What are you reading now?

[Richard Tarleton]

£12 (RRP £25) with next-day delivery if you're signed up to Amazon Prime. Not that I'm trying to tempt you...

Article in yesterday's Times about how subscriptions like Prime actually make you buy more than you otherwise would.....(or waste the money by not using them, cf gym memberships....)

I'm in the process of being well and truly gob-smacked at the extraordinary goings-on that preceded the German attack on Crete....

I visited Maleme beach and airfield in the 80s when birdwatching in Crete, also the White Mountains, setting for Patrick Leigh-Fermor's deeds of derring-do (red-throated pipit at Maleme, Lammergeier in the mountains )

[french frank]

Les Plaisirs et les jours, Proust. Finally got round to ordering it as something convenient to tuck into holiday rucksack, but found it too short: I'd be able to read it about 20 times. Not sure whether I was more relieved or irritated to find that the subtitle Les regrets, rêveries couleur du teps was a typographical error. Relieved to discover my knowledge of French hadn't failed me, or irritated at such a glaring mistake on the title page which makes me want to cast the book from me in indignant horror.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"Teps" is Estonian for "teeth" - Regrets and Daydreams about the Colour of One's Teeth is an intriguing title for a book

[french frank]

"Teps" is Estonian for "teeth" - Regrets and Daydreams about the Colour of One's Teeth is an intriguing title for a book

I toyed with 'ceps' or 'reps' … but being as 'ow it was that Proust chappie …

[LMcD]

Article in yesterday's Times about how subscriptions like Prime actually make you buy more than you otherwise would.....(or waste the money by not using them, cf gym memberships....)

I visited Maleme beach and airfield in the 80s when birdwatching in Crete, also the White Mountains, setting for Patrick Leigh-Fermor's deeds of derring-do (red-throated pipit at Maleme, Lammergeier in the mountains )

They're certainly always ready to supply one with recommendations on the basis of previous purchases! However, I reckon I probably come out about even over the year, and everything has - thus far - arrived the following day, as promised.

[Stanfordian]

Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini’s Colditz - Mark Felton

WW2 escape book - involving a group of British top brass who had been captured in the field.

[teamsaint]

Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini’s Colditz - Mark Felton

WW2 escape book - involving a group of British top brass who had been captured in the field.

Here’s one you might pop on your xmas list Stan, if escapes are your thing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-Trails-Great-Escapes-Korean/dp/0750987987/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528045984&sr=8-2&keywords=Escapes+treadwell

[Stanfordian]

Here’s one you might pop on your xmas list Stan, if escapes are your thing.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-Tra...apes+treadwell

Thanks teamsaint,

I've got it!

[Mal]

I'm reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami at the moment - it's about a 15 year old teenage runaway, so also has the "escape" theme. There's also a thread about a strange wartime incident in Japan if you must have WWII, Stan.

[richardfinegold]

I’m reading ‘Chicago’ by David Mamet and not particularly enjoying it. His prose is even more affected that his screenwriting. Undecided if I will finish it...

[Sir Velo]

Farthest North by Fridtjof Nansen. Probably not the weather to best appreciate this tome in. Starting in January, I've been on polar blitz (mainly South but moving onto the North of late) reading all the literature from the "heroic" age of polar exploration. Still in the early stages of the expedition (away less than a year - four more to go) one is struck by how well the Fram's crew are living; five courses meals which wouldn't disgrace the Ritz (one wonders what today's penny pinching sponsors would make of such extravagance at their expense). One also remarks the almost casual disregard for the wildlife. Polar bears are slaughtered seemingly for amusement, and foxes and walruses suffer the same fate whenever their paths cross the drifting vessel. At this stage, Nansen appears to be doing anything but exploring; playing cards, reading Ibsen, and forever taking soundings and sightings. Four hundred pages left...I'm beginning to suffer the same thoughts as RFG....

[Stanfordian]

I'm reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami at the moment - it's about a 15 year old teenage runaway, so also has the "escape" theme. There's also a thread about a strange wartime incident in Japan if you must have WWII, Stan.

Thanks Mal,

Yes, WW2 escapes interest me more than WW1.

[teamsaint]

Thanks teamsaint,

I've got it!

This is a new edition, and we are promised further additional escapes !!

[gradus]

Common Ground by Rob Cowen (not that one, he's got an 'a'). Despite blurbs extraordinaire from some impressive names, I'm finding it hard-going and am about to park it for a while. I sometimes find that a few months away from a book works wonders.

[Mal]

I've recently finished Barry Gough's magnificent Churchill and Fisher...

I just borrowed Ricks' Churchill and Orwell from the library. Is this a new genre?