The power of geography which I believe is an earlier book is also an excellent read I’ve yet to read The Future of Geography but I’ve a birthday coming up in a couple of months so I’ll wait and see.
Down and Out in Paris and London is similar in Orwell’s reflection of the conditions of the working class, also a good read. I’ve just finished The Vegetarian It’s is a three-part novel set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life. I found it a struggle to finish this depressing read. It tells of a slow decline into mental illness and institutionalisation, not the holiday read I was expecting.
@Ducbird @El Toro Would it be possible to somehow merge this thread here with another with the same name: https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/what-are-you-reading.101701/ Many thanks.
I'm reading Clifford D. Simak's 'A Heritage of Stars'. Fantasy adventure escapism, basically. Like most of what Simak wrote, there are horses and raccoons in it. And certain words. Not tiresome, though, like Thomas Covenant, who clenches so frequently eventually so do you.
I’m really enjoying Loose Head by Joe Marler at the moment. Brought it on Sunday and am struggling to put it down. Been a fan of his for years now, and from this book – Yes, it’s all true!
Just curious what you chaps do to procure your reading material? Kindle, library, raid the local disused phone box?
One of my pleasures in life is browsing in Waterstones, and coming away with that small bundle containing hours of contentment.
Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. What a blast! Actually part of me wants to pet one. Like it's not tourists in North American National Parks fed them out of bravado but because they look kind of cute. Until they bite your face off. I wondered if Cynthia Dusel-Bacon was still around. She was predated by a black bear in '77 and lost both arms. One was stripped of flesh for 5" below the shoulder. Apparently she now plays harmonica. Though the book (by Stephen Herrero) I first learnt of from Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods' - long ago - I didn't really become interested in bear attacks before seeing 'Backcountry'. I didn't particularly enjoy the film, but the depiction of the attack is unnerving - not least in it's accuracy. Herrero's theory is they go for the face because that's where they go for when fighting other bears - to disable the main weapon. It's almost funny, really, the available strategies, how none work all the time. If I was still a kid I think it'd give me nightmares.
Tbf, very few omnivores can resist bacon. I'm struggling with it myself tbh. Ever since I learned that pigs have a similar level of intelligence and emotional depth to dogs and under no circumstances would I consume a canine, I have tried to forswear the flesh of the swine. However, it is one of the eternal paradoxes of the moral universe that an animal which is mandated by The Almighty himself to be unclean and unfit for consumption should taste so good, although it deepens my faith to know that Man is being tested in this way. Nevertheless, I find it surprising that no other philosophers have noticed this conundrum and prayed it in aid of an argument for the existence of God. I suspect it is just yet more evidence of the dumbing down of the box-ticking facade which passes for academia these days. I must ask my brother, as he studied theology for a while as part of his training to be a priest, but he dropped out when he realised he was gay. Interestingly, he met the man who his now husband in the seminary (stop sniggering at the back) so it wasn't an entirely wasted year!
In other news, I have just re-read Moonfleet. Or, rather, I listened to it as an audiobook in advance of and for the first two days of my trip to East Fleet in Dorset, which was the inspiration for the fictional village.
Back to Neil Postman's 'Technopoly' - which is to say, having got halfway through it weeks ago. Copyright 1992. On the subject of opinion polls, quote: If I may make up some figures, let us suppose we read the following: "The latest poll indicates that 72 percent of the American public believes we should withdraw economic aid from Nicaragua. Of those who expressed this opinion, 28 percent thought Nicaragua was in central Asia, 18 percent thought it was an island near New Zealand, and 27.4 percent believed that 'Africans should help themselves', obviously confusing Nicaragua with Nigeria. Moreover, of those polled, 61.8 percent did not know that we give economic aid to Nicaragua, and 23 percent did not know what 'economic aid' means." My first thought is that Postman (who died a couple of decades ago) saw MAGA coming. But then, he lived through a majority applauding the Kent State killings (including of the ROTC student who wasn't involved in the demonstration); a majority applauding the actions of the police in Chicago '68; the Nixon presidency and the Reagan (two terms, widely believed to have dementia by the second and confirmed postmortem). Had he lived (and not himself suffered dementia, always a possibility), I suppose he could have written a book about how they/we've gone from thinly-veiled lack of pretence to unashamedly flaunting it (not just by proxy via Reagan-era movies like 'Wall Street').
Mornings In Jenin. A shocking insight into the formation of modern Isreal and its consequences. Sadly, seems nothing has changed.
Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC by Nick Purewal is one, and the other is The Release: Golf's Moment of Truth by Jim Hardy, in an attempt to become less grumpy...
I'm not a huge reader, tend to target particular books so I will pick them up wherever, but I'm very old school in that when I read it has to be a book, can't be doing with Kindles. I have a number of golf books, a few autographed by players such as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Sam Snead. Mrs GG on the other hand could start her own library; in fact our box room has now become one...
