ecobob Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 On 1/5/2020 at 2:05 PM, doc.fixit said: May I suggest, 'The World Without Us', by Alan Weisman. Published by Virgin. Probably the most thought provoking book I have recently read. I bet it’s making you think even more now Doc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 (edited) I've been reading this book for a week now, seems to be taking an age to get through to the end of it... Edited April 28, 2020 by quilp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc.fixit Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 John Bercow, (a call to order), and Celtic Queen,, (the world of Cartimandua) They are both VERY complex characters! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted April 3, 2021 Author Share Posted April 3, 2021 I’ve always enjoyed reading and every now and then pick out a serious novel to enjoy the storytelling. Recently a professor of evolutionary biology, who’s website I read every day, wrote that he was enjoying All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski and my interest piqued I got myself a copy. I’m glad I did, for it is a novel created by a master story teller. There are multiple ways to tell a story and Kempowski tells his in the sparsest style imaginable. His prose is full of space and absence to be filled in by the reader. A Chinese painting is full of space for the viewer to place themselves into, and Kempowski’s prose, in almost a child-like manner, leaves the reader to read between his lines. The result is a magnificent tension as you dread the story reaching its tragic crescendo. You see the story is set in East Prussia in the snow covered January of 1945 and it is obvious it isn’t going to end well. The Globig family are minor German gentry living in the Georgenhof, their manor house on the edge of an oak forest a few kilometres from a minor provincial Prussian town and the war so far has barely touched them. Admittedly, the husband has been called up and given a 3rd line bureaucrats job in the Army, initially in the Ukraine and now in Italy, but he has been a long way from the fighting and safe, while his wife, Katharina, and son, Peter, have carried on sheltered by their declining wealth in the increasingly decayed house looked after by Auntie, the spinster housekeeper, two Ukrainian maids, brought to Germany by the husband, and Vladimir, a Pole, his clothes marked with a P to mark out his inferior ethnicity. For quite a portion of the book little happens, in a mundane rhythm visitors are brought to the house and the abnormality of the Nazi homefront seems to all simply the reality of life. Prisoners of war, foreign workers, a Political Economist, a violinist entertaining the maimed troops, accompanied by a one-armed soldier on the piano, are envious of the large house and the sheltered life of its inhabitants. Peter is kept from Hitler Youth duties by his mother’s insistence he has tonsillitis and the busy-body Nazi bureaucrat, Drygalski, living across the road, resentful of their wealth is too over-awed by her to object, for all his muttering to himself that he doesn’t approve. And all this time the rumours are that the Russians are getting closer. The characters, in short snatched sentences punctuated with the occasional Heil Hitler, only slowly react to the increasing numbers of refugees passing the house; and the dark under-belly of the Nazi regime, beyond bureaucratic pettiness, is hardly visible, though there are whispered mentions of concentration camps, and Jews. I’m not going to give much more of the plot away, but we all know the evil that lurked in the Nazi East and the violence total war invokes, and Aunty, Katharina and Peter cannot remain isolated from it as mundane visitor after mundane visitor arrives at the Georgehhof. As the tension mounts, Kempowski’s prose gains power through its simplicity. It is childlike and sparse and the horror his characters are exposed to in the last chapters of the book is enhanced, not diminished by it being left almost entirely hidden within the text. “’Oh, no!’ cried Peter”. All For Nothing is a hugely powerful read, told in a masterly way. The prose acknowledging the impossibility of explaining the horror of the Nazis and therefore leaving the space for the reader to fill it in themselves. There is humour, dread, fear, and a tiny amount of redemption. The most complex - and in the final moment most enigmatic - character being Drygalski, the low-level Nazi bureaucrat and busy body, with a Hitler moustache and jack boots. There is much to think on within the pages of this book. I cannot recommend it more, though it is hardly an optimistic read. 9/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 (edited) 'The Man Who Was Thursday.' G.K. Chesterton. Haven't finished it and it wouldn't do to write a long and subjective resumé except to say I'd recommend it as a light and airy read... https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1695/1695-h/1695-h.htm ETA: Link to a free edition... Edited April 4, 2021 by quilp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc.fixit Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 'Adam the Gardener', a Sunday Express publication from way back. Cost 5 shillings and read and used every year! 'Wayfinding', by Michael Bond a freelance science writer. The art and science of how we find and lose our way. Fascinating. 'To the Edge of the World', Christian Wolmar. The story of the Trans Siberian railway. Just started reading today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 10 hours ago, quilp said: 'The Man Who Was Thursday.' G.K. Chesterton. Haven't finished it and it wouldn't do to write a long and subjective resumé except to say I'd recommend it as a light and airy read... https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1695/1695-h/1695-h.htm ETA: Link to a free edition... I remember enjoying it when I was on the dole, and it was one of those £1 editions of out of copyright classics they printed before the internet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 (edited) Walpole Avenue charity shop so long ago I can't remember but when I was cleaning out a chest of drawers last month, there it was. Don't even remember buying it but recall I was intrigued by the cover. And a quick search reveals there are so many different covers and even a couple of films based on it. It almost went in the box of stuff I'm taking to the same shop when it reopens. Obviously, the "light and airy read" description was a bit of a joke, as you'll probably know... The wiki page covering the book is quite extensive, more facts about the author's disposition at writing and how popular its influence has been since its publication. Didn't know any of it... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday Edited April 4, 2021 by quilp The wow factor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc.fixit Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 FALL by John Preston. Jeez Robert Maxwell! You need to read it to see all that is wrong with the British establishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed fournier Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 (edited) Command and Control by Eric Schlosser: Command and Control https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141037911/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZVRN5QVVN77PD9F7MXH6 After reading this I wonder how on earth the human race has managed to survive since the creation of the atom bomb. So many weapons and so many accidents. It’s a fascinating read for the most part although I did skim read the last few pages. All those weapons in theirs silos, waiting for their big day. Hardly ever talked about. Do people still worry about them? Edited September 27, 2021 by ed fournier 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc.fixit Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 'Life on a Knife's Edge', Dr, Rahul Jandial. Reflections on Life, Loss and Survival....Emotional, fascinating and enlightening. IMO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 7 hours ago, ed fournier said: Command and Control by Eric Schlosser: Command and Control https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141037911/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZVRN5QVVN77PD9F7MXH6 After reading this I wonder how on earth the human race has managed to survive since the creation of the atom bomb. So many weapons and so many accidents. It’s a fascinating read for the most part although I did skim read the last few pages. All those weapons in theirs silos, waiting for their big day. Hardly ever talked about. Do people still worry about them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed fournier Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 I’ve also just finished reading Jeremy Clarke’s ‘Low Life’ book - a compendium of his columns in the Spectator (I love the Spectator). He’s a fantastic writer with some great observations of daily life. Low Life: The Spectator Columns https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0704373912/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_2KPF4VBYXAMQ7SC82N86 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2bees Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Written in Bone by Sue Black, it's really good. There are some massive words that take half an hour to read but you don't really have to bother with them unless you're studying forensic anthropology, which I'm not. There are a lot of "Oooh that's clever" moments - dead good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarley Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 I'm currently reading the sixth edition of Invertebrate Zoology by Ruppert and Barnes. Not the whole thing mind you, mainly just the 60-odd pages on chelicerates, concentrating on arachnids. Spiders are fascinating creatures. I started studying them this past summer. I've a Wild Guide - Britain's Spiders - and so far I've identified around a dozen species in my postage stamp back garden alone. One is the "False Widow" Steatoda nobilis which has yet to be officially recorded on the island, but I'm hoping to change that. I've also just started The Secret Network of Nature by Peter Wohlleben. I'm not very far into it yet, but it's engrossing so far. Lined up after that is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which my daughter insist I must read. Has anyone here read it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.