Planet Rugby Forum

Just finished A Thousand Splendid Sons. I thought it was pretty much impossible for Khaled Hosseini to live up to Kite Runner but somehow he managed it. Amazing books both.

I bought this book about 11 months ago but haven't been able to have a decent crack at it due to parental duties etc.
My mission is to get through it by Easter. Its quite heavy going at times with the sheer mountain of Russian names to remember but its written very well.
Some of the stories of Peter the Great's court are f**king hilarious
Working my way through Catherine atm and looking forward to getting into the 19th century which is much more relevant to what I studied back in the day.

HKCJ wrote:Just finished A Thousand Splendid Sons. I thought it was pretty much impossible for Khaled Hosseini to live up to Kite Runner but somehow he managed it. Amazing books both.

+1

Slight preference for "Kite Runner"...

clementinfrance wrote:

HKCJ wrote:Just finished A Thousand Splendid Sons. I thought it was pretty much impossible for Khaled Hosseini to live up to Kite Runner but somehow he managed it. Amazing books both.

+1

Slight preference for "Kite Runner"...

Yeah me too I think just. I read the Kite Runner a year or so ago and was going to dive into this straight after but my girlfriend told me to wait and give it a while, read some other stuff first because then i would really savour and appreciate them both. Think she was spot on and I will give it a while before I read And the Mountains Echoed. We were saying his writing has an almost musical rhythm to it that I find it almost hypnotic.

HKCJ wrote:

clementinfrance wrote:

HKCJ wrote:Just finished A Thousand Splendid Sons. I thought it was pretty much impossible for Khaled Hosseini to live up to Kite Runner but somehow he managed it. Amazing books both.

+1

Slight preference for "Kite Runner"...

Yeah me too I think just. I read the Kite Runner a year or so ago and was going to dive into this straight after but my girlfriend told me to wait and give it a while, read some other stuff first because then i would really savour and appreciate them both. Think she was spot on and I will give it a while before I read And the Mountains Echoed. We were saying his writing has an almost musical rhythm to it that I find it almost hypnotic.

I read both when they came out years ago and yes the writing flows superbly... Didn't know he had written a third book, so I'll get that ordered soon.

Just read this;


A good effort, but tries to cover a little too much ground, IMO.
Now finally, after promising myself for years, on to this;

Not as good as his books about Joy Division and the Hacienda, though that might be more because I've a greater interest in them than New Order. Still hilarious though and well worth a read for anyone interested in NO, Factory, Madchester and the like.

One of the best books I have read. I have studied this topic a lot in the last year and this is like the cement for the bricks. Provides a strong interpretation about the decision making (or lack of) for going into Iraq in 2003 and confusion over US foreign policy.

Next book is Tim Shipman's: All Out War



Read quite a few books on Brexit so far including Hannan's latest (it was ok) and started Craig Oliver's Unleashing Demons (this is great if you didn't follow Brexit too closely but I was working a lot on the referendum at the time so knew all the details he wrote about, thus it felt a bit of a waste of time so gave up), however Shipman's is far more intriguing from what I have read so far and provides a far more detailed account from all perspectives.

Has anyone read Coming Up For Air? Brilliant book. Very well written with so many things still relevant today.

arrived this afternoon courtesy of amazon:



the book -

clementinfrance wrote:

HKCJ wrote:

clementinfrance wrote:

HKCJ wrote:Just finished A Thousand Splendid Sons. I thought it was pretty much impossible for Khaled Hosseini to live up to Kite Runner but somehow he managed it. Amazing books both.

+1

Slight preference for "Kite Runner"...

Yeah me too I think just. I read the Kite Runner a year or so ago and was going to dive into this straight after but my girlfriend told me to wait and give it a while, read some other stuff first because then i would really savour and appreciate them both. Think she was spot on and I will give it a while before I read And the Mountains Echoed. We were saying his writing has an almost musical rhythm to it that I find it almost hypnotic.

I read both when they came out years ago and yes the writing flows superbly... Didn't know he had written a third book, so I'll get that ordered soon.

Read And the Mountains Echoed a couple of months back, also superb but the first 3/4 are the best. 3rd out of the 3 for me but very much worth it. Totally agree on the "musical rhythm"

Thought I'd try and read some funny books this year. This article is my starting points, so any suggestions?
I've already read all the Calvin & Hobbes books.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ ... t-christie


Worth a read, not difficult. I still don't know if he's guilty or innocent.

Just read this;



Very light read really, too light on detail to be that interesting, but a decent sketch of his young life and bizarre proclivities.

Moving onto;



It's by the same author. Hopefully it'll be good deal more dense, while keeping the authors readable style.

Just finished Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Interesting novel written just after the second world war about resistance to the Nazis during the second world war. Explains how fear slowly took hold of Berlin with the rise of the Nazis.

JoeyFantastic wrote:Just finished Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Interesting novel written just after the second world war about resistance to the Nazis during the second world war. Explains how fear slowly took hold of Berlin with the rise of the Nazis.

Sounds relevant. *cough*

Is it a novel or a history book?

CBATC if already mentioned, but Robin Ince and Josie Long do an excellent podcast called Book Shambles which I've recently got into - it's proving enormous literary value at the moment, although they recommend a handful of different books each episode and I'm already about fifteen books behind on my reading list now.

Currently working my way through Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience - apparently a classic I had heretofore not been aware of.

Floppykid wrote:

JoeyFantastic wrote:Just finished Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. Interesting novel written just after the second world war about resistance to the Nazis during the second world war. Explains how fear slowly took hold of Berlin with the rise of the Nazis.

Sounds relevant. *cough*

Is it a novel or a history book?

A novel based very loosely on a real life couple who published anti-Nazi propaganda in Berlin during the war. The author had had some run ins with the Nazis so knew to some degree what he was writing about.

Anyone have any recommendations for books about the development of nuclear weapons during and after WW2?

Floppykid wrote:Anyone have any recommendations for books about the development of nuclear weapons during and after WW2?

I'm not sure this is what you're looking for but I came across this about a month ago, didn't buy though.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... 5400977031

I am currently reading my old science fiction books for possibly the last time and then passing them on to my daughter (for her to dump). Most of these I bought 50 odd years ago - Bradbury, Asimov, Dick, Heinlein etc. The one at the moment is Ray Bradbury's Machineries of Joy. What lovely writing.

Fangle wrote:I am currently reading my old science fiction books for possibly the last time and then passing them on to my daughter (for her to dump). Most of these I bought 50 odd years ago - Bradbury, Asimov, Dick, Heinlein etc. The one at the moment is Ray Bradbury's Machineries of Joy.

hardbacks?

Monk Zombie wrote:

Fangle wrote:I am currently reading my old science fiction books for possibly the last time and then passing them on to my daughter (for her to dump). Most of these I bought 50 odd years ago - Bradbury, Asimov, Dick, Heinlein etc. The one at the moment is Ray Bradbury's Machineries of Joy.

hardbacks?

Crappy paperbacks. I was still a student. The current one cost 35 cents.

hadn't tried Louis de Bernier since Captain Corelli but though time for another go and loved Bird Without Wings

Kate Atkinson was another I thought I'd go back to having read nothing since her first (which I liked) and was again glad I did with A God in Ruins.

Currently reading this:



Utterly tragic read, it covers a war that involved at least 20 different rebel groups and the armies of nine countries, millions dead, millions more displaced......and mostly ignored by the rest of the world.

danny_fitz wrote:Currently reading this:



Utterly tragic read, it covers a war that involved at least 20 different rebel groups and the armies of nine countries, millions dead, millions more displaced......and mostly ignored by the rest of the world.

Was an interesting period. The conflict spilled down to Namibia- who sent troops to the DRC- and then got caught up in the final push against UNITA in Angola which spilt over the border resulting in al sorts of shit in Namibia's Caprivi. I was running an EU-ACP human rights project through a local legal NGO- and had the fun job of monitoring that part of the conflict and assisting the French embassy to investigate the killing of a French family - the Bidoins- who got shot up after entering namibia to try to get to the coast for the millennium New years after visiting vic falls.

If you like stearns I'd recommend Michaela Wrong's stuff and for a slightly different stylistic approach Aiden Hartley's Zanzibar Chest - focussed on Somalia and Rwanda, in the early 1990s but a cosmically good, if grim read.

echo wrote:

danny_fitz wrote:Currently reading this:



Utterly tragic read, it covers a war that involved at least 20 different rebel groups and the armies of nine countries, millions dead, millions more displaced......and mostly ignored by the rest of the world.

Was an interesting period. The conflict spilled down to Namibia- who sent troops to the DRC- and then got caught up in the final push against UNITA in Angola which spilt over the border resulting in al sorts of shit in Namibia's Caprivi. I was running an EU-ACP human rights project through a local legal NGO- and had the fun job of monitoring that part of the conflict and assisting the French embassy to investigate the killing of a French family - the Bidoins- who got shot up after entering namibia to try to get to the coast for the millennium New years after visiting vic falls.

If you like stearns I'd recommend Michaela Wrong's stuff and for a slightly different stylistic approach Aiden Hartley's Zanzibar Chest - focussed on Somalia and Rwanda, in the early 1990s but a cosmically good, if grim read.

Ta, will have a look.

The Horn of Africa: State Formation and Decay by Christopher Clapham is getting good reviews, not available till later this month.

danny_fitz wrote:

echo wrote:

danny_fitz wrote:Currently reading this:



Utterly tragic read, it covers a war that involved at least 20 different rebel groups and the armies of nine countries, millions dead, millions more displaced......and mostly ignored by the rest of the world.

Was an interesting period. The conflict spilled down to Namibia- who sent troops to the DRC- and then got caught up in the final push against UNITA in Angola which spilt over the border resulting in al sorts of shit in Namibia's Caprivi. I was running an EU-ACP human rights project through a local legal NGO- and had the fun job of monitoring that part of the conflict and assisting the French embassy to investigate the killing of a French family - the Bidoins- who got shot up after entering namibia to try to get to the coast for the millennium New years after visiting vic falls.

If you like stearns I'd recommend Michaela Wrong's stuff and for a slightly different stylistic approach Aiden Hartley's Zanzibar Chest - focussed on Somalia and Rwanda, in the early 1990s but a cosmically good, if grim read.

Ta, will have a look.

The Horn of Africa: State Formation and Decay by Christopher Clapham is getting good reviews, not available till later this month.

I know Chris- he was on the fellowship of the Cambridge African Studies Centre with me in the early noughties. His stuff is very dry and academic. He's also as old as the hills.

Was reading GOT's thread and someone mentioned Salinger. Thought better to post this here than there.

I go to quizzes and certain novels come up in the questions as being regarded as classics so I am attempting to read some.

Have just finished the Catcher in the Rye and was pretty disappointing. I wouldn't say it was awful but just not that great and deserving of all the fuss. Holden while making some good observations about life but was just far to annoying to really identify with in the way I think the novel wanted me to. Never really picked it up thirsting for more and it was only becoming interesting as it was getting closer to his mental breakdown then just as they got there it ends.

I would put it with On the Road by Kerouac and a Farewell to Arms by Hemingway in the category of being overated. Not awful just a bit of a chore to read.

By contrast I would put The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and War and Peace by Tolstoy as being excellent and worthy of their status.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raw_Shark_Texts

This is well worth a read, it's a strange premise when you read the description on Wikipedia but a cracking read. The thought the author put in to the project is outstanding, for every chapter in the book there is an un-chapter hidden online or in the real world, you don't need to read the unchapters as part of the book, they just expand on the themes and ideas of the book.

There's some good kindle daily deals books today inc...

Band of Brothers not for me but I know a lot of you liked the series
The Immortal life of Henritta Lacks - very good read.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Daily-D ... =341689031

Half way through this. Absolutely loving it, haven't read a laugh out loud book for a while and this is one.

Recent reads

The Help.. fantastic, loved it. Hadn't seen the film but what a great book

Killing Floor. Needed something easy to read and thought I'd try a Jack Reacher. Mother of Christ. I've read Ladybird books that were more of a challenge.

Watership Down. Pretty good.. great descriptions of the countryside but not as scary or visceral as the animated film of my childhood.

Of mice and men. Terrific little read. I haven't read any Steinbeck so will be giving grapes of wrath a go soon because this was a captivating little short story

Reading the Boucherie Ovalie book at the moment. Good fun but I need an online dictionary. Invariably there is a word in the book not on the online dictionary but I take the approach that it is probably just another word for penis.

Edit: other than that it's all Annabel Karmel and Each Peach Sodding Pear Plum.

bought these in the week: should rather have got the Gaddis on kindle; it is a brick

Leon, Fast Vegetarian cookbook, 99p today for Kindle

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... 5400977031



I wanted this book.

Tale of two cities - absolutely brilliant. Loved it

Grapes of wrath. Meh. A bit bleak for me and not enough story. Decent social essay I guess

james garner wrote:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raw_Shark_Texts

This is well worth a read, it's a strange premise when you read the description on Wikipedia but a cracking read. The thought the author put in to the project is outstanding, for every chapter in the book there is an un-chapter hidden online or in the real world, you don't need to read the unchapters as part of the book, they just expand on the themes and ideas of the book.

I bought it then couldnt make head nor tail of it so put it down

Think I was distracted

Just read "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" after watching Sheridan Smith in the brilliant "12 Days of Christine". Apparently the former partly inspired the latter.
These "life review" stories really creep me out...

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_p ... ost_digest

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