New now reading

in reality, all of this has been a total load of old bollocks
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Diamond Dog
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Re: New now reading

Postby Diamond Dog » 08 Jun 2019, 10:58

Diamond Dog wrote:Image

Only just started this but it already looks to be a fascinating insight into how land was originally acquired in England, how the law has been amended over the centuries to make it incredibly difficult to actually trace who owns what - and why those that own it really don't want you to know they do....and the influence (and wealth) it attracts.


It's a very, very good book - but not really about the subject matter promised.

The author has a clear political leaning which means the book becomes very much a tome about how 'the rich' have dispossessed 'the poor' since the Norman Conquest, to acquire more and more land and hide that ownership through various schemes and tricks. The book also highlights how something as (seemingly) simple as the Land Registry is still only 80% complete, despite being set up over 150 years ago!

It is a really good book - but takes an age to arrive at its conclusions... which only partly answer the question in the books title.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Snarfyguy » 11 Jun 2019, 16:24

Image

Not 100% I'm going to stick with this. Marcus writes like a novelist, getting into his characters' heads, and the writing itself is kind of florid and overblown.

But it's also kind of interesting.
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Re: New now reading

Postby mission » 13 Jun 2019, 10:22

Marcus writes like a tendentious but fundamentally incomprehensible windbag. I have wasted hours unpacking his gibberish.

There.
Goodness gracious me.

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Re: New now reading

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 13 Jun 2019, 12:20

I think it may be his most rewarding book, but I haven’t read more than 10 or 15 pages. It’s a project waiting for me that I intend to do, and it’s more feasible than ever since most of what he’s talking about (recording wise) is mostly obtainable.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Diamond Dog » 13 Jun 2019, 20:06

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Mark Forsyth "The Etymologicon".

Continuing on the origin of the English language, this book from Mark Forsyth is an absolute kaleidoscope of randomly linked words, that somehow all fit together in sequence after sequence of brilliantly researched and absolutely fascinating detail.

Quite simply - mesmerising.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 13 Jun 2019, 23:05

About a quarter through ‘Letting Go’ by Philip Roth. I’m sure I would have finished it by now if the print were not so tiny
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Re: New now reading

Postby Diamond Dog » 13 Jul 2019, 06:03

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Elizabeth Day "How To Fail".

Started to read this yesterday and couldn't put it down. It's a wonderfully honest (in places funny, in others painful) account of failures throughout life and how you use those events to your advantage.

It doesn't sound very exciting but it really is!
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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 08 Aug 2019, 10:47

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Book 14. A young Bernie, a newly made homicide detective in Wiemar Germany.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Diamond Dog » 08 Aug 2019, 12:39

Raynor Winn "The Salt Path".

A remarkable true tale of a couple that literally lost everything (home, possessions the lot) at the same time as one of them was diagnosed with a life threatening illness.... Their answer... to 'wild backpack' around the 630 mile South West Coast Path in the UK!! Utterly compelling, heartbreaking yet incredibly redemptive. I can't put it down.

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Re: New now reading

Postby Snarfyguy » 08 Aug 2019, 15:59

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This biography of Andrew Carnegie is rather good, for the most part. I'm juggling it and some short works by James Ellroy:

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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 21 Aug 2019, 04:03

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It took a while, due to other ear related distractions, podcasts, etc., but I finished the last Bernie Gunther book - ever. It was a good one too. Described Weimar Berlin quite well. Not a good place to be a Jew.

Now, on to Ellroy's newest. I have heard no recommendations but it's Ellroy. Might be too dense to finish. It's long. I'll let you know.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Deebank » 21 Aug 2019, 09:39

I've read a few books recently, firstly:

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Because it was cheap but it's actually pretty good. Bowie = lovely genius; Bolan = narcisistic pain in the arse (I may be putting words in his mouth)
Like a lot of these things though there is an extent to which it does verge into Partridge territory from time to time.

Just finishing:

Image

Pretty good. Lots of interesting stuff about bands I like (Cope, Felt/Denim/GKM, E&TB, J&MC etc) and he's a decent writer although perhaps a little too impressed with the (often tedious IMO) KLF, K Foundation shenanigans (covered in a more entertaining way in John Higgs' book). Highly recommended nonetheless.

And by way of contrast:

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Depressingly of its time sequel to The Rotters Club and The Closed Circle.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Brickyard Jack » 21 Aug 2019, 09:59

Snarfyguy wrote:Image

This biography of Andrew Carnegie is rather good, for the most part.


I once read a biography of him, written in about 1910.

What a tosser he was. I know he gave a lot of money away, libraries and all that, but Christ he ground his employees into the dust.

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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 21 Aug 2019, 10:34

A. Excuse me, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?
B. Practice, practice, practice.
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Re: New now reading

Postby ` » 22 Aug 2019, 11:35

Bring it on Home: Peter Grant by Mark Blake (sorry pic won't load)

Very readable and ultimately surprisingly sympathetic assessment of a hugely complex man. While a pivotal figure in rock who fought incredibly hard to get his acts their due, he was ultimately destroyed by the baser excesses his success enabled him to indulge. Although suitably chastened towards the end of his life, he never quite managed to make up for the unpleasant things he did while riding high.

Be careful what you wish for and all that!

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Re: New now reading

Postby Diamond Dog » 22 Aug 2019, 18:17

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Arrived fresh today - looks to be a fantastic release.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Snarfyguy » 23 Aug 2019, 05:06

Positive Passion wrote:
Snarfyguy wrote:Image

This biography of Andrew Carnegie is rather good, for the most part.


I once read a biography of him, written in about 1910.

What a tosser he was. I know he gave a lot of money away, libraries and all that, but Christ he ground his employees into the dust.

I think this is the first "modern" biography of his, so it's a more even-handed (which is to say critical) affair than older ones.

For what its worth, I have no particular interest in the subject person; I just like reading about how people lived in certain times and places if the story is well told.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Fonz » 23 Aug 2019, 22:03

Jimbo wrote:Image

It took a while, due to other ear related distractions, podcasts, etc., but I finished the last Bernie Gunther book - ever. It was a good one too. Described Weimar Berlin quite well. Not a good place to be a Jew.

Now, on to Ellroy's newest. I have heard no recommendations but it's Ellroy. Might be too dense to finish. It's long. I'll let you know.



This has gone under my radar. How’s it going? I’m a big Ellroy fan, though the thematic thesaurus thelodopia alliterative allegorical agrarian ag.., oh, whatever, became a trial.
In short, what’s the story?
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Re: New now reading

Postby Fonz » 23 Aug 2019, 22:05

Positive Passion wrote:
Snarfyguy wrote:Image

This biography of Andrew Carnegie is rather good, for the most part.


I once read a biography of him, written in about 1910.

What a tosser he was. I know he gave a lot of money away, libraries and all that, but Christ he ground his employees into the dust.


He looks like a cunt, judging by that picture.
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Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 23 Aug 2019, 23:35

Fonz wrote:
It took a while, due to other ear related distractions, podcasts, etc., but I finished the last Bernie Gunther book - ever. It was a good one too. Described Weimar Berlin quite well. Not a good place to be a Jew.

Now, on to Ellroy's newest. I have heard no recommendations but it's Ellroy. Might be too dense to finish. It's long. I'll let you know.



This has gone under my radar. How’s it going? I’m a big Ellroy fan, though the thematic thesaurus thelodopia alliterative allegorical agrarian ag.., oh, whatever, became a trial.
In short, what’s the story?[/quote]

If you love short sentences, so far, it's great. This is audio and I often fall asleep midstream and end up listening twice to a chapter and amazingly the second listen is much better. It'll take forever to finish. I didn't realize it would be a sequel from the previous Ellroy, Perfidiua, which is fine by me. It's violent and politically incorrect but I'm learning the history of wartime LA when there are Japs under every bed. It's Ellroy. I'm digging it just don't know if I can finish it.
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