromwell has just been taken to the Tower.... Not a happy read....

[plaques]

Taking a quick break from the biography of Shakespeare, actually very interesting. I picked up H G Wells, Time Machine. Not really a book more of a short story. A spring board for the films which many people may have seen. Thankfully I'd never seen any of them so the book was pure imagination. A simple story in the stile and language of the 1890s a book you didn't want to put down consequently a two day read. Verdict, Excellent.

PS. searched YouTube for the film watched some extracts what a load of crap by comparison.

[Stanley]

I agree Ken. H G Wells wrote some very good books......
I finished Mantel yesterday with the execution of Thomas Cromwell, actually, to be accurate, the execution of Thomas Earl of Essex, Henry had elevated him shortly before he was arrested. Some suspect to ensure that he could be beheaded as a noble and not hung drawn and quartered as a commoner or burned for heresy.
Painful read but well worth the effort. If you haven't read it I recommend the trilogy starting with Wolf Hall. Very well researched and highly praised by Diarmid McCullough who wrote the bible on Thomas Cromwell with his biography.

[plaques]

Island. by Aldous Huxley. Describing the offshore utopia of Pala. Similar overall theme of Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 starting with a utopia that could never exist and ending with a fate that is all to common in todays world. Combining both Buddhism and Christian beliefs along with deep mystic thinking the reader gets carried along with the possibility of the Island's existence but knows that ultimately it is doomed. Very emotional in parts that wishes for a different ending.

Well worth buying at the low prices now available.