[Archived] Holiday Reading

[broadsword]

I didn't get past the first page of the Hobbit, I can't stand all that twaddle, load of old crud.

[Flopsy]

oh bryan, the hobbit is a great childrens book and the "Silmarillion" is dense badly written and horrible. There was a dent in our old house's living room wall where it got thrown against out of exasperation

[Cheeky Sidders]

This bloke only got going IMO because of the generous reviews given by his fellow hacks . Fatherland and Archangel are the two I've read ; both very put-downable . A half decent columnist on the Sunday Times though in his time .....

I have to disagree there, Pip. I thought Fatherland started very well and I remember thinking what a great concept it was. For the early part I couldn't put it down. It was only when it reached the 3/4 point that it occurred to me Harris had run out of ideas and didn't know how to end it. I'd say it still worth a read though and far better than Pompeii.

Archangel was altogether better as it was a subject matter I knew well - I did Stalin's use of terror in the 1930s for my dissertation. I found it thoroughly engrossing and having been to Moscow a lot of the locations and the grubbiness of the city were immediately recognisable. I thought it only fell apart in the final section which I won't reveal for fear of spoiling it for others who haven't read it yet.

Pompeii, on the other hand, was tedious for the first half and just when I thought it was really going to get going it rather fizzled out. I visited Pompeii in 2001 and went to the top of Vesuvius and the book completely failed to convey any sense of scale that really rattled me when I was there. First of all the huge chunk of the mountain that was cleaved out by the eruption and secondly the distance that Pompeii is away from Vesuvius seemed to be too far for it to have been at risk. Harris wrote a mediocre book about a subject matter that had massive potetial. I'm told that there is to be a film made about his novel and I only hope it is significantly better than the other pitiful interpretations of his novels. Archangel with Daniel Craig was particularly bad.

Also waiting on my shelf is This Thing Of Darkness by Harry Thompson who has been mentioned by a few others. The reviews are great but it might have to wait awhile as it looks a bit meaty. In any case, I'll have to finish HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brain first (it's the third of the Aubrey/Maturin novels) and I have to say it's nowhere near as good as Master & Commander or Post Captain. Oh well, footy season over soon so plenty of time for a bit more reading.

[Cheeky Sidders]

Back to the top yet again...

I have just finished reading THIS THING OF DARKNESS by Harry Thompson (he that wrote Penguins stopped play and I am absolutely lost for words (almost). In my adult life I've read well over 200 novels - some good, some awful, a few great. This Thing Of Darkness is simply the best book I have ever read.

For those that don't know, it tells the tale of Charles Darwin and the largely forgotten Robert FitzRoy. While Darwin is well-remembered and even features on bank notes, FitzRoy seems to have slipped from the world's memory. A crying shame for the man who should be as familar to us as Drake, Raleigh and perhaps even Nelson. I found the book hard to put down, never skimmed a single word of the 750 pages of this rip-roaring yarn very closely based on real and often extaordinary events, laughed out loud many times, learned so much about a period of world history I knew absolutely nothing of before and found myself with tears in my eyes three times. Oh alright, four times. Who would have thought that an old cynic like me would be so moved by a man who was born on the other side of the world and died over a hundred years before I was born who went by the name of Jemmy Button?

Sadly, it was Harry Thompson's only novel, although he wrote a number of other non-fiction books, before his remarkable life was cut short at such a tragically young age and that saddens me as much as anything. But if you're only going to write one novel it might as well be a classic.

If you only read one book ever again, let it be this.

[colin]

If you only read one book ever again, let it be this.

Just reserved it on-line from Manchester City Council library service.

Your judgement has been pretty good in the past.

May I recommend anything by Colin Bateman for a darn good light-hearted read. He comes from Northern Ireland so he's got a bit of background in his tales.

[Wiggy]

If you only read one book ever again, let it be this.

Well I've just ordered it as well, though it's 4-6 weeks delivery from Amazon. Keep at the Aubrey/Maturin sea sagas. I'm on the ninth now ( Treason's Harbour ) and although some are better than others, I'm always shipped off into another world. Generally they really are superb.

Edited July 2, 2007 by Wiggy

[Cheeky Sidders]

I wholeheartedly agree, Wiggy, and find the Aubrey/Maturin books to be most absorbing, although I find that the pace slackens a great deal whenerver they were on land. I will be on book 4 (Mauritius Command) when I resume them in a few weeks. I'm told by a neighbour who has read all of them several times that HMS Surprise is one of the weaker books and O'Brian gets back to his best in book 4. I sincerely hope so as I found book 3 to be far weaker than Master & Commander and the excellent Post Captain.

This Thing Of Darkness has often been compared to the Aubrey/Maturin books but I think it's superficial. For a start it (TTOD) is a lot easier to read and the characters far more sympathetic, especially FitzRoy, but then that's maybe because they are based on real people going through real events. There's also a greater supporting cast in TTOD and I found myself wanting to know more about the other officers (many of whom went on to very great things) and the Fuegians, especially Jemmy. Alas, Wikipedia says little, but there is a biography of the late Mr Button out there so I'll have to track that down. Anyway, Harry Thompson mentions Patrick O'Brian in his acknowledgements, but I think that was more to do with how a tall ship actually works than much else. FitzRoy is very, very different to Jack Aubrey (and that's a good thing) and Darwin has none of the charm of Stephen Maturin.

Anyway, you and Colin won't be disappointed as it really is something very special.

[blue phil]

Back to the top yet again...

I have just finished reading THIS THING OF DARKNESS by Harry Thompson (he that wrote Penguins stopped play and I am absolutely lost for words (almost). In my adult life I've read well over 200 novels - some good, some awful, a few great. This Thing Of Darkness is simply the best book I have ever read.

Better than David Copperfield ! ?

I don't know how you find the time to read so much , Sidders .....I remember making a vow to read one you recommended eons ago but never got around to it .

I'll try again with this one .

[Cheeky Sidders]

I've never read David Copperfield and my only forays into Dickens have been A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, so I can't make a ready comparison but I have to say Dickens I can take or leave. Where do I find the time to read? Easy, the TV has an off switch, the internet is mostly rubbish and at the age of 36 I realised that I was educated enough (in terms of what I need for my job) and said a resounding "Bo11ocks!" to the world of academia and no longer spend absurd amounts of my time reading dreary academic texts. End result is more time spent larking about in a variety of forms and reading. Mind you, vast amounts of water falling out of the sky during summertime has meant several weekends have been washed out and I've had unexpected amounts of time on my hands.

The book you said you would read, although I think "vow" is going a bit too far, was IMPERIAL GOVERNOR by George Shipway, if I remember rightly. Bloody first class stuff and you should make time for it, but TTOD is better.

[blue phil]

Yep ; that was the one ! I'll make another note of it ...

As for Dickens , they always talk of Great Expectations as being his best . It isn't ; not by a long chalk . DC is simply the best novel I've read . Not that I'm a big novel reader - I always tend to read historical non fiction stuff .

[Flopsy]

Have you tried Schama's 3 Volume History of Britain. Some quite interesting stuff, especially when he gets onto the mindset of the ruling clique during the Irish Famine (incompetance, not focused genocide) and reasons behind the Indian Mutiny, and why the Empire wasnt neccessarily all that great for some of its subjects (his view anyroad) Is quite good.

Well worth a borrow from the Library anyroad.

Armagedon by Max Hastings is an excellent book, although I do see Max writting it whilst wearing an Wermacht uniform.

I dont know whether anyone does SciFi at all, but me being a sad scifi geek and all, some one lent me The Gaunts Ghosts trillogy by Dan Abnett, really well written SciFi

[b12_simon]

I've just finished Richard #########' The God Delusion. A quite amusing, thoroughly well researched and wonderfully written debunking of/attack on religion by a prominent scientist and aetheist.

In my case it's preaching to the (de)converted (raised a Catholic, thought about it, decided it was cobblers, had a lot of arguments at school) but still worth the read. His arguments against religion go further than my own but are hard to fault.

The book ends almost as an ode to science. Setting out the narrowness of our view of the world without science. How our narrow perception of the light spectrum is also true of matter, distance, etc. How our perception of rocks and walls as solid is meaningless to a neutrino, our appreciation of brownian motion is insignificant compared to a bacterium's and of water's suface tension is insignificant compared to a pond skater's. That is almost worth the price of the book alone.

Terrific stuff!

Edited July 5, 2007 by b12_simon

[blue phil]

How our narrow perception of the light spectrum is also true of matter, distance, etc. How our perception of rocks and walls as solid is meaningless to a neutrino, our appreciation of brownian motion is insignificant compared to a bacterium's and of water's suface tension is insignificant compared to a pond skater's.

I think I'll pass on this one .......sounds like a load of old brownian motion to me .

[FourLaneBlue]

I've just finished Richard #########' The God Delusion.

That's amusing...someone's surname is now an obscenity on this forum!

[b12_simon]

That's amusing...someone's surname is now an obscenity on this forum!

How the #### did that happen.

I'll risk a ban and spell it out: D-a-w-k-i-n-s.

Risque stuff eh?

[Flopsy]

Phil, why don't you try it before you dismiss it out of hand.

[broadsword]

How's the Biggles' collection going Flops?

[Flopsy]

no idea? Hows your picking up random objects going?

Why dont you try picking up a book and joining the debate on what good books you could read over the holidays?

Edited July 5, 2007 by Flopsy

[broadsword]

Bloody hell, was only a joke.

Sense of humour failure perhaps?

[Flopsy]

i missed a bloody smilie out didnt I, serves me right for using mobile t'interweb

[blue phil]

Phil, why don't you try it before you dismiss it out of hand.

You're right , Bryan .... he has had a sense of humour failure . Must be on another power trip

[broadsword]

Power trip? Flopsy? Never!

Just been to the bookshop, came across an interesting book called "The ######### Delusion" I wonder how many acolytes of Mr ######### will pick it up with an open mind.

Also bought a moveable feast and The Old Man and the Sea ... and, but don't get too excited Flopsy, a book on the Dambusters.

[blue phil]

don't get too excited Flopsy, a book on the Dambusters.

THIS is probably the only book Flopsy's ever read .....

[Flopsy]

ha ha ha. Where as Mein Kampf, is the only book you reckon is worth reading.

This is rather good though if you liked the Dambuster's book Bryan

[broadsword]

I read an excerpt from that once (I am not saying which 'paper).

Sure it's a good book, but I need to read stories of teh Germans being given a good kicking! :-)