I've been reading Putin's People (hey! Guess what that's about) by Catherine Belton on and off over the last year. Just about over half way now. It's really good, but she doesn't really use paragraphs, so it's quite dense - and depressing.
Books what you is reading
4 months later
Still haven't finished Putin's People, but moved into the world of Audiobooks - mainly because I wanted to listen to Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome. I have no idea what's going on, but it's very funny. I've also got Bob Odenkirk's memoirs to listen to, because I just liked the idea of Bob talking to me for 8 hours.
Anyone read Shantaram? Enjoying it for the most part, but feel like I've been reading it for ages and still barely halfway.
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goon A friend of mine got me it for my birthday about 3 years ago. Despite her telling me it's her favourite book, I looked at the thickness of it and thought, I'm never fucking reading that! I might do one day, but probably not till I've retired - so when I'm 80something...
Anyway, if you make it to the end, let me know if it's worth it.
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Yeah. Someone at work recommended it to me back in 2019. It's taken me 4 years to pluck up the courage. I'm not someone who can read hours on end, mostly limited to my commute and maybe bedtime, so it's slow progress.
Will let you know.
goon I read it many years ago when I was getting into all things Indian. The outsider perspective was pretty compelling to me then. Book itself is pretty pulpy, from what I remember, with a lot of self-aggrandizement on the part of the author.
I remember liking a few bits, and I did read the whole thing, but I am also a completionist by nature.
2 months later
I'm reading Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton at the moment. It's great to have novels set in urban Australia - Brisbane for this, and for his first novel Boy Swallows Universe, which has been made into a Netflix series.
Lola in Mirror is about a houseless girl and her mother who have been on the run since the Mum killed her abusive husband. It's heartbreaking but written in a way that doesn't make it seem like that. It feels hopeful and amazing and personal and funny.
Trent Dalton is quite the author. Boy Swallows Universe is semi autobiographical and this novel follows similar themes of giving a voice to the invisible under class. At one point the girl in Lola stands in the middle of a busy Brisbane street and yells "I am invisible". Of course all the commuters ignore her and keep walking, which validates her point.
I'm hoping he can stick the ending.
Over the summer I also read The Dictionary of Lost Words and it's companion The Bookbinder of Jericho - both by Pip Williams - set amongst the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary in the run up to World War One. Both excellent books.
Asterix
I've not read any of Dalton's books, and to be honest, I've been put off by some fairly negative reviews that have critiqued his portrayals of disadvantage (particularly in this latest book) as being a bit one dimensional and portraying a kind of conservative "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" sentimentality. Maybe I'll have to take a look myself at some point because your assessment does seem fairly positive.
I've been reading some stuff by Nancy Fraser of late. I have to say I find her multidimensional critical anslyses of modern capitalism to be quite robust and convincing.
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MistaT The TV thread reminded me -- how are the second and third book in The Three-Body Problem series?
I found the first one solid, but also (at times) a chore to read due to the non-linear plot, multitude of characters, and technical topics. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but need some assurance on the second and third before embarking on another dive.
This has been sitting on my bookshelf for so long, I probably should read it if Klaus says it's worth it!
Read Megan Nolan's new novel in the last few days as a change from all the history non fiction I've been plowing through. Also as I'm pondering writing again and feel I should see how some contemporaries are doing it. Finished her book in a day; very readable, although it wasn't really my bag. I'm impressed by the way she writes the inner life of her characters though. Felt real.
Finished The Pursuit of Power by Richard Evans yesterday; masterful. Started afterwards on King & Woolman's book on Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Chotek. I read two earlier biographies on them recently (by Pauli and Brook-Shepherd) and so far I'm enjoying the changes in perspective offered. Such a dramatic period of history. Have another biography of them by a German author, but I'm long fingering that one as I don't understand German... 
Pepe LeFrits This has been sitting on my bookshelf for so long, I probably should read it if Klaus says it's worth it!
Me too! I bought the series after Klaus' recommendation. Started the first book and then left it for a bit (can't remember why) and when I went back to it couldn't remember a bloody thing about the characters. I actually spotted it on my bookshelf just the other day and thought I must give that another go.
Sidebar - I really wish Klaus was still around here. Hope he's doing well.
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The trailer for the TV series looked bad to me, so at the very least it's probably preferable to read the books.
Daz I didn't feel that at all when reading it, but then I'm not particularly academically inclined - I just like reading a good story. This is really a love story. If people are looking for a story that really portrays a gritty, realistic and honest look at the issues of homelessness (or houselessness as Dalton puts "I've got a home, it's just not a house") then maybe then isn't the book for them. It's about goodies versus baddies in it's simplest sense. But having written that I might be being unfair. If you just wrote down the things that happen in this story in dot point form it's quite awful, but his writing elevates it into something much more than that.
I said I hoped he stuck the ending, and for me it was probably a 7.5 or 8 out of ten.
Daz I really wish Klaus was still around here. Hope he's doing well.
I keep in touch with him every few months or so, and he probably wouldn't mind me mentioning he's doing well. Off living the dream on Gotland a lot of the time.
Daz Me too! I bought the series after Klaus' recommendation. Started the first book and then left it for a bit (can't remember why) and when I went back to it couldn't remember a bloody thing about the characters. I actually spotted it on my bookshelf just the other day and thought I must give that another go.
It was pretty good, keeps on being fun and different as it goes. Read it quite a while ago. Reminded me of reading Olaf Stapledon when I was about 20. The political values are simultaneously radical and arch-conservative in that science-fictional way, like reading a Silicon Valley venture capitalist's blog post. The cosmic scale, atrocity and absurdity of the plot devices gets vaster and vaster as the sequels go on.
Oh yeah, books I was reading. Just finished WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? by Deleuze and Guattari
Burnwinter I keep in touch with him every few months or so, and he probably wouldn't mind me mentioning he's doing well. Off living the dream on Gotland a lot of the time.
Glad to hear it Burnsy.
3 months later
Segway Yeah, that's a shame. I've enjoyed both some of his experiments and some of his more conventional stuff over the years.