What are you reading now?

[french frank]

There's an even shorter version: Veni, vidi, vici.
Until it all collapsed, of course.

I got involved in a long theological discussion with my brother yesterday until he told me kindly that I didn't know anything about the subject, which is true (as usual, I rely on the native intelligence of the noble savage rather than what other people think and say). He's lent me Paul: a biography, by Prof Tom Wright, so I've laid aside Travels with a Donkey for the present..

[smittims]

Tony Hancock : Rome wasn't built in a day, and its decline and fall can't be read in one.

Librarian (Hugh Lloyd): You haven't got Gibbons' Decline and Fall there.

Tony: That's got nothing to do with it. I've got the love lives of the Caesars here, that tells me everything ... and between you and me, I'm not surprised it declined and fell after that lot.

(Galton and Simpson: The Missing Page (1960). )

[Ian Thumwood]

I find Roman history endlessly fascinating. Having read Seutonious 2 years ago, in my opinion the issue is that many historians parrot him. Better to read the source.

The new Mary Beard takes a refreshing look at Emperors and i find this quite compelling. However my favourite is Guy De La Bedoyere whose books are written with a dry sense of humour which makes great fun. I have also read a few book by Adrian Goldsworthy who i find the most knowledgeable but can be a bit dense and sometimes a challenge.

i probably have more books on Roman history by Simon Elliot who chooses niche topics and puts them into context . These are excelient for Romano British history .

[smittims]

Shakespeare (and probably Fletcher) , Henry VIII. A despotic ruler manipulated by a scheming, ambitious chancer, while well-meaning individuals who speak out are done away with on trumped up charges. How very outdated; I mean , it couldn't possibly happen today, could it ?

[richardfinegold]

I read this book a year ago and could not put it down. However, i felt that there were a lot of bits in the story that Grann did not explore. There were so many remarkable components with the different factions of the crew that are glossed over. It is absolutely fascinating but i could not help wondering if british historian would have covered this in more detail.

Before this i read an account of Magellan by a respected Spanish historian and it was turgid in thr extreme. You had to have known the source material.beforehand to have unserstood it. Usually i devour books about exploration but this effort was wretched. The opppsite to The Wager which was a page turner.

Currently reading Mary Beard's opinionated Emperor of Rome which is another difficult book to put down. Loving her fiesty views as much as the history. I would recommend her original approach to this topic.

I liked her Emperor book a lot more than her previous one, which was devoted to monuments and seemed to go over previously trod ground. Her favorite books for me me remain her earliest ones, specially her Pompeii book and SPQR. Mary Beard doesn’t attempt to write comprehensive and chronological histories. Instead she looks at a specific phenomenon, such as the contents of a room in a Pompeii villa where the roof has collapsed and contents of several rooms may be jumbled, and then examines the contents to draw conclusions about how every day people must have lived

[Ian Thumwood]

Richard

this is why i am enjoying the book. It is an interesting approach. However, reading someone l7ke Galsworthy makes it seem like a different topic. Beard is clearer

[richardfinegold]

Richard

this is why i am enjoying the book. It is an interesting approach. However, reading someone l7ke Galsworthy makes it seem like a different topic. Beard is clearer

She has a great way of popularizing what could easily be an arcane subject. However after having read many of her books I think she is a bit tapped out

[Petrushka]

I bought myself the three volumes (in paperback) of the 'Chips' Channon diaries as a Christmas indulgence. I'll embark on reading them shortly but each volume is over 1000 pages so I may be some time!

At least with diaries you can dip in and out of them at the same time as reading other books but I still find it a bit daunting and expect to be reading them over a couple of years. They are, however, entertaining and are indispensable to anyone interested in 20th century British history.

[gradus]

Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife, The Extraordinary Life of Mediaeval Women by Hetta Howes.
Well written, interesting and informative, not overburdened with footnotes but not light on researched material.

[smittims]

Just started re-reading A Passage to India ( Forster) having watched the David Lean film again over Christmas. Immediately I was struck by a significant difference (the first of many, I know). The fim begins with Adela and Mrs. Moore arriving in India and meeting the Turtons, the effective British rulers of Chandrapore. But Forster deliberately begins his novel with a long chapter featuring only Indians, emphasising in a sympathetic way their very different lifestyle.

I was unhappy with the end of the Lean film, which departs from the plot of the novel. I've never understood why they feel they have to do this . It seems th end of a film is the most difficult bit.

[teamsaint]

I bought myself the three volumes (in paperback) of the 'Chips' Channon diaries as a Christmas indulgence. I'll embark on reading them shortly but each volume is over 1000 pages so I may be some time!

At least with diaries you can dip in and out of them at the same time as reading other books but I still find it a bit daunting and expect to be reading them over a couple of years. They are, however, entertaining and are indispensable to anyone interested in 20th century British history.

An extraordinarily successful book. Is it any good ?

I thought I would have a go at Lord of the Rings. Not got far yet.
Non fiction wise I read our new ( hopefully !!!! ) smash hit “ Chemically Imbalanced “ by Prof Joanna Moncrieff a while ago, released this month.
It is going to be very controversial, and sheds important light on some of the ways that big drugs companies and the medical world often function, with particular reference to anti-depressants.
Expect to see big publicity in your preferred media very soon.

[Petrushka]

An extraordinarily successful book. Is it any good ?

I've not started it yet as I'm just coming to the end of a previous read but these diaries (1918 to 1957) have a reputation second only to Samuel Pepys and are widely cited in books on 20th century British political history. This is the full, unexpurgated edition and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.

[Old Grumpy]

The Place of Tides by James Rebanks. An extraordinarily beautiful book, both in content and writing style.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/315745/the-place-of-tides-by-rebanks-james/9780241426937

[french frank]

At least with diaries you can dip in and out of them at the same time as reading other books but I still find it a bit daunting and expect to be reading them over a couple of years. They are, however, entertaining and are indispensable to anyone interested in 20th century British history.

I am such a narrow-minded bore that, among the biggest turn-offs for me are Simon Heffer, probably Henry Channon, judging from this, and more or less any well-known person lauded as 'entertaining' , and who I would consider deathly bores. I say this in the most self-deprecating way having no great opinion of myself either (certainly not 'entertaing').

[Petrushka]

I am such a narrow-minded bore that, among the biggest turn-offs for me are Simon Heffer, probably Henry Channon, judging from this, and more or less any well-known person lauded as 'entertaining' , and who I would consider deathly bores. I say this in the most self-deprecating way having no great opinion of myself either (certainly not 'entertaing').

Among my many interests is that of 20th century British history, including political history, and (like it or loathe it), the 'Chips' Channon diaries have a central place in any discussion of the period. I'm only about 20 pages in and the name-dropping is awesome and we're only in 1918!

Simon Heffer is an able editor of something like this so his own views don't intrude, nor do they in his own books which are fair and well-balanced.

I also have a massive interest in Russian and German history in the same period so 'Chips' is a saint compared to some of the characters you meet there!