What book(s) are you reading at the moment?

[Percy]

Originally Posted by Laurel

‘The Truth about Percy’ by Enid Brown.

[Appear]

Last week I finished Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera. It was interesting and fairly horrifying in places - and I went in expecting horror. One irritation is that the author stays fairly impartial around the bigger question of whether empire was 'good' or 'bad', citing complexity, incomplete and uncertain evidence etc. No matter the supposed economic benefits (for one nation almost exclusively), I'm not sure they balance out the racism, murder and slavery, even if you're trying to be 'objective'.


I'm now reading Wool by Hugh Howey, which is what Apple TV's Silo is based on. Pretty compelling so far (like the series).

[Percy]

Finally finished the Paul O'Grady books. Damn that man had a lot to say.

Now reading "Karate as the Art of Killing", a history book about pre 1900s Karate which was originally designed to be a kill the enemy with one blow art, before it came to the west and was dulled down for competition.

[genovese]

Suuuuuperb

[Appear]

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century - Jessica Bruder

It's a series of accounts of people living nomadic lifestyles in small trailers/RVs in the US, usually due to losing jobs or savings in the financial crash and not being able to afford to live in even a static trailer. It's quite scary and sad for the people (most of whom are retirement age), but they generally seem to put a cheerful face on and get on with it. I can definitely see the appeal of the travelling lifestyle generally - but out of choice, not necessity. The way organisations like Amazon exploit them for cheap labour is pretty sickening but unfortunately unsurprising.

I've not seen the Chloe Zhao film that's based on it yet but I'll be looking for it once finished.

[Mole58]

The Sea For Breakfast - Lillian Beckwith.

Life on the island of Soay, off Skye, in the 1950s. A different time - a more simple life.

[Scurrilous Rumour]

Originally Posted by Merritt

Finished The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. It was alright, Bob's loveliness bleeds through, but was only 'occasional smile' funny and the story was a bit 'if this was by anyone else, I wouldn't bother finishing it'.

That is an interesting observation. Why did you feel compelled to finish a mediocre book just because you like the author being silly on the telly?

I have a couple of old 90's novels by Ade Edmondson and Charlie Higson that I'm a bit hesitant to dip into. Worried I'll feel locked in to something a bit dull due to liking the author for other stuff, and then spend 3 months dutifully nibbling at it page by page.

Chuck 'em out, mate. Free yourself of the dilemma and get something that you are excited about reading. Celebrity authors are shit most of the time. Even Stephen Fry's novels are just airpot novels really, stuff to pass the time on the plane or on holiday. (Personal opinion: his best work is in Paperweight.) I remember wading through some celeb novels when I was younger and finally ended up thinking, why am I wasting my life on this drivel. It was a sort of mini Road to Damascus moment. Get rid of stuff that is not worthy of your attention. Chucking out trash novels can feel very liberating. Or give them to a charity shop if your conscience baulks at binning them.

[Jen.]

^ Nobody watches the first couple of episodes of a 5+ series show, realises they don't like it, then commits themselves anyway to watching the whole thing through to the end. I don't know why people do it with books - but apparently it's very common. Life's too short for continuing with something you don't enjoy, just start something else instead.

[biscuits]

You can do whatever you like, Merritt - maybe not robbing a bank or eating someone else's three day old dropped sausage. But if you want to read books you don't particularly enjoy, go for it

[Mike.Kzov]

Terrortome by Garth Margenghi. I don't think I've read such a densely funny book since the first Alan Partridge bio. More unintentionally funny metaphors and figures of speech than my GCSE creative writing assignment.

[Merritt]

I suppose I stuck with Bob Mortimer's novel because he's one of the people who shaped my sense of humour growing up, and I don't know, I wanted to see if there was still a bit of magic to be found, or maybe it was out of a sense of duty. I didn't want to discard lovely Bob's book that he put all that effort into!

I have a thing too where I don't know if my lack of enjoyment is the book's fault, or I'm just currently incapable of getting much joy out of anything. The temptation's always there to hop over to something else, and I'm reluctant to give in to it because I'd never finish anything if I got into the habit. I'm the same with games, telly, whatever. It's a rare occasion when I feel confident enough to think 'It isn't me, this is just crap' and move on with my life. I'm looking at you, Ready Player One.

Not sure it'd be a good idea to bin all my trashy books, because I have my suspicions that I might be a bit thick, and devoting myself to only high brow material would definitely make me feel it.

Thanks, biccies Though you'll have to pry those dropped sausages from my cold dead gob.

[Chess&Junkfood]

^
I can appreciate where you're coming from, Merritt! I blame getting older myself. It's gotten to the stage where I was even thinking about buying a packet of barley sugars the other day! And of course if you go down that path, then it's only a matter of time before you start nibbling on a peppermint cream!

So don't let it bother you if you can't bring yourself to finish something. It's like yesterday for example, I was about 5 minutes into romancing myself and I just couldn't be bothered to stay for the end credits. That's the level we're talking about! It's tragic if you think about it! But on the plus side

[Merritt]

^ Oh, I've been there

You know what, I was fetching my shopping the other day and at the till they had some Soreen, and I thought, ooh, I'll have some Soreen. Honest to god Soreen. This is how it happens.

[Chess&Junkfood]

^
Soreen! I had no idea it was that bad! You poor bastard! Anyway, I would stop and console you, but it's late.

Also, please stay strong and try to eat a battenberg. It might help!

[anxiouslondoner]

I have a friend and ex-colleague who used to enjoy a bit of buttered Soreen at lunchtime to the extent that I bought him a loaf of it when he was leaving, as a joke.
This was about ten years ago when he'd have been in his early forties.

[Merritt]

In my defence, it was an individual Soreen bar thingy, not an entire loaf that you slice and put butter on and all that. I mean, come on.

I'm currently reading The Vessel by Adam Nevill. The chapters are about 3 pages long, which suits my addled brain just fine. It does that annoying thing though of writing the dialogue to show that the characters are working class and they don't talk propah or sumfink innit.

[Percy]

Finished the Karate book. Now reading Soldier Against The Odds by Lofty Large. He was a Korean War veteran who fought at the famed battle of Imjin River before being captured by the Chinese. He later joined the SAS, failing on his first attempt but passing on his second.

My dad worked with his daughter Donna, that's how I found out about the book.

[Laurel]

Free Book on Ikigai

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/iki...dition-4183426

[Mole58]

'Toxic Parents' - Dr. Susan Forward

The story of my life.

[Percy]

^Looks interesting.

[Merritt]

Originally Posted by Dean Winchester

LOL, same. If the only media I consumed was the stuff that didn't feel like an uphill struggle the entire time I was doing it then I would only watch cooking vids and horror game playthroughs on youtube, and nothing else.

This is a real bad habit of mine. When I try to commit myself to anything that requires a bit of focus/energy/attention, there's the constant nagging thought that I could instead just stick Twitch or YouTube on the TV and only have to occupy about 4 brain cells. I can barely get through 2 pages of a book before my brain starts going 'Bit tiring, this, innit. You know what you could be doing right now...'

[anxiouslondoner]

^ I seem to have a Youtube problem.
I spend so much of my time watching videos on Youtube - not crap, usually stuff that I find interesting.
But then I go and read the comments. All of them. Even when it's stupid people repeating the same thing over and over again. Why? I know there's nothing worth scrolling down for but still I have to trawl through every last comment, even the racism and spam and random accusations of "evil woke communism" because someone happened to use a gender-neutral term once.
Even the comments from five hundred people who completely didn't watch past the first three minutes and are suggesting the same thing that the video author covered and completely debunked at 3m11s.
Why? Why do I do that to myself?

[Amara 94]

[Sea]

Women with Autism: Accepting and Embracing Autism Spectrum Disorder as You Move Towards an Authentic Life

Interesting and helpful reading so far.

[Percy]

Originally Posted by Amara 94

How is it?

[Amara 94]

^It's good, idk how true it is. I was just listening to the audiobook version as it was free for me. He talks a lot about giving, taking responsibility, gratitude. He believes in the law of attraction.

[choirgirl]

I find these books too bombastic for my taste. Also when I use that word I get Shaggy in my head.

[Amara 94]

Originally Posted by choirgirl

I find these books too bombastic for my taste. Also when I use that word I get Shaggy in my head.

Fair enough

[choirgirl]

Amara, when I was into this stuff I had a strong preference for Asian Americans, unless they were women, and then I had an eye open for the woo. I was very discriminatory. If the vibe is too gung ho or woo woo, I was outta there!
That sounds interesting Devil.

[Percy]

The Curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.

I rarely read fiction but this is rather good. Written from the perspective of a autistic teen the author has done an outstanding job in writing from that perspective. A very engaging book, I can't wait to find out who killed the dog