[Misc] What Book are you Currently Reading?

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Paul Theroux - The Old Patagonian Express

Just finished re-reading The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by the same author. The past was a different planet in 1975. The Shah of Iran was still sat on his Peacock Throne. The Americans were still in Vietnam. The USSR was still the USSR. Beautifully written and a terrific read

 

[Beach Hut]

Just finished re-reading The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by the same author. The past was a different planet in 1975. The Shah of Iran was still sat on his Peacock Throne. The Americans were still in Vietnam. The USSR was still the USSR. Beautifully written and a terrific read

This is the first book I have read by him and it is very good so looking forward to some of the other ones once hunted out of the charity shops

 

[Beach Hut]

Venetian Dreaming - Paula Wiedeger

 

[wunt be druv]

Operation Jubilee Dieppe,1942:The Folly and the Sacrifice by Patrick Bishop. Half way through, very interesting, learning new things about the military disaster, thoroughly recommend it if you are looking for a informative book on the Dieppe raid in WW2.

 

[Beach Hut]

From Here, You Can't See Paris - Michael Sanders

 

[Taybha]

How to alienate your own customers by Emma Barrasin.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Iceland's Secret - The Untold Story Of The World's Biggest Con by Jared Bibler

At the height of the global financial crisis of 2008, Iceland's 3 biggest banks went bust in the space of a week, blowing up the economy of a tiny country with roughly the same population as Brighton and Hove. This is the very readable account of the subsequent investigation into the meteoric rise of these 3 banks, how it was achieved, and why some bankers went to jail when it all fell apart. It also offers some interesting insight into the people of Iceland's thousand year old national psyche. Highly recommended

 

[amexer]

Defying Hitler...Sebastian Hafner Very good. Good explanation as to how difficult it was for a German as Hitler rose to power. Was written many years ago but think only found by son about 10 years ago

 

[sydney]

just finished "A Flock of Ships" by Brian Callison ....rivetting , 2nd world war cat and mouse activity with the British merchant navy and German u-boats .....very good.

 

[Surf's Up]

The Ratline by Philippe Sands - about a Nazi on the run after the war.

 

[Mellotron]

I'm looking for recommendations of relatively short (ie 250-400 pages if standard font size etc) interesting autobiographies/biographies, any subject matter as long as it is well written and you find it interesting, please!

Finally got properly into reading recently after years of starting and never finishing books. One thing that's helping this is shorter books, ie knowing that I'll finish them. I think due to the relentlessness of 2 small children and the amount of screen time I spend per day (both voluntary and necessary), books are coming as a massive relief, much needed relaxation for the brain.

Currently reading;
​

Mary L Trump - Too Much and Never Enough - interesting family history of the Trumps from Donald's niece. Particularly interesting is just how huge a shadow Donald's father Fred cast over the whole family psyche. About to finish and have flown through this as found it very engaging. - recommend.
Craig Brown - One, Two, Three, Four! - The Beatles In Time - absolutely loving this. Have read quite a few books on The Beatles, but I think this might be the best. Short, snappy chapters that moves loosely through their collective and separate chronologies, and means the slightly larger page count doesn't feel intimidating, as it's an easy 'pick up for 5-10 minutes and put back down' kind of book. Some of the stories are a little more off the beaten path and not necessarily the obvious/overly exposed ones. - Big, big recommend if you are a Beatles fan.

Recently finished;
​

Simon Parkin - Death By Video Game - Simon's a great writer, started in video games but is moving into investigative journalism. Here he looks at different real life examples of obsessions/addictions to games, and what they can do to us psychologically - recommend, if you have an interest in video games.
J D Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye - The sort of book you read when you're trying to get into reading and told which the "classics"/"important" novels are. - Found it tough going at points, pretty sure the main character has autism, and I got frustrated with him at times but also felt like his voice was very clear and singular. An interesting journey. - recommend, just about.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Two years ago, I received The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater for Christmas. Beautifully bound with a matching ribbon bookmark, it's a winter treat. He describes it as the story of his love for winter with it's scents and traditions mixed with recipes, fables and quick fireside suppers from November to February. It covers his 'essential' preparations for Christmas, his special drinks and 'everything you need for the winter months'. 450 wonderful pages, gorgeous photographs. I deliberately saved it till this year as last year was so crappy and I'm keeping roughly on track with a daily read in line with the dates in the book. Brings to mind so many winter memories of my own. It might resonate even more with the older reader, briefly touching upon particular winters such as 1963 when I remember all the snow outside and the frozen condensation inside on my bedroom windows.Even the recipes are portrayed in a wonderfully readable fashion. Still not too late to treat yourself and set yourself up for a good old winter read and you might even try a recipe or two.

 

[Beach Hut]

The Last Days of Detroit - Mark Binelli

 

[pearl]

just started The Storyteller by Dave Grohl

 

[Beach Hut]

Merde Actually - Stephen Clarke

 

[Beach Hut]

The Man who Cycled the World - Mark Beaumont

 

[keaton]

I'm looking for recommendations of relatively short (ie 250-400 pages if standard font size etc) interesting autobiographies/biographies, any subject matter as long as it is well written and you find it interesting, please!

Finally got properly into reading recently after years of starting and never finishing books. One thing that's helping this is shorter books, ie knowing that I'll finish them. I think due to the relentlessness of 2 small children and the amount of screen time I spend per day (both voluntary and necessary), books are coming as a massive relief, much needed relaxation for the brain.

Currently reading;
​

Mary L Trump - Too Much and Never Enough - interesting family history of the Trumps from Donald's niece. Particularly interesting is just how huge a shadow Donald's father Fred cast over the whole family psyche. About to finish and have flown through this as found it very engaging. - recommend.
Craig Brown - One, Two, Three, Four! - The Beatles In Time - absolutely loving this. Have read quite a few books on The Beatles, but I think this might be the best. Short, snappy chapters that moves loosely through their collective and separate chronologies, and means the slightly larger page count doesn't feel intimidating, as it's an easy 'pick up for 5-10 minutes and put back down' kind of book. Some of the stories are a little more off the beaten path and not necessarily the obvious/overly exposed ones. - Big, big recommend if you are a Beatles fan.

Recently finished;
​

Simon Parkin - Death By Video Game - Simon's a great writer, started in video games but is moving into investigative journalism. Here he looks at different real life examples of obsessions/addictions to games, and what they can do to us psychologically - recommend, if you have an interest in video games.
J D Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye - The sort of book you read when you're trying to get into reading and told which the "classics"/"important" novels are. - Found it tough going at points, pretty sure the main character has autism, and I got frustrated with him at times but also felt like his voice was very clear and singular. An interesting journey. - recommend, just about.

I got the Craig Brown book based on some great reviews and Shaun Keaveny raving about it. I've almost finished it, not sure what I think. Some of it is very interesting, lots gets lost in technical stuff without really telling you anything and then other bits are things like blaming the Beatles for the Manson murders because they didn't care of their lyrics made sense. It's worth a read but Tell MeWhy was much better in my opinion though I've not read that for 20 years.

 

[Fungus]

"A Fine Day in Hurstpierpoint - the diary of Thomas Marchant 1714-1728" . More interesting than it sounds, especially when your ancestors' families turn up.

 

[monty uk]

Which are the best BHA books?

 

[CHAPPERS]

Empire of the Sun. Not sure I can be bothered, think I will just watch the film again.