What books are we reading at the moment ?

[numbnuts]

I'm reading the Bible I’ve been a Catholic all my life and have read parts of it at school and in church, but have never read it from cover to cover and the other day I came across an apps for my tablet so reading it on that as you can tell the tablet is a bit of a novelty as I've only had it a week. 

[cycleman]

i have just finished records of a family of engineers
stevenson , robert louis,1850-1894

free on kindle store
interesting accoun :)e building of the bell rock lighthouse

[Mr Larrington]

Halfhead ~ Stuart B. MacBride.

Loads o' killin's

[pcolbeck]

Anathem - Neil Stephenson

Another brick of a novel. Starts very slowly but builds. Full of ideas and discussions on logic, cosmology and metaphysics.

[DaveJ]

I've just finished re-reading An Ungodly Child by Rachel Green.  The next instalment, Sons of Angels, has just been epublished and I wanted to revisit Laverstone before got into it as it's a couple of years since I read it the first time.

I'd forgotten how funny it is.  Not in a huge, punny way like Terry Pratchett or Piers Anthony, but with lots of little comments and links that made me laugh out loud.  It's fast-paced and light and an incredibly easy read!

Prompted by this, I bought An Ungodly Child back last year.  Just read and enjoyed it, so just about to start on Sons of Angels.

Struggled through to the end of Ned Beauman's Teleportation Accident.  I don't like not finishing books, but maybe I shouldn't have bothered with this one.

Dave

[Ham]

Just finished Ben Elton, Two Brothers. I should say first that I have enjoyed all Ben Elton's writing but I would observe I hope objecively that the quality of his writing has improved over the years, this book is possibly his best yet.

Weaving biographical and historical detail into a story focused around the personal lives of those in Germany growing up through the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany, it made me realise how little I knew of the internal aspects of Nazi Germany. I would have considered myself fairly well versed in the external factors and the historical context, but beyond asking the obvious question of how could a nation have done what Germany did, I knew little hard fact and did little to acquire it.

The small detail of this book, evidently researched and fact based, has spurred me on to read and investigate. I think now I begin to understand the situation a lot better, for example I had never seriously considered the impact and meaning of Socialist in the National Socialist, I didn't even realise that word Nazi was derived from the German for National. The spectre of people comparing everything extreme to the Nazis has obfuscated the facts and stands in the way not only of our understanding but also of our ability to resist the forces that would make that darkness happen again.

Surprisingly for Ben Elton, this book has a complete absence of polemic, but then the historical facts and the fictional people's real emotions speak loud enough for themselves. The story is a good one: two brothers brought up from birth in 1920 as twins by a jewish family, one an adopted non-jew, grow up through the rise of Hitler, living and loving as normal people an in extraordinary situation. Doing what must be done to survive, observing those who do not. The background mystery that unravels through the book provides a subtext that draws the story to the modern day. However incredible it may seem at times, each step is credible and - as the biographical note at the end confirms - much has been extracted from Ben Elton's own life (his father was called Ehrenberg, originally).

I would thoroughly recommend this book to all.

[LindaG]

Thank you.

I shall definitely read that.  I think Elton is a fine writer. 

[citoyen]

I had never seriously considered the impact and meaning of Socialist in the National Socialist, I didn't even realise that word Nazi was derived from the German for National.

I don't know if this is entirely true, but according to Ned Beauman in his latest novel, the term Nazi wasn't used by the Nazis themselves - it had a prior meaning as a derogatory term. I've had a quick search of the book but alas can't find the relevant passage.

AIUI, the German Workers' Party prefixed the words "National" and "Socialist" to their name purely as an expedient means to attract voters.

d.

[Ham]

AIUI, the German Workers' Party prefixed the words "National" and "Socialist" to their name purely as an expedient means to attract voters.

That was what I thought, too, but I had no basis for thinking that apart from acquired "wisdom".

Starting from Wikipedia (caveated more even than normal, as might be expected the talk pages are more turgid and dense than can be imagined, but the citations look sound) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism you find that actually, the sociallistic aspects are quite strong

A majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as a form of far-right politics. Far right themes in Nazism include the argument that superior people have a right to dominate over other people and purge society of supposed inferior elements. Adolf Hitler and other proponents officially portrayed Nazism as being neither left- nor right-wing, but syncretic. Hitler in Mein Kampf directly attacked both left-wing and right-wing politics in Germany, saying:

Today our left-wing politicians in particular are constantly insisting that their craven-hearted and obsequious foreign policy necessarily results from the disarmament of Germany, whereas the truth is that this is the policy of traitors [...] But the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms.

See what I mean about what you find out when you look? For more socialistic leanings, look at the SA the initial powerbase of the Nazis.

edit: this may be better off inits own thread, but another useful quote:

The radical Nazi Joseph Goebbels, hated capitalism, viewing it as having Jews at its core

[clarion]

That'd be why the left welcomed the Nazis with open arms, and weren't at all the first to ne sent to concentration camps, I guess.

[Mr Larrington]

Re-reading "The Blackhouse" by Peter May prior to starting on the rest of the Lewis Trilogy.

[citoyen]

Staying slightly off topic for a minute... I found the reference to the origin of the term Nazi - it wasn't in the Ned Beauman book, it was in Mark Forsyth's Etymologicon, and it goes something like this: long before the NSDAP came to power, the name Nazi was used in Bavaria to mean a simpleton (a diminutive form of the name Ignatz, cf Paddy in Irish jokes). The fact that it also worked as a diminutive of National Socialist was happy coincidence. Hence it was initially used as a derogatory term by those who opposed the NSDAP and Hitler hated it (the NSDAP themselves preferred the diminutive form NaSo, apparently).

At least, that's how Forsyth tells it. I don't know if any of that is actually true, and there were a number of other "facts" in the Etymologicon that I thought were rather questionable. The general level of research in the book is "stuff I found on the internet" - that's not my opinion, Forsyth admits as much in his notes at the end of the book. It's an amusing theory though.

The reason for my confusion is that Ned Beauman does have plenty of other stuff to say about the Nazis (the first part of The Teleportation Accident is set in 1930s Berlin). Here's a quote I deemed worthy of highlighting on my Kindle (note: the main love interest is called Adele Hitler, no relation):

The Nazis, he had written in his latest, are wedded to a sort of aesthetico-moral fallacy, which is that if a man has blond hair, blue eyes and strong features, then he will also be brave, loyal, intelligent and so on. They truly believe that goodness has some causal relationship with beauty. Which is idiotic, yes, but no more idiotic than you are, Egon. When you see a girl like Adele Hitler with an innocent, pretty face, can you honestly tell me you don't assume she must be an angelic person? Even though it makes about as much sense as astrology.

It's a fantastic read, completely off the wall and very clever. It's not so much a historical novel as an anti-historical novel - the main character blunders along almost entirely oblivious to what's going on around him. Highly recommended. The final line is one of the best I've ever read too - a proper "Ha!" moment.

d.

[Ham]

Staying slightly off topic for a minute... I found the reference to the origin of the term Nazi - it wasn't in the Ned Beauman book, it was in Mark Forsyth's Etymologicon, and it goes something like this: long before the NSDAP came to power, the name Nazi was used in Bavaria to mean a simpleton (a diminutive form of the name Ignatz, cf Paddy in Irish jokes). The fact that it also worked as a diminutive of National Socialist was happy coincidence. Hence it was initially used as a derogatory term by those who opposed the NSDAP and Hitler hated it (the NSDAP themselves preferred the diminutive form NaSo, apparently).

At least, that's how Forsyth tells it. I don't know if any of that is actually true, and there were a number of other "facts" in the Etymologicon that I thought were rather questionable. The general level of research in the book is "stuff I found on the internet" - that's not my opinion, Forsyth admits as much in his notes at the end of the book. It's an amusing theory though.

Amusing, yes. Plausible? No. Sounds to me that if there was any basis in it, that would have become common parlance and understanding at the time.

As is my wont I normally have a look at the books people recommend, after the quality of your recommendation I looked at Etymologicon and decided it wasn't for me. Then I realised you were talking about The Teleportation Accident which looks much more interesting (don't mind me I'm having a very confudes day). However with a Kindle version costing more than paperback+vat? no thank you, that's cheeky.

[citoyen]

Amusing, yes. Plausible? No. Sounds to me that if there was any basis in it, that would have become common parlance and understanding at the time.

Yes, you'd think it would be wider known. I found the Etymologicon rather irritating, tbh. I've seen a lot of positive reviews of it but it reminded me of watching an episode of QI - entirely superficial, glib and not as funny as it thinks it is. It's not a book for anyone with a genuine, serious interest in language.

Then I realised you were talking about The Teleportation Accident which looks much more interesting (don't mind me I'm having a very confudes day). However with a Kindle version costing more than paperback+vat? no thank you, that's cheeky.

The paperback isn't actually out until April though. I presume the Kindle price will drop then.

It's very rare that I pay full price for Kindle books but this was one I was particularly keen to read because I enjoyed his first novel so much, so I couldn't wait. Likewise the new Lawrence Norfolk, which I'm reading at the moment - not out in paperback until May, but so very very good that I'm glad I didn't wait (even though I have plenty of other books I could have been getting on with while waiting for it to become more affordable).

Hang on... I've just noticed that the Kindle price on both those books has actually gone up since I bought them. 

d.

[ian]

Staying slightly off topic for a minute... I found the reference to the origin of the term Nazi - it wasn't in the Ned Beauman book, it was in Mark Forsyth's Etymologicon, and it goes something like this: long before the NSDAP came to power, the name Nazi was used in Bavaria to mean a simpleton (a diminutive form of the name Ignatz, cf Paddy in Irish jokes). The fact that it also worked as a diminutive of National Socialist was happy coincidence. Hence it was initially used as a derogatory term by those who opposed the NSDAP and Hitler hated it (the NSDAP themselves preferred the diminutive form NaSo, apparently).

At least, that's how Forsyth tells it. I don't know if any of that is actually true, and there were a number of other "facts" in the Etymologicon that I thought were rather questionable. The general level of research in the book is "stuff I found on the internet" - that's not my opinion, Forsyth admits as much in his notes at the end of the book. It's an amusing theory though...

One of my German colleagues makes the same claim about 'Nazi' – though she says it has be pronounced in a particular way.

That said, she was mostly schooled in good old democratic East Germany, where she picked up this historical nugget (or so she thinks), so accuracy might not be assured.

[Ham]

Here's a bit of etymology for you:

From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi

Nazi
1930, noun and adjective, from German Nazi, abbreviation of German pronunciation of Nationalsozialist (based on earlier German sozi, popular abbreviation of "socialist"), from Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei "National Socialist German Workers' Party," led by Hitler from 1920.

The 24th edition of Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (2002) says the word Nazi was favored in southern Germany (supposedly from c.1924) among opponents of National Socialism because the nickname Nazi, Naczi (from the masc. proper name Ignatz, German form of Ignatius) was used colloquially to mean "a foolish person, clumsy or awkward person." Ignatz was a popular name in Catholic Austria, and according to one source in World War I Nazi was a generic name in the German Empire for the soldiers of Austria-Hungary.

An older use of Nazi for national-sozial is attested in German from 1903, but EWdS does not think it contributed to the word as applied to Hitler and his followers. The NSDAP for a time attempted to adopt the Nazi designation as what the Germans call a "despite-word," but they gave this up, and the NSDAP is said to have generally avoided the term. Before 1930, party members had been called in English National Socialists, which dates from 1923. The use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, etc., was popularized by German exiles abroad. From them, it spread into other languages, and eventually was brought back to Germany, after the war. In the USSR, the terms national socialist and Nazi were said to have been forbidden after 1932, presumably to avoid any taint to the good word socialist. Soviet literature refers to fascists.

[tiermat]

Just finished "Behind The Beautiful Forevers" a true story of life in a Mumbai slum.

Moved onto "Packing for Mars" a sideways look at what astronauts go through to get into space.

[LindaG]

Janapar.

The book of the film of the book, I do wonder whether Tom realises how much of himself he's giving away in this book.  He probably doesn't care.

I might like him a bit more by the end of the book, and I must say our real-life interactions have shown him to be far more pleasant than he comes across here.

I do like the way he concentrates on his own experience of places.  Descriptions of the Harwich Ferry I can get online.  It's the internal monologue that interests me, which is why I find this style of writing so much more absorbing than, say, Anne Mustoe.

[microphonie]

The Terror by Dan Simmons: a fictionalised account of the ill-feted expedition by Captain Sir John Franklin to discover the Northwest Passage. With starving, scurvy-addled seamen; a monster/uber-polar bear killing the sailors at will; mysterious esquimaux (I rather like this version of eskimo) and (still to be read) mutiny & cannibalism.

[citoyen]

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

A psychological thriller. Not the kind of thing I normally read but a colleague insisted it was brilliant and I thought what the heck. She was the one who recommended Room to me, after all.

So far, I hate the two main characters, a thirtysomething couple. The wife has gone missing and the husband is a suspect. To be honest, I wouldn't blame him if he'd stoved her head in and thrown the body in the Mississippi. And then thrown himself in after her.

It reads almost as a screenplay. I'm trying to think who they'd cast in the lead roles. The wife is obviously written for Gwyneth Paltrow but I'm not sure about the husband. Hang on...

I've just looked it up on imdb. Of course it's already in production! David Fincher is directing, apparently. Pfft.

d.

[loadsabikes]

Janapar by Tom Allen arrived today.

[citoyen]

Hmmm. Gone Girl started badly, got much better in the middle, transforming from a standard schlocky thriller into an interesting study of a dysfunctional relationship, but then undermined itself by completely losing its grip towards the end. You know, an author doesn't do herself any favours if she puts some good points into the mouth of someone who turns out to be a sociopath. Utterly preposterous. And the cringingly smug writing doesn't help.

Now reading The Sisters Brothers, which is an altogether different kind of silliness. I'm enjoying the dissonance of tone and action. 

d.

[Bledlow]

Just finished Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe, by Mark Mazower. Interesting, but certainly not entertaining.

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm *not* reading Railsea by China Mieville, gave up after 9%. Dreadful pish!

[citoyen]

I've started Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford, though I fear it slightly exceeds my current mental capacity...

Modernists, eh? 

d.