Books

[Mixu62]

Couldn't find the old book thread and wanted to share a good'un. Anyone else read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson? I recently finished it and have been boring everyone to death recommending. Been a while since we had a book thread and I enjoyed the last one. So come one, recommend a book! (since we're Hibby's and capable of reading....)

[PeeJay]

Haven't read anything yet by Stephenson. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown - true story about the 1936 US Olympic rowing team and its attempt to win the gold medal in Nazi Germany - ... I knew next to nothing about rowing when I started the book, and I still dont really, but the rowing-specific details, coupled with some interesting personal histories and a great sporting tale overall, made it a great and inspiring read ...

[TRC]

An oldie and probably mentioned before but it's such a good read, especially if you're involved in the service industry. KItchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

[wpj]

Haven't read anything yet by Stephenson. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown - true story about the 1936 US Olympic rowing team and its attempt to win the gold medal in Nazi Germany - ... I knew next to nothing about rowing when I started the book, and I still dont really, but the rowing-specific details, coupled with some interesting personal histories and a great sporting tale overall, made it a great and inspiring read ...

I have that book on my "to read" pile. Good to hear you enjoyed it
Reading The Given Day by Dennis Lehane first of a "loose" trilogy. Good so far, like his other work too

[Mikey09]

I'm halfway through reading Forever Young: The Story of Adrian Doherty.

Boy from Northern Ireland who earned a contract at Manchester United and played in the same youth team as Giggs, Beckham etc. Was tipped by many including Fergie to be a superstar and was regarded the best player in the side. No spoilers but it's just a fantastic book and story.

[easty]

I'm about to start reading Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Meant to be pretty good.

[patch1875]

The '86 fix - Keith A Pearson

Enjoying this a easy read a bit different from my usual stuff.

[Pretty Boy]

I'm about to start reading Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Meant to be pretty good.

Great book. Bit different from a lot of the Vietnam stuff that's been done but all the better for that imo.

[stantonhibby]

The '86 fix - Keith A Pearson

Enjoying this a easy read a bit different from my usual stuff.

Is that about St Mirren?

[The_Exile]

War Without Fronts - Another great read about the Vietnam War, written by a German professor, the research has clearly been painstaking and some of it is absolutely horrific but incredibly fascinating.

Couple of boxing books now, Boxing Confidential is written by I think an investigative journalist in the US, goes into the real murky underbelly of the sport from grass roots right to the top and everything in between, brilliant read if you're interested in the business side of Boxing.

The other book is 'This Bloody Mary Is The Last Thing I Own' by Jonathan Rendall. He was a brilliant gonzo journalist and this book is a diary wrapped in a love letter about his observations of the sport. It's basically written in 3 parts, one about his friendship with Jack Kid Berg, a cockney lightweight who had a 192 fight career! Another part is about his management of Colin 'Sweet C' McMillan who was I think another London born fighter of the early 90's, either featherweight or super featherweight. Then he writes about his own love affair with the sweet science which also doubles as his goodbye to it. Great read.

[adhibs]

I just discovered, and am about half way through, laura hirds - born free. Im realy enjoying it, the four characters its based on are all excellent. For an edinburgh set novel im finding it as good as and better than most of irvine welshs stuff.

Before that i read ralph elission - invisible man. Also thought that was excellent.

[Pretty Boy]

Just finished Buried in The Sky by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan about the 2008 K2 disaster. A better moutaineering book than Into Thin Air about the 96 Everest disaster imo. Gives a really good insight into Sherpa culture and the sacrifices they make for minimal recognition. Also looks at the risks of commercial expeditions and how they have spread from Everest to mountains like K2 and Makalu which are considered technically more difficult, K2 regularly being put forward, along with Annapurna and Kangchejunga, as the toughest of the Himalayan peaks to summit.

[Hiber-nation]

I've been trying to wade through a few classic English novels as they are free on Kindle....not my usual thing but thought I should try a few.

The Woman In White has got to be one of my favourite novels, couldn't put it down. And I see it's being made for TV again. Diary of A Nobody was really funny. But I couldn't do some of the others - 3 Men In A Boat - annoying pish. Pride and Prejudice - whaat? How do folk manage to plough through this stuff!

Interesting though and I'll plod on.

[HibbyDave]

Want to know where mankind is headed? Try Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harrari. His views are a terrific insight.
Maybe read Sapiens first to discover where our race came from.

[Onceinawhile]

Currently reading war and peace - about a quarter through.

Read one fine day in the middle of the night by Chris brookmyre recently. Would definitely recommend. (Easter road even gets a passing mention).

[Mixu62]

Recently started The Nameless Day by Sarah Doouglass. Interesting. Set in plague ravaged medieval Europe around the time the Papacy returned to Rome from Avignon. You can understand why people turned so fervently to religion in those times.

[sleeping giant]

Want to know where mankind is headed? Try Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harrari. His views are a terrific insight.
Maybe read Sapiens first to discover where our race came from.

Just bought both .
Cheers

[beensaidbefore]

The best book i have read for a while wasb the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Quite popular and turned into a stage play, but a good quicl read, and quite insightful , afaik.

Another good read was, about Allied Forces in Burma WW2. 'Hidden voices, the forgotten campaigns' i think was called. Exerps from the diaries of soldiers, all psiced together to form a detailed account of how the survived in the jungles etc. Eye opener.

[patch1875]

Just finished a couple.

Casino Royale - Ian Fleming great as you would expect.

The Dirt - Motley Crue superb book didn't think any rock autobiography would top Slash's but this does.

[easty]

Just finished a couple.

Casino Royale - Ian Fleming great as you would expect.



Did it mention if Bond was white? :greengrin

[patch1875]

Did it mention if Bond was white? :greengrin

Black woman apparently.

[speedy_gonzales]

Did it mention if Bond was white? :greengrin
I didn't want to post in the Dr Who thread but if you read the ORIGINAL Fleming books, Bond is often described as being pale, especially in relation to a tan he often picks up whilst travelling. There's also a couple of references when in the Caribbean he is described by local islanders in a vernacular that means pale, pasty & white.
In another book he is described as looking like a white composer(the name escapes me), he is also described as having blue eyes and I'm fairly sure Caucasian.

That being said, Nick Fury from Marvel was white in comic firm but black in celluloid,,,,