April 2022 Reading Thread

[HareBrain]

great movie, the one in black and white.

The one with Edward Fox was in colour.

 

[Vertigo]

The one with Edward Fox was in colour.

Indeed the book was 1971 which was well into the colour era! However I do seem to recall that the film had a very gritty monochrome sort of feel to it!

 

[Zach777]

Red Rising now, borrowed from my brother-in-law, though it is pretty water damaged so I might have to get myself a copy.

 

[hitmouse]

William Dalrymple "The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company" (2019)
The main focus is on India @1750 to @1800 and documents how the East India Company moved from being "a few traders who have not yet learned to wash their bottoms" (as described in 1756 by a disgruntled envoy) to unchallenged rulers. It's well researched, with access to E.I.C. original documents in the National Archives of India. A particular strength is its use of a number of contemporary accounts, both Indian and French some of which had not been previously translated. It was admiringly reviewed just about everywhere on publication.
Much like Herbert's "Dune" it took me a good few pages to get to understand who was who and to stop mixing up my Mughals with my Marathas and my Nawabs with my Nizams, but I found it very interesting reading, and a healthy counterbalance to the narrative put to me at school.
One interesting point relates to the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773, in that I hadn't realised that one of the motivating factors for the Tea Party (using East India Company tea of course) was a fear that the British Government would turn over administration of taxes in America to the East India Company. By this time, accounts of the sheer corruption and extortion of the EIC's agents in Bengal while ignoring the plight of the millions dying horrifically in the 1771 famine, had been well publicised. As a significant number of the British Parliament were in the pockets of the EIC as shareholders, anything was possible.

A good book, and Dalrymple is a reliably excellent writer. For additional perspective I recommend Calcutta by Christopher Moorhouse. The EIC was a deeply cynical and unpleasant organisation.

 

[Quokka]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992) and I am bouncing back and forth between being interested and struggling with it. The IT predictions are great but the satirical humour is more hit and miss.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth.

The book and film are very close. The later film which was remake was set in America, and is not even close. Apparently around the time the novel was released, there was a hue and cry about getting a passport in someone's name, which is described in detail in the novel.

 

[Hugh]

A good book, and Dalrymple is a reliably excellent writer. For additional perspective I recommend Calcutta by Geoffrey Moorhouse. The EIC was a deeply cynical and unpleasant organisation.

Many thanks - I've noted the recommendation. I'll definitely be reading more Dalrymple in due course.

 

[dask]

 

[Dave Vicks]

Emily Dickinson. J Michael Straczynski,
& Matthew Walker.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

The Imposters, Toby Frost.
first three chapters get you into the story.

 

[The Big Peat]

I have just hit my first DNF in a month or so. Jack Vance's Eyes of the Overworld has a self-important knobcheese for a MC, and everyone uses four words when one would do. Shame, as the first Tales from the Dying Earth was really dope. This might be the first time I've preferred an author's short stories to long form.

The book and film are very close. The later film which was remake was set in America, and is not even close. Apparently around the time the novel was released, there was a hue and cry about getting a passport in someone's name, which is described in detail in the novel.

Only closed that loophole fairly recently, if I recall.

 

[redzwritez]

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. I've been reading it for a bit now but I'm a bit of a slow reader so I'm just wandering through at my own speed for now. I also started rereading The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. We were on holiday and it's one of my favourite books so why not?

 

[Parson]

A little catching up.

I finished two "Miss Fortune" books. Lethal Bayou Beauty and Swamp Sniper by Jana Deleon. This is a long series and these two were not quite as side splitting as the first book Louisiana Longshot. But I did enjoy them. I'm not going to buy another one soon, but when I want a break from my regular reading these can easily be on the menu.

Right now I'm flying through @Kerrybuchanan's Deadly Shores. It's book 3 of her Harvey & Birch series and it is another Crackerjack of a book. I'll review it shortly.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Thank you so much x

 

[tobl]

Never by Ken Follett.
Never
I'm not saying is a bad writer because he isn't. But the man begun writing spy novels. Too bad he returned to it after writing historical novels

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I made my way quickly through The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook (2010 reprint of the 1984 edition of the 1954 original) by Alice B. Toklas, skipping the recipes (mostly French cooking in the Julia Childs style) and concentrating on her reminiscences of being with Gertrude Stein in France during both World Wars, as well as excursions to Spain, the USA, etc. The book does contain the infamous "Hashish Fudge" recipe, although that's in the chapter collecting recipes from other people.

I am now well into All the Countries the Americans Ever Invaded: Making Friends and Influencing People? (2015) by Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock, an informal encyclopedia of nations in which the USA had some military involvement, from colonial times to the 21st century. It's a sequel to Stuart Laycock's All the Countries We've Ever Invaded: And the Few we Never Got Round To (2013.) The "we" refers to Britain.

 

[Dave]

Just started the new 9th Ben Aaronovitch 'Rivers of London' 'Peter Grant' book... Among Our Weapons.

I got stick here for buying my last book at a knock-down price from a supermarket, and for not supporting authors or independent bookshops. This was from Forbidden Planet and £2 off the full hardback price. I hope some of the unreasonably high price reaches him!

I'm a little confused though. It was advertised as a "Times Bestseller." I took one of the only two copies in the whole shop (from out of the window display). It cannot have been on sale for very long (7th April 2022??) Can it really be a bestseller already? Or is that because of advanced sale orders being counted? Or are they being economical with the truth and really mean that the series is a bestseller?

I only read the first few chapters but looks good.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Currently Buzz Aldrin.

 

[The Big Peat]

Just started the new 9th Ben Aaronovitch 'Rivers of London' 'Peter Grant' book... Among Our Weapons.

I got stick here for buying my last book at a knock-down price from a supermarket, and for not supporting authors or independent bookshops. This was from Forbidden Planet and £2 off the full hardback price. I hope some of the unreasonably high price reaches him!

I'm a little confused though. It was advertised as a "Times Bestseller." I took one of the only two copies in the whole shop (from out of the window display). It cannot have been on sale for very long (7th April 2022??) Can it really be a bestseller already? Or is that because of advanced sale orders being counted? Or are they being economical with the truth and really mean that the series is a bestseller?

I only read the first few chapters but looks good.

It is my understanding that advanced orders matter a lot for authors, but also that bestsellers is an arcane and nebulous thing.

 

[williamjm]

I'm a little confused though. It was advertised as a "Times Bestseller." I took one of the only two copies in the whole shop (from out of the window display). It cannot have been on sale for very long (7th April 2022??) Can it really be a bestseller already? Or is that because of advanced sale orders being counted? Or are they being economical with the truth and really mean that the series is a bestseller?

They probably mean that the author is a bestseller. Lots of books have blurbs like that even before they're released.