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On 11/04/2019 at 11:34, El Rojo said:

The Boy On The Shed by Paul Ferris

 

Memoir of the the youngest ever player to play for Newcastle, a contemporary of Gazza and Waddle, who suffered a serious knee injury that effectively ended his career. He reinvented himself as a physiotherapist (with Newcastle) and then later as a barrister.

 

From Lisburn so he also focuses on the horror and bleakness of the Troubles (a timely reminder) and his homesickness when he first went over. Flattering and unflattering portraits of a number of Newcastle players and managers over the last 30 years, though it's far from just a football story. 

 

A different slant on the usual given that he didn't actually make it and he's clearly an intelligent and insightful man. Good read.

Nice one, I’ll give that a go.

 

I read a similar biography by Oliver Kay a few years ago titled, Forever Young, about a MU prodigy called Adrian Doherty.

 

Doherty grew up Ulster during the troubles and was regarded as the finest player of MU’s class of 92.

Bob Dylan, not football, was his greatest passion. When he wasn’t training with MU he would spend his time busking in Manchester dressed in second hand cloths. He didn’t fit in with his contemporaries but they all liked him and agreed he was twice as talented as Ryan Giggs.

 

His career was short, tragic and unfulfilled. I’m no MU fan but his life story was a real tear jerker and the book an absorbing read.

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7 hours ago, Sugar Ape said:

It’s here. Going to sit in the garden all day nursing this hangover and get cracking with it.

Ha, ha, ha!!! Great minds. Started it this morning and have been in the garden on and off reading it all day. 

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6 hours ago, Paul said:

Ha, ha, ha!!! Great minds. Started it this morning and have been in the garden on and off reading it all day. 

 

I managed a grand total of two pages. No idea why I thought I could read and look after a three year old at the same time.

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  • 3 weeks later...

"Israel and South Africa: The Many Faces of Apartheid"

 

edited by Ilan Pappe

 

A collection of essays comparing apartheid in pre-94 SA with the situation in Israel and the occupied territories.

 

A bit too "academic" for the generalist, in places, but the last two essays in particular are definitely worth a read if you're at all interested in the issue.

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Any recommendations for survival/escape books on here ? 

Have read The Road which I really enjoyed Papillon was really good also . Just read Alas Babylon - ok but a little disappointing . I read Alive a long time ago and that was also really good 

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49 minutes ago, elvis said:

Any recommendations for survival/escape books on here ? 

Have read The Road which I really enjoyed Papillon was really good also . Just read Alas Babylon - ok but a little disappointing . I read Alive a long time ago and that was also really good 

The grand-daddy of post-apocalypse road books is probably "The Stand" by Stephen King. It's a great book. "Swan Song" by Robert McCammon is another.

 

As for survival/escape, the books that I like in that sort of genre are the mountain-climbing books. Not quite the same, but they offer the same sort of challenge, plus they're true. "Touching the Void", "Annapurna", or "Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage". "Into Thin Air" is another. There are dozens.

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3 hours ago, elvis said:

Any recommendations for survival/escape books on here ? 

Have read The Road which I really enjoyed Papillon was really good also . Just read Alas Babylon - ok but a little disappointing . I read Alive a long time ago and that was also really good 

Why, what do you know? 

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Finished the latest Charlie Parker last weekend. Obviously I enjoyed it. However, the constant switches between so many characters was annoying, as were the increasingly lengthy historical descriptions. 

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1 minute ago, Paul said:

Finished the latest Charlie Parker last weekend. Obviously I enjoyed it. However, the constant switches between so many characters was annoying, as were the increasingly lengthy historical descriptions. 

 

Probably the worst of the Parker novels. That’s not to say it’s necessarily bad but certainly not up to his usual standards. 

 

They could have cut the book by half by chopping all the Northumberland police stuff and it wouldn’t have been missed at all. I actually didn’t mind the historical bits but the focus on uninteresting characters in England was really off putting.

 

Not enough time spent with the principal characters and not sure about the need to neuter Angel and Louis, to some degree, either with injuries and age. Feels a bit like the heart and soul of these stories have been ripped away.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

"De Gaulle" Julian Jackson

 

As a kid, I was always disappointed at the end of "The Day of the Jackal" that he didn't get his head blown off. The power of story, I suppose.

 

Anyway, this is a very good book, detailed, well-written, insightful.

 

I leave as I arrived however: safe in the knowledge that De Gaulle was a gigantic turd.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just finished a sci-fi magazine called 'Visions', a collection of short stories and essays; issue 1 deals with the theme and concepts of 'home'. It's great, with some really thought-provoking and interesting ideas. 

 

My favourites from the collection were: a story about aliens that trade on the success of distant planets, watching from afar and betting on the outcomes; and an essay about the Japanese house and the beauty and simplicity of its construction and function.

 

The first issue cost £12.99 but when ordering I took advantage of a deal and got the second one for something like £7. Highly recommended.

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On 27/03/2019 at 14:21, SasaS said:

Started reading (well, audio book) Knausgaard, a bit late to the party but experience thought me there is usually no harm in waiting for a fad to pass.

 

Still on book one, couldn't get into it at first, but somewhere half way through, I can see the attraction and it's actually pretty good. Some descriptions of teenage years are really incredibly relatable and capture the psychology perfectly.  

 

I thought at first this is going to be a Poundland Proust, but there may be something in these books after all. Will keep you posted with my thoughts. Don't know if you'd be able to handle the waiting and suspense though.   


Finished all six volumes of My Struggle, back to back. Well worth my time, for the most part.

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