White Trash

The 400-year untold history of Class in America

"In her groundbreaking history of the class system in America, extending from colonial times to the present, Nancy Isenberg takes on our comforting myths about equality, uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassing––if occasionally entertaining––poor white trash"

David Baldacci - The Guilty....

 

There's no real book stores close by to forage through...

 

managed to find and download "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph conrad on to my phone for free, so im killing my eyesight by reading it on my tiny little samsung!!

 

good book though. provided the inspirationfor Apocalypse Now,

John Lynch's 'Simón Bolívar: A life'.

I read Motorcycle history but on internet.

MCM website also. 

Mags from UK are expensive now like Fast bike and Motorcycle I got delivered into Thailand. 

Just finished J.D. Trafford's " No Time to Hide ". Starting in on Maurice Druon's "The Iron King", the first book in his series

" The Accursed Kings". It's like saying hello to a friend I haven't seen for a few years.

Just finished 'Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City' by Matthew Desmond.

 

He won - rightly - a Pulitzer for this. It's eye-opening, astonishing, appalling, tragic.  One of the most thought-provoking books that I've read in a very long time. 

 

The footnotes, which are voluminous, are as important as the main body of the work.

 

'Bring up the Bodies' by Hilary Mantel.

 

Recently finished 'Slaves in the Family' by Edward Ball-an amazing read.

I can't concentrate enough to read a book now, I blame the internet

1 hour ago, pgrahmm said:

There's no real book stores close by to forage through...

This has been the best part of having a kindle.. no shopping. I hear of a book, read about it a little and then in seconds download it... 

 

Yes, I had a nice home library years ago and liked to have a book in hand... 

 

2nd best thing is adjustable type size... 

I started this one about a deadly pandemic. I didn't like it. I stopped reading maybe after 100 pages.

 

Then I started this one. I like it and I am sure I will finish it.

 

19 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

This has been the best part of having a kindle.. no shopping. I hear of a book, read about it a little and then in seconds download it... 

Gotta second that...my airline baggage has gone a lot, when I knew I was heading to Asia I used to have load up with books......now as 1finickyone says...hear about download it for free, don't like it -nothing lost,  dump it download the next one. Carry about 50 or so around with you.

‘Margrave Of The Marshes’

by John Peel

I've long been a fan of TV series' such as CSI and Silent Witness, so when I came across an autobiography on Amazon Kindle by Dr. Richard Shepherd called 'Unnatural Causes' , I reckoned it was worth a look at. And when Jeremy Vine said it was an 'absolutely brilliant book', I couldn't resist.

 

Dr. Shepherd is one of the UK's leading forensic pathologists and dealt with some of the countries most challenging incidents. Among them was the Hungerford massacre, the sinking of the Marchioness on the Thames and the death of Princess Diana. And Jeremy's right, it's a brilliant book. 

 

Right now I'm reading a book called 'We Have no Idea' about all the things we don't know about the universe. Somewhat oxymoronic I know, it's fun and lighthearted. A lift after all that forensic stuff. ????

 

 

Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Clearly, it hasn't inspired me yet to do much with my life other than list it here.

Not saying its impractical, just that I cant be arsed, maybe it's the constant global doomery, may as well mull up and watch more porn.

'Apropros of Nothing' - Woody Allen's great autobiography.

1 minute ago, brewsterbudgen said:

'Apropros of Nothing' - Woody Allen's great autobiography.

I dont care if he married his adopted kid who was clearly a consenting adult, he's a brillantly gifted artist in several fields. Some of his humour anthologies such as "Without Fethers" have me laughing out loud.

"The Force" written by Don Winslow. About a corrupt cop. His border trilogy about the war on drugs in Mexico shows the real dirty side of it. Great read all of them.

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I started this one about a deadly pandemic. I didn't like it. I stopped reading maybe after 100 pages.

 

Then I started this one. I like it and I am sure I will finish it.

 

"The Stand" is a classic of good vs. evil, the final pages are riveting prose IMO. A shame you didn't like it.

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

"The Stand" is a classic of good vs. evil, the final pages are riveting prose IMO. A shame you didn't like it.

It seems there are different editions of that book including a "extended" version. Normally I like big long book and I started the extended version. Maybe it get's better later...

Thanks to the recent thread on here, "Books Written Well Over 100 Years Ago", I made a list, went out, and found a dozen of them. I added those to the dozen I already had waiting to read, and now have, "Books That Will Take Me 100 Years To Read".

 

I just finished "Heart of Darkness", and am a few chapters into "12 Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup.

Lockdown by Peter May.

 

A thriller originally written in 2005 and set in London against the background of a deadly flu pandemic. Who would have thought it...

 

Interestingly, the book was at first rejected by the publishers because they thought that the storyline was unrealistic!

17 hours ago, hanuman2543 said:

"The Force" written by Don Winslow. About a corrupt cop. His border trilogy about the war on drugs in Mexico shows the real dirty side of it. Great read all of them.

 

I came upon "The Power of the Dog" when in Kuala Lumpar a while ago. A truly powerful read. 

Conquistadors by John Pemberton

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

 

Both non-fiction, interesting easy reads

Lee Childs & Jeffery Deaver????????????????????

    Currently reading The Kingdom by Jo Nesbo and enjoying it.  It's a stand-alone book by the author of the Harry Hole detective series, one of my favorite series.  Recently finished The Museum of Desire, by Jonathan Kellerman. The Cutting Edge, by Jeffrey Deaver, and The New Girl, by Daniel Silva.  All excellent.

On 5/26/2021 at 4:04 PM, nikmar said:

managed to find and download "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph conrad on to my phone for free, so im killing my eyesight by reading it on my tiny little samsung!!

 

good book though. provided the inspirationfor Apocalypse Now,

Buy a secondhand Kindle (or even new). It will change your experience. Use the caliber app on PC or Mac to upload/download books and manage your whole ebook library. I read in the pool and in the dark quite a bit, so paper books are now just for decoration or research. ????

The Reformation: A History

Diarmaid MacCulloch

 

A bit of interesting if unintentional myth busting. 

 

The word Protestant originated from the 2nd Diet of Speyer 1529, when the Lutheran Princes issued a Protestatio (Latin for Statement or Declaration) of their common principles. They became known as Protestants (the People of the Declaration). 

 

So not the accepted "truth" that "it was because Luther made a protest". 

Just finished The Black Prince by Michael Jones. A very good account of his life and of chivalry as practised on the 14th century. 

Now reading The Great Empires of Asia, but it's disappointing, seven potted histories with little meat. 

I think maybe an Iain Banks novel next. 

Just now, rott said:

The Reformation: A History

Diarmaid MacCulloch

 

A bit of interesting if unintentional myth busting. 

 

The word Protestant originated from the 2nd Diet of Speyer 1529, when the Lutheran Princes issued a Protestatio (Latin for Statement or Declaration) of their common principles. They became known as Protestants (the People of the Declaration). 

 

So not the accepted "truth" that "it was because Luther made a protest". 

That's a good book, I also read it.