New now reading

[clive gash]

You need to read the books in their original, New English, vernacular.

[Snarfyguy]

I found this lying around somewhere (the book, not me). Never heard of the guy (assuming it's a guy). Mostly pretty good short stories in a sci-fi vein.

[Darkness_Fish]

[copehead]

Worlds of Arthur - Guy Halsall

A book by an Historian debunking most of the pseudo-histories of King Arthur which are all based on around 5 extant manuscripts none of which were written as what we would call histories.

After doing that and going through the archaeology of the period and the, very tedious, textual analysis of stuff like Bede and the Historium Britannicaum ( spelling ) and Gildas he lays out some of his own ideas which are rather more interesting than the simple - there is no evidence of an historical Arthur.

Macsen Gwledig/Magnus Maximus was the same person as Vortigern, which isn't a name so much as a sobriquet.

There was no Saxon invasion of England in the mid 5th century

Britain wasn't cut off from the rest of Europe and was hit by the same societal disintegration of the rest of the NW Roman Empire after the retreat of the Roman state to Italy.

His theory is that that when Maximus left Britain to usurp the Empire he stripped Britain of most of its legions in order to do battle and these armies never returned.

Before he left he put in Place Saxon and Irish fedoratae to guard Britain at his rear .

As the years progressed and Roman reach fell back these people were left in place so when Roman control of Britain collapsed completely they were left in place.

There were obviously wars then between Britons and Saxons but these Saxons had already been in place in Britain for generations by that point and had been slowly increasing in number as kin migrated from NW Germany.

So there is no Hengist and Horsa and Saxon invasion fleets off the White Cliffs just Saxon Roman auxiliaries cut off during the retreat of Rome.

He points out that similar things happened else where - Merovingian Franks in the Loire valley, the Vandals meandering all the way through France and Spain until coming to rest in Tunisia.

It was just English historians seeing England as a special case and not seeing it in the wider post-Roman NW European setting.

And also people reading too much into a scant few texts that were written for political and religious reasons at the time without thought for posterity.

He is an expert on this period in a wider context and reevaluates the evidence in comparison to what was happening in Germania, Gaul and other Roman provinces rather than treating England/Britain as a unique case.

And what happened with the Saxons in England wasn't rare just given great significance because it was our national story

Anyway Deebank will love/hate it if it wasn't him that recommended it to me.

[Insouciant Western People]

I've managed to get hold of this at a reasonable price, which I'm very chuffed about:





Also got this on the go at the moment, which is rather good, a collection of Cthulhu Mythos stories:

[Deebank]

Worlds of Arthur - Guy Halsall

A book by an Historian debunking most of the pseudo-histories of King Arthur which are all based on around 5 extant manuscripts none of which were written as what we would call histories.

After doing that and going through the archaeology of the period and the, very tedious, textual analysis of stuff like Bede and the Historium Britannicaum ( spelling ) and Gildas he lays out some of his own ideas which are rather more interesting than the simple - there is no evidence of an historical Arthur.

Macsen Gwledig/Magnus Maximus was the same person as Vortigern, which isn't a name so much as a sobriquet.

There was no Saxon invasion of England in the mid 5th century

Britain wasn't cut off from the rest of Europe and was hit by the same societal disintegration of the rest of the NW Roman Empire after the retreat of the Roman state to Italy.

His theory is that that when Maximus left Britain to usurp the Empire he stripped Britain of most of its legions in order to do battle and these armies never returned.

Before he left he put in Place Saxon and Irish fedoratae to guard Britain at his rear .

As the years progressed and Roman reach fell back these people were left in place so when Roman control of Britain collapsed completely they were left in place.

There were obviously wars then between Britons and Saxons but these Saxons had already been in place in Britain for generations by that point and had been slowly increasing in number as kin migrated from NW Germany.

So there is no Hengist and Horsa and Saxon invasion fleets off the White Cliffs just Saxon Roman auxiliaries cut off during the retreat of Rome.

He points out that similar things happened else where - Merovingian Franks in the Loire valley, the Vandals meandering all the way through France and Spain until coming to rest in Tunisia.

It was just English historians seeing England as a special case and not seeing it in the wider post-Roman NW European setting.

And also people reading too much into a scant few texts that were written for political and religious reasons at the time without thought for posterity.

He is an expert on this period in a wider context and reevaluates the evidence in comparison to what was happening in Germania, Gaul and other Roman provinces rather than treating England/Britain as a unique case.

And what happened with the Saxons in England wasn't rare just given great significance because it was our national story

Anyway Deebank will love/hate it if it wasn't him that recommended it to me.

Read it years ago bruv. If I didn't recommend it to you dad may have... and I gave it to him for his birthday, natch.

[Matt Wilson]

Running with the Devil

Absolutely fascinating chronicle of Van Halen by their disgruntled manager from '78 - '85. He dishes dirt aplenty. Basically, there's nothing here a fan hasn't already sussed out, but it's fun to have all of one's suspicions validated. Roth was an egomaniac almost unmatched in rock history, Edward is rather shy and complacent - content to concentrate on the music, Alex is a complete asshole - even going so far as to hit on the author's wife, and Michael Anthony was by far the nicest one and never had a bad word to say about anybody. For his troubles the other three cut him out of royalties in 1984. There are so many stories which were fun to read about. The Van Halen brothers were both alcoholics and the entire band (save perhaps Michael) abused coke religiously.

Anyway, highly entertaining and a must-read for VH fans.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-hale ... the-devil/

[Darkness_Fish]

I just started this last night, but the opening few pages haven't grabbed me. I'll give it a bit more time, but it hasn't leapt off the page in the way that Shadow of the Wind did.

[Fonz]

Running with the Devil

Absolutely fascinating chronicle of Van Halen by their disgruntled manager from '78 - '85. He dishes dirt aplenty. Basically, there's nothing here a fan hasn't already sussed out, but it's fun to have all of one's suspicions validated. Roth was an egomaniac almost unmatched in rock history, Edward is rather shy and complacent - content to concentrate on the music, Alex is a complete asshole - even going so far as to hit on the author's wife, and Michael Anthony was by far the nicest one and never had a bad word to say about anybody. For his troubles the other three cut him out of royalties in 1984. There are so many stories which were fun to read about. The Van Halen brothers were both alcoholics and the entire band (save perhaps Michael) abused coke religiously.

Anyway, highly entertaining and a must-read for VH fans.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/van-hale ... the-devil/

Yo dude!

I'm reading this too.

Interesting...

[joels344]

Well, here we go:

[toomanyhatz]

The main theme of this one seems to be that he's been treated unfairly by history and is not the redneck racist bully of his reputation.

So far so good - interesting semi-conversational writing style (in constant semi-detached reference to the context of the times) and obviously exhaustive research.

Too early in the book for me to judge how good a case he makes, but he's got my attention, at least...

[mentalist (slight return)]

About half way through this. Shows clearly just how debilitating the cold war mindset was for the CIA. Their determination to kick the Russians out of Afghanistan at any cost resulted in the giving a huge leg-up to a dangerous foe.

[Darkness_Fish]

Well, here we go:

The Zampano essay on The Navidson Record is a sublime piece of writing, the early description of the house subtly altering its dimensions is one of the eeriest pieces of literature I've encountered. The Johnny Truant narrative becomes a bit overcooked, in my opinion, and doesn't feel particularly convincing to me as it develops. Definitely an interesting, worthwhile novel though.

Incidentally, not a similar book at all, but if you find you've become a fan of writing about imaginary films, Paul Auster's Book of Illusions descriptions of non-existent silent films are even better than Danielewski's.

[Darkness_Fish]

Rocking the dad lit. Violence is good, so long as it's bad guys gettin' whupped.

[Six String]

I've been on a serious Jim Harrison fix lately.
The Big Seven
The Raw and The Cooked
A Really Big Lunch
Off To The Side
and in the batting circle
Legends Of The Fall

[Snarfyguy]

Erskine Caldwell - Tobacco Road
Keith Morris - My Damage (Black Flag singer's memoir)

[harvey k-tel]

I've been on a serious Jim Harrison fix lately.
The Big Seven
The Raw and The Cooked
A Really Big Lunch
Off To The Side
and in the batting circle
Legends Of The Fall

I just started 'Returning To Earth' last night! I really enjoy his writing.

[Darkness_Fish]

[Jimbo]

With Korea in the news lately the audio version of this caught my attention and half way through it is shaping up to be one of the best war movies I have ever heard. I didn't know much about the Korean War and now I know a little bit more. Told from a variety of perspectives, each chapter is a different POV. There are generals, captains, sergeants, grunts and the same from the Chinese side. Changing one's socks and changing them often was a big deal back then.

[clive gash]

Helped me get a low score on Pointless yesterday, cheers!