Good Books

Culture
201

[quote=“Watch The Break, post: 608”]

Yeah it’s good alright. The Spanish Civil War would probably be my favourite period to read about but I think Beevor might not have much interest in the ideological background of it. It’s more about the shooting with him.[/quote]
If you’re into the Spanish Civil War, Paul Preston Has written a number of excellent books about it. I recently read ¡Guerra! By Jason Webster. A good read. It’s split between the author interviewing and going to major sites during the war And also providing a history of it. Again I knew very little about it but I find that period fascinating.

202

Read an excellent book recently called “hHhh”. It’s a true story about the WW2 assasination attempt on Heinrich Himmler. If you like history type books I’d thoroughly recommend it and it reads like a thriller.

203

Disagree with that. I had very little knowledge on the subject before I read it. It takes a bit of concentration to work through the different factions, but the listing of them at the start of the book is a very handy reference.

I think he covers the political, idealogical and military side of it quite well. Haven’t read his other stuff so can’t compare, but I thought it was a cracking read.

204

Excellent non fiction. Pulphead John Jeremiah O’Sullivan

205

Reading An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917 - 1963 at the moment.

Good book, hasn’t been spoiled by the fact that I think I know what happens in the end.

Great insight in to how and why the we ended up in Vietnam and also how difficult it is for a President to achieve anything in terms of new legislation.

206

I got a Kindle Fire recently so looking to put some books on it. A few questions, has anyone read Paul Nichols autobiography, I started reading it today but not sure if I’ll persevere, does he go into much detail on his actual training methods or it just like most other racing books where they just name their winners with a bit of padding around it?

Downloaded a random “pack” of books from a torrent site, any of these any use?

I notice a Flann O’Brien book listed in there, anyone read it?
Feel free to recommend any other books not listed.

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]1984 - George Orwell.mobi
Absolute Friends - John Le Carre.mobi
Aerodrome_ A Love Story, The - Rex Warner.mobi
anti-death league, The - Kingsley Amis.mobi
Ape and Essence - Aldous Huxley.mobi
assistant, The - Bernard Malamud.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O’Brien.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]Bell, The - Iris Murdoch.mobi
bend in the river, A - V. S. Naipaul.mobi
Body, The - William Sansom.mobi
Bomber - Len Deighton.mobi
Brave new world - Aldous Huxley.mobi
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh.mobi
Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]Catch-22 - Joseph Heller.prc
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger.prc
Coup, The - John Updike.mobi
Creation - Gore Vidal.mobi
defence_ a novel, The - Vladimir Nabokov; translated by Michael Scammell in collaboration & the author.mobi
Dubin’s lives - Bernard Malamud.mobi
Facial Justice - L. P. Hartley.mobi
Finnegans Wake - James Joyce.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway.mobi
French Lieutenant’s Woman, The - John Fowles.mobi
Girls of Slender Means, The - Muriel Spark.mobi
Golden Notebook, The - Doris Lessing.mobi
Gravity’s Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon.mobi
heart of the matter, The - Graham Greene.mobi
Heat of the Day, The - Elizabeth Bowen.mobi
history man, The - Malcolm Bradbury.mobi
Humboldt’s Gift - Saul Bellow.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali.prc
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison.mobi
Island - Aldous Huxley.mobi
Lanark_ A Life in Four Books - Alasdair Gray.mobi
Lockwood Concern, The - John O’Hara.mobi
Looking Glass War, The - John Le Carre.mobi
Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.mobi
Man of the People (African Writers), A - Chinua Achebe.mobi
Mosquito Coast, The - Paul Theroux.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]naked and the dead, The - Norman Mailer.mobi
No Highway - Nevil Shute.mobi
Old Man and the Sea, The - Ernest Hemingway.mobi
once and future king, The - T. H. White.mobi
Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov.mobi
Party Going - Henry Green.mobi
Pavane - Keith Roberts.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]portable atheist_ essential readings for the nonbeliever, The - Christopher Hitchens.mobi
power and the glory, The - Graham Greene.mobi
professor and the madman_ a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English dictionary, The - Si.prc
Razor’s Edge, The - W. Somerset Maugham.prc
Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban.mobi
Riders in the Chariot - Patrick White.mobi
Sister_ A Novel - Rosamund Lupton.mobi
Sophie’s Choice - William Styron.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2]spire, The - William Golding.mobi
Ssn - Tom Clancy & Martin Greenberg.mobi
Staying On - Paul Scott.mobi
Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry.mobi
victim_ a novel, The - Saul Bellow.mobi[/size][/size][/font]
[font=“Verdana”][size=“2”][size=2] Wise Blood - Flannery O’Connor.mobi[/size][/size][/font]

207

How do you rate the Kindle Fire Runt? I won one but haven’t taken it out of the box as I have no need for it. Prefer my regular Kindle and iPad for my eReader and tablet needs respectively.

Anyone want to buy a Kindle Fire?

208

I enjoy it. I didn’t previously have a tablet or an e-reader.
I have rooted the fire so I have removed the amazon restrictions and can access most of the Android apps and use it as a tablet, so it fills both functions well. Only have it a couple of days, but impressed so far.

209

How much Brian?

210

Some decent stuff there. Pretty much all old books though so they’re probably out of copyright anyway.

Anyone read any Kevin Barry stuff? Read City of Bohane recently and thought it was superb.

211

Ya, I only downloaded it because it was relatively small in size, most of the packs have hundreds of books in them and are a few gigs in size.

212

Finished moneyball by Michael Lewis yesterday - great read overall.

Lewis has an excellent style and to be fair the story is very interesting to anyone with an interest in stats

213

I am reading “sex lies and handlebar tape” at the moment. The story of Jacques Anqueitil.

214

Are erotic novels now in vogue? Was passing by a book shop there earlier this morning and saw a poster on the window about a book called “In Too Deep” with quite a suggestive picture to go with it. I’m assuming that this an erotic novel.

Is that an erotic novel too?

215

No it is the story of the first five time winner of the Tour de France. He had interesting domestic arrangements.

216

[quote=“balbec, post: 629”]
No it is the story of the first five time winner of the Tour de France. He had interesting domestic arrangements.[/quote]

Is it a Good Book? If not, I fear you are in the wrong thread.

217

Its about a cyclist, hard to see how it could be.

218

it’s a book. reasonably interesting.

219

They are $199 plus taxes in store Rocko. As I respect you as an auditor, accountant, forum administrator, captain, manager, raconteur, bon viveur and all round person it’s yours for $150.

Let me know your thoughts, I have someone visiting shortly, I can send it back to Dublin with them arriving August 21st.

220

[quote=“balbec, post: 632”]
it’s a book. reasonably interesting.[/quote]

As I feared. You are looking for the reasonably interesting books thread. Fool.