What are you reading now?

[Belgrove]

Colin Thubron is a superb travel writer and his latest book, The Amur River: Between Russia and China, is a fine addition to his list of publications. Given his age and the gruelling nature of this journey (he suffers), this may possibly be his last travel book, but unlike his others, which inspire one to follow in his footsteps to those rarer parts of the world, the Amur river does seem a place to avoid. One of the 10 largest rivers in the world, its source is uncertainly located in the inhospitable marshlands of Mongolia, from which it flows eastwards through Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk, forming for much of its course the border between Russia and China. Settlements are mostly flyblown villages and soulless decaying Stalinist cities on the Russian side, or budding cities of skyscrapers and gaudy neon on the Chinese shore. This frontier bristles with tension, xenophobia, military manoeuvres, barbed wire and historical grudges that continue to simmer. The hostility that the peoples on either side of the river hold for each other is vividly but depressingly captured by Thubron, as is the suspicion with which he is regarded by officialdom on both sides. Thubron provides an absorbing and literary introduction to a region, of which we know little, that is likely to increase in importance as China eyes the huge natural resources of Siberia, and on which it is establishing territorial claims stretching back thousands of years.

[richardfinegold]

about to finish The Bostonians, by Henry James. I also have started Victor Davis Hansons World Wars II (the plural of Wars is the actual title). The Bostonians takes a very dim view of the Suffragist Movement, but James main ire isn't necessarily for the ideas expressed, but the nature of Political Advocacy, and the ills of fanatic devotion to a Political Cause, which has perhaps even more application to our current world, even his his ideas of female equality are not passing muster today

[Jonathan]

After spending the day with my friends at the British Shell Collectors Club show (the first in 2 years) at Theydon Bois on Saturday, I have a pile of publications to read - American Conchologist vol.49 no.3 (including an article by my friend who I helped name a new species after in 2020), World Shells vols 12 and 19 (lots of Terebra new descriptions in there), Gloriamaris (5 volumes), Acta Conchyliorum (lots of new Cypraea in there), Pallidula (British Shell Collectors Club magazine, October 2021), the suppliment to Pallidula about Mauritius and, finally, the new Compendium of Shells which includes the new species I co-authored last year - the first time it has appeared in print. Shame I have to go back to work tomorrow!

[Katzelmacher]

The Wings Of The Dove - Henry James.

Does James over-write (at least in his ‘final phase’)? This is a question which will never be definitively answered, but I would say yes. Perhaps ‘over-directive’ is the right phrase?

[Joseph K]

Two things, alternating each night: Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution and Richard Barrett's Music of Possibility. The latter I'm rereading, and I've just today got to the chapter on the composition world-line, which I am hoping will go some way towards helping me appreciate this work. I had forgotten just how profoundly sophisticated and fascinating Barrett's thought is - this text is, like his music, 'self-similar' on a number of structural levels from each sentence to its overarching form. Even if I don't understand every detail I feel nonetheless that through rereading this I grasp on a general level what's going on in this music to a greater extent than before and I am very much looking forward to giving world-line another listen later today.

[DracoM]

Boneland / Alan Garner.

[Joseph K]

I'm thoroughly enjoying Herbie Hancock's autobiography. Unsurprisingly he comes across as very affable and very intelligent, not to mention with an unusually high capacity for work! Before bed I read Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution for half an hour and then the Herbie Hancock for half an hour - the former is the main, the latter for dessert!

[Bryn]

Prompted by "My Absolute Pleasure" on ITV this Christmas, Sir William Connolly's "Tall Tales & Wee Stories". I will happily wait for "Windswept & Interesting" to come out in paperback and drop in price.

[cloughie]

‘Sailing Close to the Wind’ by Dennis Skinner - written in 2014 so covering a fair chunk of his political career - whatever your views on the Beast of Bolsover - for me I find it a very good read!

[gurnemanz]

Dietrich & Riefenstahl by Karin Wieland – a fascinating story of parallel but deeply contrasting lives. Both lived into their 90s with a lifetime occupying most of the 20th Century.

[gradus]

A general Christmas tidy up and root around revealed a surprising £113.01 worth of book tokens lying unused. I'd be grateful for any music biography/life of composer suggestions, as I am bereft of ideas.

[RichardB]

A general Christmas tidy up and root around revealed a surprising £113.01 worth of book tokens lying unused. I'd be grateful for any music biography/life of composer suggestions, as I am bereft of ideas.

I don't often read biographies, but I looked forward enormously to Oliver Soden's book on Michael Tippett, and I wasn't disappointed. Looking through music-related books of a non-technical nature that I've read in the past year or two there was also Stephen Walsh's excellent two-volume Stravinsky biography (his Debussy book is good too), Alex Ross's fascinating Wagnerism, and Marc Moskovitz's Zemlinsky biography which wasn't so inspiring, although books on Zemlinsky and his music aren't exactly thick on the ground. On a slightly more technical level, I wondered why I hadn't got around to reading Paul Griffiths's Messiaen and the Music of Time until last year.

[gradus]

Many thanks Richard, the Walsh books are just what I'm looking for.

[Belgrove]

Many thanks Richard, the Walsh books are just what I'm looking for.

Although not a biography gradus, ‘Ravel: A Novel’ by Jean Echenoz charts Ravel’s life from his trip to the USA in 1927 to his death in 1937, in nine brief chapters. It is beautifully written (and translated by Linda Coverdale), and captures Ravel’s fastidious elegance in prose to match. The final sentence at once captures Ravel’s stylishness, and the loss to the world. A lovely little book.

[cloughie]

A general Christmas tidy up and root around revealed a surprising £113.01 worth of book tokens lying unused. I'd be grateful for any music biography/life of composer suggestions, as I am bereft of ideas.

Think you need to book in at Waterstones - or of course an independent of your choosing!