• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Book Corner.

Guzzler said:
I have finished 'An Artist of the Floating World'. I'm finding it difficult to describe. It tells of our hero's reflections on his past and gently tells of his personal search (?) for understanding, perhaps enlightenment in his old age. The descriptions, though, not overly emphasised as with some authors, are at times beautiful and horrible but it is the machinations of the mind and the attitudes that the protagonist and those around him especially of the younger generation go through in what was and led to a terrible time in our history.

Informative, too. I had no idea that the Americans occupied Japan after the war or that an attempt was made to democratise the culture.

I did thoroughly enjoy this book and surprisingly, as soon as a description of the floating world was alluded toI understood completely.
Thank you for the recommendation.
Click to expand...
Glad you enjoyed it.
 
BillB said:
If nobody minds me turning to a different category of book I have just finished reading D-Day through German Eyes, Book 1 and Book 2. My father served on board HMS Frobisher which was among the support ships on D-Day. Frobisher was moored alongside HMS Roberts as part of the mass of ships whose job was to pulverize the German defences for the Allied troops to land. These two books originated when a journalist interviewed a number of soldiers on the northern French coast, who were to be the defenders in the event of a landing by the Allies, for a German military magazine. The journalist, Dieter Eckhertz, didn't get the interviews published before that historic day, June 6, 1944. After the war he decided to track down the soldiers he had interviewed to ask them about their experiences on D-Day and in the days and following. He was able to find a good many of them and he got their stories down verbatim. Unfortunately, he died before he could carry the work out and the interviews eventually came into possession of his grandson, Holger Eckhertz, who edited them and linked them together into two books. These two volumes, as far as I know, are the first to give an account of the landings from the German soldiers' experiences.
If you've read The Longest Day or any of the other histories of that momentous event, you will have gained an insight into the mindsets of individual Allied soldiers, the planning and the decision making, but all of it from the Allied point of view. D-Day through German Eyes are books that are shattering in their rawness. The descriptions of new weapons developed by the Allies which I hadn't known were used that early are amazing in their effective but brutal way. One of them sounds like an early version of napalm. Another piece of information I gleaned from these pages was the sheer jaw dropping shock the German soldiers experienced as the early morning fog dispersed and they saw for the first time the thousands of ships moored off those Normandy beaches. One of them confesses that he realised the war was lost for them when he saw the immense numbers of ships and landing craft that had assembled without them knowing about it. They stretched from horizon to horizon as far as the eye could see.
For a different viewpoint on this turning point in World War II, these books are a must read - they certainly expanded my knowledge of D-Day.
These books can be downloaded or ordered in paperback format from Kindle.
Click to expand...

I have read and seen numerous accounts of D Day.
My eldest brother was born on that day!
The best was the account by Antony Beevors. Which Band of Brothers was based on.

I have just noticed that it is a nice price on kindle. Might just have a read
Thanks.
 
I've just finished "A Brief History of Everyone who Ever Lived", by Adam Rutherford.

I'm no scientist but it's a fascinating guide to Genetics, and the way in which recent discoveries have influenced our understanding of where we all come from, and what our genetic make-up tells us about our past (for instance, that we all came from Africa, and have some Neanderthal genes in our make-up).

Interesting stuff.
 
Not a book but a radio series on Radio4extra. 'The Daughter of Time' is a mix of old and new. A police inspector in hospital with a broken leg and severe boredom decides to investigate an historic mystery. Based loosely on Joseph Tey's book of the same title. It involves the inspector's investigation into the supposed murder of the Princes in the Tower by Richard lll. Not bad, if a little loose with the historical facts.
 
Reading a novel based around Howard Carter and the opening of Tutunkamun's tomb. It's OK but my attention has been wandering so I'm finding it hard going
 
wolfie11969 said:
Reading a novel based around Howard Carter and the opening of Tutunkamun's tomb. It's OK but my attention has been wandering so I'm finding it hard going
Click to expand...
Not "The Visitors", by any chance? If so, "It's OK" was my judgement as well.....
 
jay hay-char said:
Not "The Visitors", by any chance? If so, "It's OK" was my judgement as well.....
Click to expand...

Yes you have it - The Visitors. I must admit the last 2 chapters I skimmed over as by then I was bored. Still confused with the ending but probably not helped because I did skim over a fair few pages.

Now reading a book about Ireland around the 1930's
 
Lamont D said:
I have read and seen numerous accounts of D Day.
My eldest brother was born on that day!
The best was the account by Antony Beevors. Which Band of Brothers was based on.

I have just noticed that it is a nice price on kindle. Might just have a read
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Lamont - Dare I say that Band of Brothers was not taken from Beevor's book, but from Stephen E. Ambrose's work of the same name. Sorry if I sound a bit pedantic.;)
PS Thanks for your message.
 
BillB said:
Lamont - Dare I say that Band of Brothers was not taken from Beevor's book, but from Stephen E. Ambrose's work of the same name. Sorry if I sound a bit pedantic.;)
PS Thanks for your message.
Click to expand...

No you are right!
Not pedantic but correct, can't argue with facts! (Unless you are a politician!)

P.S. I have read most of Ambrose second world war books as well!
 
Half way through ' The unusual second life of Thomas Weaver' by Shawn Inman.

Quite engaging and fun!
 
Do you find you're reading a book and think 'I'm sure I've read this before?'

I've picked up a book called A Woman of Substance and I'm dead certain I read it back in the far reaches of my memory when I was in my early 20's. Oh who knows I'll carry on until more things seem familiar
 
I think it was a mini-series on the telly as well? Mrs h-c used to watch it and (I confess) I put my headphones on and listened to music while it was on. :)
 
Currently reading "The Crow Girl" by Erik Axl Sund. Not sure what I think of it, to be honest - a challenging subject (paedophilia in families and violence against children) treated in, arguably, unnecessarily graphic detail and with more twists than the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. Also not entirely clear who are the good guys (and gals), and who the bad. I will keep reading it, if only to establish the facts although I have a horrible feeling that the ending might be ambivalent, in which case I shall thcweam and thcweam until I'm thick.
 
Just read The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower (I know, a really really middle class name!). It’s set in the era of coffee houses, trade in slaves and spices, women’s subjugation to a patriarchy and a great gulf between rich and poor. It’s a mix of social revelation, character growth and historical research. With a bit of ‘magic’ thrown in. The author’s very knowledgeable. I really enjoyed it!
 
Lamont D said:
Half way through ' The unusual second life of Thomas Weaver' by Shawn Inman.

Quite engaging and fun!
Click to expand...

Now on second book in series ' The redemption of Michael Hollister'

Fascinating play on the characters life stories!

Intriguing!
 
I have just started to read
‘The Tudor Kings and Queens of England - The dynasty that forged a nation’ written by
Alex Woolf
 
Good morning all, I too am .an avid book reader. Now gone electronic no more turning the page for me.
I have two books on the go at the moment one is a Terry Pratcett and the other is a straight science book a little heavy going to be honest.
It's good .we all have different tastes.
 
Love Terry Pratchett, a sad loss. Just finished Jon McGregor, Reservoir 13, totally absorbing. He moves slowly, economically, through a long time span in short statements that reveal large things.
 
I've read quite a few books since I last posted here.

I'm part way through The Woman of Substance saga - think I'm on book 4

Also read some Penny Vincenzi in the gap too

I've also started reading a series by Jeffrey Archer. They must be old books as our library are having trouble sourcing them so might have to buy for the e-reader.

The book I am currently reading is called The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau. It's set in Henry VIII's time and is about the search of a priory for Athelstan's crown - rumoured to have mystical powers. Seems OK. I'm halfway through so cant be that bad if I've not moved onto other books

Oh and read an encyclopaedia of dog breeds as after having lost our greyhound in November the family are all suggesting what we should have next. Me not too fussed at moment, still grieving for Logan
 
Back
Top