Whatcha reading?

[Dr. Medulla]

Speaking of writers and jail: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ton-brophy

Yes, I Did It

Lee Harvey Oswald's DIY guide, How To Build a Sniper's Nest at Work, has long been considered the key evidence unearthed by Warren Commission investigators.

[tepista]

69) Vlad III Dracula: The Life and Times of the Historical Dracula - Kurt W. Treptow, convicted paedophile. Audiobook. 2000. Shit and dry, with no life in the prose. Worst book I've finished in years. Not at all nice.

Apparently the parole board let this guy out early because he wrote this book in prison. So, hey, the book may have sucked but at least it got a pedophile out on the streets!

That is so insane.

But he had to put the "convicted" part on the bookcover
edit:

[Dr. Medulla]

Bedtime book

Bruce McCulloch, Let’s Start a Riot. Lovely, low-key tales of being a middle-aged comedian parent. It’s very easy to hear BM’s voice in it all. Clearly a man who can laugh at himself.

[Dr. Medulla]

Finished Bruce McCulloch's book and can't recommend it highly enough to the usual suspects here. His voice—the soft-spoken, self-deprecating Bruce—is clear throughout as he relates stories of his upbringing in a broken home with a drunk, angry dad; with his second family, the Kids, whom he clearly loves dearly; and his third family, with a "Pretty Wife" and two kids. A former angry (but funny) young man who's reached acceptance and some semblance of happiness. Like I said, the usual suspects here will likely find something to nod at, while laughing at his strange sense of self. Kevin's always been my favourite Kid, but this book makes a strong case for wanting to be Bruce's friend.

Next up:

Paul Gorman, The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren. Almost finished re-reading Bromberg and then realized I had this but never read it (eBook piracy: accumulate more than you can read or even keep track of!). So I'll dig into another interpretation of this clever sociopathic reptile's life.

Audiobook:

David Bodanis, Einstein's Greatest Mistake. I've listened to a few of Bodanis' books before, as he's a decent entry into the world of physics. This is mostly for entertainment, tho.

Re. Lasch's posthumous book. Well, much as I appreciate his disgruntled leftist-turned-conservative stance, this one is mostly grouchiness and strawmen. There are some useful critiques of the left, especially within academia, but he treats traditional views, the ones espoused by the right (more or less), as not worthy of interrogation. Even if a lot of cultural leftist ideas have aged poorly and goofy, that's no excuse to give the object of their critique a free ride. Still, his complaints about narcissistic victimhood provides some good humour now that it's white conservatives—his nominal audience—who are freebasing that shit.

[revbob]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

That … is for a very specific audience.

Up for an award...
https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2022/05/3 ... shortlist/

[Silent Majority]

70) The Compound Effect - Darren Hardy. Audiobook. 2010. I enjoyed my previous dose of self-help bullshit, Atomic Habits. The guy who wrote that one emphasised the fact that there are improvements to be made in your life, outside of the competitive, rigged system that we live in and made helpful suggestions. This one feels not only a grift, but a poorly managed one by a total prick, a besuited walking fake smile who wants to drop names, brag about net worth, and mistakes humbleness for weakness. The ideas are fine, as they were when they appeared in other books in this genre, but the presentation is so greasy and sleazy that you'd be forgiven for completely ignoring them and not making those changes that could actually benefit you slightly. The best of these books remind us that we have a degree of accountability and ownership in our own lives and encourages us to take responsibility for our own happiness, like a cheerleader. The worst want to suck out our cash while the author sucks his own dick.

71) A Numbers Game - RJ Dark. Kindle. 2020. An excellent modern crime thriller with a great sense of humour and a darkness at its heart. The northern working class setting is clearly written from personal experience and the characters - some exaggerated to be realer than real - are three dimensional and plausible. Greedily read and highly recommended. In an example of extremely inefficient marketing, I bought this after the author explained the premise to me over a pint.

72) The Plough and the Stars - Sean O'Casey. 1926. Play read on Kindle. A play that luxuriates in the sound and the beauty of every day Dublin dialogue written a decade after the Easter Rising it is set around. It reminds us never to glorify any war, chaos or battle that happened regardless of the reasons or results, with the brutal human cost laid out before us.

[Dr. Medulla]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

That … is for a very specific audience.

Up for an award...
https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2022/05/3 ... shortlist/

Good for her (not sarcasm)!

[laxman]

I see my old friend has had her book published. I should probably read it.

‘The First National Museum’: Dublin’s Natural History Museum in the mid-nineteenth century

That … is for a very specific audience.

Up for an award...
https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2022/05/3 ... shortlist/

Good for her (not sarcasm)!

Agreed. I like that the eligibility criteria includes "its author’s first solely written history book". A great way to recognise new talent in that particular field of work.

[Silent Majority]

73) Hornblower and the Hotspur - CS Forester. 1962. Audiobook. The third chronologically in the series and I think the fifth I've read. I'm continuing to have fun with this British navy's ship's captain during the Napoleonic wars and will get to the follow up very soon indeed. Not literary but mass market with a stiff upper lip and an extremely English repressed, controlled main character who is a good captain. Clearly a big influence on the Next Generation.

74) Defying Gravity - Roger McGough. Book of poetry. 1991. Paperback. A fine poet, funny and moving. Compared to some of my favourite rappers, he is quick to let a line a lie and my preference is for involved, multi-layered use of language, rhythm and rhyme. That's what impresses me and McGough has a winning, conversational, likable style with at least the feeling of not being torturously over-edited.

75) Henry V - William Shakespeare. 1599. Play, read on Kindle and listened to. This has the most approving portrayal of any king that I've yet to read from Shakespeare and he's still a brutal, immature guy who's easily manipulated.

76) Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, The Early Years - Alex Ogg. 2014. Kindle. Neat rundown of the start of a band that's grown in my affections and respect lately.

[tepista]

The Fall, the 2nd of the Strain trilogy. Not as much a page turner as the first, but still good. I'll start the 3rd after a break.

[Dr. Medulla]

The Fall, the 2nd of the Strain trilogy. Not as much a page turner as the first, but still good. I'll start the 3rd after a break.

Does it cover vampire Mark E. Smith attacking vampire Julia Nagle in New York?

[margaret45678]

The Fall, the 2nd of the Strain trilogy. Not as much a page turner as the first, but still good. I'll start the 3rd after a break.

Omg I'm reading the 3rd right now! I don't think it's much of a page turner either but then the whole series was slightly spoilt for me b/c I watched the TV show first. Still pretty enjoyable to read though!

[tepista]

The Fall, the 2nd of the Strain trilogy. Not as much a page turner as the first, but still good. I'll start the 3rd after a break.

Omg I'm reading the 3rd right now! I don't think it's much of a page turner either but then the whole series was slightly spoilt for me b/c I watched the TV show first. Still pretty enjoyable to read though!

The first book though, that was spectacular, not one dull page! I loved the show, I'm looking forward to rewatching it and catch the differences. I almost always see the show/movie first, I can't even think of one incident where it was the other way around.

[tepista]

[Joe Public]

Beware of statistical mechanics, I guess....
I just started to reread Robert Anton Wilson's "Illuminatus!" trilogy after about twenty years or so. My wife just read it for the first time, and I've kinda forgotten a lot of it, so what the hell?