Iberia - Julian Sayarer
A great author and round the world cyclist. This passage is typical of his writing style:
I make peace with the road, resolved that on it I will stay a while in search of my night's home. The traffic is high, heavy; empty on my side of the road, but streaming on the other. Headlights from the countryside, back to the Villa Franca de Xira, to Lisbon. Out of them the smell of diesel, a chain of diesel, one engine after the next and lifting up. Some time ago I briefly looked at a line of car traffic and briefly saw in it a train; only a train of infinite carriages, each one owned, maintained and driven in exactly the same direction as the others, peeling away in the last few hundred yards of the journey to a front door, each carriage with its own motor, de-coupled by only a few metres in this five hour long train. Since I first saw a line of cars in this way, it has been ver difficult to unsee.
Just finished The Luminous Novel by Mario Levrero , who is regarded as the best uruguayan writer.Very funny book about a writer given a grant to write his latest novel but has writer's block and spends all his time procrastinating and avoiding writing
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Timbuktu by Paul Auster
Esp if you’re a dog owner
I am reading “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins. Superb! Buy the clean version if you don’t like bad language. Anyone else read it?
The 1967 novel The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage is brilliant. I wish I had read it before seeing the movie on Netflix. Benedict Cumberbatch has high praise for the book in this WTF podcast episode with Marc Maron: https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episo...ct-cumberbatch
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry - I’m just over halfway through and loving it. Big and grand it’s got a bit of everything.
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In case you’re still at a loss for what book to read next, might you be interested in a random magazine?
https://www.stackmagazines.com/the-magazines/
It’s a subscription service. Code WELCOMETOSTACK offers a 10% saving. No affiliation etc.
I’m really enjoying Peter James’ Roy Grace books at the moment. Fairly local to me and the attention to detail is excellent!
It's been out for a few years so it might have been mentioned before but Road Racer by Michael Dunlop is a really good read, about his early family life right through to his TT successes, a great insight into what an incredible man his father was and the road racing community.
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Originally Posted by Tokyo Tokei
That’s a great gift idea
Caimh McDonnell - A Man With One of Those Faces
i loved this and found it really funny. Great characters
Barry Eisler - John Rain Series · Book 1 · A Clean Kill in Tokyo
Just finished re reading again, Fender - the inside story by Forrest White, general manager during the golden era.
Wonderful insight into a legend.
Cheers,
Neil.
Yeah, the guy’s a little 'out there' outlier style but I found the book amazing reading about all he’s gone though and achieved. Absolute bloody inspiration.
I tried the film on Netflix last night and couldn’t get into it. I mentioned it to my other half and she said that she had tried some time ago but felt the same as me - far too slow.
I think it was Wanda Sykes who joked about the movie, "I watched it five times and I am about halfway through." The movie follows the book very closely, so if you do not enjoy the one the other may not be worth it either.
I'd like to expound on this, I read this over twenty years ago and it stands out to me as one of the books I've read that have left a lasting impression on me. I really should re-read it soon.Legionnaire - Simon Murray, amazing account of a heart broken 19 year old who serves for 5 years in the French Foreign Legion. Incredible read!
Forgive me if I make some mistakes, but like I mentioned it was quite some ago. As I remember the book is set in the 60's I think and starts with a young chap called Simon from a quite privileged background leaving university after breaking up with his girlfriend, admittedly young and naive and dreaming of joining the French Foreign Legion in some romanticised beau geste type ideal 'to forget'.
The truth is decidedly harsher, this is back when Legion training was not just extreme physical hardship as now, but nothing short of absolutely brutal. No political correctness or 'safe spaces' here, trust me.
As I remember, he struggles at first but eventually discovers a innate aptitude for Soldiering, passing out from basic legion infantry training and then volunteering for the feared French Foreign Legion parachute unit REP training.
At some point he is deploying to Algeria during their ‘troubles' and sees and experiences some pretty horrific things, he's also promoted to a 'chef corporal' at some point which from what I understand at the time for a Englishman is quite a feat in itself.
The last brief section of the book is when he leaves, goes back to the UK and gets into finance. Like I said time's made it a bit misty, but I believe he ends up in Hong Kong and ultimately ends up close to or the head honcho at Hutchison Whampoa (Which iirc became orange?)
Like I mentioned, it's been quite some time and I'm sure you could pick a few holes in that, but it's a hell of a book. If you ever get a chance, well worth a read.
sound how i remmber it too. He did an episode for TV where he went back to the Legion to see how things were now and talk to the recruits. I recall him showing a note he had been secretly passed by a recruit asking to help him escape! Def a brutal lot. I remember him saying that they slept on the floor of the tents - and sometimes not even tents - for most of his career.
Hybrid Humans by Harry Parker.
Soldier who lost both legs in Afghanistan - a very easy read which gives good insight to a mind and a body after an appalling event.
Excellent read for the technical and non technical reader.
B
I am reading the new collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami, First Person Singular. My daughter gave this to me for my birthday. I have been a fan of Murakami for years, but I have not read many of his early novels, so I still have a lot to discover and enjoy. I know his writing is not for everyone, but it makes me want to visit Japan. I wonder if I will ever have the opportunity to travel there. What other Japanese writers should I try?
You might try Sasameyuki by Junichiro Tanizaki. The title literally means “light snow”, but the English translation of the book (and Kon Ichikawa film) is “The Makioka Sisters”. It doesn’t attempt to make itself accessible to non-Japanese, with gentle (slow?) pacing, but if you have an interest in the country, it is quietly evocative.
Much of the Western stuff written about Japan is trite, the literary equivalent of Sue Perkins trying sumo and winking at the camera about how crazy the Japanese are. There are exceptions though. Written in the 1970's, the late Clive James' Postcards from Japan are excellent.
Part one https://archive.clivejames.com/books/japan1.htm
Part two https://archive.clivejames.com/books/japan2.htm
James' father was a Japanese prisoner of war. He didn’t make it home. The son has a light manner, but there is a depth to his enquiry.
And finally, a more recent one:
When the shoguns ruled Japan, a day had twelve hours… and in Edo the hours changed with the seasons: a winter daytime hour was much shorter than a summer daytime hour. A night hour was long in winter, and brief in summer.
Then, in 1872, the Emperor Meiji abolished the old clock and brought in timekeeping and the calendars used in the United States and Europe: ‘Hereafter, day and night will be equal.’
No longer did clocks adapt to the seasons, the weather, and the tides. The moon had no connection with the beginning of the month anymore. New Year’s Day fell in mid-winter, not at the beginning of spring. Nothing is the way it should be.
Time was torn away from nature.Excerpts from Anna Sherman's The Bells of Old Tokyo. There is a lot in here, about Japan, and time, and other things. Many authors are referenced, which might lead the reader on other journeys. The prose is very welcoming, and like her favourite Tokyo coffee shop, can be dipped into for either stimulation or rest.…the moment went by like a flash. But time has the same flow: everywhere and always. How we think of it must just be a function of our brains. That sense is just the way we process our fear of death. ‘Because no one comes back to tell us what happens after we stop breathing, we’re scared of death. Time is the framework, the scaffolding, for how we experience that terror. Time lets us look away from fear. You might think of time as the life we have left.’ ‘And the dead?’ I asked. ‘What about the dead?’
Takahashi shrugged.
Not a recent release but a goody, 'Between a Rock and Hard Place' Aron Ralston's account of 6 days trapped under an impossible to lift boulder...they made a movie, 127 hours, but the book is sooo much better, really takes the reader into Ralston's mind and how he is motivated to find a way to survive.
You could try Ryu murakami (no relation) he is totally different to haruki , his books are dark and bleak dealing with the dark side of post war Japan , or Kobo Abe another dark writer with n
Bleak absurbist stuff
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Ryu and his "Miso soup" is great.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will try Ryu Murakami. I am also thinking about Banana Yoshimoto, Sayaka Murata, and Mieko Kawakami.
I have not seen it in years, but this sounds reminiscent of the 1950s movie Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu. I definitely will check out Junichiro Tanizaki. Thank you.
Finished Palmer Eldritch myself on Monday. It's a startlingly imaginative work, but not very coherent. Difficult to follow because you can never be sure whether the events described are taking place in a hallucination induced by the futuristic drugs taken by the characters. You get the impression that Dick is indulging his own bonkers religious philosophical mindset (he believed that the universe was an unreal projection, and suffered what he believed to be paranormal experiences). And as you allude, the book doesn't really conclude, it just dies.
I would recommend his short stories, though. But in his longer pieces he seems sometimes to be indulging a sort of stream of semi-delusional consciousness and they don't really go anywhere. Even Man in the High Castle, which is admittedly a brilliant book in some ways (and much more coherent than Palmer Eldritch), just sort of peters out at the end.
Iam a big Philip k dick fan , so many good books , you could try:A scanner darkly , flow my tears , time out of joint among many others , the VALIS trilogy are particularly strange
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"All about me" by Mel Brooks is excellent. Like reading a lifestory interview with asides and stories as only he could tell them. Just a charming and informative look back at an 80 year career in Hollywood and stage/screen entertainment.
I was trying my hardest to get through "Lanark" by Alasdair Gray. I gave up 200 pages in. I don't think that I will even go back to it. I found it very hard going. It's hard going in a different way to "Ulysses" by Joyce. That, you need a dictionary with you. I got a third of the way through, but will return to finish it off. "Lanark," is a strange book, I just could not get into it or empathise with the characters. It's quite novel and innovative, especially for it's time, but I didn't find it cohesive for my own personal tastes.
Not reading...but WRITING!
I received this book as a gift from my wife and kids. Each of 203 pages asks a question about my life, my heritage, etc. Rather than writing longhand in the book, I'm writing a Word/PDF verson with photos that I can give to each of my children, plus my siblings. We're going back home to Minneapolis next month and I'd like to finish it by then so I can present it to them when we're there. Since I turn 75 this summer, now is a great time to tackle this.
I'm thinking a double-sided soft bound "book," and a thumb drive digital version. I've completed the first 50 pages/questions so far.
That sounds a lovely and wonderful thing to receive and to giveNot reading...but WRITING!
I received this book as a gift from my wife and kids. Each of 203 pages asks a question about my life, my heritage, etc. Rather than writing longhand in the book, I'm writing a Word/PDF verson with photos that I can give to each of my children, plus my siblings. We're going back home to Minneapolis next month and I'd like to finish it by then so I can present it to them when we're there. Since I turn 75 this summer, now is a great time to tackle this.
I'm thinking a double-sided soft bound "book," and a thumb drive digital version. I've completed the first 50 pages/questions so far.
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sounds great, Would you happen to know where I can get that from?Not reading...but WRITING!
I received this book as a gift from my wife and kids. Each of 203 pages asks a question about my life, my heritage, etc. Rather than writing longhand in the book, I'm writing a Word/PDF verson with photos that I can give to each of my children, plus my siblings. We're going back home to Minneapolis next month and I'd like to finish it by then so I can present it to them when we're there. Since I turn 75 this summer, now is a great time to tackle this.
I'm thinking a double-sided soft bound "book," and a thumb drive digital version. I've completed the first 50 pages/questions so far.
Dave Grohl's - Story Teller... is pretty good, however he will have to revisit it now, after Taylor Hawkins demise.
Available on Amazon.
thank you
I bought Silverview by John LeCarre today. I haven't read it yet, and for as long as I don't read it, I'll always have another John LeCarre book to read.
I also bought Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club, which I will read first.
I got Silvertown for Christmas, I would leave it unread. Reads like a work in progress, shouldn’t have been published really.
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I'm reading a PD James anthology and very good (and well written) it is too.
Cheers,
Neil.
Legionnaire - Five Years in the French Foreign Legion, The World's Toughest Army
Simon Murray
I read this book on the recommendation of others on this thread, and what a book it is. Legion training at the time was absolutely savage. It really is a book worth reading, whether you have worn the green suit or not. It has taken me some time to get through this book, but that reflects on my lack of reading this year, rather than the quality of the book. It is now looking battered from being carried around in my rucsack for months.
Rather then let books gather dust on my bookshelf I give them away free of charge once read. If you would like to be the next person to read this book then leave a note of interest in the thread, then PM me your details so that I can put the book in the post to you. UK only please due to postage costs.
Next on the reading list is:
A272: An Ode to a Road
Great shout, I love things like this so am off to see if it is on kindle. I know book lovers will hate it but it prevents my hand luggage being entirely full of books for holiday!
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. A diary of a doctor working his way up through the NHS post graduation. Hilarious, illuminating and, ultimately, quite a sad inditement of the NHS.
We Die Alone by David Howarth. The story of Jan Baalsrud. [Amazon Synopsis] In March 1943 a team of expatriate Norwegian commandos sailed from the most northerly part of Britain for Nazi-occupied Norway (utilising something known as The Shetland Bus - another good read). Their mission was to organise and support the Norwegian resistance. They were betrayed, and only one man survived the ambush by the Nazis. Crippled by frostbite, snow-blind and hunted by the Nazis, Jan Baalsrud managed to find a tiny arctic village. There - delirious, near death - he found villagers willing to risk their own lives to save him. David Howarth narrates his incredible escape in this gripping tale of courage and the resilience of the human spirit.
Didn't they make it in to a movie called the twelfth man?
Bloody Hell! I've just looked it up and indeed they did; released in 2017. How did I miss that? That's my evening's viewing sorted if I can find it to stream/download or later in the week if I have to order one of those old DVD or Blu-ray things.
ETA. iTunes, £2.99 to buy, £3.49 to rent!!!
I think it was on Prime or netflix
Philip Pulman, 'Book of Dust 2, The Secret Commonwealth'. Continues the adventures of Lyra Silvertongue nee Belacqua. I love Sir Phil's books and can't wait for part 3.
Can't believe I've got to this age without reading any of Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe' books.
Currently busy making up for that oversight.
Highly recommended for fans of action and adventure =)
Literally EVERYONE else in the world knows!!!! 👍
I gave the full set of Sharpe books away to charity earlier this year. I think I offered them on here as well iirc last year?
If anyone else on here, fans of historical (loosely) action, hasn't read Cornwell's The Last Kingdom then please consider it. On my third re-read atm.
Last edited by Harry Smith; 22nd June 2022 at 12:40.
I binned a load of Sharpe DVDs a while ago. They must have been made on a very tight budget. I think that there were no more than 20 people acting in all of them.
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