What books are we reading at the moment ?

[arallsopp]

I too am reading Barring Mechanicals by Arallsopp -

My copy arrived today

Finished it now.Really enjoyed it.

Glad to hear it. Thanks for your interest.

[Greenbank]

I too am reading Barring Mechanicals by Arallsopp

Mine arrived today. A picture of me in a ditch and several mentions. Excellent.

I read all of the work in progress on Cyclechat but it's much nicer reading it all in one book.

[Deborah]

Sophie's choice. Haunting.

[clarion]

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Finished.

It's an interesting book, first published 1963.  I've got (two copies of) the first Penguin edition, reprinted 1965.

He addresses 'The Negro Question' from an interesting perspective.  Baldwin was a young preacher before becoming disaffected once he knew the tricks, and he turns first to the way in which the churches help black people cope with persistent poverty and oppression by promising future salvation.  Then he recounts in detail a visit to see Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam.  There is much that he admires in the philosophy and practice of the Nation, but he has reservations about the parallels with far right groups, and, ultimately, finds the assertions and vocal support, while superficially comforting, at heart a bit empty and unconvincing.

His conclusion is, well, inconclusive.  But he does talk about how the creation of a US identity depends upon the liberation of white men, which can only come with the liberation of the blacks.

Baldwin is, of course, gay, and I'm not sure how many of his readers would have known this, although Giovanni's Room was published in 1956.  Muhammad was not understanding of homosexuality, so his visit (and potential conversion) may not have happened if he had been aware.

Nevertheless, Baldwin is an outsider in many respects, including his schooling among white jewish boys (which he describes in the first part of the book, which is in the form of a letter to his nephew), and takes an outsider perspective on most issues, allowing him an objective approach as well as offering the experience of coming from within the community he describes.

Baldwin has an interesting voice, and his experience as a preacher shows.  He uses long and convoluted sentences, and a floweriness of language that sometimes overshadows the meaning behind it.  I don't know what Baldwin sounded like (I hope there's something on Youtube I can check out), but the portentous and authoritatively didactical tone puts Morgan Freeman's voice in my head.

For a 90 page essay, it is bursting with held-in emotions of all sorts, and a reasoned, if perhaps flawed, conclusion.

[Flying_Monkey]

Just finished Michael Crummey's Galore. What a fantastic book! A magical realism-tinted saga of hardscrabble fishing families on the Newfoundland coast up until WW1. It starts with a man being pulled alive from the body of Humpback Whale... and gets better and better.

[Deano]

I've just finished the Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, and currently I'm reading a random pick from the library shelves, After The Gold Rush: A Bicycle Journey through American History by John Stuart Clark.  It wasn't until after I checked out the book that I realised the author is better known as the cartoonist Brick.  Very good, so far.

[Mr Larrington]

An Utterly Exasperated History Of Modern Britain: Or Sixty Years Of Making The Same Stupid Mistakes As Always ~ John O'Farrell.

[clarion]

I'm getting into Mr Love & Justice, by Colin Macinnes.  I've tried a couple of times before, and got nowehre, but I'm really liking it this time.  I was wary of Macinnes, despite repeated recommendations, after seeing the abysmal film of Absolute Beginners, but I do like his style.  It's set in London of the late 50s/early 60s, and depicts Police corruption and the seedy 'vice' world.

[jogler]

Mary Tudor,The First Queen:Linda Porter

[microphonie]

Having finished the Hyperion omnibus by Dan Simmons I'm now about half way through Ring by Stephen Baxter (shame I've just found out it's the fourth part of a book 'sequence'). Rather interesting concept & I'm being helped along by Wonders of the Solar System on BBC2 in 'getting' some of the theory.

[pcolbeck]

Germania, A personal history of Germans ancient and modern - Simon Winder

A book that's just stuffed with trivia and interesting things about Germany it's politics and culture from Roman times onwards. It's funny and informative and wanders all over the place whilst somehow sticking to a roughly chronological order. Makes me want to go and visit an out of the way town in Saxony.

[clarion]

I'm getting into Mr Love & Justice, by Colin Macinnes.  I've tried a couple of times before, and got nowehre, but I'm really liking it this time.  I was wary of Macinnes, despite repeated recommendations, after seeing the abysmal film of Absolute Beginners, but I do like his style.  It's set in London of the late 50s/early 60s, and depicts Police corruption and the seedy 'vice' world.

The two main characters first interact on p.109.  They glance at each other!

[Mr Larrington]

Spitfire ~ Leo McKinstry.

Good account of both the aircraft and the politics, though I think he's a bit harsh on the Hurricane.  "Lancaster" vy the same author is also worth a look.

[Deborah]

Homage to Catalonia by Orwell.  An interesting mix of social and military history recreated from Orwell's experience of fighting in, and observations of, the Spanish Civil War

[mark]

Homage to Catalonia by Orwell.  An interesting mix of social and military history recreated from Orwell's experience of fighting in, and observations of, the Spanish Civil War

Excellent book, as I commented in this thread a few pages back. This forum (and this thread in particular) has encouraged me to read a fair bit of Orwell's work

[clarion]

I'm getting into Mr Love & Justice, by Colin Macinnes.  I've tried a couple of times before, and got nowehre, but I'm really liking it this time.  I was wary of Macinnes, despite repeated recommendations, after seeing the abysmal film of Absolute Beginners, but I do like his style.  It's set in London of the late 50s/early 60s, and depicts Police corruption and the seedy 'vice' world.

The two main characters first interact on p.109.  They glance at each other!

Well, I've just finished it.  One of the curious things about the book, which isn't intrusive but becomes increasingly apparent as a stylistic device, is that only the ponce Frankie Love, and the bent copper Edward Justice, get named.  All the others remain described by their role - Detective sergeant, star sleuth, star ponce, the madam etc etc.  This even extends to the women who live with Frankie & Edward, who are generally described as their 'girls'. 

It points up an objectification of people in a world where you aren't valued for what you are, but of how much use you can be, so you need to be constantly aware that your status can change very rapidly, depending upon the company you are in.

It's a London which is only just shaking off its wartime life, and yet to emerge into the 60s, but with a struggle between morality and the practicalities of living on the edges of society.  Many of the issues within the book give Macinnes an opportunity to discuss the complexities of racial and sexual politics in a rapidly changing society.

A great read, with a wry humour strung through it.

[Bledlow]

I'm getting into Mr Love & Justice, by Colin Macinnes. 

I think I read that 35 years ago. Good book.

My age is showing.

[jogler]

Mary Queen of Scots:Antonia Fraser

[Deborah]

Mary Queen of Scots:Antonia Fraser

Her books on the wife of King Henry VIII is good too.

[LindaG]

I've just finished the Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I read this a couple of years ago.  I just thought it was a bit self indulgent at the time.  But even now I sometimes find little bits of Cloud Atlas coming back to haunt me.  In retrospect, really rather good.

I'm taking 'Leviathan' back to the library this afternoon.  I've got the new Ian McEwen, 'Solar', on order.   

[jogler]

Mary Queen of Scots:Antonia Fraser

Her books on the wife of King Henry VIII is good too.

I did contemplate that but in the interests of trying different authors I bought David Starkey's book on the same subject.
Thanks for the heads-up anyway.
Next on the agenda is an Elizabeth I biography

[her_welshness]

Mary Queen of Scots:Antonia Fraser

Her books on the wife of King Henry VIII is good too.

And Elizabeth as well 

TBH I did not really like Antonia Fraser's book on Mary Queen of Scots, in fact I thought it was dire. I prefer her sister's books (A S Byatt and Margaret Drabble).

Am just about to start 'Swansea Terminal', by Roger Rees.

I did contemplate that but in the interests of trying different authors I bought David Starkey's book on the same subject.
Thanks for the heads-up anyway.
Next on the agenda is an Elizabeth I biography

[jogler]

I am finding Fraser's style less engaging than that of Linda Porter & David Starkey.

[clarion]

Mary Queen of Scots:Antonia Fraser

Her books on the wife of King Henry VIII is good too.

I did contemplate that but in the interests of trying different authors I bought David Starkey's book on the same subject.
Thanks for the heads-up anyway.
Next on the agenda is an Elizabeth I biography

David Starkey?  David Stab-eye, more like, cause that's what he makes me want to do.  if not his, then mine.  I've heard him on the radio far too much.  How anyone can know so much, yet understand so little, and yet be such a smug, pompous, self-satisfied prig I cannot fathom.

I can stop sitting on the fence if you like

[mattc]

What are we reading at the moment?


      Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes
   

[just what the world obviously needs - library humour]