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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Heaven: Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
(Thread title quote from Neil Gaiman. According to the internet, so it must be right).
What are you reading in 2016?
I'm starting off (well continuing) the quest to conquer Mount TBR with Mike Ormsby's "Never Mind the Balkans, here's Romania". He's a British journalist who has lived on and off in Romania for years, is married to a Romanian, and clearly knows and loves the country. This book is a selection of short essays on aspects of life there - each one is just a couple of pages long, and kind of remind me of Radio 4's "From Our Own Correspondent" type pieces. As someone who has also lived there as a British expat I am enjoying this very much. I've also got the Romanian translation, so am reading one English then the equivalent Romanian piece which I hope will shave some of the rustiness off my language skills.
[ 21. February 2017, 19:53: Message edited by: Belisarius ]
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Book tokens make even better gifts because I can choose the world I visit and if it's from
Scorpio our local independent bookshop, it doesn't have a cut off date ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
I was given a $30 token for Christmas, which I have already spent several times over in my mind. I feel like I did when I was a child in the local dairy (convenience store, corner shop) with a shiny thrippenny bit, choosing between aniseed balls (7 for a penny, but not my favourite taste) and spearmint leaves (3 for a penny, and heavenly).
This year I want to keep a track of books I read and am pondering the best way to do this
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
I have book tokens too. Most exciting! I might try to find a nice small independent bookshop in London in which to spend them. Suggestions welcome!
I'm currently reading the Laidlaw trilogy by William Mcilvanney . I realised when he died that I'd never read anything by him, so I got the first Laidlaw book on my kindle.
It's wonderful stuff, really considered and well crafted writing, with some lovely bits of dead-pan Glasgow humour, and some real consideration of some big issues. It crackles with life and intelligence. I wish i had discovered his work sooner.
As well as wanting to read his entire oeuvre, I'd like to read more Scottish authors' work this year. I haven't read a lot, considering I'm Scottish, and I think I'd enjoy reading more. Again, recommendations welcome!
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I found another $15 book token which I though was past it's use by date, but isn't. Riches beyond measure!
Luvanddaises I will be watching to see any recommendations you get too.
So many books - so little time!
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua is one I read last year, and would recommend to just about anyone. It's a graphic novel (but don't let that put you off), and it's got a bit of everything. Unusual little gem, and rather lovely.
Probably my favourite book of last year was the light, funny and clever Doctor Dogbody's Leg by James Norman Hall. I read a lot of historical naval fiction, but even if you don't, it's a lovely book.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I finished 2015 with two fairly modern histories of Indian involvement in the 1939-45 and then the 1914-18 European wars so am starting 2016 with yet another reread of Kipling's Captains Courageous but I have not yet chosen its successor. As we have guests arriving on Tuesday for a three week stay probably something fairly light but will see what grabs me when the time comes.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Scots lass
Shipmate
# 2699
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by luvanddaisies:
As well as wanting to read his entire oeuvre, I'd like to read more Scottish authors' work this year. I haven't read a lot, considering I'm Scottish, and I think I'd enjoy reading more. Again, recommendations welcome!
Well, you did ask:
Iain Banks. O Caledonia (by Elspeth Barker, I think). Sunset Song (if you didn't do it in school). The Visitors by Simon Sylvester is recent and Scottish. I loathe Neil Gunn, but you might like it - start with The Silver Darlings. Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg. James Robertson - The Testament of Gideon Mack, and his recent one And The Land Lay Still. Denise Mina for Glasgow set crime, Ian Rankin for Edinburgh. Ali Smith for literary stuff. John Buchan, Muriel Spark, Dorothy Dunnett (if you want weighty historical saga).
I'll stop now...
Posts: 863 | From: the diaspora | Registered: Apr 2002
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
What a lovely resolution, luvanddaisies. Glad to recommend a few. I'm sticking to ones set in Scotland, though there is a lot by Scottish authors set further afield too.
Andrew Grieg, The Return of John MacNab. Great fun, but probably best if you first read John Buchan's John MacNab.
D.K. Broster, The Flight of the Heron. For sheer, soaring, homoerotic, Jacobite romance. Unbeatable!
Catherine Carswell's The Life of Robert Burns (1930) is a classic in its own right, and well worth the read.
J.G. Lockhart, Adam Blair. Walter Scott's son-in-law tells a thoughtful tale of lust and presbyterianism!
Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped. Of course.
John Prebble, Glencoe. Because you have to have a John Prebble in there, and Glencoe tells a vivid and moving tale.
My favourite Walter Scott is Old Mortality, with The Bride of Lammermoor coming a close second. No one dissects Scotland quite so brilliantly as does Scott.
Happy reading! Let us know how you get on.
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
My daughter bought Vargic's Miscellany of Curious Maps for me.
I'm still working through it. It's uneven but fascinating. I think some 'shrooms and acid may have played a part.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
That sounds rather interesting, and like one of those beautiful books that are lovely just to be around too.
<scribbles down Scottish writer suggestions>
Thanks ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Has anyone seen this ?
And would anyone fancy it as an on-the-ship thing? I can't imagine reading as few as twelve books in a year, so I think it should still leave me plenty of time to explore more Scottish writers too. The categories are pretty loose, so it should t be onerous, and it would be interesting to see what people choose and why they choose it - which might also generate ideas for things to read too.
If there is a bunch of people here up for it, do you think it would be worth giving it it's own thread so as not to derail this one?
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I have just been putting books back on the shelves, as completed books often end up languishing on my bedside table for a while, and I spotted my old copy of 1066 And All That - no idea what it was doing on the fiction shelves but there you are. Anyway it seems a suitably light read for the day - then I spotted it was priced at 4 shillings!
It is a fairly old Penguin edition, printed in 1970.
I am looking forward to this.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Wodders, that is a Good Thing. I adore that book, and the Knotweed and I are word-perfect on far too much of it!
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Bibaculus
Shipmate
# 18528
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Posted
Luvanddaisies - I quite like the idea of the reading challenge. It would certainly mean I would read things that I otherwise wouldn't read, and outside my normal, probably rather narrow, range of books, which would be no bad thing. I might give it a go. Thanks for the link.
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A jumped up pantry boy who never knew his place
Posts: 257 | From: In bed. Mostly. When I can get away with it. | Registered: Dec 2015
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Hail Mary
Apprentice
# 18531
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Huia:
This year I want to keep a track of books I read and am pondering the best way to do this
I'm with you on the spearmint leaves. For tracking books, LibraryThing is pretty fab, I think. https://www.librarything.com/
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My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. ~ Jack Layton
Posts: 35 | From: Canada | Registered: Jan 2016
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Hello and welcome aboard, Hail Mary! Hope you enjoy looking around. I suggest you have a look at the board guidelines at the top of each board, as customs vary a bit depending on which board you're on.
I see you've already been over to the Welcome thread - many people here have had some varied journeys so you should fit in nicely.
Happy sailing and exploring, and just ask if you have any questions - we're happy to help.
Cheers
Ariel
Heaven Host
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
I fell just short of my target last year of averaging a book a week, being as I was half way through Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince at the turn of the year, which would have been my 52nd title.
This year, I'm going for fewer books, but hoping to get through some longer works. I'm starting the year by finishing off the above, as well as making starts on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, a complilation of essays entitled Towards a Theology of Church Growth and a nice coffee table book of maths problems from Ian Stewart, Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
I use LibraryThing too and really like it. I only add books when I start to read them (a lot of people use it to track all the books they buy, even if they are yet to read them), but I discuss them in a couple of the discussion groups there (the software they use makes the Ship seem like the height of sophistication, but I quite like it without all the bells and whistles). One group in particular is really friendly and I enjoy interacting there, and it has really helped motivate me to tackle my mountain of unread books.
Yesterday I started, then officially abandoned, a terribly written book. "Auld Acquaintance" by Ruth Hay (the author is apparently a retired Scottish-born Canadian, who is writing and self-publishing quite prolifically, aimed primarily at a similar demographic). The gist of the story is that a 60 year old Canadian semi-retired divorced librarian unexpectedly inherits a property in rural Scotland from a relative she didn't know existed - from reviews it seems that the first half of the book consists of her bunch of friends trying to persuade her to investigate, and the second half is her in Scotland, investigating. Who is the mysterious relative? Why has she left the property to her? Will she stay in Scotland and live a new life? Unfortunately the writing is so spectacularly clunky and cliched I really didn't care. I read 2 chapters and was ready to give up, but thought maybe it was me so read another one till I knew for sure that it wasn't. My eReader showed I still had over 3 hours to go, and my heart sank, so I gave up as I just think life's too short to give 3 hours of my life that I'll never get back to a stinker of a book.
Over on Goodreads the book gets a 4.5 star average review, which amazes me (meanly, I wonder if the author got her friends to write reviews). The amazon reviews are a bit more varied - one that made me laugh said that the scene where she is exploring Glasgow read like it was being narrated by a satnav. I didn't get far enough in to know if that was true, but on the evidence of the first few chapters I can well believe it.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
luvanddaisies, that sounds like a good reading challenge although I can't imagine restricting myself to only 12 books in a year either. I have been known to read that many in a week.
I've read all my Christmas presents, except for the ones which haven't been published yet but I pre-ordered with my book tokens: another good reason for giving book tokens as it means Christmas lasts longer. Last year it went on until March, this year my Christmas will end on 5 May when the last pre-ordered book is due to be published ('Lies, Damned Lies and History' by Jodi Taylor).
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Egeria
Shipmate
# 4517
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Posted
Jack the Lass observed
quote:
Over on Goodreads the book gets a 4.5 star average review, which amazes me (meanly, I wonder if the author got her friends to write reviews).
I'm always amazed at the number of four and five star reader reviews. Some people apparently don't "believe in" bad reviews, and one very prolific woman who posts on another site has apparently never read a book she doesn't like. A historical novelist who tries to squeeze in as many adverbs as she can (her Renaissance hero "smiles sneeringly" at opponents while playing football) regularly gets raves, even though her prose could be that of a fifteen-year-old in a creative writing class. I took her book back to the library (God bless all public libraries!) after reading only fifty pages.
And then there are the "Egyptophiles" ("Oh I just love anything about ancient Egypt!") who gave great reviews to the worst alleged non-fiction by a specialist I've ever seen--full of vague assumptions and outright mistakes. They go to town on any novel with an Egyptian setting, even though most such efforts aren't fit for anything but kitty litter.
When I read reviews (and I like reading reviews, even of books I'll never bother with), I prefer those written by people who actually have some qualifications.
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"Sound bodies lined / with a sound mind / do here pursue with might / grace, honor, praise, delight."--Rabelais
Posts: 314 | From: Berkeley, CA | Registered: May 2003
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
I always look at some of the negative reviews as well as the positive ones. You can learn a lot about a book from someone who doesn't like it - even if you end up disagreeing with their opinion.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
For anyone who read and enjoyed Catherine Fox's Acts and Omissions, which we read for Ship's book club here last year and was a wonderful discovery for me, and its sequel Unseen Things Above -- she's just started posting installments of the next book on her blog. Chapter One is up so far. She's done this with each of the previous books -- posted them a chapter at a time online. I'm looking forward to discovering the new book in this way, having read the other two as completed books.
[ 06. January 2016, 10:35: Message edited by: Trudy Scrumptious ]
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by luvanddaisies:
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua is one I read last year, and would recommend to just about anyone. It's a graphic novel (but don't let that put you off), and it's got a bit of everything. Unusual little gem, and rather lovely.
I haven't yet managed to organise myself into buying the hardcopy, but I've been reading the original webcomic since 2009 It's on my shopping list...
I tend to give a list of ISBNs to the maternal Knotweed before Christmas (with title, author, pb/hb and publishing country details as well). She then passes details round the clan, and I get books! Unfortunately I've now finished reading all the latest Vorkosigan books, so will have to wait for the next one to be in the local library system ![[Frown]](frown.gif) (no shelf space for it until it gets to paperback) Currently flicking through an interesting set of papers, main book title is The materiality of magic.
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My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Over the Christmas holidays, in between singing, cooking and partying, I read The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson, the sequel to Notes from a Small Island. While it was an enjoyable read, as D. pointed out, Mr. Bryson is becoming a little, um, curmudgeonly. Things seem to annoy him a lot, and at times he seems to be turning into Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Having said that, for the most part he seems to retain his love of Britain and his wry amusement at our little eccentricities.
I've just started on The Blackhouse by Peter May; it's the first in a trilogy of detective novels set on the Isle of Lewis and so far I'm finding it quite unputdownable.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
For anyone who read and enjoyed Catherine Fox's Acts and Omissions, which we read for Ship's book club here last year and was a wonderful discovery for me, and its sequel Unseen Things Above -- she's just started posting installments of the next book on her blog.
I was given 'Unseen Things Above' for Christmas and am currently 2/3rds of the way through it.
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
Over the Christmas holidays, in between singing, cooking and partying, I read The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson, the sequel to Notes from a Small Island. While it was an enjoyable read, as D. pointed out, Mr. Bryson is becoming a little, um, curmudgeonly. Things seem to annoy him a lot, and at times he seems to be turning into Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
Having said that, for the most part he seems to retain his love of Britain and his wry amusement at our little eccentricities.
Gave that to my Mum for Christmas. She's loved his other works and the cover features the Seven Sisters which is quite close to where she grew up. I'm rather indebted to him for shaking my hand in Durham cathedral when, in his role as university chancellor, he conferred my degree on me.
Odd thing was, I also gave her an NLT bible as that's the version her church uses. She said it was "the sublime and the ridiculous" though I'm not sure which was which! ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Here's another reading challenge similar to luvanddaisies from upthread. It's one book a month too with things like 'read a book by a local author' and 'read a book based on a true story'.
RE: Christmas books. I'm pacing myself with my Christmas books: volumes 2-5 of the Locke and Key graphic novels and a collection of Christmas detective stories from a friend who received the same thing from me ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Re novels with Egyptian setting:
Elizabeth Peters' mystery series about Amelia Peabody, Victorian Egyptologist, is wonderful, wildly popular, and has some wicked humor. The author is a Egyptologist, writing under a pen name. I love that she includes real people from the time. (E.g., Howard Carter, Walter Budge, etc.) I think there are probably 25 books or so in the series, by now.
The books are so popular that some libraries keep them under lock and key, because fans steal them.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re novels with Egyptian setting:
Elizabeth Peters' mystery series about Amelia Peabody, Victorian Egyptologist, is wonderful, wildly popular, and has some wicked humor. The author is a Egyptologist, writing under a pen name. I love that she includes real people from the time. (E.g., Howard Carter, Walter Budge, etc.) I think there are probably 25 books or so in the series, by now.
The books are so popular that some libraries keep them under lock and key, because fans steal them.
Barbara Mertz wrote as Elizabeth Peters. Her "Red Land, Black Land" was a staple of mine during my Egypt period.
And if I am not mistaken she died not long ago. Sadly missed.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Much though I liked Amelia Peabody, I also liked Elizabeth Peter's modern heroines, Vicky Bliss, the museum curator and Jacqueline Bliss, the librarian who kept getting into trouble.
She died 8 August 2013 aged 85.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
I'm currently reading Em Teu Ventre ("In Your Belly") by Portuguese writer José Luís Peixoto. It is about the three children to whom Our Lady appeared in the village of Fátima in 1917.
It is very good. I like the down-to-earth feel of the book, describing the fuss in the village after the BVM appears. Quite a lot of people would prefer that she hadn't and that everything would go back to normal ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I've just been reading "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" which I bought years ago and shelved at the time as it annoyed me. I still find it annoying. There is some good advice but the book has its share of eyebrow-raising tacit assumptions. One being the principle of taking responsibility for your own life, which is fine until you discover that illnesses are entirely your own fault. (Try telling that to a child with the flu or someone with cancer.)
Then there's the idea that as everybody is afraid of trying new experiences, you're all in the same boat, so go ahead and do it anyway. Not that that's even logical, also not everybody has the same anxiety levels, and some people eagerly anticipate new experiences. A book best read in small doses and thought over for yourself rather than followed as a guide.
I've now moved on to Evangeline Walton's "Mabinogion". I've just rediscovered it after many years. It's a fairly free, novelized version but it brings the stories to life and I got completely absorbed in it to the point where I nearly missed my stop on the train this morning, and had to take the book on the bus at lunchtime to find out what was going to happen to Pwyll next.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
... I've just started on The Blackhouse by Peter May; it's the first in a trilogy of detective novels set on the Isle of Lewis and so far I'm finding it quite unputdownable.
Finished the third one last night and am now suffering withdrawal symptoms ... ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
It's possible that the unputdownability was due to its being set on an island*, and that the main characters were a few years younger than me, so I could sort of identify with them. A jolly good read anyway.
* not the right island, but let's not split hairs ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Have just finished Love Stories for the Shy and Cynical by Robert Shearman and would heartily recommend it to lovers of the odd. Only about love if you squint at them sideways, each story has some plot weirdness treated like an everyday act and taken to it's logical conclusion. What would happen if one day Luxembourg disappeared? What would happen if your wife wanted to split up and returned your heart, freely given in your youth, back to you, still beating, in a Tupperware box?
A little arch, but well worth reading.
[ 13. January 2016, 21:56: Message edited by: ArachnidinElmet ]
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Marama
Shipmate
# 330
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Posted
I've just looked at the challenge luvanddaisies posted above (3Jan) and I think it looks interesting. So I'm game to have a go, if others are. Now semi-retired, I'm trying to get a bit more methodical about my (non-work) reading.
I've been picking a book per library visit off the shelves completely at random - this time it's Elizabeth Hay, 'Alone in the Classroom'. I'd never heard of her, but I'm finding it extraordinarily atmospheric.
Posts: 910 | From: Canberra | Registered: May 2001
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
I have just finished First Do No Harm by Henry Marsh, an eminent neurosurgeon, describing what a neurosurgeon’s life is like.
For me, the most interesting aspect revolved around some of the ethical dilemmas of neurosurgery and medicine in general, particularly around the treatment of patients with terminal illnesses.
Some readers may also enjoy his obvious contempt for NHS managers.
They are a couple of fairly graphic descriptions of cutting people’s head open but don’t be put off – I am extremely squeamish and I was ok.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I've just started Elly Griffiths' third book about Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist in Norfolk (and now single mother). It's called The House at Sea's End, and involves coastal erosion uncovering an old mass grave. Really, I'm reading it because I once lived in Norwich, where I was an archaeologist, so it's bringing back a lot of good memories of that time for me.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marama:
I've just looked at the challenge luvanddaisies posted above (3Jan) and I think it looks interesting. So I'm game to have a go, if others are. Now semi-retired, I'm trying to get a bit more methodical about my (non-work) reading.
I decided to do luvanddaisies' reading challenge as well - I like such schemes, as it makes me pick up books I might never have thought of otherwise. A few years ago I read through the alphabet (by authors' surnames) - the only criterion was that the book be a 'significant' book in one sense or another. It was great.
So I have made a start on luvanddaisies list, and to make things more intentional, have also decided to work through it in order. This meant that the first one had to be 'a book published this year', and as I began on 4th January, this didn't give me a lot of choice. But a hunt through Amazon yielded a sports autobiography published on Jan 1st, and so that is what I am now reading.
I have never actually read a sports autobiography before. I am now realising why.
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
LeRoc: I'm currently reading Em Teu Ventre ("In Your Belly") by Portuguese writer José Luís Peixoto.
I just finished this, and liked it a lot. I think there's going to be an English translation soon.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
This meant that the first one had to be 'a book published this year', and as I began on 4th January, this didn't give me a lot of choice. But a hunt through Amazon yielded a sports autobiography published on Jan 1st, and so that is what I am now reading.
I have never actually read a sports autobiography before. I am now realising why.
Pardon me while I pick my jaw off the ground. Whose autobiography? I suppose it helps you have some interest in the sport, but, for example, I love baseball but there are VERY few autobiographies (or even just biographies) of baseball players that I'd want to read. Honus Wagner, maybe.
I won't be doing the challenge. My fireplace mantel is stacked with Books-To-Read as it is, and some have been there for a lengthy time.
I meant to post this last year, but a few months ago I read In The Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon, edited (and translated by) Bhikkhu Bodhi. After the Buddha died, his teachings were handed down by oral tradition for a time before finally being written down. Eventually, multiple different schools of Buddhism developed, springing from the original stalk. The Pali Canon is the earliest still-existing record of the original discourses of the Buddha. They reflect early Buddhism before the development of the various flavors and varieties of Buddhism.
The discourses are, however, somewhat difficult for a novice to wrestle with. This book gives selections from the discourses in carefully structured categories to give one a better appreciation of the breadth and scope of the Buddha's teaching. The teachings aren't just for the hardcore monks, but for the householder not ready for the monastic life. Each chapter begins with an introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi to further explain the structure, which builds from obtaining welfare and happiness visible in this present life, to welfare and happiness in future lives, to the ultimate goal of non-rebirth and Nibbana/Nirvana.
The book provides a wonderful grounding in Early Buddhism using the closest that one can get to the original teachings of the Buddha. By definition, it does not touch on later developments of Buddhism or the various schools that have developed, but if one was interested in understanding the basics of Buddhism, or wanted an introduction to it, this book would make a wonderful text book. I have been trying to get my head around Buddhism for years (because its world view is so different from the one I grew up with) and this book is, by far, the best I have found.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Jemima the 9th
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# 15106
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Posted
The reading challenge does look good. One of my few new year's resolutions is to read more books each year than the year before. Bearing in mind I'm starting from a very low base - it's really not that impressive!
Currently reading Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. I really do like Kate Atkinson books, but my goodness I wish she'd lay off the random child death a bit.
Actually, a lot of the child death isn't random in this particular book, but there's still a lot of death.
[ 17. January 2016, 19:18: Message edited by: Jemima the 9th ]
Posts: 801 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2009
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
This meant that the first one had to be 'a book published this year', and as I began on 4th January, this didn't give me a lot of choice. But a hunt through Amazon yielded a sports autobiography published on Jan 1st, and so that is what I am now reading.
I have never actually read a sports autobiography before. I am now realising why.
Pardon me while I pick my jaw off the ground. Whose autobiography? I suppose it helps you have some interest in the sport, but, for example, I love baseball but there are VERY few autobiographies (or even just biographies) of baseball players that I'd want to read. Honus Wagner, maybe.
Is the surprise at me not having read a sports autobiography before? I'm not really a sporty type, I'm afraid. And I tend to go for prose that's a little more ... worthy ...?
It is called "Man vs Ocean", and it is the account by the British open swimmer, Adam Walker, of swimming the "Ocean's Seven" - seven great swims including the Channel, Gibraltar-Morocco, the Cook Strait, etc. I admit I have learned a lot, and it is an admirable achievement. But I won't be rushing out to read another.
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
I was more shocked that anybody would voluntarily read a sports autobiography unless they were either (a) being paid to do so, or (b) was a zealous sports fan. And from your post I suspected that you didn't fit either category.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Cottontail
Shipmate
# 12234
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Posted
Yeah, you read me. But hey, I'm always open to new things.
[ 17. January 2016, 22:10: Message edited by: Cottontail ]
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"I don't think you ought to read so much theology," said Lord Peter. "It has a brutalizing influence."
Posts: 2377 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jan 2007
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Marama
Shipmate
# 330
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Posted
I'll admit I thought it would be easier to read a book published in 2016 rather later in the year, but I admire cottontail''s dedication in actually reading a sports autobiography!
I've started with 'a book published before you were born'(though it could fall into other categories)-Arnold Bennett''s 'An Old Wives' Tale'. I read a few 19th century classics last year, so this is a continuation. So far I'm enjoying it (and the fact that such classics are free or very cheap to download)
Posts: 910 | From: Canberra | Registered: May 2001
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
I just finished Sundiver by David Brin. I was slightly disappointed, I usually love Brin, but this was just not quite. Maybe because it was one of his earliest, if not his actual first, books.
quote:
Much though I liked Amelia Peabody, I also liked Elizabeth Peter's modern heroines, Vicky Bliss, the museum curator and Jacqueline Bliss, the librarian who kept getting into trouble.
I LOVE Vicky Bliss! She is my favorite Elizabeth Peters character.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I've now finished Entry Island, yet another book by Peter May (my sister sent it along with the Isle of Lewis trilogy to D. for his birthday).
This one is a stand-alone murder mystery, set on a tiny archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec, but has links to the Western Isles in the plot.
Definitely an author I'll keep an eye open for.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marama:
I've started with 'a book published before you were born'(though it could fall into other categories)-Arnold Bennett''s 'An Old Wives' Tale'.
Are those taking the reading challenges reading books that overlap categories, or designating a separate book for each? Or am I overthinking it ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
I'm attempting both challenges mentioned upthread, so after my current reading I've got The House on Haunted Hill for a book made into a film, and Allen Ginsberg's Howl for a book that has been banned, although it could also cover a book published before I was born.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
I have not read through this thread but wanted to say that I have just finished reading a really excellent book, A Scandalous Life' by Mary S Lovell, a biography of Lady Jane Elizabeth Digby, one of the most interesting, intelligent and influential (in Syria particularly) , most beautiful women in mid/late 19th century. Mary Lovell was the first biographer to be allowed access to the full archive of the lady. I would be most interested to know if anyone has read it?Jane Digby led the sort of life that, if you made it all up, no-one would believe it.
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
I have now listened through the above posts. It's always fascinating, isn't it, to hear what varied likes there are in reading. It's just about impossible to choose a book for someone else!
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I have a habit of picking up books outside the local Sallies shop. These are the ones that are put in there by the staff, with hopes someone will take them away and thus reduce the amount of unsaleable stuff that they have to pay to be taken to the dump. One such book was my reading on Christmas Day and I really enjoyed it, so I will go in and make a donation next time I'm passing*.
The latest was The Flying Squad by Edgar Wallace. I used to read my mother's EW's when I was a child so picked it up out of nostalgia - it was dreadful. I kept hoping it would get better. Obviously nostalgia isn't all it used to be
*My rule is - if I enjoyed it they get a donation, if not they don't, but it either case I dispose of the book for them so it's win/win as far as they are concerned.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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