A little place to just chat about Books.

[McCulloch]

A little place to just chat about Books. What are you reading? Would you recommend it?

[Goat]

The most memorable book I ever bogged down in was Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. I remember thinking two things: (1) This guy has sold his soul to the Devil to be the greatest writer ever, and (2) I'm not ready to read this yet.

I managed to get through it, but I don't think I ever understood it. That was 25 years ago,and I am can't remember a thing about it, except it was torturous.

[Fallibleone]

Just to clarify, that was cnorman's comment. I messed up the quote tags in my reply to him. Sorry bout that.

[McCulloch]

I've just finished reading "The Book of Negros" by Lawrence Hill. This is a really good read and a well researched bit of neglected history, the Black Loyalists of the American Revolution.

Lawrence Hill's new novel is published as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, Australia and New Zealand and appears in Canada as The Book of Negroes.

[GrumpyMrGruff]

I just finished Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt and Richard Morris' The Last Sorcerers.

The former is an episodic alternate history tale. It begins with the 14th century Black Death killing 99% of the European population rather than the actual 40-60%. The next six centuries are explored in ten loosely related sections. China, Dar al-Islam (Europe and the Middle East), and later Native America and India become global powers that fight, industrialize, and eventually strive toward ecotopia (a common occurrence in Robinson's books). Sections are separated by decades, but are tied together by three reincarnated (though amnesiac) characters striving toward Nirvana. This device doesn't work as well as in Robinson's Mars Trilogy, where "rejuvenation therapy" provides a cohesive narrative for several centuries of storytelling. I'd recommend it with reservations. Forum members might enjoy the exploration of a world without the influence of Christian Europe, but it could be more tightly written. (And Robinson's adherence to the myth of the "ecologically friendly" Native American gets annoying.)

The Last Sorcerers is a pop-sci overview of chemistry from early alchemical ideas through the discovery of many of the elements to the exploration of subatomic physics. There are enjoyable bio-sketches of notable scientists and nontechnical descriptions of pivotal discoveries. It is a very readable historical outline of a relatively young science. Recommended.

[McCulloch]

Just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, written by Mary Ann Shaffer

Set in immediately post-war island of Guernsey with flash-backs to the occupation. Light, humorous, romantic and enjoyable.

[Nilloc James]

I just started reading god is not great: how religion poisions everything.

[OnceConvinced]

I just started reading god is not great: how religion poisions everything.

It's funny when I first showed my girlfriend that I had that book she laughed and said "Of course God is not great. We already know that!"

[GrumpyMrGruff]

Just wrapped up Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. It's a dystopian satire inspired by the the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The book has been cited as inspiration for Anthem, Brave New World, and 1984. Tracing the parallels with these books was enjoyable, and the recent translation (Natasha Randall, 2006) almost had me convinced that I was reading a contemporary sci-fi novel rather than a book from the 1920s (in a good way).

Recommended.

[McCulloch]

Just finished Three Cups of Tea; One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Inspirational.

[Fallibleone]

Just started reading The Suspicians of Mr Whicher:



Background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Kent

http://archive.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/20 ... 53458.html

http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine ... rors.thtml