I loved Strange & Norrell back in the day. This in the same league?Raiziel wrote:27. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Read for book club
b0r1s wrote:@Raiziel finished Foundation last night and you were spot on with your take on it. It really is pretty much talking. I like the feel of it and can imagine some of the worlds he invents but dramatically it just does nothing. Will definitely be interesting to see how they pull something together for the show.
Gremill wrote:14. Ninefox Gambit (Yoon Ha Lee) Set in an empire that derives its technological power from a combination of mathematics, faith and a very specific calendar of observances and rituals, this was quite a thing. It never really explains much to you and is at times borderline incomprehensible, but I ended up really enjoying it. In order to crush a calendrical heresy occuring at a heavily defended nexus fort in deep space, the Hexarchate send a military maths prodigy possessed by the ghost of a 400 year old insane genocidal legendary general. They have a variety of extremely nasty sounding weapons at their disposal (carrion bombs, threshold winnowers, amputation guns etc) to do so, but is the spirit of Shuos Jedau, the undead madman, as crazy as he seems? Or is he planning something bigger? Daft as fuck but well written and didn't take itself too seriously.
davyK wrote:And thus ends my reading of The Second World War by Winston Spencer Churchill.
What a literary achievement this is. Six volumes. 1.5m words (1.9 with the appendices). A herculean task of documentation and historic endeavor - especially given his bitter disappointment at how things ended in Europe and how he couldn't finish the job when barely a year after D-day he was booted out of power.
Of course this is very much a single person's view of events and even though the majority of events are illustrated with transcripts of speeches/memos/letters/telegrams at the time one always has to take a view of the war through that lens. But what an effort this man put in over the 5 years. I know he had his faults but this war was in his opinion avoidable (the 1st volume covers the multiple occasions when in his opinion it could have been pre-emptively killed off) and his efforts playing his role in the multi-theatre conflict - for a man of any age never mind his - will in all liklihood never be repeated.
This account is mainly in the European theatre but there is good coverage of the exploits on the Pacific rim and the Americans' fight in the Pacific albeit with less detail - so it remains a brilliant account of the war and a unique view of it as its taken by the one leader who was there from start to finish - a man who took part in cavalry charges and ended up having his finger in the UK nuke button when he was returned to PM in the 50s.
The man was great with a pen (though his method of "writing" was dictation) and his turns of phrase at times are superb. When he relates little asides where humour shown through he becomes eminently quotable. There are some gems of passages throughout this. He also describes some of the events resulting in the distruction of enemy ships etc with relish. The man had the stomach for it - no doubt about that - and maybe that is just as well.
A unique piece of work I'd recommend to anyone who has an interest in the second world war. The first volume can be hard to wade through as it is largely all about the politics and Churchill's exasperation at the appeasement of Hitler and the resistance to begin the building of arms.
I think it's time for some fiction now.
Raiziel wrote:34. Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier. So this is a fun little romp around Venice as a couple, grieving the loss of a child, encounter a couple of strange old ladies and find their holiday take a turn for the strange. I think there might be film adaptation, but I’ve not seen it. Excellent prose, reminds me a bit of Shirley Jackson.
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!