What are you reading?

[WestCountryGirl]

5 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

I have this one on my TBR list. Is it the start of a series? or somewhere in the middle? I'm a bit of a stickler about trying to read things in the correct order. 

Yep Silence of the Girls is book #1 of the 'Women of Troy' series. 

[gigpusher]

4 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

Yep Silence of the Girls is book #1 of the 'Women of Troy' series. 

Cool that's ok then. I am still working my way through the Guardian's top 100 of the 21st century list so far but some of the books are part of a series so I end up adding the other books in the series to my list as well. I just buy them when they are on offer. Here's an example of my very geeky spreadsheet to keep track. Yellow means I have read them. Green means I have bought the book an it's in my TBR pile. I actually think I might have read the Bob Dylan one when it came out but I can't remember for sure 🙄

[John the Moth]

Just ordered Scarred For Life Volumes 1&2.

A nostalgic look back at the absolute nightmare fuel we were bombarded with growing up in the 70s and 80s 😁

[WestCountryGirl]

Feel like my reading funk is well and truly binned. Read The Women of Troy this weekend and loved it just as much as the first - considering the entirely dire context, it was a real joy to be reacquainted with Briseis' voice. Then I was able to finally finish something I'd been reading since last year, just a little book by the National Trust on different traditions and folklore of Britain.

Now my tablet is loaded with books I am excited to read again. Just can't wait to finish work and get stuck in.

[gigpusher]

Great to hear that @WestCountryGirl

[John the Moth]

Chapter 1... first step on a new journey!

’tis a fine feeling 🙂

 

[Homer]

On 9/3/2021 at 9:42 AM, gigpusher said:

Cool that's ok then. I am still working my way through the Guardian's top 100 of the 21st century list so far but some of the books are part of a series so I end up adding the other books in the series to my list as well. I just buy them when they are on offer. Here's an example of my very geeky spreadsheet to keep track. Yellow means I have read them. Green means I have bought the book an it's in my TBR pile. I actually think I might have read the Bob Dylan one when it came out but I can't remember for sure 🙄

Did you manage the whole of the god delusion? Kudos to you. Everyone I know who has tried gave up halway.

I tried once. I gave up halfway. Preaching to the converted.

[Homer]

I've been stuck for ages, but pleased to have finally freed myself up to start something new! Always interested in reading about cults, but when I bought Helter Skelter (about Charles Manson) online, I didn't realise it was almost 700 pages!

Also, I'm quite interested in the psychology/stupidity, whereas turned out it was written by the prosecutor in the court case, so was more of a lengthy and thorough procedural. Still, enjoyed it when I was reading it, just a bit slow going.

When I look at a cult, I usually like to read one overview then read an insider's account. So I'll probably tackle this next:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Member-Family-Charles-Darkness-Sixties/dp/0062695576

Edited September 14, 2021 by Homer

[gigpusher]

44 minutes ago, Homer said:

Did you manage the whole of the god delusion? Kudos to you. Everyone I know who has tried gave up halway.

I tried once. I gave up halfway. Preaching to the converted.

I did but I do actively dislike his approach. It's bad when people who agree with you in principle still hate how you say everything. I find him every bit as annoying as fundamentalists of various religions. 

I'm up to 20 of the list complete. I own 6 others but they are all quite heavygoing and the last one The Underground Railroad was a tough read so think I'll read a few more lightweight books before going back to it. Would like to get to 25 before the end of the year but I also want to read War and Peace and I'm told that will take months.

 

[John the Moth]

1 hour ago, gigpusher said:

I did but I do actively dislike his approach. It's bad when people who agree with you in principle still hate how you say everything. I find him every bit as annoying as fundamentalists of various religions. 

I'm up to 20 of the list complete. I own 6 others but they are all quite heavygoing and the last one The Underground Railroad was a tough read so think I'll read a few more lightweight books before going back to it. Would like to get to 25 before the end of the year but I also want to read War and Peace and I'm told that will take months.

 

Underground Railway was a great read, but absolutely harrowing. Just finished it a few days ago and today started watching the tv adaptation with the missus (she’s been waiting for me to finish the book before we got stuck in).

God Delusion was a great read too, well constructed, reasoned, accessible, intelligent etc. but... it has such a negative objective - tearing down other people’s ideologies rather than adding to our knowledge.

We have to educate our way into the future, not ridicule.

[WestCountryGirl]

18 minutes ago, John the Moth said:

Underground Railway was a great read, but absolutely harrowing. Just finished it a few days ago and today started watching the tv adaptation with the missus (she’s been waiting for me to finish the book before we got stuck in).

God Delusion was a great read too, well constructed, reasoned, accessible, intelligent etc. but... it has such a negative objective - tearing down other people’s ideologies rather than adding to our knowledge.

We have to educate our way into the future, not ridicule.

I'd somehow missed that there is a TV adaptation, though I'm not surprised! Will have to add that to the list - although having read the book I know it won't be a fun watch. 

 

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, John the Moth said:

Underground Railway was a great read, but absolutely harrowing. Just finished it a few days ago and today started watching the tv adaptation with the missus (she’s been waiting for me to finish the book before we got stuck in).

God Delusion was a great read too, well constructed, reasoned, accessible, intelligent etc. but... it has such a negative objective - tearing down other people’s ideologies rather than adding to our knowledge.

We have to educate our way into the future, not ridicule.

Yep. It was very harrowing. No sure about it as a TV show. You'll have to tell me what it's like. 

It's a long time since I read The God Delusion (one of the 7 I had read before I discovered this list so probably around the time it was published) and it was that sense of superiority that I just wasn't keen on and the fact he seemed to think all non-believers should form some kind of group. I've noticed it with politics ever since, the smug superiority and kind of shouting at the other side that's never going to convince anyone to change their mind. 

[parsonjack]

Currently half way through 'A Child of the Jago' by Arthur Morrison.

A classic of Victorian 'slum fiction' it's a (barely) fictionalised tale of a small boys life in 'the Jago' which in reality was the 'Old Nichol' slum just off Shoreditch High Street where the Boundary Estate is now.

Grim, grimy, and dark but an otherwise fascinating, and frequently humorous, tale of real life in Victorian poverty.

If you have stuff that needs fixing at home, or some scruffy paintwork that needs patching up, then reading this will make you feel much better about it. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by parsonjack

[John the Moth]

13 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Yep. It was very harrowing. No sure about it as a TV show. You'll have to tell me what it's like.

Watched 2 episodes and it’s grim as you’d expect, but very high quality. Gonna post in the telly thread 🙂

[gigpusher]

My September reads. My favourites were The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Notes on a Scandal and Priestdaddy. I am currently reading my 99th book of the year and for the 100th I am going to attempt War and Peace!

 

[Haan]

1 hour ago, gigpusher said:

My September reads. My favourites were The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Notes on a Scandal and Priestdaddy. I am currently reading my 99th book of the year and for the 100th I am going to attempt War and Peace!

 

nice, I'm going to try and get back into Catch-22. Started it just over a month ago, stopped for about 3 weeks due to moving etc. 

[gigpusher]

22 hours ago, Haan said:

nice, I'm going to try and get back into Catch-22. Started it just over a month ago, stopped for about 3 weeks due to moving etc. 

Yep as life starts to return to normal getting harder to read at the same rate I was. I fully expect War and Peace to keep me going for most of the rest of the year as we have some renovations that involve me having to do far more painting than I'd like! 

[Tartan_Glasto]

Just ordered myself Dave Grohl's new book, I really enjoy autobiographies of people in the music biz. I tend to buy these ones as actual physical books then any fiction books I read I just get on the kindle. 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

[SheffJeff]

Love Ozzy and this is incentive enough to finally read his autobiography.

[gigpusher]

So hoping to finish my last book of the year tonight and if I do I will have managed 121 books this year. Not bad for someone who at the start of 2020 hoped to read 20 and ended up reading 60. I expect this year was an exceptional year and I won't read so much next year but I am glad to have rediscovered my reading mojo. 

Also chuffed to have gotten through a fair few classics in the last year including finally War and Peace and 1984. 

[WestCountryGirl]

59 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

So hoping to finish my last book of the year tonight and if I do I will have managed 121 books this year. Not bad for someone who at the start of 2020 hoped to read 20 and ended up reading 60. I expect this year was an exceptional year and I won't read so much next year but I am glad to have rediscovered my reading mojo. 

Also chuffed to have gotten through a fair few classics in the last year including finally War and Peace and 1984. 

That's a stunning achievement! Well done you!

I've been so crap at reading this year, and I've really appreciated just how much I enjoyed all the reading I managed in 2020, so I'm quietly making the goal for myself to read another 52 in '22 🤫

Also, think I saw 'Good girl's guide to murder' on your Goodreads and I thoroughly enjoyed that this week! Good to know that if I'm on a slow down at any point in the year I can just turn to the sequels 👍

[gigpusher]

28 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

That's a stunning achievement! Well done you!

I've been so crap at reading this year, and I've really appreciated just how much I enjoyed all the reading I managed in 2020, so I'm quietly making the goal for myself to read another 52 in '22 🤫

Also, think I saw 'Good girl's guide to murder' on your Goodreads and I thoroughly enjoyed that this week! Good to know that if I'm on a slow down at any point in the year I can just turn to the sequels 👍

Yes I really enjoyed A Good Girls Guide to Murder. I genuinely think mixing it up is what has kept me reading and I have really enjoyed some YA books this year. The Hate U Give was also really good. 

[BlackZeppelin]

I can recommended this tome,not a light read but  McGilchrist is a proper genius.

[Superscally]

I've heard this is decent:

https://uk.bookshop.org/books/becoming-forrest-one-man-s-epic-run-across-america/9780008472511