The Bookworm’s Thread 2018

CurlyTop

Ooh I'very also remembered books by Melody Carson...... usually 99p on Kindle around Christmas time.

VfM4meplse

Book 51:



9/10. I spotted this in the library and throughly enjoyed it, as with many books it was so much better than the entertaining BBC dramatisation. I hadn't taken notice of this period of U.K. political history - it was the decade immediately prior to my birth, and for some reason that remained an unexplored vacuum. Possibly because the civil rights movement and pop culture defined much of that decade? Truth is stranger than fiction: the phrase "you couldn't make it up" was made for this book! I'm not hugely keen on fiction that doesn't speak to me, but I found I could relate to the author's writing style well. And despite the lies and skullduggery, I really warmed to Peter Bessell. People really knew how to live in those days, including Norman Scott.

I also read No man’s land; How Britain’s inner city young are being failed by Shaun Bailey, mainly to find out more about this London Mayoral candidate. I would guess that much of this is the truth as he sees it, but I wasn't overly impressed by some of the sweeping statements he made about multiculturalism in Brent. I could probably retaliate with one or two about the roots of the common ancestry he referred to - after all this is Black History Month.

pollypenny wrote: »

Lincoln in the Bardo. Last year's Booker winner from George Saunders

Amazing! Told by various spirits. I could not put it down.

This is on my list, along with "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty. I have yet to find either in a chazzer, but good things come to those who wait :A

greentiger

Thanks, Callie and Curly Top. I'm sure I'll fin some from all the suggestions I've had. I'll start at the library.

VfM4meplse

Book 52:




7/10. I picked this up in order to get my head around the religion, and found that unlike theologies based on the OT it was anything but clear cut. Although it clarified lots of cultural aspects of the belief system to me, it was intellectually challenging in parts, there were times when I wished I hadn't even opened it, particularly the 20 pages after p130. Thankfully it got a bit easier after that, when it talked about key figure's from India's history and the multitude of interpretations they gave to Hinduism. Conclusion: I'm slightly wiser, but I still don't get it and doubt that there is a single person on this planet that does!! Just how much of it I'm actually going to retain is questionable but I've given it a go

Back to Black History Month for me, at least I can understand that without too much difficulty.

Wednesday2000

I've want to get through a few books in the next couple of weeks as I have fallen into the trap of buying books that interest me and not getting around to reading them!

I have 52 books on my kindle as of this morning.:o

I have started You are a Badass (a self help book) so I will finish that some time today.

I bought the Malory Towers books too. I think it was a few people on here that mentioned them a while back. I read them when I was younger, but would like to read them again.:)

Syman

Just finished book 60 for the year (so Far)



Quite an engaging story based around female spies during WWI.

Some of it is based on facts, which made it more interesting.

VfM4meplse

Book 53:



7/10. A short and easy evening read, although as the author points out, writing a short story is just as hard as writing a long one. All six vignettes gave a snapshot of the ties between Jamaica and mother country, the conditioning, pre-conceptions and challenges that went with it as reality kicked in. Not her finest work, but each story was designed to provoke thought.

VfM4meplse

Book 54:



9/10. An amazing book, and one that I think should be on the national curriculum at KS3 (once the F-word has been edited out). I was confused at first, but by page 5 I'd realised what was going on and loved the humour and ridicule. This is the kind of book that will open eyes to the most basic kind of ignorance. One thing that bothered me slightly: I couldn't actually date the era, although the age it was set in was certainly before the digital, and probably the industrial age.

VfM4meplse

Book 55:



7/10. This was a narrative of Raoul Moat's last week on earth before he went on a fatal shooting spree, based on his previous diaries and notes. To start with, he sounded like a character you could have some sympathy with, but as it progressed the narrative revealed where his version of events diverged from the truth and tis attempts to justify his were pitiful. So yes, there were mental health problems but he didn't much help himself either. His two sidekicks were beyond belief, they treated this like a game they could cash in on at the end and got their just desserts. The immediate police debrief was incredibly sparse, but may have reflected the fact that he was going round targeting police.

Although I remember the reporting of the case, I'd forgotten what a steroid-laden meathead he was until I googled him.

VfM4meplse

Book 55:



7.5/10. This was fairly quick to get through, and very readable. It reminded me of the kind of article you'd find in the Sunday Times Magazine, just a bit longer. I have 3 of Jon Ronson's books on my shelf, but had held off reading them because although I'd heard good things about them, I was somewhat put off by the author's TED appearances. He's got a better presence on paper, so I'm now more inclined to read the others.