What are you reading now?

[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

[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]

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

[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 How very outdated; I mean , it couldn't possibly happen today, could it ?

[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]

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). )

[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..

[Pulcinella]

Try Theodor Mommsen's History of Rome, then. There's an abridged 1-volume edition.

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

[french frank]

'Another difficult book to put down'.

I find Mary Beard's books difficult to pick up!

Try Theodor Mommsen's History of Rome, then. There's an abridged 1-volume edition.

[smittims]

'Another difficult book to put down'.

I find Mary Beard's books difficult to pick up!

[Ian Thumwood]

'The Wager: a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder' by David Grann

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.

[MickyD]

'He knew he was right' by Anthony Trollope. I just love the engaging way he tells a story; two chapters is perfect bedtime reading for me before I turn off the light.

[smittims]

Stephen Hough is one of a few musicians who can write readably and intelligently on many topics ; Susan Tomes is another. I recommend her 'Sleeping in Temples' about the value of classical music. I think it should be on the compulsory school curriculum.

[groovydavidii]

"Rough Ideas" Stephen Hough – '(Reflections on Music and More)' – interesting, insightful, informative, in all, a very good read. (library book).

[Pulcinella]

The Quarry, by Damon Galgut.

Let us know how you get on with James, Richard.
I've mentioned earlier that I just couldn't get on with the conceit that Jim had all the eloquent (and pretentious) language that he speaks at his disposal.