Books what you is reading: Page 22 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Books what you is reading

mags

For all you LeCarre and Macintyre fans.
Here is a recent conversation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/books/review/john-le-carre-ben-macintyre-british-spy-thrillers.html?action=click&contentCollection=books&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

My favorite non fiction spy story: "A Spy Among Friends" by Macintyre. Brilliant.
Just think, our old friend George Smiley will appear in JLC's latest book, " A Legacy of Spies". Uncle George, at least 100 years old!

Asterix

Brilliant - thanks for that Mags.

This from le Carre -
"What marks the Cold War period is that at least we had a defining mission. At the moment our mission is survival. The thing that joins the West is fear. And everything else is up for grabs." - le Carre cuts through and sees things in blunt terms there.

And this from Ben McIntyre -
"B.M. I can tell you what the veterans of the S.I.S. [the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6] think, which is yes, kompromat was done on him. Of course, kompromat is done on everyone. So they end up, the theory goes, with this compromising bit of material and then they begin to release parts of it. They set up an ex-MI6 guy, Chris Steele, who is a patsy, effectively, and they feed him some stuff that’s true, and some stuff that isn’t true, and some stuff that is demonstrably wrong. Which means that Trump can then stand up and deny it, while knowing that the essence of it is true. And then he has a stone in his shoe for the rest of his administration.

It’s important to remember that Putin is a K.G.B.-trained officer, and he thinks in the traditional K.G.B. way."

Burnwinter

That was a good read.

I don't believe spies and Presidents run the world, but Le Carré's a really fun writer.

Daz

Just finished reading 'Responsibility for Justice' by Iris Marion Young. Been wanting to read it for a while and finally got around to buying a copy. I really enjoyed it and found her argument pretty compelling as a contemporary philosphy of justice.

arsedocmd

very deep, dunno how you guys read them.

Just read "letters to a young muslim" -highly recommended to all young muslims and people with young kids. Gentle prod to question the unquestionables in Islam.
And " being mortal" by atul gawande. Nice book for westerners with elderly people in their house.

mags

Follow up to John LeCarre/David Cornwell.
If you have access to "60 Minutes", CBS TV, he is interviewed tonight.
Hearin/hearing the voice, seeing the face. Brought it all back/ .
www.cbsnews.com/john-le-carre-ex-british-spys-double-life-as-a-famous-author
www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/overtime

arsedocmd

So kindle paperwhite has a browser now. Pretty cool.

Just read Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. A refugee couple's matter of fact journey from a war zone to the west.

Shady

Finished Blood Meridian. My word can Cormac McCarthy use good prose. Very challenging, but still rewarding.

Asterix

My father in law picked up a signed first edition of the new le Carre while in the UK recently, so I'll be giving that a read.

Finished this last night - well worth a read if you're after a broad overview of some of the aspects of US history that opened the country up and connected it all together.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349092-the-men-who-united-the-states

Daz

Shady wrote:
Finished Blood Meridian. My word can Cormac McCarthy use good prose. Very challenging, but still rewarding.

I really like McCarthy, but haven't gotten to Blood Meridian yet. Will have to bump it up my list.

flobaba

Just finished "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin.

Up next: Du Bois- "The Souls of Black Folk"

At least one good book a month is one of my goals this year. I was pretty bad about reading in general last year.

Also listening to NPR's podcast series for RadioLab: "More Perfect" about significant Supreme Court cases in US history

y va marquer

I've read 4 books of varying quality since Dec 26th:

"No et moi" by Delphine de Vigan - pared down, tragic, beautifully sad

"Oh my God what a complete Aisling" by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen - a smarter culchie version of Bridget Jones, easy reading,engaging and funny, a lot better than I thought it would be

"I See You" by Claire Makintosh - great idea, but as a page turner it sagged, the ending was schlock horror farcical

"Sweet Tooth" by Ian McEwan - a let down, he's one of my favourite authors but this left me cold.

Going to start " The other Hand" by Chris Cleave, I have a mini book copy that's been lying about on the bookshelf for about 4 years.
No idea what it's going to be.

Thank Christmas hols and Aussie 'flu for uninterrupted reading time.

Asterix

Listening to "January Window" by Philip Kerr. It's a murder mystery set in a fictional London Premier League club - London City. Philip Kerr is an Arsenal fan, and the main character is the first team coach, and is an ex-Arsenal player. It's pretty good so far.

Kerr has written an excellent noirish gumshoe series based on a German private eye Bernie Gunther, set in pre and post WW2 Germany. I've listened to 3 of them so far and they're great. They have an interesting perspective of "ordinary" Germans going about their business and not necessarily enjoying what the Nazi's are up to. The third one is post WW2 and delves into life in post war Germany.

I also have Stephen Fry's "Mythos" on my bedside table. It's light and provides an easy to read re-telling of the stories of the Greek Gods, starting with Gaia and Kronos. Just about every page so far has a light-hearted look at how the names of these characters have filtered their way down to current day English words.

Mirth

flobaba wrote:
Also listening to NPR's podcast series for RadioLab: "More Perfect" about significant Supreme Court cases in US history

Gave the first episode a listen today about 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment' - was really good. I particularly liked how the interviews weren't set up to be biased or push an agenda and left it up to you to decide. Thanks!

flobaba

It’s really well produced. There’s one on gay rights (Imperfect Plaintiffs), one on the real origin of the toxic politicization of the 2nd Amendment (it began with the Black Panther movement - fancy that!), and why it’s now so hard for any gun control legislation to be put in place...

There’s also one about adoption that absolutely broke my heart.

Claudius

Read a few books over Dec holidays. Might slow down now that I'm back at work this week

Handmaids Tale - rich writing, always thought-provoking because although it is a fictitious dystopia, it's all constructed repressive regimes. Recommend this to all!
Sapiens - a great way to pick up interesting factoids and general knowledge about human history, but often felt too scattered and self-indulgent. I could recommend specific chapters, but certainly not the whole book
The Undoing Project - one of my favorite Michael Lewis books, details the work of Kahneman/Tversky and the impact they've had on numerous fields.

Flobaba, how was the Fire next time.

arsedocmd

oh hey, i'm reading the Sapiens too. About 25% in. Koyinkeedinkee.

Daz

I'm heading to the beach for 10 nights on the weekend and have decided to make Handmaid's Tale my first read.

Daz

Finished the book a few days ago. Really enjoyed it and now keen to watch the show.

Gurgen

I would encourage everyone, especially the practicing communists, to read 'Red Famine' by Anne Applebaum. A brilliant and shocking book.

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